MAC Warehouse Sale September 10-12, 2010

I've been dying to go to a MAC Warehouse Sale ever since I found out about it during blogging.  I used to tell myself that it was good for my wallet that I couldn't attend but who can resist discount MAC makeup?? Thank you S for hooking me up with last minute tickets for the first time ever!!  And thanks to a watercolour sky for attending the event with me =)  We efficiently tagged team the event so that we could shop for ourselves, a few friends and our readers.

A quick rundown of the event:

When?  September 10-12, 2010 from 9am - 5pm.  The sale is held 4x a year in March, June, Sept and Dec.

Where?  Markham Fairgrounds in the Greater Toronto Area a.k.a. middle of nowhere - it took me over an hour to get here from downtown Toronto.

What's on sale?  MAC, Bobbi Brown, Estee Lauder, Clinque, Origins and a few other skincare and cosmetics brands.  This sale is probably held to sell overstocked items and past limited edition products.  At this event, I saw MAC's Style Black, Brunette Blonde Redhead, Liberty of London, A Rose Romance and Style Warrior collections.  It is similar to the Cosmetic Company Outlet in the US.

How can I attend? Tickets are given to friends and family by employees of Estee Lauder companies to distribute for free.  Tickets are also sold (not supposed to) on Craiglist or Kijiji for anywhere between $15-$35, but beware of fake tickets without a sticker seal.

[EDIT March 2011] I got tickets from FunnyFace Beauty.  Keep an eye out for her tweets in June for a chance to get YOUR OWN tickets to the next MAC warehouse sale.

I had tickets for Sunday, the last day of the event and arrived 15 minutes before the doors opened at 9am. There was already a line inside the warehouse of ~200 people when I arrived.  If I am lucky enough to go again in the future, I might go 30-45 minutes ahead of time for better selection.

Without further ado...here is my haul:

I hope this gives you an idea of the event.  I enjoy reading your blogs about the sale too because it gave me an idea of what to expect and the type of selection.  For example, in the past they had 2 lip products for $10. This time around it was 2 for $15, so I knew not to go too crazy in the lip section because they might have a better deal in the future.

Face products including blushes and mineral skin finish (MSF) $12:

Top:  Blonde 

Bottom: Redhead, By Candlelight (I've heard lots of great things about this one, I was so happy it was in stock!)

Eyeshadows $9

Top: Et tu, Bouquet? Creme de miel, Dreammaker

Bottom:  Birds and berries, Prepped for glamour, Hypnotizing

Family silver mineralized eyeshadow - this was a free gift given to everyone at the end of sale.  Not as good as March's Perfect Topping MSF free gift, but mineralized products are always beautiful to look at:

Mink brow set:

Eyeshadow quads $15 - I thought these palettes were the deal of the day. Great price and quality.
Photorealism 2010 release: Photorealism, Notoriety

Holiday 2009 Mystic cool eyes palette:

Lipgloss (2 for $15)
L-F: Perennial high style lipglass, Perfectly unordinary cream dazzleglass, Roman holiday dazzleglass 

Lipsticks (2 for $15)
L-R: Intimidate (slimshine), Funshine (slimshine), A rose romance (lustre)

Skincare:
MAC moisturelush $20, BB cleansing oil and Origins cleansing oil $10

They also had $3 bins that contained travel sized cleansing oils (sold out when I got there), fake lashes,  skincare samples, mini-mascaras, compact sponges and sponge-tip eyeshadow applicators.  The selection was quite limited by the time we got here.

Overall the sale was very organized.  There were 3 giant rooms in the warehouse filled with tester and stock counters.  Shopping was easily done by writing down the numbers of products from the tester counter and lining up at a stock counter to receive your brand new in box items.

I feel so lucky to attend such a great event, I definitely need to share the love!  I bought backups of most things to put together a giveaway to my gorgeous readers!  Are there any items that you are lusting from here? Tell me ASAP!

Mira