In the Philippines, when we think of beauty finds we usually go to big malls just to get assurance that the product we buy is authentic; that's how we are, we prefer going to malls and we're not accustomed to small house shops lined up on the streets for the fear that the products might be fake- however I disagree with it since growing up in Chinatown I'm used to buying things from small house shops (ground floor shop and the rest of the floors upstairs are the business owner's house). When I go to Hong Kong and Taiwan they have the same concept so I didn't feel different nor did I had the hard time to adjust to their business culture. However, those who are used to buying products in malls might be wary if it's your first time to buy in small house shops.
In Taiwan, you don't have to go so far to get hold of nifty little things we call makeup.
I didn't get the time to go to Taipei's famed upscale department store Shin Kong Mitsukoshi so I just lurked around my aunt's place in Shu Lin, Taipei County. Shu Lin is located just below Taipei.
In my observation Taiwan has a lot of 'marts', on the first ground they would house all the beauty finds, on the second level you would find plastic wares and other random things or abubot such as slippers, socks, wide range of ball pens and school supplies, and on the third level you would often find food products.
Multi story marts can vary-on the average there would be three levels but sometimes there are bigger marts that would go for five floors.
PoYa House is one of the cutest marts I've went into ^.^ I forgot what street it is but it's a walkable distance from Da-An Road in Shu Lin. I think this has only 2-3 levels but the first floor is already packed with beauty stuffs such as Coffret D'or, Kanebo, Majolica Majorca, Nature & Co., Kate, Lavshuca, Tiffa, Maybelline etc.
A more famous landmark that is parallel to PoYa is Mos Burger- a Japanese burger place which is pretty much the same as Agno's Nomimono burger. I prefer Nomimono's taste over Mos'.
I remember in one of my post explaining my BB cream from Taiwan is not fake, somebody asked me where I get my bargains at like the Elizabeth Arden 100ml perfume for around NT$500.
It's in Jmart and it's located in Sihde Street- this place is a wet market actually that's near Shu Lin Train Station.
Jmart's logo isn't that clear but luckily it's beside Baleno and a few blocks away is Taiwan's famous NET clothing brand.
P.S. Elizabeth Arden Green Tea 100ml is now at NT$399! We asked the SAs how they could price it so low when other seemingly big malls in the Philippines price it so high, they told us they're getting it in bigger volumes and Taiwanese consumers buy in volume too. Well, it's true and it's authentic, I've been using my Elizabeth Arden since 2008.
The last stop is hypermarts, Carrefour is located at Da An Road and it's huge so you don't have to squint your eyes to find it. Beauty stuffs are found on the third floor- they've got US drugstore superstars like Revlon and Maybelline and they also carry Asian drugstore brands such as Kanebo's Tiffa and a pricier drugstore brand Nature & Co.
