(CLOSED AS OF MAY 2017.) The Yeon on Mott Street, Chinatown is one of the newer stores that opened last year and has a variety of sheet masks, skincare and hair care stuffed inside this former Ten Ren Tea shop. Another mega-size Yeon store already sits in Flushing, Queens but it’s not worth an hour+ long train ride unless I plan to haul like a badass. Even though it’s 1/8 of its Flushing branch, it stocks a sufficient amount of products with quite a few non-Yeon products. This store is listed on my suggested route for k-beauty shopping in Chinatown since it’s easily in the same areas as my other favorite stores. Click on to see its full offering!
Getting There/Location
The Yeon
79 Mott St.
New York, NY 10013
(212) 349-1628
The Yeon is right next door to the oo35mm and it’s around the corner from New Kam Man. An easy walk from the Canal St. subway station, there are plenty of other things to do and eat along the way like picking up a bubble tea from the new Ten Ren shop that moved down Mott St. or getting Shanghainese takeout from one of my favorite restaurants, 456 Shanghai. It’s also across the street from a Chase bank if you also need to get some cash.
This is actually the third Yeon location that opened but the location on Division Street has now closed because of lack of business and has been converted to a dried herbs shop.
They have an official English website however the pricing for almost every product is at $100 which must be a typo. I would definitely browse products online first to see what you might want but these are only featuring The Yeon branded products.
Photo Tour – Inside
The store is literally only one aisle of shelves and yet it manages to house some great winners. It carries its house brand, The Yeon as well as select items from other famous brands like Hera, Innisfree, It’s Skin, Too Cool For School, and Elizavecca.
This is basically the entire layout of the store, haha.
The Sheet Mask Wall – I check this out the most because they constantly restock new types.
Upon walking in, you’ll notice cute orange shaped spheres waiting to get picked up by you. This is the Jeju Hallabong line that features a peeling gel, a face cream, a mask pack and a clay mask pack. The hallabong is basically another species of oranges that are grown locally on Korea’s Jeju island where it is rich in natural flora and plants.
The Jeju Hallabong collection.
More hallabongs and sheet mask packs from The Yeon
Entire shelf of hallabong inspired skincare. Smells very much like fresh tangerines.
There are serums, lotions and face mists with the hallabong as its special ingredient. If you can’t decide on which hallabong you want to take home, there is a sampler pack with all four products to try.
The Yeon’s Canola Honey line
The Yeon Collagen line and Fascy is below.
The Yeon’s collagen line ranges from $23.99 – $28.99 for creams and serums. I’ve never heard of Fascy before but they are apparently known for having 100 different versions of their enamel pouches – $15.99. Next to those are their Moisture BOMB Body Emulsions in Milk or Violet. Sorry, didn’t get the store’s price.
The Coreana Orthia Collagen Ampoule set is top left, Hera’s Signia Cream is top right. Claire’s GUERISSON 9 Complex cream ($29.99) and Cloud 9 creams ($33.00) are mid-level. Bottom two shelves are occupied by a brand called Aromame.
Closer look at the Hera Signia cream. I’m not familiar with the hype but I’m sure it’s exorbidantly priced (ebay prices are over $200).
The Horse Oil brand also came out with an Essence now…
Noteworthy Too Cool For School Egg Foam Pack and Cleansers ($16 each), Banila Co’s Clean it Zero oil cleansing balm ($18 I think?), and Innisfree Jeju Volcanic Cleansing Foam. The rest you can skip.
I might consider The Yeon Charcoal Transform Cleanser ($22.99) that is a cleansing oil in which it transforms into a cleanser but I’m convinced it will truly take off everything as that is what double cleansing is for. The others things are mostly foam cleansers with probably high pH levels that will strip your skin dry, facial bar soaps and what looks like a hair laser removal tool.
A variety of eye patches on the top shelves from Dia Force ($31.99) and Petitfee (I believe they are $19.99)
Elizavecca masks! Doctorcos, Inselene, and Innisfree
Plenty of the pretty piggy, Elizavecaa on the top shelf. Each mask pack is $24. Popular Carbonated Bubble Clay Mask, Collagen Jelly Pack, Water Coating Aqua Brightening Mask and Milky Piggy Sea Salt Cream are here. I’m not familiar with Doctorcos but I’ve seen Inselene and their Donkey Milk jars ($19.99) around. Innisfree’s Super Volcanic Pore Clay Mask is not badly priced a $28 considering it’s their bigger 200ml size.
Innisfree Green Tea Seed line on top and It’s Skin Hyaluronic Acid Aloe and AC (Acne Care). Ranges from $15.99 to $28
More It’s Skin. The Red Ginseng and Escargot lines on top (with their popular face cream at $84). Their Effector line in the dropper bottles on the bottom at reasonable prices from $15.99 – $17.99
Mix of The Yeon body mists, HERA makeup and The Yeon makeup.
The Yeon’s BC (Blemish Cover) Stick is great for high coverage and moisturization.
The Sheet Mask Wall allows you to buy individual masks to try.
HERA eyeshadow quads $55.71) and the cushion eye liner ($37.99) next to it. You can skip the cushion liner because I think it’s gimmicky.
HERA’s UV Mist Cushion, saw the poster, didn’t see the actual cushion but they might be in stock by now.
HERA Cushion Liner $33.99 – not worth it. Reviews have said it dries out fast and I don’t think getting your eye liner through a cushion boosts performance.
Ignore the price stickers on the bottom, the HERA eyeshadow quads are actually $55.71
Cute new The Yeon branded mask
More new sheet masks from The Yeon.
Body lotions, Mise En Scene hair serum oils and umm, maxi pads.
Hanbang Shampoos. I recommend the Ryo sets above, they’re owned by Amore Pacific.
Store Experience/Customer Service
The store associates here will definitely “follow” you and offer you more product suggestions as you browse which is understandably annoying and unwanted according to American standards but this is the level of service you can expect in an authentic Asian retail store. I know this type of customer service doesn’t translate well in America (and can be seen as downright rude) but this store serves both the Asian community, Americans as well as tourists. If you want to shop unbothered, you can kindly let them know that you will ask if you have questions and they will usually take a hint until they see you staring intently at a certain product. It’s best to communicate to the sales associates if you want to shop alone because they will keep going after you in the name of excellent customer service.
The store is so small that I never spend too long in there anyway. They carry some popular cult favorites so it’s easy to make a decision if you’re set on coming out of Chinatown with something but its competitor, oo35mm, carries a lot more variety so The Yeon is just okay in terms of product selection. I would head over to oo35mm first before coming to The Yeon because you will find a lot more Korean beauty hits in their competing store.
They don’t have a lot of makeup items at all however in the last month that I stopped in, there was a new stand that held lipstick and lip tint testers from Etude House (oo35mm will have a lot more to choose from however).
Samples
I’ve read from other reviews that they did not offer to give samples until you asked for them and I had to do the same. I got some Ryo hair samples for a sheet mask haul that totaled over $40. I bought my Jeju Hallabong Peeling Gel from the Flushing location and they were so thankful for my business that they gave me a premium sheet mask (worth $7) and a ton more foil samples. The Flushing branch is much nicer, will rain samples on you AND leave you alone to shop in peace when you tell them that you just want to browse. I also think the Flushing branch has a customer loyalty card if you think you will be frequenting that location.
Takeaways
To be frank, The Yeon is NOT my go-to place for k-beauty shopping. Variety is just okay although they do carry new things pretty often. I’m not really in love with The Yeon branded products so I pay attention to the other cult brands. Prices are also a bit higher than what I would pay normally; it’s cheaper to order some things on ebay even when it’s shipped from Korea if I’m not concerned with receiving the item by a certain date. I don’t think it’s worth stopping in if it wasn’t conveniently next door to oo35mm because they might already carry most of what The Yeon has to offer.
Comment Below!
Have you visited The Yeon recently? How was your experience and what did you get? Did you enjoy the rest of Chinatown as well? How did you like it? Send me a shoutout if you’re in my hood!
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