Where to buy AB products in Kuala Lumpur
Originally posted by me on Asian Beauty subreddit here. I am u/thyevilqueen on Reddit. This is a discussion thread, below is my contribution on Kuala Lumpur. Others have contributed for Kuching, Seremban, etc.
I tend to shop a lot at pharmacies/drugstores. My favourites are Watson's and Guardian. Both have many outlets throughout the city. Kuala Lumpur is a city of shopping malls.
In every shopping mall, you can be sure to find either Watson or Guardian or both.
(Even in rural areas)
- Watson's has more AB products that Guardian do not. Cermorlab, Peripera, 1028, Lovemore, Naruko, Sister Diary, among many others. Goodal, but not the waterest oil. Recently, they brought in a limited selection of Cosrx items such as the pimple pads, honey sleeping mask and rice sleeping mask. Always sold out, though!
- Guardian has Ponybrown and My Beauty Diary, Berrisom.
Both sell Hada Labo and Biore products.
Tip: Watson is usually, but not always, cheaper than Guardian.
- Sasa - there are also several outlets in the city centre. KLCC, Lot 10 and Sungei Wang (3 malls popular with tourists) all have an outlet.
Personally, I tend not to buy from Sasa because of the price markup. However, once in a while they have sales and then the price drops to something I consider reasonable. That's when I HAULLLLLLLL.
Sasa has quite a number of popular brands not available in the pharmacies above such as Son & Park (but not the beauty water, sadly) , Paparecipe, Dr Jart, Mediheal, My Beauty Diary (brought back into Malaysia recently) etc etc.
Tip: Sasa sells an award winning Malaysian brand for eyebrow pencil called Empro. Check it out ! (I don't earn anything from saying this lol)
- Aeon Wellness came from Japan, and they sell Hada Labo, Biore, Kao steam masks, etc. They also sell Korean brands masks like Mediheal , but these are rather marked up too (around USD $4.50 per mask)
Tip: More Japanese haircare products here compared to Watson/ Guardian/ etc
- Sephora are mainly non-AB, but they have brands like Laneige, Koh Gen Do, SK-II.
Tip: Nothing in Sephora Malaysia is within my budget. Nothing. Except one Sephora mask maybe.
BRAND OUTLETS
Please search for store locators (available online)
Innisfree: There's one in Pavillion and another in KLCC. It is almost always cheaper to buy online (eg Koreadepart) but the mark up is low enough that I'd consider buying it retail. Especially if I really want something and don't want to wait 3 weeks.
Etude House: Often Buy 1 Free 1 . Used to be whole outlet. Now it is only selected items (I iz sad). The masks are worth buying if B1F1. The eyeshadows, too.
Please note that the retail price of Etude House Malaysia without Buy 1 Free 1 promotion is double the price online.
Skin Food - Double the online price and no buy 1 free 1 promotions, ever.
Nature Republic- same as Skinfood
Tonymoly - Also high price markup but they do have discounts and roadshows (sometimes). I like to look at the things because cute. Their masks are okay at RM4 a piece (less than $1).
Banila Co the markup of their products are super high man I cannot handle. But they have ALLLLL the CIZs.
The Face Shop recently had a promotion on their masks whereby they're $1+/- apiece which is pretty sweet if you like that brand for masks.
Laneige has a number of brand outlets in Malaysia. Also they have SEA specific shades that can't be purchased online.
ROUTE SUGGESTION IF YOU'RE NOT FROM KL
This route covers the golden triangle of Kuala Lumpur and brings you within reach of some of the best food, sights and of course AB, in KL.
If you're taking the monorail, read downwards.
If you're taking the light rail transit, this route suggestion can be done in reverse.
The Bukit Bintang monorail station is between two malls - Sungei Wang and Lot 10.
- Sungei Wang is best for cheap clothes shopping. The foodcourt at the top floor is not bad for cheap fare (lunch below RM10 (USD $2.20, I kid you not, why is our exchange rate so poor? My heart is breaking) Also, do u know how difficult that is to get lunch that price in KL these days? lol)
You can find Sasa and Guardian in this mall. Also another pharmacy called Caring but the prices tend to be much higher for almost everything so I do not recommend.
TIP: Opposite this station is one of my favourite cafes, Tous Les Jours. It's a Korean bakery with a French name. I like their big breakfast, but their coffee sucks.
TIP: A short walking distance or one monorail stop away, the Imbi station how you get to Berjaya Times Square (see below).
TIP: There is another mall called Low Yat just next door. It has no AB, but it is very popular for electronics.
- Berjaya Times Square is also good for clothes shopping; most of their stock comes from Taobao, and therefore cheap. However, most shops don't allow you to actually try on the clothes before buying.
Here you can find The Face Shop, Etude House, Sasa.
Tip: For pretty good local food at reasonable prices I like Nyonya Colours on the lower ground floor. Here, I order nasi kunyit (yellow rice) with curry chicken. There are other local favourites like nasi lemak and bihun, and cendol.
Also please, please avoid Bioaqua products in Miniso, Yubiso, etc etc, and other China brands pretending to be Korean.
- Lot 10 has Isetan , and a pretty good Japanese food court at the bottom floor, very expensive but tricks you into thinking that you're in Japan (I've been to Japan, can confirm). Next to it, there is another food court called Lot 10 Hutong, and some of the best street hawker names have opened their little stalls there. Personally I like Kin Kin pan mee noodles. Not as good as the original (which happens to be near my office, yay me) but pretty okay and easy way for tourists to sample popular street food (at marked up prices).
Has Sasa, too. And lolita dresses at the upper floor if you're into that.
Next to Lot 10 mall is another mall called -
- Fahrenheit 88 - wellllll I don't think there's much AB shopping here but they have a pretty big Uniqlo, a Shoes Spa, and Big Bad Wolf book upstairs for exceptionally cheap books (new , not second hand), which is always worth visiting.
Tip: There is a new underground link between Fahrenheit 88 and Pavillion (see below). However, if you take this tunnel, you will miss Sephora. You have been warned.
- Pavillion is where you can find the high end brands. Also, they have a departmental store with Sulwhasoo, SK-II, History of Whoo, Shiseido.... and brand outlets of Etude House and Tonymoly.
Tip: There is an Asian Avenue at the top floor, mainly Japanese stores, and they have a Daiso with silicone masks (an AB favourite). There is also a booth selling Mizon.
From Pavillion there is a covered aircond walk way to KLCC.
- KLCC And here you end up at the mall with an LRT train station. If you're from Pavillion, you have to explore quite a bit to get to the AB shops I'm afraid, but there is Skin Food and another SASA.
Tourists always go to KLCC for photos of its twin towers with the famous fountain in the background. It also houses Aquaria, which is fairly interesting but only if you are new to that sort of thing. Otherwise I do not recommend. There is also an art gallery for local art. This I do recommend. Also, free entrance is a plus.
Innisfree and Belif are at the side of the building pretty close to the KLCC LRT station.
- Avenue K is yet another mall. It is actually closer to the KLCC LRT Station than KLCC itself.
It has Guardian, Watson, Daiso and Muji.
This is where I like to go to buy my Muji cottons and compressed masks and test Muji skincare products (the Muji light cleansing oil is my sister's HG)
Tip: The foodcourt Taste Enclave is pretty popular.
Other malls (out of the way, but if you REALLLY want to go)
- One Utama is the biggest shopping mall in this region. No kidding, it is huge. However, there is absolutely nothing AB here that you can't find in KL except booths for Mamonde, Whamisa and L'Herboflore. it's more of a local hangouts mall and tourists seldom come here.
- Sunway Pyramid is another local hangout mall. It is actually the mall that we Malaysian ABers agree is AB Heaven (if you're willing to pay the somewhat high price markups) but tourists don't come here unless they're here for business meetings. And they tend to prefer the KL City Centre for that. If you're here, well, almost everything AB brand in Malaysia has a presence here (except, oddly, the 3 booths abovementioned in One Utama). It does have a small Holika Holika outlet and a somewhat medium sized Missha outlet, and Club Clio. Also, this is the area for hipster cafes.
Wellllll, please do share your experiences and agree/disagree with my opinions ! :)
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