Store Tour: Beauty Finds at Ilahui, the latest Korean-style bargain store
During the hottest days of summer, are you the type to spend your days-off at the mall to stay cool? I am! As a self-confessed mall rat, I end up organically discovering plenty of new stores in the process. This summer, I was excited to spot a recently-opened Korean-style bargain boutique in Ali Mall, Cubao, similar in concept to Miniso and Mumuso. It’s called Ilahui (pronounced “ay-la-hwei”), and it has a sizable beauty collection to raid.
As with the current slew of imported discount stores, Ilahui’s interiors have an inviting, modern-minimalist appeal. The space is well-lit and pristine, letting the product-lined shelves do all the talking. And talk it does as nearly half of the store space is devoted to all things beauty! They have their own, in-house brand too.
For the skincare junkie, there’s no shortage of cleansing and moisturizing picks to choose from. They’ve got micellar water, makeup remover wipes, and bi-phase removers. This is followed by tubes of facial foam to complete the double-cleanse. To get right down to the pores, you can pick up one of their cleansing brushes or konjac sponges. And for the hardcore DIY-ers, they do sell several types of compressed sheet masks, in addition to the ready-to-use sheet masks and pudding masks available.
Please click on each image to see a bigger view!
You can stockpile cotton pads and choose from the wide selection of hair and body care products. You can pretty much put together an entire bath routine from all the offerings here!
Makeup lovers, you’ll also be pleased to know that there is a modest yet interesting selection of stuff to go kikay crazy over. The base makeup consists of three different types of BB creams. There are supposed to be different features but I ended up selecting mine according to available shade matches. The lipsticks are anything but ordinary, featuring dual-ended tubes, two-tone bars, and even the “magic” color changing ones with a cute flower suspended inside. For lid work, there is the standard eyeshadow palette with several shade variants to choose from and a dual-ended eyeshadow stick/eyeliner. They also have several types of eyeliner, mascara, and brow pens. Their collection of makeup tools is pretty impressive, with everything from individual brushes to brush sets to sponges.
For some really cheap thrills, nail polish goes for P49 a pop, while nail stickers are at P29 per set.
Surprisingly, they also stock a shelf-full of men’s products. It may not seem like much, but I haven’t seen a lot of men’s grooming items in other bargain stores.
Product prices start at P99 and move upwards but I haven’t seen anything in the beauty section that goes above the P300 mark. They currently have a Back to School sale on selected items until June 4 - just approach a member of the staff to find out what’s part of the discount.
If you’re closer to the south, you’ll be glad to learn that Ilahui will be opening its second branch at San Lorenzo Place, EDSA corner Chino Roces Avenue in Makati on June 8.
As with our other store features, I picked up a few items to try out. I'll be doing a full face with these and sharing mini reviews on each so watch out for that post! In the meantime, here's a quick photo of my haul.
Have you visited Ilahui before? What have you tried from the store?
