Notes on beauty shopping in HK

HK is a place where you can find most things, sometimes. Erratic stocking, monopoly-run pharmacies and budget cosmetic stores make beauty shopping here a constant treasure hunt rather than a once-a-month stockup. You can score fantastic bargains but sometimes at the price of incredible frustration.

For the most part though I make do and will likely only be stocking up on Himalaya Herbals Neem Face Pack and Silky Girl Mascaras.

Here are some personal notes on beauty shopping in HK. It's still a work in progress:

If you see something you want for a good price at Bonjour, Colourmix, Angel or Sasa, buy it. You may never see it again and very likely not for the same price.

They may have the brand you want, but not the product you want. For example, Clean & Clear Clear Fairness range? Yes. The moisturiser? No. Also, Neutrogena's Deep Clean Toner is conspicuously absent even though the rest of the range is present.

Clinique is cheaper here in general than in Malaysia, and definitely cheaper if bought at discount shops. 

Himalaya Herbals is not available here at all. Not online, not in-store. 

Yes to Carrots was available here but isn't anymore.

Mannings and Watsons are everywhere - but are inconsistent in the brands and items they stalk. If you find something you want to repurchase remember WHICH store you bought it at. Some of the bigger, better stores with hard to find brands are Mannings Plus in Cityplaza, Taikoo and Watsons, Melbourne Plaza, Queen's Road, Central (this one has Lavera and Burt's Bees).

Bourjois is double the price here that it is in England. Boo!

Clairol Herbal Essences used to be everywhere and now I only see it in limited variety in the pharmacies. Some large Welcome grocery stores though have the full range... for some reason.

Speaking of shampoo, easily found sizes are either travel or nearly 1 litre! Finding sizes in between can be tough, larger grocery stores are your best bet.

Affordable cleansing oils are everywhere here and really easy to find.

Etude House is also pricier in HK than it is in Malaysia. They have a real crush on all Korean and Japanese cosmetics here.

Lip balms are strangely hard to find here. Lip Ice is available, but more expensive here than in Malaysia and the watercolour range isn't available. Nivea lipbalms in medicated, hydrocare, natural and strawberry are all that's available here but you will find Labello balms at unexpected places. The full range of EOS lip balms can be found at Sasa Olympic but nowhere else that I've seen.

The largest Canmake counter can be found at CitySuper, Times Square, Causeway Bay.

Maybelline too is very overpriced here.

At present exchange rates, Revlon is slightly cheaper than Malaysia and the selection is better.

Update (14/09/2012)
Giorgio Armani cosmetics, which have pulled out of Malaysia, are available in Hong Kong. They have large boutiques in Alexandra House in Central and in Pacific Place in Admirality. A jar of their coveted Eyes to Kill Intense eyeshadow is HKD250.

Vichy, which has also just pulled out of Malaysia, is also still available here. Tom Ford, Jill Stuart, and Lush are three other (rather high-end) brands available in Hong Kong but not in Malaysia.

YSL cosmetics are slightly cheaper (I believe) when bought directly from their standalone outlets. I picked up one of their Glossy Stains at their store in Pacific Place for HKD240 and it retails at Sogo for HKD256.