i spent $1000 shopping in korea 🫢

if you’re heading to s korea this end of year and want an easy guide on what and where to shop (mainly in seoul!), here’s my take 😙 

📍OLIVE YOUNG

the first day i landed in korea, we were in busan and the first store i stepped into was an olive young 🫶🏼 i literally went to an olive young in every area i went to in seoul too, which explains how i managed to spend $500 on beauty products 🫠 i’m a huge beauty junkie so i did my research before coming and i suggest you do too! it can get quite overwhelming at the store as most things are written in korean. i kept screenshots on my phone to refer to, and when in doubt, just ask the staff! most of them can speak english and are super friendly.

the main difference between buying at olive young as compared to buying things on shopee is that you can actually get quite big savings! olive young has sets and discounts (e.g. 1 for 1 serums) that make it worth lugging all your shopping back 🤪

some products i picked up: round lab birch juice sunscreen (1 for 1), romand nu zero cushion, dasique eyeshadow palette, celimax noni ampoule (1 for 1), dr jart cicapair mist for $10 only!

✨ TIP: tell the cashier you’re a foreigner when you’re making payment so they can issue you a tax refund! remember to bring your passport around for this

📍HAUS DOSAN - 50 Apgujeong-ro 46-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul

i’m a huuuuge fan of tamburins and blackpink’s jennie so i knew haus dosan was a pit stop i HAD to make 💗 tamburins also has another store at sinsa-dong, but if you’re looking to save time, you can head to haus dosan, which houses tamburins, gentle monster and cafe nudake. i dropped $300 here for a pair of gentle monster sunglasses (style: obon 01) and the latest tamburins fragrances in CHAMO and BERG SANDAL (which featured jennie in the campaign!).

✨ gentle monster is def cheaper in s korea than singapore—you can account for the currency difference as well as tax refund!

📍CLOTHING + ACCESSORIES

since we went in autumn, there really weren’t much clothing options as most stores were selling fall and winter wear, which we can’t wear in sg anyway 🥺 but i did pick up some lighter sweaters and pants!

there are many clothing & accessories to shop along myeongdong, sinsa-dong, ikseondong and hongdae! one of my fave stores in hongdae would be sigonggan in hongdae—it’s a little boutique with rows and rows of accessories, some clothing pieces and even bags.

if you’re more of a korean fashion brand kinda gal (think mardi mercredi, depound and GROVE), you can head to hannam-dong at itaewon! a lot of these brands have flagship stores here. i almost caved and bought a $100 canvas bag from depound too 🙃

📍GIFTS + SOUVENIRS

for my girlies, i bought tons of sheet masks and skincare sets from olive young! if you’re also on the lookout for cute knick knacks like postcards, stickers and post-it notes, i recommend checking out mangwon-dong, an area within hongdae, which has several cute stationery shops. we stopped by this cute store called NEED THINGS and bought tons of things we don’t actually need but couldn’t resist.

✨ NEED THINGS: 서울 마포구 망원로6길 56

if you’re a snacks kinda person, myeongdong has quite a few snacks stores where you can pick up anything from ramen to bts-themed merchandise. i would also recommend heading to the hyundai seoul just for its huge basement that houses everything—a supermarket, several bakeries, popular cafe layered, there’s even an osulloc branch!

✨ The Hyundai Seoul: 108 Yeoui-daero, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul

don’t forget to save this post for your next trip! 📌

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