Ordering Makeup and Skincare From US Sites After Canada's September 2026 Counter-Tariffs

A checkout price on a US beauty site is not the amount that matters once the parcel reaches Canada. Since 8 Sep 2026, some goods that originate in the United States have been subject to a surtax of 15 percent, 25 percent, or 50 percent of the value for duty, under the United States Surtax Order (2026), SOR/2026-186. This page is the beauty version of that rule. Household goods stay on the household counter-tariffs guide. Nothing here is customs advice. Where a fact was not verified, the sentence says to check with CBSA at 1-800-461-9999 or your carrier.

Which cosmetics lines are on the 50% counter-tariff list

Schedule 3 of SOR/2026-186 sets the surtax at 50 percent of the value for duty. The cosmetics lines on that schedule, matched to the descriptions in the 2026 Customs Tariff, chapter 33, are the only beauty lines this page will call covered. Perfumes and toilet waters are 3303.00.00. Lip make-up preparations are 3304.10.00. Eye make-up preparations are 3304.20.00. Manicure or pedicure preparations are 3304.30.00. Preparations for use on the hair, other than shampoos, permanent waving or straightening, and hair lacquers, are 3305.90.00. Chapter 33, checked 29 Sep 2026, shows a most-favoured-nation rate of 6.5 percent on those lines, and United States Tariff treatment of Free.

The same chapter, and the Order’s schedules as read the same day, leave other lines off Schedule 3. Shampoos are 3305.10.00. Powders are 3304.91.00. Other beauty, make-up, and skin-care preparations are 3304.99, the heading whose statistical split includes sunscreen preparations and face, hand, and body creams. Oral hygiene is chapter heading 3306. Shaving preparations, deodorants, and the rest of 3307 are not on the schedules. The list covers specific tariff items, not all cosmetics. A tinted moisturiser, a sunscreen, or a hair dye is not given a code on this page. The tariff item depends on classification: check with CBSA or your carrier. Electric shavers under 8510 and hair dryers under 8516.31 do not appear in the Order’s schedules. Tariff item 8509.80.90, other domestic electromechanical appliances, is on the 25 percent schedule. Whether a given device falls there is a classification question: check with CBSA. This page does not say that it does.

Origin vs shipping country

The surtax applies to goods that originate in the United States. The Order says that means goods eligible to be marked as goods of the United States. Customs Notice 26-23, paragraphs 5, 6, 14, and 15, applies that rule to personal importations: casual goods are considered to originate in the United States when they are marked as a good of the United States, including when they are shipped from a country other than the United States. Goods marked as originating in Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, or the US Virgin Islands are excluded.

A serum made in France, or anywhere else, and not marked as a good of the United States, is not subject to this surtax even if a US warehouse ships it. Ordinary duty and tax rules still apply. Whether a specific item qualifies for United States Tariff treatment under CUSMA origin rules is separate from the surtax, and it was not decided for any product on this page. Check with CBSA. A traveller’s personal exemption is also out of scope. Customs Notice 26-23, paragraph 23, points to the Guide for residents returning to Canada. This page does not restate those exemption amounts.

Courier and mail thresholds, and why the surtax still applies below them

The low-value page on the CBSA site, checked 29 Sep 2026, and Memorandum D8-2-16, dated 15 Nov 2024 at Ottawa, set the duty and tax remissions. Amounts are Canadian dollars of value for duty. By mail, 20 dollars and under is duty- and tax-free from any country. Above 20 dollars, duties and taxes apply, including from the United States and Mexico. By courier from the United States or Mexico, up to 40 dollars is duty- and tax-free, above 40 dollars to 150 dollars is duty-free but taxes apply, and above 150 dollars duties and taxes apply. By courier from any other country, up to 20 dollars is duty- and tax-free and above 20 dollars duties and taxes apply. Some exceptions apply, including alcohol, tobacco, and publications.

Those thresholds are not surtax exemptions. Customs Notice 26-23, paragraph 9, says the surtax applies to US-origin goods including those that may be eligible for remission of customs duties, sales, and excise taxes under the postal or courier remission orders, and that surtax is applicable on shipments that fall under the de minimis thresholds. Paragraph 29 says such goods must be accounted for. Paragraph 17 says GST is calculated on the value for tax, which includes the surtax even when customs duties are remitted, and that GST is not payable on non-taxable importations even if the importation is subject to the surtax. To use the higher courier threshold, goods do not need to originate in a CUSMA country. They must be shipped from the United States or Mexico and have entered that country’s commerce. Goods only transshipped through the United States do not qualify. How and when a courier or Canada Post collects the surtax on a small personal order, whether a brokerage or handling fee is added, and how that shows up at checkout or at the door: check with CBSA or your carrier. None of that was verified.

Health Canada rules for products not sold here

A tariff line is not permission to import a cosmetic, a drug, or a natural health product. This guide states no notification deadline, no prohibited ingredient, and no sunscreen rule. Read those pages before you order a product you cannot buy at a Canadian counter. Sunscreen is a pointer to the sun-safety page only. The tariff item still depends on classification: check with CBSA.

If you are carrying liquids on a flight, the allowance is the CATSA liquids guide, not a customs exemption. A return after the bottle is open is the return-policy guide. A cross-border trip, as distinct from a parcel, is the US trips guide. Do not mix those three decisions into one checkout total.

Landed-cost examples

Customs Notice 26-23, Example 2, is a CBSA calculation, not one of ours. Value for duty 150 dollars, most-favoured-nation duty 0 percent, surtax 50 percent. Surtax 75 dollars. Value for tax 225 dollars. GST at 5 percent is 11 dollars and 25 cents. Total of surtax, duty, and GST is 86 dollars and 25 cents. Quote that example with the notice. Do not treat it as a mascara price.

Example with made-up inputs. The three values for duty below were not taken from a website. Each row states the classification it assumes, and that assumption is not a ruling. The GST rate is the 5 percent rate used in the notice’s examples, not a provincial rate. Whether a province’s tax is collected on a casual import is not covered here: check with CBSA or your carrier. Brokerage is not included; ask your carrier.

Buying the same products in Canada instead

The comparison that avoids the surtax is a Canadian receipt for a product you can already buy here. Match the size, not the banner. A smaller Canadian bottle can cost more per millilitre and still cost less than a US-made perfume once a 50 percent surtax and GST on the surtax are in the total. A product made outside the United States can avoid the surtax and still owe most-favoured-nation duty once the value for duty is above the courier band. On the lines in the table, that duty rate is 6.5 percent when United States Tariff treatment does not apply. Whether your bottle gets that treatment: check with CBSA.

A cash-back portal, if you use one, applies to the Canadian checkout you actually pay. It does not rebate a surtax the carrier collects later. Read the return window before you buy a backup bottle. The Department of Finance product list mirrors the schedules. Every line in the table was taken from the Order and from chapter 33, not from the Finance page.