Quirkory Souls Of Nature Collection

I am SPOILING you guys! Less than a month ago I wrote on my blog about Quirkory and their previous Patreon collection, Baukery. Now, I’m coming to you with their Souls of Nature collection, which released last year through a Kickstarter campaign.

I’ve been so excited to share the goodies I backed through this campaign, but they have taken a while to arrive with me due to some issues Quirkory faced. I don’t know if this upset anyone at the time, but personally I wasn’t fussed, I knew I would get my goods from Quirkory eventually and in all honesty, they were worth the wait!

Quirkory’s Souls of Nature collection had been in the works for quite some time, with original sketches being drawn up in late 2019! The collection itself is huge, alone with a whopping forty four different enamel pin design combinations!

The collection included twelve enamel pin designs:

Twelve designs – Kitsune (fox), okami (wolf), tanuki (raccoon dog), kuma (bear), shika (deer), usagi (rabbit), uma (horse), habi (snake), tara (tiger), tatsu (dragon), neko (cat) and, inu (dog).

There was also four colour types to choose from, Hanami special edition, light, dark, and vaper wave.

Alongside the extensive variety of enamel pin designs and colours, there was also more rewards to choose, A5 sticker sheets, two different sets of mini pins, wooden and frosted charms, pop sockets, washi tapes, A5 art prints, enamel pin display banner, and deskmats.

I opted for two enamel pins, as well as a deskmat. Alongside the goodies I backed for, Quirkory also sent me some pop sockets, as well as wooden charms!

So first of all I will talk about the goods I backed.

Inu (dog) light variant enamel pin.

I have to say, this is my favourite design out of he twelve, mainly due to how playful and cute the design is, but I love dogs, alongside foxes, sea otters and raccoons, they’re my favourite animal. The inu design is adorable in itself, with the inu’s design in a running pose. I opted for the light variant for the inu design too as I felt it worked really well with the white body, blue accents and the red bell collar. I wish I’d backed for some of the other colour variants of this enamel pin so I could pop one on a backpack, or jacket. 😛

Tanuki (raccoon dog) dark variant enamel pin.

Definitely my second favourite design from the collection, and one I knew from the start I wanted to get in the dark variant! As tanuki are grey/dark grey, it made sense to go for a darker colour. I did like the look of the one variant which would have given the tanuki black and pink accents, but as purple is my favourite colour, the dark variant was a no brainer!

Hanami pattern deskmat.

This was probably the item I was most excited for! At the time of backing this deskmat I hadn’t long bought my Eeveelutions deskmat from Japan, so in my excitement I did also back for the Hanami pattern deskmat too. This thing is HUGE, it’s too big for my desk, as you’ll be able to tell on the photos above. It features all of the animal designs, which I think is adorable! It really is bringing a smile to my face whenever I’m working from home, or sitting at my desk. It’s going to be my new flat lay image too, which makes a nice change from the Eeveelution one.

I’ll also share with you guys the items that Quirkory sent me as little freebies! I was not expecting any extra goodies thrown in, so as always, a massive thank you for Quirkory for these!

Inu (dog) and Tanuki (raccoon dog) pop sockets.

Who doesn’t love a good pop socket, eh? I lived for mine during 2018 and then 2020. These days I don’t use one, but as and when I change my phone, I would like to get a case where I could use one! The two designs Quirkory sent me are adorable, especially the inu, which I can’t stop staring at whilst writing this post! They seem really sturdy and good quality! If I don’t manage to use them as pop sockets for my phone, I may end up using them as little hooks for my plushie cabinet… We’ll see. 😛

Inu (dog) and Tanuki (raccoon dog) wooden charms.

These were a massive surprise to see and to be honest, I’m so grateful for Quirkory sending me these, as I do love charms, especially cute ones! Again, they sent me the inu and tanuki versions, with the inu being a light variant, and the tanuki being a dark variant. The tanuki I received a while before my Souls of Nature goodies arrived, so that’s been hanging with a tanuki windchime I bought in Japan in 2020. I do plan on potentially popping the inu charm on my car or house keys… because why not! I’d possibly take the tassel off however as I’d worry about it getting ruined.

A5 sticker sheets.

Finally I received not one, not two, but five sticker sheets, with all twelve designs, as well as the four colour variants, and the special colour variant too! I definitely plan on sticking these places soon, which I’m really excited for!

Overall, I really love the Souls of Nature collection! I remember Quirkory giving their Patreon subscribers a sneak peak years ago and I was extremely excited for the kitsune design! I honestly hope they bring these designs to their store in the near future, as they deserve to be and not just a Kickstarter exclusive collection. 🙂

Some of the designs I’d love to own as enamel pins in the future are the kitsune, okami, shika, and tatsu. They’re such gorgeous designs and I do semi regret not getting them previously.

I’m going to add all of Quirkory’s social media pages and especially their store below:

Store

Store (Etsy)

Instagram

Patreon

Facebook

Twitter

What do you guys like the most about this collection? I do love everything if I’m honest! It was such a gorgeous collection from Quirkory and since then they’ve brought out some more adorable collections, including Delicows and Baukery.

Which design(s) did you like? What colour variants would you put with them? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments!

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

SleepingWolvesArt – Review

Today’s post is LONG overdue and it’s for a valid reason! I wanted to wait for SleepingWolvesArt to announce their store opening again, as well as their Etsy for UK shoppers. So, finally the time has come to share with you some goodies I bought before the end of 2020 and why you should check them out, especially if you love dogs and puppies!

As you can tell today’s blog post is all about SleepingWolvesArt and their amazing store! I’ve been so excited to share it with you since the start of 2021, I really hope you enjoy reading about this kawaii independent store, especially if you’ve never heard of them before. 🙂

I discovered SleepingWolvesArt back in August 2020 when I discovered their Kickstarter for the Foxy Ita Mini Backpack/Cross-body Convertible Itabag. I nearly backed this Kickstarter but left it in the end due to other itabags I’d purchased at the time. Alongside the itabag you could pledge for some adorable enamel pins, which I fell in love with but didn’t pledge for at the time either. I was gutted and regretted not getting these at least.

Through discovering SleepingWolvesArt on Kickstarter I decided to give them a follow on their social media pages, with Instagram being my favourite place to keep track of any new designs, as well as the Kickstarter. I kept going on and off the website, bookmarking items I liked the look of to order, but I just never did. Couldn’t really say why.

Then SleepingWolvesArt showcased some corgi and shiba designs and I fell in love! I was hoping they’d be enamel pins, but when it was announced they would feature on notebooks, I was a mixture of happy and in trouble. The latter because I’m kind of on a notebook ban, I have too many. 😛

This didn’t stop me though and before I knew it I’d made my first order with SleepingWolvesArt and the two cute doggy designs had been ordered in the form of notebooks! As I ordered these before January 2021 when the new regulations came in, I was able to order directly from the website.

Due to this change that has happened in the UK (I’ve mentioned before) a lot of independent artists/stores have stopped selling to the UK. However, some stores have opened Etsy stores or managed to work on their stores in order to offer us in the UK to make orders I wanted to wait until SleepingWolvesArt had opened their Etsy store for UK customers before writing this post as I know a good chunk of my readers are from the UK, like myself, so at least after reading this post you could make some purchases if you wanted to. 🙂

I will pop all the social media links at the end of this post for SleepingWolvesArt, as well as links to both the main website AND the Etsy store. Some of the items I’m talking about are currently sold out, or aren’t available to purchase on Etsy, but I’ll mention this at the time.

Anyhoo, I hope you enjoy todays blog post! 😀

• Pink Shiba Inu Notebook (link) and Garden Corgi Notebook (link) – $25.00 each.

As mentioned above, my first order with SleepingWolvesArt was these two gorgeous notebooks, one is green and one is pink but aside from the designs they’re both pretty much identical. I haven’t used them yet either as I’ve been waiting to write this post. 😛 I’ve opened the garden corgi design so I could take a look inside, but I’m waiting to use the pink shiba inu one for another day.

I bought both of these notebooks together in a set for $40.00 and whilst this offer is still going, buying both designs is currently sold out, but you can sign up to be notified when these will be back in stock.

As you will have seen from the band around both the notebooks, these are A5 size and 160 pages/80 sheets which is perfect to keep in a backpack for travelling, or for studies. These are vegan leather which is lovely and soft to the touch and inside have dotted line pages, a type of notebook I’ve never bought before. There is also a bookmark ribbon inside so you can keep tabs on your pages, an elastic book strap to keep the notebook closed when you aren’t using it and a handy pocket at the back of the notebook to keep anything small such as receipts, notes etc. The quality of the paper is thick and if I was to write in them with some fine felt tip pens, it wouldn’t bleed through.

The designs for both of these are exactly the same, with the noticeable differences being the colour of the dogs and the tails. The corgi design is red with a short tail, which the shiba inu design is a grey/purple colour with a curly fluffy tail. There are three different designs with one sitting down, one lying down and one doing a playful stance. I have to be honest, as much as I love both the doggy designs, the shiba inu is my favourite for sure! I love this design/print so much and I would honestly love to see it on a piece of clothing, preferably a dress. 😛

These notebooks not only make great gifts for friends and family, but for yourself too! They’re really good quality for the money and perfect for puppy, corgi, shiba inu fans, as well as people who love to do bullet journaling, sketching, a diary or maybe even somewhere to keep stickers or photos. Personally I think I’m going to keep my pink shiba inu notebook as a mini scrapbook for when I next go to Japan!

For UK shoppers/readers these aren’t on the Etsy store, not sure if this is something that will appear eventually. It’s always worth dropping SleepingWolvesArt a message/email to enquire further if you’re after one. I did end up charged customs for these notebooks which wasn’t cheap at around the £20 mark, but to be honest it was worth it.

To add here, if you like this print but you need to stop buying notebooks (like me…) then it’s also available on a microfiber cleaning cloth! Store links here and here and Etsy links here and here.

After I made my notebook purchase from SleepingWolvesArt I decided to order some enamel pins after it was announced the store would be closing for UK shoppers! All of the enamel pins I ordered are B-Grade, which means there might be some slight faults or issues with the pins. I didn’t mind this personally and in all honestly I’m so happy with all of the pins I bought. Although these are b-grade enamel pins I wouldn’t have thought so in all honesty, they’re such perfect condition to me! Not only am I linking back to the B-grade enamel pin, but also the normal grade AND the Etsy store. 🙂

• Foxy Ita B-Grade Enamel Pin (link) – $9.00
• Foxy Ita Enamel Pin (link) – $12.00
• ETSY LISTING – Foxy Ita Enamel Pin (link) – £11.08

The is the other design I really fell in love with from the fox itabag Kickstarter, so I had to pick it up. As you can see this enamel pin is of a cute little white fox inside of an itabag, with the itabag in question being the design that SleepingWolvesArt had created for the Kickstarter in question. I thought this was such a cute and unique idea! This enamel pin was also a freebie for people who backed to get the itabag, which is even better! I just love the design and the fact it’s an original character of SleepingWolvesArt makes it even more special to me.

Although I chose the lavender itabag design, you can choose from six different colours – mint, pink, teal, maroon, black and lavender.

It’s a double back pin, with purple rubber backs to match the purple itabag. On the back of the enamel pin “SleepingWolvesArt” is etched on the back, which I always love to see on enamel pins.

• Mini Fox B-Grade Enamel Pin (link) – $8.00
• Mini Fox Enamel Pin (link) – $11.00
• ETSY LISTING – Mini Fox Enamel Pin (link) – £10.16

This is one of the two designs I really loved the look of from the fox itabag Kickstarter. This cute little foxy is an original character design and has a maroon coloured bow around it’s neck and the cutest little toe beans too! The little smile on the foxes face is really sweet and the design makes me smile whenever I look at it! It’s on a gold enamel and overall the design is just gorgeous! It’s a nice size too, which I always love with my enamel pins. It means all the detailing is in there and not ruined.

Although I chose the maroon bow design, you can choose from six different colours – mint, pink, lavender, teal, black and maroon.

It’s a double back pin, with red rubber backs to match the maroon bow. On the back of the enamel pin “SleepingWolvesArt” is etched on the back, which I always love to see on enamel pins.

• Black Shiba Bowtie Puppy B-Grade Enamel Pin (link) – $8.00
• Black Shiba Bowtie Puppy Enamel Pin (link) – $11.00
• ETSY LISTING – Black Shiba Bowtie Puppy Enamel Pin (link) – £10.17

This was a whim purchase I picked up to make my overall order worth the shipping and potential customs I was due to pay. I decided to get one of the bowtie puppy designs and again settled on the B-grade version. At the time of purchase this was the only puppy available with a pink bowie or ribbon, which was a shame. I would have really liked the red shiba but the black one is just as cute and the pink bowtie works really well! Alongside all of this, this enamel pin is on a rose gold enamel which really compliments both the black and white shiba and the pink bowtie. I have to say, this is such a gorgeous enamel pin and I’d love to own a red shiba variant in the future.

There are different varieties of designs to choose from with this enamel pin including a white puppy, pink shiba, cream shiba, red shiba, black shiba, orange corgi and black corgi Alongside this you can choose either a bowtie or ribbon design which are either pink or mint.

It’s a double back pin, with pink rubber backs that appear to match the bowtie colour. On the back of the enamel pin “SleepingWolvesArt” is etched on the back, which I always love to see on enamel pins.

Overall I am so happy with my purchases from SleepingWolvesArt and all the goodies I purchased! I’m so glad they have finally reopened the store, as well as their Etsy store too for UK shoppers!

I’ve got my eye on some other items from their Etsy store including the Sleepy Wolf Enamel Pin, Pink Shiba Inu Enamel Pin and the Red Shiba Inu Enamel Pin.

I’m going to pop SleepingWolvesArt’s links down below for you, including their stores as well as social media.

Store

Etsy Store

Instagram

Twitter

Facebook

So, what do you guys think of SleepingWolvesArt and their designs and cute pieces? Not only do they design their own original character designs but they do have some Pokemon dogs, as well as Animal Crossing wolf villagers. You can definitely sense a theme that the artist loves foxes, wolves and dogs. 🙂 Make sure to let me know in the comments below, plus what you would buy from her store?

Until next time guys, stay safe and take care.

Pikarar – Review

Guys I’m back after a weekend off and I’m so excited to be sharing with you an independent artist/store that I fell in love with towards the end of 2020!

As regular readers (and followers of my Instagram) will know, I do really love to share independent artists/stores with you all. If anyone needs our support (purchasing wise) right now, it’s these guys! Plus, their designs are so much better. 😉

I discovered Pikarar around October/November 2020 when Yapfrog shared one of Pikarar’s designs over on Instagram. It was a shiba version of K.K. Slider and was ADORABLE! I went over to her store to check out her work straight away and made an order. I also pre-ordered some goodies towards the end of November 2020 for the New Year. I’m already planning to buy from Pikarar again, but I wanted to talk to you guys about my experience (spoiler it was amazing!) as well as share the goodies I picked up. 🙂

I first of all want to mention here that the store isn’t open at the moment, but I have reached out to Pikarar to find out roughly when it’ll be open again. At the time of publishing, I haven’t received an answer in regards.

Pikarar is based in America so I already hear a lot of you in the UK worrying you may not be able to order… I don’t think we have to worry! Granted, I avoided the VAT related issues that began at the start of 2021, but I’m still in the frame of mind that Pikarar will offer to ship to the UK, which is amazing!

I want to get this out there first, shipping was NOT cheap, but it was worth every penny for how bloody quickly everything arrived. Both my orders arrived to me a week after they’d been shipping and as I had tracking with both too I was able to track the process. 🙂 I also didn’t get customs charges either, which was AMAZING! We all hate those, don’t we? I paid $20.00 shipping but personally this was worth every penny to me. 🙂

On the website there is a section where you can preview what will be for sale, but these are view only images. There aren’t any prices at the moment I’m afraid. I can’t 100% remember how much I paid for some of pieces I bought either, which is frustrating so sorry I can’t give exact prices on some of the pieces I picked up. I’ll mention what the rough price is on some items and the actual prices on others.

One thing to mention here is any clothing you buy, Pikarar will send you an apparel care guide, aka how to wash them etc. You need to wash the clothing inside out in cold water. I hate hand washing stuff and with my dermatitis on my hand, it isn’t something I can really “afford” to do. Instead I opt for popping the pieces into my washing machine inside out on a lot heat for a short amount of time and I hang it to dry naturally. You can tumble dry low if you want to, but I don’t personally.

I really hope you enjoy this blog post today guys! Alongside talking about Pikarar’s designs and the pieces I picked up, at the end of the post I’ll also share the website again, as well as their social media. 🙂

• Eevee Crane Sweater – Between $45.00-$55.00.

This was the first piece I popped into my basket! I love Pokemon and I’d seen this item shown over on Pikarar’s Instagram page shortly after discovering them. As many of you know, I love Pokemon and Eevee and the Eeveelutions are one/some of my favourite Pokemon. I couldn’t pass this sweater up in all honesty, the cream brown colour isn’t a colour I have in my wardrobe either so it’s something new!

As you can see from the design, this is a crane machine but instead of plushies it’s full of Eevee’s and they’re all doing different and cute poses. My favourite is the one at the front in my middle who is pushing its whole body against the glass of the crane machine. All the designs are adorable though and whenever I’ve shown me wearing this on camera to friends, as well as photos on Instagram/Twitter people have always commented how cute it is!

I’ll be honest, when it arrived the little white patches where the Eevee’s are smushing their faces, hands and bodies against the glass I thought the little white patches were a flaw in the print. I reached out to Pikarar in regards who was really lovely and understanding of my confusion and explained what it was.

Alongside how cute the design of this sweater is, the sweater itself is so bloody comfortable! It’s super fluffy and soft inside, as well as being really warm. It’s definitely been worn and loved loads since buying it in October/November last year. The sizing is unisex and I went with an L. I can get away with an M no problem but I wanted something really big and baggy which this sizing choice has done perfectly.

• Shiba Crane Sweater – Between $45.00-$55.00.

The shiba crane sweater is actually my favourite out of all the crane designs I own from Pikarar. Shiba’s are adorable and I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like the breed. After returning from Japan I’ve kind of fallen in love with the dog breed more and more often now than before if I see a design of the breed I like, I may go for it. This shiba crane sweater included.

It’s the same sort of design idea as the Eevee crane sweater but with shiba dogs on it instead. I actually prefer the shiba design due to some of the poses the dogs are in. They’re very similar to the Eevee’s but there are some minor differences and such. My favourite shiba dog is squished by the drop/win section of the crane game. It’s little face is squashed up against the glass and it looks a little fed up.

I went for this gorgeous baby pink colour for my sweater. Pink isn’t a colour that you’ll see often in my wardrobe, so it’s nice to have some variety. I wear this sweater quite a lot and it’s fast become one I reach into my wardrobe for when I want to wear something warm and comforting.

When I recently went for an eye test at my opticians one of the women who worked there commented how cute this design was and asked me where it was from. I love clothing that can become a conversation starter, especially if people know of the artist whose pieces your wearing, or if they love that animal, character, game, etc.

Like the Eevee crane sweater, the sweater itself is so bloody comfortable! It’s super fluffy and soft inside, as well as being really warm. It’s definitely been worn and loved loads since buying it in October/November last year. The sizing is unisex and I went with an L. I can get away with an M no problem but I wanted something really big and baggy which this sizing choice has done perfectly.

• Shiba Samurai Sticker – Between $2.00-$5.00.

I actually bought this sticker for my boyfriend as since he bought himself a laptop in the summer last year, he’s started to pop stickers on it for fun. I saw this shiba samurai sticker and thought he would love it. I haven’t allowed him to stick it on his laptop yet as I wanted to show it off to you guys first! 🙂

As you can see it’s a black and white sticker of a shiba holding two katana style swords and looking a mixture of cute, serious, and ready to fight! I knew my boyfriend would love something like this. There was also a sweater with the same design on that I contemplated buying him for Christmas, which I didn’t in the end. I’d still like to pick this up for him in the future, or maybe even for myself as it’s such a cool design!

The quality of the sticker is really good too. It has a matte texture and it feels lovely and thick, so you know it’s going to last a long time on whatever you decide to stick it against!

It’s nothing to do with the design but I wanted to mention here that whenever you buy a sticker Pikarar pops it in a cute little envelope, alongside with a thank you care and your apparel care instructions, if you’ve bought any.

• Shiba Good Girls Hoodie – $55.00.

This was one of my pre-order items and one of the items I’d wanted to snag the first time I made an order with Pikarar. I missed out, but I was happy to wait for my pre-order. I went for the mustard yellow/gold colour hoodie and the “Good Girls” slogan on the back and arm of the hoodie. You could also choose black and the “Good Boys” slogan. I don’t have a mustard yellow/gold hoodie and whilst I was anxious to wear this bright a colour, I knew I’d be able to pull it off. Since it arrived last month I’ve worn it quite a few times now. It’s been my go to hoodie for when I want to look and feel cute, but I don’t want to be too warm.

There is a shiba design on the back where it’s wearing a black hoodie and underneath it says, “Good Girls” alongside with “Pikarar”. The shiba looks so cute and happy as it’s smiling and it sort of reminds me of the shiba cafe we visited in Harajuku, Japan last year. The hiragana on the arm reads something along the lines of “good”. I did work out what it said the first couple of times I wore it, but I’ve since forgotten. 😦

This hoodie isn’t as thick as I thought it was going to be, which I first thought was going to be a problem. Thankfully this isn’t the case and it’s actually been a great hoodie to throw on when I want to be warm, but not super toasty. It’ll be a great hoodie to wear for spring, cooler days in summery and autumn and winter days when I want to wear a long sleeved shirt underneath. This hoodie is also a little see through… Which is annoying from someone who wears a lot of dark t-shirts… This being said it could be worse. I picked this up in a size L, as like the unisex sizing for the sweatshirts this is nice and baggy. 🙂

I actually have a defect on the hoodie from where Pikarar has printed the design on the sleeve. There’s a green/black mark near the hiragana which I reported to Pikarar who has been kind enough to offer to send me from free stickers and a discount code when the store opens. At first the offer was for me to send the hoodie back to her and she would send a replacement. That sounded like it was going to cost Pikarar a lot of money, so I suggested a discount instead to make things easier and less faff.

• Pikachu Crane T-Shirt – $25.00.

The final piece I bought and own by Pikarar (so far anyway…) is the Pikachu crane t-shirt. I decided that I needed the other Pokemon crane design in my collection, but I wasn’t quite sure I wanted another sweater. A part of me regrets not getting the sweater, but at the same time I don’t. It’ll be good to have a t-shirt to wear in the warmer summer months.

This t-shirt is also the same colour as the shiba good girls hoodie, so that mustard yellow/gold colour. I wasn’t feel as anxious about wearing such a bright colour with a t-shirt as it can always be styled with a darker pair of jeans or a skirt. This being said I actually really love the colour and both pieces have received lots of compliments during work calls!

The Pikachu design on the t-shirt is really cute and is very similar to the Eevee and shiba designs. Unlike the other designs, I can’t pick one Pikachu that I love and adore more than the others. The Pikachu’s in this design are all so sweet and adorable to look at! The one in the claw about to get won is pretty adorable, but so is the cutie at the front pressed up against the glass. I’ve really loved wearing this design. I picked this up in a size L, as again like both the sweatshirts and hoodie this is a unisex size. I could have gotten away with an M in this, but glad I got the L for that slouchy, comfy fit.

It’s adorable and out of the three this one reminds me of my childhood the most. Hot summer days during the school holidays and miserable rainy weekend days me and my dad would venture to a local town in the countryside where there are loads of arcade games to play! We’d pay the claw games and he’d win me teddy bears. One year he won me a fake TY bear that looked like Harry Potter. I cherished it for years and it’s still in my parents house somewhere. I think that’s the last time he won me anything on the claw games before they got “rigged”. I have to say, when the world starts to go back to normal, I’d love to go there with my dad for a day out together. It would be my treat and we could play arcade games, grab fish and chips and just have a fun day together. 🙂

I would love some other things in this design, including a mouse mat if that’s something Pikarar would look into doing in the future.

That’s everything I picked up from Pikarar though! I’m really excited for when she opens her store again to potentially grab a few more pieces and maybe even snag some goodies for my boyfriend for his birthday in April!

Overall I’m so happy with everything I’ve bought from Pikarar so far! Her designs are so unique and adorable. I just want to snuggle and squish all the cute animals she draws. I’m really excited to see what she comes out with next. I know she recently announced she’s creating a sticker Patreon soon so if you’re interested make sure to follow her on Instagram.

The same goes for when Pikarar announces when she will be opening her store. Following her on Instagram for updates in regards is the best place to be. 🙂

I’m going to pop Pikarar’s links down below for you, including their store as well as social media.

Store

Instagram

Twitter

Twitch

For Fans By Fans (Store)

What do you guys think of Pikarar and her unique shiba and Pokemon designs? Make sure to let me know in the comments below, plus what you would buy from her store?

Until next time guys, stay safe and take care.

Kawaii Face Mask Wish List

Guys we are less than two weeks away from September. Can you believe it? It has also nearly been a month since the UK were told to wear face masks in shops. That month has flew by and it only feels like yesterday I was panicking about buying some more face masks.

Well, that mini panic is what inspired today’s post, which is all about face masks and which ones I have on my wish list (as well as one I bought). I know a lot of people went into panic over getting face masks before the 24th July, which thankfully wasn’t me. I was just panicking about which one to buy! I didn’t buy any funky ones, just a couple of black ones for both me and Dane. However, I would still love some funky and fun face masks, hence the wish list. These are also all going to be reusable!

I really hope this list helps people who may want to get some fun masks to wear during (and after) these times we are facing at the moment. Whether you believe in it or not, wear a face mask if you can and keep yourself and others safe.

• Firebox Smoko Pearl Boba Tea Reusable Face Mask (link)

This is the first cute face mask I found and typical it was after I bought my face masks in July, boooo! This one is sold by Firebox but is by American brand Smoko (who also made my Elodie ramen bowl – which you can read about here) who I love! They have three different designs on the website – Little Bao Dumpling, Tayto Potato and the one I’m mentioning here, Pearl Boba Tea. The little bubble teas are adorable and some have cute smiling faces on them too. They sound and look really good quality and I would love to pick one of these up in the future, especially as I love (and miss) bubble tea. 😛

• Society 6 Igor Canova Shadow Sneak Face Mask (link)

This is a face mask designer my good blogger friend Sarah (Raiin Monkey) has bought herself and told me about. There are so many face masks to choose from, all with adorable Pokemon themed designs, 21 to be exact! Out of all of them, the ghost Pokemon design jumped out at me and I really would love to pick it up in the future. The design itself has various ghost Pokemon – including Gengar, Misdreavus, Shuppet, Litwick and Phantump. Alongside the Pokemon there are some ghost type moves dotted around, which make for a good print overall!

• PaperandPotionsArt Soot Sprite Face Mask (link)

It wouldn’t be a wish list on my post if it didn’t contain something Studio Ghibli related! I discovered PaperandPotionsArt years ago at Comic Con and straightaway followed them on Instagram. When I saw they’d created this Soot Sprite mask I knew I had to add it to this list. It’s nothing too elaborate and is a rather “simple” design, which I like! It works with it being white too, due to the Soot Sprite’s being black. I have some black face masks similar to this style and to be honest, they’re not the best due to how thick they are and with how warm you can get whilst wearing one of these, this may get a bit stuffy.

• Sunflower310 Japanese Shiba Face Mask (link)

My Instagram friend Emily (Meimi132) shared some face masks stores and designs with me and this is one of them. It’s a gorgeous Japanese inspired design that has various Shiba in different poses, Mount Fuji, sakura, geta footwear and dango. The design just screams Japan to me and reminds me of my trip there, as well as my love for the country. This is a face mask I would really love to pick up in the future, especially for any future trips to Japan.

• ClumsyCritters Animal Crossing Celeste Face Mask (link)

This is another face mask that Emily shared with me and it is so adorable! Celeste is so precious and I’ve always adored her since Wild World but I feel in New Horizons she’s so precious and adorable. Walking around, give you recipes and more to do with the stars. It makes me smile. Aside from the design, one of the things I like about this face mask is how the ear sections have adjustable beads on them, which I think is such a good idea.

• LenacchiStore Pikachu in Space Reusable Face Mask (link)

Finally we have another Pokemon themed face mask that I would really like to pick up  in the future! It’s a gorgeous space themed mask, but with Pokemon! Pikachu and Pichu are in space alongside various Pokemon including Mew, Jirachi, Clefairy, Clefable and various more! Both the Pikachu and Pichu are dressed in little astronaut outfits, which look so adorable! It’s just gorgeous, I love it so much.

I thought I would mention below the face mask that Dane bought for both of us as it’s amazing and deserves a recommendation!

• AALTRADE Resuseable Face Mask (link)

I didn’t want to add it onto the wish list but these masks come in various different colours, but we picked up the black one above. We got 2 each to ensure we had enough and we certainly do. You can pop filters inside, but when we’ve gone to do that it’s really awkward, so sadly we haven’t bothered. We both wear glasses and personally I haven’t had any issues with fogging, but I think Dane has from memory. If you don’t want to go for a kawaii design, you can always go for one of these plain black ones. 🙂

So there we have it! My kawaii face mask wish list! I know this weeks blog post isn’t anything special, but I thought it was both cute and important considering the planets current situation with COVID.

What do you guys think of the face masks I mentioned? Any you like, or already own? Do you have any face masks you recommend? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time, take care all and keep safe. 🙂

Jenni Illustrations – Haul

August is the month of a very much needed spending ban… Which may go into September as well to be honest with you so I can try and save up some more monies ready for when Christmas is upon us.

I’ve mentioned before on my blog how during lock down I have saved and spent a lot of money on things I’d had my eye on for ages but never had the spare monies or urge to buy. I decided to on some things and have had zero regrets, even if my bank account doesn’t agree. One of the independent artists I finally took the plunge and bought from is Jenni Illustrations.

Jenni Illustrations is a Australian kawaii illustrator/designer who draws all sorts of designs from cute animals, some Ghibli inspired characters and even some of her own original characters, which I adore.

Jenni had recently closed her store and reopened it, just in time for me to make some purchases. I bought three things in total and I am here to show them off to you today in a little haul post. I really hope you enjoy it, as I’m so excited to share the goodies with you! 😀

As I mentioned before I picked up three items, a print, a sticker and of course an enamel pin.

• Soda Dog Sticker (link)

One of Jenni’s original characters that I have fallen in love with is her Soda Dog design. Not only do I love dogs but the colour of the soda being blue reminds me of Japanese ramune, which is what I think it’s actually meant to be. The sticker is a decent size and bigger than I thought it was going to be, as well as amazing quality. On the store it does tell you the size and about the quality, but I didn’t check to see how big or small it would be as I didn’t mind either way. 🙂

As you can see the design is of a soda bottle with some blue soda inside, a red lid and Soda Dog as the mascot on the label. There is some Japanese on either sides of the bottle too, which in all honesty I cannot read. I tried to see if the Google Translate app on my phone could help, but the only bit it could translate was the part on the left hand side which read “Soda Dog”. It struggled with the part on the right, but kept trying to say inu which I knew was wrong. After a lot of playing around with Google Translate I worked out that it says, “ramune”. Which makes sense! The Soda Dog design is so adorable, but I want to go into more detail about him when I talk about the enamel pin I picked up next.

So far I’ve not stuck my sticker to anything, as you can see. Instead I’ve stuck him on the side of my plushie bookcase.

This sticker cost $5.00 AUS, or £2.69 which I think is really decent for a sticker of this size and quality.

• Soda Dog Enamel Pin (link)

This is where I’m going to talk more about the Soda Dog design itself as I can’t not talk about it! I mean, look at it. 😀 Soda Dog is a little white puppy, but the bottom half of his body is blue ramune soda! He has a little red bottle top on his head, a floppy ear in the shape of a heart and massive pink cheeks. Oh and a red collar to match his hat red bottle top! This Soda Dog is of course supposed to be a bottle of ramune which has almost been finished and I think it’s such an amazing idea. When I saw that Jenni had an enamel pin design of this cute boy, I KNEW I had to buy it!

The enamel pin itself is really good quality! It’s on a gold enamel and has one back. The enamel pin itself cost $14.00 AUS, which is £7.54. I think this is an incredibly reasonable price for an enamel pin and I plan to buy more in the future from Jenni, which I’ll be showing at the end of this post.

• Kiki A6 Print (link)

First things first, at the time of me writing this post this print is currently sold out… I hope it comes back into stock because the Ghibli designs Jenni does are gorgeous! I’ve always liked Kiki’s Delivery Service, but I especially feel since my Japan trip in January that I really do love it. Japan especially love it, so whenever you go into a Ghibli store (or at least one that sells Ghibli goods) there will always be plenty of Kiki’s Delivery Service items to choose from. I actually regret not buying more. Before my trip to Japan I had my eye on this print, I love so much about it. The one thing I always love about Jenni’s designs is the eyes. They’re so three dimensional and gorgeous, I could stare at them for ages.

As you can see from the photo, it’s a design of Kiki holding Jiji, the overall design is adorable and it really brings joy to my day whenever I walk past it in the bedroom. Like the sticker, I have stuck it onto the side of my plushie bookcase. I would love to see more character from Ghibli movies drawn similar. I feel like Jenni did one of Chihiro from Spirited Away ages ago, but I can’t remember…

This print cost $8.00 AUS, which works out to £4.31, which is reasonable! If anything, I would have loved the option of having a bigger print. I would have definitely gone for an A5, maybe at a push an A4 as I honestly love this design.

So, those are all the goodies I picked up on my first order from Jenni Illustrations.

Due to COVID the items took just under a month to arrive to me. I have to be honest here and say I didn’t think shipping was cheap at £9.69, almost £10 for shipping from AUS to the UK. I didn’t care about paying the costs at the time as I really wanted the items but next time I make an order I’ll feel like I need to order plenty to make the shipping worth it.

This was a MASSIVE treat for me as I’d wanted these items for a while, but if you think the shipping is a little on the high side for you, it might be worth making an order with a friend whose also after these items and you can split the shipping fee.

Overall I am in love with my Jenni Illustration goodies and I’ll definitely buy from her store again and plan to in the future! I already have loads of items on my wish list that I plan to buy in the future and wanted to share them with you below.

Blue Clues Sticker Sheet – I loved Blue’s Clues growing up so these would be a nostalgic trip for me!

Animal Crossing Sticker Sheets – I don’t need to explain why I want these, but I do want them all!

Froggy Chair Sticker – I explained on my July Wish List ’20 post why I want this sticker.

JiJi and Lily 6×6″ Print – I would love this print to go with my Kiki print.

Dragon 6×6′ Print – This print shouts Haku from Spirited Away, who in turn is my favourite Ghibli character. I need this print in my life!

Lucky Kat Washi Tape – Whilst in Japan I discovered a love for washi tape. I would love to add this lucky cat washi tape my collection.

Chester Pin and Fern the Fox Pin – These are two more of the original characters that Jenni has drawn. Chester is a cute little red panda and Fern is an adorable fox. These are two of my favourite animals… What’s not to love, eh?

Soda Dog Keychain – I actually regret not ordering this at the time of my order, as I would have loved to add this onto one of my bags, or a set of keys. I definitely plan on adding him to my basket next time I make an order with Jenni Illustrations.

So there you have it guys! What do you think of Jenni Illustrations? Which item(s) are your favourite that I picked up. Plus, have you bought anything from Jenni Illustrations yourself? If you haven’t yet and plan to, let me know what you’re going to buy!

OH and don’t forget to check out Jenni Illustration over on Instagram too, where she shares new designs all the time. 🙂

Until next time all, take care stay safe and see you next time! 😀

August Wish List ’20

I can’t quite believe it’s August already and to be honest with you, I’m pretty damn glad. July was good because it meant my bathroom was completed, however it was incredibly stressful and I wasn’t very well for the majority of it.

I’m glad for August to bring a fresh month, something new and also a month for me to save the money I spent on the labour for the bathroom too.

Although I am trying to save my money this month, it doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to still have and share my wish list with you this month! That and I bought three pieces from the Black Milk Clothing x Pokemon collection last week… Oops! 😛

I’m really loving the variety on it and I hope you do too. 🙂

• Insert Coin Persona 5 Morgana Hoodie (link)

If there is one thing I love seeing, it’s when Insert Coin reveals they have a new collection out and it’s clearly Persona 5 related. They recently announced more items that were joining their ever growing collection and I for one love everything! I especially love that not everything is a high cost too. The new pullover hoodie they’ve brought out is so gorgeous! I don’t have a red hoodie, so this red is right up my street and I love that Morgana is on the front of it too. I wont be purchasing this for a while… But the time will come when I do decide to pick it up!

• Goodsmile Company Nendoroid A Clockwork Orange Alex DeLarge (link)

I feel like I haven’t had a Nendoroid pre-order arrive for quite a while, so I’m definitely overdue now. For those who may not know, I’m a big fan of A Clockwork Orange and have been since I was about… 15/16 years old. When I lived at home I used to have a canvas up of Alex DeLarge, I dressed up as him once for Halloween and I own some t-shirts with Alex DeLarge on. SO, when this Nendoroid was announced when I was in Japan in January, I asked YY Kawaii if she could get him for me, which she could and did! I’m so excited for Alex DeLarge to arrive this month! He looks perfect. If you haven’t watched A Clockwork Orange before then definitely give it a go, but it is a dark film, with some strange themes. There was a lot of controversy surrounding it due to a lot of the themes that went on in the film and I think it was banned from the UK for a time. I still recommend it though. 🙂

• Pokemon Four Seasons Collection Re-ment – Vulpix (link)

I was recently gifted an amazing parcel by YY Kawaii which contained some items she was giving away over on Instagram (the giveaway is now closed!) and within that there was some re-ment figures, including one from the four seasons collection. I was really hoping for the Vulpix re-ment but instead I got a Wartortle and Sandygast one which is really summery and cute. As Autumn is one of my favourite months, this Vulpix autumn re-ment is shouting out to me! I’ll buy it eventually, but for now I can wait. 🙂

• Kickstarter Adorablush Pokemon Fruit Salad Enamel Pins KICKSTARTER NOW ENDED (link)

This Kickstarter is adorable and it’s one both me and Sarah (from Raiin Monkey) have backed together to save on postage… Smart, eh? 😛 We both loved the look of this Kickstarter campaign for fruit Pokemon enamel pins. There are eight designs to choose from, I’ve gone for the watermelon Shaymin and strawberry Eevee and Sarah has gone for the strawberry Eevee too! Alongside the enamel pins you also get prints that match, which will be awesome! I’m so excited for us to receive our pins. I’ll be sending Sarah’s off to her when it arrives, with some other goodies too… 😛

• Lunaticgumis Puppycat Sticker (link)

If you guys didn’t know by now, I am a MASSIVE Bee & Puppycat fan! I’ve been after some more merchandise from the TV show/comic book for a while, but it’s lacking AND not easy to get hold of in the UK. This sticker is from Spain and delivers to the UK, which is always good. It’s really cute and would love to add it to my “sticker collection”. During  lock down I’ve gathered quite a lot of stickers but I don’t quite know what to do with them.

• Cushty Co Unicorn Blood Soy Wax Melt (link)

About 10 years ago I discovered a brand called Lily Flame and their gorgeous scented candle called Fairy Dust. I’ve owned a few since then and they’re amazing. However, I can’t justify buying any new candles right now and sadly Lily Flame aren’t exactly cheap. Cushty Co do a dupe of this scent, which I’d love to give a go myself in future! I’m still trying to get through my candles and wax melts at the moment, but sadly they’ve been hurting my throat so I’m trying not to use them too frequently at the moment.

• Disney Store Lady Small Soft Toy in Box (link)

This Lady plush is very much sold out/out of stock at he moment and I’m semi gutted. My favourite Disney film is Lady and the Tramp for so many reasons so when I saw that the Disney Store were selling this lady in a box, just like in the film I knew I had to have it. Of course, I’ve missed that window due to setting myself on a spending ban, but at the same time I was being indecisive. I’m really hoping the Disney Store bring it back as I would love to purchase this cute Lady plus.

• Costa Coffee China Unicorn Mug (link)

Finally we have an item I pre-ordered through YY Kawaii a month or so ago. I saw her mention that Costa Coffee in China were making unicorn mugs and merchandise, which looked and are adorable! There were two takeaway mugs and two mugs. I went for the glass unicorn mug to drink my teas and coffees from. I don’t exactly need anymore mugs in my life, but this was kind of too cute to pass up and as I used to work at Costa Coffee many moons ago, I thought it would be nice to add one of the unicorn designs from China to my kitchen!

So there we have it, my wish list for August! Some of the items are pre-orders or have arrived already, such as my Nendoroid Alex DeLarge, which arrived last week. This being said, as I mentioned at the start of the post I’m going on a spending ban for August. I will only buy items that are essential or occasionally buy items that are limited edition or limited time, but that probably won’t happen much.

What items do you have on your wish lists this month? Make sure to let me know in the comments below, as well as to what items you like from my list!

Until next time all, take care and stay safe. 🙂

July Favourites ’20

I can’t believe it’s August already, can you? I for one am glad as July was so bloody stressful and it drove me mad due to that fact. I just couldn’t wait for it to end to be honest, it started to affect my mental health, which is never good so to have a new month will be good. Plus, September is my favourite month of the year and I want to make sure to have a relaxing month before that favourite comes up. I could write a post every year as to why I love September… Maybe I’ll do it again this year? Let me know if you’re interested.

July wasn’t just a month of being stressed out however, it was also a month of getting good things done, including our bathroom and my nails. We had some issues with our bathroom in May with water damage and decided instead of just getting the water damage repaired, we would look and see if we could justify getting the whole bathroom done. Alas we did justify it and a couple of months later the work was completed and we now have our gorgeous new bathroom! We’ve had the work completed for two weeks now and I have loved it so much. I was going to show off the completed bathroom on my blog, but I have since gone against that as I’d like to keep some privacy.

As well as my bathroom being done, nail technicians were able to open their salons again, so I went to get my first gel manicure done in almost 4 months, which I was very happy about. Yesterday I went and got them done again and I went for black and holographic silver, because why not. 😛

Image taken from The Latest Kate

As always I like to share a positive photo here from The Latest Kate as I find her images are really sweet and the message behind them meaningful.

Here’s to August being a relaxing month, before my favourite comes. 🙂

• Bath Bake Love Cherry Lime Sugar Whip.

I have know about Bath Bake Love for quite a long time now through Instagram, but I’ve never bought from them until now. I feel like I’ve been missing out for a long time as I honestly love their products. So far I’ve bought quite a few of the sugar whips (including Frosting Fairy, Billionaires Shortbread) and some other items they create and sell. The one sugar whip I have fallen in love with is Cherry Lime, it smells just like it and it makes me so happy. I haven’t used it as much as Frosting Fairy, but that’s because I’m savouring it a little. The sugar whips are really creamy in texture and like a mousse, which make it really easy to lather them up and wash with. They make you smell really good and feel soft! The Cherry Lime scent is very zesty and summery, hence why I’ve loved it so much this past month. I can’t wait to use it more and I’ll definitely buy it when it’s restocked next. PLUS look how pretty the product is with the bright pink and green foil inside! It’s actually inspired me to potentially get my nails painted in these shades towards the end of the month.

• Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau de Toilette.

I decided to use some of my “older” perfumes up that I’ve had for quite some time. Years ago my mom bought me a set of mini Marc Jacobs perfumes and I’ve never used them… Until now! These bottles are TEENY and they aren’t the easiest of bottles to work with, but I just dab some of the scent on my neck, wrists and inside my elbows. For an EDT this scent lasts ages! It’s really light and I rather like it, although I doubt I would buy the full sized bottle. I’m not a massive fan of the Marc Jacobs scents, although I really do love Decadence.

• Revolution Skincare Blemish and Pore Refining Serum – 10% Niacinamide + 1% Zinc 30ml.

My good friend Claire recommend this serum to me a while ago, so I decided to buy myself a bottle of it back in June and since then I have on and off used it. I do really love it and I ended up buying some more niacinamide items from Revolution Skincare too, which I’ve been using alongside the serum. Niacinamide is good for oily skin types as it balances oil production and improves texture by making pores look smaller. Considering how warm it’s been towards the end of this week, after using this on my skin in the morning with my moisturiser, my skin hasn’t been as oily on my nose as it usually is! I’m going to keep trying this though, as I do feel like it’s starting to do something for my skin.

• romand – Juicy Lasting Tint Autumn Fruit Series Shade Cherry Bomb.

In June I ordered some goodies from Yes Style and it was a mixture of regret and happiness. I was happy to finally own some more Korean lip tints but regretted it due to the fact it took a whole month to arrive and I was paranoid about customs charges. However, looking back I don’t really regret it and I think I was just on edge and anxious. I’ll happily order with Yes Style again, especially as I’ve seen some stuff I would love for the future. That aside, I ordered two lip tints by romand and out of the two, Cherry Bomb has been my favourite. It’s a gorgeous cherry red lip tint that really does last ages on the lips. I’ve found myself wearing it on the rare occasions I’ve left the house, but I’ve mostly worn it whilst working from home. I recommend these lip tints to everyone and I already know I’ll be buying more romand products in the future.

• The Body Scrub Peppermint Candy Cane Body Scrub.

This is one that I received a couple of Christmases ago and have FINALLY gotten around to using! It’s one of The Body Shop scrubs and I honestly wish I had used it sooner as it’s amazing. It’s a very thick sugar scrub which really does scrub away! I’ve been using it on the tops of my arms, bum, thighs and even my feet. It’s worked amazingly on the latter but has left me feeling a little smoother than usual everywhere else. This was only a small pot as it was part of a set, but if I ever see this pop up in sales on the website in future, I may have to buy a bigger pot. It also smells AMAZING by the way!

So now my beauty favourites are done, time to talk about the miscellaneous favourites of the month!

Favourite TV Show – I May Destroy You.

First of all, this TV show is amazing and I cannot recommend it enough to you right now. In all fairness this does have some warnings due to scenes of sexual abuse/rape. The show is written and stars Michaela Coel (who also wrote Chewing Gum) and is about a writer who goes for a night out to take a break from her work. The next day she can’t seem to remember what happened during the night out, or how she even got home. Everything begins to unravel and she soon grows to realise she’s been raped during her night out. With the help of her friends she gains support, as well as tries to get justice for what happened to her and more. I definitely recommend watching it, it’s an amazing show.

Favourite Movie – A Whisker Away.

This film was an absolute delight to watch and after a takeaway me and Dane snuggled together and watched it on the sofa. It’s about a girl who is in love with a boy and the only way she can get close to him is by turning into a cat. We watched it dubbed, but it is subbed on Netflix as well. The story itself is adorable and we have all been there at some point in our youth with lusting over someone but not being able to get them to like you the same way! My only gripe with this film is that both me and Dane felt like it went on for a little bit too long… Which started to ruin the film for us. This being said, I would happily watch this film again as it did make me smile and the kitten that the girl turns into is adorable!

Image taken from Tumblr

Favourite Book – Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid manga.

FINALLY I HAVE READ SOMETHING! Can you believe it?! I had a quiet weekend in July and decided to start making my way through some of the volumes I haven’t read yet in my manga collection. Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid was a priority to me as it’s one of my favourites and I know quite a few volumes have come out for this and the spin off volumes (Kanna’s Daily Life and Elma’s Office Lady Diary) too. I feel so much better for catching up on my manga series but I do need to read more! I feel like I need to just assign myself two evenings a week to just read, as I’m terrible these days for reading and I don’t know why? I’m going to blame gaming as I feel since I bought my Switch Lite I’ve neglected reading, which is a shame. Not only do I have manga to read, but comics and even “normal” books to read too!

Favourite Music – Dai Numo – SUITED.

Years ago on Soundcloud I discovered Dai Numo and I have never regretted that day. I LOVE his music and keep wanting him to release more. I listened to his album on and off to and from Japan, whenever I visit Fuerteventura and when I really need to knuckle down with work of any type (work or personal). I thought I’d share a couple of songs above, but I’d highly recommend you go and check out his Soundcloud AND Bandcamp where you can download the album. I can’t describe what kind of music this is… It’s like chillout hip hop? I love it either way and I definitely recommend it for everyone to check out.

Image taken from GIPHY

Favourite Game – Aggretsuko: The Short Timer Strikes Back.

First of all guys I just want to say, I am still playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons, however I am not on it ALL the time. It has began to “bore” me a little, but lately I decided to sort out my island and redo parts of it, so every other day I’ve clocked onto Animal Crossing a couple of hours. However, recently an Aggretsuko game came out, ready for when the third season hits Netflix at the end of the month. This isn’t an in depth game in anyway shape or form, but towards the end of July I got addicted to it! It’s a free game and I can’t recommend it more if you want a puzzle game to play.

So those are my favourites from July! Again, I can’t believe it’s August already, the eighth month of the year! Next month will be my favourite month of the year and then before we know it we’ll be in autumn, Halloween, Bonfire Night, winter and then Christmas before we get a new year!

2020 hasn’t been amazing due to COVID, but we’re over halfway through this year now.

How has July been for you? What were your favourites? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time, stay safe and take care all!

Life Lately – March – July 2020

Just over four months ago the UK was told to lock down and stay inside. It was scary but at the same time I was relieved that the UK FINALLY did something about it and was happy to stay inside for a while and hermit away. I wanted to share with you all how lock down has been for me, as well as how things have been throughout July so far. Not going to lie, it’s been good but very tiring! You may want to grab yourself a hot drink as this post mayyyyy be a long one.

To get this out there swiftly, I’ve been working from home since the lock down happened in March and I don’t have a date set yet for when I’ll be heading back to the office. Working from home has been amazing to be perfectly honest with you, but I do miss seeing my colleagues five days a week and having a laugh with them all.

Working from home has made me think more about adding an addition to our family… One with a wet nose and grey fur… No babies here I’m afraid! As well as that, working from home has also made me think lots about how much I loved our trip to Japan in January and just how much I’m craving to go again. I already want to look at going again late 2021 OR early 2022 for Dane’s birthday this time around. Try and visit when the cherry blossoms are out and travel to Hiroshima, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara and of course Tokyo! That will be a big trip, may even go for three weeks if we can justify it!

Although I have bought loads of shit over the past four months, one of the best things me and Dane bought was a new bathroom! Back in May around one of the bank holidays we discovered a leak in our kitchen ceiling, which had come from the bath. We called our insurance and called someone in for a quote. Two months later the work has been fixed and our bathroom COMPLETELY redone. We are both over the moon with it! Sadly I won’t be sharing it on my blog, which I had contemplated before. I want some privacy for us two from my little space on the world of the internet. I know my readers will understand. 🙂

As we all know, Animal Crossing: New Horizons came out in March JUST BEFORE lock down happened in the UK and I know so many people who have loved and enjoyed it, and who still are. I also have a couple of friends I helped source Switch and Switch Lite consoles so they could get their hands on Animal Crossing to play. It’s amazing having more of my close friends playing the game than ever before and that makes me so happy! I’ve calmed down a little of late with Animal Crossing, although I have picked it up of late to redo parts of my island.

I’ve done some baking during lock down and more so of late I’ve REALLY stepped out of my comfort zone to make something I hadn’t before, Millionaires Shortbread. I added a twist by adding salt to the caramel, to of course make salted caramel. 🙂 It was amazing and it was so simple to make. I was just worried about the caramel more than anything as I’ve never made it before. It took 30 minutes, which felt like too long, but it was worth it. Instead of milk chocolate, I put dark chocolate on top instead. They were amazing and really went down a treat with Dane, as well as my family.

As I mentioned previously how I’ve bought loads of shit, mostly shit I don’t need but has cheered me up during lock down and passed the time. I happened to save money too, even though I’m not 100% sure how I’ve done it! There are many brands I have wanted to order from for years and I finally have during the lock down, including Happy Place Cosmetics, Bath Bake Love, Cushty Co, Kittynaut and Jenni Illustrations who is pictured above.

I have been showing off the bath and home products on my Instagram pages stories (theremightbecoffeeblog) so if you’re intrigued by this, make sure to go and check out those stories highlighted on my profile.

I’ll be talking about the goodies I bought from Jenni Illustrations very soon, as well as when the enamel pins I’ve bought from Kittynaut have arrived. I for one am excited to share those with you. 🙂

Another item that I am planning to talk about in the future is my Yapfrog Isabelle ita bag! I’ve recently filled it full of enamel pins and although I may change them around in the future, I’m really happy with how I have it at the moment! I bought a piece of green gingham cloth to fabric to keep inside the bag so it looked a little more like Isabelle. So far I have enamel pins in there by Yapfrog, Quirkory (which you can read about here), Appleminte and Illustrator Jake. By the way guys I have a 10% discount code you can use on Illustrator Jake’s website which is – THEREMIGHTBECOFFEE10. 🙂

I honestly can’t wait to share this bag with you, but I want to make sure to spend plenty of time on it, as I’ve been excited to share it for God knows how long now! 😀

I’ve missed many things during lock down, including seeing my friends, going for coffee dates, sushi, spontaneous geeky shopping trips to town with Dane and my friends and getting my nails done! The nail salons opened up again recently and I finally went and got a much needed manicure. The last one I got was just before Animal Crossing and I got blue and green similar to the joy cons that came out for the limited edition Switch.

It was amazing to go and get my nails done against though and I went for this gorgeous creamy purple colour and a holographic blue/purple on the ring finger and thumb. I love them so much and have felt myself again in regards to feeling pretty. I’m getting them redone next week and I’m already torn at what I’m going to have. I get them done every three weeks, but I am a bit tempted to go every fortnight… We shall see! Any suggestions of what colour(s) to get, pleased let me know!

One of the last things I’m going to natter on about on here is how I have started reading manga again! 😀 Been too bloody long, I swear to God! I’ve been reading all the volumes in the Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid series, including the two spin offs too about Kanna and Elma. I plan to read and catch up on all my manga series I have to buy more in the future. I need to continue on with it, but lately playing games or watching crap on my iPad have taken place.

So, that is everything I can think of lately and that I wanted to share with you all.

Throughout July my blog feels like it’s been quiet, but that may have just been because I had a break last week as I had a lot going on. The bathroom took a while to get started and finished, but now it’s done we are so happy! That was stressful though, which you can only imagine why.

Alongside that I’ve been busy at work, as well as personal matters. For some reason this week I have been so tired throughout the day and especially in the evening after work. I don’t know why, but I hope some lie ins this weekend help sort it all out.

I’m excited for August now to be honest with you. I want to be able to go out and do more. Me and Dane treated ourselves to a McDonald’s last weekend as we really needed food and that was the easiest thing to get at the time. I’ve missed their fries and milkshakes so much! We also popped to Homesense and The Range to get some house stuff we needed and for a while I felt a little bit normal, even with a face mask on.

Eventually the world will be back to some normality and we’ll all relax a little again.

For now however, make sure to let me know in the comments how you have been during lock down, what have you been up to and most of all what you have missed and can’t wait to do again!

Apologies for what may feel like a rambling post, but I wanted to get a lot off of my chest onto this post today. 🙂

Until next time all, take care, keep safe and can’t wait to speak to you all soon!

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

I cannot believe where July is going already. How are we already at the end of week two of July?

The past week for me has been a bit of a nightmare. I’m in the middle/towards the end of getting my bathroom redone and we’ve come across a few issues (not builder related). I just want it finished now to be honest with you so I can FINALLY start to relax and enjoy my bathroom in it’s completed state.

For today’s blog post I wanted to talk about my favourite independent artist/store, Quirkory. A few weeks ago I received some goodies I backed in their recent Kickstarter AC Companions ~ Gimme my Controller, which I have been so excited for!

I just knew I had to share these with you, as well as some special goodies that Quirkory sent me as a thank you for supporting them since I discovered them nearly a year ago through their Kickstarter campaign A profusion of Eeveelutions & Lunar Spookies, which I also spoke about on my blog here at the start of the year.

Quirkory’s designs are chunky, kawaii and make me smile so much when I look at them! Literally, their work brings a smile to my face whenever I look at it and when I see new things posted up by them on Instagram. I even get excited for spoilers they announce!

I’m here today to share with you the Animal Crossing designs overall, as well as the ones I backed and was sent as a gift. May I add – these were not gifted for blog purposes, but between “friends” if you will and as a thank you for how much I have supported them this past year. 🙂

I’m so excited to share all the designs, they’re so adorable and really do put a smile on my face.

The Kickstarter campaign for these Animal Crossing enamel pins had a cute and unique design of Animal Crossing villagers holding Switch Joy-Con controllers, hence the name “Gimme my Controller!”. There were nine designs to choose from, as well as a special Timmy and Tommy Nookloop design.

The nine designs on offer were/are:

Marshal with a right handed light blue controller.

Stitches with a left handed yellow controller.

Merengue with a left handed pink controller.

Lucky with a right handed purple controller.

Kicks with a right handed green controller.

Reese with a left handed blue controller.

Tom Nook with a left handed gold controller.

Isabelle with a right handed indigo/blue purple controller.

Daisy Mae with a right handed light blue controller.

I backed four pins and added the Nookloop design as an additional item. I knew straight away which designs I wanted to go for, but towards my enamel pins arriving, I did realise there were some designs I wish I’d backed for and gotten too.

The four designs I opted for were Lucky, Kicks, Isabelle and Tom Nook. I also added on the Nookloop pin too as an additional item.

I thought I would show you all of the enamel pins I opted for, as well as some freebies I received for backing them on Kickstarter. I’ll also be showing the two enamel pin designs that Quirkory sent me as a thank you…

I’ll talk about the items I received as extras first and then go on to talk about the enamel pins.

I was sent some stickers of all the designs available, as well as a print of Inari and Mosted and a thank you note from Quirkory.

I always love, appreciate and keep the little thank you notes that Quirkory send as they really make me smile. Plus I always think it’s such a nice personal touch when you get a thank you note in your packages, don’t you?

As I mentioned they also sent me a print of Inari and Mosted, which is a design they created back in April for the virtual mall event they were a part of. If you bought anything from their store at the time, you would get this exclusive print for free! I ordered some goodies from the website and this finally arrived. 🙂 It’s so adorable and I even got the digital wallpaper though few months ago too, which I have set as my iPad’s wallpaper. I love how it’s the loop style design that they’ve done a few times now, including with the Eeveeloop from the Eeveelution God collection and of course the Nookloop from the Animal Crossing Controllers collection.

On the back of the print is the shop logo that Quirkory designed for the virtual mall event. It’s so adorable! When I’m eventually back in the office at work, I’ll be sticking this print up next to my laptop so I can look at it whilst I work. 🙂

There was a little pack of stickers in my parcel, which to my surprise not only contained all the characters and designs of the enamel pins, but also two Nookloop stickers. One of which I’d ordered from Etsy months previous as I didn’t realise I would be getting one as part of my Kickstarter campaign.

Animal Crossing Stickers Pack (link) – These stickers are so adorable! They’re matte and on the back of them, the paper you peel away to reveal the stick has Quirkory’s logo all over, which I thinks really cool! I can’t say as I’ve seen this before. I love being able to have the stickers of designs I may have loved, but not wanted to get as an enamel pin.

Nookloop Sticker (link) – This sticker is different to the others in the sense it’s glossy, whilst the other stickers are more matte in texture? The sticker is so cute and I’m really glad I have two. I’ve already stuck one on my iPad case (where most of my Quirkory stickers have found themselves!) and it looks adorable. I absolutely adore the Nookloop design. Both Timmy and Tommy’s faces are so sweet and it just shouts the first day or two of playing New Horizons to me, which I won’t forget.

Finally I will be sharing the four designs and the Nookloop pin. I hope you’re excited to see them all properly!

They’re all made out gold enamel and have twin backs to them. The only design that is different all around is the Nookloop enamel pin, but I’ll talk about that in more detail when the time comes. On the back of the enamel pin they all say have, “Quirkory Gimme My Joy-Con” which I think is such a lovely touch. It shows what collection they’re part of too, which I love.

Lucky Enamel Pin (link) – This is one of my favourite Animal Crossing villagers, plus the dog villagers are my favourite types so I’m always a sucker for Lucky. He’s on my island for the time in any Animal Crossing game, which is amazing! All with thanks to amiibo cards. The Lucky design is adorable and it’s one I instantly fell in love with when it was first shown on Quirkory’s Instagram page. I love the little pink blob on his cheek and that he’s hugging a purple joy-con, as it reminds me of Halloween. This is my first Lucky enamel pin and I’m so excited to add it to my Isabelle ita bag! This is definitely up there as one of my favourite designs from this collection.

Kicks Enamel Pin (link) – This is actually my favourite design from the collection. I’ve always had a soft spot for Kicks but never really known why. When Quirkory showed off the design they had put in place for Kicks, I fell in love. His little face is just so precious and adorable and I want to squish it! I most of all love what he’s wearing, with his brown cap and the blue colouring of his fluffy tail. The mint green joy-con that he’s holding reminds me of the Animal Crossing Switch… Which a part of me to this day STILL regrets not buying. 😦 This pins design just makes me smile so much and I can’t wait to pop it in my Isabelle ita bag!

Tom Nook Enamel Pin (link) – This is definitely one Quirkory thought about and I love that about them. They think about such tiny detailing and I honestly adore them for it. First of all the main thing about this design for me is the gold joy-Ccon. I didn’t see that coming when they announced Tom Nook, but it really does make sense! I also love that he’s wearing his New Horizons outfit, even the khaki shorts! I don’t own any Tom Nook pins yet, but I’m really in love with this one. As much as I love Tom Nook designs, I’m kind of bored of seeing Tom Nook with bags of bells and saying how much he wants yours. This is simple and effective and I love that!

Sadly for some reason I couldn’t get the photo of Isabelle’s pin to take the same way as the other designs.

Isabelle Enamel Pin (link) – I couldn’t not order the Isabelle design. She’s my favourite character from Animal Crossing and I can’t believe she’s only been with us since New Leaf… It feels like she’s been with us forever! I adore her design so much. She has so much personality to her with the fact she’s winking and smiling as she cuddles the joy-con. She’s also in her New Horizons outfit and I love the coral red colour of her shirt, it really compliments her yellow fur. Oh and how about that little tooth showing, eh? KAWAII! I really love this design.

Nookloop Enamel Pin (link) – The Nookloop design is up there as one of my favourite designs in the collection. Tommy and Timmy are so precious and I adore them both… Especially Tommy. They both just look so adorable with this design, especially Tommy with his little flag! Everything about the design is so precious and it really makes me smile. I also bought the wallpaperwallpaper so I could have it on my iPhone, iPad and laptop! I’m planning to set it as my work wallpaper in the future.

Next I want to show off the two designs that Quirkory sent me, which are Marshal and Stitches. When I was showing off all the goodies I received from my Kickstarter on my Instagram stories, I mentioned how I regretted not getting Marshal and possibly Stitch as well. I didn’t see the appeal of Marshal for years… Until he moved into my island on New Horizons! He’s such a cutie and the fact he loves coffee makes me smile so much. I’d like to think he’s me in an Animal Crossing character! 😛

Quirkory also attached one of their thank you notes, but this one was more personal than the others. It was so lovely, especially the “Thank you for everything!” message and the little photo of the couple behind Quirkory. It really put a smile to my face. They also sent me a high quality version of the Inari and Mosted print, which I now have on my plushie cabinet.

Marshal Enamel Pin (link) – This design is so simple and yet adorable! I see Marshal all over it, especially with his grumpy looking frown that he’s pulling and his matching frowned mouth. He also has his fringe and navy t-shirt on. He’s cuddling up to a light blue joy-con. His little cinnamon roll tail makes me smile! I do just love this design and I’m so happy to have it in my collection. I’m definitely going to pop him into my ita bag.

Stitches Enamel Pin (link) – Finally the last design I’ll be talking about it Stitches. An adorable and unique looking bear that I have always wanted on my island… But just haven’t gotten… Yet. 😛 Out of all the designs I think this one is the most colourful and eye catching, which is one of the reasons why I regretted not buying him. This is where Quirkory’s attention to detail is amazing. They’ve added all the colours to Stitches on his fur with the orange, purple, green and blue as well as the different coloured stars on his white t-shirt. Plus, he’s cuddling up to a yellow joy-con which is the PERFECT colour to compliment all of Stitches colours. I just love this design so much.

Well, you’re probably wondering how you can get hold of one or two of these enamel pins yourselves? Well, currently at the time of writing this review, all the pins are on pre-order! So, if you would to get hold of one, two, or more of these enamel pins I would recommend getting some orders in now before you miss out. I know this collection will be permanent but I also know how busy Quirkory are at the moment as they finish shipping Kickstarter orders, Etsy orders and prepare for exciting things for us shoppers and fans in the future… Including a Patreon. I’m so excited for that! 😀

I already know that Quirkory have mentioned plans to bring out a second collection of the Gimme My Joy-Con collection and I HONESTLY HOPE THEY DO! I can already imagine so many more villager they can create, as well as what they could do with them. I have some ideas of my own…

I’d love to see Digby holding a left joy-con (so it’s opposite to Isabelle) and either wear his little yellow rain coat OR be holding a yellow joy-con so it represents his raincoat.

I’d also love to see another one of my favourite villagers – Bones, Cookie, Goldie or Eunice. I would love to see a sheep villager in the collection as they’re my second favourite villagers after dogs.

If you’re maybe not one for enamel pins, but love the chubby kawaii designs of the Animal Crossing villagers, there are other ways you can get your hands on them. You could buy some colouring pages, OR big or small wallpapers. All are digital so you won’t need to wait long before they hit your email address and you can start using them. Make sure to go and check out their Etsy store for more.

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? This is the second time they have featured on my blog now and they have fast become my favourite independent artists and good friends over on Instagram. I feel like I interact with them all the time and they always reply so sweetly and are always happy.

If you didn’t think their designs could get any cuter after the Eeveelution Gods collection, then we were obviously all wrong! What do you think of the Animal Crossing Gimme My Joy-Con enamel pins? Which design(s) would you like to buy? Which was your favourite? AND most of all, which Animal Crossing villager would you like to see? Make sure to let me know in the comments.

Until next time all, take care, stay safe and I hope you’re having a lovely weekend!

July Wish List ’20

It’s that time of month again where I share my monthly wish list with you all! I know I say most months that I’ve struggled to put a list together, but this month I really HAVE struggled. In all honesty this is down to me buying things as and when I have wanted them.

During lock down I have saved quite a bit of money, which is great, but at the same time it’s also been nice having money to splurge on things I’ve wanted for a while, but now I’m running out of items from my wish list, which is a mixture of funny and sad. 😛

Half of the items on this list are Animal Crossing related… But is that such a big surprise? 😛

I hope you enjoy this months wish list, it’s sadly nothing special, but it’s better than nothing at all, eh?

• Fearless Illustration Danger Days Long Sleeved Top (link)

I don’t know why but I’ve really fallen in love with this top! I’m a sucker for baseball style t-shirts and have always loved them. They look great with anything, but especially jeans. I’d get this in the largest size too so I could have it baggy to tuck into my mom jeans and skirts. I know there is also a version with yellow/mustard sleeves instead of red, but I much prefer the red version. Also with the slogan on the top and it being called “Danger Days” it reminds me a little of My Chemical Romance… So this top could come in handy next June when I see them in Milton Keynes!

• Sugar Bunny Shop Animal Crossing Marshal Textured Print (link)

I’ve always been a fan of Sugar Bunny Shop and whilst people have bought me things from her store, I’ve never actually bought anything for myself. I’m LOVING the Animal Crossing prints the owner of the store has designed and I’ve especially fallen in love with this Marshal print. I never understood the fuss behind Marshal, until he visited my campsite and decided to move to my island. He’s one of my favourites now for so many reasons, but mostly because he loves coffee. This print would go in my bedroom along with my other Animal Crossing prints.

• Jenni Illustrations Froggy Chair Sticker (link)

This is another store that I have wanted to buy from for the longest time and never had. Well, recently Jenni opened up her store again with loads of new and old goodies. I decided I had waited long enough and made an order (which I’ll be showing you guys when it’s here, of course) BUT I made my order a little too soon. The next day Jenni added some more goodies to her store, some of them that I really wanted, including some Animal Crossing stickers, Blue’s Clues stickers and this Animal Crossing froggy chair sticker. It looks so adorable! I would have loved this for my iPad case or maybe even something else. With the amount of Jenni Illustration items in my wish list, I’ll be able to make another order in the future for sure!

• Eltamagotchi Isabelle Animal Crossing Cereal Vol.1 Enamel Pin (link)

This is an enamel pin I nearly ordered recently… But I went against it due to the cost of it overall to the UK with shipping. It wasn’t cheap and it made me cringe. This isn’t a massive enamel pin either, so I’m going to wait until I either buy someone else a pin as a birthday/Christmas present. The other thing that slightly puts me off is the fact it sort of looks like a “traced” copy of the Isabelle design from Nintendo? I don’t know if that’s just me? I do really love the idea of Animal Crossing characters in the size and shape of cereal. It would look adorable in my Isabelle ita bag… I’ll see. 😛

• Bobblejot Tori the Corgi Plushies Kickstarter (link)

First of all this Kickstarter campaign finishes Monday 6th July at 4.41pm, so if you like the look of this cute Tori plush by Bobblejot, then make sure to back the campaign before then! Okay, so I’ve been a fan of Bobblejot’s cartoon about Tori the corgi and Samuel the cat for as long as I can remember now, so when I heard they had brought out a Kickstarter with plushies of Tori, I KNEW I had to get one myself! Tori is an adorable young corgi who is finding out new things in the world, with the help of Samuel. I’ll link the Instagram page here so you can go and check out some of the cartoons for yourself.

• TK Maxx GC Home Decor White Giraffe Artificial Succulent (link)

Finally the last item on my wish list this month is this giraffe artificial succulent home decoration from TK Maxx. I’m not one for keeping plants in the house and I couldn’t tell you why… I love some flowers every now and again, but succulents and house plants aren’t for me. However, I would like to start potentially having some green around my house. This being said, I do not have a clue where I would keep this if I bought it… Maybe the office in the window or on the side by my front door? Who knows. I have fallen in love with the giraffe a little though!

So there you have it, my wish list for July. Again, I’m sorry there wasn’t anything “exciting” on there, but I like the items I popped on. I doubt very much I’ll be buying any of the items due to my bathroom being done. I’m going to be a little skint now until I’m paid at the end of the month. 😛

What item(s) do you like on my wish list? What items do you have on your lists? Make sure to let me know in the comments.

Until next time, take care all and stay safe!