Greek (Makeup) Spree!

And where to shop for them, of course.

When I boarded the plane to Greece, I had no inkling of what was there to buy. And not much idea of where to shop, either. All I knew was, "They have Sephora!" Which sounded good enough for me.

Initially.

But now that I've been there, and bought that, let me tell you that Greece is, in fact, quite the little haven for a makeup mad blogger. Oh what joy. =P

If you're anything like me, you'd be a mad woman who spends a significant amount of time during your travels trying to find out what you can buy in that country that you can't in your home country. Or what to buy that would be cheaper than back home.

And if you're like me, you'd really want to remember these four places I'm going to tell you about so you can go hauling mad too and spend all that hard-earned cash.


1. Sephora

As much I was looking forward to Sephora, I must say I was slightly disappointed. If you're from the US, or France, or any of those countries that carry all the brands found in Sephora (here's me glaring at you), I'd suggest you not bother with Sephora Greece. It has your usual Estee, and Dior, and it's Sephora home brand, but none of that Smashbox and Cargo, which I'd been looking forward to. I found one on Ermou St (major shopping street), right in the heart of Athens city, situated right next to H & M, which I'll talk about a little more later.

What I bought: A little bottle of vanilla scented bubble bath (yum), a Sephora blush and bronzer duo, and a small tube of John Frieda's Brilliant Brunette Shine Shock Highshine Perfecting Glosser. I must add here, that I adore the hubs. Shopping with me in Sephora (my first time there, and his 2nd or 3rd), he actually ENCOURAGED me to shop.

"What? Only three products?" asked he, in all earnestness.

"You should get more stuff, you've been drooling over Sephora for so long! Make your trip here worth it."

My my. Where is the world going to. Not that I'm complaining, of course. And I did run back there for two Sephora makeup corrector sticks.

Me, smug, with my fresh Sephora purchase on Ermou St. =P

2. H & M

Thou shalt not diss H & M. Even if the makeup section is terribly small, you never know what little gems you can find here. Located just next to Sephora, it's a store I make a quick pit-stop in before browsing through the other stores. =P Yes, I went there more than once. And based on my good experience with H & M products before, why the heck not?

What I bought: A blush, a bronzer, an eye-shadow duo and a tin of chocolate-scented lip balm. Yum.

3. Hondos Centre


Ladies, if you're still reading this, pay attention. Hondos Centre is where you'd REALLY wanna be. Think UK Boots, and Aussie Priceline, and this is like three times bigger than the drugstores I've been to in both countries. Now THAT'S saying something. Packed to the brim with products of all ranges, from YSL to Nivea, this is drugstore Mecca, ladies. You can find a Hondos Centre almost anywhere in Greece, and there's a huge one (also) on Ermou St. How convenient.






What I bought: Dove moisturisers (to stock up), bars and bars of soap of various scents, Pantene hair mask, a HUGE tub of chocolate-scented Vaseline (madness, I know), Liposan (Nivea in Malaysia) pink grapefruit lipbalms for Kahani, and a Foxy hairbrush. It took willpower not to buy even more, I tell you.


What's that you said about buying more products, honey? =P

4. Farmakeio (aka Pharmacy)

While Hondos Centre is the Boots or Priceline equivalent (or better), there's one home brand here which you should ALL look out for in a farmakeio when you come to Greece - Korres. I was first introduced to Korres in Australia. They had a blush called Peach. Not the most creative, but if you know me... it's a blush, and it's peach. But it was AU$49 (~RM140). A Korres blush is €15.50 (~RM77.50) here. Need I say more? PLUS, some farmakeios have discounts, so I paid less than €15 for a blush.

What I bought: Two blushers, one lipstick, and a set of 6 lipglosses for €19 (~RM95) duty free in Dubai's airport. Nice. And oh, one of the hotels we stayed in supplies guests with Korres products, so I'm quite Korres-happy at the moment.




So there. Your four makeup pit-stops there. Greece, anyone?