Category Archives: Makeup
Shoppers Drug Mart Online – Luxury & Drugstore!
Perhaps one of the most exciting things a Canadian beauty lover has heard in the last few weeks is that Shopper Drug Mart is FINALLY offering not only their highend luxury items online, but now they’ve also incorporated the drugstore side of things in too! And if you hadn’t heard this – well consider yourself up to speed and you can rejoice with the rest of us!
Canada has always struggled for online retailers that would sell us drugstore beauty items. Beauty Boutique (the predecessor to Shoppers Drug Mart Online) offered us the ability to purchase luxury items online and get them shipped to our door, but we’ve long been lamenting that we’ve never had easy access to their drugstore products… until now!
I’ve been perusing the web site for the last week or so and I have to say that not *everything* I want to buy is on there (more specifically, I can’t find my Aveeno toner, the Soap & Glory Breakfast Scrub and the QUO nail polish remover), but there is a surprising amount of stock given that the web site has only been up for the last week or so. I’ve been checking routinely and I can see that they’re regularly adding product, so I can only hope/assume that at some point they’ll have everything up on there within a certain amount of time. As it stands their selection is fairly massive – I can pick up a bottle of expensive perfume and throw in a essence mascara as well. The ability to shop for drugstore and highend products feels immense to me as a Canadian shopper. I know Americans have had ULTA for quite a long time, but tp us this is brand new territory!
Shoppers Drug Mart Online offers free shipping once you’ve spent $50, and, of course, you have the ability to earn and spend your PC Optimum points on the site. Also, if you don’t like something you purchased? No problem – free returns in stores!
Here’s my top picks for what to buy online at Shoppers Drug Mart:
- Bioderma Sensibio H2O Micelle Solution
- Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum foundation – review here
- Dermablend Smooth Liquid Camo foundation – review here
- Essence The False Lashes Dramatic Volume Unlimited mascara
- Got2b Volumaniac Hair Spray – hair tutorial using this here
- Joe Fresh Cotton Pads
- Marcelle Gentle Makeup Remover for Sensitive Eyes (I’m getting an error on this page – but I do expect it’ll be up soon) – review here
- NYX Micro Brow
- Physicians Formula Eye Booster
- Shiseido Synchro Skin foundation – review here
- Stila Glitter & Glow Liquid Eyeshadows – review here
I, for one, am PUMPED about this! I feel like I’ve been tweeting at Shoppers Drug Mart for years to get their butts online, and I am so, so glad that we’re finally here! Happy shopping everyone!
And don’t forget Ebates! Make your beauty purchases online and get yourself some cashback too. (I’ve made $720 back over the last few years, just got give you an idea of how much you can potentially make back on your purchases.)
The products photographed in this post were sent to me for consideration. Post contains affiliate links.
Swatch Sunday: Fenty Beauty Moroccan Spice
The latest palette out by Fenty Beauty is their Moroccan Spice palette! And while I had initially thought this was a limited edition release for the summer, I’m looking at Sephora right now and it’s listed as exclusive (which means it’s only at Sephora as a retailer), but nowhere does it say it’s limited edition! This is super exciting because I’m thoroughly enjoying this palette (full review and five looks coming in two weeks on my YouTube channel) and thought maybe it’d be gone from shelves soon. Apparently that’s not the case and the Moroccan Spice palette is here to stay!
Unlike Fenty‘s previous holiday palette release which was chockablock shimmer shades (and not a matte to be seen), the Moroccan Spice palette blissfully has shimmer, mattes and satin shades to help you flesh out your look.
Fenty Beauty Moroccan Spice Swatches
The Fenty Beauty Moroccan Spice palette can be purchased at sephora.ca for $69 CAD or on sephora.com for $59 USD.
The product featured in this post was sent to me for consideration. Post contains affiliate links.
Sephora – New Sale Date + Point Changes!
Well this is surprising news to me… Sephora’s added a new sale date (and hopefully not replaced their November one…) at the end of August! As long as I’ve been shopping consistently at Sephora they’ve only ever had two sale dates in North America: one in April, and one in November. This third one cropped up out of nowhere! I think it’s a replacement for the VIB Rouge holiday preview event, but I could be wrong.
Here’s how this sale works:
- Rouge members (those who have spent over $1000 per calendar year) shop the event starting August 24 and ending September 3. You’ll get 20% off your purchases with the code YESROUGE.
- VIB (those who have spent $350 or more per calendar year) get to start shopping on August 30 through till September 3. You’ll get 15% off your purchases with the code YESVIB.
- Beauty Insiders (those who have spent less than $350 per calendar year) also start shopping on August 30 through till September 3. You’ll get 10% off your purchases with the code YESINSIDER.
Interesting to note – you can use your code only ONCE online, but as many times as you like in stores.
Sephora is also made a few changes to their Beauty Insider program:
ROUGE
- Will now earn 1.5 points per $1 spent.
- Ability to spend points on full size products.
- Ability to redeem 2500 points for $100 gift card.
VIB
- VIB members will now earn 1.25 points per $1 spent.
- Ability to spend points on full size products.
My Thoughts
I have to say… I’m impressed, and this is definitely a step in the right direction. Over the last few years it’s become very apparent that Sephora’s points system hasn’t been great. I’ve always had way more points than I knew what to do with because there was absolutely nothing to spend it on. The rewards that I was always interested in have always been perpetually out of stock (this may be a Canadian problem and not a USA one)! With Ulta opening up their shipping to Canada and Shoppers Drug Mart finally launching their ecommerce site, Sephora HAS to keep up and keep their clients interested in purchasing product from them directly.
While I’ve never been a VIB Rouge member, since I’ve started blogging I’ve always managed to hit the VIB level. Fundamentally I don’t care at all about the point accelerator (until I can see what I can actually spend my points on that is), what I do love is that I’ll now have the ability to use all of my extra points towards something I actually want. This is HUGE!! I’ve had something like 2k points for years, spending a few hundred points every now and then when I could get a mascara sample (which is never THAT exciting… let’s be real).
Well done Sephora. It took you a while to make these changes, but they’re definitely for the better. And now… to figure out what the heck I’m getting during THIS sale! I don’t feel prepared for this one at all! Usually I snag all of my holiday stuff in the November one (if I can wait that long) but I feel like the holiday collections won’t be out in time for this!
Let me hear your thoughts on the new program, and maybe let me know what you’re picking up!
Winky Lux Glimmer Balm (Review & Swatches)
Fans of Winky Lux can rejoice, they’re slowly creeping into Beauty Boutiques (run by Shoppers Drug Mart and Murale) near you! Winky Lux has always been one of those harder to get indie brands to me, so I’m so glad to see they’re becoming more easily available in Canada now!
Winky Lux is launching this month at Murale and BeautyBoutique (although I don’t have an exact date – sorry!), and I was super interested in some of their lip balms. They have one of those balms with a dried flower suspended in the tube, and also this one – their Glimmer Balm.
Their Glimmer Balm is essentially a transparent lip product that reacts with the pH balance in your lips to create a custom shade of pink. It’s beautiful to look at – pink, purple and teal glimmers shimmer and shine within the see-through base. It’s infused with glitter specs for an extra bit of oomph, but you won’t find it looks or feels like a glitter bomb on the lips.
On me the Glimmer Balm goes hot pink and has the faintest whisper of glitter particles that are only ever so slightly visible if you’re SUPER upclose to my face. Winky Lux says this has a coconut scent but I don’t smell that all – it’s more of a soft sugary scent.
The thing I love most about these pH changing balms is that they are so, so comfortable to wear on the lips. It really is just a lip balm that changes colour based on your skin, so you get the benefit of having soft, hydrated lips but also a touch of colour as well.
As it’s a balm, it’s not super long wearing, but here’s how it looked after about 90 minutes on me (above). While it does leave behind a bit of a stain on the lips, I find I tend to re-apply it every two hours as I would with any other lip balm.
Final Thoughts
The Winky Lux Glimmer Balm is beautiful and easy to wear. I don’t think there’d be much colour difference amongst most users, so you’re pretty much guaranteed to get a pink-y sheen on your lips. Just to re-iterate – the glitter is NOT strong and you will not look like you’ve got a mouth full of it, so don’t worry about the glimmer aspect of this balm!
Overall, it’s lovely, comfortable to wear and easy to apply on the go. Plus it looks hella cute when you whip it out to apply. Thumbs up from me!
The Winky Lux Glimmer Balm will be available at beautyboutique.ca for $18 CAD this month (August 2018), or you can get it on winkylux.com for $14 USD.
The product featured in this post was sent to me for consideration. Post contains affiliate links.