August Favourites ’22

How quickly did August go? Too bloody quickly if you ask me! I can’t believe it’s almost September already, as well as August bank holiday. I’ve started my long weekend doing sweet FA, aside from writing this blog post. 😛

This month was an up and down month, with some positives and negatives, so I am semi looking forward to September for many reasons. For a start, it’s my favourite time of year with autumn starting, but we also have some stuff booked too, which we’re excited for! I’m also hopeful that the month will cool down so I can meet up with some online friends for coffee, shopping and maybe yummy Asian food too!

With that, let’s get into my favourites from August!

Beauty – Fenty Skin Cherry Treat Lip Conditioning Oil.

I can’t tell you guys how long it took me to get this bloody lip oil! I’d heard about it through Instagram and then when watching reviews I was hooked on snagging it myself! I mentioned on my August wish list post how I’d ordered it after it came into stock. Not only was I checking the listing on the Boots website daily for it to come back into stock, but also which stores nearby had it in stock too! On a day out with my dad to Stratford-upon-Avon we popped into a Boots store that stated it was in stock, only for there to be none left, BOO! Finally the lip oil did come back into stock so I ordered one. Since it arrived, I’ve been using is almost daily. It smells like sour cherry sweets, is easy to apply and the conditioning feel lasts for hours! I find it use it at work mostly, as well as when I’m out and about. I’ve definitely become a lip oil fan and plan to try more in the future! ALSO please excuse the dust on the shelf in the photo, it’s cleaning day tomorrow. 😛

Gif taken from Giphy

TV Show – Adventure Time.

Recently I’ve decided I wanted to binge watch Adventure Time again, well, at least the first two seasons as this is how far I got originally. To get the Blu-ray it would have cost me a lot more than I was willing to pay at the time, so instead we decided to get a NOW TV subscription, so now I have until the end of the year/a year to watch all of Adventure Time! I’m currently on season five at the time of writing this post and I’m discovering more about Finn, Jake and the Land of Ooo, which I’m really enjoying! I find myself binge watching it whenever I want something to relax to and watch, including cross stitch, writing for my blog, whilst I work from home, and cooking. If you love animation like I do, and, are yet to watch Adventure Time, please give it a go! My favourite character is Lumpy Space Princess, hence the gif. 😛

Music – Beyoncé “BREAK MY SOUL”.

I heard the new Beyoncé song a couple of weeks ago thanks to Instagram and I’ve really fallen in love with it since! Sometimes it comes on whilst I drove home from work and I can really relate to it some days. 😛 I just really enjoy it as a song, some of the lyrics, but especially the beat. It’s so good! 😀

Book – Lore Olympus.

Lore Olympus is a web comic series I was into back in 2018 when it first came out, but I stopped reading it after a while due to one reason or another. A couple of weekends ago I found out that Lore Olympus had released omnibus comics of the series! I decided to order it last week in order to read over the weekend and so far I’ve really been loving it! I ordered volumes one and two, with three on pre-order. I’ve read volume one so far, and I’m yet to start reading two. I’m hoping to over the bank holiday weekend as the series is addictive! Lore Olympus is a romance comic of a modernised Greek mythology retelling of the relationship between Persephone and Hades. It definitely has some adult themes, but I honestly love it! I’ve linked the web comic, so if you fancy a read definitely go and check it out! 😀

Game – LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga.

I decided to pick up the latest LEGO Star Wars game as I had a £10 voucher for Amazon and had had my eye on this since it came out in April. Since buying this me and Dane have been playing it on and off since and it’s been something lovely to play together during weekends off, as well as in the evenings after work. My only gripe with it is how buggy it plays sometimes, which on the first day of playing really pissed us off! Thankfully since then we haven’t noticed it as much, which in turn has made it a lot more fun to play! If you play the original LEGO Star Wars games, then you should definitely get this one! It’s better than ever now and it’s so much fun too, as you get to spend blue bricks and money on upgrading your characters, which is something new to me for LEGO games.

Just a few of my favourite things…

OkieDoodleStitches Pokemon Eevee cross stitch is COMPLETED!

Last month I told you all about my latest cross stitch project, which was Eevee by OkieDoodleStitches. Well, last weekend I finally finished it and it looks so damn cute, as I’m sure you’ll agree from the above photo! This took me a couple of months to complete, but it was so worth it! I found myself getting lost whilst working on this, as well as binge watching a variety of shows (Adventure Time, Inventing Anna, and The Dog Rescuers to name a few!), which in turn has been really helpful for my mental health. I’m planning to pop this in a frame at some point to put up in the house at some point. I’ve already started my next cross stitch project, but I won’t be showing that on my blog for quite some time, as it’s a Christmas present. 🙂

Yuena Art haul.

I decided to place a cheeky enamel pin order with Yuena Art recently as I noticed one of the pins I really wanted was looking to sell out soon, and I didn’t want to worry I’d regret not getting it. The pin design I was after was mainly Yui the Kitsune, but I did love the look of Shino and Diana too! These are all either b-grade or seconds pins, but you wouldn’t know it as the quality of them all is really good! I’m yet to give them a home, but I definitely need to sort through my enamel pin collection(s) again!

Image taken from My Figure Collection

Image taken from My Figure Collection

Exciting figure pre-orders!

August was definitely a month of ordering figures, Nendoroid but also Hobby Max figures for the first time too! I wanted to show off a few I’m really excited about. I don’t feel like I talk about figures and our collecting of them enough on my blog, but it’s something I’d like to do more! First of all, I decided to pre-order the Hobby Max Nana Osaki and Komatsu figures. Nana is probably my favourite manga/anime series so I couldn’t really pass up not ordering these, even though they weren’t cheap, but worth it 100% as they’ll make me so happy to display in our house. Second of all I ordered Marin from My Dress Up Darling, an anime and manga series I’ve really fallen in love with this year! I’m so excited for this Nendoroid to be released! She’ll be going somewhere special as me and Dane love the series together!

So there we have it guys, my favourites from August! I still can’t believe it’s September soon, and before we know it, it’ll be Christmas. :O

What were your favourite things about August? Anything you can relate to from my favourites? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time, have an amazing rest of your August bank holiday and as always, take care!

August Wish List ’22

We’re already a week into August, I can’t believe it! This weekend for me has been really nice and I’m quite grateful, I’ve needed something to cheer me up after how shite July felt. August is full of lots of time off for me and Dane which will be really nice, even if we don’t do much, just having time to relax together will be nice.

For example, Friday I went out with my dad for the day and yesterday me and Dane spent pretty much all day playing LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, which is so much fun! After my blog post is live, we’re planning to play this all day again and cook a yummy dinner.

Anyhoo, I’ve ordered some of the bits on my monthly wish list, which I’ll mention when it comes to talking about the item(s) in question. Some of the items I’m waiting to go down in price, and more, but as always I’ll talk about it on each item.

I hope everyone else has had a good start to August! On with this months wish list post!

• Fearless Illustration Molly Smock Dress – (link)

This is a dress I’ve been after for what feels like forever. I’m waiting for it to go down in price, or appear on Depop/Vinted before I buy. I own on smock dress from Fearless Illustration which is incredibly comfortable! I really do love wearing my smock dresses these days as they’re incredibly comfortable for all seasons and if anything, I’ve been wearing them more and more for work lately. If I was to pick this dress up, I’d wear it for work as well as in general as the design is really simple with the large hearts.

• Noodoll Ricespud Super Giant Plush – (link)

This is a plush I’ve been after a while, in its smaller form, but when I saw they brought out the giant version I had to share it with you all today! I don’t think I’d buy the giant version, not going to lie as I don’t have the room, but look how adorable it is! This looks like an amazing plush for snuggling into after a long day. I’d still love the smaller version though. 😛

• YuenaShop Enamel Pins Yui the Kitsune, Shino, and Mythical Witch Diana – (link), (link), and (link)

These are some Animal Crossing fan design enamel pins I’ve ordered, as Yui the Kitsune is one that has been on my wish list on Etsy for as long as I can remember. It was due to sell out from what I could see, so I decided to place an order in case I missed out, but as YuenaShop is based in the United States I wanted to make the shipping costs worth it. I decided to order three enamel pins, Yui, Shino and Diana. Yui is an original character that is inspired by a Kitsune, Shino the deer villager whose outfit reminds me of Demon Slayer and then Diana who is dressed up as a witch! I’m really excited to get them by the end of the month now to display on one of my pin flags!

• Fenty Skin Cherry Treat Lip Conditioning Oil – (link)

This is something I’ve ordered earlier today and I’m so excited for it! I’ve been on the hunt for it for a while now, but Boots hasn’t had it in stock. I ventured to a Boots store on Friday to see if they had it still (stated online the store had it in stock) and they’d sold out! Thankfully this morning when I had a nose online they have some back, so I used my Advantage Points to get one! I’m really excited for this to arrive! I find some days I don’t want to wear lip products, but I know if I throw this in my bag on office days I’ll make sure to wear it. 🙂 It’s said to smell really delicious and leave a nice pink tint behind.

• Truly Heartful Nana Osaki Plush – (link)

Finally we have another plush to mention this month, but this is one of Nana Osaki, one of my favourite manga/anime characters! So, to see someone has created a plush of her has made me so happy! I don’t know if/when I’ll buy this, as it isn’t exactly cheap, but it’s definitely an item I’ll keep eyes peeled on in the future to potentially get. 🙂 I honestly love Nana, so to own a plush of her would be amazing.

So, there we have it, my wish list for August! I like to think there’s been a good variety of goodies mentioned this month! What do you like the look of from my wish list, as well as what’s on your own wish lists? Make sure to let me know in the comments below!

Until next time, take care all and I hope you have a lovely rest of your weekend!

Quirkory Animal Crossing Gimme My Joy-Con 2 Enamel Pins – Review

I have been so excited to write and share this blog post with all my readers since the start of 2021, but I’ve been eagerly and patiently waiting for these kawaii as fuck goodies to arrive!

I’m here to throw some much needed love around about Quirkory and why their designs make me so happy!

Towards the end of 2020 Quirkory announced via their social media and Patreon that they would be making another Gimme My Joy-Con collection after how popular the first one had been. They brought out a TON of villagers in the collection, twenty-four designs in total! A lot in comparison to the nine designs from their first Gimme My Joy-Con Collection, which you can read all about here by the way.

Here is a list of all the villager (and special characters) that Quirkory designs for the second collection!

Skye, Ankha, Beau and Fauna.

Maple, Goldie, Poppy and Pietro.

Coco, Audie, C.J. and Flick.

Roald, Raymond, K.K. Slider and Sherb.

Julian, Molly, Zucker and Marina.

Cookie, Diana, Rosie and Flurry.

I was so excited as Quirkory began to roll out and show off all the designs and I was starting to prepare myself for which designs I would order. I knew I wanted all of the dog characters in the collection – K.K. Slider, Goldie and I definitely had to order Cookie. However, I also ended up ordering Maple too, as she was a villager I had many moons ago on New Leaf, plus she’s cute. How could I NOT have her?

As these were pre-orders from Quirkory’s store I eagerly awaited snippets of them being made by their manufacturer. These were show both through Patreon (which you can find here) and their Instagram page too. I always love when you get to see the molds being filled with colour.

Then a month or so ago Quirkory announced that ALL the pins had arrived with them and were being ready to be shipped out! I was so excited and couldn’t wait to have them in my hands. They arrived earlier this week and I wanted to share my new enamel pins with you all as soon as possible.

Quirkory were kind enough to send me four free enamel pins too as gifts – Audie, Poppy, Julian and Diane. I’ll be sharing and talking about these on this post too.

Before I go into the designs one by one, one thing I noticed that was done differently with the second collection is the colour variants with the joy controllers. Not only did the overall colour of the controllers get designed based around the villagers in question, but the buttons on the joy cons and more got changed in colour too!

I know when I spoke before about the first collection I was able to go into detail about ALL the design joy con colours, but due to the amount this time, I won’t be able to do that. However, I will for the ones I’ve got to show today!

Cookie with a right handed lilac controller, which has white buttons and a darker purple side.

Goldie with a left handed light green controller, which has grey buttons and side.

Maple with a right handed dark green controller.

K.K. Slider with a right handed light orange controller.

Audie with a left handed yellow controller, which has white buttons and side.

Poppy with a right handed light purple controller, which has light pink buttons and side.

Julian with a right handed light blue controller, which has white buttons and side.

Diana with a left handed dark purple controller, which has teal buttons and side.

All the enamel pins are made out gold enamel and have twin backs to them. On the back of the enamel pins they all say have, “Quirkory Gimme My Joy-Con” which is something Quirkory did with the first collection, so I’m glad they kept this consistency and brought it to the second collection too.

I’ll be reviewing all the pins separately as always and want to state here that these enamel pins launch for sale again on Saturday 8th May! I’ll update the post as and when they’re for sale on Quirkory’s Etsy store, but make sure to keep eyes peeled on both Quirkory’s and my Instagram pages for updates when the enamel pins are available to buy!

Cookie Enamel Pin (Coming Soon)

This is by far my favourite design from the whole collection and that’s purely because since New Horizons Cookie has become my favourite villager. Cookie is the pop princess of Animal Crossing and she’s stolen my heart. I mentioned to Quirkory that I would love to see Cookie become a part of the second collection, so when they announced that they’d drawn her design, I was over the moon! The design has turned out perfect and it’s fast become my actual favourite enamel pin in my collection.

Cookie is wearing her blue and white dress that she’s now known for in New Horizons. The lilac controller works really well with the pink of her fur and the blue dress. I really hope Quirkory bring out some stickers and prints with Cookie on soon. I definitely need them.

Goldie Enamel Pin (Coming Soon)

Another dog villager to add to my collection and it’s a villager I have LONGED to add to my game since New Leaf. I feel alongside Lucky, Goldie is a dog villager everyone loves as she’s such a cutie and is perfect in everyway. I have Goldie on my island and she’s precious! Again, like Cookie, Goldie is wearing her New Horizons dress which looks exactly like the one in game! The details of the dress are amazing, something Quirkory is amazing with as always! The controller Goldie is holding is light green which compliments her yellow colour, as well as the dress she’s wearing.

I honestly would love for a third collection to come out with more dog villagers, especially Bones who is another of my favourite dog villagers.

Maple Enamel Pin (Coming Soon)

This wasn’t a design I was going to purchase, even though I loved it. Purely because at the time it was coming up to Christmas and I wanted to make sure I had monies for anymore presents I needed to buy, etc. However, when I ordered myself the Mostari mystery pack I decided to snag the Maple design too. Maple is a cub I had back in New Leaf so she definitely holds a small place in my heart, plus her design is adorable! She has her cream jumper on from New Horizons and is cuddling a dark green controller which looks a similar colour to the three that is on her jumper. I know for a fact this wasn’t a coincide and was once again Quirkory showing off how much detail they put into their designs.

K.K. Slider Enamel Pin (Coming Soon)

This is the only none villager design that I picked up from this collection and of course it’s our favourite singing dog, K.K. Slider. I really love his design, it’s not over the top and is different. I like how on his light orange controller has little musical notes on it! This is something unique to K.K. Slider’s design as the other villagers have stars. I know when they announced this design and the first sketches of it, I was waiting for a guitar to appear somewhere, but I’m actually glad it never did. He’s known for his guitar, yes, but it doesn’t mean he has to have it ALL the time! He’s cuddling the controller instead. 😉

Audie Enamel Pin (Coming Soon)

Audie is a new villager to come to New Horizons and is said to be named after one of Nintendo’s oldest fans! She’s a cute wolf character who just shouts summer vibes. She wears a blue dress covered in pineapples and some fabulous shades on her head. Audie is definitely ready for a summer party or a beach BBQ, that’s for sure! I love that Quirkory decided to go for a yellow and white controller for Audie as this definitely works with the summer vibes! I feel out of all of the enamel pins I’m showing on the post, Audie is probably one that would get a conversation going with someone who doesn’t know about Animal Crossing. Purely for how bright the colours are!

Poppy Enamel Pin (Coming Soon)

Poppy is such a cute squirrel who I had at one point on New Leaf. She always reminded me of an old friend of mine due to her name and personality, so when I saw that Quirkory had sent me her, it definitely brought back some memories. Poppy’s design is really cute and I think the colours for her fur are GORGEOUS! They’re perfect to say the least and match the character so well. Alongside with the light pink and purple controller, it just works so well. I especially love her little dress, which reminds me of lederhosen a little!

Julian Enamel Pin (Coming Soon)

I’ll be honest, Julian isn’t a design I would have picked up for myself but after receiving him in the post, I haven’t been able to stop staring at him. This is in no way against Quirkory by the way! Horse villagers just aren’t ones I’m overly fussed about! However, the way Quirkory have designed Julian makes him look so pretty and fabulous! I love that his eyes are closed to reveal his purple eyelids/shadow and his cute little galaxy hoodie really make the purple colours pop against his blue body and mane. I like that Quirkory went for a teal and white controller too as I feel it works really well with his bodies colours.

Diana Enamel Pin (Coming Soon)

Finally we have Diana, who not only moved into my island not long after all the designs had been shown off on Quirkory’s Instagram page, but I also shared this design on my Instagram page too! Diana is a snobby little white deer who a lot of people told me to avoid, but I really love her! The enamel pin is gorgeous and the colours all pop and look amazing! I love the purple swirl on Diana’s forehead, it just looks really cool as it doesn’t have an outline to it or anything! It just looks cool. Alongside that I LOVE her controller colours! The dark purple and teal work so well together and I’d love a joy-con colour like this for real!

So there we have it guys! The collection will launch again on Saturday 8th May, so if you’re after any of the pins I’ve shown you today make sure to set your calendars for in a couple of weeks!

If there is one design I semi regret not picking up it’s Pietro. He’s so adorable and I just overall love how colourful his design is! I’ll definitely look to getting him in the future.

Overall, I would love ALL of the Gimme My Joy-Con designs, from both the first and second collections. I love Animal Crossing so much, it’s helped me over the past thirteen years I’ve been playing it, especially the past year with COVID. Not only do I want more Animal Crossing merchandise in my home, but I want to be able to support my favourite independent stores/artists whilst I’m at it!

As always I want to say a massive thank you to Quirkory! Not just for sending me my extra enamel pins and not for making me their brand rep, but for making such amazing designs that make me and others happy. Their designs make me smile whenever I look at them. I’ve not been very well mentally lately and whenever I’ve felt stressed or crappy I’ve looked at these enamel pins, which make me smile ear to ear every time.

As always I will of course link below to their store and social media platforms:

Store (Etsy)

Twitter

Instagram

Facebook

So, what do you guys think of Quirkory and their second collection of Animal Crossing enamel pins? Will you be picking up any of them when they come out in a few weeks time? If you are which one(s) will you be picking up?

Don’t forget if you do decide to make an order with Quirkory to use my exclusive discount code “TMBQUIRKORY” on the Etsy store to bag yourself 10% your order!

Make sure to check out my previous posts about Quirkory below:

Quirkory – Mostari Mystery Pack Review AND An Exciting Announcement!

Quirkory Lunar Plushie Spookies Enamel Pins – Review

Quirkory Animal Crossing Gimme My Joy-Con Enamel Pins – Review

Quirkory Eeveelution Greek Gods Enamel Pins – Review