I didn’t really get into the hype of Korean skincare and makeup back when BB creams, K-Pop ombre lips, and sheet masks took over the beauty market. They sounded a bit gimmicky at first so I thought they were one of those trends that would go by easily. Plus the BB creams that I tried then were all one to two shades lighter than me. Most K-beauty brands rarely offer darker shades, and if they do it’s quite hard to find and purchase them from the Philippines. So i tried to ignore most K-beauty products til I found out that Althea was selling popular K-beauty brands like Laneige, Etude House, It’s Skin in the Philippines.

If you’re not familiar with Althea, it’s an online shop that brings in Korean skincare and makeup products into the country. They offer free door-to-door shipping — meaning you’ll skip the process of having to fall in line and argue with the customs only to end up paying unreasonable high tax fees and extra charges — for orders above P1500 and sometimes even lower than that when there’s a promo ongoing.

Speaking of promos the best part about this online shop is that there are tons of things you can do to save more money. The prices of their products are reasonable to begin with and they even occasionally hold sales for them! You can also get more discount coupons and offers from sites like Paylesser Philippines. And if you want to kick in the bargaining skills up to the next level, you could also use websites that provide cash back with every purchase that you make online. This is basically how I get extra savings from shopping online.

Other than the coupons and discounts, another edge of this Althea is their unconditional returns policy, which we rarely have here in the country. So if you don’t like the products that you purchased you can return it to them. Although keep in mind that there are some items (usually those with prices marked down) you cannot return.

So far I’ve only purchased three items from them — the cult fave Laneige Water Sleeping Mask, It’s Skin Power 10 Formula serum in blue (GF Effector with brightening effect) and yellow (CO Effecter with collagen). I’ve mentioned and raved about Laneige’s Water Sleeping Mask several times on the blog. It really is one of the best masks I’ve ever used and I highly recommend it. I feel like Galadriel from LOTR when i wake up in the morning with this on. I also got myself a blue serum from Its Skin that softens and moisturizes my face excellently. I use these products together with my other fave moisturizers alternately for best results.  I was very much contented with the previous two products that I sent the remaining yellow serum to a friend.

I easily became a Korean Skincare fan cos of these products and I love althea for making these and the other K-beauty things on my wishlist affordable and easily accessible for me. Have you tried shopping at Althea yet?