Shopping in Seoul

My first post on Seoul is about most peoples' favourite activity - SHOPPING!! All my skincare, cosmetics, and clothes purchases were bought in Myeongdong, with the exception of a few make up items bought in duty free stores outside of Myeongdong. I spent the most on skincare and cosmetics, very little on clothes as I have SO MANY new and unworn clothes due to years of impulsive blogshopping. So, I will write about skincare/cosmetics only.

The products that I bought are those that have drawn numerous stellar reviews based on my research. I'm sure many other brands such as Holika Holika, Tony Moly, Nature Republic, Belif and The Saem have their own 'star products' too, but I can't possibly buy every single item for which I see an excellent review, neither did I have the time to do such an extensive research. Nevertheless, I always love to try out new products, so feel free to suggest things to buy should I make another trip to Korea in future!

Laneige

The brand I spent the most on. Bought all at Lotte Duty Free.

Perfect Renew set (supposedly their anti-aging product line) and the Firming Sleeping Pack (a new version of the super popular  Water Sleeping Pack) . This would be my night time skincare routine. I have never tried this crazy 7-step skincare routine that the Koreans do, this would be my first. Bought the whole Perfect Renew set for US$192. Individually, the price for each item is:

Perfect Renew Skin Refiner: US$27

Perfect Renew Emulsion: US$29

Perfect Renew Essence: US$44

Perfect Renew Night Treatment: US$47

Perfect Renew Eye Cream: US$36

Perfect Renew Cream: US$44 

The Firming Sleeping Pack cost US$23 per jar. US$160 for a pack of 8 jars.

Innisfree

The Green Tea Serum & Lotion are for the day.

Green Tea Seed Serum: 22,000 KRW

Green Tea Balancing Lotion (an updated version of the Green Tea Pure Lotion): 14,000 KRW
Green Tea Seed Cream: 20,000 KRW
Jeju Volcanic Nose Pack (6 strips): 3,000 KRW

Jeju Volcanic Pore Clay Mask: 12,000 KRW
Super Volcanic Pore Clay Mask: 13,000 KRW. This is supposedly a newer version of the Jeju Volcanic Pore Clay Mask, however I heard that it's more drying too.

We managed to use a 10% discount coupon from Visit Korea Committee website for our purchases. Score!

Etude House

Wonder Pore Freshner (250ml) (gave to my brother already): 9,000 KRW

Wonder Pore Freshner (500ml): 15,000 KRW

Wonder Pore Whipping Foam: 12,000 KRW

Eyeshadows: 5,500 KRW each

Missha

Pure Source Green Tea and Pure Source Pearl Face Masks: 1,000 KRW each

Skinfood

Black Sugar Mask Wash Off: 7,700 KRW

Grape Seed Oil Anti-Wrinkle Neck Cream: 6,900 KRW

Sulwhasoo

Bought this at Lotte Duty Free.

Overnight Vitalizing Mask: I shared a duo set with Ching, which was 2 tubes for US$72. We got a further 10% discount using a Visa Signature card. Separately, 1 tube would have cost us US$40 to US$45. 

Leaders' Insolution

Bought this at Lotte Duty Free.

Collagen Lifting Skin Renewal Mask: US$17 per box (10 sheets per box). I shared a buy 3 get 1 free offer with Bel, effectively paying US$12.50 per box. However when walking around Myeongdong, I saw some beauty stores selling them for 20,000 KRW, with a buy 1 get 1 offer, so I'm not sure if duty free was the best deal I got.

ODBO

There is only 1 ODBO outlet in Seoul. This site gives a good description on how to get there. If you're hopeless with directions, take a cab there. Cost me about $10 from Gyeongbokgung to ODBO (because it's about a half an hour walk from the nearest train station).

Vitamin C Essential Brightening Mask: 1,200 KRW per sheet

The masks are also sold in boxes of 100 sheets per box @ 120,000 KRW, with an additional 10 free sheets.

Happy Bath

Bought them simply because they were manufactured by Amore Pacific. Haha. But they smell really amazing!

Cotton Flower and Cherry Blossom: 6,000 KRW to 6,500 KRW each

Fruit body milk: 12,000 KRW each (Watsons had a buy 1 get 1 free promotion)

3CE

I hold their make up in high esteem, but they are relatively expensive! Introduced this brand to Bel and Mel too, and they also bought some items for themselves!

Lip Color (#501 Bella): 17,900 KRW

Under Eye Flash (#2 Pitter Patter): 11,000 KRW

Marble Highlighter: 17,000 KRW

The Face Shop, Hera, Clio

The Face Shop Rice Water Bright Cleansing Foam: can't remember the price

Eyebrow Pencil: 2,900 KRW

Aura CC Cream (#01): 24,900 KRW. I combined purchases with Bel to get the buy 3 get 1 free offer, effectively paying 18,675 for it.

Aura CC Cream (#01): 21,900 KRW - bought at Incheon Airport Duty Free

Hera

CC Cream: S$40.03 - bought at Lotte Duty Free

UV Mist Cushion: 36,440 KRW - bought at Incheon Airport Duty Free

Clio

Kill Black & Kill Brown eyeliner: 15,000 KRW each. Bel bought hers at 20% off at Olive Young. :(

*****

If I had deep pockets or was able to fit more products into my skincare routine, I would have also bought these:

Missha Time Revolution The First Treatment Essence (42,000 KRW)

Missha Time Revolution Night Repair Ampoule (42,000 KRW)

OST Original Pure Vitamin C20 Serum

OST Vitamin Sleep 9 to 5 Crema

Hera skincare

Innisfree Orchid product line (Day Cream: 28,000 KRW / Night Cream: 28,000 KRW / Enriched Cream: 25,000 KRW / Eye & Lip Cream: 25,000 KRW)

Laneige White Plus Renew Tone Up Corrector

More 3CE cosmetics

Note that Watsons or Olive Young stocks some of these Korean skincare/makeup brands too, and may have promotions that the individual brands' retail outlets may not have, as seen in my Clio purchase.

For duty free shopping, do bring along your Visa Signature or Visa Infinite card along if you have one. We found out only near the end of our trip that using these cards would have given us an extra 10% to 15% off. :( Try to visit Duty Free stores on weekdays as the crowd seems to be thinner than those on weekends.

Also, don't just immediately join the queue when you're at Duty Free. Most counters required us to be issued an order card or slip by the sales assistants (see the example for Laneige above), who would write down our orders first. We brought the order card/slip to the cashier, and received our goods after payment.

Clothes

Bought only 6 pieces of tops for myself, because I already have SO MANY clothes at home due to years of blog shopping. Bought 3 long tops / tunics that cost me 5,900 KRW each. Can wear them over leggings. The quality and thickness of the fabric is good for the price! Quite happy with them.

Bought 2 knit tops and 1 long sleeved denim blouse, all were 10,000 KRW each.

I have a weakness for cute stuff, so I caved in to 9 pairs of socks! All 1,000 KRW each. Look at the kitty socks! So cute I had to get them in all colours!

Tax refunds

The most common tax refund companies in Myeongdong are Global Blue (blue logo) and Global Tax Free (orange logo). KTO provides a description on where to find them. Purchases above 30,000 won at a certain store are entitled to tax refunds.

The tax refund outlet will give you your tax refund in cash or credit it to your credit card. However, do note that you will be required to put up a guaranteed deposit that will be deducted from your credit card should you fail to show your goods to the officer at the tax refund counter at the airport. Yes, apparently, showing the receipts as proof of purchase is not enough, the tax refund officer at the airport has to see the physical goods too. Getting the refund is only the first step in completing the tax refund. In the picture above, I received a cash refund of 9,000 KRW, but had to put up a guaranteed deposit of 16,571 KRW. 

At the airport, we still had to go to the airport tax refund counter to get a stamp of approval. If you fail to do so you'll lose your deposit. The tax refund officer is supposed to see our purchases (yup, you have to dig out your loots from your bursting luggage to literally SHOW the officer what you bought). This means you should visit the tax refund counter before you check your luggages in, in the event that you are required to open your bags to show the officer your purchases. It's troublesome and retarded, I know. However, because a queue had formed, the officer swiftly stamped our receipts without asking to see our purchases, otherwise, it would just hold up the queue. I guess it's a matter of luck. I was told that a friend on a separate trip was required to show the officer his purchases as he was the first in line and there was no queue behind him. However, the queue formed while he was being "checked", so subsequently, the officer let the rest of the queue passed without them having to show their buys.

If you're working on a tight timeline, I suggest you utilize the discount coupons that can be found on the interest (google 'coupons' for shopping in Seoul' or something like that) instead of attempting to get your tax refunds. In fact, if I were to do this again, I would be more diligent in searching for and remembering to use my coupons, and skip the tax refunds altogether.

Hope this helps you in budgeting and planning for your shopping expenses in Seoul! I totally overspent there but I was really happy with my purchases! It's been a month since I went to Seoul but my luggage bag is still lying in my room because I don't know where to put the new loots in my room after unpacking them, haha!

P.S. This was one of my luggage bags. I was so afraid that it would burst on the way back.