Hey y’all,

So let’s get the big fat pink elephant out of the room first: yes, this Sample Sunday is coming to you on a Tuesday. It’s happening. I know I have been a bit, how do you say, loose with these but I feel like I have had my reasons (what a justification!). Gav actually came back yesterday and the weekend was spent with me prepping for that and cleaning up the astounding mess I had made in our beautiful apartment, and then seeing my gorgeous friend Sehar on Sunday for some much-needed girl time. So yeah, I had some chores and a bit of a life to lead. Sigh. But I said I’d be back with this review, so here it is!

As the title of this post suggests, the sample up for review was Holika Holika’s Good Cera Super Cream. Holika Holika is a really cute Korean brand that has been growing on me over the past few months. When I first got to Guri, there was a tiny little Too Cool For School store at the entrance to Doldari, the main shopping area. However, this disappeared, and then resurfaced as a few odd things before being transformed into what is now our local Holika Holika. I hadn’t really been in before, as I thought it was a bit cutesy and I really just didn’t know much about it, but one day I overcame my fear/they were having a sale and I found myself squeezing into their tiny space and perusing their products. And I actually really like them! The girls were really helpful and nice and also gave me a bunch of samples – and this amazing pen!

So purrrdy! Naturally, I am now a bit of a Holika Holika fan, and I wanted to review one of their products because I feel like they sort of fly under the radar compared to your Face Shops and Skinfoods and especially your Etudes. Plus, I had a bunch of samples of this cream and was a bit intrigued by it.

So, what is with the name? As I have mentioned before, as amazing as Korean products are (and they really are), sometimes the names can be baffling, nonsensical and about 7 miles long. It’s just part and parcel of living in this wonderful land and I actually quite enjoy it. I like that they put effort into each product’s name instead of just calling things ‘Face Soap’ (hello Muji! … although I love you too).

Anyway, after a little bit of Googling I have discovered that the ‘Cera’ part stands for Ceramide, which according to their website is a part of the cell membrane. The inclusion of this ingredient apparently helps to lock in moisture into the skin. Some sites were saying this effect lasts for up to 72 hours, which is pretty epic. Who knew?!

I knew this cream was ultra moisturising, so I only used it at night. My first impressions were that it was a rich, smooth cream and it spread really easily across my skin. However, I have found (and Gav backed me up on this!) that it is not too greasy or oily and it absorbs quickly. The packaging of the sample was also very cute and I quite like the full-sized jar packaging which you can see here. As I said, Holika Holika won my heart when they gave me that pen. How can I go back from that?!

This cream also has a nice, fresh fragrance and feels quite luxurious to use. It is reasonably priced (₩18,900 in Korea) even though I get the feeling that this is one of their higher-end lines. For a budget brand, I think that this is a really affordable night cream (or day cream if your skin tends toward dryness) and definitely worth trying. Also, my skin is super sensitive and it glided on with ease and without a reaction, which is always a good thing! I am actually very impressed with this cream (and not just ’cause of the samples)! And mmm, it smells deeeelish.

I had no idea before writing up this post, but Holika Holika is also available in both Canada and America. Amazing! The spread of these Korean cosmetics stores shows no signs of stopping (I almost wrote ‘shopping’… oops) and in my opinion that can only be a good thing. As we know, Korean cosmetics are light years ahead of their Western counterparts, and it shows in luxurious yet affordable products such as this one.

And so, I am pleased to say that is another rave review from me! Lately it seems as if everything has been tickling my fancy, and although I prefer to only write positive reviews, it is true that these recent products are rather amazing. Next week’s (this week’s) Sample Sunday has a lot to live up to, it would seem! And the product in question is… Skinfood‘s Black Sugar Strawberry Mask Wash Off! I have always been really keen to try this product as I love all things strawberry, and I am keen to see how it fares agains the original Black Sugar Mask. Stay tuned to find out!

Thanks for reading friends, see y’all soon!

Steph x

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