One of the things I love best about drugstores in Canada is the fragrance sale shelf, where amazing deals can often be found—perfect for holiday giftgiving!
I’m not sure whether it was started by Shoppers Drug Mart, where there’s typically a $19.99 sale shelf, but Rexall definitely has this sale shelf now, too. They actually do two tiers of prices, at $19.99 and $29.99, though I generally still find perfumes I’m more interested in at Shoppers. Granted, I have more Shoppers locations in my repertoire.
Over the last week, I’ve hit up several of my usual locations in downtown Toronto and snapped shots of their perfume sale shelves. I think if you check out the shelves throughout the year, you’ll find better deals than they have right now, but it’s not too shabby in this holiday shopping season.
My personal picks from the Shoppers shelves (sorry, I’m not too well versed in the guys’ selection):
- Aquolina Pink Sugar (this is seemingly ubiquitous—I’d actually wait to find gift set, which appears now and then)
cotton candy, caramel, vanilla, sandalwood, raspberry, red berries, musk - Burberry Weekend for Men
lemon, grapefruit, ivy, bergamot, pineapple, honey, tangerine - Burberry Weekend for Women
peach, peach blossom, hyacinth, mignonette, mandarin, musk - Cacharel Amor Amor
blackcurrant, vanilla, orange, rose, apricot, mandarin, grapefruit - Davidoff Cool Water Woman
melon, lotus, water lily, lemon, pineapple, quince, lily - Jessica Simpson Signature
white chocolate, vanilla, tonka bean, clementine, peach, apricot, jasmine - Moschino I Love Love
grapefruit, orange, lemon, redcurrant, musk, cedar, sugar, lily-of-the-valley - Rihanna Reb’l Fleur
coconut, vanilla, peach, patchouli, red berries, plum, musk, amber - Rihanna Rogue Love
peach, caramel, vanilla, honeysuckle, coconut, red berries, orchid - Taylor Swift Wonderstruck
raspberry, vanilla, blackberry, peach, tea, apple blossom, sandalwood - Taylor Swift Wonderstruck Enchanted
berries, vanilla, sugar, passionfruit, wood notes, musk
Of these, I already have Moschino I Love Love and Rihanna Rogue Love—both very easy to wear and enjoy.
And I’m actually going to go pick up Rihanna Reb’l Fleur, now that I have a Shoppers Optimum coupon loaded for today! Jessica Simpson Signature is a little tempting, as well, but I can probably manage to pass on it.
Just stay away from Oscar De La Renta Blue Orchid, if you see it.
Rexall’s selection includes some great ones, including some I’ve been intrigued by but cannot find any testers (my location was unhelpful in that department, unfortunately).
- Boucheron Place Vendôme ($29.99)
honey, jasmine, orange blossom, praline, benzoin, pink pepper - Britney Spears Hidden Fantasy ($19.99)
sweet orange, Napolitano cake, tangerine, clove, vanilla - Chopard Wish ($19.99)
caramel, vanilla, honey, patchouli, milk, incense, coconut, strawberry, sandalwood, toffee, amber - Jennifer Lopez Love & Glamour ($29.99)
guava, mandarin, peach, water lily - Lanvin Eclat d’Arpege ($29.99)
lilac, wisteria, osmanthus, cedar, amber, musk - Lolita Lempicka ($29.99)
licorice, star anise, violet, vanilla, praline, cherry, tonka bean - Lolita Lempicka Elle L’aime ($29.99)
coconut, lime, vanilla, ylang-ylang, jasmine - Rihanna Rogue ($19.99)
suede, plum, patchouli, vanilla, lemon blossom, musk - Salvatore Ferragamo Incanto Heaven ($29.99)
apple, grapefruit, apricot, peony - Van Cleef & Arpels So First ($29.99)
vanilla, frangipani, magnolia, lime, sandalwood, freesia, jasmine - Vera Wang ($29.99)
lily, lily-of-the-valley, gardenia, lotus, rose - Vera Wang Flower Princess ($29.99)
jasmine, water lily, orange blossom, tangerine, ivy, rose, mimosa, peach - Vera Wang Preppy Princess ($29.99)
jasmine, red berries, wood notes, apple, honeysuckle, tangerine, coconut - Vera Wang Princess Night ($29.99)
sugar, vanilla, raspberry, red berries, watermelon, jasmine, wood notes
Boucheron Place Vendôme is one I’ve wanted to test, but couldn’t find! Arrrgh.
I’ve been wanting Vera Wang Princess lately (weird, right?) and am curious about Preppy Princess. Both are a little cheaper online, though.
By the way, Chopard Wish is wonderful. It’s a little bit Thierry Mugler Angel, but the Lite version. I adore it! I also really enjoy Lolita Lempicka Elle L’aime: lovely coconut and lime. Rihanna Rogue is pretty sweet, as well—it’s on my wishlist.
Finally, I spotted a couple displays of Revlon‘s new Street Chic collection, which includes 6 new and 6 repromoted shades of Super Lustrous Lipstick, my favorite drugstore lippie!
Each lipstick is inspired by a world city; only Montréal is represented from Canada, with Naughty Plum.
The six new shades are:
- Naughty Plum (Montréal)
- Bare Affair (Seoul)
- Lilac Mist (Hong Kong)
- Midnight Mystery (London)
- Bombshell Red (Mexico City)
- Gold Goddess (Milan)
The repromoted shades (yep, I’ve got ’em all) are:
- Pink Velvet (Tokyo)
- Va Va Violet (New York City)
- Mink (Johannesburg)
- Love That Red (Paris)
- Wild Orchid (Buenos Aires)
- Primrose (Sydney)
I really like the Vera Wang Princess line – we seem to be able to pick them up relatively cheaply all year round here now.
I had the OG Taylor Swift perfume years ago and really liked it, and have always meant to check out the newer ones, mainly cause the bottles are pretty!
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I very much like the idea of the Princess line (I mean the bottles, SO disgustingly cute) but I find they don’t always play nicely with my chemistry. Princess is so nice and cocoa-y, but it also veers kinda plastic on me. I am le sad.
Celeb scents are so much fun! 🙂 Cheap and cheerful.
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I want to try Cacharel Amor Amor, Rihanna Reb’l Fleur, and Boucheron Place Vendôme. Those notes speak to me most. I usually shy away from these because there are no testers. Even though the price is right, I hate committing to a scent and not liking it after wearing it… I’ve done that lately and my hit rate is about 50%. 😛
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It is super annoying when drugstore perfumes don’t have testers out! Usually they only have a couple, the newer scents for the most part.
I vaguely remember testing Amor Amor once, a long time ago, and I didn’t care for it but it certainly was not a “bad” scent.
Which ones have you blind-bought recently?
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Does the Revlon color story have any simulators to the old streetwear line?
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I never had any of the old Streetwear lipsticks! Just the nail polishes 🙂 The deep blue lipstick is probably the closest to anything from Streetwear. Have you checked out the L’Oréal x Balmain lipsticks? Those definitely give me Streetwear vibes: https://blog.fivezero.ca/2017/11/16/new-release-loreal-x-balmain-colour-riche-matte-lipstick/
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I’d certainly jump on the Lempickas, except those are full prize, aren’t they? At least I bought mine when they were reduced from 25€ to 16€. Okay and now I checked the exchange rates, it might not be that far off. Never say blogging doesn’t teach you stuff. 🙂
The Vera Wangs always look so cute but so far I nver found one I actually like.
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