10 best places to buy Korean beauty products in Hong Kong

3 Concept Eyes, aka 3CE, is fashion giant Stylenanda’s in-house beauty brand. It boasts an extensive list of both skincare and makeup products to help you achieve that flawless base and colourful, flirty look. With enough lip products to last a lifetime – lip lacquer, matte lip colour, lip crayon, lip balm, lip gloss and more – it’ll be difficult to make up your mind on what to bring home. We suggest their famed Velvet Lip Tint ($129) for a long-lasting blurred lip stain and the Lip Marker ($139) if you’re hoping to expand your makeup stationery collection. Prefer accentuating your eyes? Pick up their Mood Recipe Multi Eye Color Palette ($329) in the colour range of your choice.

While this Korean store is best known for its street-style clothes and accessories, you’ll find an unassuming yet terrific assortment of Korean beauty goods at the flagship store in Causeway Bay. Aland stocks products from beauty brands that are otherwise difficult to track down in town, including cult favourite all-in-one Beauty Water from Son & Park ($228) and the brightening Freshly Juiced Vitamin E Mask from Klairs ($215). Sheet masks are also currently buy-one-get-one-free, making them not only cheaper than you can get them online, but also a sweet deal for your wallet and your face.

While Etude House isn’t French by any means – the word etude means to practice or to study in French – the brand name is certainly fitting given the massive range of K-beauty products they offer to aspiring beauty connoisseurs. Pick up tubes of their Dear Darling Water Gel Tint ($42) or Shine Chic Lip Lacquer ($139) for that juicy, ombré popsicle lip look, or achieve that luminous glass skin with their popular Moistfull Collagen range ($270 for the set). If Etude House’s bright pink branding isn’t recognisable enough, look out for their advertisements featuring famous faces like K-pop girl band Red Velvet and frequent collaborations (Winnie the Pooh) in stores all over Hong Kong.

Facesss has all the brands you need to beautify your face. Displaying a curated selection of products from cult brands, this one-stop shop has everything you need for every part of your beauty routine. Prep your skin with Belif’s The True Cream Aqua Bomb ($305), a gel-like cream perfect for daytime and for those who have oily skin, before going in with one of VDL’s famous luminous primers, either the Lumilayer Primer ($150) or the Lumilayer Primer Fresh ($140). Top it off with as little or as much makeup as you want, and you’re all set to impress.

Natural and clean beauty are trendier than ever, and the offerings from Korean beauty brands ain’t too shabby either. Innisfree is South Korea’s take on green beauty, with products featuring ingredients sourced from the volcanic island of Jeju, also known as the Hawaii of South Korea. Green tea, lava seawater, pomegranate and soybean are just some of the natural ingredients found in Innisfree products. Try the Green Tea Seed Serum ($220); apply it day and night for a hydrated and healthy glow. Don’t sleep on Innisfree’s makeup, either: the translucent No-Sebum Mineral Powder ($54) is perfect for avoiding that oily T-zone look.

Dew you want radiant and moisturised skin? The energy of water flows into Laneige’s brand philosophy – the company believes that hydration and moisturisation are the keys to timeless beauty. Celebrities, beauty gurus and models alike swear by the brand’s sleeping packs, and the Water Sleeping Mask ($205) works overnight to help you achieve that lit-from-within glow during your beauty sleep. For those struggling with pesky dry lips, apply a thick layer of the Lip Sleeping Mask ($130) before bed and wake up to the softest and smoothest lips ever.

Sasa is a well-known treasure trove for beauty junkies, but recent years have seen a steep rise in K-beauty gold. Don’t want to look like a meme? Find the Memebox display in select stores: they have a long-term collaboration with Pony Effect (beauty powerhouse and YouTuber Pony’s makeup brand), which means that you’ll get fresh seasonal launches brought to you by not one but two popular K-beauty brands. When you’re ready for bed, melt off your makeup with Banila Co’s Clean It Zero Cleansing Balm ($118) and top off your skincare routine with a boost of hydration from the Dr. Jart+’s Ceramidin Facial Mask ($152 for a pack of five).

This high-end beauty brand uses precious ingredients to provide what they call holistic beauty solutions, combining modern technology with the ancient practices of Eastern medicine to deliver luxurious, high-quality products. Their star ingredient is ginseng, so naturally one of their best-selling products is the anti-ageing Concentrated Ginseng Renewing Cream EX ($1,700). Given the hefty price tag, however, Sulwhasoo products are probably best saved for a special occasion, perhaps as a gift for a loved one or as a special pick-me-up if you’re wanting to treat yourself.

Looking for a peach-shaped cleansing balm? An octopus sun stick? A panda hand cream? Find it all at TonyMoly, where the youthful and cute product packaging will have you saying 'holy moly'. The brand admittedly targets the younger generation, but their products are just too fun to ignore. TonyMoly is best known for their I’m Real masks ($12 each), which feature ingredients ranging from pearl (illuminating) to ginseng (elasticity) and tomato (radiance) to red wine (pore care). They’re perfect as a stocking stuffer or throw-in with other beauty gifts.

With locations all over Hong Kong, Vivid Beauty World is the type of jam-packed shop in which you can barely get around without the risk of bumping over a hefty stack of products. But it’s well worth the challenge as you can find popular Korean beauty items (among other global brands) sold at retail prices without the international markup. Spotted at the Causeway Bay store are products like April Skin’s Rose Glam Moisture Cover Foundation ($148), which comes with its own pink brush applicator, as well as packs upon packs of sheet masks. Fair warning, though: only brave this shop if you know your K-beauty and have a good idea of what you’re looking for. Otherwise, you might find yourself a bit lost and confused.