Where to buy Asian cosmetics in New York + Mini Haul

If I’m on holiday somewhere and there’s a Chinatown or Asian district, I just have to pay it a visit. If not for the great food (Asia has some of the best food stalls), it’s for the many hidden beauty gems the tiny crowded streets have to offer. Japanese and Korean cosmetics are starting to get more popular recently in the blogging community, but they’re still so hard to find in-stores in most Western countries.  And so Lisha and I went on a little mission: to shop some Asian cosmetics in New York! Below I’ve listed a couple of places we went to that I can recommend if you’re looking for Asian cosmetics in New York.

//Wanneer ik ergens op vakantie ben en er blijkt een Chinatown te zijn dan moet ik er gewoon even langs. Is het niet voor het lekkere eten (Azië heeft echt geweldig lekkere eetkraampjes), dan is het wel om te verdwalen in de kleine drukke straatjes om leuke winkeltjes te ontdekken. Japanse en Koreaanse cosmetica zijn serieus aan een opmars bezig in bloggerland, al zijn ze jammergenoeg nog steeds heel moeilijk in de winkel te vinden in de meeste Westerse landen. En dus gingen Lisha en ik op pad met één missie: Aziatische cosmetica shoppen in New York!  Hieronder heb ik alvast enkele adresjes op een rijtje gezet die beslist de moeite waard zijn mocht je naar New York gaan en wat zaken wil uittesten:

New Kam Man

New Kam Man is your typical Asian supermarket with 3 floors. The lower floor carries all kinds of Asian home goods, kitchenware, ceramics etc while the ground level carries all kinds of Asian food, bubble tea, snacks (Pocky!, limited edition Kit Kat). Lastly, the first floor is a beauty mecca with tons of Koji Dolly Wink lashes, My Beauty Diary sheet masks, beauty accessories etc. They carry some stationary, home decoration and cute Sanrio merchandise too (Rilakkuma, Hello Kitty,..). It’s convenient because the store is quite big but if you have the time to look around Chinatown, you’ll find places where you can get the same items at a cheaper price.

New Kam Man supermarket (2nd floor), 200 Canal St; www.newkamman.com

Oo35mm

oo35mm is a small shop with a broad selection of Japanese & Korean cosmetics including Etude House, Canmake, Fairy Drops, Innisfree, Juju, Kate, Koji, My Beauty Diary,  Skin 79, Tony Moly…

81 Mott St 2 Fl; www.oo35mm.com

Everyday Beauty

Offers a selection of Juju Cosmetics, SK-II, Shiseido, Bioré, Kose, My Beauty Diary, Kanebo,..

163 Hester Street
; www.everydaybeautyusa.com

Kose Beauty Shop

Kose Beauty is quite famous in the area and is a little cheaper than Everyday Beauty.

55 Bayard Street


Daigar Beauty Shop

Daigar Beauty Shop is another small shop that has a ton of brands like Lioele, Missha, Tony Moly, Skin 79, Dr. Jart+, Hadalabo, Face Q, Naruko,.. They do wholesale too so the prices are a little cheaper than what you’ll find elsewhere, especially for My Beauty Diary sheet masks. Unfortunately I found out only after purchasing elsewhere. Hah.

7 Elizabeth Street
; www.daigarbeautyshop.com

The Face Shop

Official monobrand store of Korean skincare and make-up brand The Face Shop that focusses on using natural ingredients. Like the name suggests, it’s kind of similar to The Body Shop. Like many Korean brands, The Face Shop likes to use Korean celebrities or hallyu stars to promote their brand. This year they chose Suzy from Miss A (Dream High, Gu Family Book,..) and Kim Soo Hyun (Dream High, You Who Came From The Stars, ..) to be the faces of their products.

6-B Elizabeth St or 35 W 32nd St; www.thefaceshop.com

Nature Republic

Anoter famous skincare brand is Nature Republic, now endorsed by K-pop band EXO. Again, this store reminds me a lot of The Body Shop. You can do a pretty good deal with their face masks (only $ 1,50 – $ 2 a piece).

151 A Centre St.; Nature Republic US Facebook

Urban Outfitters

Quite unexpected, but Urban Outfitters recently started to stock Korean brands as well like Tony Moly, Skin Food, Clio, Holika Holika, Peripera and The Face Shop. They have a small selection in most stores, but the biggest one is to be found on their webshop or at their latest store on Herald Square (which opened right after we left). Unlike the stores mentioned above, Urban Outfitters doesn’t give you samples with purchase unfortunately.

Herald Square ; www.urbanoutfitters.com

I haven’t been there, but I hear Flushing is another area where you can find a lot of Asian cosmetics. If anyone has some good recommendations, hit me up! 😉

Now onto my Asian mini-haul! I didn’t buy that much since Sephora pretty much had wrecked me already and if all goes well, I’ll go to Japan next year anyway where I’ll have plenty of time and choice to stock up on Asian cosmetics. Still, I had to restrain myself because everything is just so darn cute. At New Kam Man I picked up a box of my favourite sheet masks from My Beauty Diary with Japanese Cherry Blossoms. These smell so good and are incredibly moisturizing. There, I also picked up the famous Koji Dolly Wink liquid eyeliner in black. This is supposed to be one of the best eyeliners around. I guess I’ll find out soon…

Last but not least I picked up 2 items from TONYMOLY at Urban Outfitters. First there’s the cute peach hand cream (which I now think looks like a boob lol). It smells incredible. Like Petit Gervais yoghurt. And lastly there’s this adorable Petite Bunny Gloss Bar in 05 Peach, a sheer lipstick in the shape of a bunny! So cute! I can’t wait to pick up more of these. I got JJ magazine as a birthday gift from my Japanese friend ( Eri-chan ありがとう o^_^o) but you can find magazines like that without doubt at the Kinokuniya bookstore (1073 Avenue of the Americas, next to Bryant park) together withall sorts of kawaii Japanese merchandise, stationary and manga. www.kinokuniya.com

What do you think of my Asian beauty buys?
Do you have any shops and/or products you’d recommend?

 

//Nu over naar mijn Aziatische mini-haul! De buit valt heel goed mee en dit is voornamelijk te danken aan het feit dat ik pas een fortuin had uitgegeven in de Sephora en dat er, als alles goed gaat, er volgend jaar een tripje naar Japan zit aan te komen waar ik naar hartelust mijn slag ga kunnen slaan. Toch had ik alle moeite van de wereld om het bij enkele zaken te houden, want echt ALLES is zo verdomd schattig. Bij New Kam Man vond ik er mijn favoriete sheet masks van My Beauty Diary, uiteraard in de overheerlijke Japanse kersenbloesemvariant. Verder kocht ik er ook de beroemde Japanse vloeibare eyeliner van Koji Dolly Wink. Dit zou één van de beste eyeliners moeten zijn. Dat zullen we dan snel te weten komen (review volgt)…

Als laatste kocht ik bij Urban Outfitters 2 producten van TONYMOLY. Als eerste is er de schattige perzikje (toegegeven, het lijkt achteraf gezien ook wel een beetje op een tiet. Of ligt dat aan mij?) waarin handcrème verscholen zit die naar mijn mening wat weg heeft van Petit Gervais yoghurt (nostalgie). Als laatste is er – en hoe verwacht je in godsnaam dat ik zoiets zou laten liggen- de Petite Bunny Gloss Bar in de kleur 05 Peach, oftewel een transparante lipstick in een schattige konijntjeshuls. Het magazine kreeg ik van een vriendin uit Japan, maar je kunt magazines zoals deze vinden bij Kinokuniya ((1073 Avenue of the Americas, naast Bryant park) samen met heel wat andere kawaii merchandise, schrijfgerief en manga.

Wat vind je van mijn Aziatische beautyspulletjes?
Heb je zelf nog shops/producten die je zou aanraden?

 

Disclaimer: The products in this post were purchased by me.