Almost everyone has heard of the viral 10-step Korean skincare routine, with many trying it out in a bid to achieve that clear, glass skin that Korean celebrities always sport. However, a K-beauty routine is definitely incomplete without any Korean skincare products, so we compiled a list of the best places for you to buy your favourite K-skincare in Singapore!
Online specialty stores
1. Althea
Source: Oh My Stellar!
Founded in 2015, Althea aims to be a one-stop shopping destination for K-beauty lovers, offering some of the lowest prices you can find for a very comprehensive Korean brand selection. Think of where to buy Korean skincare products in Singapore, and Althea will definitely come to mind.
Besides stocking some of the more famous brands (think Etude House, LANEIGE and MISSHA), they offer products from popular Korean skincare brands currently not found in Singapore, including Peripera, VDL, and Too Cool For School. In addition, Althea has an in-house brand that is exclusively sold on their platform.
Shipping is free for orders S$29 and above, and delivery typically takes up to eight business days following the day on which payment receipt is confirmed.
Visit Althea Singapore’s website here.
2. Soko Glam
Soko Glam was started by wife-and-husband duo Charlotte and Dave Cho. Charlotte is a licensed esthetician, so you definitely can trust her expertise in skincare.
Although Soko Glam is based in New York, the team regularly travels to Seoul to scour the Korean skincare and makeup market, consult industry experts, and bring back the best selection of Korean beauty products for curation on Soko Glam. In fact, they were the ones who popularised the famous 10-step Korean skincare routine!
Soko Glam offers a huge variety of brands that are personal favourites of Charlotte Cho, including indie favourites Neogen, Hanskin, and Goodal. The downside is that prices of products sold on Soko Glam are not cheap, and international shipping from the US takes anywhere from five to 17 business days.
Visit Soko Glam’s website here.
3. YesStyle
Source: Blonde Ambition
Hong Kong-based YesStyle is another site that many people purchase Korean skincare products from. Even though they are not an online store focusing solely on K-beauty, they do have a very wide selection of brands (The Face Shop, Holika Holika, Skinfood etc.). Some popular products are even offered at discounts of up to 60%!
If you’re dissatisfied with a purchase from YesStyle, you can send it back to them within 14 days for an exchange or return. Shipping is also free if you manage to hit S$50, and delivery can be as fast as after five to seven days.
Visit YesStyle’s website here.
4. Wishtrend
Source: Jessica Aliani
Wishtrend curates products that are “from hidden brands, best in quality, reasonable in price, officially certified, and loved by Wishcompany member”. Brands available include Klairs, I’m From, Mizon, COSRX, as well as their own in-house brand. While there is no clear delivery time frame and shipping prices on the website, they do offer free shipping on certain products!
Wishtrend is also available as a retailer on Shopee, but you can also buy from their international website.
Visit Wishtrend’s Shopee page here, and their international website here.
5. Ksisters
Locally, you can’t write about Korean skincare shopping without mentioning Ksisters. Korean native Jungmin Lee, who migrated to Singapore with her family, first started Ksisters back in 2016 as a K-fashion clothing store for children before expanding to introduce her own trusted K-beauty products to a wider audience.
One thing that Jungmin does differently is that she always makes sure to do product testing with her team and a pool of consumer testers before launching any product to ensure that it works for the Singapore weather or the majority of skin types here.
Here, you’ll find more indie K-beauty brands such as Bonabella, COMMONLABS, Lavien, BY ECOM, and I Woke Up Like This. Delivery is free for orders above S$50, and takes about two to three working days.
Visit Ksisters’ website here.
6. Hush.sg
Local beauty retailer Hush.sg offers a wide variety of skincare and makeup brands at affordable prices, and has a rebate point system where you can earn points from selected items and use those points to offset future purchases.
It’s one of the sites where you can stock up the crowd-favourite The Ordinary, but Hush.sg is also home to many K-beauty brands such as Aritaum, Mediheal, Benton, IOPE, Primera, LANEIGE, and Banila Co. Doorstep delivery is free for orders above S$60 or it’ll cost S$3.50 if you don’t hit the minimum spend, and it takes about one to three working days for you to receive your order.
Visit Hush.sg’s website here.
7. Stylekorean
Got a K-beauty product that you’ve been searching high and low but to no avail? There’s a huge chance you’ll find it at Stylekorean, which stocks over 3,000 kinds of K-beauty products in their warehouse in Korea.
Brands they have under their belt include Dr. G, Atopalm, Holika Holika Tonymoly, Moonshot, Son & Park, and Too Cool for School. They ship worldwide – yes, Singapore included – and delivery is free if you spend above US$50 (approx. S$68).
Visit Stylekorean’s website here.
8. TofuSecret
This mega online skincare retailer carries a massive variety of renowned Asian brands from mainly South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Their main goal is to make Asian skincare accessible and affordable to everyone around the world, so they try to offer the same quality goods at an affordable price.
Here, you’ll get to find goodies from Jayjun, Medi-Peel,Secret Key, It’s Skin, Farm Stay, and Papa Recipe. Free standard international shipping if you purchase above S$42, and it may take at least seven to 10 days for your order to reach you.
Visit TofuSecret’s website here.
E-commerce marketplaces
9. Shopee
Shopee features a carefully curated marketplace for Korean skincare products in K-Market. These products are guaranteed to be 100% authentic and directly shipped from Korea, so you don’t have to be worried about buying counterfeit products. Besides selling popular brands at much cheaper prices, you can also find some of the latest, limited edition collections that are not available in local stores!
Delivery of items can differ from seller to seller, ranging from a few days to about two weeks. You don’t have to fret about your sellers defaulting on you either: the Shopee Guarantee protects users by withholding the payment to sellers until you confirm receipt of the order.
Visit Shopee’s K-Market here.
10. Lazada
Just like Shopee, the largest online shopping and selling platform in Southeast Asia offers a wide range of Korean skincare brands, ranging from the most popular ones at lower prices, and indie ones which are hard to find in Singapore!
If you order from local sellers, you can expect to receive your purchases within five business days, while orders from international sellers can take between five to 20 business days after you receive Lazada’s shipping notification.
Visit Lazada’s website here.
11. Airfrov (closed down)
Ever got frustrated at not being able to find a limited edition collection in stores and on ecommerce sites? Airfrov is a platform where you can put up requests for products at prices you are willing to pay, and travellers can help you to fulfil these requests when they are in the destination countries.
While shipping fee is not required (self-collection and meet-up options are available, though these options are currently suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic), you will have to pay a nominal service fee to Airfrov. There is also no guarantee that someone will be able to fulfil your request, but it’s still worth a try for that skincare product you really want, right?
Visit Airfrov’s website here.
Physical beauty retailers
12. Sephora
We definitely can’t leave out one of the biggest beauty retailers in this list. You can find cult favourites like 3CE, Dr Jart+, Moonshot, Saturday Skin, Blithe, and CAOLION, as well as Laneige and Sulwhasoo at Sephora stores in Singapore.
Visit Sephora Singapore’s website here.
Drugstores
13. Watsons
Source: Goody Feed
Watsons’ Korean skincare selection is much smaller in comparison to online stores, but they do carry cult brands such as COSRX, JAYJUN, Mediheal, and SNP, which currently do not have their own retail stores in Singapore.
Visit Watsons’ K-Beauty selection here.
14. Guardian
Source: Money Digest
If you want to buy Korean skincare products from brands like AprilSkin and Medicube, you definitely have to pay a visit to your nearest Guardian store because these two brands are sold exclusively in Guardian!
Visit Guardian Singapore’s website here.
Featured image taken from City Girl Searching.
