Where do we buy korean cosmetics?

Where do we buy korean cosmetics???

 

by Violetta

 

Some people asked me, where do I / we get my / our korean cosmetics from, because in europe, it´s not as easy as the most people think. So I wanted to write about this topic in this post, to show you my personal experiences.

First of all I want to say that this is not an advertisement for any store or shop. I also don´t want to say, that the stores, which I don´t talk about are not as good as the ones I mention in this post, because I talk about all shops I bought korean cosmetics from and about the experiences I made. I know that there are more stores online which offers korean cosmetics, but I haven´t tryed them now. If you have a special store which you love, then please don´t hessitate to tell me in the comments, because I´m always looking for new (maybe better ways) to get my stuff from. :-)

My main problem in ordering stuff from asia is, that the shipping costs are really high (it could also be that they´re higher than the cost for the product you order). So I preffer stores which don´t make their shipping costs in order to the weight of my package, because with every new product in the package, the shipping costs get higher and higher and higher and higher ...

Since I have to get my packages to germany, the shipping costs are alwasy a big issue, so I searched for stores with a good solution for me.

The next problem is to don´t get fake stuff, but luckily I didn´t made that experience yet. Here is my tip, if you want to be absolutelly sure to don´t get fake products: Order from the brands original online store, if they have one!
(But as I said, it never happened to me so you can also buy from other stores, if it´s cheaper)
Of course you can also check the products, in looking for reviews about them, because they often don´t look the same, only alike.)

--> something about fake products I heared: they are not real products, only made in the same style (If you are not sure if you can trust a shop, google it and find out what other gils say like on youtube e.g. (not that they´re always right, but maybe they can give you a good impression about a certain store)

Here is my list of online stores:

www.etudehouse.com

This was the first store where I ordered my cosmetics from. They often have events where you can get top sellers or new collections cheaper, or you can get any other gifts, depending on the event. But the online store never gives samples (which are not included in an event). I heared that you should get samoles at the store (in korea), but I never was able to go there since yet . : /
You also have to add the presents or other stuff you can gett through an event to your shopping cart, or else you won´t get it.  I made the experience that if you putt your made your order and brought the process to the end (after paying), the process of making the package ready is really fast, so if you forget to add a present, you can forget it. (but never give in! if this happens to you too, try to contact them, because once, they send me my stuff with the next package)
Pay attention: this stuff also has a weight you have to pay for.

Sometimes, etude house make events with free shipping (e.g. order over 50$, 60$ or 70$). I personally only order during such an event, because otherwise it would be to expensive. But in any case, you only get the free shipping (if offered) for a package under  1,6 kg, so if you can add presents to your shopping cart, calculate that in. I order together with my sister and my mother got get the sum together and in this way, I don´t have to spend so much money by myself only. ;-)

A problem in the beginning (when the online store was newly opened) was, that you couldn´t contact anybody. O.o They just didn´t replyed me and I also don´t get and information through e-mail, if my package is on the way or not. : /
Now, they are replying, but back then, I don´t know why, there was no one to ask for.


The problem (why I preffer other stores a bit) is, that if you spend more than around $20~$25 the package has to go through the customs office (since you order it from third countrys, for me, everything that is not from europe). I personally don´t really understand the german law in this situation, because they only want to get money from things, they have nothing to do with, but you can´t do anything against it. You have to count with 19 % more to pay, if they "check" your order.

Including that into my counting, I often preffer order from stores which have world wide free shipping, like:

www.beautynetkorea.com

http://cosmetic-love.com/

They always give you free samples with every order. The more you buy, the more samples you get, but I alwas order more small packages, to guarantee that I don´t have to pay the custom office fees. ;-) I get less samples, but I don´t have to pay even more money. But I experienced, the more you buy, the better / faster is the shipping. My first order I did at beautynet korea was here after only two weeks, which is really fast if I compare it with the small packages, which can last from 6~8 weeks. O.o

An advantage comparred to the etude house online shop is, that you can order from more than one label. Both stores have simmilar and different things, and some of the simmilar things are sometimes cheaper in one of these two store, while an other product is cheaper in the other one ... . So when I look for a certain product, I compare between both stores. They both have some events often, e.g. on cosmetic love  is often one brand on sale and they have sets where the products are cheaper in the end. Or the new arrivals are often on sale at beautynetkorea. They also have special offers for members (like order 2 (you can also choose different colours) and get an discount of e.g. 20%)

The only disadvantage is, that the products are always a bit more expensive then in stores you have to pay shipping costs, but calculating this in, I think you are cheeper without shipping costs in the end.

I have an important story to tell you about Cosmetic Love:

Once I had a problem with my package. I ordered one at cosmeticlove and it never arrived. I waited for about 2 months and nothing. Since I payed with paypal, I got the customer security (it means that you can get your money back in emergency cases). I tryed to contact the shop through their service contact e-mail, but no reply. Then I tryed to contact them through their facebook page, but also no reaction. (There I saw a girl who had the same problem like me, that the package didn´t arrived and she couldn´t contact anybody ...)
My last try was to contact them through the e-mail adress, which sends me the advertisements of cosmeticlove (because that still worked -.-) and without having any hope, they really replyed. O.o
they said that they can´t say why I couldn´t contact them, but they gave me my money back within one or two days.
So in the end, I am not really sure if I should order there again, because of the package that never arrived, but after I could contact them (after manny tries) they helped me out. So I am really not sure about this. The funniest thing about this is, that I ordered a secound package on the same day (just because of the amount of the money to pay to don´t pay to the customs office) and that package arrived without any troubles. Thats why I was so confused why the other one didn´t arrived, too. (And that´s also why I could say that it was on time for it to arrive ;-) )


So as a conclussion I can say, that you have to make your own experiences and decide, which store and method is the best to ship it to your country. I only telled you our experiences and opinions. If you have nice stores you can recommend to us, please let us know. :-)

Because "All of us are born as a princess"

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