By Sheila, 21, Canada, Global Contributor

Sheila is a Chinese-Canadian blogger in her early twenties with a passion for beauty. You can pretty much find her on Twitter at all waking hours of the day. She makes irrational judgments when it comes to purchasing decisions and would choose a $70 foundation over a $30 blouse any day.  For those who wonder, Sheila has dehydrated normal skin that occasionally breaks out. Her foundation shades are MAC NC25, Chanel B20 Beige Tendre and Guerlain #2. Check out her blog, Maddy Loves!

Shopping Guide for Canadian Beauty Products

If you find yourself shopping for cosmetics in Canada, here is a guide to help you find the brands and products you are looking for. The two main places you should visit are Shoppers Drug Mart (Pharmaprix in Quebec) and Loblaws (or Real Canadian Superstore). These stores offer the widest selection of Canadian beauty and cosmetic products. You will find brands such as Marcelle (one of my favorites) and Annabelle at any of these stores. You can also find Quo, which makes high quality makeup brushes, at all Shoppers Drug Mart locations, as well as Cover FX, Lise Watier and Vasanti. Loblaws/Superstore offers Joe Fresh Beauty exclusively, as well as at Joe Fresh Boutiques (including the one to open on 5th Avenue in New York).

If you happen to have some additional time and you’re in Western Canada, also check out London Drugs, which has extensive cosmetics departments and offer brands such as Lise Watier and Vasanti.

Some websites that ship Canadian beauty products include:

• Marcelle is one of my favorite beauty brands, and they’ve just recently opened their online store, which ships to Canada and the United States. They offer free shipping for orders over $50, or if your order is under $50, then shipping costs $14.95 to the US and starting from $7.95 within Canada.
• eBeauty offers a very wide selection of Canadian beauty products that you cannot find elsewhere. They only ship within Canada and they normally offer free shipping with orders over $75, but they often have promotions where free shipping is offered with orders of $25 or more.
• Vasanti Cosmetics’ online shop ships worldwide! They have their entire lineup of products available online with very reasonable shipping rates starting at $7 for Canada and the US and $13 for international. Their lip products are highly recommended, as well as their Liquid Cover-Up foundation and concealer in one.

Generally, prices in Canada for non-Canadian brands are anywhere between 10-40% higher than the United States for the same product. If you are going to be visiting the United States, I would recommend waiting to purchase the products there. We also tend to get products later than the United States, so not everything that is out in the US is already out in Canada!

By Sheila, 21, Canada, Global Contributor

Sheila is a Chinese-Canadian blogger in her early twenties with a passion for beauty. You can pretty much find her on Twitter at all waking hours of the day. She makes irrational judgments when it comes to purchasing decisions and would choose a $70 foundation over a $30 blouse any day.  For those who wonder, Sheila has dehydrated normal skin that occasionally breaks out. Her foundation shades are MAC NC25, Chanel B20 Beige Tendre and Guerlain #2. Check out her blog, Maddy Loves!

6 Must-Have Canadian Beauty Products

Canadian brands are often overshadowed by large American brands that do a better job of advertising their products in stores and in the media. However, these products made by Canadian brands are like hidden treasures: you will only find them if you look carefully, and once you’ve found them, you will never look back! Here are a couple of my favourite products made by Canadian brands…

Marcelle Hydra-C line was recently revamped. This line is targeted at girls in the 20s who want healthy, glowing skin. The star product, which I absolutely love, is the 24H Energizing Hydrating Gel. This jelly-like gel-crème provides my skin with the perfect amount of moisture but is light enough to not cause oiliness. It melts right into the skin with no residue and best of all, almost all of their products, including this one, are hypo-allergenic, perfume-free, alcohol-free, oil-free, paraben-free and alcohol-free–perfect for all skin types!

Annabelle Smoothliner is our drugstore’s answer to high-end eyeliner. This inexpensive alternative to Urban Decay’s 24/7 Eyeliner and Make Up For Ever’s Aqua Eyes, is smooth and creamy for easy application; it glides right onto the eyelid without any tugging. When worn on top of primer, this eyeliner is also long-wearing. It’s priced at 1/3 of its high-end equivalents, and Smoothliner is available in seven shades.

Joe Fresh Beauty is a young brand that is known for their simple packaging and relatively inexpensive prices. I love their Cream Lipstick. The quality, pigmentation, and wear are all fantastic. My favourite shade is Tulip, which is a dark watermelon pink that leans red. The packaging kind of reminds me of Shu Uemura, but at a much, much lower price.

Check out three more must-haves! 

Popular makeup sanitizer Beauty So Clean is one of the most useful things you can have in your makeup kit. This alcohol-based spray sanitizer is easy to use on all of your powder-based products and lipsticks; one or two spritzes are all that is required. They also have a specialized brush cleanser that you can use to quickly and efficiently clean your brushes. Because it is alcohol-based, it will evaporate within seconds and not damage the product. This is especially useful if you share makeup products with your friends or if you are a makeup artist (pro or amateur). I have the 250mL bottle… that is how much I love mine!

I have a fringe that constantly falls on my face when I’m washing my hair. I’ve tried hair clips, but they don’t get everything and some strands always find their way to my face, and terrycloth headbands, but since they come in contact with water regularly, I find that they’re too much of a hassle to keep bacteria-free. My latest discovery is hair velcro by Vancouver-based Magic Hair Pad. These are like the spikey side of velcro and work very well to keep hair in place without messing up your hairstyle. You just press them in place and they will stay; super convenient, if I must say! (Oops, that rhymes, I didn’t do it on purpose, I promise!)

I love to spend my Friday nights spread out on the couch with my remote, some cake, and a sheet mask on my face. Sheet masks are the perfect alternative to expensive facials at the salon; they are a sheet of cotton fibre or some other material soaked in beauty serum. You apply the mask over your clean face, let the serum absorb over anywhere between 10-30 minutes, and then massage in the leftovers; there is no need to rinse. Face masks come in a number of different formulas such as hydrating, brightening, acne-fighting or anti-aging. Canadian indy brand My Face Works produces them, but I also love the popular Taiwanese brand My Beauty Diary.

Check out more photos & swatches!