I bought heels, pants, and a hair clip from Amazon, Shein, and Temu. One outfit was a big disappointment, the other was just OK — and the third was surprisingly well-made and stylish.

• I shopped on Amazon, Shein, and Temu to compare the experience and quality. 
• Temu was addicting to use because it was the best at recommending more items.
• I was surprised that the shoes from Shein were the highest quality of the three.

For this comparison, I shopped only via mobile app. I had three products in mind: pink heels, a large hair clip, and checkered pants I’d seen on Pinterest. I also wanted to test the accuracy of each app’s visual search, so I uploaded photos of each product.

Best Shopping Experience: Temu

Amazon’s visual search was the most accurate. It found the exact pants and hair clip I wanted. But the retailer fell behind in selection. The hair clip only came in a pack of four, which was more than I wanted, and it was really difficult to find a style of pink shoes I liked. Overall, Amazon was the most boring app to shop.