If you could go makeup shopping in any country, which would you choose? Why?
France or Italy! Both seem like really excellent places to find niche brands.
Thanks to Mariachiara for today’s question!
Got a question idea? Submit yours here.
We're here to help you make better beauty purchases that you'll enjoy and love! We recommend signing up to take advantage of personalized features like tracking products you own, viewing dupes that you already have, and more!
Here are some useful resources for you:
Curious how two shades compare to each other? Type in the shades below to get instant side-by-side swatches!
Comments that do not adhere to our comment policy may be removed. Discussion and debate are highly encouraged but we expect community members to participate respectfully. Please keep discussion on-topic, and if you have general feedback, a product review request, an off-topic question, or need technical support, please contact us!
Please help us streamline the comments' section and be more efficient: double-check the post above for more basic information like pricing, availability, and so on to make sure your question wasn't answered already. Comments alerting us to typos or small errors in the post are appreciated (!) but will typically be removed after errors are fixed (unless a response is needed).
We appreciate enthusiasm for new releases but ask readers to please hold questions regarding if/when a review will be posted as we can't commit to or guarantee product reviews. We don't want to set expectations and then disappoint readers as even products that are swatched don't always end up being reviewed due to time constraints and changes in priorities! Thank you for understanding!
We try to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind and appreciate your patience! 🙂 If you have general feedback, product review requests, off-topic questions, or need technical support, please contact us directly. Thank you for your patience!
Japan!
Japan! The have some amazing speciality lines packaged like works of art!!!
definitely in agreement here! L.o.v.e asian cosmetics.
As an Australian faced with exorbitant mark ups I would say the US for sure!!
So Us definitely, as I am from Australia, the makeup here is outrageously expensive.
The UK i’d want to get all the stuff I hear about on YT from some of my favorite gurus, barry m, sleek, mua,bourjois (I know you can get it here but its harder to come by) inglot…
Japan 🙂
The US!! I really don’t understand why prices are so much higher in Canada for the exact same products! I’m headed to Vegas and I’m going hard! 🙂
I agree! I also hate that we get everything after the US, especially with drugstore makeup.
Paris . I think that the products there have been very good quality that non name brands would be just as good from that region .
I live and travel in Europe, but for shopping I like the USA. Everything is much cheaper because of the exchange rate. I do wish USA drugstores would have testers though.
I went makeup shopping in Japan. I wasn’t impressed. Lots of tiny cute things but ultra cheap packaging. The only thing I really liked were their eyelashes.
I’d like to go to France.
Japan! They have fantastic brands and the packaging is to die for!
i’d choose the u.k, because they seem to have a lot of really nice quality drugstore/chemist brands.
France and Germany. They have makeup and polish you can only get in their countries.
Definitely India!
Japan!
France but especially Paris. I am a perfume nut so could to both in the one city.
The US! I feel like you can get EVERYTHING amazing – whether it’s a drugstore brand or high end. Not to mention all the e-tailers that ship for free/a very low cost.
I’m from Hong Kong where we have plenty of high end brands but it falls short on quality drug store products. We do have Maybelline, L’Oreal, Revlon etc but it is very limited. I guess we do have the privilege of Japanese products at very reasonable prices though 🙂
Maybe somewhere in Asia, but frankly, I’m a fan of the American prices! Everything is cheaper here!
US – we get ripped off in Australia 🙁 so expensive
USA
Does this count perfume? Paris, all the way!
USA! I’m always so jealous seeing what you can buy there. In Switzerland you can’t get brands like Urban Decay, NARS and Too Faced and many many more. Unless you order online, but then you pay a fortune for it.
Zooey,
You wrote exactly what I was planning to write. The only difference is that you are in Europe and I’m in Brazil! lol
Here we have MAC only in few big cities, 3 times more expensive than the prices in US and most of the collections don’t even come here. 🙁
NARS, Urban Decay, Too Faced, The Body Shop, Smashbox… only online here. There’s no Sephora (there’s a rumor they’ll open one next year here in São Paulo) but I’m quite sure the prices will be a fortune.
I agree completely!!!! Or England would be nice too, they have also some drugstore brands, that I’d like to try. I don’t care that much about high end, it’s just too expensive for me… Or maybe it woulden’t be too expensive in the USA, but it is in Switzerland! When I’m in England in May and again in summer, I’ll go make-up shopping! 🙂 Especially in the summer, cause in May I’m on a school trip. 😛
Japan and south korea
Definitely Japan, their cosmetics are outstanding and are even better than its western counterparts. Most of my wish list products are Japanese.
Next is France, but that’s just because I want to go visit Guerlain and admire the perfumes and cosmetics.
Japan or Hong Kong. That is where the makeup market is. Back then in 1979, YSL cosmetics was in Hong Kong way before it even landed in the United States. YSL was pure luxury…not like today. MAC and Urban Decay and all these trendy makeup brands in the United States dont even compare. The Asian countries are so “avante garde”. I am an U.S. blogger.
Dubai!
Dubai 😉
Italy
Korea!
I really wanna try those beautiful Lunasol palettes.
Second choice would be Japan.
lunasol is from japan lol
The US (I’m Australian)the variety of cosmetics available over there is much greater than Australia, not to mention the extreme price differences (in some cases double here) and the AU$ is stronger than the US$ so there would be a lot of bargains to be had, not to mention CCO’s.
The UK was pretty good, I love my boot’s mascara and urban decay.
The US for sheer variety alone. And Bobbi Brown for less money, great!
I would go shopping to Dubai coz its customs free and its an amazing city, then London to buy Sleek and Barry M and other high street owesome products, then Thailand coz MAC get released their sooner than Dubai and London 🙂
USA, got a lot of brands I like that I can’t get here in Sweden!
America !
I live in Belgium and we don’t have any stores like there.
Hi everyone. I live in Israel, and believe me, every time I go shop for make up, I’m very upset. We have here maybe 10 brands (which are very expensive, I buy Revlon lipstick in 25$ ! compaire to Shekel and 3,4 cheeper brands. from what I follow in the internet I must say: “Definitely shop in the USA”!!
The best makeup shopping of my life was in France in that awesome Sephora in Champs Eliseees (sp.?) … It was so so gread. The prices are much higher than in the states though, so for you American beauties that’s something to bear in mind when shopping in Paris. I also had fun shopping in Rome, Italy but I spent more on clothes there, especially around the Spanish Steps…so many stunning designer shops at one place.
*great not gread 🙂
Canary Islands (OK, that’s not a country, it’s part of Spain). Once I was told by a reader that they have a special taxation system, and cosmetics are really affordable there, even La Prairie!
And oh, yes, Japan too! esp for Jill Stuart!
Are you kidding me? Italy has one of the poorest brand selections I have ever seen and everything is more expensive than in other countries (source: I was born and raised here).
When I lived in the UK I had loads of fun shopping for cosmetics but Hong Kong has to be the ultimate stopover for make-up addicts, glad I’m moving there soon!!!
I would also say the US for prices, availability of brands and events such as IMATS.
Agreed. I lived in Hong Kong for 7 years and it was heaven. Sometimes I think Europe is quite overrated (source: I’m from and live in Spain!) Haha :))
Oh my god! I would go to Japan for their eyeliners, brushes, Suqqu and skincare. And France, Italy, or U.K. for everything else
I would choose america, because of the prices and fun store. Here in belgium the make up is so expensive.
UK and USA
USA, because MAC is about half the price there compared to in Sweden.
South Korea 🙂 that’s where my ancestors hail from 😉 lol but it’s so bad because I have like no interest to go there to learn about my culture. Maybe some interest to visit distant relatives. It’s mainly just to buy makeup. What a shame! xP
Japan is amazing, was there last year and I bought sooo much stuff, but I’d go to the USA cause you guys have so many brands and it’s all so cheap!
France. They have amazing shopping there!!
I would say Paris or Japan.
no doubt, it will be JAPAN!!
Since I live in Italy, I’d love to go to France or the USA because there’s plenty of brands you can’t find here that I’d like to try.
usa of course
Singapore or Thailand. It is nearby, they have all the great brands for much cheaper than in Oz and they have Sephora!
For me it would be the USA! Hahaha 😉
Or just any country where they sell Paul & Joe…
Japan! Lots of makeup lines not available anywhere else in the world and excellent service!
I’ve got to agree with Japan! Or maybe Dubai!
Japon and Korea !
I do live in France, and I think that we miss a lot of things in shopping ! It’s frustrating.
But well, I go to Japan this summer and it will be GREAT !
I’d choose JAPAN!!! I live in ITALY and let me tell you this – most of the brands aren’t available here such as Hourglass, Nars, Bobbi Brown, Milani… Sephora in Florence doesn’t even have UD! The other Sephora in Prato has it but it’s a new brand here – it came out last year. And some drugstore brands such as Revlon and Maybelline are more expensive and some other brands aren’t available such as CoverGirl. I heard they sell Wet’n’Wild in a few stores so I definitely need to find out where the heck I can purchase it lol.
Italy? wow, I didn’t think about someone interested into Italian brands! (I’m Italian btw).
To me, it’s Japan and USA. USA also for the option to be able to take back what I didn’t like… here in Europe there isn’t something like that.
North America! Purely for the cost. Put it this way, buying MAC and NARS in America is cheaper than buying Maybelline and L’Oreal in Australia.
I think France as well or anywhere in the US as there’s loads of makeup products from there that aren’t available here in the UK!
lol! i live in italy and can’t wait to come to the US to go makeup shopping! :o)
Possibly United States or United Kingdom.
The US – you have so many more brands available than we do in Canada and, for the first time in years, the dollar is in our favour so products would be a bargain! But I love France and wouldn’t pass up any excuse to go again so maybe I’d choose France and not worry too much about actually buying makeup!
I will go to the UK, they seem to have nice and affordable brands
Japan! I hope everything be back to normal there soon, so the people can rebuild their lives. Go Japan!
I’m italian and i want to go shopping in the U.S.A.!
Japan! When I went there, there was SOOO much cool stuff, but I couldn’t buy it all. They have great stuff (I bought lots of clothes, too!)
I would be perfectly happy to have access to brands like NARS, Shu Uemura, Laura Mercier and so on. It’s quite hard to track these brands down here, and I always have to buy sight unseen. So it would probably the US for me, although I love Japanese brands, too, like Suquu, RMK or KATE. Most of the packaging of Japanese brands is too cute for me, though. And the shadows are usually super glittery/frosty.
Oh, and a brand I’ve been dying to try out is Le Metier De Beaute! It’s so hard to get, which is really a shame.
Definitely Japan! They have makeup you never thought was even possible!
lol the US definitely. France and Italy doesn’t have drugstores and i haven’t seen niche brands from there…oh wait, maybe I’ll pick Germany!
I would go to France to visit Dany Sanz at Make Up Forever.
I would have to say France because they are way more into fashion and makeup and stuff… In Italy there was a place called Kiko that was ok and pretty inexpensive but I found may more options in France and other countries.
oops i thought you were asking out of France and Italy which would you choose lol… but yes either way i have only been to Europe outside the US and I would still say France or UK
Japan too!!!
Japan or USA!
I’m Canadian, so the USA is the obvious choice for me!
well Christine, I have to tell you that despite the fact many beauty products are made here in Italy, there are not so many brands. we produce a lot but mainly for export or for foreigners brands!
the only two which are totally Italian are Kiko (a low cost brand) and Madina Milano which is also quite low cost (but quality is good) and it’s sold only in Milan.
If I could go make-up shopping abroad, I would choose USA (damn you have a huuuuge selection of brands, from drugstore to high end, and much more shades of foundation for very fair skinned people, and high end brands as MAC have much lower prices than here), UK (for similar reasons) and Germany (lots of natural/biological cosmetics, and Kryolan City!).
definitely Japan!
Usa! you guys have really great drugstore brands.I would love to spread my money until the very last penny at Ulta and target:)
ENGLAND.
I thought I was going to seem like a jerk for saying Japan, but apparently I’m not the only one who would pick there. Italy would probably be my second choice.
Japan or the UK. I’ve been to the UK and went crazy buying beauty products the last time I was there.
England, for Inglot and USA, for MUFE.
Japan or England! I love all the cute packaging and niche products Japan makes and England has so many amazing drugstore products that are hard to get in the US. I would buy barry m, sleek, certain boots products.
France – went last fall and Sephora had sooo many different brands. Boots in London had some unique products as well.
Japan! Some of the best things happening in skin care and cosmetics are in Japan. I wish we had better access to some of their incredible products.
I live In Italy and although there are some great local brands I think England has the best offerings! I lives there for three years and shopping at Boots and Superdrug was awesome!
Japan!! hands down
japan they have amazing stuff!!!
US, immediately! It’s cheaper there and much easier to get OPI etc. …
I would definitely want to go shopping in the UK! 🙂
I’d have to say England – weird, I know but I’d love to see what kinds of brands they have there.
The US of A ofc 🙂
Asia and the US…I live in Italy, cosmetics are very expensive here
I’m from Canada, so make up is relatively cheap here. But if I could choose where to shop, probably Japan or the US.
Japan! Besides makeup, I love their bath products!
In the USA where I live. I have so much ish to buy it isn’t funny and I’d start on Madison Ave. in New York City first.
France!
I’m with you, Molly. Everything is very chic!
USA
Asia! I love the makeup I buy whenever I visit Japan, and the few Korean cosmetics I’ve bought online are amazing!
USA, UK and Japan for variety, quality and prices.
In my country, buying a Maybelline mascara is like 10 dollars… that says it all.
Japan or England!
I feel blessed to live in the US – so many brands available and the prices are great, too! With F&F sale trend for the past couple of years it’s even better:) I love cosmetoics shopping in Japan for I love Asian brands and they’re hard to get here.
I’d love reccomendations for French brands you can’t get in the US- I’ll be in Paris this summer!
I’d go to US and UK, for sure!
USA!!!!
The U.S. I agree with other Canadians who have lamented at the prices we have to pay!! Also we can’t get some of the products even if the brand is sold in Canada – not to mention no Illamasqua in Canada either!! Boo!
Japan!
USA, hands down!
I am from Germany and I would *love* to be able to visit the CCOs and shop brands that aren´t easily available over here. :o)
I travel for a living. I have lived in India, Paris, Florence and London for several years and I travel extensively to Asia & Dubai. For sheer selection of products and pricing you cannot beat the USA. Yes, each country has their own niche brands, some good some not so much but for the same brand name US has the best prices. Also ladies, don’t forget they give you samples freely here in America, even for the highest end brands be it La Mer, SKII, Chanel, whatever. And not to mention returns- ANY product, anytime in many stores. You try getting THAT kind of service in another country!
omg, you are right!!! only USA does the whole returning products policy!!! You try doing that in my country(Malaysia) and you would get kicked out of the shopping mall, or looked like you are mad!!! And whilst I am here, just want to say, USA is the most awesome place for shopping for cosmetics…. My country does carry high end brands( Dior, Chanel,La Prairie, etc) but in limited quantity and is sometimes launched late. And certain brands, like Guerlain, which is my fav brand… has such small counters, tucked behind huge screens!! Im like whuttt??? Guerlain is easily recognised as one of the upper high end brands, yet they are treated like dirt here in Malaysia… even the Revlon counter is bigger!!! And I just could not resist this, but ppl, I just want to know, is the Guerlain counter in the shopping malls in San Francisco and in L.A itself really nice and well stocked? Thanks a bunch!!!
Same here in Italy, no return policy whatsoever, even at Sephora I have to struggle if I really dislike something I purchased.
Oh, and the SAs in Italy are usually not very knowledgeable about cosmetics.
Japan or Korea, China would do too. I love trying out Asian make up brands, since I am too they tend to suit my skin better.
Japan. I got a taste of Japanese cosmetics and skincare whilst in Hong Kong. I want more.
ENGLAND/UK
France
Japan
US or UK 🙂 (I’m from Mexico)
Hong Kong and Japan. I missed my chance when I was in Paris a couple years ago. I was totally into the food and culture that I overlooked the beauty products. Did come home with an amazing lip balm.
Hong Kong, for sure.
Japan. I spend so much on shipping and inflated prices at online stores ordering all sorts of Japanese cosmetics, from low-end to high-end, every single year.
EASIEST QUESTION EVER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
JAPAN BABY !
Beverly Hills, California- after giving it much thought … good survey idea!! ;-))
I used to want Japan or Singapore because of the beautiful cosmetics and packaging but now that I can’t wear as much shimmer I’d say the UK so I could get ahold of Rouge Bunny Rouge, more Illamasqua and some of other classy brands.
UK and Japan! 😀
Japan & Korean
Well the US does carry almost all the top make-up artist brand make-up and others even if I have to go to another city where there is more variety.
Otherwise I would want to go to U.K. and France. They have certain brands that are more readily available that US doesn’t have. Also I want to go to MUFE Academy in Paris or this other in London.
As far as Italy, the best deals are on wine and leather!
Japan!
Doesn’t every country have the same makeup? I mean Loreal paris is from Paris i believe yet they have it in every country?
Japan…I love makeup,but I’m a skincare junkie first(with pigmentation problems…which Japanese and Korean skincare products are known to correct).
US, JAPAN and maybe France!!
I would like to shop in Italy. I would also like to shop in other places such as India, Dubai, and Rio de Janeiro. I am very interested in colors and I am into culture.
Japan, South Korea or Hong Kong.
There is something about Asian Skincare and makeup that feels so luxurious and exquisite. Whenever I use Shiseido or Kanebo for example, I always feel like I’m applying the best ingredients onto my face
Christine, as I am from Italy, I don’t think you would be impressed… our brands are not so many and I think you in US have far more things to choose from!… but perhaps we always look for what we haven’t 🙂
NEW YORK!!! you have all the products,especially those that I love,
MAC for first!!!
in Italy is difficult finds american brands and if there are,are so expensive. LUCKY you!!!
Im from France and I would have to answer USA! You can’t believe how cheaper things are over there. You also have brands we don’t have, same in the UK.
But overall I still feel lucky to be in France.
USA – for the myriads of brands, the cheaper-than-Europe prices, the CCOs and the overall shopping experience.
US!!!
US! We have great products here in the Philippines, but drugstore brands there are way expensive here!
I already live in France (yeah, i know), and UK products are easy to get. So i would say the US ^^
USA where I live seems to have the best variety. However, I have really liked things found in UK that I cannot get anywhere but there. France/Italy tied for 3rd – but only in the biggest of cities. Smaller towns have nothing much but for some good (never to find again) natural apothecary brands in skin care.
Definitely Japan or Korea!
I’d love to makeup in England or France definitely Japan
JAPAN, HONG KONG, USA & UK!!woooohoo!i wanna travel and go make-up shopping!!
japan and korea!
USA as i live in the UK you guys get some of the best 🙂
i live in australia and just to give everyone here an idea of how ridiculous the prices are here, mac lipglasses are $35 and nars blushes are $60
the exchange rate is about 1:1 right now
its cheaper for me to order makeup from US sites, send to american friends, then pay them to send it to me than to buy it here haha
KOREA!!!