Holidays at Holt Renfrew

Is it a sign that I spend too much time (and money) at Holt Renfrew if they send me Christmas cards? I mean not the store in general, but I got Christmas cards (that are designed to look like the HR boxes) from the Shu Uemura and Giorgio Armani cosmetics counters... thankfully the two counters with nice SAs that I like!

In any case the content of this post actually happened a month ago (obviously despite my best intentions I forgot to post... again) and a kind reminder from my dear Old Cow reminded me that I should update... at least so that the few readers of this blog who I don't also stalk on twitter would know I was a live!

Holt Renfrew is almost the only store in the Core (Calgary's downtown shopping district) that decorated for Christmas as a number of parts are still under construction and the Core actually donated its decorating budget to the United Way (which is nice, though I do miss the Christmas trees everywhere)! For the fellow Calgarians, the Core is MUCH MUCH MUCH nicer than it was even 6 months ago - no more exposed piping every metre! There's still a bit of construction but I think the mall looks beautiful and it's now one of my favourite places to be

The gigantic skylight doesn't hurt :)

My holiday trips to Holt Renfrew actually happened over two weeks...

I loved these trees so much <3

Holt Renfrew had their HELLO CHRISTMAS event the first weekend in November, and it's always mad busy as you get 15-25% back from your purchases on a gift card. This is probably the equivalent of a Friends and Family sale in the US, but the store was RIDICULOUSLY busy. Of course I went (I wanted my discount too) and I did the majority of my shopping at the Shu  Uemura counter.

I know I always say I don't buy things for GWP but... I definitely did this time! The Aya Takano x Shu Uemura collection was so cute and lovely in person, I couldn't resist! Plus my favourite SA had told me that the GWP purchase pouch was only a 2 product purchase (instead of a $ amount) so I was quite excited.

I've tried only one other cleansing oil (Jill Stuart) in the past, but this was so cute - and for 30$ not a bad price point to try! I haven't actually USED it yet (will start in the new year I hope) but I love the pump. And the packaging! Lately I've been recycling boxes of cosmetic items right away but I kept this one :)

I am so into cream blushes lately, and while this is more of a gel formula, I love it just the same! I needed to swatch this with a brush as it melted right into my finger tips (staining them a nice cherry red colour) but I am liking how sanitary this brush is - no dipping my finger into pots! That is my chief complaint with most gel blushes - they are not kind to my germaphobic self, even if I *DO* wash my hands before I use them!

And the gift with purchase...

The pouch is  my favourite part! Right now it's storing my holiday collection purchases (+ the skincare samples). When I went to pick up my purchase a different SA told me I would have to spend 165$ to get the gift, which I was not prepared to do and was pretty sad about - thankfully my favourite SA came my rescue and said she'd honour the 2-product purchase! So I got to come home with my pretty pouch :D

I used the gift-card from this event two weeks later at the Giorgio Armani event with my other favourite Holts SA. C is so wonderful I'd buy Armani makeup just so I could visit her hahaha. I didn't take pics of the purchase since it was just the Eyes to Kill Mascara but I did take a pic of my makeover:

I think MAs tend to like me because I let them do whatever they want unless I have other plans after the makeover... so my MA (not C) did a VERY smokey look which I wore out to dinner that night. I really liked it! Would not attempt on my own though.

Still need to post about the coffrets I've purchased this year... someday!