With more than a hundred days of quarantine behind us, and presumably many more in the future, it’s getting harder and harder to replenish our K-Beauty faves.
If you have K-Beauty faves that are now running low, or simply want to participate in some retail therapy, here are some online shops to check out while you safely stay at home— no post office pick ups!
First things first though, sharing here a few general rules to avoid hassles or extra fees when shopping from overseas e-tailers:
- Avoid going over P10,000 – When your package is worth more than P10,000, the Bureau of Customs will automatically flag and hold it for inspection. It will be assessed for imports and duties, which can sometimes add up to more than your package’s value.
- Do not buy more than ten lipsticks, five perfumes, or various cosmetics weighing more than 1kg.
Some sites (like Jolse) claim that they declare shipments as gifts to avoid customs issues, but this is never a guarantee that your package won’t be inspected. Better stay safe than sorry! If you need to buy more than the limitations, simply break up the purchase into several orders.
Here are some e-stores you may consider for your K-beauty online shopping:
Style Korean
Website: https://www.stylekorean.com/
Ships from: Korea, via EFS and EMS
Free shipping: Free for purchases over $70
Payment method: Paypal, Credit Cards, Debit Cards, Visa, MasterCard, JCB, American Express.
Perks: Earn points when you buy and review items. Points may be used as money, 1 point = $1
Style Korean is a great first stop for K-Beauty shopping. It has over 100 brands, mostly skincare. There are a ton of familiar brands such as Innisfree, Clio, and The Face Shop. There are also cult faves that are harder to find: Illiyoon, Huxley, and Sulwhasoo. Internet-hyped brands such as 3CE and 21Brand are also available here. Watch out for “brand days,” as the site constantly has a roster of timed deals for brands that go on sales up to 60% off. They also have “time deals” of random items that go on flash sales for a few hours. In my experience, this is the fastest Korean-based site, able to deliver in about a week for Metro Manila addresses.
They suspended deliveries to the Philippines early in the quarantine, but have so far resumed operations. Do expect this list to change drastically as overseas shops struggle to ship during the pandemic. A potential listing for this article (Yes Style) has paused shipping to the Philippines as of this writing. Some websites (Jolse, Wishtrend) have restricted shipping options.
Jolse
Website: http://jolse.com/
Ships from: Korea, via EMS and DHL
Free shipping: Free for purchases over $150
Payment method: PayPal
Jolse doesn’t have a point system, but does have a convenient coupons tab. It has just about as many brands as Style Korean, but isn’t a huge contender because of the higher limit on free shipping. It similarly has “brand days” and “time deals.” When shopping for an item available on both platforms, it’s a good idea to check the listing on all sites as you might chance upon a brand day or time deal. In my experience though, only the biggest and best-selling brands go on brand days and flash deals, for all sites. Indie selections and lesser-known brands rarely go on sale.
Wishtrend
Website: https://www.wishtrend.com/
Ships from: Korea, via DHL, FedEx
Free shipping: $10+ expedited, free for purchases over $150
Payment method: Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and PayPal
Perks: Points system available but unposted
Wishtrend has a very short list of available brands, with only eight beauty brands. Nonetheless, these are brands that are more exclusive and harder to find. Klairs is at the top of the list, a brand that is not available in either of the two sites mentioned above. It also developed its own home brand called By Wishtrend. It exclusively offers skincare products, and the most familiar brand this site carries is CosRX, which is also available in the other two sites.
Online shopping has definitely come a long way. While it’s hard to resist the allure of physically inspecting a product, we need to make use of all these online innovations now more than ever, as they let us conveniently shop from home and not put our health at risk. Stay home, stay safe!
*******************************
Kristel Yap is a professional makeup artist. She has been a beauty writer for almost a decade, sharing the latest in makeup, skincare and beauty on her blog Beauty by Tellie. You may follow her on Instagram @beautybytellie.