Buzz: Hot on the heels of French multi-label cosmetics giant Sephora is the freshly established Too Cool For School, a brand from Korea that’s keen on fun-loving characters (as you can tell by the name) and functional packaging. The three-year-old chain has already expanded to Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, with this latest store opened here last month.

Décor: The black and yellow shop is more Loft (a gift shop packed with gadgets) than your usual, sleek cosmetics store. Dark wooden shelves and steel painted black give the otherwise girly and playful setting a masculine and modern touch.

Goods: This is not a multi-label store. Everything is under the Too Cool for School brand and organized by product types and sub brands. For example, the Rules of Skincare offers a toner (B1,350/350ml) and serum (B1,550/78ml), while Mcgirly is also all about skin treatments with products such as the Booster (B1,350/150ml) & Perfecter (B1,550/ 40ml), Eye Activator (B1,250/20ml) or whitening gel mask (B220/sheet). Our fave would have to be the Too Cool Art Class line, though, which plays with stationery-like packaging for its lip crayon (B420), blusher (B480) or the multipurpose Color Paint (a pot of makeup which can be used as eye shadow, lipstick, eye-liner and blush-on, B680). Finally, the cute and functional package Dinoplatz Dear Brachiosaurus, an oil removing sheet that comes with a puff (B280), has got to be one of the cutest designs we’ve ever seen for makeup.

Why you’ll come back: The well-designed and easy-to-use packaging goes a long way, but Too Cool for School also delivers on the new trend that good make-up doesn’t always have to be from a big brand.