Sunday, February 5, 2012

My Cross Border Shopping Haul!

You may have seen those Cheeky image plates available on Amazon....try as I may....and despite the seller saying they should be available for shipping to Canada...I couldn't check out my order with a Canadian shipping address....even called Amazon to try to troubleshoot my order. Anyway, when the listing said they were down to their last 15 in stock, I couldn't delay any longer as I didn't want to miss out, so I placed my order and had it delivered to a UPS Store in Niagara Falls USA which offers this type of mail acceptance service......which necessitated a 276 km round trip to the States on Friday to pick up my order!



While I was there, I couldn't resist a few side stops so Big K, Walmart, Rite Aid, and Walgreens while I was there....and I may have a picked up a few polishes....



I also stopped by Dollar Tree, Marshalls and Big Lots but didn't find anything terribly exciting there. My biggest haul was at Big K (I'm not sure if its called Big K or K-Mart); they had Jordana and Milani glitters, Sally Hansen Gem Crush, new L'Oreal colours and some Maybelline's that I haven't seen in my area. Picked up a few Pure Ice's at Walmart...I was hoping that the new Nicole by OPI Spring Kardashian colours would have been there, but they weren't.

On my way home, I missed the street I was to turn on to head back to Canada....I hadn't been there in about a year and a half and even then, I'm usually a passenger, not the driver so wasn't terribly familiar with where I was going....but thank goodness I did, because I found Rite Aid and Walgreens across from one another. Both had different Sinful Colors displays...and I lucked out and found Borghese on sale at Rite Aid...75% off...so was able to snag Stellar Noir for $2!

These were some of my most interesting (to me!) finds:



Top row, l - r: Jordana Sequins, Jordana Cosmic, Jordana Gemstones, Sinful Unicorn.
Bottom row, l-r: Borghese Euro Green, SH Gem Crush Glitz Gal, Milani Teal, Milani Hot Pink, Borghese Stellare Notte.

I've been lemming Sinful Unicorn since I seen it on Lynderella's blog under Happy Holo-Daze....was thrilled to find it!

I had the funniest experiences both times crossing the border...when I was entering the US, the border guard asks for my passport, where I'm from, who does my vehicle belong to and then says, "How long will you-WHAT is on your nails?" Seriously, it was too funny! So out goes my hands out my vehicle window to show the young fellow my Flintstones mani...I'm guessing the bright colours caught his attention....the people in the car behind me where probably wondering what this lady was doing flinging her hands out her car window to the border guard! Then I explain to him that I'm heading to the UPS Store in Niagara Falls to pick up nail art. On my trip back into Canada, something very similar happened, only this time, it was a lady...who couldn't quite comprehend what a gal who doesn't own a business was doing buying all these nail polishes, but she too complimented me on my cool nails....however, it didn't stop her from sending me over to pay duty on my polish purchases though....small price to pay though for all those pretties I wouldn't have otherwise been able to get!

To top my weekend off, I went to my local beauty supply place and low and behold, found these:



OPI Holland Collection!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just picked these up today and haven't quite figured out which one I want to wear first (heck, who am I kidding....I know which one I'll be wearing first!) but haven't figured out how it will be turned into a Valentine's Day mani....yet. With any luck, I'll be using some of the images from my new plates!


Thanks for looking!

Edit: While I'd usually provide the link to where these plates could be purchased, they are currently sold out at this time.

14 comments:

  1. Gaah, this is wild, driving over 200 k to get stamping plates ;) Awesome! haha..

    But hauling in other countries is always awesome!! And what a great haul!!

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  2. wow!!!! awesome haul! cant wait to see ur new manis with these plates...pls mail me the link of the plates if u see them available again. they look really interesting

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  3. Nice haul! I think I'm going to have to show my nails off to the border guards when I cross into Detroit next time I go! I'm never the driver, so it may be a challenge, lol!

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  4. Coming from a fellow Canadian, I'm very jealous of your US haul. Definitely wishing I could have been a fly on your shoulder to check out the retail there. Ah well, I'll live vicariously through your haul pictures. ;)

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  5. Omg so you just were in my city! Idk why but i think that's cool. The stores here do tend to lack alot though =\. Best bet would be if you ever go to LA. Go to downtown LA. They have loads of nail stuffies for cheap.

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  6. This issue Amazon seems to have of not being able to ship a lot of the nail plates to Canada is frustrating. They won't ship the shany 2012 ones either. Yet, they shipped my Red Angel and Bundle Monster ones.
    Did they mention what the shipping problem was for you?
    Plates are so light and non-hazardous materials. I wonder what the issue is.

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  7. Wow! That is an amazing haul! Enjoy all the beauties. Can't wait to see what you do with them :D

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  8. This is truly a beautiful haul... and it answers a burning question I've had: Whether bringing nailpolish into Canada from across the border is going incur hassling for "dangerous goods".

    I want to order some stuff... shipping within the USA is free ... shipping to Canada is $35, plus 10% of the purchase price (choke!!) - was curious if I shipped to a postal outlet in the US and drove across the border if there'd be a huge "You can't bring that into Canada" problem.

    Looks like no! You are amazing! :D

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  9. This is great!

    Been trying to figure out if picking up nail polish in the states and driving back over the border to Canada would incur extra hassle for transporting "dangerous goods".

    Websites that charge a mint for shipping to Canada but Free to the USA... hard to pass up... but didn't want to order then find out I had to forfeit all my goods anyhow!

    Your collection is rockin' great... I'm so glad I'm not the only one with a ginormous collection. :)

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  10. sangu1ne: I don't work for Canada Post/Customs but this is what I have heard; feel free to confirm yourself. The hazardous issue is with air travel; polish can be shipped via ground. When I drive to US and back, its via ground. I always declare my items including stating what it is and have all my receipts; I don't mind paying customs and would rather have that versus confiscating something I didn't declare....and have never had an issue bringing back nail polish. If anthing, I always get, do you own a business? And I think they think I'm a little kooky when I tell them is just for me; its my little hobby! Re: the extra fees to ship to Canada; I can't answer why its so expensive. And btw, even though polish isn't suppose to be mailed via air, I still get packages that say polish in the item declaration and they are fine. And I even had a package opened by customs not too long ago that was marked cosmetics; they found four little polishes I had ordered; the unwrapped one, I guess looked at it and no one like it! wrapped it back up, put the customs tape on it and sent it on is merry way! And for purging, I do believe nailxchange tried to take a bunch of packages over the border to mail, and was stopped and made turn around at customs; they wouldn't let her bring them in to US to mail. I'm pretty sure she did a post on it. And if you mean shipped to US and then you drove there to get the polishes, ya, I do it alllll the time...how do you think I get Lynnderellas off ebay that won't ship to Canada? There's also lots of indies that won't ship to Canada either; I use a UPS Store mailing address, drive across the border to get and head home. I've declared the packages with no problems. Sometimes its too handy being close to the border!

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