In about two weeks I will be heading home to the Los Angeles area (Orange County, to be exact), and I never thought I would be so excited. The weather in Stockholm at the moment is absolutely dreadful. Lots of rain, wind and cooler temperatures mean I cannot wait to get back to sunny California!
There is of course one other reason why I am hotly anticipating my trip home—that reason of course is SHOPPING!
I've already started a (very long) list of what I plan on picking up, and most of it is beauty products. Stockholm is a very inspirational place for fashion, don't get me wrong, unfortunately it isn't so inspirational when it comes to beauty products. Perhaps this has something to do with the concept of Swedish design?
Taken from Newsweek:
The high-concept design culture is also rooted in the country's socialist ideology. Swedes have an overarching belief in equality, and deep sympathy for the underdog. Minimalism and practicality are virtues, and there is no shame in having the same couch as everyone else on the block. In profiling notable residences for her coffee-table book Domesticities, Pilar Viladas cited the Swedish word lagom, which means "not too much, not too little." It is what Swedes strive for.
Truer words could not be spoken.
Make-up is just not that important to most of the Swedes I've run across, which is reflected in the the stores found in Sweden. Generally there is a mish-mash of drug-store brands (Max Factor, IsaDora) and high-end brands such as Chanel, Lancome and Christian Dior. Somewhere in the middle lie Estee Lauder and Clinique.
Booooooooring!
OK, so on occasion you can find brands such as Smashbox, OPI and Bare Essentials and there are three MAC counters in Stockholm (although these are probably the only MAC counters in all of Sweden). Honestly though, that just isn't enough variety for me. I miss Nars, MakeUpForever, Bobby Brown, Laura Mercier, BeneFit ... shall I continue? I think what I really miss though, is Sephora! A kaleidoscope of colors, a beauty utopia where I can find all my favorite brands under one roof!
And yes, Sephora has an online store where even more lovely products can be found, but alas, they do not ship outside the United States and Canada!
Rest assured, I will be bringing back loads of new products and plan on documenting my finds on my blog, for all two of my readers. Rejoice! Until then, I will slowly count down the days until I can again frolic down the isles of my favorite beauty stores.
And of course, being outside for more than three hours at a time without the worry of rain is nice as well.
XO,
Andie
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