I’m going to say what you all know was coming, it’s no surprise.
Beauty shopping in Hong Kong is better than Beauty shopping in Australia times a million plus one.
Okay, before anyone jumps out at me, let me at least present to you my little list of pros and cons, because everyone finds lists easier to read and they make my subjective thoughts seem factual 😉
Why Hong Kong is better
- Abundance of variety, so many international brands not available in Australia are here!
- Asian cosmetic brands, okay I cheated as this is technically the same as the point above, asian cosmetics is so awesome it deserved it’s own bullet point.
- Samples, and not just little packets, but real solid samples. Case in point, I purchased 5 MAC eye shadows from the new MAC Me Over collection, and received a free Size to Go bottle of Fix+ spray. It would be a cold day in hell when the MAC counters in Australia not only greet you with a smile (cheap shot) but offer sizable samples.
- Prices, I know Hong Kong doesn’t have tax, and really whilst the prices here are a lot better than Australia, they are still not as epic as the prices in America. Still, the point is they are a TON better than Australia. Let’s use another MAC example, in Australia one eyeshadow is $33AU, in Hong Kong it’s $140HK (~$17AU) and in USA it’s $15US (~$14AU). In what universe did the Aussie retailers think we were stupid enough to pay double the price for the same cosmetics we can purchase online / overseas? The sheer joy of being able to head downstairs at lunch and BUY stuff knowing I’m paying a reasonable price is a luxury I’ve never experienced in Australia.
And people wonder why the offline retail market in Australia is dying, these points mentioned above pretty much apply to all retail areas.
Okay, but let’s be fair. Australia is my motherland, so I’ll be reasonable and give you the pros of Beauty shopping in Australia.
Why Australia is better
- Australian brands, which admittedly are pretty awesome, my favourites being Face of Australia, Australis and Savvy by DB. When I was asked to recommend liquid liner to a friend here, it hit me that my favourite actually comes from Face of Australia, but it was a product my friend couldn’t physically buy / try 🙁
- Bronzer availability 😉
Yeah, the difference is clear. If you’re an Aussie planning a trip overseas, be prepared for a whole new level of shopping. It’s pretty darn awesome.
ohh, i’ve enver tried any aus brands! what would you recommend?
My friend who recently moved to korea was telling me about all the products they had there that i’v enever heard of here! like MAC bb creams!? guess there’s pro and cons to intl shopping v homeland shopping
Face of Australia (liquid liner, liquid mineral foundation, blush, nail polish), Savvy by DB (luxury liners) are my favourites 😀 You should def give them a shot!
Yep, I picked up the MAC BB Cream whilst over here, haven’t tried it yet tho, will do when I get back 😀
totally valid points!!
*high five*
Agreed! 🙂 I’m heading to Japan, China and HK in a month or so, can’t wait to SHOP!!!! 😀
:O Whoa, how long is your holiday for? I’m so jealous!! I wish I could get sent to Japan to work *_*
In total, about a week or so short of 2 months :D. I’ll have to figure out how to spread out my shopping budget over that time, instead of just going absolutely crazy right away lol.
Looks like I need to head to Hong Kong, lol. But I do agree, after seeing prices online what we pay for cosmetics over here is ridiculous!
Yeah, I bet the retailers think we are a broken record now, well I sure hope their profit margin keeps on falling till they wake up and smell the roses!
Great post, I think you’ve really inspired me to take a little (shopping) vacation to Hong Kong some day!
Woohoo! ;D I hope that eventuates 😀
I’ve always heard that things in Australia cost way more than in America, but I didn’t realize that it was that much more expensive! o_O; Also, the AUD is stronger than the USD right now, so your MAC shadow costs over TWICE as much!!
Yep, the price difference is absolutely insane 🙁 I do almost all my shopping online for a reason 🙁
I totally sympathise with this post. When I was in Malaysia last year I was floored at how cheap everything was, and I was astounded that I could just go into MAC, rattle off a list of things I wanted and I just knew I’d have enough money to cover it. And I asked a US friend to do a MAC CP for me a month ago and I was able to get 12 things for the price of 5.5 here 😐
Glad I’m not alone, it is pretty depressing 🙁
hi there,
Is the price you mentioned for MAC e/s in HK (HKD140) as per AUG 2011? I planned to ask my friend who’s going for holiday to HK to buy some shadows if the price is really HKD140..
Please advise.. ^.^
Yep! It sure was HKD140 last time I was there <3 😀 Good luck!
Has mac recently increased their prices? this year? (in hk)
No idea unfortunately, I haven’t been back in Hong Kong for over a year now.
yeah, i totally agree with your points!!
i mean even if i could ignore the price (which i can’t because i have no money) why in the flaming hell does no-one in australia offer a single sample?? the only samples you ever get here are small satchets of hand cream after buying an entire bottle of (a different) hand cream.
+ you can actually buy JUST sample sized products in Sasa if you want. i got a mini cleansing oil from shu uemura for just HK$66!
although another possible benefit of australian brands (as opposed to some american brands) is SPF.
i was looking up foundations, and I couldn’t find many that had spf, and then some had spf but their oily/combination skin version only had spf 6 (hello revlon -.-)
it’s not like I’m asking for spf 50 like some luxury brands do have for some wierd reason, i just want spf 15!