Korean beauty used to be an online-only purchase when products were harder to find and the hallyu wave was only a baby splash in a kiddie pool. Fast forward to 2018, K-beauty now have shelf space in ULTA, Sephora, Nordstrom, and even in my beloved CVS drugstores! Products at CVS are curated by Peach Slices (Peach & Lily’s little sister brand) and they made the announcement of the partnership in 2017 although product selection varied greatly at locations. In fact I hadn’t found a CVS until now that carried popular products from Frudia, JJ Young by Caolion Labs, Ariul, or Peach Slices (Peach & Lily’s own product line). Turns out that the best locations to go in New York City was in Columbus Circle and Times Square where Korean sheet masks, skincare, cosmetics and body care has its own giant, dedicated area. And the CVS deals never fail the penny-pincher in me because there are sometimes ExtraBucks Rewards incentives! I did a YouTube tour during the Peach Slices Night Market where Alicia Yoon, founder of Peach & Lily, was onsite to give personal skin consultations. Also check out my sheet mask haul!
Locations
Times Square, 1440 Broadway, (on the corner of 40th St), New York, NY 10018
Columbus Circle, 241 W 57th St, New York, NY 10019 (NOT the one on 1 Columbus Ave!)
Selection/Curation
These two locations had an enormous selection I wasn’t expecting. The Peach Slices microsite mainly lists Frudia, JJ Young by Caolion, Ariul, Holika Holika, The Saem and Peach Slices but I saw Missha, a;t fox, Oozoo, and many, many more brands! The sheet mask wall was actually a sizeable aisle with many masks I have yet to try. The curation is very up-to-date and shows current trends like bubbling masks, “pink” or “green” mud masks, foil masks, and even masks that require the essence being injected into the cotton packet in an “skintertaining” form. Even the Korean makeup aisle showcased lip tints in a candy packaging, powder to cream lip glosses, blushers and lip balms in cute macaron-shaped containers. It’s truly like getting the best slice of Korean beauty shopping in your neighborhood drugstore.
That being said for the Times Square and Columbus Circle location, all other CVS locations just don’t compare. I might have seen a few sheet masks from Manefit but it pretty much ends there with no other authentic K-beauty bottle or lipstick in sight.
A word about authentic K-beauty products – they must be Made in Korea! Since the Korean Beauty trend is still rocking our world hard, other brands have been slapping on cartoon pandas or other [insert cute animal, fruit, food, or graphic] to masquerade as a K-beauty product. Now this doesn’t mean that being made in Korea means it’s better than any other product, but don’t call it K-beauty if it clearly was not developed and formulated in Korea. I’m gonna nope out on that Neutrogena sheet mask, sorry. We start getting in the grey area if we start talking about American companies with products being made in Korea so I’m going diffuse this topic for another post.
Pricing
Sheet masks were categorized into promotional prices if you bought a certain number within that group. You have to pay attention to which price range sheet masks were in otherwise you wouldn’t qualify for the discount.
- 2 for $12 = $6 each
- 3 for $12 = $4 each
- 4 for $12 = $3 each
- 5 for $12 = $2.40 each
Longest wall of authentic Korean Sheet Masks in a drugstore I ever did saw!
Skincare was at decent price points for some products but overpriced with others. For example, select Missha products were on shelves but if you know that Missha often have “40% Off Everything” sales around major holidays through their USA website, then I wouldn’t buy it through CVS. The It’s Skin Power 10 pipette bottles that have been around forever in the K-beauty world were priced at $20 each which is really expensive for a brand known for its affordability in Korea. You can usually buy these colorful bottles for $15 USD through the It’s Skin USA website (oh, and there’s a brick and mortar store in Flushing, Queens!). These run for about $10 USD on international Korean e-tailers but you have to take into account shipping costs so its best to do a big order.
Other brands that are harder to find like JJ Young by Caolion Labs and Frudia are probably worth paying for since these brands are harder to find online, plus none of their products are over $20.
Really great curation! Some new brands and products I haven’t seen yet!
I follow the same rules with cosmetics; the harder it is to find online, the more justifiable the price hikes are. That said, The Saem makeup can be found on Korean etailers 50% cheaper however there’s the cost of shipping as well as the 3 week+ wait for the package to come to your door. Depending on your country, there are tariffs on top of that cost as well. Some brands I haven’t heard of were W.Lab and Urban City (AKA, Urban Dollkiss). It’s Skin also came out with a new macaron blusher, I’ve had their macaron lip balm since forever so the curation paired with the convenience of popping into a CVS might be worth paying the mark-up.
P.S. The Saem Water Candy Lip Tint was only $5.49 so there are some gems.
P.P.S There are sometimes ExtraBucks Rewards when you buy Korean Beauty or skincare! Check with your local CVS to save additional money!
Peach Slices Night Market at Times Square
There was a special one-night only promotion where Alicia Yoon, founder of Peach & Lily, was on-site giving skin consultations. There were also a promotional Peach Slices makeup bag full of sheet masks and samples with a purchase of $20+. K-pop was blasting and it was great to see Alicia helping others achieve their skin goals! I was just a lurker filming 🙂 See more of the footage on YouTube! Were you there? How did you like the selection? What did you buy? Let me know in the comments! (Did you see me lurking?)
Let this lady touch your skin. Alicia, not me.
