Imagine New York's Times Square—but instead of the M&M store and Hard Rock Cafe, every single shop was a K-beauty store. That's the Myeong-dong district in Seoul, South Korea. Just a single street is home to a dizzying number of makeup, skincare, and colored-contact shops in Myeong-dong—all promising products to help you nail that elusive K-beauty look. To help us navigate, we tapped Korean fashion model Cherry to show us exactly where to shop.
Cherry's first stop is Etude House, which she calls "makeup for princesses." While Etude House is known for its cutesy and sweet packaging, the products inside are crazy-effective, pigmented, and long-wearing. "The cases are super cute, and the names are unique," adds Cherry. Feeling FOMO already? You can shop the best of Etude House—and all of Myeong-dong onSoko Glam's website here in the U.S.
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Cherry then hit up 1989 Chosungah Beauty where she swatched a few lipsticks in orange and pink shades. "A lot of colors suit my light-colored hair, but still I mostly use orange shades," she says. Cherry has since dyed her hair an electric shade of tangerine (she really, really loves orange).
"When I do live videos, I get asked a lot about my contacts," the model says. "I get mine from O Lens. The ones I have on now are from O Lens, and they're pink." Just like makeup, Cherry notes, contacts in different colors and finishes can totally transform your look. She matches her makeup to her contacts that she gets at the store—yet we can't even get our eye doctor to call back for a refill.
Watch the video above to learn all about Cherry's favorite products, stores, and makeup tips. Below, see what real Korean women think about plastic surgery.
Jenna Rosenstein is the Beauty Director at Harper's BAZAAR across both print and digital. While attending NYU, she held internships at Women’s Wear Daily, Bloomingdale’s, Harper’s BAZAAR, and Allure, the latter of which she parlayed into her first job as the Beauty Assistant. She left Allure three years later as the Senior Beauty Editor. She spent a few months at Refinery29 overseeing branded content in the same title, before finally landing back at BAZAAR to manage all beauty content. When she's not testing every lipstick known to mankind, getting zapped by new lasers, or interviewing experts and celebrities, you can find Rosenstein at home in New Jersey with her son, husband, and black cat named Maddie.
