K-Beauty Part II; Where to Buy Korean Beauty Products

Now has shops in NY & NJ!

It's true that Korean beauty shops have begun popping up all over the US.  Sephora now has a dozen or so Tony Moly products online (I haven't noticed them in the store...) and they have Dr Jart plus  their own Sephora version of the sheet mask (which is pretty new). Urban Outfitters has a massive Korean beauty section ( as well as a ton of 'online only' products; *they ship within the US only). And Target carries some Laneige skin care.
Tony Moly is probably the most visible Korean brand newly emerging on the American market.  Aside from Sephora and UO, there are 3 locations in NY ( a brand new one in Chinatown), a huge location in Annandale, VA and locations in LA and SF. Most likely others I don't know about...

Tony Moly is way into adorable, and here in the states, we love it!!!

Nature Republic also has stores in NY, NJ, and CA.

The Face Shop also has stores in NY and CA.

 I have shopped in each one of these stores in New York City.  They are pretty tiny in their K Town and Chinatown locations but I am told are more spacious in the Queens locations.  The Face Shop is said to have a location inside the H Mart in Chicago. (H Mart is a chain of grocery stores that I believe is nationwide.)

Last weekend I went to the H Mart in Kennesaw, GA (a sizable Korean community just north of Atlanta) and there was this Amore shop.  Amore is the parent company to many brands including Sulwhasoo, Laneige, Etude, Innisfree and Iope.
Every one of these shops offers a membership card which will give a discount after spending a certain amount and I think they all also give you 10% off during your birthday month.

So, there is Urban Outfitters, which is everywhere, and you may have an H Mart in your town that will have a skin care shop inside.  If you don't have that (too bad because the grocery shopping at H Mart is amazing!).... then you always have the internet.

MEME BOX is a wonderful site.  You don't have to sign up for the monthly box, you can buy any product and any box, anytime.  The prices are good, they ship from SF and they even have some of their own 'xo meme' items made for them in Korea. Check it out memebox.com.

Charlotte of Soko Glam

sokoglam.com is another awesome site.  It's NY based and also ships from US so again 3 - 4 days as opposed to 4 - 6 weeks from Korea.  Soko Glam is thoughtfully curated by the lovely Charlotte (pictured) who travels to Korea regularly to stay on top of the newest/latest.
There is also peachandlily.com.  It's a really nice site run by two extremely professional gals with tons of info and helpful tips.

And then of course, there is EBay.  I have purchased from f2plus1 and been happy with the whole experience.  They have a 99% positive feedback after 68000 sales so not a lot of risk here.  It does of course take around 6 weeks for shipping. The inventory is gynormous and it's easy to spend lots of time wandering around in this ebay store.  
I forgot to mention that all of these stores and f2plus1 on ebay give fairly generous samples.  I got no samples from MEME and have not purchased from Soko Glam or Peach & Lily although I would guess samples would be involved.  The samples are great for introducing you to all these wonderful products and helping put together your own skin care routine.
To sum it all up, there is nothing standing in the way of any American beauty junkie buying all the Korean products your bathroom can handle.  I am in love with some of these products and will give you my personal feedback and faves in the next post.  Meanwhile, go buy a memebox starter kit and have fun!

KOREAN MAKE UP AND SKIN CARE PRODUCTS - PART ONE

I love, love, love Korean beauty products!  I have been using them for quite a while and I have to say I don't think I have purchased a single dud.  From skincare to make up to hair care, every product I have tried has been worth repurchasing.  That is saying an awful lot because I am picky and I have all kinds of skin, make up and hair issues that I have never been able to deal with until taking a chance on some of these rather foreign sounding products.  They really give you your money's worth!
So, I am going to walk you through...
First off, there are so many new sources popping up that buying these things is not a problem.  Understanding the different ingredients and attitude towards beauty and make up might be the bigger issue.  Not all products have a lot of English on the label. But,  South Korea has very high standards; these products use more natural and plant-based ingredients than most western products and they are usually very helpful in store or online with all questions.   I will direct you to very legit sources, so truly,... no worries.
  I'm breaking this subject into a 3 part post because there is soooo much to cover.  This first part is to show the packaging, marketing, and just plain unusual visuals for most people unaccustomed to Asian products.

These three are somewhat unsettling in their childlike imagery.  I'm not sure but I think the idea is that you are using a product to achieve a more youthful skin... "Goodbye Oil Tank"?  Obviously something got lost in the translation but I'm sure if you have an oily skin issue this product is for you.

The  'pig nose' black head strip, sounds gross but I would wager that this 3 step kit does a better job than the Biore one strip.  I'm not sure how a vibrating action is going to make your foundation more 'jewelry' like, but they do put a lot of research into these products and I won't poo-poo it until I've tried it.  The 'whitening' products are mostly 'brightening' in that they are not going to bleach your skin, they are going to usually have a high SPF and a a light tone coverage. 'Milky Dress' and 'White Virgin' may sound contradictory but it's just one of those uortunate word choices.

These three make up products are from Etude House, a very popular make up brand.  They seem to love fairy tale packaging.  The fragrance of Versailles looks a lot like Disneyland castle but 'Etoinette' is happy there.  And who can possibly resist buying Princess Happy Ending blush. ( I bought a bunch of these and gave them to friends!)  The thing is, these are not cute novelty items. They are amazingly high quality products that in my opinion kick ass. Their  American counterparts don't really give the same value for money spent.

Moving on from the slightly creepy packaging, there is also some crazy cute packaging like this!

The Tony Moly brand has lots of cute animal packaging, even for their serious skin care products  (I use the Panda night cream that comes in a cute Panda jar. It looks more like a gift from a children's birthday party but honestly it's a serious night cream.)

The issue here is just a matter of translation.  The fact is that they are putting amazing ingredients into these lip tints and they are not only color rich but full of natural skin conditioning plant extracts.


I wanted to cover these odd marketing and mostly just bad English translations so that you would understand that this is part of the process when starting out on your K Beauty journey.  Do not be put off by this and don't think this is just for teens.  These are grown up products and many are amazing multi-taskers.  In Part Two I am going to give you help on how and where to buy these products and in Part Three I will give a review of some of my faves... spoil alert - the adorbs picture at the top, Peri's Tint,  is one of them : ) !