Shopping Guide for Canadian Beauty Products
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!
wow so helpful! thanks 🙂 I knew about ebeauty but not about the other ones. thanks 🙂
Thank you! I’m glad you found it helpful =)
My makeup brushes are from Joe Fresh– $20 for a set (includes blush, concealer, eyeshadow and a flat liner brushes) and they work phenomenally. You wouldn’t believe the quality for such a low price! LOVE Joe Fresh Beauty!!
You forgot Pharmaplus! Honestly, the most underrated drugstore. You find way better deals and selection here than at Shoppers!
Pharmaplus is part of the Rexall family. I didn’t include it or Rexall because you can pretty much get everything there at Shoppers or London Drugs.
I can honestly say that both London Drugs and Rexall offer cosmetics at better price points than Shoppers. Over the past couple months, Rexall had awesome promotions like 50% off all face products (including theBalm!), BOGO free mascaras, and 50% all lip products.
And Rexall! They have good prices on some things and a lot of sales. I don’t see them around my area too much, but there is one I check out once in a while.
Wow, I had no idea you go to the U.S. for lower prices. Can you order things online in U.S. prices?
It depends from where. Some sites ship to Canada but most don’t, especially for drugstore items =)
Thanks so much for this post! I’m going to Vancouver in the summer, and looking at Canadian drug store makeup is definitely on my list of to-dos. I’m very curious about the brands that aren’t available here. GOSH is available in Canada as well, right? (Or should I say “eh?”)
Yes, you can get Gosh at Shoppers Drug Mart. See if you can find one with a full Beauty Boutique for the best selection. Gosh nail polish is amazing!
Shoppers & Tim Hortons-that’s why we’re going to Canada! 😀
Also get Annabelle! Pretty sure they’re Canadian-only too. But Quo isn’t worth it.
Don’t forget Rexall, they’re the only place I’ve ever found NYX!
NYX isn’t a Canadian brand =)
They sell it at Shoppers and Pricesmart 🙂
Agh. Not Shoppers, Saveon.
Why didn’t you include London Drugs for visitors to Western Canada?
She did – it’s right in the post: “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.”
I live in eastern Canada and we have Lawtons Drugstore, which also sells the mentioned brands plus NYX. And the Shoppers drugstore where i live also sells Benefit!
Yes! I am absolutely enamoured with Lawtons, and for so long, I didn’t realize the treasures it had inside. Only place in my city that carries Sinful Colors, OPI, Milani, NYX, and Vasanti (Been on such a Vasanti kick lately). They really seem to take a chance on smaller Canadian brands, like Balmshell. East coasters, check out your Lawtons’ — they’re wonderful gifts that keep on giving.
Great post!!
Shoppers Drug Mart is one of my favourite stores ever! I’ll definitely start following your blog 🙂
Thanks, Morena!
Wow, I had no idea about eBeauty. I just checked it out and quite a few things are cheaper than Sephora, plus they carry Becca. Thanks for the heads up!
Thank you for reading! I’m glad you found it helpful.
I absolutely HATE the price factor! I’m so glad I live in the US baha
Yeah it’s very annoying =( I live really close to the states so I usually just buy it there when I happen to go on a weekend, haha
Thanks for the tips! So sorry that Marcelle and Joe Fresh aren’t available in Europe!
GOSH hair products and makeup re also sold in Canada I don’t think u can get it in the states. I heard shu uemera is discontinued in the states its sold here still at holt renfrew which I think canadian it is a super high end department store. The bay also has topshop now I don’t know if that’s in the states or not but none the
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Thank you for this!
I do have a question though. Where can I buy Milani cosmetics in Canada? I absolutely LOVE that brand but can only find them over the border, in Seattle! Please advise as to where I can buy them in Vancouver.
Thank you!
well.ca has milani and they ship free anywhere in canada
Check out Loblaws/Superstore! They’re the only place I seem to find Milani makeup.
Superstore AND Sears!
I much prefer London Drugs for nail polish since there is a better “cheap” selection, although I do love the Quo by Orly brand through Shoppers. Even so the cheap stuff is definitely pricier than the stuff in the states, which I really do hate. I mean, why must I pay 6 dollars for a nail polish when you can get it for 2 in the states? I find Shoppers to be pricier compared to places like Walmart and Zellers for DS brands. Superstore is often a bit picked over, although after buying some amazing candles there I do think I will check back again to look at makeup when I am wanting to check out DS products! I’ve never tried their Joe brand, as I’ve never heard anything about it.
i was excited to see this article, as a Canadian beauty lover but am a tad disappointed. The classification of Quo brushes being “high-quality” is something that I have to strongly, but respectfully, disagree with. They shed like mad are to me, and are not worth my hard earned money, even when they are 40-50% off, as they usually are most weekend.
Because we DO pay so much more for our beauty products, as you mentioned, we (readers) are surprised that you didn’t mention Rexall or Pharmaplus. Their weekly sales are excellent, they offer a great selection of skin care and make-up from around the world – products that are not always found at Shoppers etc.
Seeing as price and selection of make-up in general (regardless of country of origin) is a challenge for us Canadian beauty lovers, I’d have loved an article on where to find sought-after products – like NYX – in Canada. The reason I mention NYX is because it covers both bases for many of us, price and quality.
I look forward to seeing more ‘Canadian’ related posts.
A tip to Albertans! (I’m not sure if it applies to other provinces.) When I was in Seattle last summer, I told the SA I was from Alberta. All I had to do was show my driver license and got the tax exempted. So not only did I enjoy great American pricing at Sephora and discounts at outlet stores, such as CCO, but I saved even more. Careful though, if you spend too much you have to claim it through customs- eh…
I learned why many of our products in Canada are still priced higher than the US, even though our dollar is near par – it’s the testing and regulations we have in place here that cause the price to go up! You’ll notice anything with SPF particularly is a lot more here than in the US because of all the testing it undergoes. It’s super-frustrating, but I’m glad to finally understand why it is that we’re getting charged so much more!