♡ Holika Holika Sweet Peko Hard Cover Perfect Cushion Review ♡

もしもし！♡
 Today I thought I'd do something I haven't done in quite some time: a cosmetics review!
For those of you who have been following this blog for a while, you might remember me starting out as a beauty blog!
I would be surprised if anyone from that long ago still read this blog though ^^"
In any case, when I purchased this item, I got several messages on Instagram asking me to review it. I finally ran out of my old product, and was able to open this one at last! I had been super eager to use it, but at the same time, didn't want to open it prematurely ^^"
In any case, the item I'm being so vague about... is the 
super cute Sweet Peko Perfect Cushion from Holika Holika!

If you're interested in Korean cosmetics, you might know that a little while ago, the brand Holika Holika released an absolutely adorable collaboration collection with the character Peko!

For those of you not familiar with her, Peko-chan is the mascot of the Japanese sweets brand Fujiya; you can sometimes find her face decorating sweets packages, or even chocolate lollipops in the shape of her head! She's a really cute and iconic character, and I thought this entire series had such a charming retro feel to it ♡

The entire collection was adorable, so I knew I wanted something from it the moment that I saw it! It just so happened that the item whose packaging I found cutest was the one I needed the most! ♡ I had been running low on my cushion compact for a little while, and figured it was about time to get myself a new one.
I guess I didn't use it that often though, because it still took me quite a while to finally run out of it officially...



In the collaboration, there are two different cushion compacts: the Perfect Cushion (the one I got) and the Glow Cushion (which in the above photo, you can see in the red milk-carton packaging!)
The Perfect Cushion is meant for oily skin, to create a smoothing finish, improve skin texture, and absorb excess sebum. The Glow cushion is for drier skin, as it claims to leave your skin moisturized and glowing. I often struggle with my makeup feeling a bit greasy at the end of the day, so I figured the Perfect Cushion would be the best choice for me ^^

Before I continue my rambling, let me share some photos of the super cute packaging it came in!

I think the milk carton packaging is so adorable and unique-- honestly, I find it hard to resist cute packaging, and I found the design of this absolutely charming! 



Before I move on to more photos, some more details about the product~
This cushion has SPF 50+ PA++++, which is fantastic! I always apply sunscreen before my makeup, but still, it's nice to have that added layer of protection ^^ It comes in four different colours (although unfortunately like with most Korean brands, it doesn't seem that they would be suited for anyone with medium-dark skin). I normally have the issue of face makeup being too dark for me, so I appreciated the availability of light tones. I got the palest shade, "01 Warm Ivory" (which ended up being perfect!)

Inside the box, you get the compact, as well as the actual cushion (which comes separately, so that when you run out, you can just purchase a refill instead of getting a whole new set!)

Here's what the refill looks like when you take it out of the bag~

It's just a little plastic container that you snap into the case-- it's quite easy to do! 
Also, isn't the puff it comes with just the cutest? ♡ 

The case itself comes with a mirror, which is very convenient, of course~ 
The cushion itself is covered by a piece of plastic underneath the lid, which is good because it prevents the product from drying out before you get the chance to even use it ^^" After you peel it off...

You see the cushion itself! I've never seen a 'patterned' cushion before, I think it's a really cute detail ♡ 



Like with all cushions, you just gently press the puff onto the cushion to collect some product (please be cautious when first using them though, since the sponges are super saturated with product initially!), before using that to apply it on your face. 
I took some before and after photos, so you can get the idea of the coverage/colour!
The before photos are of my skin after my usual skincare+primer application, and the after photos are with just the cushion, no concealer or anything like that (a fairly light application though, since I generally don't wear too much foundation for fear of it looking too 'heavy').

The most striking thing I noticed about this product was its mattifying effect! It had fairly decent coverage too-- I'm sure it can be built up even more, but again, I try to avoid wearing too much foundation. It managed to cover up the majority of my acne scarring/small blemishes, which is good enough for me! ♡



And here are some photos after I did the rest of my makeup (for my face, I didn't use any concealer after this-- just my usual setting powder).

I'm very happy with the coverage of this-- it's exactly what I need! It has a smoothing look too, which I find perfect (as you might be able to tell, the surface of my skin isn't very smooth, so I'm always looking for products which will even out the texture ^^" )

Despite being mattifying, it didn't seem to cake/clump when I applied it, which is great! Often, with mattifying foundation, I've found that it can get into fine lines and generally make your skin look a bit bleh, so I was relieved that this was not the case with this product. In addition to that, it applied just fine over the rest of my makeup, and blended into my skin very smoothly!
I wore this product all day, and found that it looked no different at the end of the day than at the start! Which is quite impressive given that I wore it ice skating, as well as for a fairly long walk (usually, products tend to fade a bit after exercise, but I didn't find that to be the case with this!)

On the whole, I'm very very happy with the Holika Holika Perfect Cushion! It has lovely coverage, wonderful texture, good staying-power, and of course... is super cute!
I would definitely recommend this cushion, especially if you have oily/combination skin like me! If your skin is on the drier side, you might want to try out their Glow Cushion, since it probably has a texture more suitable to your skin. 



I purchased my cushion on YesStyle {here} for $18.65 (but that's with the discount I have as a gold member on there, plus a sale they were having at the time-- it normally retails for $25.90). I've also found this eBay listing for it for $15.20. 



I hope you found this review helpful! Please let me know if you have any questions about the product-- I'd be happy to do my best to try to answer them! ♡
♡ Thank you for reading, and I hope you have a lovely lovely day ♡
Until next time!

♡ London Day 3 | Afternoon Tea at Sketch ♡

So... it's been a while since my last London post...

But I still really want to finish blogging about my trip, so although this is embarrassingly late... let's see what I did on the third day of my trip! ♡

I think this was my favourite day, because it featured the part I was most looking forward to on this entire trip... afternoon tea at sketch! This was something I had dreamt about for years, ever since I first heard of it!

However, that was to come later in the day-- so let's start from the beginning! 

I'm so glad that I took tons of photos... given how late I'm writing this, there's a good chance I would have forgotten a lot ><

Like on day 2, we decided to begin day 3 with a museum! My mum really wanted to see the British Museum, so that was to be our first destination ^^

Before all that of course, we had to get ready and have breakfast!

Again, we took the opportunity to enjoy the lovely breakfast provided by the B&B-- I had a thin bagel sandwich! 

This is actually a photo from the following day-- I didn't bring my phone down to breakfast with me, but I enjoyed the sandwich so much that I had the exact same thing the next day!

It was actually super duper tasty, and I still find myself thinking about that sandwich occasionally hehe ;v; Gooey melty cheese, the fairly crisp bagel which wasn't too dense (as regular bagels are), the slight pop of salinity from the ham... so good *^*

Once we were all ready and well-fed, we headed to the museum! We went a few stops on the underground, and after a bit of walking, arrive at our destination~

I wish I had gotten photos of the exterior of the museum-- it was so beautiful!

To tell the truth I wasn't very excited about this museum-- historical artifacts don't interest me very much; I definitely prefer art or natural history museums ^^" Nonetheless, it was cool to look around and see all the ancient items!

We saw the Rosetta stone! It was the first thing you saw when you entered-- I think it's their most famous piece!

I didn't get many other photos while wandering around the museum, again, because it's not really my area of interest. This olive leaf crown made of gold was very pretty though!

The museum also had a pretty staircase, and I got my mum to take a quick photo for me~

(I'll have a better photo of my coord later on in the post!)

We wandered around for a few more hours, and eventually started to get hungry...

We went to Pret a Manger for lunch, just for a small quick (and reasonably priced) bite~ Sketch is certainly not a cheap place, so it wouldn't have made sense to get something fancy or heavy beforehand ^^"

My parents split the egg salad sandwich on the left, and my sister and I had the crab and avocado sandwich on the right! They were so tasty-- I wish we had Prets here ;-; But sadly there are none in Florida yet ><

After we had our lunch, there were a few shops I wanted to check out! They were in the area luckily, so we didn't have to walk too far to reach them.

The first place was one I had wanted to visit for years. This was a shop I heard of since my early days on the internet, when I saw people living in the UK talking about kawaii things...

Artbox!!

Artbox is just a store which sells lots of cute things, from stationary, to plushies, and even some adorable pastel clothes! In my early years at highschool, it seemed like everyone online (who lived in the UK) had been to this shop.. and so it was my dream to go! And believe me, it did not disappoint ♡

Although I now know how to find cute things from Japan online, it was still so magical to see everything gathered together in one place, in person!

From cute stickers...

To adorable plushies... (I really wanted one of these but they were quite big)

And even a huge selection of face/hand cloths!

Artbox was everything I dreamed it would be!

Their prices weren't the cheapest... (and certainly not when you consider how much cheaper things are when you buy from the Japanese shops directly)... but I still wanted to get something in memory of this long-awaited trip!

I took a long time deciding what I wanted, and in the end I decided to be practical: I got a t-shirt!

This was definitely overpriced (I actually saw it for about a third of the price later on the US Sanrio site...) but I had fallen in love with the delicate carousel design and sweet pastel colours! Whenever I wear it, I'm reminded of my trip to London and Artbox, so I think it was worth it ♡

The area around the store was really beautiful-- I could have spent hours just wandering around!

I'm not sure exactly when we saw this sweets shop-- but we did pass by a place that had some really pretty desserts and eclairs~ It seemed as though there was no end to beautiful pastries in London!

After finishing up at Artbox, we still had a bit of time before our afternoon tea reservation. There was a Japanese wagashi (traditional sweets) shop that I really wanted to go to, so my mum and I headed there! We stepped into a few shops along the way, including a pretty art store, The Ordinary (which makes really amazing skincare), and Cath Kidston (which had super cute designs, but sadly I didn't get anything ;-; )

After a bit of walking, we finally reached our destination: Minamoto Kitchoan!

I absolutely adore traditional Japanese sweets-- agar jellies, red bean paste, mochi... it's all so delicious ♡ Such seemingly simple ingredients combine together into delightfully complex and refined desserts, it's truly incredible ^^ It's quite difficult to find this type of sweet in my area, so I was really excited to go to Minamoto Kitchoan!

The shop had tons of beautifully packaged sweets, alongside plastic displays of what they looked like!

This was one of the sweets I got!

I really wanted to get the white peach jelly that was on the right in the bottom photo... but it was just too expensive ^^"

We ended up buying four things to split among the family, but since we waited until the next day to try them, I'll share them in the post for day four! I also purchased a few items just for myself (which you might have seen if you watched my London Haul)-- a box of white peach mochi, a sakura + red bean crepe, and a chestnut + red bean paste mooncake-type sweet! Each one was heavenly-- I think my favourite was probably the chestnut + red bean paste cake! The bean paste was just so smooth and incredibly textured... ♡

With the sweets shopping out of the way, we headed to meet back up with my dad and sister! We met next to sketch (for the sake of convenience), and I couldn't quite believe that I was there..!

The outside was decorated with beautiful strands of dried flowers... it looked so magical!

We arrived about a half hour prior to our reservation, and they couldn't seat us just yet, so we had a bit of time to look around the building. sketch actually has several different 'dining rooms', each with a different theme! They all served different types of food too-- 'the Glade' had cocktails and lunch, 'the Parlour' just had general all-day dining, and 'the Lecture Room & Library' was their two Michelin star restaurant (I would love to try their tasting menu someday..)! Our room was 'the Gallery' though, which is where they hold their afternoon tea. 

This was 'the Glade'-- I just had a quick peek inside it; the foresty theme was so cool!

After waiting around for a bit longer, and looking at the interesting/strange art that was in the main hall, our table was ready for us, and we headed to the Gallery!

I was absolutely starstruck when we entered... it was everything I had dreamed of! I had seen photos online, but nothing could have prepared me for how absolutely dreamy and atmospheric the room was in reality ♡

I took photos, but of course, they hardly do the space justice ^^"

The room also had a lot of very peculiar art on the walls, which was an interesting contrast to the posh pink plush seating!

We were seated, and I couldn't stop looking around the whole room- it was just so surreal and beautiful!

Some photos~

The waiter arrived and gave us the menus, explaining the different options there were for afternoon tea. We just went with the standard one (and the childrens tea for my younger sister)-- but they offered a champagne afternoon tea as well!

Like all afternoon tea services, this came with a savoury course, a scone course, and a sweets course. However, it also came with caviar to begin, and "dessert from the trolley" to finish off! They also had an extensive menu of teas, and you could try however many you wanted~

The menu featured detailed graphics and descriptions of all the food, which was quite useful to refer to!

We told the waiter our tea selections, and then it was time to wait!

Our teas were brought out quite quickly, in very charming individual teapots~ I really loved all the plates/cups/etc at sketch, they were so unique!

(I wish I had gotten a photo of the teapot-- it said 'ghost' on it, and really was the loveliest texture!)

They actually had all these available for sale... but it was quite expensive and very much out of my price range ^^" 

Quickly after receiving our tea, our first course arrived... the caviar!

(and I'm so sorry about the dreadful lighting...)

In the tiny porcelain cracked egg cup (which was truly the cutest thing ever!) was some sort of cheesy custard, topped by a partially cooked quail egg yolk~ It came with black caviar on a mother of pearl spoon, and two cheesy bread sticks (for lack of better description). It was all so scrumptious..! I don't think I've ever had black caviar before, but I think it's definitely a luxury I could get used to hehe~ The custard was also very tasty and creamy, and it went perfectly with the salty breadsticks!

There was the option to buy more caviar if you wanted... but of course it was very pricey. I did enjoy the small taste that I received, though ♡ It was such a delightful and extravagant way to begin the meal!

Once we had finished with this course, it was time to wait again. I took the chance to visit the oh so famous and beautiful... toilets! 

If you hadn't heard of sketch before, you might find it weird to be so enthusiastic about toilets... 

However...

Who wouldn't be enthusiastic about something like this?!?

The space for the toilets was like something from a science fiction film! The room was completely white, with the exception of the coloured lights on the ceiling, and the actual toilets were these little egg-shaped pods! 

I have to say, I really love all the differences in decor in all the rooms at sketch-- they put so much creativity and effort into it! The whole toilet area/room also had a little bar (at the base of the stairs in the first photo!) which I thought was a cool touch~ 

The pods themselves were a bit on the small side, but they had pretty pink lighting hehe~

(And I thought it had fairly aesthetic lighting-- forgive the toilet selca hehe)

After oohing and aahing for quite a while (and taking a fair amount of photos...), I headed back to our table~

The food took quite a while to arrive, and in the meantime I got to try several different teas. I think I might have tried five in total, during my whole time at sketch! They had a really nice selection (and I loved one of them so much, I actually ended up buying myself some from their tea retailer the following day..!) 

Although, I did learn after a while that even though they pour a cup for you right away, it's a good idea to put the water back in the pot and let it steep a while longer. The teabags are still in the teapots, and when they bring them out, the flavours can be quite weak ^^" So I found it best to wait a little bit!

Once the food did arrive... it was most certainly worth the wait ♡

Everything was absolutely picturesque! It almost didn't look real ;v;

There were two tea trays, each one containing the sweet and savoury items for two people.

As one usually does when eating, we begun with the savouries! They're always my favourite part of an afternoon tea course, so I have to say, I was very excited ♡ Especially after looking the detailed diagrams in the menu-- I knew what to expect, and was super enthusiastic to begin!

Going from left to right, was the

Coronation Chicken: Pickled red onion, coronation mayonnaise, baby coriander, malted bread, and coronation free-range chicken

Croque d'York: Black bread, duxelle of Paris mushrooms, and York Ham

Salmon and Jacob's Cream: Salmon roe, dill, Jacob's cream, Scottish smoked ham (filled with Jacob's cream) and roasted rye bread

Foie Gras Tartlette: Porto jelly, lemon voile, foie gras royale, and a tartlette

Oh my goodness... it was all divine. I can't even choose a favourite..! Not only were they all beautiful, but the flavours were all so incredibly complex and well thought-out-- it all worked together perfectly! Each one was completely unique from the others, and so delicious in its own way ♡ I'm at a loss for words for what else to say about them! They were absolute perfection.

I forgot to mention earlier, but when they brought out the tea trays, they also brought these!

These were the Eggs Truffle Gougere-- a cheesey choux pastry filled with egg mayonnaise and truffle mix. I'm not quite sure why they brought them on the side (perhaps a lack of space on the tray?) but they were delicious regardless ♡

I must say, I was a bit sad when the savouries course was over (since it's usually my favourite), however the beautiful desserts in front of me looked oh-so-tempting, that the sadness didn't last long!

Much like the savouries, the sweets were all incredibly unique and delicious in their own way!

This was most certainly my favourite-- the Pear Bourdaloue Tart! The tart shell was so delightfully crisp, the frangipane filling was wonderfully soft, and the pear was so aromatic... it was absolute perfection! I could have easily eaten a full-sized slice of this ♡

Another delicious item was the Chocolate and Caramel eclair! This was filled with caramel cream, and was very tasty! I love the lightness of choux pastry~

The Strawberry Batenberg was definitely the most charming of the desserts-- it was just so cute with the two tones of pink! The cake itself was lovely and light in texture, and it was wrapped with a very peculiar strawberry-flavoured fondant! In all honesty it reminded me a bit of chewing gum... and it was quite sweet ^^" But on the whole, a tasty piece of cake!

The last two items (the Mara de Bois Strawberry Cheesecake and Berriolette Marshmallow) I didn't get individual photos of, however they were on the very top of the tier! The cheesecake was in the form of a parfait in an individual glass, and the flavours of it were so delicious (I adore cheesecake!) ♡ The marshmallow was really cute-- it was tied into a knot, and was the prettiest shade of fuschia! It was supposed to be berry flavoured, but I noticed that it had a slightly floral note to it as well, which gave it a very interesting touch! I can't say I was too taken by the flavour... but the texture of it was absolutely divine ♡♡♡

During afternoon tea, the sweets course is usually the one I'm least interested in, however I enjoyed each and every item that was served! I don't think I loved them to the extent that I loved the savouries, but they were still divine ♡ As I mentioned before, the pear tart was incredible!

After we finished off everything on our trays, the waiter took away our trays, and it was time to wait again for the last course-- the scones!

I thought it a bit peculiar that they saved the scones until last; honestly, I usually like to begin with the scones! But I suppose the traditional customs for afternoon tea are different than what I'm used to doing~

One could choose between plain and currant scones; we all went with the currant option, because it was certainly the more interesting!

I now realize that I failed to get a photo of the scones, but I suppose it's not too much of a loss, since they just looked like scones hehe~ We received two scones each, and they were quite large! I would say each one was perhaps the size of my palm or so?

They came with a side of clotted cream, rhubarb + hibiscus jam, and strawberry + poppy jam! The scones were absolutely delicious-- so light and fluffy, with the dried currants providing the occasional bit of chewiness! Both of the preserves went really well with them, and the clotted cream was deliciously creamy too ♡

When we were about halfway through our scones, they brought out the final course: cake from the trolley! We received two pieces of their traditional Victoria sponge, which was a fluffy sponge cake layered with jam (I believe it was strawberry?), a very fluffy frosting, and little cubes of beet-juice jelly to decorate. (This I also didn't get a photo of-- mostly because it sort of looked like it was falling apart when it got to us, and as such wasn't very picturesque hehe). By that time however, I was so full, all I could manage was a little taste! The flavours were nice, but it was very 'straight-forward', if that makes sense.

As with the caviar, there was the option to purchase more of it-- but none of us had the desire for it after the incredible meal we just had ♡

Before leaving, I got a quick shot of my coord! Since the afternoon tea time had finished, the room was mostly empty, which made for a good background~

Dreaming of Tea

Blouse: Liz Lisa

Dress: Chess Story

Shoes: Nordstrom Rack

Brooch: SousSous (Etsy)

Everything was just... so incredible!!! I think afternoon tea at sketch is definitely my absolute favourite dining experience ever (and I've been to my fair share of good places!)

The delicious caviar dish, the complex savouries, the beautiful and delicately flavoured sweets, the fluffy traditional scones, and everything tied together with the unique teas... it was an experience I can only describe as luxurious ♡ Paired with the beautiful atmospheric environment, it was just like being in a dream ♡

If you're ever in London, and feel like treating yourself to an exquisite meal, I highly recommend sketch! Even my father (who isn't nearly as much of a foodie as I am), thought that the meal was worth it (which is saying something, given how costly it was for the four of us...)

I don't think I'll ever forget about my incredible time there, and I sincerely hope that someday I can return ♡

I realize now that this has become an absurdly long post, so I'll try to finish up quickly..! 

After we left sketch, there were a couple of nearby stores that I wanted to look at, so we headed there!

I really wanted to go to the Vivienne Westwood shop (which was right across from sketch!) but sadly by the time we finished with our meal, they were closed (it's alright though, since I was able to visit the following day!)

The next stop was Lazy Oaf!

Lazy Oaf is a brand I have loved for a couple of years now, and though I don't own much from them, I cherish all the pieces I have because of their unique designs! They had recently released a very pastel and ~aesthetic~ collection, which was very much my style, so I knew I had to visit!

I didn't actually get any photos of the shop, which is a shame, because it was so cute!

I tried on two items which I ended up falling completely in love with-- I just had to get both!

I don't have photos of me trying them on at the store, but here they are in two posts from my Instagram~ I purchased a really cute two-tone pair of pants, and a gingham heart-buckle bustier top!

There was actually a little mix up with the pants-- they ended up giving me the wrong size >< But luckily, I still had time to go back the next day and exchange them, so it all worked out in the end!

After Lazy Oaf, we went to Oxford street, for a bit more shopping! I didn't get any photos from here, but we went to Lush and Uniqlo (where I got a few things), as well as a few other stores~ We weren't there for long though, since we were all quite exhausted ;v; So after a bit of walking around, we headed back to the place we were staying!

After resting a bit, I went out with my mum for another small thing that I was looking forward to: My first (legal) drink!

Since the drinking age is 18 in England, I could finally get a drink of my own at a restaurant, which I was excited for hehe~

We went to the Wagamama nearby, for a drink and some small appetizers! (We didn't really have a proper 'dinner' that night, since we were all quite full after the afternoon tea). 

My drink of choice felt suitable for England: a gin and tonic!

It came with some sort of yuzu gin, as well as pink peppercorns and a wedge of lime. This combination was delicious, and it's actually a drink that I've recreated several times since! The combination of flavours were just perfect ♡ And the pink peppercorns were an unexpectedly nice touch! They were quite soft, and provided such a sharp, floral note-- they were truly quite special!

To go with our drinks (my mum got the same thing as I did), we got their new squid takoyaki! (I don't believe it was actually called takoyaki-- since it didn't contain octopus after all, but it was remarkably similar!) Takoyaki is one of my favourite things and I get to have it oh-so-rarely, so it was very nice to be able to have it again!

We also got the steamed buns with pork~

To go with everything, we got the tsukemono, or Japanese pickles! However they weren't very pretty, so I didn't take photos of them hehe. But they went perfectly with the fried and rich dishes!

Once we had finished at Wagamama, we headed back to our hotel, and that was pretty much the end of day three!

I think this was my favourite day of all my days in London! Although I wasn't terribly interested in the British museum,  I think the afternoon tea at sketch was just so special that it automatically made this day the best ♡ 

The following day is my last one, so this mini-series is almost done! Thank you for reading (especially if you read through this entire post-- I'm sorry that it was so long! I didn't expect to be so wordy ;v; )

See you in my next post! ♡