TESO Life: Japanese Beauty and Groceries Gem in Flushing

Flushing, Queens just keeps giving me more reasons to visit. Aside from the myriad of Asian food choices, there is a ton of beauty shopping unlike any other location in NYC. Opened about a year ago and situated right on Roosevelt Ave, it’s easy to find and within one block of the 7 train subway stop. Sprinkled throughout are other K-Beauty brands like the Club Clio, The Face Shop, Besfren Beauty and The Saem so the shopping is quite endless! I was raving over this store because not only does it carry a huge range of Japanese Beauty from low to high tier brands but it also carries hard-to-find Japanese snacks! Click through to see the stash they carry (oh, and prices are quite reasonable)!

The 7 subway train to Main Street, Flushing take you right to Roosevelt Ave where all the action is. If you’re an advanced commuter, you’ll know that you can take the Flushing vans from Chinatown, Manhattan and they will drive you straight there. I haven’t taken those vans in years now that I’ve moved to Queens but they should cost $3-$4 cash one-way. The Chinatown, Manhattan vans leave from Confucius Plaza (Divison and Bowery Streets) and you can check out dollarvan.nyc for more information. It helps to know Chinese but you can just say the words “Flushing?” and they can confirm you’re on the right van! Why is the van worth the trouble? You’ll get the Flushing faster than the subway but only if you’re leaving from Chinatown.

Quick aside: these vans were a way for Asian communities to connect faster to other Asian communities. Demand was high and they quickly became a reliable way for the community to get to work, see family or have fun.

Another option is to take the Long Island Rail Road to the Flushing, Main Street stop. The price is higher but the commute time is faster depending on where your starting point is. Be sure to check for train times and make a whole day of seeing Flushing!

Free TESO Life Membership Program

Immediately upon entering the store, you’ll see a beauty table with special prices. The cult favorite Japanese sunscreen, Biore UV Aqua Rich Watery Essence, had a special Member’s Only Price. To obtain membership, the process was fast and easy: you can go up to the cashier and all they need is your name and phone number and that was it. You’re in and the special prices are released to you! Although you get an annoying plastic member card, I confirmed that all you need to give in the future is your phone number to unlock member pricing.

Wide Range of Beauty Selection

High-End Beauty Products

Although TESO Life looks and feels very much like a 7 Eleven/drugstore hybrid, it carries select items from high-end beauty brands like THREE, IPSA, The Ginza (by Shiseiso), Decorte, FANCL, RMK, Shiseido and ELIXIR. Prices are displayed explicitly, something I always appreciate as I hate always needing to ask a judgey sales rep if a price sticker is not present.

Drugstore Brands

Of course, TESO Life specializes in being affordable and accessible so the main draw is carrying drugstore items at drugstore price points. There are plenty of forever-favorites like Hada Labo, Curel, Sofina, Kose, Senka, Bifesta, DHC and Biore. I’ll split the next galleries into Skincare then Makeup.

I found the prices to be in-line with NYC mark-up. Example, the Hada Labo Premium (gold) toner and emulsion are priced at $18.99 a bottle. This is almost 100% mark-up because the Japanese price converted is about $10 USD/bottle. Due to import taxes and mark-up, you’ll find Hada Labo to be around this same price anywhere else in NYC. I’d probably wait for a special price for these as they are drugstore products after all.

Most of these favorites are readily on Amazon:
Hada Labo Gokujyun Premium Hyaluronic Acid Lotion (Toner) 5.7floz/170ml
Hada Labo Gokujyun Premium Hyaluronic Milky Lotion (Emulsion) 5.7floz/170ml
DHC Deep Cleansing Oil 6.7 floz/200ml
Biore Sarasara UV Aqua Rich Watery Essence Sunscreen SPF50+ PA+++ 85g (1.7x the original size!)

Japanese Makeup

Okay, so TESO Life lacks a bit in the makeup department however you can find one of my favorite makeup brands, CANMAKE at the lowest USD prices I’ve seen. There’s an entire aisle shelf!

The most popular CANMAKE items to grab are the Marshmallow Finish Powders (from rave reviews I’ve seen on Reddit), Cream Cheeks (not the tints that come with a sponge), Glow Fleur Cheeks, and Lip Tint Syrups. Unfortunately I did not see the Mermaid Skin UV Gel Primer which was the ONE item I wanted to find when I was in Tokyo. Maybe they’ll stock it in the future if all of us collectively asked for it? I cannot speak for their eyeshadows although they look so pretty in the one-pan floral design. You can see the Japanese Yen retail prices from my links above and convert them to USD, I know it’s much less tempting to buy them after seeing how they are still at 100% mark-up but after many shopping trips around NYC, they can actually be at 200% mark-up in other stores.

Other drugstore make-up brands spotted were Kate, Excel, Dolly Wink, Mote eyeliners and mascaras, Kiss Me Heroine eyeliners and mascaras. For lips, I saw Lovetulle, BCL Beauty Mines, Pidite, and Koji Ctive. There was also the FLOWFUSHI LIP 38°C Lip Treatment that supposedly increases your blood circulation to turns your lips to the optimal temperature at 38 degrees Celsius lips which gives you the perfect flushed lip color… yea, ok.

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Are There Any Korean Beauty Products?

Yes, but very little selection. You’ll only find cult items like the Banila Co. Clean it Zero cleansing balm, Missha BB Creams, and Laneige Lip and Sleeping Masks. The most selection were the boxes of sheet masks that were from Korea. This is a Japanese specialty store after all.

Japanese Snacks

TESO Life serves double-duty because I can restock on favorite skincare products and refill my snack drawer. Some of my most favorite cookies are here! Special edition Kit Kats and all the cute candies – there’s no need to really buy that expensive plane ticket to Japan to get your fix! Prices are pretty decent here too! Don’t forget popular Japanese drinks too! Cold teas and fruit fusions, my favorite was the canned milk teas or “hoji-chas” roasted teas.

“Langue de Chat” Cookies

Known as “tongue of the cat” because of its scratchy texture “langue de chat” cookies are incredibly buttery and crisp. The most recommended cookie to get is the Shiroi Koibito cookies, also translated as “white lover.” The cookie is a French cookie but Japan has taken it to another level by sandwiching different flavored fillings like green tea chocolate and even, CHEESE. I was looking for the famous Tokyo Milk Cheese cookies I mentioned in my Japan Haul post but I was surprised they didn’t carry it. Surrounding it are other langue de chat cookies with different fillings.

Le Tao Otaru Rue Ironai Fromage – These look close to the Tokyo Milk Cheese cookies I fell in love with. I’d buy these next time if I want a cookie/cheese sandwich. The “cheese” has the solid-like texture like a piece of chocolate. It’s not the same soft cheese texture from fresh cheese.

Ishiya Mi Fu Yu – Using the milk from Hokkaido, Japan, these have the same long stick-like shape as a kit kat but the inside has layers of buttery PUFF PASTRY and flavored cream. The pastry is also known as “mille-feuille” or translated as a “thousand sheets” The whole buttery thing is covered in Hokkaido milk chocolate.

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Royce’s Chocolates

My tip, get some of the famous Royce’s Nama Chocolates. Japan loves to make “melty”-like chocolates. These are seriously light, smooth and melt-like. There was a special at $13.99 the day I went but would you believe the New York City Royce flagship will charge $18 a box? These are normally priced cheaply 600 Yen (~$5.75 USD) at the airports! There are only select flavors of the Nama Chocolates like Matcha and regular milk chocolates so if you’re willing to pay $18 for their special Sweet Corn flavor, then by all means splurge!

On the non-refrigerated shelves are more wafer cookies and matcha and strawberry fruit chocolate bars also at good prices (these normally retail for $17 at the NYC Flagship)!

If spending upwards of $14 on chocolate isn’t your jam, then right next to the frig are Meltyblend chocolates that have the same meltiness that the Royce Nama does but priced at under $5 USD.

Special International Kit Kat Flavors

If you’ve ever been to Asia, special Kit Kat flavors are sold only in certain cities, making you want to collect them all. It’s been normal in the past recent years where I can find strawberry or matcha flavors in Chinatown groceries but TESO Life stocks some flavors I’ve never seen before like Run Raisin, Tamaruya Wasabi and Strawberry Cheesecake! Priced at $14.99 for 12 individually wrapped pieces, these were made for sharing as if you just came back from Japan. There was an even bigger box of Sake flavored Kit Kats (but I’ve tried sake before, it tastes too weird for me). And yes, the normal Matcha and Strawberry ones are available, but they’re just in another section because those aren’t boxed but sold in a plastic bag.

Other Japanese Treats

Baumkuchen – Otherwise known as “tree cakes”, these originated from Germany and are known for its distinct ring-like shape that resemble the rings on a tree trunk if you were to look at its cross-section. They also have a “hole” in the middle similar to what Americans know as the Bundt cake. The cakes have this look because of the laborious way they’re made; it’s not baked but rather rotated on a spit! Layers of cake batter are spread on the spit, laid horizontally and rotated in front of the fire so that each layer is cooked and another layer is spread on top, building the “tree rings.” The cake was made popular by a German baker who opened his bakeries throughout Japan and has remained a popular cake to this day. I’ve tried this in Japan and I think it just tastes like a regular, dense vanilla cake. Personally, I think you can skip this.

Daifuku or Mochi – A type of wagashi (traditional Japanese confection), this is a small round treat made out of sweet, glutinous rice filled with something sweet, usually sweet red bean paste with other fruit or nut mix-ins. A popular filling is with an entire whole strawberry. The outside is dusted with katakuriko starch to keep it from sticking to other things and it’s stretchy and chewy. There is mochi that can be kept on the shelf and there are ice cream mochi as well kept in the frig.

Kracie DIY Popin’ Cookin’ Candy Kits – Made popular from YouTube videos, these are edible candy kits where you mix ingredients to form candy that look like cute, mini ramen meals or sushi!