March Cosmetic/Fashion Promos in Korea

Cosmetic Flash Sales in Drugstores

March 3 - March 8 saw a sudden spring sale (up to 50%) at all three major multi-brand drugstores in Korea: Watson's, Olive Young and LOHBs. Since all three shops released a list of participating brands and the discount offered in advance, it was easy to plan where to go shopping for what - though many items were sold out in some stores by the time I got to go, so I had to visit multiple locations. 

I was planning to stock up on Skin79 BB creams and there were several other brands that I was going to check out.
If you go to Korea, check out these companies' websites to know if there's a promo going on. The sales seemeed genuine, since I have seen the normal prices of many of the items before in multiple stores and online and they really were much higher than the sale prices.

In the end, I got the following items (prices after sale):

Watson's: 

30% off ceramic mini flat iron (9 900 KRW)

10% off and 1+1 Mamonde masks (1 200 KRW for 2)
10% off 7-day Mask set (4 000 KRW for 7)
50% off hand cream set (4 000 KRW for 4x30 ml)

LOHBs:

40% off Skin79 Dream Girls BB (9 900 KRW)
Special promo - Out of Africa lipbalms, 3 + 1 free + 3 hand cream samples (9 000 KRW)
Special promo - LOHBs pimple patches, 1 + 1 free (4 000 KRW)

Clothes Pop-Up Sales

This one is much harder to plan, but apparently, if you roam popular shopping locations, you might encounter pop-up sales where companies get rid of their extra stock. I found one in Edae (all items 3 000 or 5 000 KRW, cash only) and one in Bukchon (this one has a website and apparently moves around different locations?) (all items 10 000 or 20 000 KRW, cash only), which was also coupled with several stores selling home-made macarons, cupcakes, jewellery and ceramics. Don't get confused - somehow, in Korea, pop-up sales of old collections/flash sales of local artists are called Flea Market #lostintranslation.

Edae

I'm not too sure, but I think the Edae one might be leftover stock from either the shopping mall (not sure which one right now, but it is the same as one of the malls in Dongdaemun) or the cheap stores in that area. The clothes look pretty much the same as whatever you would find in the cheaper stores in Edae and Gangnam station. Most items were shirts, blouses, knits and sweatshirts, but there were also some dresses, leggings and skirts. Anette got 2 T-shirts for 3 000 KRW each, and I scored two super cute blouses for 5 000 KRW each. There were many pretty pieces, but most of them had extremely weird text written on them, which had either completely messed up spelling/grammar or made no sense. 

365Fleamarket (Bukchon)

Sorry for my laziness, but if you want to learn more, you can check their website. The clothes that they were selling were much nicer than the Edae sale, and for 20 000 KRW, you could get a spring coat or leatherette jacket. The blouse I bought would normally retail for roughly 30 000 KRW, so it was a good deal for 10 000. There was also one stall with ceramics (very pretty, modern designs), one with macarons, one with cupcakes, one with children's accessories with Frozen (still big in Korea), one with random food and handmade pouches (again with fairytale characters), two with handmade accessories, out of which one was cool (I got a cute ring for 6 000 KRW and Anette got a pretty necklace for 12 000 KRW or so) and one which used fake brand components. I don't need a bracelet that says Chloe. >.<

March magazines

As you might know, Korean magazines for women/girls usually come with gifts, which are generally cosmetic samples or full-sized products, fashion items (often collaborations with otherwise more expensive Korean designers and brands) or household items (fabric fresheners, olive oil...).

February was a kind of a meh month in terms of gifts (as you cannot browse the magazines in most shops, gifts are the only way to decide which ones are worth the money - not to mention that 50% of the super-thick, 1 kg magazines are always ads, and most of the rest are subtle product placements, so you really are not buying the content).

March, on the other hand, had so many cute things I had a hard time choosing which ones to buy, as my wallet and luggage are unfortunately not endless. I decided to get Céci, mainly because I misunderstood the information and assumed it came both with a collaboration bracelet AND a cosmetic set. Too bad I had to choose between them. Céci is a magazine that seems to have designer collaborations pretty often, as last summer I got a Jain Song umbrella and February came with a collaboration card case. (April, though, comes with a just a tiny sample of Biotherm or something like that -_____-.)
Anyways, march Céci comes with Monday Edition bracelet, and while it is a cheaper spin-off made for the magazine, it is still a good deal considering that their usual prices are many times more expensive than the magazine.

Alternative gift: Mamonde Lotus Micro mini set

Another mini-gift: Fashion illustrations/coloring book

What was more interesting though, In Style, as it has an anniversary, made a deal with Hera (high-end Korean cosmetic brand) to include a set of 3 mini lipsticks (2 g each) from the newly launched Rouge Holic line (the one that has the dumb add that can only get away with its empty script because they got Jun Ji Hyun/Cheon Song Yi in it). It was sold out immediatelly and it took Anette and me numerous visits to 5 bookstores and in the end 3 attempts to order it online via our colleagues' accounts to get our hands on it. It was totally worth the hassle though, because the lipsticks are ah-mazing. Anette actually went to Hera store in Lotte and bought two full-sized ones right after she tried them, and if I didn't have dozens of lipsticks already, I would definitelly consider Hera as a brand I would try. I will review the lipsticks properly later, after I'll have worn them for some time, but my first impression is totally positive. I'm also quite happy about receiving 3 mini ones rather than one full-sized, because I got to try more colors. Great for the fickle me. Also, surprisingly, all three colors fit both Anette (peach skin tone, dark blonde hair) and me (well you know what I look like) really well.

Yours truly

Vita