COSMETICS
By Brand

Local Treats:

Cargo is a Canadian cosmetic brand fastly becoming popular in Hollywood. They have really cute and unique not to mention generously-sized tin packaging. Available selected The Bay department stores like the one on Queens and Yonge (176 Yonge Street) (website: www.hbc.com/cosmetics) and a freestanding store at The Sarum Room in Unionville (209 Main Street). . and other dept. stores like Eatons, Sephora and Sears. They usually carry Prescriptives, MAC, Make Up For Ever, along with the standard EL and Lancome you can find all over the world. Cargo's website cargocosmetics.com

Club Monacco cosmetics is originally from Canada (but recently sold to TommyH), and you'll find lots of its chain shops all around the city. Website: clubmonaco.com

MAC freestanding store at Bloor Street between Yonge and Bay, but you'll find them in almost every department store in Canada, since MAC started out in Toronto.

Lush sells some cute and very original products like rosebud-studded soaps, shampoo bar (soaps), bathbombs and more but one notable favourite is Lush's Silky Underwear (dusting powder). Website (online ordering & catalog request): lushcanada.com 3 stores locations in Toronto: 663 Yonge St, north of Eglinton (dowtown). 312 Queen Street W. and 116 Cumberland St., Yorkville. Update Nov 2004: there is also a new store opening in Eatons Centre (Dundas or Queen subway station exit)

The cute Gaugin skincare palette

Fruits & Passion Lush and Fresh aren't the only store you should check out for great scents. Bath foams, lotions and eau de toilette in exotic and yummy scents like mango-papaya, key lime-coco, raspberry-mint, orange canteloupe, lychee/ylang-ylang and pear-linden. The packaging is classy and sometimes absolutely gorgeous. Website (online ordering) fruits-passion.com Stores at Eaton Center, Fairview Mall, Square One just to name a few. Vasanti Cosmetics just opened a new store in the new Vaughn Mills mall. It's their first store but you can also buy their products online at vasanticosmetics.com

Lise Watier Montreal-based cosmetics with a great website. lisewatier.ca. Available at Sears, The Bay, Jean Croutu, and Shoppers but her fragrance is also available at Sephora. Ph: (TF) 1-800-LWATIER or (514) 735-2309.

Red Earth cosmetics is available at Esprit stores, their collection of pot lipgloss and nail polishes are as large as MAC's eyeshadow or lipstick collection. It's kind of a young, more hip version of Body Shop. Self-browse store with testers and sales assistance, but drugstore price. I think the pot lipglosses are $3 or $4 a pop.

Rockit Girl cosmetics line of funky nailpolishes and lipglosses was created by model and make-up artist Esmée van der Oye. Fans include Hollywood actress Kim Basinger, who brought 2 nailpolishes on a visit to Toronto last fall. Her picks: tijuana boogie (a deep metallic green) and six peso pink (hot pink). Available at various stores including Woman Apothecary and through their soon-to-be-revamped website.

Faces cosmetic sleek young cosmetic line. You can usually find it in a large kiosk/counter inside the walkway of the mall. Available at Fairview Mall (on Sheppard Ave), Centrepoint mall and other locations. Faces-Cosmetics.com Upper Canada is a fun young baths line. They have a new range called Ally McBealism which includes quirky quotes from your favourite Ally McBeal characters. The bar soap for example, has Fish's classic "By Gones". They make great gifts for any fans of the show. They also have a fruit frappe and Colours line. Available at ground floor of Eatons and some Sears stores. Dans Un Jardin (French for "In a garden") - French Canadian baths and beauty products company - you will have to travel a little out of downtown for this, but a lot of the great malls are outside the downtown area. It's available at Fairview and Square One shopping centers in North York and Mississauga.

Faces Cosmetic counter

See also Holts Colour and Woman Cosmetics further down in the by store section.

Out-of-town warehouses stores will have discounted (and sometimes discontinued) cosmetics. It's a little out of the way, but if you are travelling on the way to view some beautiful beaches and lakes (like Barry and Wasaga), why not pull over and stop by a warehouse mall to check it out? Recently I visited one on the way to Barry, it carried Ultima, Revlon, Revlon Streetware, Almay - basically all the Revlon brands. They had testers for each shade, kept very clean, and there was a good range of shades - that's even better service that what you would find at most drugstores.

Others:
5S from Shiseido has a store at Hudson Bay Centre, 44 Bloor St East (subway Yonge or Bloor). Ph (416) 972-3415
Sears' own Circle of Beauty line is of course available at their department stores.
Guerlain cosmetics at selected Sears (Gerrad Square), The Bay (Queen Street) and Holt Renfrew stores.
Aveda free standing store and salon offers manicure, pedicure and other treatments. At Bay/Bloor, Rideau Centre.
L'Occitane stores at 150 Bloor St. W. (at Avenue Rd.), 416-413-4899; 2589 Yonge St. (at Briar Hill Ave.), 416-440-3979.
Crabtree & Evenlyn at Eaton Centre, Promendate Mall, Fairview Mall, First Canadian Lane.. and more. See website for full listings.
Sephora opened their first Canadian store in Eatons Centre in November. 416-595-7227
Kiehl's This high end skincare brand is available at their freestanding store at 407 Queen St. W., 416-977-3588

By Store

Kirsch has a great custom mixed foundation and concealor for CAD$25 and $18 respecitively, plus a Camourflage Lesson for $25 which covers any tricks for hiding flaws. It's a great deal considering Prescriptives custom foundation is $75. They also carry Body and Soul cosmetics (try the loose powder).
Kirsch - 257 Eglinton Ave. W. (just east of Avenue Rd.). Phone: 416-487-4887.

Teatro Verde in Hazelton Lanes or 87 Avenue Rd (upper level) sells Fresh.

Holt Renfrew is Toronto's most posh department store, carrying Stila, CK, Nars, Jo Malone, Creme de La Mer, Darphin, Dirty Girl, Erno Lazslo, Sisley, La Prarie. Laura Mercier, Bobbi Brown, Smashbox, and the likes. It offers Estee Lauder spa services as well, (see website: Spa Serices page on EL website. It also recently launched its own cosmetic and baths line, the sleekly packaged Holts Colour and bath line (has some very delicate rose petal soaps). There's also news that Bliss products will soon be available. Downtown store at 50 Bloor Street West (Bloor and Yorkdale), also at Yorkdale Shopping Center. Website (online ordering): holtrenfrew.com

Holts Colour line

Women Cosmetics' powder foundation

Women Apothecary carry Girl Cosmetics, Vicent Longo, Urban Decay, Bumble and Bumble, Philosophy, Aesop, Bloom, Rockit Girl cosmetics, Woman Cosmetics (their own professional line), Fresh fragrances. 177 Spadina, just north of Queen on Spadina. More information on Woman Cosmetics and their products are available through online retailer looks.com.

PIR Cosmetics has Joe Blasco, Shu Uemura, Too Faced and inouvi.
at 25 Bellair St. in Yorkville. Website pircosmetics.com

It's also worth it to visit professional supply places. R Hiscott Theatrical on Yonge at College has T Le Clerc and Ben Nye among others.

Delineation Salon and Spa. Fresh single notes and baths stuff. They also carry Kiehl's (also available at Holt Renfrew), Bumble & Bumble, Aesop, Le Clerc, Bliss Spa stuff and Burt's Bees. Chantecaille will also soon be available at the store. 2409 Yonge St. For a full list of the brands see their website.

ICE carries a good deal of exclusive brands, like Chantecaille, Get Fresh, Tony & Tina, Facewear, Philosophy, Bloom, Demeter, Bliss, Molten Brown, Terax, Philip B, Too-Faced, Girl Cosmetics, Hard Candy, Bumble and Bumble, and Creed perfumes as well as Kate Spade and funky stationary stuff. 163 Cumberland (416) 964-6751

F/X sells Manic Panic. On Queens West.

Trade Secret carries OPI nail polishes, Tweezerman, jewellery, wigs, among other beauty goods, plus their own beauty line (rumoured to be made by MAC). Available at most suburban malls. If you're in downtown check out Eatons Centre. Website tradesecrets.ca

Inside Eatons Centre (website) the mall that's right in downtown. You'll find Crabtree & Evelyn, Faces Great Cosmetics (a local brand), Fruits & Passion, H2O Plus, L'Attitudes, Shoppers Drug Mart (not a very well-stocked one I'm afraid), The Body Shop, Trade Secrets make-up and tools, Caryl Baker's Visage make-up and tools. The Eatons department store has just been brought out by Sears and will probably be undergoing some changes, but the main floor of cosmetics is still open. It stocks Tony & Tina, Biotherm, Make Up For Ever, and the usual line up of Shiseido, Orlane, etc. Eatons Centre at 220 Yonge Street, get off at Dundas station if you're taking the subway.

Also if you visit Asian malls like the huge Pacific Mall you can find some Asian cosmetic brands like Max Factor's SK2 and cutsy Japanese make up.

DRUGSTORE STUFF

Canadian drugstores like Shoppers Drugs Mart (website shoppersdrugmart.ca) carries Bert Bee's, Tweezerman, Rimmel, Maybelline, Revlon, L'Oreal, Cover Girl, Almay, Oil of Olay, Wet'n'Wild, Bonne Bell, Max Factor, Fetish, Opal, M Professional, Physicians Formula, Caboodles, NYC. Not all of these brands will be available at one store but you'll find most of them at any given store. You can also find Vichy and ROC at places that sell drugstore skincare including dept. stores and supermarkets. Visitors from Asia (and perhaps Europe and Australia) ought to check it out because you can save a lot on brands like Revlon which are available back home but at almost twice the price sometimes.

Shopper Drug Mart also produce their own products. My mom loves their Life brand lotion (she has senstitive skin, I forgot if it was recommended by a derm or friend) and stocks up whenever she visits. Rialto Naturals and Quo cosmetics are also produced by them. Rialto has fragrant room sprays, candles plus great vegetable soaps and shower gels, but the most mentioned item is probably their cosmetic brushes - they have been compared to MAC's in quality. Quo's eyeshadows are great and worth checking out too, and the pressed powder has received raves . Both lines are drugstore-priced. More info on SDM wesbite.

Annabelle is a Canadian drugstore brand, it has many MAC knock-offs for very low price. Website annabellecosmetics.com - it's available at selected Shoppers Drugs Mart, e.g. the store at Fairview Mall, Scarb.
Marcelle another Canadian drugstore brand available at most Shoppers Drug Mart. Not really an exciting line at all, but they do have some fragrance free skincare and cosmetic items. Website marcelle.com
Rimmel British brand now available at Shoppers, great mascara, try the new Lycra one - it's pretty smudgeproof. Their waterproof mascaras leave something to be desired.

CLOTHES
Roots sells comfy outdoor-type clothing and accessories. They've been around since 1973 and the clothes are still made in Canada. Website roots.ca. Stores on 95 Bloor Street West, 356 Queens St, Yonge Street, Fairview Mall, and more. See store location on website.
Comrags Canadian designers Joyce Cornish and Judy Gunhouse's label. Store at 654 Queens St. W Comrags.com
Franco Mirabelli one of the most well-known Canadian designer. website
Peach Berserk - tailor make cocktail dresses, coats, etc from designer Kingi Carpenter. Great workmanship, unique and sometime wacky designs. Website (ordering available) peachberserk.com
Store at 507 Queen St. West and 111 Yorkville Avenue. Ph: (416) 504-1711
Le Chateau very popular with teens, but they have a variety from city smart to clubbing clothes. It's very affordable gear. le-chateau.com

FITNESS
The Bios Fitness brand is only available in Canada. They stock great sleek fitness items, from advance heart rate monitors that are world class quality, to pedometers for your mom and dad. Available at Shoppers, London Drugs, and Overwaitea.

RESTAURANTS & SPECIALTY FOOD
Toronto is so multi-cultural, and the best food in the city reflects that. It's a range of everything, you can visit Korean town (Bathrust and Bloor), Chinatown (Spadina & Dundas), Greek town, and little India for some of the best food from every region.
If you ask any foodie to name the best restaurant in town, and they would most likely point to Susur, the King Street West restaurant owned by famous chef Susur Lee. It's French and Asian fusion food. Expect the meal to set you back a hundred plus bucks, without the wine pairings. Susur Lee also recently opened a "down-scale" restaurant right next door called Lee, which opens for lunch unlike Susur.

Other top named restaurants includes North 44, Chaido (Portugese restaurant known for its seafood), Canoe (featuring Canadian game meat in various cuisine style), Scaramouche (French crusine), and Truffles (French crusine) at the Four Season Hotel.

China town is a must visit for Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine. There are many restaurants there to try, most of them are good and offer cheap prices. There are no single recommendations here for a favourite.

Also try mom and pop shop Ghandi's [554 Queen St. W (at Bathrust), (416) 504-8155] for some awesome curries and rotis. At $6.75+tax for a full serving of lamp curry roti, this meal's a steal. You can give their samosas a miss though, if they're a fresh new batch. Asian Legends serves up pretty good dragon dumplings but the rest of the food is only so-so. Spring Rolls serves pan-Asian food that to true Asian tastebuds isn't genuine Asian cuisine, but you trade in better tasting food from Chinatown for a restaurant with funky modern decore and good service, at moderate prices. Green Mangoes does the same for Thai food. Be aware that some locations are cheaper and are canteen style, wheras one is a higher end model that offers better ambience. Salad King's (Queen Street West) service is a little rushed, and is less frills but still modernly decorated. Upstairs of Salad King is a higher end version of the same restaurant. Indochine and Saigon Sister offers similar concepts of modern decore with affordable pan-Asian food.

For pastries, Dufflet Cafe is known for theirs. The Cupcake Shoppe is a cute little shop specializing in the cutest cupcakes you'll ever see.

For reviews on restaurants, check out Toronto Life, Toronto Star, and Sally's Place.

Ice-wine - instead of harvesting in the summer, the grapes are allowed to freeze, then picked when the sugar content is just right. These wines tend to be much sweeter than the average wines. Available at Nigara on the Lake. If you're driving down to Niagara Falls or St. Catherines, going wine tasting at the wineries there is a fun trip for wine connoiseurs. You pay $2 per wine tasting.

Other local goodies would be poutine, ask for it at Harveys or other fastfood places.

FURTHER RESOURCES:
Where.ca is a resource put together by the hotels and tourist industry, but remains pretty useful and comprehensive, in terms of restaurant and shopping guide.
Check out Toronto Life magazine's city guides for shopping, restaurants, etc.
TorontoMalls.com easy-to-use listings, and has a ShopTalk messageboard where you can ask questions
About.com Toronto Shopping Guide provides a small selection of links to other sites, but has some interesting local finds in the clothing section.
About.com Toronto Visitors guide covers the whole eating, accomodation, and transport plus more.
Now Magazine Best of Toronto Annual Readers Poll Results this is a gem of a resource for locals as well as visitors. Find out where to get the best sushi, the best hotels, dance clubs, and even the best make-up artist in town. The only problems You can also cross reference it to Eye Magazine's version. I find with this is it tends to spit out the biggest chain brands rather than the true best. Eye and Now Magazines are free weekly listing magazines you can pick up at book stores, drugstores and convenience stores.
An American's guide to Canada A humourous look at the differences between US and Canada.