Korean Life – In My Neighbourhood

As some of you might know, I live in South Korea. I’m originally from New Zealand but have been living and teaching English in Korea for about four years now with no plans to return home in the near future.

I live in a city that is part of the ‘Greater Seoul’ area but is not actually Seoul. It is right next door however and is connected by the subway and buses. The name of the city is called Goyang-si which is Goyang City and can be translated as Cat City because 고양이(Goyang-i) means cat in Korean. This is cute because I love cats so living in ‘Cat City’ tickles my fancy.

So I thought I would show you what one of the main areas in my neighbourhood looks like in regards to beauty shops. These are a few of the shops that are about 10 minutes walk from my apartment and they are all in one street next to each other. There is also Olive Young and Watsons a bit further up but I did not go that far when I was out taking these photos.

One thing about Korea is it’s abundance of chain stores, if you walk past these ones and you think ‘Oh No! I forgot to get something’ don’t bother going back. There is a good chance you will see all the same stores again in the next block.

I also have an Etude House, Tony Moly, Aritaum and Innisfree over near my school and most of them have small branches in a big mall that is not too far from my house. I am definitely a bit spoiled living here, but it is harder to get western brands sometimes.

13 thoughts on “Korean Life – In My Neighbourhood”

I am so jealous you have all of these stores so near by… I would be in heaven. 🙂

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ExpatAJ says:

May 13, 2015 at 2:37 pm

Lol, the only problem is I spend far too much money in them. 🙂

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- Hollypop says:
  
  May 13, 2015 at 2:38 pm
  
  Yea I tend to do that just ordering online… Let alone buying them in-store! 🙂
  
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- ExpatAJ says:
  
  May 13, 2015 at 2:53 pm
  
  I do both, sometimes it’s cheaper and easier just to buy online. Sometimes it’s nice to go in and check things out if I’m not sure about a color so it’s nice to have them close by when I need to pop in. Also sometimes you just want something right then and there rather than waiting a few days for delivery.
  
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- Hollypop says:
  
  May 13, 2015 at 4:12 pm
  
  Yea that’s true. I personally never know which products to buy like lipsticks and eyeshadows because I can’t compare shades. But we do have blogs to help us with that, which is awesome. 🙂
  
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- ExpatAJ says:
  
  May 13, 2015 at 4:58 pm
  
  The blogs and swatches totally help when I m buying stuff from the US and UK, I keep a list of things that I see that have been recommended so that when I am doing my shopping I can order things that have been reviewed and look interesting.
  
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- Hollypop says:
  
  May 13, 2015 at 4:59 pm
  
  I’ve been meaning to do a similar thing for ages. I always see stuff I’m interested in, but forget to write them down. So silly of me. 😛
  
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