My sister was recently beginning to obsess herself with Korean skin care products because she was so fussy about her pores and dark under eyes. She bought some sample sizes from this Korean bazaar and since then she had been wanting to buy the regular sizes.

She was eyeing the Etude House Wonder Pore toner but it costs more than P500 at their store and she wasn't so keen spending that much for a toner. She was also wanting to buy Innisfree Jeju Volcanic facial wash but we had no idea where we could find that here in Davao. Another one she wanted to try was the Tony Moly Panda Eye Cream for her dark under eyes.

Then I had read a while back about this Korean online shop that offered a wide range of Korean skin care and cosmetic products that were shipped directly from South Korea. This online shop was called Althea. It offered products from skin care (face and body), hair care, cosmetics, etc.

So I thought of gifting my sister with her Korean skin care wishlist. I had been wanting to try ordering from Althea too but was discouraged with the lack of flexible payment options and expensive shipping fee. Finally the opportunity to make my first Althea purchase came when I received a newsletter from the site which stated they already offered COD and free shipping with a minimum purchase of P999 (check out more here).






So finally I ordered her wishlist and also placed some of my own personal orders on the website. And I also happen to receive a coupon code Buy 3 Free 1. Since my purchase was more than 3, I was able to get a discount. The cheapest price on my cart was deducted from the total bill. And since my purchase reached P2000+ I was able to avail the free shipping.

However, when I checked out, the COD option for payment was not available. I read their FAQ and found out that COD was only available for purchases UP TO P2000. Since mine was more than 2000, I couldn't choose the COD option.

To remedy this, I told my sister to create an account with Althea and we would split our orders. So we were able to purchase 4 products each and our purchases reached P1000+ so aside from availing of the free shipping fee, I was also able to snag the Buy 3 Free 1 discount.

My Althea Haul

My sister's Althea Haul

My sister and I placed our orders on December 8 (after midnight) and we immediately received a confirmation that our orders were being processed. By noon of the same day, my order was already picked up from the Althea store and later it was already processed at Incheon Airport. Two days later our package arrived at NAIA. Another two days later and our orders were already picked up by the local shipper and were being sorted. Then on December 14, our orders arrived on our doorstep.

I couldn't be more satisfied with the very fast and easy transaction. Plus I loved the packaging. They also included a coupon which I could use for future purchases. The coupon would expire on February 2018.



Here were the actual items we purchased and I couldn't wait to make my next purchase. I would probably buy lots of facial masks!!! :)