road shop cosmetics

during my 5 month stay in daegu, i spent a LOT of time in downtown. and when waiting for friends- or even walking around with friends- i could not resist stopping by these shops...



tony moly. nature republic. etude house. innisfree. the faceshop. skinfood. missha. bavi phat.
these are just few of the many common make up stores you can find walking down the streets of korea.
these stores are commonly called road shop stores, and they are similar to drugstore cosmetics here in the u.s.- accessible&inexpensive.
interesting observation? there are two or three of the same stores in the same area. for example, i know myeongdong has at least 2 nature republics, and downtown daegu had 3 tony molys. some of them are just a street down from another, which i find redundant. but meh

now, although there are many of these road shops, many have distinct themes so its always fun to visit them. the only thing i found bit annoying was that most of the time, the shops are filled with saleswomen who will just follow you around, even when you tell them to back off. and in the earlier days, the sales unnis in front of the stores would literally hand you a cart with a sample and drag you in (like the scary annoying cell phone salesmen) but everyone stopped dragging one day. probably a lawsuit or a law that made them change :/ anyways, i like good service, but when the ladies stand there looking eagerly to sell, i feel bad to just look around. the only way i found to keep these ladies away was by talking in english, but this wont work in heavily tourist-filled places like myeongdong, where the shops most often have salespeople who can speak korea, chinese, japanese, and english...

the thing i like most about these shops are the samples aka freebies they give out :D it can range from cotton pads to remove make up (if you stop by enough, you dont have to buy these EVER) to face packs to even fuzzy socks in the wintertime. there are also the store cards where you can get enough points to buy more products&hear about the sales they have. i know the end of the year is the best time to shop since many stores go crazy, but this could attract many MANY customers so you may have to wait in lines for awhile (like when missha had the 20% off EVERYTHING sale at the end of 2010).

now let me introduce couple of MY favorite shops...

tony moly.

[just the few tony moly items i have brought back from korea]

when yl unni asked what road shop represents me the best, i said tony moly.
&i definitely said that because i favor tm over other shops. but who could resist its cute designs and high ratings??
tony moly has i think the best designs out of all the road shops. from the green apple scrub to pore cleanser eggs to latte art creams, including little berries for lip balms, it won my heart over many other shops.
i have also read many reviews about the different products before buying things i wanted, and most reviews pointed to tony moly out of the many road shops.

favorite items have to be the gel eyeliner (khaki black), snail cream, &kisslover lipstick (lovely orange)

nature republic.


my second favorite road shop. i think i just liked to buy face packs from them since they had a large selection of it. i really like their lotions too &im so sad im almost done using my peach lotion :(

one shop i regret not going to as often is etude house. i think its pink and dollhouse-like theme kinda set me off, but i later found out they have good products- especially the lip tint that i want now :(

other items i would recommend? baviphat's sleeping apple mask (for acne troubles) & innisfree's volcanic pore clay mask.

gah how i wish i was shopping in korea right now...
i also miss online shpping&the quick delivery system D:
i remember this dream i had couple weeks ago, where i had only couple hours in korea and i was frantically trying to buy everything that i wanted -__-;;
to my friends in korea, enjoy & shop much instead of me <3