Haul: Cosmetic Company Store and DF & CCO

Hello friends~

I mentioned a couple posts ago that I went shopping with my mom and my sister recently at the (fairly) new outlets that opened in Livermore, California.  I have either cheated on my buying ban, found a loophole, or did not break it at all.  It depends how you look at it.  I'll let you guys decide for me.

We went to The Cosmetic Company Store to find some gifts for my mom's friends.  My mom doesn't use any makeup her fragrances herself, but she has some wealthy friends in China who are really into that stuff (kind of like us, beauty bloggers) so we went to see what was fitting.  I picked up MAC Viva Glam Gaga 2 lipstick for my kit.  I have this lipstick already but I couldn't bring myself to cut some of it off to put in my lipstick palette, so I bought another one.  Technically, this purchase was for my kit, which is okay.  When I got home, I actually found that one of my lipstick palettes has a very similar color, so I may be giving this lipstick away.  My sister has also been fawning over the Coach Poppy fragrance for the longest time, and I liked the scent myself, so I bought her the gift set.  Just because.  Of course I'm going to steal a spritz from time to time.

For the record, the lipstick was $10.25 (retail $14.50) and the gift set $72 ($90 at Sephora).

Next, we went to DF & CCO which is not a store that I hear much about in the blogging community.  While The Cosmetic Company Store (CCO) has a much wider selection, the deals at DF & CCO are usually much much better.  This store sells fragrances, some skin care, and Lancome and YSL cosmetics.  They have sales that change every two weeks.  When I last visited, Lancome single eyeshadows were $5.60 each, Lancome eyeliners were $5 each, YSL eyeshadow duos were $15, and then there were these guys.....

These are all Lancome palettes.  And how much were they?  $15 a pop.  Yes, that's right.  Those color design palettes at Sephora are $48 each.  You see what I mean about steep deals?  By the way, I didn't buy these.  My sister did.  She bought them so that we could either share them or give away some of the palettes as gifts.  I'll see if I can convince her to keep them LOL.

So that's it for my "haul."  I wanted to get this up soon so that any of you that live near these sorts of shopping outlets could take advantage of the deals.  Also, feel free to voice your opinion on whether or not you think I've broken my beauty buying ban.  

Mini CCO and Lancome Haul (and rant)

Some time last month, I went to Vacaville Premium Outlets to do a bit of shopping with my boyfriend, but mostly to check out the Cosmetics Company Store (CCO) there.  I was absolutely bursting with excitement upon entering the store, but that slowly turned into disappointment and irritation the more time I spent in the store.

I was a bit disappointed in their selection, which is probably fortunate for my wallet.  I was most disappointed in the way some of the testers were handled as well as the customer service.  As I'm sure most of us here are beauty fanatics, we tend to like to swatch testers to see the real thang before we make a purchase.  I wanted to check out the Estee Lauder Double Wear Shadow Cremes as I only own one of them, but all their testers were tried out.  When I requested new testers, the SA refused because she said they had to leave the caps off and they would dry out anyway.  When I went to check out the MAC paint pots, however, all the caps were kept on and the products nice and creamy.  I'm not sure I understand what's going on here.

I think the atmosphere in the store was the most, suffocating and unpleasant.  I had such a wonderful experience at the CCO in Gilroy Premium Outlets that I had expected the same in this Vacaville location.  Couldn't be more wrong.  The SAs here seemed to have quite a snobbish attitude.  It probably didn't help that it was a very hot day and I was wearing minimal makeup and dressed very casually.  I had a feeling they thought I was not a serious buyer. The SAs there asked me continually if I had any questions or if I was finding everything all right.  Based on the tone and frequency they were asking, it sounded much more like they wanted to get rid of me rather than an invitation to ask questions.  I was thoroughly annoyed and irritated, but I still left the store with three purchases: Estee Lauder Double Wear Shadow Creme in Blue Velvet, MAC Paintpot in Pure Creation, and MAC eyeshadow in Dame's Desire.

Blue Velvet, Pure Creation, and Dame's Desire

Blue Velvet, Pure Creation, and Dame's Desire

Blue Velvet, Pure Creation, and Dame's Desire

Blue Velvet, Pure Creation, and Dame's Desire

I also stopped by DF & CCO to check out what they had for sale.  They change up their sales every two weeks.  I picked up Lancome's Star Bronzer, which I hoped would be a cheaper alternative for NARS Laguna bronzer.

When I was having my purchases rung up at CCO, I asked if there was makeup remover available.  The SA paused and told me there wasn't, but there was hand sanitizer I could use.  She knew that I wanted to remove the makeup swatches on the back of my hand, and I was really annoyed because I had a feeling she was lying to me.  Blah.  I will probably still return to this store because it's the closest to me, at about an hour's drive away.  It's somewhat close to my university where I completed my undergraduate studies so I'm most familiar with that road.  California has 8 CCO locations, which is the most out of any state in the United States.  If you live in the U.S. and would like to check for locations, you can click here.

My first CCO visit and haul

I went to my first CCO (The Cosmetics Company Store) not too long ago in Gilroy Premium Outlets.  I was so excited I almost had a heart attack.  For those of you who don't know, CCO is a store that carries Estee Lauder brands including Estee Lauder, MAC, Clinique, and Bobbi Brown.  Most of the items they carry are discontinued and/or limited edition, and all are sold at a discounted price.  Needless to say, I spent a good amount of time in there and spent way more than I should have.

I'm super happy with this haul and my experience there.  The ladies there were so helpful and friendly and let me wander around and test products for as long as I'd like.  If it weren't so dang far away, I would return again and again!