Olive Young Shopping List (2026): What to Buy by Skin Type

A person with an umbrella walking down a lit shopping street in Myeongdong at night

Written by YUNA, the pen name behind Hello Korea Tips. Every guide is checked against official sources before it goes up.

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Last checked: November 1, 2026

I’d go to one of the big Olive Young stores in Myeongdong, set a budget before you walk in, and shop in this order: one product for your skin type, then sunscreen, then sheet masks. I’d use the smaller branches near your hotel for top-ups.

Foreign visitors spent more than 1 trillion won in Olive Young stores in the first eleven months of 2025. Its Central Myeongdong Town store, opened in March 2026, was designed with them in mind.

Quick answer

  • 📍 Where: a big Myeongdong store, such as Central Myeongdong Town
  • 🛍️ Buy first: one product for your skin type, then sunscreen
  • 💰 Tax refund: from 15,000 won on one receipt, with your passport

Which Olive Young should you go to?

The lit corner front of an Olive Young beauty store in Myeongdong at night
An Olive Young store front on a Myeongdong shopping street in Seoul. Photo: Pkccccj, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Olive Young has stores all over Seoul, but for a first visit I’d use one of the large ones built for tourists. One is Central Myeongdong Town, which opened on March 26, 2026. It has three floors, about 1,000 brands, and around 15,000 products, and Olive Young says only its N Seongsu store is bigger.

It also has 22 staffed checkout counters, more than any other Olive Young store.

The older Myeongdong Town store reopened in November 2023 after a renovation aimed at foreign shoppers.

Olive Young also keeps an English page for its Myeongdong Global store, which lists 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. every day. It’s near Myeongdong Station Exit 8 (Line 4) or Euljiro 1-ga Station Exit 5 (Line 2). The page is old and says hours can change, so check your map app first.

The same page says that store has no restroom and won’t look after umbrellas or luggage. Use the subway station restroom first, and shop before you collect your luggage.

How do you find anything in there?

Products are grouped by type, so you’re looking for a category first and a brand second. These are the shelf words I’d learn before you go, in case a sign is only in Korean.

You want Look for
Toner 토너
Serum or essence 세럼, 에센스
Moisturizer 크림
Sunscreen 선케어, 선크림
Sheet masks 마스크팩

A photo of the box helps a lot. Save a screenshot of each thing on your list, with the full name, and show it to staff with igeo isseoyo? (“do you have this?”). Names come in many versions (refills, double packs, “upgraded” editions), so the picture saves a lot of back and forth.

For a shortlist, I’d use the Olive Young Awards. The 2025 awards picked 166 products in 40 categories, using 180 million purchases from July 2024 to June 2025 along with category trends. Olive Young’s online mall lists the winners. Since trends count too, I’d still check that a product suits your skin type.

My shopping list by skin type

Shoppers and staff around the checkout area inside an Olive Young store in Myeongdong
Inside an Olive Young store in Myeongdong, near the checkout counters. Photo: Sgroey, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

I’d buy one product that matches your skin type and stop there. Each description below is the brand’s own.

Dry or tight-feeling skin: Torriden’s DIVE-IN serum is the one I’d reach for. The brand calls it a moisture serum made with low-molecular hyaluronic acid and lists it for dry, normal, and combination skin. It comes in a 50 ml bottle, and you’ll see several bundles, so check which one is a single bottle.

Dry and easily irritated skin: Aestura’s Atobarrier 365 Cream. The brand calls it a ceramide moisturizer for dry and sensitive skin.

Oily or combination skin: my pick is Round Lab’s 1025 Dokdo Toner, because a toner is the lightest step to add to a routine. Round Lab says it clears away dead skin cells and leaves skin with lasting moisture. Round Lab also makes a pad version (toner on cotton pads) if you’d rather not carry a bottle.

Yuna’s pick

Dry skin: Torriden DIVE-IN serum.

Dry and sensitive: Aestura Atobarrier 365 Cream.

Oily or combination: Round Lab 1025 Dokdo Toner.

Not sure what your skin wants? Skip the bottles and buy sheet masks.

Whatever you pick, test it before using it all over. The American Academy of Dermatology suggests a small spot twice a day for 7 to 10 days, so on a shorter trip I’d start the test in Seoul and finish it at home.

Sunscreen and sheet masks: the two easy wins

A hand reaching for a jar of cream beside a serum and a sheet mask
A sheet mask, a serum bottle, and a jar of cream on a table.

Sunscreen is second on my list, and it’s the one I’d never skip. Olive Young said that in 2024, five of the ten best-selling items among shoppers from the US were sun care products. Korean sunscreens come as creams, gels, essences, and sticks, so pick the texture you’ll actually wear every day.

Sheet masks are the other easy win. They’re flat and light, and buying a few lets you try different brands without paying for a full-size bottle. Mediheal, a big sheet-mask brand in Korea, also makes toner pads, so its shelf is a good place to start.

⚠️ Heads-up

Cream, gel, and liquid sunscreens count as liquids at airport security. If you’re flying home with only a carry-on, each container has to be 100 ml or less and fit in one clear 1-litre bag, so pack big bottles in your checked suitcase.

Timing your visit, and the tax refund

Wet pavement and lit shop signs on a Myeongdong street on a rainy evening
Myeongdong’s shopping streets on a rainy evening near the night market.

Olive Young holds its big sale for about a week four times a year, in March, June, September, and December. The spring 2026 one ran from March 1 to 7. If your dates are flexible, I’d aim for one of those weeks.

The awards feed into the December sale. Olive Young announced the 2025 winners on November 28, 2025, and they were discounted until December 6. I didn’t find 2026 dates on Olive Young’s newsroom on November 1, so I’d check the Olive Young app if your trip falls in late November.

Whenever you go, take your physical passport. Olive Young’s Myeongdong Global store page says you can get the tax back at the till on each purchase of 15,000 won or more but under 1 million won. The refund works out to about 5 to 8% of the price. My tax refund guide covers the limits and the airport steps.

So pay for small items together. Two products at 9,000 won and 8,000 won qualify on one receipt, but neither does on its own.

Honest take

I wouldn’t fill a basket from the best-seller shelf. Those products sell well in Korea, but nobody picked them for your skin. One product for your skin type and a sunscreen make a good first haul, and you can go back for more once you know what you like.

FAQ

What do shoppers overseas buy?

It depends on the country. In its March 2026 analysis of 2025 sales on its global online store, Olive Young said lip gloss and shadow products were especially popular with customers in Japan. Hair ampoules ranked among the most popular products with UK customers.

Are the big stores very crowded?

When the older Myeongdong Town store reopened in 2023, a long line of mostly foreign shoppers waited for the 10 a.m. opening on a weekday. I didn’t find figures on quieter times, so I’d expect a crowd and keep your list short.

Is a small Olive Young worth a stop?

Yes, for a top-up. I’d still buy your main list in a big store, since Central Myeongdong Town carries the most products of any Olive Young.

Take your passport and your screenshot list, and stop when you reach your budget. If a store’s hours or the refund rules have changed, tell me on the Contact page and I’ll check it. Have a great first shop!

Hwaiting!

Yuna

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Sources and last check

How I put this guide together: from Olive Young’s own store page and announcements, CJ’s newsroom, the brands’ official sites, and Korean business news. I checked all of them on November 1, 2026. The recommendations are my own. No brand paid to be included, and none reviewed this guide. More on how I research every guide is on the About page.

Last checked: November 1, 2026. Prices, hours, and sales change, so please confirm before you travel. This is an independent guide, not affiliated with Olive Young or any brand.

Sources:

Cover image: A Myeongdong shopping street at night.

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