Canada Sightings

Going with the theme of super backlogged posts, I`ll write about my impressions about Canadian drugstores when I visited Canada for the second time this past winter break (I realize it`s March now <-fail).

During the three weeks I stayed there, I visited approximately 20 drugstores probably a total of 40 times, so yeh, you could say I have some experience there. ;) I'm surprised my bf wanted to stay my bf after he accompanied me on all these trips. He did say it was the most times he's ever visited the drugstore in his life, lol.

The feature that really stood to me from regular American drugstore beauty aisles were the department store-like displays of higher-end makeup. There's usually a salesperson who works specifically in the beauty section, which is a little intimidating when you just want to browse in your sweats!

Jean Coutu Displays

Here are some of Jean Coutu's displays. Jean Coutu is a regional pharmacy chain in Quebec. Based on the layout and feel of the place, the American counterpart to Jean Coutu would be Rite Aid, which makes sense because Jean Coutu owns shares in Rite Aid.

Jean Coutu is probably my favorite drugstore there, because the prices are the lowest that I've ever seen (besides Walmart of course). Other pharmacies like Shoppers (Pharmaprix in Quebec) and Rexall have crazy markups. And Jean Coutu has great sales.

Look at all them sale tags *drools* Marcelle (seen below) is a homegrown Canadian beauty brand that gets a lotta love from beauty bloggers, especially for their lipstick line and their exciting new  BB cream release.

Holiday make gift set complete with sequined bag on clearance!

Felt really bad that I didn't wait for a sale to buy these awesome lippies. They usually retail $11.95, score!

A LE Marcelle collection (probably gone by the time I'm writing this :/ ) They have testers. JEALOUS

Close-up

EcoTools Retractable Foundation Brush, have yet to see this in-person in the States

Jean Coutu had a house brand called Personnelle. Check out the shimmer atomizers in the back!

A close-up, so gorgeous!

A cool feature of Canadian drugstores is that some American brands like Revlon and Almay seem to release their new collections much earlier in Canada, by several weeks or months. It's like companies use Canada as their own test market!

I spotted this display a few weeks before it showed up in the US

Another feature I love about Canadian drugstores is their abundance of testers. Regular brands like Revlon and L'oreal actually have testers for their foundation and eye shadows, which is awesome, so you don't have to guess when you pick out foundations. US drugstores, are you paying attention?!

Pharmacies like Rexall and Shoppers have rows upon rows of high end skincare complete with testers. I notice they import a lot of French beauty brands. Once I went into a Shoppers and slathered dozens of expensive creams all over my face, because I forgot to moisturize. Free stuff is the best, I have no shame. :D

Hyaluronic acid serum display at Rexall, you best believe I took advantage of that tester!

Outside of drugstores, I was really interested in the Joe Fresh brand, which is a brand sold exclusively at Loblaws and Maxi grocery stores. Their new spring collection looks so amazing that I must find a way to get my hands on the orange lippies!

These grocery stores are huge, it's more like a Kmart with a bigger food section!

Yes, there's an extensive clothing section in a grocery store :O

Their large makeup aisle

 Some snaps of Joe Fresh cosmetics. I've read good things on their lipstick, blush, and nail polish.

Joe Fresh display

More displays, check out the customizable palettes and nail polish!

Cream blushes

Powder blushes

Cream highlighters

LE cream highlighter palette

A closer look. Yay, another tester!

I realize the prices are surprisingly expensive for a house brand. One unfortunate thing about Canadian drugstores is that the prices are noticeably higher for both their domestic and international beauty brands. I guess the prices would be ok if the US dollar wasn't so weak. But things being the way they are, Canadian hauls are a wee bit painful, not that it stopped me from indulging of course!

You can even get your dose of Asian beauty brands in Canada. There's a Asian grocery chain called T&T Supermarket with locations in British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario. It's like 99 Ranch Market on crack with an extensive bakery and deli section, which is an absolute necessity because Asian food in Ottawa is positively grim.

Burr, I forgot how cold it was!

This was the best Chinese restaurant I could find in the Ottawa area :/

Wait, what was I talking about? Oh right, beauty. Sorry about that!

The ubiquitous My Beauty Diary Masks

My Beauty Diary sleeping masks and eye masks at a crazy markup, of course

If you made it through all my rambling, congrats! You win a million brownie points (which is worth CAD $0, sorry).

Now that I've written this up, maybe I should finish up that Canadian haul post that I started in 2010. Yeh, I'm that bad.

Did any products pique your interest? Any Canadian experiences of your own to share? Your thoughts!

Happy Friday!

Let's end with this.

In Canada, cardboard Justin Beiber is always watching you. Always

Nivea Creme: The Saga Continues

After I got hooked on Nivea Creme, I checked out what kind of Nivea Canada had to offer. It seems like Canada imports much more Nivea products. I saw skincare ranges that hadn't graced the US market.
But of course, I was only interested in the Creme. Canada has the same blue plastic tubs of Nivea Creme made in Mexico, so I assumed they contained the same formula. But hey! What's this?

The US Nivea Creme contains petrolatum, which the Canadian one does not. Here's a comparison between Canadian Nivea and German Nivea.

I drew arrows between ingredients that were the same or equivalent. Darn it, Spellcheck! That's how it's supposed to be spelled.

The Canadian formula looks awfully similar to the German one, eh? Although the Canadian formula is missing limonene, geraniol, hydroxycitronellol, linalool, citronellol, benzyl benzoate, cinnamyl alcohol, these are just fragrance ingredients and can be recategorized under parfum, as Rae explains, which make sense.

The Canadian Nivea appears have the German formula with preservatives. After reading May's post, I learned this formula is most similar to the German version and the same as the Thai version.

I thought that was the end of my exciting revelation, but there's more!

I picked up a tube of Nivea instead of a tub. And even those ingredients differed! Check it out.

Again, arrows between the same or equivalent ingredients

It contains the tub ingredients sans preservatives, which I suspect is due to the Creme not being as exposed to airborne bacteria in a tube vs. a tub. 

For some reason, there is more Magnesium Sulfate in Candian Nivea. This might be a labelling mistake. However, I doubt it really affects the formula, as I suspect Magnesium Sulfate is used to give Nivea a creamy white appearance. Googling it, I found:

"Magnesium Sulfate is a non-reactive, solid ingredient that is used to dilute other solids, or to increase the volume of a product."      -cosmeticsinfo.org

Overall, the Canadian tube formula is very similar to the German one. All this time, I never suspected our neighbors to the north would be so lucky as to get the German formula. This means you can purchase "German" Nivea in Canada. Lol, I searched frantically for it in the States, when it is widely available across the border.  If you find yourself in The Great White North, grab yourself a tube!

I was in Montreal this weekend visiting family. There's been a snow storm, so I am really missing Cali weather. I'm returning tomorrow, time goes by so fast. Hope y'all are having a lovely new year!

Winter Travel Skincare

When I packed (last-minute, of course) for Canada, I really had select what I consider to be winter essentials to cram into a teeny suitcase.

I recalled my spring break in New York and realized how fricking dry my skin gets in the chilly weather. So of course, my travel stash has a strong emphasis on moisture-retention and hydration.

Starting with cleansing, I chosen a cream cleanser, because cream cleansers are known to be richer than other face washes. I picked up Salma Hayek's Nuance Chamomile Facial Cream Cleanser in hopes that it won't overstrip my skin's oil, which is my body's natural way of maintaining moisture.

Next up is exfoliation. I find that daily exfoliation has a larger role in skin clarity for me than even cleansing. I have oily/combination skin and my skin regenerates quickly. I find that if I even skip a day or two of exfoliation, my skin gets scaly quick (especially my nose) from dead skin cell buildup and bam! Clogged pores galore. :(

If you live by daily exfoliation too, try to look for a gentle physical scrub, meaning fine grains. I'm
using up my St. Ives Green Tea Scrub, which works pretty well.

Before I left, I was sure that a hydrating serum would be my savior in the weeks to come. I was dead wrong.

Serums always end up costing more than the rest of my skincare, sometimes combined. Eeek! I always figured they were worth it. But sometimes, I wonder if serums are some sort of marketing ploy to convince us it was worth paying an obscene amount of money for a tiny bottle with a glass dropper.

There's a weird glorification of serums, and we expect some magical transformation from it like it's a potion from Harry Potter. I'm not saying serums don't work, but they aren't the ones doing your heavy lifting. It would be like saying toners clean better than face wash or that Garfunkel is more important than Simon. It's moisturizers FTW, baby.

I'm using Genie in a Bottle Hyaluronic Acid Moisture Serum. It's pretty cheap for a serum, only around $8 for a set of four 1-oz bottles and I got it in a BOGOF sale. Score. It offers a boost of hydration. But I'm fine if I hadn't brought it with me.

Before I left, I picked up a tube of German-made Nivea Creme to try because of the raves I read online, especially, Rae's. I was after an uber rich moisturizer that would work in sub-zero (seriously) conditions. The stuff I used in California just wasn't going to cut it. I'll write more about it soon but it's an amazing moisturizer. Because I'm traveling, it doubles as a day and night face cream. It keeps my wind-chapped face supple. My face is cold and numb here, but it sure ain't dry!

Most importantly, I brought sunscreen with me. Even though I only see the sun every three days (never thought I would miss it), I want to practice constant vigilance against sun damage wherever I go. Plus, the Badger SPF 30+ Baby Sunscreen is super rich and thus functions as an additional moisturizer. I would never use this in California, but it works perfectly here.

Lastly, I brought along an eye cream, because the skin around your eyes is extra delicate and prone to damage. I usually use anything my mom gives me. Currently I have RoC Retinol Correxion Eye Cream.

Sorry for my serum rant, I don't know what came over me, lol.

Do you have any skincare travel staples or recommendations? Your thoughts!

ByTowne Cinema

We went to this theater last night to watch Shame. Man, is that so not a date movie! Hope you all have had a wonderful weekend!

Where in the world is Angelica?

I have been MIA for a while (understatement) due to the usual reasons: grad applications, classes, stress over applications and classes, sigh.

At first, I thought I might be over blogging. But truthfully, I missed it terribly. When I went about my skincare routine, I thought about how I would write about the products I use. When I saw new stands at drugstores, I took pictures, but they stayed stagnant on my phone. :/ I love the makeup blogosphere and am eager to be a more active participant once again!

Here's a snapshot of my current daily life.

Isn't San Francisco just gorgeous!

Lol, I've actually been chilling (literally) in the Ottawa, Ontario region in eastern Canada. I have been here since Christmas Eve to spend some time with my partner and his family. I will be in Canada until mid-Janurary when school starts again.

Snowshoeing. The snow is soo fluffy! Like walking in cornstarch.

I'm trying to enjoy myself and just relax. Physicially being thousands of miles from school helps a bit. But I still need to work on some app stuff, so I still have to be on top of some school things!

Here's some snapshots of Canada (mostly food-related).

I'll be back very soon with more posts. I hope you have had a wonderful holiday! :D

Prospective Canada Haul?

EDIT: for the horrendous misspelling of the title, it was late y'all. :P
I need your help, Canadian beauties!

My bf is currently in Quebec resting up with family and friends before the semester starts. He's mentioned he'll be happy (well, let's pretend he's happy about it) to pick up a few items for me. 

So do you have any suggestions for Canada-exclusive beauty must-haves? I'm thinking more along the lines of affordable drugstore brands like Anabelle, Marcelle, etc. 

Any and all suggestions will be appreciated. :) Your thoughts!

Mes vacances en Canada/My vacation in Canada

Your ever humble, ever sorry blogger is back!

It's been hectic these few weeks, getting back into the swing of school. I just wanted to do a writeup on my getaway in mid-August before I forget!

I spent two days in Toronto, two in Montreal, and one and a half in Quebec City, a day in St Thomas for a wedding and the rest near Ottawa, where my bf's family lives.