Where to find Korean and Japanese cosmetics in Vietnam

It is very easy to find Korean, Japanese and even worldwide cosmetics in Vietnam. But to find the cheapest stores, follow my advice!


The Vietnamese have a flawless method: the suitcase. When they don’t go through the stewardesses, the travelers, they send by boat, parcels… Thus, the Clarisonic Mia Fit, which isn’t even on sale in France, is already available in Vietnam. Hada Crie devices are also available, even the most recent models. You should know that Facebook is adored by unofficial resellers in Vietnam. They can have a Facebook page, do only home delivery (to you and to them), but without having a website.

Where to buy Korean/Japanese cosmetics

To get your hands on Korean/Japanese cosmetics, you can :

1. Buy in the official stores of brands such as Etude House, Skinfood, Tony Moly, Nature Republic, Innisfree, The Face Shop, Menard, Ohui, Whoo, KOSE, Missha… -> simplest method but it can deprive you of other brands not officially distributed in Vietnam, and the price is higher. To find the official pages and addresses of these brands, type the name of the brand + vietnam on Facebook (Innisfree vietnam for example) and you will find the page that interests you (the page with the most fans of course).
2. Buying in shopping malls, supermarkets, hypermarkets -> simple method, but the prices are very high as well
3. Go to the physical stores of unofficial resellers, and get a very correct price. This is the preferred method of Vietnamese women. However, the inventory is smaller and the top products are sold as soon as they arrive in Vietnam. How can we know if a top product has arrived? By following the Facebook page of these shops. You have to select these shops carefully because many fake products are sold on the Vietnamese market. The problem is that the saleswomen aren’t very aware of the virtues of the products sold, hence the need, if you need advice, to find out beforehand and know what you want; or write a private message to the shops in question on Facebook.
4. Either place orders, the contact in Korea/Japan/USA/France makes his purchases and sends it to Vietnam, the contact in Vietnam delivers it to us for a very small commission. If you are on vacation for a few weeks in Vietnam, this isn’t the method I recommend.

A quick parenthesis on Vietnamese cosmetics: I recommend you to buy :

• Tiger balm (available in all pharmacies), in Vietnamese, it is written: “Dầu con hổ”. Choose the red metal balm version. On the packaging it says “Cao sao vàng Golden Star Aromatic balm”
• The products of the Thorakao brand, with turmeric: to be used however with moderation, only on the areas with imperfections because the products are very concentrated
• Salonpas: to be purchased in pharmacies. It isn’t a Vietnamese product but it is on sale everywhere. It is a self heating patch tip top for muscular pains, to stick on the belly during menstruation, or on the temples in case of headaches

Addresses

Shopping malls: there are plenty of them (the Vincom exist in 3 or 4 copies in the same city for example) of which please make a search on Google Maps to find the shopping mall closest to your hotel

• HANOI

  • Trang Tien Plaza (in the center of Hanoi, near the old quarter)
  • Lotte Center
  • Vincom
  • Aeon Mall
  • Diamond Plaza

• Ho Chi Minh City

  • Diamond Plaza (in the center of Ho Chi Minh City)
  • Robins Crescent Mall
  • Lotte Center
  • Vincom
  • Aeon Mall
  • Parkson

Supermarkets, Coopmart hypermarkets, Kmart… You can find among others Skinfood, the superb sun creams Bioré (prefer Aqua Rich), Acnes creams (for skin with imperfections), Sunsilk shampoos give ultra shiny hair (by the way, when I was living in Vietnam, I had such shiny hair that on my pro photo, intended for the CV, it was the only thing you could see. I had to redo my photo in France when my hair became dull again to make it look more “normal”)…

Unofficial resellers

Hanhstore – 95B Ly Nam De, Ha Noi http://hanhstore.com/ – a lot of products available in travel format


Tokki Store – 66 Mai Hac De, Ha Noi http://tokki.vn/

Sammi Shop Ha Noi – many stores, great couriers!

101 ngõ Núi Trúc ☎ 04.62732145

81 Nguyễn Phong Sắc ☎ 04.37939443

75A Nguyễn Hữu Huân ☎ 04.62730985

10 Ngõ 84 Chùa Láng ☎ 0432321870

Sammi Shop Ho Chi Minh City – 483/4 Lê https://www.facebook.com/Sammishop.com86/?fref=ts Sỹ, Lê Văn Sỹ, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City Văn

Bonnita Shop 389A LÝ THÁI TỔ F9, District 10 , Ho Chi Minh City http://bonitashop.vn/ (many Japanese cosmetics)

And price level?

It can be up to 2 times more expensive than in Korea in official stores.

Unofficial resellers take less margin, but prices are still higher than the prices of sites in Korea, between +10% and +50%. I advise you to take a good look at the prices. A good plan would be to buy the miniatures, which are cheap.

OK, but what do you have to buy?

Frankly, Korean & Japanese cosmetics are very well known for their quality, I feel like saying: you have to buy EVERYTHING 😀 but it is true that each brand is known for one or two products. To guide you in your choice, here is a non-exhaustive list of the best-sellers of each brand (sorry it isn’t in alphabetical order)

• Etude House: Precious Mineral Moist Any Cushion, the lipsticks
• Skinfood: Black sugar Mask Wash off
• Tony Moly: the apple-shaped scrub and the tomato-shaped mask
• Nature Republic : Aloe Vera Soothing gel
• COSRX: the low PH cleaner, the Anti-blemish patches
• Amore Pacific : Enzyme (peeling gel)
• Innisfree: ALL the masks, the sun cream (chick yellow color), their clay mask
• The Face Shop: their new sun cream, eyebrow pencils, lip tints, rice water cleansing light oil, masks that look like a tiger, panda etc. because it’s too funny
• Menard: the whole range even if it costs the skin of the buttocks, but especially the serum
• Oh yes: their serum, too, it’s expensive
• Missha : their sun cream (blue color where it says “milk essence”), the BB cream Cover Perfect (best BB cream in the world)
• Hada Labo: gokujyun lotion, gokujyun cleansing gel
• Holika Holika : Pig Nose kit
• La Neige: Cushion, the double color lipsticks
• Too Cool for School: Egg Mousse Pack and products with dinosaur packaging (including mascara)
• It’s Skin: anything that contains snail slime
• Mizon: anything that contains snail slime
• Benton: anything that contains snail slime
• Banila Co: their make-up remover balm Clean it Zero
• Bioré: Aqua Rich sunscreen