Korean products are known for their cute packaging and good quality; and even though I claim to be a grown up most of the time, I have no shame in admitting that I sometimes buy products including cosmetics just for their cute packaging. When I shopped at Holika Holika first time in Myeongdong, Seoul I had no idea about their bestsellers and I just let the Sales Assistant suggest things to me. I ended up buying face masks, pencil lip tint and this lip balm. To be honest I picked up this Holika Holika Dessert Time Lip balm just for the packaging and the chocolate scent (I am not too much into chocolates as such but in terms of chocolate based cosmetics I cannot help myself, idk). I have been using it on and off for a while so let’s get into the review!

Product: Holika Holika Dessert Time Lip Balm – 4 Chocolate Cupcake
Claim: Holika Holika Dessert Time Lips are lightly pigmented cupcake themed lip balms. Each delectable balm moisturizes lips with its smooth creamy texture and gives them a softly tinted finish. Their sweet and sugary aromas will fill your nose with the tempting scent of fresh baked cupcakes. Indulge your sweet tooth today with these adorable lip treats!
Quantity: 7 g
Price: 10000 KRW (~10$)
There are 7 flavours in the Dessert Time lip balm range:

1. Red Cupcake – Strawberry fragrance; transparent red color
2. Pink Cupcake – Watermelon fragrance; soft pink color
3. Peach Cupcake – Peach fragrance; delicate peach color
4. Chocolate Cupcake – Chocolate fragrance; mellow brownie red color.
5. Pink Plum Cupcake – Sweet Cherry fragrance; plum pop pink color.
6. Orange Cupcake – Sour Orange fragrance; vivid orange color.
7. Lemon Cupcake – Real Lemon fragrance; lemony yellow color.

When I went to the store months ago (when I was still in Korea), I only saw 4 and picked up this one. If I could, I would have loved to pick up all 7 😉 I have no idea of what flavours are still available from the brand.

I love the packaging but the flip-open lid does not close as tightly as I would like it to be, so I do not consider this very travel-friendly. Of course this needs to be applied with the fingers (not travel-friendly) so there are hygiene concerns. Besides the packaging and the chocolate scent (and taste), this lip balm has a slight tint to offer. In this case, it is slightly brown and comes with a glossy finish. On first glance, it looks like a dense brown chocolate in the packaging but it warms up and sort of melts in your fingers and can be easily spread on the lips.

I notice that the lip balm stays on for upto 3 hours even though the glossiness fades away easily. I have been using it on my no makeup days to add some color to my lips.
Rating: 3.5/5
Recommend: Yes
Repurchase: Maybe
I am quite pleased with the packaging (to look at but not in practical use as I prefer tubes) but since this lip balm is pretty basic in its effect, I would like to try other lip balms out there. I plan on saving the packaging once I use this up and clean it to keep my everyday jewelry or something. I would recommend this to people who appreciate cute packaging in cosmetics, there are nice pink shades to choose from too (strawberry flavour)!

Have you tried the Holika Holika Dessert Time lip balms? Which is your favorite lip balm of all time?