My first miss A Haul (Shipping to Canada) – 175+ Post Ideas for Beauty

Posted on May 1, 2022 by ftzys

In my March accountability post, I hinted that I would likely haul from miss A for the $1 blending sponges. and here it is!

I had never heard of miss A until I was introduced to it by Asian charm Obsessed who told me about these sponges.

For those of you not familiar, miss A touts itself as “the first and only $1 online charm shop” – brands sold include Kleancolor, Amuse, Princessa, LA Colors, and their house brand AOA. There is also a sister site, called Off Duty, which sells slightly much more expensive items including clothing and charm (brands include LA. Girl, NYX and Milani) but prices are still low. It’s an American site but what I do like about miss A is that they have the option to list the currency in Canadian dollars (CAD), so I can see exactly what I’ll be paying – $1 USD is displayed as $1.35 CAD.

First, I have to say that the parcel came wrapped extremely well:

The items were not only wrapped in bubble wrap, but there was also a sheet of foam (the blue layer).
Here’s what I ordered:

AOA wonder Blender sponges in Purple Teardrop and Sculpted, Pink Teardrop and Sculpted, and Black Teardrop and sculpted for $1 USD / $1.35 CAD each.

There was no way I could just purchase ONE! They also offer a third shape which they call Beveled that is similar to the real techniques miracle sponge. I’m not a fan of the flat surface of that sponge so I opted not to get it. There are lots of rave reviews about these sponges – apparently they’re dupes for the charm Blender for only $1.

Right off the bat I can tell you that these are not consistent among themselves. The pink and purple Teardrop ones are the squishiest / softest. The purple sculpted (which I personally call the gourd shape) is also soft like the other two. However, the pink sculpted and both black sponges are quite firm. It may have something to finish with the dye? If you’re thinking of trying these, I’d recommend sticking to either the purple or pink Teardrop ones. I have yet to test them with foundation to see how they carry out but these are my initial thoughts based on my very scientific squeeze test! I’m looking forward to testing these out.

Since there is no totally free shipping option to Canada – the cost is $5.95 USD for $40 purchase – I purchased a few much more items to “maximize” the cost of shipping (If I’d just purchased the 6 sponges, the cost of shipping would equal the purchase itself!)

I had heard their brushes aren’t bad, and for only $1.35 CAD each, I chose to get these 3 to try out:
• E123 eyeliner Blending Brush
• E124 accurate Pencil Brush
• E118 Eye Smudge Brush

These feel quite good and look well-made. I see that they’re stamped with “USA” on the deal with – does this imply they’re made in the US? I’m doubtful. not for that price.

12-Piece K-Beauty Sheet Mask set for $13.50 CAD:

The masks came securely shrink wrapped. This is a great value – each mask works out to be $1.13 CAD.
This set includes:

5 The Crème shop masks. I’ve been quite curious about these masks because spotting them at Winners (TJMaxx) and the Asian charm forum on Reddit are positive about them. but I didn’t want to commit purchasing a whole box of one type, so this is a great way to sample a variety. Includes: Milk, Pink Lemonade, Blueberry, green Tea and Collagen. These are made in Korea.
2 Naisture masks in sweet Honey and Cooling Cucumber. Both also made in Korea.
5 Malibu Glitz masks. I had not heard of this brand and was miffed to see that these are made in China. This sheet mask bundle was marketed as “K-Beauty” so I assumed all masks would be made in Korea. I’ll still test these out. They include Snail, Q10 Pomegranate, Chamomile, Aloe Vera, and Pearl.
At this point my purchase total was at $19 USD and I wanted to increase my purchase to $20 USD so I could get the promoted totally free gift – so I purchased a rose Oil Sheet face Mask, also by The Crème Shop:

… and unintentionally put 2 of them in my cart. I hope I like them. At least they’re made in Korea!

And this was my totally free gift!

A contour kit with a brush!
The brand is “Makeover Essentials” – quite a generic nondescript name but they have do have a site and this Contour kit has a suggested retail of $39.99!
I was rather amazed by its metal casing – it’s nicer than some of those high-end branded palettes that are made of cardboard.

It was really fun and tempting to shop on the miss A site because everything is so inexpensive! here are some items that practically made it in my cart…

AOA Hand Mirror – $1.35 CAD

I don’t need this but it’s so cute!

AOA F4 round Kabuki brush – $1.35 CAD

Sadly it’s sold out as were numerous of the face buffing style brushes. who can blame them? It’s A DOLLAR. and I guess they’re really popular because miss A limits 1 per sku per order. The only way to get this brush best now is if you purchase the 10 PC or 24 PC set ($13.50 and $27 CAD respectively) which are still great value but I don’t want all the brushes in the sets.

a2o lab Colorboard Magnetic palette – $6.75 CAD

How delightful is this? A customizable magnetized palette that fits single refill pans. miss A also sells their own brand of refills including eye shadows ($3.37), blushes, highlighters, bronzers ($4.72). Tempting but I resisted!

Keep in mind that likely most – if not all – of the makeup on this site would be made in China. I’d personally not purchase liquid makeup from there, especially lip products.

I placed the purchase on April 7th and it arrived in 16 days (Dallas to Toronto) which is as expected. As mentioned, there is not totally free shipping option to Canada so it cost me $5.95 USD if I kept the purchase under $40. Here are the shipping details from miss A:

International shipping to Canada

Order Amount
Cost
Arrives in Country
(Excluding 3-5 company Day Processing Time)

Orders $40 and under
$5.95 USD
7 – 27 company days

Orders $40.01 to $70
$9.95 USD
7 – 27 company days

Orders $70.01 and up
$19.95 USD
7 – 27 company days

Side note / rant: it always baffles me why there’s totally free shipping option for the us if they hit a certain amount (it’s $35 USD on miss A) but for outside of US, the reverse holds true: the much more I spend, the much more it costs me to ship. Why shouldn’t I get totally free shipping if I spend much more too? I know it costs much more to ship outside the US, so they can just set the amount higher, for instance, set it at $70 minimum spend for totally free shipping to Canada. I have no incentive to purchase much more with this current model. Heck, it’s actually less expensive for me to place 2 separate orders of $39.99 instead of one purchase of $80 because it would just cost me $11.90 in shipping ($5.95 x 2) for 2 orders rather than $19.95 for a single large order. Great, now that I’ve pointed this out, miss A will increase their lower tier shipping rate. Anyway! aside from the bit about shipping, the site is fantastic and I would certainly purchase from them again.

Have you heard of miss A? What are your thoughts on inexpensive / dollar store makeup? What’s your preferred non-Beauty Blender sponge?

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