Nordstrom Vancouver K-beauty Pop up store walk through

Hey hey hey!  My local Vancouverites, did you know there is a K-beauty pop up store in Downtown Vancouver’s Nordstrom?  Well now you know so you have no excuse to come on down and check the place out.  When I first found out about the upcoming pop up AND it was in my city, hell to the yes.  I wish I came down when it first opened since the staff there was telling me there was a lot more products before but now it’s slim pickin’.  They will be restocking with some new products but most of the time, if the product is gone, it’s gone.  Anyways since I was curious myself, I went down after my first day of school to check it out and I brought my camera to show you guys what it looks like.  Make sure to follow me on Instagram because sometimes there is some exclusive live IG stories you might wanna see ;). Okay, let’s get started with the tour!

So when I went in, I thought the pop up shop would be in the same cosmetic area but it’s actually situated in near one of the exit/ entrances.  If you know where the “e shop” is in Downtown Vancouver’s Nordstrom, it is right beside it pretty much.  The pop-up shop runs from February 10- March 26 so you guys still have about a month to come on down!

How to get there?
Just in case if you guys don’t know how to get there, if you take the Canada Line skytrain, get off at Vancouver city center, go up the escalator and into the mall.  Once you are in the mall, you’ll see a super duper long hallway filled with stores.  Turn left and go all the way down past the Disney store, you’ll find yourself at the entrance of Nordstrom.  If you are using the older skytrain (Expo/ millennium line), get off at Granville station, go up the long escalators and you’ll see a cafe to the right and the Hudson’s bay to your left.  Go through the Bay, turn right and go up the little escalators and you’ll find yourself in the food court of the mall.  Go through the food court and you’ll find yourself in the same long hallway.  Just take a left, and all the way down the hallway, passed the Disney store.  I think somewhere in the middle, there are elevators that will take you into the middle of Nordstrom but I forgot exactly where that is.

Address:
CF Pacific Center
799 Robson Street, Vancouver

I was talking to Ryan who was working the store and he was telling me a little bit about what Oliva Kim does for Nordstrom.  I didn’t know who she was but he told me that she is the creative director for Nordstrom and pretty much the lady that brings the spunk into the mix.  She definitely killed it with this curation because she even brought on Gentle Monster (the super famous glasses/ sunglasses store in Korea that is known for their outrageous architectural designs).  After this pop up shop ends, they will have a Korean fashion pop up store where indie K-fashion brands would be brought into the store so I can’t wait to see what that is like.  

I’m honestly not really a fan of the cover art to promote the K-beauty store because it really doesn’t scream K-beauty at all.  Plus the orange tint to the picture kinda defeats all the beautiful colors they could have used to showcase the products.

Haha I really liked these.  This ball is actually those balls you use to work out but covered with pink fur.  I’m not really a pink fur person but for some reason, this makes me happy.

I’ve personally never heard of this brand but their accessories are super cute.  I’m kind of tempted to get the toast haha.  This is a brand called “Romane Brunch Brothers“.  The toast zip pouch retails for $12 there and in Korea, it retails for 8,900 won ($10.41 CDN).  The price isn’t half bad considering that you won’t have to pay for shipping and stuff like that.  The mirrors on the bottom is super cute too, retailing for $12 for the hand held ones and $10 for the face ones.

Why do I like this LOL.  I have no use for it unfortunately with all the pouches I have chilling in my house.

What I really liked about the pop up store is that they included some well known brands as well has some indie brands even I can’t find on the online shops.  I think we are all very familiar with the Too cool for school brand since they are sold in Sephora now.  But I think Nordstrom has a way larger selection that Sephora doesn’t have.  If you guys want to check out the prices, click here to go to the Nordstrom page.

Of course they have the famous Too cool for school Dinoplatz elevator mascara.  Unfortunately they have to cut off the applicator for sanitary reasons but it is a really cool mascara which you can adjust the bristles to either straight or curved.

They even have the Too cool for school palette!  Unfortunately it retails for $60 there while in Korea it is 35,000 won ($40.95 CDN).  I mean if you are someone that doesn’t buy make up that often, it could be worth it for you since you’d get to test it out in person and go home with it the day of.  I unfortunately didn’t have time or the hands to try it since my hands were full with stuff :'(.  Bad beauty blogger!  I’m sorry T_T.

They also had two sets of brushes from a brand called Abbamart which I haven’t heard or see it on the Korean side of the internet but from the looks of it, it is a sister brand of Belleme.  The set on the left retails for $64 CDN while in Korea it retails for 55,000 won.  This price is not half bad!

There was a ton of lip stuff including lip tints, lip sticks, tinted lip balms, stuff like that.  I was surprised to see there was no BB cushions but I guess I would understand why they wouldn’t bother bring that in.  First issue os the SPF regulations and secondly, BB cushions from Korea usually come sin two shades anyways, pale and slightly less pale.

Belleme is a brand I have seen before on the internet but never tried their products. In Korea, the eyeshadows usually retail for 4,000 won each ($4.68 CDN) and they sell it there for around $7.  Honestly Korean eyeshadows aren’t that great in general, especially compared to the ones in the Western market.  If you guys really want a K-beauty eyeshadows that preforms, check out my Holika Holika x Gudetama eyeshadow palette review.  That stuff is absolutely bomb bomb bomb!

They also had a wide range of Too cool for school’s lip tints as well as their Art class by Rodin highlighter and cheek trios (check out my review on those!).  They had the contour one but of course, that one is sold out.

Skincare wise, they had a great selection os super indie brands like Huxley and 107 one zero seven. Glow recipe sells Huxley and Beautibi sells 107 skincare but the other brands I’m not too familiar with.

Price wise, they were retailing the products for (left to right):
-Huxley cleansing gel $42 (compared to $29.26 CDN)
-Huxley cleansing water $42 (compared to $29.26 CDN)
-Huxley extract it toner $63 (compared to $29.96 CDN)
-Huxley grab water essence $82 (compared to $50.32 CDN)
-Huxley fresh and more cream $68 ((compared to $40.96 CDN)
 -Huxley more than moist nourishing cream $70 (compared to $40.96 CDN)
-Huxley light and more oil $82 (compared to $56.17 CDN)
-Huxley cream anti-gravity (unknown) KR retail $40.96

Wow the Huxley products are marked up like crazyyyyy. :O  It was nice for me to try it for the first time in person though.  The scent for the products is a light, airy, green smell so if you don’t like that kind of scent, this might be a no go for you.

107 skincare has been on my radar for a while now.  I know a lot of my blogger friends love this brand and they are super famous for their solid soaps.  This brand is based around using ingredients that takes 7 years to harvest natural fermented.  If you want to read more about the brand, click here!  The brand itself doesn’t have a lot of products, only a line of skincare moisturizers/ serums, solid soaps 

There was also other brands like DTRT (skincare brand geared towards men), Vant 365, I woke up like this and of course Too cool for school’s egg skincare as well.  I forgot the brand of the middle to the left with the light green bottles :S.  Sorry!

Right across the skincare was a whole stand of IPKN x Estherloveyou collaboration which is a delight to see since it’s a kind of indie brand in Korea.  On the Nordstrom website, they have the BB cushion but unfortunately for me, they didn’t have it in stores.  There was the lip tints balms, ink lip tints, color correcting blur pacts in lavender and mint green, eyeshadow palette and things like that.  I was so tempted to get the too cool for school pouches but I know I don’t need it.

A closer look at the IPKN check edition color correcting blur pact powder in the lavender shade.  Oh how I wish you were the BB cushion :'(.

I also forgot to swatch the eyeshadow palette and feel the texture of the formulation.  Bad beauty blogger, bad! *slaps my own hand*.  The colors look absolutely gorgeous though and I like that there is a mixture of mattes and shimmers and the packaging is nice and slim.

In the center laid the sheet masks from brands like Me factory, I woke up like this as well has accessory pouches to the right.  The little owls on the bottom are actually little sponges with soaps in them!  Aren’t they cute!!

These come from a brand called Sukoo sukoo and they come in a ton of different scents.  All you have to do is wet them and then use them like a luffa and when your done, hang them until the next use.

If you don’t like the bigger version, there are little ones as well.  TOO ADORABLE.

I’ve personally learned to ignore nail products completely since I can’t wear nail polish in the food industry.  But there are tons of nail polish colors, sticks and sets near the check out area.

So that is it for my little tour.  I forgot there were luggage as well (kind of out of place but okay LOL).  Don’t be intimidated to go to the pop-up shop, the staff there are super friendly and fun-loving.  I’m not saying that just for the hell of it.  I personally, if there is a shop I’d want to go into but there isn’t anyone there and I know the salespeople would follow me like a hawk, I’d rather not go on.  That’s the type of person I am but I had to suck it up for you guys and I went in anyways and to my surprise, they were hawking at me to buy anything.  Super chill, super friendly, SUPER KNOWLEDGEABLE which is a nice surprise.  

Shout out to Ryan (the one in the middle) for giving me a surprise of a lifetime. He knew about every single product, and it didn’t seem memorized at all.  It sounded like he personally has tried every single product himself and used it on a daily.  At times, I forget he’s a male (not an insult) LOL.  It’s kind of like talking to your girlfriend about cosmetics.  He needs a raise.  NORDSTROM YOU HEAR THAT, HE NEEDS A RAISE.

Maria (the sweet girl on the left), a great fashion sense, an outfit that I’d wear. Slightly on the more shy shade but still friendly and knowledgeable as well.  Now I’m going to have to buy a dress like that and a blouse with slightly puffy sleeves like hers.  Gurl, if you see an outfit in the future on my Instagram, you were the inspiration in mind ;).

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to meet Kelsey (the girl on the right) since she was maybe on break or just started her shift.  But I could tell she is also fun-loving and easy to talk to, not to mention prettttyyyyyy LOL.  Sorry, I don’t mean to sound creepy :).  Not only did Nordstrom (or should I say Olivia Kim) did a great job with the curation of products (I think she and I should collaborate and come up with the next best list! HIT ME UP!!!!), but they also did a great job at selecting their staff because I wanted to buy the whole store just because they were awesome.  I rarely say the staff is awesome but these guys are truly awesome.  Two thumbs up!  So seriously guys.. go down and check out the place.

-Christina signing out… going back to studying now sigh.

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