Althea Korea Mini Haul + Review

Recently, the Korean Makeup craze has caught up to me and I have been researching rather intensely, out of curiosity as well as boredom 'cos we all know studying is anything but interesting. There are really quite a few websites out there that offers to ship korean makeup internationlly, however their prices are often not as good as buying from local stores in Korea itself, and shipping costs has always been a pain in the ass. Finally! I came across this website, Althea Korea, that started out shipping authentic Korean makeup goodies to Malaysia, and has since expanded to Singapore. So here's my experience with them!

Website experience:
Compared to other more established websites, Althea Korea definitely lose in terms of variety. There are not many brands carried by Althea Korea and the variety of products each brand features is also limited. 
Also the website is not very user-friendly in terms of browsing through the options. What I mean is that while they have sections for makeup, skincare etc. and further mini sections like eyes, face..., When you click on a product, it is not possible to return to where you were before clicking a product. 
Otherwise it is still acceptable, mostly due to their lack of variety.


The goods:

As you can see, I bought this haul during a promotion. It was 11% off original-priced items and 1-for-1 for the Laneige BB Cushion [Pore Control]. Even without promotion, the price of the goods were really affordable and generally cheaper than other websites I have visited. 
Remember! Free shipping for orders over S$50!

The goods came wrapped up in a bright hot pink sleeve with all the delivery information and inside the sleeve contains the althea beauty box. While I like the concept, I would much rather they save the cost of making the box and simply replace it with more samples. Also they tried to squeeze all my stuff into the smaller sized box, which resulted in the box being slightly deformed. So....I don't think I can really use it for any other purposes already.....wastage of resources....
But if you are those that pay lotsa attention to packaging, althea Korea is definitely the ideal shopping site for you.

The goods came in good condition, although certain boxes were deformed due to the squeezing. Otherwise the actual product itself was fine. 

The shipping:
Shipping was really the main highlight of this website, in my opinion. They shipped their products using Ecargo and when it reaches Singapore it was directed to the local post office, Singpost for delivery. As said earlier, I bought this haul during a promotion, hence a longer shipping time is definitely expected, however I got my stuff literally within a week[7 days]! That is including weekend. Tracking is available and promptly updated as well so it's a almost smooth process, save for the excitement of receiving the goods.

Freebies:
Many online shopping websites offer free samples when you buy from them. While previous reviews of Althea Korea that I have read mentioned nothing about samples, they must have up their game as I received the Greentinol Mask Sheet for free. Yeah it's only 1 mask, but considering I already got 1 laneige BB cushion for free due to the promotion, one more mask just makes everything perfect. It can't compare to the amount of samples other websites seem to offer, but considering the free shipping and much cheaper pricing, having no or few samples is hardly a sacrifice. 

That pretty much wraps up my first experience with Althea Korea. I definitely see myself going back for more! Do look out for their Daebak deals as well, they are pretty generous with their promotions:)

Disclaimer: These are my personal experiences. While I may have mentioned certain attributes of other websites, I have actually never purchased from other Korean makeup websites. Information on the other websites are obtained through my research and reading others' reviews.