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Saturday 13 July 2013

Korea Trip (& Hauls)

안녕하세요!
 
just less than a week ago, i came back from the land of beauty products (and procedures), KOREA~
 
now, just a disclaimer that LT and i are both korean fanatics
we are k-pop addicts and k-cosmetic addicts too!
 
though we went to korea together, LT came back to Singapore first, and i stayed on for another week, hence my lack of reviews *sorry ):
 
this post too, will not be one of a review, but rather to introduce my haul!
*its quite massive so brace yourselves
**including samples too
 
ta-dah! all compiled
 
now im gonna introduce my haul by catergorising them into the different brands they belong to!
 
first up, we have ARITAUM (amore pacific)
amore pacific is actually a huge brand that umbrellas many other smaller brands such as those you can find in any aritaum stores

one of their more popular brand and product is actually the IOPE Bio Essence Intensive Conditioning Formula
of which i bought 2 bottles of, and got the equivalent of 1 full product of eye cream (in samples)
i started using this product prior to my korea trip and it had worked wonders for me then!
so though it was expensive at 60,000원 per bottle, i bought it
 
and amore pacific's most popular brand, LANEIGE
i love and swear (my skincare routine) to death by laneige!
however, because i was running out of money by the time i got to buying laneige products, i only bought what i needed urgently
which was the skin refiner
couldnt resist getting a sleeping pack in the end too, because it was only 25,000원, whereas in Singapore it costs SGD45 per tub
 
my samples from laneige and iope
 
next, we have INNISFREE

come to think of it i didnt buy as much as i thought i had did from innisfree
probably because they were one of the more expensive brands around compared to their (similar price range) counterparts like nature republic, etude house etc

but innisfree is one of my top 2 favouritest korean brands!
love their natural and environmental aspect with regards to packaging and products
and innisfree products always smell so niceeeee

my favouritest product out of all!
and probably one of my top buys of the trip too!
the creamy tint lipstick!

innisfree samples
 
besides innisfree, my other favouritest korean brand would be NATURE REPUBLIC 

i have previously declared my love for nature republic's eyeliner
and guess what, i went back and bought 25 more :O
i couldnt resist!
they were having like a massive summer sale and my eyeliners were all on 50% discount!
loads of brown this time (:

nature republic samples
 
got the jang geunsuk standee and passport cover because one of the outlets we went to, we sort of befriended the sales assistant there and talked to them so much they gave us a lot of freebies heh heh
 
SKINFOOD
skinfood believes in feeding your skin the right sort of nutrients
which gives rise to their sometimes weird but always delicious products made from real food items
 
i only bought recommended items which i had researched on prior to the trip
the peach sake pore serum is THE BOMB btw

samples

LT's favourite, ETUDE HOUSE

found out during the trip that etude house is actually better known for their cosmetics rather than skincare
but too late, i already threw my money into the wonderpore edition -.-

and im usually not a nail polish person (because i bite them since i was 4 yrs old so they're short and ugly) but i couldnt resist etude house's nail polishes!!
whats more, they were on a 1+1 offer!
so thats 50% discount again! haha

samples
plus i bought the cup for 2,000원
plus a shinee poster which is not included here

HOLIKA HOLIKA
again, only bought products that were recommended and researched on prior
this aqua petit jelly bb cream is SUPER RAVED ABOUT in youtube omg i am not kidding

but why so stingy with samples?!

THE SAEM
bought the first essence in busan because im a weak being and i just cant bring myself to rejecting people (especially pleading sales assistants)
their concealer is also recommended (and on 50% discount!) which was why i bought it

and so the pleading sales assistant gave me a bunch of GD stuff too
 
THE FACE SHOP
right after LT left korea, their summer sale started -.-
by that time i had already bought 4 (out of the 7) items you see below
but the lipsticks were from a 1+1 promotion done by suzy

wanted to buy a lot more from the face shop but the outlets i went to were out of EXO merchandises (or left with members i dont fancy) so i didnt buy as much as i had initially planned to

samples
 
TONY MOLY
tony moly had a 30% sale but i only bought this recommended item
my korean friend said that they have the best gel eyeliners ever because Kim Yuna (skater) cried so much on national tv while wearing tony moly's gel eyeliner but they did not budge at all! hahaha
but i find it a little inconvenient to apply, with a brush and all, so i dropped the idea

ITS SKIN
again, another case of failing to rejecting pleading sales assistant so i got this
its apparently good for soothing troubled skin? cant remember already
 
APIEU
relatively new brand in the market
went to apieu on their monthsary day (every 25th of the month) so there was 25% discount on everything
b2st is the spokesperson for apieu and i was really just aiming to get b2st merchandises haha

mission accomplished!
though they didnt have my yoseob ㅠㅠ

TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL
already did a review on these in my lipsticks post
so this is just re-stocking
 
 
and thats about it!
sorry i have been really busy ever since i got back from my holidays due to work so i cant review as much as LT
but i will!
in a matter of time, i definitely will (:

8 comments:

Arya De Guzman said...

I love your haul to the max!!!! and you got tons of freebies too. hope I can as much as your haul when I go to Korea next year (cross fingers)

thecertifiedlatebloomer.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

Wow! I'm really impress you in getting so much of samples ^^
isn't all the shop in korean selling their skin care n cosmetic products that cheap?

A said...

Hi Jessica, the price ranges depending on what type of product you are looking for, and the brand that you are purchasing. But generally, it is cheaper to get your korean products there than here in Singapore. Also, i wouldnt really recommend cosmetics shopping in Myeongdong unless you're buying a lot at one go. They tend to cater to bulk buyers and sometimes snub you (and give you lesser samples) if you're buying very little. Hope this helps!

Emily said...

Was the Innisfree salon hair care program reviewed here still available in korea when u were there? I just read your review and am so looking forward to buying it! But i heard somewhere that it was discontinued but im not sure ):

A said...

Hi Emily, im afraid it has been discontinued ): i tried checking every single innisfree i came across to see if they had leftover stocks so maybe you could try your luck this way too. All the best!

peishi said...

hi.this is awesome that you bought so many korea cosmetics and skincare product and share with us.
I just read that you wouldn't recommend to shop in Myeongdong to buy cosmetics,may i know where is your suggestion place to get all the products and samples?

thank you

peishi said...

hi.this is awesome that you bought so many korea cosmetics and skincare product and share with us.
I just read that you wouldn't recommend to shop in Myeongdong to buy cosmetics,may i know where is your suggestion place to get all the products and samples?

thank you

A said...

Hi peishi, myeongdong is great if you're gonna purchase A LOT because they usually have categories of different amount of samples which you can get if you can reach a specific amount. However i would recommend you trying to shop in smaller branches that nobody really enters, like those at the train stations for example. those branches tend to be more generous with their samples since they dont get as much customers as myeongdong. for example; my friend received a whole shampoo, body wash, moisturizer set with many small samples when she bought just 1 bottle of laneige skin refiner at yeongdeungpo train station's aritaum. but if you were to buy the same thing at myeongdong's aritaum, you'll be receiving some small samples at most.