The Cosmetic Company Outlet Store Explanation and mini haul

Just a few months ago I learned about a store called The Cosmetic Company Outlet of CCO which is a discounted store for make-up brands owned by Estee Lauder like Bobbi Brown, Smashbox, Clinique, and MAC. I was very excited to hear you can get these brands discounted even if it’s only 20-30% because these brands never have sales! Even more exciting is that this is the closest place I can buy MAC (this is 1hr away the closest actual stand/kiosk is 2.5 hrs away) which is the main reason I haven’t bought any. I need to look and try it on first!

The CCO I went to is part of the Tanger Outlets of Lancaster, PA. It is not a large store nor is it packed to the brim but I did see more MAC lipsticks than I was expecting. I forgot to take pictures so all the products I mention are few and most do not have prices. There really was a surprising amount of stuff, both discontinued and from permanent ranges.  A brief overview of what they had is:

Smashbox: Primer, lipglosses and some sets

Estee Lauder: The ombre blushes (peach nuance, rose nuance etc), lipstick

Bobbi Brown:  brushes, a lot of foundations and concealers,

MAC: some foundations, three studio sculpt concealers, a few fluid lines, some paint pots, several blushes, a lot of eyeshadow and palettes (including some fairly recent ones like the “rainy season” palette; the regular single shadows were $12, quite a lot of lip glasses, maybe 30 different ones?, and about 20 lipsticks including Twig, Flamingo, Vegas Volt, St. Germain, Viva Glam Nikkie for $10.50 plus a few  6? Mineralize ones for around $12, some brushes, pigments including vanilla, and what appears to be much if not all of the Archie collection, some make-up bags and sets, nail polishes, primer and some more

Clinique: Lipstick, some brushes

As you can tell I focused mainly on the MAC products because that is what I was there for. For Most on my visit ie except for the last minute after check-out I was alone with my mother and the shop keeper. This lady was extremely nice and helpful; she let me browse as long as I wanted and sprayed four different lipsticks with alcohol so I could try them on and then gave me a mirror so I could look in natural sunlight. She didn’t pressure me to buy or to go quickly and offered to price check anything in the store.

The product I ended up walking away with was MAC lipstick in Viva Glam Nicki which is a bright pink with a warm undertone which gives it a slight hint of coral. After I walked out, of course, I also wished I had bought Vegas Volt which is a beautiful orange coral, but I had convinced myself that I had just bought three other coral lipsticks and that was enough.  The lipstick was 10.50/$11.12 with tax. A full review will be coming soon on the lipstick and the mac quality in comparison to other brands.

Overall, I loved my experience at the CCO and can’t wait to go back! I wish it was closer than an hour, but it is easy to get to and not 10 minutes away from my favorite mall so though I don’t see myself going once a month or anything; I’m going to go before I go back to university at the end of August! (Also I need to check out if Pittsburgh as an easy to get to CCO!)