Though I wasn't able to go to some places due to weather/sold-out tickets and etc (Seoraksan and Yeosu), I still had a great time walking around, eating and shopping.
Spicy octopus bibimbap. All the side dishes are free and refillable!
Hwahongmun of the Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon, Gyeonggi-do.
Innisfree haul ♥
The hankies and row of sachets above the masks are freebies.
I bought so much cosmetics, they're sooo cheap and the quality is decent. Plus there are stores EVERYWHERE. For local Korean brands like Etude House, Nature Republic, Innisfree, Tony Moly, The Face Shop and etc, there is a store everywhere and anywhere. There are multiple stores each of the above-mentioned brands in Myeongdong alone.
There are stores in the transit/transfer areas of train stations where you walk to transfer from one line to another. In addition to main shopping districts, you can find them in little streets, not-so-busy places, exits of train stations, airport duty-free...so it's hard to resist buying anything!
Plus, most cosmetics stores give out freebies and samples with every purchase.
I only bought the pink boxes in the middle, the rest were all freebies!
One brand I fell in love with is Too Cool For School. Their products are really fun and cute, some designed to be like art class materials. I love the BB Cream! ♥ It feels light on the skin and gives a dewy finish. I also really like using the lip crayons, eye crayons and lip tint! Will be doing (many) Too Cool For School product reviews soon!
Their store is quite dimly lit compared to other brands, but I love the layout. It isn't a Korean brand, but it has been adapted to suit the Korean market. There are stores in Sinsa, Insadong, E-dae and 2 in Myeongdong. I don't know about other places, but these were the ones I went to!
All the freebies/samples I got from going to Too Cool For School. I visited it about 6 times! ♥
For the Too Cool For School stores in Myeongdong, I've dubbed one the "stingy" store and one the "generous" store...with regard to how much freebies they give. I bought around the same amount, if not more, at the stingy store, but they gave me so little freebies. I went to the generous store twice, bought different amounts, but the amount of freebies way outnumbered the ones I got at the stingy store! ♥ The Insadong store is quite generous too, the Sinsa one isn't. The E-dae one is pretty alright; somewhere in the middle.
Also got a lot of stationery, they're really cute and *really* cheap! ♥
Patterned envelopes were 500won (5ocents) for 6. Postcards were 100won (10cents) each!
Large notebooks were 3,000won. Pen sets were 4,000~8,500won!
I'm a JYJ fan, so I was really happy to see lots of their ads around! ♥
This one's for Mariokart 7 for Nintendo 3DS.
This one's for Sokcheong, a health drink.
This advert space was bought by Lovin JJ, a Japanese Jaejoong fansite.
I also bought a lot of hair accessories, will post about the another time!