Store Visit: The Deciem – Bay Street, Toronto Location

The Deciem is not an Asian Beauty brand but this blog isn’t an Asian Beauty-only blog. I have a heavy preference to review Asian beauty products because of advanced innovation, affordability and unique ingredients that promise effectiveness and The Deciem — hailing from Toronto, Canada — aims to do just that. Not only does The Deciem focus its marketing angle that it’s a “skintellect”, but it strives to educate its consumers with tons of skincare science tidbits so they can make informed decisions. And because there’s minimal marketing BS, the 10 or so brands under The Deciem are remarkably affordably AF, particularly The Ordinary which runs from $6 – $15 per bottle. I’ve been seeing these bottles everywhere on Instagram but never knew they were so affordable until someone wrote out the price. I happen to visit Toronto this summer so of course I’m doing a photo tour of the Bay Street location! There currently aren’t any New York City locations opened yet but from my maniacal Googling, NYC’s first store will open soon in 2017 across Bryant Park at 475 5th Ave!  Learn more about The Ordinary and the other brands coming out of The Deciem by clicking through. Also remember that they ship internationally and Standard Shipping is only $4.99 to the states or it’s free for orders over $25! 

[caption id="attachment_2400" align="aligncenter" width="640"]The_Deciem_BayStreet_Yorkville_Store_Toronto “NOT a subway entrance people!” I think it should say “We have acid” instead. Skincare jokes anyone?[/caption]

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Store Visit: oo35mm Korean Beauty Store in Chinatown, NYC

I’m back with a 360 Photo Tour of an OG K-beauty store in Chinatown, New York called oo35mm or “oh oh 35 millimeters”. oo35mm has been around since 2009 but they had sold more stationery, Sanrio items, and cute knick knacks from Asia. They sold skincare too but it was a much smaller selection and mostly within Japanese Beauty. The current store offerings has expanded with amazing selection within Korean, Taiwanese and Japanese Beauty – there are cult French and American brands too. Ever since K-beauty exploded in popularity over the last two years, oo35mm pretty much converted into an Asian Beauty skincare destination. They’re really on point with getting trending items and brands like Pyungkang Yul, and even stocking The Ordinary! Prices are reasonable and their stock is never boring. Take a peek in my photo tour and you can decide!

[caption id="attachment_2263" align="aligncenter" width="640"]oo35mm_Kbeauty_Store_NYC_Chinatown_What_to_buy Go up the stairs on the left side.[/caption]…

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Sample Sale Visit: Club Clio, Peripera, Goodal Annual Summer Warehouse Sale Up to 90% Off!

ZOMG. This may be one of Club Clio’s best K-beauty sample sales taking place in their New York City, Union Square location. The sale promised up to 90% off and it delivered. Most makeup were any 3 for $5, 3 for $3, 3 for $10 or 2 for $1 depending on what they were (I have pictures of it all). Skincare was $10 each or 3 for $10 and it included brands like Goodal, Dr. G, and Sooae but items from the latter two were limited to their Acne lines by the time I got there at 5:30pm. I overheard the new manager, Larry, saying how their product was supposed to last all week long but it doesn’t look like it will even last through the next day! Get there early if you dead set on getting something! There are tons of lip products left, BB and CC Creams, single eye shadows (no more palettes), but skincare is running scant as Larry was hawking them to people on line, “last serums, 3 for $10, these won’t be here tomorrow”. Click to see my K-beauty haul and the shopping madness.

Club Clio Goodal Peripera JKNLEE Kbeauty Sample Sale Union Sq NYC 2017

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Store Visit: Besfren Beauty in Korea Town, NYC

I’m rolling out more 360 Photos to add to my NYC K-Beauty Shopping Guide! Besfren Beauty opened around September 2016 and it’s written out phonetically to sound like “best friend” beauty. This is one of the newest kids on the k-town beauty block! The interior has gorgeous marble walls, an actual sink to rinse off swatches and plenty of rotating sales (as well as kpop videos) to keep you coming back. It has an amazing sheet mask wall and they sell plenty of singles, with some on Buy 1 Get 1 Free promotion. New, trending items come in all the time and the owner says that they try to keep the prices close to the suggested retail prices in Korea. I can certainly vouch that this store is very reasonably priced as some lip products from popular K-beauty brands are marked much less than the branded brick and mortar stores across the street. For this and many more reasons, I became a regular customer at Besfren Beauty, including the Besfren (dessert & cafe) right next door! Come check them out in my photo tour!

Besfren_Korean_Beauty_NYC_Shopping_Guide_What_to_Buy_NewYork

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Store Visit: The Saem in Manhattan/Chinatown, NYC

The Saem opened its first Manhattan/Chinatown location in February 2017 and it’s conveniently on the corner of Canal Street and Centre Street, inside the New Land Plaza building. I recommend coming to Chinatown in the morning for Asian/Korean Beauty shopping, eating an authentic Asian-style lunch, more K-Beauty and J-Beauty indulgence and then snacking on bubble tea or Chinese buns! The Saem Manhattan is a pretty sizeable shop with three cosmetic hutches in the center and it carries the most popular products from Korea (I list a few to check out in my post)! The Saem I also have a really big surprise that I’m going to start rolling out across all my Photo Tour posts too… click to the exciting new feature that will add a new level of “touring” through these shops!
[caption id="attachment_2095" align="aligncenter" width="640"]The_Saem_NYC_Manhattan_Chinatown_Kbeauty You can see the Canal St. subway station in the background![/caption]…

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