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

Sightings: New Rimmel Products

Last week, I did my regular walk through CVS and found some new (to me, anyway) Rimmel goodies. 

There's a new Rimmel foundation on the shelves, Rimmel Clean Finish. It was only $4.99. That's really cheap! Not sure how it performs though. 

I think it retails $7.79

 Now we know why Sexy Curves mascaras were all on sale during the last CVS clearance. The newest addition to the Sexy Curves family is Sexy Curves Full Body Mascara. Looks like the new one is all about upping the volume. I haven't had the best luck with Rimmel mascara, so I'll be watching for other people's reviews first

I haven't kept up with sightings as much. Even though I do see new products, take pictures, I'm a lazy mofo when it comes to uploading. :P Let me know if I should keep this up!

Would you like to see more Sightings?

Did any of these products pique your interest? Your thoughts!

My Love Letter to Grocery Outlet

To my dearest Grocery Outlet,

As evidenced by my latest haul, I have quite the relationship with you. Shh, don't tell my partner! I'm sure some people might be skeeved out by the idea of you (would you ever buy food at an "outlet"?) They might call you names like "Gross Out" (because bullies are sooo clever). But I get you, I really do.

I even get your silly commercials that might garner the attention of the lawyers of Jim Henson's estate.

 I know that you have tons of makeup goodies, tacitly reserved for those who can look past your "skeeviness."

Kiss My Face Shave Cream

L-R: Beverly Hills Skincare (picked up some for my mom!), L'oreal Collagen and Skin Genesis

L-R: Neutrogena scrub, Tree Hut body wash and body splash

Some Revlon lippies, Almay foundation, Physicians Formula makeup

L-R: Revlon mascara, Maybelline, Almay eyeshadows

L-R: Clean & Clear eye makeup remover (bi-faciltype) and cleanser, Clearasil cleanser, night treatment, and serum

L-R: ELF Mineral, Almay mascara, Revlon mascaras

Freeman cleanser, moisturizer, masks!

Garnier Nutrioniste cleanser, treatments, scrub

More Tree Hut body washes

And some reason, Grocery Outlet, you double as a storefront for ELF cosmetics, not that I'm complaining!

But my absolutely favorite aspect about you is that you're adventurous. You introduce me to products I would never get to try otherwise. With awesome prices, I'm not afraid to try!

Here's a beloved brand that I owe you for introducing us!

Petal Fresh Whitening range with cleanser, toner, moisturizer and mask! Petal Fresh is an American brand, so I don't feel guilty trying, since it doesn't have to ship from another country. :)

Some products that intrigue me, but haven't tried.

Creams from an unknown brand and Nivea scrub

And don't just think I'm after your beauty products, you're so much more than that! I'll actually buy your food (though I'll check your expiration dates meticulously). I can always count on a cheap fiber bar from you and a chuckle looking at the products that were obviously bad marketing ideas. And ice cream: ZOMG. You know me so well that you know I'd eat discontinued flavors like Haagen-Daz's Sticky Toffee Pudding (in case you're wondering, yes I bought backups. ;) ) and out of season flavors like Girl Scouts' Samoas (are we still allowed to call them that?).

And I treasure your quirks, like your inexplicably Japanese Spam.

I made delicious musubi out of you.

What I'm trying to say in so many words is that I love you and I want you to be mine. Let's take the next step and move in together. I'll sleep by the freezer on hot nights (I'll guard the ice cream).

Yours, 
Angelica

Baack from NYC with a Haul (of course)

Lol, I started this post two days after I got back from New York and I'm finally finishing it up! Slacker much? :P

I'm excited to start blogging again, though I don't expect to post as frequently until after finals! Bah, I'll try to take it easier academically in the summer, which means more blogging!

Here's a collective haul pic. 

It's not complete, as I hauled a NYX felt-tip liner and a NYX concealer pen the day after. But it's mostly what's there.

Haul deets

From Wigs And Plus, I hauled the NYX sharpener so I can finally sharpen those fat NYX Jumbo Eye pencils. I expected more NYX products in NYC, since we're so deprived over here. Wigs And Plus' NYX selection isn't that good. Beauty 35 is better, though they don't have NYX's Mosaic powders, which Wigs And Plus carries. Plus, I later found out that Beauty 35 sold the sharpener for a dollar less. Shopping FAIL.  

I was most excited about getting my hands on some Ben Nye. I haven't had any success finding a good Ben Nye selection in SF stores. I didn't want to buy Ben Nye online, because of shipping fees and I wanted to try out testers. Some forums pointed me in the direction of Ricky's. I went to four or five Ricky's before I realized that their Ben Nye selection is extremely limited. I was looking specifically for Ben Nye's blushes and contour powders, which none of the Ricky's carried. I was about to give up when I saw this post. I saw the contour powder in the post's photo and I knew I had found it! 

Alcone is a professional makeup shop that basically carries full selection of many stage makeup lines like Ben Nye, Cinema Secrets, etc. Check their website for info on their inventory. It's a very small shop, but there are trays and trays of testers for everything! Customer service is a bit subdued since they cater mostly to makeup artists. But that just means no hard-selling and pressure to buy more than you want. :D In addition to Ben Nye's Contour #1 powder, I also picked up the Visage Poudre in Banana to try, Tao's HG finishing powder. I was walking back to the subway when I decided to check MakeUpAlley on my phone to see what else Alcone had to offer. Then promptly ran back to grab a few of their awesome sponges, haha.

If you live in the area or will be visiting, it's better to go to the storefront than to shop on Alcone's website. There seems to be a price jack going on online. I picked up the contour for $8, and it retail $10 on the website.

If it weren't for the extreme weather (I'm a climate-spoiled Bay Area brat!) and slightly scary pedestrian traffic, I could see myself living in New York. Why?

The drugstores, baby.

Many drugstores were open very late and even 24 hours, a rarity in the Bay Area. If I lived in New York, my bf would know where to find me if I was missing at 3 in the morning. At the drugstore! ;)

I really loved Duane Reade, a local drugstore. Though their sales are meh, their selection is incredible. There are Duane Reade drugstores that have a specialized beauty section called "Look Boutique." Look Boutiques carry more higher-end brands not found at the normal Duane Reade, they remind me of drugstores in Canada , which are also more upscale.

At one Look Boutique

I pissed my pants when I saw this. I had no idea that any store in the US carried GOSH. GOSH is a cosmetics company from Denmark that is popular for their 24/7 eyeliner dupe. Before i saw this, I thought I could only buy GOSH online or pester my bf to CP it in Canada. But no, lucky New Yorkers have access to GOSH's full line!

Some mo' photos

A Lush-like bodycare company called Me! Bath. They have testers.

Another brand I'm not familiar with, a makeup company called StudioMakeup.

The regular Duane Reade is pretty awesome too.

Some brands that intrigued me. 

DERMAbaria, a moisturizer brand I've never seen before

Raw Essentials, a natural skincare line

And Duane Reade carries Korres' sister brand Kings & Queens! I love their scents!

Duane Reade's sales seem to vary from location to location

Aaand my Duane Reade haul

I picked up the DERMAbaria cream to help soothe my wind-chapped skin. Man, my combo skin type was really not equipped for East Coast weather! I also picked up GOSH Velvet Touch Eye Liner in Bananas, because Arianne recommends it as an inner corner brightener. Thanks for the lemming, Arianne!

My absolute favorite part of my trip was actually leaving the island and visiting Flushing! Flushing is a mecca of authentic and cheap Chinese cuisine. Obviously, my bf and I gorged ourselves silly on dumplings, $1 soymilk and scallion pancakes, and shaved ice!

I also discovered it's the place to buy Asian cosmetics, particularly Chinese Skincare. The drugstores in Flushing have the best selection of Asian cosmetics that I have ever seen in person! It's kinda sad really, since most of imported Asian cosmetics pass through the ports of California. Where's the Bay Area's supply?! :P

I couldn't get a better photo, the streets are super crowded near the subway!

Right by the Main Street, Flushing station is a pharmacy called Tung Ren Tang. They sold My Scheming Beauty masks for $10, which is very close to Sasa's price. 

I picked up Liyanshijia's 24-K Active Golden Yulan Oil Facial Mask, 10 pieces for $10. It is a whitening mask. I heard about the brand from Jean. My heart skipped a beat when I saw it. I asked my aunts to pick this up for me in China, and they couldn't find it. How strange to find it in Flushing! So I had to buy it. :) However, my spirits were a bit dampened when I later discovered that the masks expired last year. Learn from me and remember to check the expiration dates on the products!

My favorite drugstore for Asian beauty in New York was Starside Drugs & Surgicals. It is a Chinese pharmacy chain based in Flushing with five locations. Selection varies from location to location, but the well-stocked ones carry Japanese brands like Ishizawa Lab and Dollywink, etc. All the locations carry the Hong Kong beauty brand O'slee and a mainland Chinese brand I wasn't too familiar with called Tongrentang. I also checked out a few Asian beauty boutiques in Flushing, but don't recommend them. The markup was ridiculous (sometimes 3 times more than its retail value in Asia!) and it seems like the boutiques simply purchased their stock from Sasa. Pharmacies seem to actually purchase from importers, so I often saw products I couldn't buy from Sasa.

My Starside haul

I picked up O'slee's Peeling Milkshake Cleanser, because of Birkie's rave and since it was no longer sold on Sasa. I picked up Tongrentang's cleansing cream that claims to fade pigmentation (for my mom's age spots). The manager helped me pick it out. There were five different kinds of Tongrentang cleansers, which I couldn't tell apart since it was written in Chinese, so he helped me translate. So nice! The blotting paper was a freebie, since I spent over $20.

And that concludes my haul! It's quite a bit for me. I didn't tally it up for my budget, because I definitely surpassed my $40 beauty limit! But whatev, I was on vacation (the perfect excuse). Any reviews you would like to see next? Let me know. Any shopping suggestions to add? What are you looking forward to this spring? Your thoughts!