CherryHaul: Shopping in the USA

So as you all know by now, I was in Jersey City for two weeks in business.  Being the only person from my team there meant that I had a lot of time to shop after work on my own :)

Cross border shopping is always fun because the prices are cheaper in the States compared to Canada not just because of sales taxes (which can get higher than 10% depending which province) but mainly because items are marked up when they come to Canada.  My beloved argan oil at Sephora is a good example: $30 in the US vs $36 in Canada...that's practically a 20% markup!!

Anyways, without further procrastination, here are the details of my lovely haul...I didn't get to take a picture of everything together because of packing and the fact that I shoved all my clothes in the wash right when I got home!

Sephora

I just started running out of Josie Maran's argan oil for my hair - I bought a large bottle for my mom but she ended up giving it back to me because it was too much for her thin hair.  On my second trip back I decided to get the BareMinerals 4.0 quad in dream sequence.  (Stay tuned for my review...which I will link once its done)

Kohl's

This was actually the first time I shopped here - the first time I went into Kohl's store was probably 3 years ago when I was going to NYC for the first time.  The bus had stopped to let us go get food and there was a Kohl's nearby.

Anyways, there were some nice pieces that I saw by Lauren Conrad - it included a long gold chain necklace with pearls ($24 with a 30% discount at the time, bringing it to $18), a floral sleeveless ruffled top with crocheted back ($24) and various dresses and earrings that looked cute.  However, my wardrobe and jewellery box is bursting at the seams and I have been much more careful with what I buy.

(As well as LC Laurent Conrad Lace Dress, LC Lauren Conrad floral tiered top and LC Lauren Conrad floral challis dress)

I ended up getting two peplum sleeveless collared shirts from Apt19 (one in magenta and one in violet) as well as a khaki sleeveless collared dress by Sonoma Life+Style.  The tops were $14 and $18 (the XS was cheaper funnily enough) and the dress was $24.  I had a 15% print out discount which helped to reduce the cost even more.  Great purchases because the quality was really good.  The shirts were made from a silky-feeling cotton and wasn't prone to creasing despite me folding it up and accidentally scrunching it in my suitcase.  The khaki dress is a great thin cotton material and doesn't seem to be too see-through despite the thin weight of the material.

I also picked up two Essie nail polishes - Good as Gold (a metallic gold) and Bachelorette Bash (a bright magenta).  I got the latter because after I got my mani-pedi, I fell in love with the colour!!  At $8 with 15% off, it was a good price.

Express

On the topic if clothes - I ended up purchasing a skater style dress at Express.  The material was a thick cotton stretch blend and held its shape relatively well.  Although I preferred the medium's length, the small fit better, especially the arm holes.

I opted to get the colour blocked red, cream and black as opposed to the hot pink one, which was cuter (and $10 cheaper at $39.99).  There were tons of other clothes that were nice but for the price I did not feel it was worth it.  I think it's tough for me to buy clothes because I've lived in Hong Kong where clothing is relatively cheap.  Seeing the exact same top from a local boutique in HK for $80 HKD (a little over $10 and no sales tax) being sold for $45 CAD plus tax is quite disheartening!!

I ended up getting a simple graphic tee for my boyfriend in the men's section - it was around $10 down from around $20.

Target

I made the trek to Target, which was a 15 minute walk from my office.  I ended up stocking up on lip balm (EOS is cheaper, and I was finally able to pick up my favourite Nivea Milk & Honey lip balms - they were around $2 for a pack of 2).  On top of that, I got the newest Vaseline moisturizing gel body oils, which I think I'll put to good use when it gets colder, and also when my boyfriend gives me a back rub *teeheehee* nothing dirty there!!

Basically the description of the product is "Enjoy soft, moisturized skin every day with this Vaseline cocoa butter vitalizing gel body oil. This unique formulation is ideal for normal skin. Slather this luxurious gel on your whole body to unveil your softest skin yet."  I already use the cream (and the body butter in very cold weather) and I love it, so the oil is just something new and novel to try.  I even have the spray cream (the one in the aerosol bottle - I use that when I get out of the showers at hot yoga).

Aside from that, I picked up a sleeveless shirt for the gym, as well as a new flat iron for my hair - I have the Conair two-in-one curling and flat iron, but I wanted a real flat iron because I felt the Conair one was only so-so at straightening my hair so that it's pin straight.

I like that it's slim...I was just disappointed the price didn't match the one online but it was still relatively cheap.  I used it once and it did a great job straightening my hair, although I think the iron is a bit too hot for my hair even at the lowest setting.  Unless it was the humidity that was causing my hair to steam up...because NJ was pretty humid when I was there.  I'll have to use it a bit more to find out what's the best settings for my hair.

Aside from that, I also bought some other random things not worth writing about :P

Lush
The only thing I picked up from Lush was the Sea Spray hair spray.  I decided to buy it (around $12 USD) after reading a few reviews that it's better than the Bumble & Bumble Beach spray.  I actually tried the B&B beach spray from my boyfriend's sister and it left my hair a little crunchy.  I need to test this one a bit more to see what works best for my hair, but as for now, I love the smell!

Macy's

The biggest purchase I made was *drum roll*...

My first Michael Kors watch!!  I was debating between pre-ordering the white and rose gold model (looks beautiful) or the one above.  I settled with the tortoiseshell with yellow gold (versus rose gold since it matches the tortoiseshell better) because it was more season friendly - I could wear it all year round.

I have been looking for the perfect MK watch because I like the oversized style, however none of the watch bracelets ever appealed to me.  The ones that were just tortoiseshell/acrylic did not seem to look like it was worth the price tag attached and some of the styles just never spoke to me.

I ended up getting this one at Macy's - since I was from Canada I got a 10% discount coupon (go to HR and show your passport) so it set me back $232.  I was bummed that I missed the bi-yearly F&F sale that would have slashed 25% instead.  Still better than nothing!!  I'm in love with my watch!

Aside from that I ended up buying a powder blush from MAC (you can read my review on this one and my other blushes, which I will be posting soon!)

Readers: what do you like to shop for when you go out of town?  Which stores do you hit to get the best deals?