Hi guys! Aland is one of my favorite places to buy Korean skincare products, because they carry the full like of Cosrx and some other indie brands that can be hard to find in drugstores like Olive Young. I just wanted to do a little tour of the K beauty and skincare section of the store, and recommend some of the products I’ve tried and liked. These brands don’t have a store on every single corner like Missha and Etude House and Innisfree so they can be kind of hard to find other than online.
Cosrx Aland carries pretty much the full line of Cosrx products. You can find a couple of them at Korean drugstores but I haven’t been to another store that has this full selection. This brand has a cult following and for good reason. They focus on having a high concentration of active ingredients in their products, so for example my favorite product the snail 96 mucin essence consists of 96% snail secretion filtrate. And their products are really affordable compared to american products like drunk elephant and they are really high quality for what you get. this is less than $20. This is probably my favorite product. I think it really changed the texture of my skin and helped to soften it. I stopped using it because I wanted to test out other products and so my skin isn’t as plump as it was when I was using it, but I will go back to this eventually. I also like their acne patches because they are really thin and not noticeable. and I use the cosrx aloe soothing sun cream daily. I also like their toner pads and they have this interesting cocoon silk scrubbier that I haven’t found to be very effective but it’s really fun. I also use the honey ceramide eye cream.
dear Klairs – is another minimalist brand like Cosrx that focuses on the ingredients. Similar to Cosrx their products don’t have alcohol, parabens, & artificial fragrances. It’s cruelty free. My first introduction to Klairs was the supple preparation toner which has a cult following. I tried it and I thought it was fine, it did the job, but I feel like there are other toners that I prefer over this one. Right now I’m using their vitamin c serum coupled with the vitamin e mask. Vitamin C is an antioxidant that has all kinds of benefits to your skin, including anti aging benefits and helping to protect your skin from sun damage. It stimulates collagen production and inhibits melanin production to fight against hyperpigmentation. I also started using their vitamin e mask which is really popular now. The active ingredients are vitamin e and niacinamide. There is a difference of opinion on whether it’s ok to use these two ingredients together, but I think the recent research says it’s ok. The mask is really jiggly and bouncy and reminds me of jello or pudding. Vitamin e is an antioxidant that will protect your skin from UV damage and help with skin regneration.
Benton – Aland carries a good selection of Benton products. and probably their most famous product is the snail bee line, which served as a gateway drug for many people to the Korean beauty and skincare world. I think that the product formulation has changed over time, some people like the old formula better. In addition to snail secretion, this contains aloe and bee venom, willow bark extract and beta glucan, so its a little different than the cosrx snail mucin. It has skin soothing ingredients and it’s not as sticky as the cosrx one.
I feel like these three brands make up the core product line at Aland. And they carry a bunch of other brands, but depending on the store you go to you may or may not see these products. For example at the Honda store, they don’t carry a lot of other products, but at the Coex mall location which is where I filmed this video, they had a much bigger selection. Myeongdong is somewhere in the middle.
Heimish makes both makeup and skincare products. The packaging is beautiful. They are probably most well known for their all clean balm, which rivals the more well known banila co clean it zero balm. Like the banila co balm this melts off your makeup but without stinging your eyes.
Whamisa is known for its organic fermented skincare products. They use mostly fermented flowers. I usually don’t like scented items but I love their organic flowers toner. I feel like it really plumps up my skin and I love the smell.
Oolu is Whamisa’s sister brand. Their products are handmade with natural and organic ingredients. They have a number of different toners.
Mizon is famous for its snail mucin based products. The all in one Snail repair cream is their bestselling product and it has a cult following.
Son & Park are 2 makeup artists that popularized the dewey no makeup look in Kroea. This brand makes makeup and skincare products. Their beauty water toner has a cult following and I am part of it. This is my absolute favorite toner. It is just lightly scented and I love the smell. It absorbs really well and is nice super gentle and hydrating and its a good first step after washing your face to prep your skin to absorb other products. It contains willow bark and papaya extracts which serve as mild exfoliants. I love this gigantic bottle. It just lasts forever.
Thank you Farmer is another natural korean skincare brand. I’ve heard good things about the back to Iceland cleanser and the miracle age line but I haven’t tried these products yet.
iUnik stands for Ideal Unique Natural Ingredients Knowhow. Their thing is all natural ingredients at affordable prices. They are known for making serums.
by Wishtrend – Wishtrend is a company that distributes an number of Korean cosmetics brands online but they also have their own product line.
Skinmiso is a skincare line that focuses on cleaning out blackheads and tightening pores. They have a whole line of products including cleansers, serums, moisturizers as well as masks and nose strips.
I’m from is a product line that uses natural ingredients in their products like sea buckthorn leaves, rice, ginseng, mugwort, and honey. I think one of the more popular products is this wash off honey mask.
Papa Recipe is famous for their honey sheet masks but they have some products that contain a unique ingredient – eggplant.
If I’m on top of my game, I’ll look online and compare the price on gmarket. A lot of times you can get something for much cheaper online. If the price difference is only a couple dollars I’ll just get it here though, and sometimes things are cheaper in store so you just have to check. But either way I like to come here and see what’s new and also try out the products and smell them and just look at them in person.