Avecko Haul - Products I purchased directly from Korea (Part I)

During the holiday season I teamed up with a fellow blogger to create a Guide to Shopping for Hard-to-Find Korean Products When You Don’t Known Korean, which details how to use a Buying Service (in our case, Avecko) to source, purchase, and ship otherwise unavailable goods to you.

In my case, these goods:

This haul was so lovely that even the winter sky wanted to weep over the precious deals I got ... or just rain on me and ruin my pictures, in order to force me grab everything and run back inside, squawking like a wet hen?.  

In this post:
In fact, the guide I linked above evolved from things I put together to help some friends and I make a group order through Avecko's buying service.  The spreadsheet template, for example, was originally made for us to organize our huge, multi-person order. 

 Kahime was the person who helped me the most with identifying key terms and recommended sites, and after pestering her for the umpteenth time and seeing her amazement at how smoothly the spreadsheet estimated costs, organized products, and coordinated the order, it occurred to us that we should join forces to make an official guide so others could benefit.  Hence, the guide was born.

Today’s post is the fruits of those labours!

A note on how buying services work; if you aren't familiar with the process, the basics are:  find a product you want, provide the link to the buying service, they charge you for the cost + shipping to their location in Korea + their buying fee, which is a percentage of the product cost.  They invoice you the total, and once you pay, they purchase your items for you.  When they receive them, they invoice you again for the cost of shipping from Korea to your country, and voila!  Your goods are on their way to you.

What I purchased, and why I purchased it

Woo, picture time! Now you get to see all the above treasures unboxed and what they are:

Milky Dress Vita C+ Powder (and OST/C20 Vitamin C serum, not pictured)

Er, the apple in this picture is for scale; this bottle is tiny! Having run out of my OST Vitamin C serum, I purchased a replacement bottle and picked up this powder Vitamin C as well.

The powder, unlike the OST, is not sensitive to pH and supposedly can be mixed into any serum or cream, or even just water.  I ended up gifting my OST, so no photos, sorry!



Hankook Cosmetics The Prestige Gold Oil Essence

Facial oils are new to me; before having a regular acids routine (I use Vitamin C, BHA, and AHA daily), I've never needed the extra moisturization boost from a facial oil, but I knew some people swear by them.  In my Haulzilla post, I mentioned I had picked up some History of Whoo facial oil samples destined for the massive care package my mom was receiving for Christmas, and I kept a few of them to test out.

I was amazed at how much I liked it, and decided to explore facial oils further; I admit that the packaging of this one sucked me right in.


Leejiham Tea Tree 4 piece set

After reading fanserviced's rave review of the Leejiham Tea Tree 90 Essence, I wanted to give it a try.  I have also fruitlessly attempted to buy the Mizon Snail Repair facial mist (it keeps going OOS and sellers refund me) a few times, so when I saw this set containing:
- Leejiham Tea Tree 80 Cream
- Leejiham Tea Tree 90 Essence
- Leejiham Tea Tree 70 Mist
- Leejiham Tea Tree Facial Mask Sheet

For a very good price (see just how good below), I decided to go ahead and pick up the set since I wanted the Essence and the Mist and it was cheaper to get the whole set.  I wasn't going to argue.


Tonymoly Pure Eco Snail Moisture Gel

You might be thinking "snails again?!" and while it's true I'm an unrepentant snail addict, this is actually a body lotion and not a facial product.  This may shock you, but I literally have no body care products other than the free foot cream Testerkorea threw into my Haulzilla.  No lotions, no hand creams, no shower gels, nada.  I actually really dislike how greasy and blatant body creams feel, so much so that I'd rather suffer dry legs than risk sliding off my couch.

But snail gel has been so magical for my face, I had to give it a chance on the rest of me.

3M Nexcare Clear Blemish Cover 114 sheet high capacity

I absolutely love the Taiwanese version of the 3M Nexcare Acne Sticker hydrocolloid bandages (reviewed) but they're pricey.

I wanted to give these a try not only because they were a better deal, but because they had the added feature of a liner that supposedly makes it easier to peel them up without risking contamination.

I can do a full review of these (and my thoughts on the liner feature) if anyone is interested, but I will say they work just as well as my usual kind so thumbs up so far!


PersetKorea Derma Cell Ha Yu Mi Snail Hydrogel Mask Pack of 2

Hydrogel masks are super trendy these days, but they're also ridiculously expensive.  I love a sheet mask as much as the next Asian beauty fanatic, and I love me some snails, but I'm not about to pay $7 a mask so I can feel all futuristic when I can spend $0.50 on a regular sheet mask and still benefit.  However, I managed to snag these at a great price so too-toot all aboard the hydrogel bandwagon train!

Clio Kill Black Set

I recently realized that my go-to gel liner was purchased in 2010; I have no idea how I managed not to blind myself by continuing to use it, but it was high time I replaced it.  The cult favourite Kill Black brush liner from Clio was a natural choice, if a bit pricey.  Luckily for me, I was able to score a great deal on a set including:

- Kill Black Brush Liner
- Makeup Remover
- Water Me Pls BB Cream
- Virgin Kiss Tinted Lip #14 Red Jyuk
- Gelpresso Mini #14 Bloody Angel (not pictured)

The gelpresso wasn't originally listed in the set, so I forgot to photograph it.  Whoops!



Esthetic House Gold Snail Hydrogel Eye patch

These ingenious little things are tiny sheet masks designed to be used on your undereye, and have the added shiny factor of being a hydrogel.  I know one brand's undereye hydrogels can be dissolved in water afterward to make a serum, but I am not sure if these do as well.  The tin comes with the curved semi-circle undereye patches and oval 'spot' patches that I plan to use on blemishes and/or flaky areas.  I am really looking forward to popping these on when I'm unwilling to deal with the hassle of a full mask.

Mizon 3 piece set

The Mizon Returning Starfish cream is now super trendy and as such has become harder to find/more expensive since I got (and emptied) my first tin.

This set was one of the big deals I scored by using the buying service, and includes:
- Returning Starfish Cream 60ml (full size)
- Returning Starfish Bio Mask x4
- Rice Wine Toner

Those masks normally retail for $4-7 each, which is ridiculous, so it makes the price of this set that much more satisfying.



The last item is the one I am the most excited about!

Upcoming blog posts about specific products from this haul

The final prize in my Avecko haul will have an entire blog post dedicated to it, for several reasons, not the least of which is that it's gorgeous enough to deserve it's own post.  It's a full set from a Hanbang (traditional Korean herbal medicine) brand and it's completely unknown outside of Korea as far as I have been able to determine.  

Forget translated ingredients; after Google Translate hilariously told me that I was going to be putting "latex", "native beasts", and "oh unemployed" cream on my face, clearly I had my work cut out for me, as I don't speak, write, or read Korean.

I'll end Part I with a teaser image of the Buyonghwa Jeonghyo (부용화 정효) Herbal Care Set of 6:

If you are wondering if this set is as gorgeous in real life, the answer is no- it's even more gorgeous in person!

Click here to read Part II for how much I paid for everything, how much I saved compared to regular channels; how I found the items I wanted, and where I purchased them from; and my experience working with Avecko!

**Disclaimer: All products reviewed/mentioned in my blog, are 100% purchased with my own money, with a single exception of a press sample I tested & reviewed in 2015 which swore me off of them forever.  This blog contains  both affiliate and non-affiliate links, and clicking the former before you shop means that this blog may receive a small commission to assist in this blog supporting itself.  Please see my Contact Info & Disclaimer policy for more information.

No comments