Giant Korea Beauty Haul 2016 (Part 1)

Hey all! I’m back from my trip to Seoul and had an amazing time. I posted updates on my Instagram (wyeow1) over the past 2 weeks so you can check it out over there if you’re interested in what I got up to. I’ve gone pretty frequently over the past 5 years but have decided this would be my last trip back for awhile at least – hence why I went a bit crazy with the shopping this time around haha. xD

I thought I’d share what I bought which is a combination of spontaneous purchases, things I needed to restock up on, new products released this year that I was holding off buying online, products that have been on my to-buy list for awhile but never got round to it and others that I’ve read great reviews/raves about, so I wanted to try it for myself.

To make this haul post easier to follow, I’ll organise it by each brand (with the exception of Olive & Young and Aritaum as they carry multiple brands). This will also be split into 2 parts otherwise this post will be huge. Part 1 will cover the more affordable and popular roadshop brands and part 2 will be more of the high-end brands. So let’s get started!

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1.BANILA CO

• Clean It Zero x5 – normal, purity and resveratrol
• Prime Primer – Matte version

First store I ventured into on the first night I arrived in Seoul. I had to restock the Clean It Zero for me and my sister so I didn’t bother packing my own makeup remover. Good thing I didnt. They were offering a deal of buy 4 and get 1 free and the salesman was persuasive so I caved and picked up 2 original, 2 for sensitive skin and 1 for oily skin. (Previously only tried the original). Banila Co are also known for their primers so I picked up the matte version and was able to get a discount on my entire purchase.

2. PRIMERA

• Miracle seed essence – comes with a box of cotton
• Super sprout serum – one of their bestsellers
• Watery cream alpine berry – bestseller
• Watery oil-free gel cream – lighter version of the alpine berry version

Second shop I visited was Primera because I also didn’t bring any moisturiser since I’d finished most of mine and wanted to try the alpine berry cream that Liah Yoo on youtube raved about for being very moisturising but not oily and heavy for combo skin.

 3. ETUDE HOUSE

• Sunprise Mild Airy Finish Sunscreen – had samples of this and loved it for being watery, light and fast absorbing
• Lip & Eye makeup remover – repurchase
• Play 101 stick contour duo no.2 – newly released; better shades than no.1 for my skin tone
• Balm+ Color Tint  – have one already, picked up another shade
• Double Lasting Foundation – this is apparently a dupe for the Estee Lauder DoubleWear which I used religiously when I used to fly and is still one of the best foundations for coverage and lasting power. Hope this is a cheaper alternative that performs just as well.
• Foundation brush
• Real Powder Cushion – newly released 2016 cushion
• Bebe foot mask – for my dad
• Pink Vital Water Emulsion – I didn’t pick this but I think I got it free because of how much I spent. Or maybe it was discounted..I cant remember.

I didn’t pick up as much as I thought from Etude. I think because the shop was smaller they had less variety so I forgot to pick up a couple things which I don’t remember seeing there. I’ve also generally gone off Etude skincare because I look for more effective products that target specific skin concerns and have particular/unique ingredients. Etude has great makeup but their skincare is quite basic and catered for younger girls and those who are starting out with a simple skincare routine.

4. Nature Republic

 

• Ginseng royal silk essence x2 – repurchase; this is amazing stuff.
• Ginseng royal silk watery cream x2
• Snail solution hydrogel eye patch x20
• Aqua Max combination watery cream x2  – wanted to try this for awhile and finally got it with a buy 1 get 1 free deal.
• Apricot Cushion Blusher

Nature Republic had amazing deals during the time I was there and having 50% store sales. I planned to get a repurchase of the ginseng essence and try the cream but the saleslady said if I buy both it comes with an additional set and in total would pay only KRW 132,000 for all 4. One ginseng cream is KRW 66,000 so I was mega happy with this bargain deal. If I wasn’t worried about luggage space I would’ve bought another set! I think Nature Republic skincare is better than their makeup so I only picked up their cushion blusher to try.

5. MISSHA

• Aqua Cover Foundation – impulse purchase after I saw it on Missha’s Instagram and I can’t explain why it just looked irresistible. Maybe it’s because blue is my favourite colour. Have no idea how this foundation performs because I’ve not seen any reviews on it.
• Tension Blusher in PK02 – I was looking for CR02 as a backup for my Line Friends tension blusher but it seemed to be sold out everywhere. 🙁 Still happy they decided to make this product part of their permanent line up though.
• The Original Tension Pact in Perfect Cover – just released. (This is a renewal of their old cream tension pact except its now a liquid formula). Comes in 4 versions and most of them sold out everywhere. Luckily found 1 left in my shade for the cover version so I snapped it up.
• Layer Blurring Primer – long lasting (free)
• Super Aqua Oil Clear Gel Cream – I have to admit, I was swayed to purchase this because the packaging is beautiful.
• Super Aqua Cell Renew Snail Cream – So I was desperately looking everywhere for the snail cream from the new ‘Near Skin’ line but it was literally sold out EVERYWHERE. I walked into every Missha store I could find for 3 days straight and nothing. I had given up hope until I found their snail cream from their older ‘super aqua’ line (which is just as popular), at the airport duty free.

I really like Missha for their reliable makeup and skincare products. They were one of the first Korean beauty brands I ever tried. Was gutted that much of what I wanted was sold out, but the bits I did pick up had 20-30% discount and I also got a free primer with my Tension Pact purchase.

6. INNISFREE

• Eco Science Serum
• Jeju Sparkling Mineral Essence
• Jeju Sparkling Oil-free Gel Cream
• Whitening Pore Synergy Serum
• The Green Tea Seed Deep Cream – repurchase for sister
• Cover Stamping Puff   
• Skinny Volumecara – I like the normal waterproof version so wanted to give the volume one a try.
• Highlighter stick (not shown here)

Innisfree is definitely my favourite Korean brand for skincare as I’ve tried a lot of their products and never been disappointed. I also just love the overall brand concept and their packaging. I’m surprised that I actually didn’t pick up more from here but by the time I visited Innisfree I had already bought a lot at other places so I was conscious of my luggage weight and money, as well as the fact they didn’t have a sale on. I mainly wanted to try serums/essences from lines that I hadn’t tried before and the Jeju sparkling line especially had me curious. Innisfree is a brand that is very easy to purchase online so I’m not too disappointed at not finding some makeup items I was looking for.

7. SKINFOOD

• Milk Shake Point Make-up Remover
• Peach Sake Pore Serum
• Black Sugar Honey Mask Wash-off
• Black Sugar Strawberry Mask Wash-off
• White Grape Fresh Foundation
• Sugar Mix Shading – new
• Sugar Mix Highlighter – new

Most of these are popular raved about products from Skinfood that I’ve been curious to try. I’ve also tried the normal black sugar mask and the rice mask wash off so of course I had to get the honey and strawberry to compare it to. As for the new highlighter and shading palettes, I swatched them in store and loved how pigmented they were so I snapped them up.

8. TONY MOLY

• Timeless Ferment Snail lip treatment stick x2 – heard about this from sunnydahye on youtube and just had to have it. Snail works wonders on the skin so shouldn’t it be great for my perpetually dry lips.
• BCDation+ Foundation – yay I finally got it. Hope this is better than the not so impressive BCDation+ cushion (which the saleslady was trying to recommend to me and I flat out refused haha).
• The Black Tea London Classic Serum – funny how the saleslady was pitching this so hard and telling me how amazing English tea is. (I live in London – tea is our thing haha.) It’s a new TonyMoly product and a current bestseller so I thought why not I’ll give it a try since I’m not too familiar with their skincare.

9. THE FACE SHOP

• CC Long-lasting Cushion refill – yay so happy they sell refills of the Disney Mike cushion because it is awesome.
• CC Oil Control Water Cushion (My Other Bag edition) – decided to try another TFS cushion after being so impressed with the Mike one.
• Mango Seed Lip Scrub
• Multistick Highlighter

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I’m gonna leave it here as I’ve covered most of the roadshop brands. Check out part 2 for the mid-high end brands.