Tomodachi Store – Review and Haul

Wow, two review and haul posts in a row? I’m spoiling you guys this month, aren’t I? 😛

At the end of 2021 I was inspired to write so many review and haul posts, it’s crazy! If there’s anything I discovered in 2020 through Covid and lockdowns, it’s how much I really fell in love with supporting independent stores and artists and sharing them on here for others to discover and fall in love with too.

If there’s one store I’ve been meaning to talk about for well over a year now, it’s Tomodachi Store. I’ve mentioned them briefly on my blog in the past but since making my first purchase late 2020, I’ve always meant to write about them.

Fast forward another year and another purchase and it’s FINALLY time to talk about Tomodachi and why you should check them out, especially if you’re a Pokemon and/or Animal Crossing fan.

Tomodachi is an enamel pin and mascot designer from Mexico, who loves the colour pink, yummy food and everything cute, which you can tell through their work. Their designs are so cute and adorable, I honestly can’t get enough of them, which is why I now own all of their cereal enamel pin designs. Now, I know you’re saying, “Cereal designs? Why would you want cereal themed enamel pins?” Well, that’s why I’m sharing all of them with you today!

Image taken from Reddit.

The cereal designs in question are Pokemon inspired. Back in 2000 Pokemon had truly taken over, not just over the pond but in the UK too. I fondly remember my hype of it as a kid, especially one day whilst walking through Sainsbury’s. Pokemon cereal had started to be stocked on the shelves of various supermarkets and I remember begging my mom to let me have a box. It never happened and from my mom’s point of view, for a good reason. “You won’t eat them!” and looking back, she was probably right. I’m a fussy eater in general, but cereal is one where one minute I love it and the next I hate it. So yeah, ten year old Nat never go to have Pokemon cereal.

The cereal was basically oat hoops with marshmallow pieces in the shape of Pokemon Pikachu, Poliwhirl, Oddish, and Ditto. They definitely remind me of Lucky Charms but better… Obviously because it’s Pokemon. 😛

Years later Tomodachi would feel inspired by the marshmallow pieces in the Pokemon cereal to recreate them as enamel pins!

At the time of writing this post there are three volumes for Pokemon cereal enamel pins, as well as one volume for Animal Crossing. I own all of them… Because. 😛

I’ll be going through the Animal Crossing volume one collection and then each of the Pokemon volumes too, as well as some of the shiny pins I own too.

Please also bear in mind at the time of writing this post, some of the enamel pins are sold out.

I will also be mentioning the grade of each pin as they vary between A and B. I go a little more into how Tomodachi grades their enamel pins shortly.

The first enamel pins I ordered from Tomodachi were the Animal Crossing volume one cereal collection, as well as Ditto and Gengar, but I’ll talk about them a little later.

Full Set Animal Crossing Cereal Volume 1 – (link) A Grade – $35.00 / B Grade – $30.00.

Individual Animal Crossing Cereal Volume 1 – (link) A Grade $6.00 each.

The Animal Crossing cereal pins are adorable and although not how I discovered Tomodachi originally, but the Animal Crossing collection definitely caught my eye. In volume one there are seven pins in total; Tom Nook, Isabelle, K.K. Slider, Celeste, Marshal, Fossil and Leaf. Originally I was only going to order Isabelle, but decided to just go for the whole set! I ordered the B grade. It’s obvious on some more than others, but this being said as I display these in my home anyway, it doesn’t bother me much. 🙂

One thing I love about all of Tomodachi’s pins is that the backs match the coloured enamel of the design, which you can see with the Animal Crossing pins too. I always love when enamel pin artists do this, it just adds a little more to the designs, and it’s aesthetically pleasing. 😛

My favourite out of the pins is definitely Isabelle and the fossil. I just love them both so much! Whenever I’ve shown this enamel pin set to people they always love Celeste too.

For anyone new to enamel pins, some sellers grade them. In Tomodachi’s store they have a pin grading policy, which I’ll pop a link to here. Always bear pin grading when buying from enamel pin artists, not all will grade the same either. In Tomodachi’s case, I think their grading system is fair and really good.

For my second and more recent order with Tomodachi, I made a HUGE order and went full out Pokemon Cereal mode! Bar one (Ditto) I ordered all the missing pins I needed to complete volume one, as well as volumes two and three. I was so hyped when all my goodies arrived.

Full Set Pokemon Cereal Volume 1 – (link) A Grade – $40.00.

Individual Pokemon Cereal Volume 1 – (link) A Grade – $6.00 each / B Grade – $5.00 each.

As previously mentioned, I already owned Ditto (B grade) and as the full set of volume one was sold out, I opted to just snag all the pins I needed instead. It worked out well either way!

Volume one contains eight pins in total; Pikachu, Poliwhirl, Oddish, Ditto, Pichu, Wobbuffet, Celebi and Cleffa. However, there are also some shiny variants for sale too, including Ditto, Wobbuffet and Celebi, which I’m planning to buy in the future!

The original volume one enamel pins are so adorable and are heavily influenced by the Pokemon cereal from 2000 that I mentioned earlier, as four of the Pokemon from the cereal are in this collection.

The one thing I want to comment on first of all is the packaging that Tomodachi uses for their enamel pins. Not only is the backing card adorable with the oat cereal in the background, but you’ll either receive a backing card that states, “Thanks!” or, “Arigato!” which is Japanese for thank you. It’s such a lovely touch and one I really like. It’s also one that has been commented on by friends over on my Instagram!

The pins I ordered are mostly A grade with Pikachu being B grade. It’s not too obvious (in my opinion) which is awesome. I have to say my favourite design in volume one has to be Pikachu and I think this is mostly down to reminding me of how much I love Pikachu back in the day when Pokemon first came out.

Alongside the eight original pin designs for volume one, as mentioned before, there is also shiny variants too with a blue Ditto, purple Wobbuffet and pink Celebi, which I’m hoping to pick up in the future!

Full Set Pokemon Cereal Volume 2 – (link) A Grade – $40.00.

Individual Pokemon Cereal Volume 2 – (link) A Grade $6.00 each.

In my second order from Tomodachi I not only bought most of the volume one pins I was missing, but also all of the volume two and three pins as well! For volume two I picked up the A grade enamel pins.

Volume two contains eight pins in total; Slowpoke, Gengar, Psyduck, Magikarp, Skitty, Shuppet, Makuhita and Plusle/Minun. However, there are also some shiny variants for sale too, including Margikarp, Psyduck, as well as Rainbow Gengar, with the latter two being ones I’d love to buy in the future.

The first thing I want to say here is how gutted I am that I couldn’t get Minun as you either get Plusle or Minun, so I’ll make sure to get the blue electric mouse next time I place an order!

That aside, this enamel pin set is so adorable and has some of my fondest Pokemon in from the anime, especially Gengar which is one of my favourite enamel pin designs from Tomodachi! I bought a Gengar on my first order with Tomodachi, but with getting one in the volume two set, I decided to sell my first one to my friend Sarah (Raiin Monkey) who loves Pokemon too!

As I bought the whole volume two set, Tomodachi also sent me a shiny Magikarp, which looks amazing! 😀 I’m definitely planning to snag the rest of the shiny Pokemon in this volume, as well as the rainbow Gengar too, which looks so amazing!

Full Set Pokemon Cereal Volume 3 – (link) A Grade – $40.00.

Individual Pokemon Cereal Volume 3 – (link) A Grade – $6.00 each / B Grade – $5.00 each.

As I mentioned about in my second order from Tomodachi I bought both volume two and volume three! I picked up B grade enamel pins for volume three too. I have to be honest, out of all the volumes I actually think volume three is my favourite so far!

Volume three contains eight pins in total; Jigglypuff, Shellder, Wooper, Applin, Mew, Litwick, Mantyke and Duosion. However, there are also some shiny variants for sale too, including Wooper, Shellder and Mew, with the latter two being planned to be purchased in the future, especially Mew!

One of the reasons this is my favourite volume is due to Mew being part of it, which is one of my favourite Pokemon. The Mew design is one I fell in love with back in early 2021 and I knew I needed it. It took a little longer than I hoped to finally add to my collection, but better late than never!

One of the other things I love in volume three is the colour palette, which is mostly pastel themed with pinks, purples, blues, as well as green and red which I also love. It’s not that the other volumes colour palettes don’t work, but this one is just aesthetically pleasing to my mind, as well as fashion styles at the moment. 😛

As mentioned before, I did pick up the B grade for the volume whilst most of the pins look great, there are a couple (Jigglypuff and Applin) where there are a few specks on them, but this being said I don’t mind. I’m always happy to have B grade pins. 😀

Like with volume two, Tomodachi also sent me a free shiny pin with my volume three set, which is a shiny Wooper! It’s so cute with the pink colour, I love it.

Alongside the normal and shiny Pokemon cereal enamel pins, Tomodachi does also sell Pokemon Golden Kanto Pins, as well as Pokemon Cereal Sticker Sheets.

In the near future I’m planning to make a pin hoop dedicated to Tomodachi’s cereal pins. There’s so many of them, they deserve their own hoop now. As there are a variety of colours too, I’m planning to pop the pins on my future pin hoop in rainbow colours… Because why not! 😀 Plus, with a Pokemon volume four on the way (tomorrow from what Tomodachi revealed on this weekend!), I’m going to need to make room for some more amazing Pokemon cereal designs… 😛

From previews I’ve seen of volume four on Tomodachi’s social media we appear to have Caterpie and Haunter… I’m excited already to see who else we may get! I’d love to see Eevee and Dragonite next. 😛

Overall you can really see a lot of love and passion has gone into these enamel pin designs from Tomodachi Store. The cereal enamel pins are so cute and reminiscent to when we were all kids. The colours and designs of each cereal piece is perfect too. I honestly love them!

What do you guys think of Tomodachi Store and their amazing and adorable Pokemon and Animal Crossing cereal enamel pins? Do you own any, or have any on your wish list? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below.

Until next time guys, have a lovely weekend and I’ll see you next week!

May Favourites ‘21

I honestly can’t believe it’s going to be June in just a few days time… It’s really crazy how quickly 2021 is flying by and I don’t know how I feel about it. 😛

The start of June is going to be hella busy with me, with both mine and Dane’s eight year anniversary, as well as our five year anniversary in our home too! Alongside that my best friend is getting married, which is really exciting! I honestly can’t wait for it.

Aside from that I’m not 100% sure what else June is going to bring… Hopefully some better weather to be honest! I’m always a spring and autumn girl for the cooler weather, but it would be nice to have some decent weather so both me and Dane can go into the garden to do it up, have a BBQ and more. Plus, I have some pretty dresses that need to be worn and right now it’s too miserable and cold to do that. 😛

June is also the month that I need to go on a serious spending ban as I’ve spent quite a lot of money lately and yeah… I bought myself some cool accessories for my desk, as well as LOADS of Pokemon Nendoroid figures too! I would share some of these later on in this post but I’m contemplating having a post for it because… Why not! 😀 My new desk accessories are too kawaii not to share on their own.

Hint – they’re Razer x Sanrio themed… 😉

May I finally add how gutted I am that I won’t be seeing My Chemical Romance in June… It’s been postponed until May 2022 now… I’m happy to wait but, I am gutted. 😦

Anyhoo on a lighter note – let’s get on with this months favourites!

Beauty.

• SBC Propolis Shampoo – (link).

This is a shampoo I started using a good couple of weeks ago now and I LOVE it! It’s one my mom gave to me as she bought one too many and as we’re both fans of SBC, she thought I’d love it. Well, she wasn’t wrong. 😛 This shampoo smells like honey, both in the bottle, whilst using and after drying your hair too. It lathers up really nice and a little bit goes a long way, which is always good for my hair considering how much there is of it. It leaves my hair feeling soft to the touch, thick and without any frizz. It’s honestly been a bit of a gamechanger to my hair care and after it’s finished, I think I’ll buy it again! It’s actually a shampoo for scalp care and personally I have found my scalp isn’t as dry as it has been in the past, which is always good!

So… Now it’s time to talk about the miscellaneous favourites of the month! If there isn’t anything I’ve done I’m not going to mention.

Image taken from GIPHY

Image taken from GIPHY

Favourite TV Shows – Taskmaster and Line of Duty.

This month instead of a movie AND a TV show, I’ll be talking about two TV shows, as quite frankly me and Dane have been addicted to both of these in May and I know we’ll be obsessed about them in June too! We’ve been binge watching both of these TV shows recently and have fallen in love with them! Not going to lie, Line of Duty hasn’t been continued recently as we’ve been binge watching Taskmaster.

Line of Duty finished it’s sixth series recently and I decided that I wanted to watch the show from the beginning. I know loads of people who watch and love it and as I had nothing to watch I thought, why not? Dane started watching it with me too and we’ve both become hooked on the show. We’re currently on series four and DAMN so much has happened leading up to the episode and series we’re currently on. The show is about AC 12, a group of anti-corruption police with Steve, Kate and their boss Superintendent Hastings being the main characters. We follow them as they investigate “bent coppers” and sit on the edge of our seats as they do so. The show is amazing and I’ve been recommending everyone I know to watch it. As I said, we do need to continue watching it. You can watch for free on BBC iPlayer.

As I mentioned before, we’ve also been binge watching Taskmaster. I remember being told years ago when it first started to watch it and how funny it was. At the time it didn’t appeal to me and I thought it sounded crap, oh how wrong I was. We’re currently on series five of the show and hoping to get through the rest of the series before my free two week All 4+ subscription runs out. 😛 It’s such a good show to put on whilst we’re chilling out together, especially whilst eating dinner, doing work in the office, in the morning before work, etc. I highly recommend Taskmaster if you want something new to watch and want a laugh at the same time. A funny story to share, we went for a food shop over the weekend and we both occasionally commented on items used in challenges and how we would use them and such. Such geeks, right? 😛

Favourite Music – Tremonti – “Take You with Me” and Boston Manor – “Liquid”.

These two songs have popped up on my YouTube Music playlist this month and you know when you hear a song again and you forgot just how much you loved it? Yep, that. 😛 I have quite a few Tremonti and Boston Manor songs on my playlist and I often love hearing them come on and have a good sing, especially if they come on whilst I’m driving. I don’t really know what to say about these, aside from check them out and see what you think! Tremonti are heavy metal and Boston Manor are rock.

Image taken from Nintendo UK

Favourite Game – Miitopia.

Miitopia is a game that came out back in 2017 on the 3DS and it’s one both me and Dane owned and played to death! Now we play our Switch’s, we don’t touch our 2DS handhelds anymore, so when Nintendo announced that Miitopia would be coming out on the Switch I decided to order a copy for both me and Dane so we could play it all over again! The Switch version has some additional features, including better customisation for characters, as well as being able to have a horse in your party, which is pretty cool. I’ve been playing it none stop the past week as it’s such an easy and laid back game to play. To describe the game – a bad guy turns up and starts stealing people’s faces. You need to travel the land, fighting the creatures who have people’s faces. It’s a laid back and fun game and it’s one I thoroughly enjoy. There is a demo of this you can get from the Nintendo eShop but I highly recommend if you’re in the UK and want to purchase a copy, get it from Gamersheek! They have the best prices around. 🙂

Quite a few of my favourite things…

Animal Crossing and friends!

If there is one thing I have loved doing in May, it’s travelling to my friends islands on Animal Crossing to have island tours, meeting their villagers and exchange goodies! I especially love that my friend Sarah (Raiin Monkey) has finally got her own island to decorate and make her own. I went on a long tour recently and we took so many cute pictures, including the one above! This photo with her favourite villager Lily is PERFECT and I just had to show it off to you guys! If you love Animal Crossing content then make sure to go and check out my friend Sarah, she has an Animal Crossing Instagram account – acnh_kireishima.

Cross stitch.

If there is one thing I recently rediscovered it’s cross stitch. My mom got me into it from a young age and on and off over the years it’s a hobby I’ve done. I feel though since COVID I’ve done more cross stitching more than ever, especially the past month. I’d finished my Cookie cross stitch kit last month and had decided to buy some more in April/May, these being Lucky and Bones. Bones is almost finished and as soon as he’s finished, I’ll be working on Lucky. Then when Lucky is finished I’ll be ordering Cherry, Goldie and Shep. These Animal Crossing cross stitch kits are from DIY Crossing, who creates and makes some AMAZING Animal Crossing goods. Make sure to go and check them out if you’re interested. 🙂

Commissions.

If there is one thing I like getting, it’s commissions. Not only do you support a small artist/business owner but you’re getting something unique and hella cute out of it! I commissioned quite a lot of of people in May and I have ZERO REGRETS!

First commission – Claire Likes To Doodle. Claire recently opened up for people to commission her to draw her original character design Bernard to be cosplaying/dressed up as whatever you want! I decided to go for a Bernard dressed as an Eevee and holding a sign advertising my Twitch channel! It’s so cute and adorable. I have it on my Twitch, as well as on the right hand side of my blog, which you may have already seen as you read this post. 😛 I’ve spoken about Claire and her amazing store on my blog in the past which you can read here and here.

Second commission – mellencrossing. I’d noticed Mel’s work around Instagram and fell in love. The style of her work was so cute and the variety was even cuter! Mel does various styles including full body and a plushie villager, full body and two plushie villagers and two full bodies which is what I went for! The turn around was super quick and Mel was really easy to work with. I told her I wanted me and Cookie playing Switch’s together and for Cookie to be wearing the dreamy sweater. I also sent a photo of me wearing my Bee and Puppycat dress. Mel sent me the commission once it was finished and asked if I wanted to make any changes. I altered Cookie’s mouth from the usual smile to a massive smile. I love the commission so much and plan to print it off to pop above my desk. I’m planning on getting another one or two commissions from her in the future, but instead full body of me with two plushies instead. The one thing I want to mention is how fair Mel’s prices are for how amazing her work is. 🙂

Third commission – lunaquete. Finally I’ll be talking about Leony and her ADORABLE Animal Crossing designs. Leony is quite well known in the Animal Crossing community for her Pantone x Animal Crossing artwork and it’s also how I discovered her. I decided to commission her to draw me a Twitter header with my blog name on, as well as some of my favourite villagers including, Lucky, Marshal, Cookie, Eunice and Bones. It’s such a pretty commission and like Mel’s commission, I’m planning on printing this off to pop on the wall above my desk! I highly recommend checking out Leony’s work if you love Animal Crossing. If/when I hit affiliate on Twitch, I’m contemplating commissioning her to draw me some emoticons. 🙂

Cookie amigurumi.

I HAVE BEEN SO EXCITED TO SHARE THIS CUTIE!!! Back at the start of 2021 I discovered cotswoldscrochet through Instagram and when I found out she was going to open her commission slots for amigurumi, I was ON IT as soon as I could! As Cookie is my favourite villager, I decided to get a huge Cookie amigurumi made to display with my Pokemon plushies. Harriet was amazing when it came down to making Cookie, she asked me loads of questions of what I wanted and how I wanted her to be, showed me the colour of the wool before starting her and more. Harriet faced a few issues when it came to creating Cookie’s head as this was her first dog villager and more. I was happy to wait though for Harriet to work on Cookie a little more to get her perfect for me. Harriet was amazing and finally a couple of weeks ago Cookie arrived and she’s now comfortably at home with my Pokemon plushies. 🙂 I’ll be writing a HUGE review about cotswoldscrochet in June, so make sure to keep eyes peeled for that! Harriet’s commissions are closed but you can check out her Etsy store.

Homemade enamel pin hoops.

I need to add here in case anyone asks – NONE OF THE PINS ON MY ENAMEL HOOPS ARE FOR SALE. IF YOU ASK YOUR COMMENT WILL BE DELETED.

I decided in May that I was going to make my own enamel pin hoops. I’d wanted to buy some for a while but to be honest, the prices people charge for them on Etsy are a JOKE. I saw someone asking £10+ for one that was smaller than the ones I made. For two twelve inch hoops and two different types of fabric I spent £16. The amount of fabric I bought could make 8 twelve inch hoops too… Anyhoo! I decided to make my own as it seemed reasonable (price wise) and fun to do. I picked up the pin hoops and fabric from Hobbycraft whilst going bridesmaid shopping with my best friend and her bridesmaids. Making these was pretty simple and it took me max about an hour to do including popping the fabric into the hoops, cutting down to size and using a glue gun to stick the stray fabric to the hoop itself… I hope this makes sense. 😛

I decided to have one enamel pin hoop dedicated to all the Quirkory enamel pins I own currently. As and when I get more they’ll be added to the hoop. I would happily buy another hoop to create a second Quirkory hoop too! If you like the look of Quirkory’s designs, make sure to use my unique discount code on their Etsy store to snag yourself 10% off your order – “TMBQUIRKORY”. Also make sure to check our their currently Kickstarter campaign about Souls Of Nature. I’ve backed for some enamel pins and one of the deskmats.

I also decided to have a pin flag dedicated to all my Pokemon enamel pins. Aside from Quirkory, Pokemon designs take up the majority of my collection, with Animal Crossing and Ghibli hardly having any, which surprised me! I have more Pokemon enamel pins coming in the future after I backed Nyanzilla’s Eeveelution Kickstarter… I’ll be showing those off when they arrive. 😛 If you’re wondering who any of the enamel pins are by on this hoop, please ask.

Razer x Sanrio Characters mouse and keyboard.

Finally I want to show off something that arrived for bank holiday weekend! I recently ordered the Razer x Sanrio Characters mouse and keyboard from YY Kawaii and I HAVE NO REGRETS. As regular readers will know, back in March/April Dane decided to buy me my own desk for both working from home, as well as for my streaming on Twitch, playing games and working on my blog work. I wanted to have my desk be as cute as possible, so I decided to order the Razer x Sanrio goodies. You cannot get any cuter than this! Over the bank holiday

I’ve been using the mouse mostly (using at the moment!) which is perfect! It also came with the mouse mat seen in the photo which is adorable. It makes me so happy to look at. The design on the mouse is so sweet and not too OTT which is always good. I’ve also been using the keyboard on and off but I’ll be honest, it’s so fucking loud. I knew it would be due to the type of switches inside but yeah… I didn’t think it would be THAT loud. I’ve bought some stuff to try and help quieten the noise down a little. Aside from that, the keyboard is just as cute as the mouse and I cannot wait to use it more in the future for writing blog posts and maybe for work too.

What do you guys think of this months favourites? May has honestly flown by and I seriously can’t believe it’s June already. I know the first couple of weeks of June are going to fly by, which saddens me.

I’m just excited for June. I feel like I’m starting to sort of get back to normal. We’ve visited some friends, sat in the house with my parents to have a roast dinner, planning to go the cinema and planning to go for food and drinks. I can’t wait for the world to get more and more back to “normal” as the year goes on.

What were your favourites from May? Make sure to let me know in the comments. 🙂

Until next time all, I hope you enjoy the rest of your bank holiday as well as the gorgeous weather!

May Wish List ‘21

It’s another month and another wish list! I said this last week on my monthly favourites post, but bloody hell 2021 really is flying by! I can’t believe we’re already into May, a week into May at that! I’m quite excited for what May brings, including some better weather as at the moment the weather has been vile, who agrees with me? This being said, I’ve really needed some rain as my water butt is empty and my flowers need water. 😛

I’ve treated myself to quite a few things in May so far, including some goodies from Japan and more. For the rest of the month I’ll be on a spending ban, as I need to start saving up money ready for a new fence to be done! I’m aiming for that to be done by the end of May at the latest!

This post feels like it’s full of a lot of the same stuff, or at least similar, so I do apologise for that. A lot of the stuff I have on my wish list isn’t items I felt the need to write about this month OR I’ve written about them previously.

I’m really after some cute items lately, a lot of which are from America… Hence a lot of monies. 😦

Anyhoo, I hope you enjoy this months wish list!

• Zambicandy Nana Print (link)

I discovered Zambicandy recently through artist Girthy Boba Straw on Instagram and as a massive fan of Nana, both the manga and anime I have fallen in love with both Girthy Boba Straw’s and Zambicandy’s designs. This print is one I really want in my home above my new desk. The relationship between the two Nana’s is beautiful and although they’re different in their interests, their love lives and goals in life are somewhat similar. I just love them both and this print is perfect, especially with them dressed in their animal forms too!

• Pandora Disney Lady Charm (link)

As regular readers will know, I LOVE Lady and the Tramp. It’s my favourite Disney film and has been since I was old enough to watch it. I just love Lady and Tramp and how they bring the best out in one another. I already own one Pandora charm of Lady and The tramp as well as the Chamilia’s charms of Lady and Tramp too. So, whilst I don’t really need more… I’ll always add more charms to my bracelet! I think I’m going to treat myself to this charm in June when I’m paid. 🙂

• Zambicandy Nana Enamel Pin (link)

Zambicandy again but this time it’s a Nana enamel pin! As an enamel pin collector, when I saw this adorable enamel pin of both Nana’s snuggling together under a floral blanket, I fell in love. I’d love to add this to my collection but I’ll be honest, the shipping pries from Zambicandy are shockingly high for the UK! I know this isn’t the sellers fault, but it sucks nonetheless as a UK shopper. $25.50 is more than all three items together in this post so… I’ll be having a big think about this.

• Blushsprout Animal Crossing Cookie Enamel Pin (link)

I LOVE Blushsprout’s designs. They’re so chibi and cute and designs I really do want to own. I at one point last year backed the froggie ita bag on Kickstarter that had been created, but due to saving monies I ended up cancelling the pledge, which I semi regret… That being said, I LOVE their Animal Crossing enamel pins and would love to own as many of the dog villager designs as possible! Cookie of course is at the top of the list followed by Walker, Lucky, Goldie, Genji and Vesta. As I’ve recently signed up for Blushsprout’s Patreon, not only will I be getting the Lady and the Tramp II Angel enamel pin, but I’ll also use the discount code I get to grab some of the Animal Crossing enamel pins too!

• Razer x Sanrio Keyboard and Mouse

These are both some major items that I REALLY want to snag soon! These are the Razer x Sanrio keyboard and mouse set that are exclusive to China. I toyed with getting them last year when they first came out, but as I didn’t have a desk at the time, there wasn’t much point. However, now I do have my desk I really would like to get them! I’d definitely like a good mouse for my work laptop and personal and the keyboard would be amazing to use instead of my laptop keyboard on both my work and personal laptops. It would just be cool to get something cute and of a brand name that I know I can trust and love! I’ve asked YY Kawaii if she’s able to get hold of these which she is, so I’m hopeful I can get hold of these sooner rather than later.

• Zambicandy Nana Sticker (link)

Finally we have one more Zambicandy item to talk about, which is a sticker. Again, this is of both the Nana’s from the manga and anime of the same name. Honestly, I can’t get enough of Nana merch! It’s not something I knew there was much of until the start of this year. I really love this design and out of the three it’s definitely my favourite. I love how both the Nana’s are dressed up in their animal forms, but I especially love the chibi style of them too. I think as and when I go to make an order from Zambicandy I may need to order two of these stickers so I can keep one “nice” and use the other. Does anyone else do this with stickers, or is it just me? 😛

So there we have it guys, my monthly wish list! This one was very samey, especially with all the Nana designs mentioned too, which I apologise for.

What do you guys have on your wish lists for the month? Are there any items on my list that you like or own? Let me know in the comments!

Until next time all, take care and have a great 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

June Wish List ’20

I still can’t quite believe it’s June! So much has already happened in June and I’m a mixture of excited for the rest of the month and dreading what it could bring.

Yesterday marked me and Dane owning our home for four years. This has honestly flown by and it only feels like yesterday that we put our offer down on the house and waited those anxious months until we had the keys in our hands! It’s a really lovely feeling and it makes me so happy.

As well as that, on Monday it is our 7 year anniversary. We can’t do much for it, but we may have a lazy morning in bed, play Animal Crossing together and order a takeaway of Japanese food, because why not! 😀 I’m excited to just chill out and cuddle with Dane for the day.

This months wish list was hard to write in a way. I’ve found that due to lock down and not going out at all, I’ve save a lot of money… So, I’ve been really bad and ordered things I’ve wanted for ages. I’ve calmed down a little now as I have made some big home related purchases lately and need to be good with money now.

However, that doesn’t mean I can’t have my wish lists! One of the items on my wish list this month I’ve actually ordered, but I couldn’t think of anything else to add to the list. 😦

Anyhoo, let’s talk about the goodies on my wish list for June!

• Pandora Poodle Puppy Dog Dangle Charm (link)

I do love my Pandora bracelet and when charms are released that shout out to me, I really do fall in love with them and want to buy them. This poodle puppy dangle charm is adorable and shouts me all over. When I was younger I owned two toy poodles, who I loved so much. I haven’t owned a dog for over 10 years now and whilst I would love a dog to come into mine and Dane’s lives, its not ideal right now. This charm is gorgeous and will definitely remind me of the dogs I had and have lost.

• JeanaDraws Animal Crossing Dom Enamel Pin (link)

If there is an Animal Crossing villager I have quickly fallen in love with, it’s Dom. He’s one of the newer villagers who joined through New Horizons and he is adorable! However, he also seems to be like Marmite… You either love or you hate him. I adore him and I need him on my island at some point in the future. I would love a Dom enamel pin to show my love, but at the moment I’ve not found any artists who are making one apart from JeanaDraws. I discovered them through their sakura otter Kickstarter, which I sadly never backed and regret. An Animal Crossing itabag I bought at the start of the year is due to arrive soon… So I would love to pop a Dom enamel pin inside it!

• Razer Kraken Gaming Headphones Quartz Edition (link)

I have been eyeing up buying a set of gaming headphones for quite some time now… But I don’t know why? I play a lot of games, but lately I am just purely playing Animal Crossing, with the occasional hour or so on Persona 5 Royal. However, at the moment with working from home, I would love a decent headset that I can use for both work and home that also looks cool. I know I can get a decent set of gaming headphones for a cheaper price, which is why I haven’t bought these and they’re just on my wish list at the moment. I shall see… I shall see…

• Sukari Moon I Don’t Give a Fluff Enamel Pin (link)

Another enamel pin and this one is bloody adorable! I actually discovered Sukari Moon through this enamel pin, but the limited edition version of it, which is white and shimmery. I would love this pin to wear on cardigans, jackets and hoodies to show how I’m adorable, but I don’t give a damn at the same time. Of course I would also use and wear this on itabags and my Kanken backpack too. They also do a sticker of this too, which I would love to get.

• Snotgirl Volume 3 (link)

This is the item I’ve actually ordered. I love Snotgirl and have already read volume 1 and 2. I’ve waited what feels like forever for volume 3 to come out, as it was due out October 2019, but it’s been delayed for reasons. I finally found it for sale through a third party on Amazon and knew I had to order before it sold out. I usually pick up my comics from Forbidden Planet, but due to lock down that isn’t an option. I also opt for Wordery for my manga and comics too, but they didn’t have this volume in stock. I am beyond excited for volume 3 of Snotgirl! It’s about an influencer with secrets about how she has allergies. Then she meets a girl and shit starts to hit the fan. I definitely recommend reading it, especially if you’re a blogger.

• Toaster Kiwi Animal Crossing Marshal Stickers 2 Piece Set (link)

Finally we have another Animal Crossing item on the list. This one is some cute Marshal stickers. I never got the hype around Marshal until he moved to my New Horizons island. He’s absolutely adorable and he loves coffee! He’s me in an Animal Crossing villager for sure! He randomly came to my campsite too, so it’s not like I added him to my game through amiibo. These stickers by Toaster Kiwi are adorable and really make me happy to see whenever they pop up on my Instagram feed. I’ll order them in the future for sure.

So, there you have it, my wish list for June! I know the items I mentioned weren’t anything special, but it’s all I could think of for this month.

I know May was a month where my blog was a little quieter as I wasn’t feeling great. However, during June I hope to have loads of content coming out every week, which I’m also hoping you guys will love!

Some sneak peaks as to what will be in store are – Redbubble haul, some enamel pin reviews (not sure which yet), Etude House lip tint review and more!

What are you guys excited to see on my blog? Also, what item(s) do you have on/in your wish lists? Make sure to let me know in the comments below.

Until next time, take care all and stay safe!