Midweek Mugging: Moon Moon Cosmetics

By Nicole Bayes-Fleming

This week’s midweek mugging recipient is Mengyi Bian, owner of Moon Moon Cosmetics.

Moon Moon, located at 1475 Lower Water St. in Bishop’s Landing, specializes in providing Japanese and Korean beauty and skin care products.

Bian began her business while studying commerce at Dalhousie University, with the idea that she could introduce Halifax to something new.

“I like to bring different kinds of unique products to local people, especially in Halifax,” Bian said. “Because if you go to Toronto or Montreal…you’ll find lots of stores like this, but in Halifax it’s just so hard to find.”

Bian said that while some big-name retailers such as Sephora will carry international beauty brands, the selection is often much smaller and more expensive than it would be in Asia.

She said she also knew from experience how frustrating it could be to buy skin care products online, due to long shipping times and the inability to try a sample first.

“So I was like, why don’t I have these brands in Halifax, so that it is more affordable and can introduce more customers to J-beauty and K-beauty?” Bian said. “Because in Asia, everybody is crazy about skin care and cosmetics, and they are just so unique and so different than North American [products].”

Moon Moon offers a selection of make-up, face masks, soaps, shampoos, lotions, and more. Bian said the store’s most popular item is the sheet mask, which comes in a variety of brands and treatments.

“For the sheet masks, it’s basically for moisturizing, but in Asia we actually have a lot of sheet masks that target [areas],” Bian said. “For firming, for brightening, for acne control or all sorts of skin conditions…so you will find the right one for you.”

In the future, Bian said she plans to start offering her own line of beauty accessories in the store, such as make-up brushes.

Bian, who grew up in China, said cosmetics have always been a passion of hers.

She said the best part of her job is getting to introduce local customers to their new favourite beauty product.

“I had a lot of local customers who are so interested in K-beauty and J-beauty, but they know nothing about it,” Bian said. “Some curious customer might buy one or two sheet masks to try. [Now] I have a lot of loyal customers that keep buying sheet masks from us, or creams, or skin care.”

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