August Favourites ’22

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

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

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

Beauty – Fenty Skin Cherry Treat Lip Conditioning Oil.

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

Gif taken from Giphy

TV Show – Adventure Time.

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

Music – Beyoncé “BREAK MY SOUL”.

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

Book – Lore Olympus.

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

Game – LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga.

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

Just a few of my favourite things…

OkieDoodleStitches Pokemon Eevee cross stitch is COMPLETED!

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

Yuena Art haul.

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

Image taken from My Figure Collection

Image taken from My Figure Collection

Exciting figure pre-orders!

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

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

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

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

July Favourites ’22

I can’t quite believe how quickly July has flown by, it’s crazy to think it’s August on Monday. After the suffocating few days of heat we had a couple of weeks ago, I am READY for autumn and winter for some colder days, weekend baths and getting cosy in some of my favourite clothes. Who else agrees with me? 😀

I mentioned last month that I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about July and to be honest with you all, July has been a shit month for me. Without going into too much detail, my mental health hasn’t been good and I’m kind of at a bit of a loss at times. This sounds really sad, it isn’t as bad as it sounds, I think it’s just a lot of stuff happening in all different parts of my life and it does suck. I’ll be okay though, I’ve been through worse. 🙂

With the doom and gloom out of the way, I’m semi excited for August! I have a dad and daughter day planned next week, as well as some days off to spend with time Dane and do some dog sitting, which we’re both looking forward to! I really hope August is kinder to my mental health. :’)

Enough of me rambling, on with the monthly favourites!

Beauty – Soap & Glory The Real Zing body wash and body sorbet.

I mentioned in my July wish list last earlier this month how I really wanted to pick up the Soap & Glory The Real Zing body wash and body sorbet. I did end up picking these up just before we had the few days of extreme heat and I’m so glad I did, as the body sorbet really did help cool down my skin. The Real Zing collection smells gorgeous, zingy lemon and lime and if you loved the Sugar Crush range, you’ll definitely love this! The body wash is really creamy and a little goes a long way on my silicone sponge. The scent doesn’t last or stay strong, but it’s great for mornings in the shower when you need to wake up. After using the body wash, I apply the body sorbet, which is definitely a sorbet/gel texture. A little goes a long way and feels lovely and cooling when applying to the skin. The only flaw I have with the body sorbet is the more you rub, it starts to ball up and look like dead skin, which is never a good look! The scent doesn’t last to be honest and I’ve yet to receive a compliment of, “Ooo you smell nice!” like what I get with the Sol de Janeiro goods I use. Alongside that, as The Real Zing contains alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) there is a warning on the packaging for both the body wash and body sorbet of a sunburn alert! AHA may increase skins sensitivity, hence the warning. Typical I bought this and then the heatwave hit us! This being said, I’ve been fine. One thing I’ll say is I don’t know if I’ll buy these again, as although the price was amazing and these leave my skin feeling lovely and soft, I think I’d rather spend more on Sol de Janeiro so the scent lasts longer.

TV Show – Barry, season one-three.

Barry is a TV show that started in 2018 that someone I work with told me about. The someone in question tends to have good taste when it comes to shows, movies, games, etc. So, me and Dane decided to give it a go and we LOVE it! Barry is about Barry, an ex army hitman, who one day moves state for a hitman job and finds out he wants to quit being a hitman to pursue an acting career. This isn’t straight forward for Barry however. If you like the sound of this, make sure to watch the trailer! If you love Dexter and Bill Hader (who stars and created Barry) then you will love this show! We’re almost at the end of season three and can’t wait to see how it ends, especially as season four has been confirmed!

Music – Teardrops – Bring Me The Horizon and Spaceman – Electric Callboy.

Music wise has been a bit “odd” this month for me as I wasn’t really all that fussed about what I was listening to, but a couple of songs that stand out are these. Whenever they came on, I just felt the need to jam out, sing loudly or just bop my head if I was at work. I love rock music like this. 😀

Game – The Swords of Ditto: Mormo’s Curse.

This is a game Dane bought many years ago now for us to play together! It’s a (name) which I’ve never played previously, or since picking up The Swords of Ditto: Mormo’s Curse to play with Dane. This is such a cute game, with amazing vintage style music and hours of play. Your character is brought back every 100 years to take on Mormo’s curse, with the sword of Ditto in hand. It’s up to you to bring peace to the land. You’ll keep dying until you reach the end and with cough co-op, you can do it with a friend, like what me and Dane have done. We semi rage quitted this game as we kept dying and coming back, however we recently picked it up during the heatwave to try and see if we could finally finish it. We thought we had… We still have a lot more gameplay and hours to put into this game, but it’ll definitely be worth it in the end! We picked this up on Nintendo Switch and I highly recommend it to others!

Just a few of my favourite things…

OkieDoodleStitches Pokemon Eevee cross stitch.

If there is one thing I really got back into doing during Covid it was cross stitch. It’s a hobby I picked up when I was ten and my mom bought me a Forever Friends cross stitch kit for Christmas. Not going to lie, I still haven’t completed that, but it’s in the bottom of my embroidery box, waiting to be completed! I’m sure I’ll finish it one day… Anyway, it all started with working through some of the patterns from diyCrossing that are Animal Crossing inspired. These have been a lot of fun and I do plan to do more, but I was after Pokemon cross stitch kits/patterns to try next. I went to Etsy and found some cross stitch patterns from artist Sevi Yummy, whose work I adore! OkieDoodleStitches is the one behind bringing Sevi’s work to cross stitch patterns, which I’m so grateful for! I decided to go with the Eevee design as the first and throughout July I’ve been working on it on and off, especially towards the end of July. I don’t think this piece will be finished for another week or so, but I’m so excited to finish it! I’m showing you some of the progress so far, but I would like to write a blog post about it in the future. What do you guys think, should I? 😀

Black Milk Clothing Trash Pandas Dress.

This piece by Black Milk Clothing quickly made it’s way onto my DISO (desperate in search of) dress after I didn’t purchase it months ago. The trash pandas design is by Caley Hicks, an American designer who works with Disney, as well as on her own goods, including this amazing trash pandas design! I’d asked BMC ages ago about making this design a reality and low and behold they did it! I doubt it was because of me, but yeah. 😛 Anyway, I was told by one of my friends that BMC had listed the trash pandas strappy dress as seconds and it was a hell of a lot cheaper than it had been originally, so I had to snag myself a bargain! Raccoons are one of my favourite animals, and I feel like they’re my spirit animal too, so I’m so happy to not only own a piece from BMC that was designed by Caley Hicks, but also with these cuties on! I’m yet to wear this, as I don’t like wearing strappy pieces that show off my arms, plus it’s very low cut… So, as you can see from the image above, I need to layer this with a t-shirt underneath. I’m hopeful I can wear it with a thin jumper in the winter!

Pokemon Center Alolan Vulpix AirPods Pro case.

I mentioned on my July wish list that I was planning to pick up a new AirPod Pro case form the Pokemon Center and I’m so glad I did! I didn’t exactly need a new AirPod case, but the one I was using previously was about a month old and the lid kept coming off, which was incredibly annoying, so I wanted to grab something a little more sturdy. The Alolan Vulpix/Ninetales one isn’t just a massive improvement quality wise, but it’s bloody adorable, as the photos are showing I’m sure! I’ve had so many nice compliments on it, which is always appreciated, and I’m planning to grab a beaded bracelet keychain soon so I can attach it onto the hook of the case. If you’re looking to grab a new AirPod Pro case make sure to check out Meccha Japan for a cute one, as they have a massive range to choose from!

The Folky Fox ghost fox necklace.

The Folky Fox is an amazing artist who creates adorable pieces from polymer clay, including jewellery. I picked up my ghost fox necklace last year around Halloween and have only just started to wear it, as I was anxious I would ruin/break it before. I’m so glad I’ve started to wear it though now as with my mental health no being great, when I’ve worn my necklace it’s really cheered me up as it’s absolutely adorable and includes two of my favourite things. I’d love to look at buying another necklace from The Folky Fox in the future, including the flying fox/bat necklace. If you like the look of the fox ghost necklace and would like to get one of your own, The Folky Fox has pre-orders open at the time of writing this post, so please make sure to go and adopt one. 🙂

I’m an affiliate for oshoppu!

Finally I want to share some exciting news that happened yesterday which is… I become an affiliate for oshoppu! This is amazing news and I’ve been really excited to share it with you guys on my favourites for the month. This is a relatively new store that has come to my attention, which sell Japanese stationary, apparel and kawaii goodies including plushies. I’m hoping to place an order in the near future as I’ve seen a plushie I’d really like to get to add to my collection! If you guys want to check them out, I’ll pop the link here. It’s now on the right hand side of my blog BUT if you do want to make an order, make sure you use code THEREMIGHTBECOFFEEBLOG to save 10% on your orders!

So there we have it guys, my monthly favourites for July!

How was July for you and what did you get up to? Make sure to let me know in the comments, as well as what were some of your favourite things, and if you have anything exciting happening in August. 😀

Until next time, take care guys and have an awesome weekend!

March Wish List ’22

It’s well and truly March already and I can’t believe it! 2022 is flying and I’m not ready to be a quarter of the way through the year so soon.

I feel like I said the same last month, but I’m rather excited for March, purely for a new month after how crap the last one was. Don’t get me wrong, February wasn’t as bad as January for being really poorly and skint after Christmas, but with everything that’s happening in the world right now, I think a few of us can agree that February was shite… Especially towards the end.

This being said, we can’t bad mouth the end of February too much and if you’re a Pokemon fan, you’ll know exactly why! We had the Pokemon Presents for the 26th Anniversary and DAMN the ending was amazing and something some of us didn’t see coming. The announcement of Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet, generation nine in the franchise was announced, with some sneak peaks of the game as well as the three new starters. The generation nine games will launch later this year, which I’m so excited for! I’ll definitely be booking some time off work to play it like what I did for Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield as well as Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Anyhoo, let’s get on with this wish list! I’ve really struggled with it this month as at the start of 2022 I said to myself I’d be better with money and so far, it’s going pretty well, which I’m really proud of! I’ve got to a point however where I go to buy things and instead sit and think, “Do I REALLY need this?” and “What could that items cost get me instead/be used towards?” which has really helped. I recommend it for anyone who is trying to save monies. 🙂

• Pokemon Center Eevee Greatest Hits T-Shirt – (link)

Since the UK Pokemon Center opened online, I’ve kept my eyes peeled every other day for what new items they may add to the website (I have grails I’m hoping to get eventually!), and a few weeks ago I noticed this Eevee t-shirt landed on the website. I love the Eevee design, it’s so adorable and the “Quick Attack” text above it just reminds me of whenever I play with Eevee in my team. This isn’t exactly cheap at almost £25, but it’s definitely cute and official Pokemon gear is always great as well. I don’t know if I’ll pick this up anytime soon, but I would love to snag it eventually.

• Ocean In Space/Ocean Club Patreon Club Spirited Away Print – (link)

This is a print I’ve already ordered technically, as I signed up for the Patreon at the end of February. Ocean In Space‘s designs are so beautiful and really are works of art and I adore them all. However, when they announced they would be doing a Spirited Away design with Chihiro, I knew I had to get it! I waited until February payday and made sure to back their Patreon and snag it as soon as I could. I’m honestly so excited for this to arrive already! I already own the Nana print from Patreon at some point last year (which I also wrote about and you can read here) which I adore, I just need to get a frame big enough for it. 😛 I semi regret not backing for the washi tape and stickers now, but meh… I wanted to save money and just get things I’d make use of. I think I’ll look at having this print up in my office by my desk, the same as my plans for the Nana one too.

• Sol de Janeiro Bum Bum Jet Set and Sol de Janeiro Coco Cabana Jet Set – (link) and (link)

If there is one thing I’ve really missed having in my shower the past fortnight, it’s a yummy scented shower gel. My bottle of Snow Fairy finally ran out at the end of February and I’ve been after something nice to replace it since. I thought about getting something else from Lush but their shower gels are shockingly priced for what they are, plus, I didn’t like the look of anything. I’ve heard nothing but good things about Sol de Janeiro and their bum bum cream (especially its scent!), so I thought I’d have a look to see if they do shower gel, which they do! 😀 The scent of this sounds divine, as it’s described as being caramel-pistachio. HOLY SHIT GET IN MY SHOWER! I was too busy trying to be good that I missed out over last weekend when offers were flowing. However, as Mother’s Day is coming up and I know my mom wants to try Sol de Janeiro, I decided to grab a couple of the jet set gift bags for us, one each of the Bum Bum and Coco Cabana, making each set less than £20 with the discount codes I had. I’m so excited for these to arrive and I really hope me and my mom love our goodies. I’ve really been meaning to keep on top of my beauty regime now, my body has been struggling and felt really tight and dry. I’ve been slathering body cream on more than ever this week and my body is already appreciating it. 🙂

I’m going to pop my Look Fantastic referral code here. You’ll get £10 off your order if you use the code, but bear in mind you must spend a minimum of £30. Click the link and the discount will auto apply at checkout. 🙂

• Disney Store Turning Red Mei Plush – (link)

My friend Sacha on Instagram brought my attention to the fact the Disney Store had released Turning Red merchandise, as well as a HUGE Mei plush! I’ve been so excited for Turning Red coming out, that I vowed to buy one or two pieces of merch when it launched in shops. This plush is large and is something I knew I had to add to my collection. My only worry at the time was, “Where is it going to go?!” I’ve had it a few days now (at the time of writing this post I’d just ordered it…) at the point of this post going live and I adore it. I’ve also found it a home, my office chair. When I’m working on stuff at my desk (work and personal), as well a playing games I can have a snuggle of it to relax me. So far, it’s really helped my anxiety and kept me calm. Ironic really considering what Turning Red is all about, eh? 😛

So there we have it, my wish list for March. I know it’s a little bare this month, but I really am trying to be better with my monies. Some of the items in this post have been ordered/arrived but this makes a nice change, as usually I add stuff to my wish lists and either wait months to purchase and sometimes don’t buy at all!

What do you guys have on your wish lists this month? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time guys, take care and have an amazing weekend!

Little Ivy Rose & Co – Pokemon Wax Melts*

I am so excited to talk about something a little different on my blog than usual! I don’t think I’ve ever spoken about wax melts on here before, but candles have definitely come up in the past!

I LOVE candles and have especially fallen in love with burning wax melts since I started working from home in 2020 due to Covid. These days I burn wax melts when I’m working from home, or having lazy weekends at home with Dane. I don’t own as many candles right now, but they tend to get burnt when I’m too lazy to burn wax. I just love my home smelling gorgeous no matter what time of year! I tend to burn a wax tart both upstairs and downstairs, usually with the same scent burning, but sometimes I do mix it up to make my own unique scents. I recently tried one of the wax melts I’ll be talking about today alongside with a scent (by another brand) that smells like Lush’s Yog Nog and the house ended up smelling like a lemon meringue! It was so good and I want to do it again!

Today’s blog post is all about Little Ivy Rose & Co and her amazing wax tart store! Tasha’s candles not only smell gorgeous, but they’re definitely aimed at people who love their characters, such as Pokemon, Disney and Harry Potter.

The Pokemon themed wax melts were all kindly gifted to me by Tasha as a thank you for supporting her and her Etsy since it opened towards the end of 2021. This being said, I’m still going to mark this post as gifted, as I did mention to Tasha that I was planning on writing a blog post all about Little Ivy Rose & Co on my blog as soon as the chance came up! Apart from the descriptions of each wax tart scent, all words are my own and items that are gifted will be marked with an *.

Before I really talk about Little Ivy Rose & Co and the gorgeous smelling wax melts I was sent, I want to share a little bit about Tasha and her business first!

Little Ivy Rose & Co began in April 2020 making wreaths, but in December 2021 Tasha began to make candles and wax melts, which is when I discovered her! I discovered Little Ivy Rose & Co around the end of 2021 on Instagram when her sister (PokieMix) was advertising Tasha’s candles on her stories. I saw a Snow Fairy dupe (Winter Fairy) and knew I had to check her out! For anyone that isn’t aware, I LOVE the smell of Snow Fairy, so whenever I hear of good dupes of it, I’m all over that. I want my house to smell of Snow Fairy all year around. 😛

I really wanted to pick up one of the large Winter Fairy candles but due to spending so much over Christmas and a huge collection of candles and wax melts waiting to be burnt, I had to leave it. Unfortunately due to that, I missed out on snagging this candle. If this is still available when I’m paid next, I may need to order one to burn whilst me and Dane have lazy days together, as he loves Snow Fairy too!

Just before the start of 2022, Tasha announced she would be bringing Pokemon wax melts to her store, which I was super excited about! I’ve always wanted to try Pokemon themed wax melts before from sellers on Etsy, but just never gone for it. There has always been a few scents I’ve loved the sound of and a newer one especially, all of them will be spoken about on today’s post!

One of the wax melts I’ll be talking about wasn’t gifted by Tasha originally but was actually bought for me for my birthday in January (thanks Sacha!). I’d always planned to talk about this wax melt in question, but now it’ll be down as gifted seeing as I have a brand new one to burn! 😀

Each pack of wax melts comes with six cubes. I found each cube gave me between 8-12 hours worth of burning time, which is pretty good in my opinion! So, overall for one pack you’re looking at between 48-72 hours of burning, which is really good in my opinion for the cost of them! Each packet costs £4.00, which either way I think is a decent price too for how much burn time you’re getting!

There are a range of scents to choose from and there’s definitely something for everyone. There isn’t just Pokemon either, as mentioned previously in the blog post, there’s also Harry Potter, Disney princesses and none themed wax melts too. I love how there’s something for everyone as everyone’s taste in scents differs. I much prefer food and sweet smells myself, whereas some cannot get enough of floral scents.

Image taken from Little Ivy Rose & Co

As all the wax melts I will be sharing today are Pokemon themed, I wanted to share all the Pokemon scents so far below (ones in bold are what I’m talking about today).

Pikachu (Lemon Sherbet), Bulbasaur (Fresh Cut Grass), Charmander (Woodsmoke & Leather), Jigglypuff (Candy Floss), Snorlax (Lavender), Meowth (Dark Opium), Wobbuffet (Midnight Jasmine), Squirtle (Cypress & Sea Fennell), Psyduck (Seychelles), Ponyta (Amber Orange), Slowpoke (Birthday Cake) and Eevee (Chocolate Orange).

Enough chatter, let me share with you these gorgeous scented, kawaii wax melts!

Pokemon Pikachu Lemon Sherbet Wax Melt* – £4.00 (link)

Juicy lemon and lime and a splash of sweet orange and hints of red fruits, strawberry and raspberry followed by a fizzy tongue twisting sherbet.

This wax tart is so delicious and I’m sad it didn’t last me very long the first time owning it, as I just couldn’t stop burning it! This Pikachu wax tart smells of lemons, but refresher sweeties type lemon which is sharp but still sweet smelling. The throw of this is amazing and can leave a room smelling amazing for hours, it’s definitely one I recommend if you want to try something with lemon in and especially great to gift to someone who loves Pikachu. Due to the wax tart being lemon scented, as well as Pikachu inspired the wax melt is of course yellow.

I’m sure I speak for many when I say one of the reasons I love wax melts and candles is due to some scents giving you nostalgic and happy memories (as well as some cringe worthy ones you’d rather forget!) when you smell them, which is definitely something this wax melt does for me! I remember as a child/early teenager me and my dad would go to arcades to play on the 2p pusher machines and they usually had prizes them in such as keyrings and sweets. We always tried to win both of them but one day I remember we both came home with a small bag of lemon refreshers that lasted us ages! This is exactly what this reminds me of. It’ll be one I’d burn throughout the summer, as this was usually when we visited said arcades.

Pokemon Jigglypuff Candy Floss Wax Melt* – £4.00 (link)

A sweet candy floss accord with sticky sweet sugar notes and hints of strawberry, raspberry, vanilla and sherbet.

I’ll be honest straight away when I say out of the three wax melts here, the candy floss Jigglypuff scent isn’t the strongest of the bunch when smelling it in the packaging. That being said, this isn’t a bad thing as I know a lot of people who dislike strong wax melts and candles as they find they get headaches from them. Plus it doesn’t necessarily mean it will be the same once it is burnt in my wax burner, which it honestly wasn’t! The throw of this one was so creamy and sweet and one that Dane really loved! It reminded us both of Bonfire Night in 2017 when we bought candy floss to eat whilst we watched the bonfire. As Dane loves this scent so much, it’s definitely one I’ll burn when we’re both at home together!

Pokemon Snorlax Birthday Cake Wax Melt* – £4.00 (link)

A mouth watering birthday cake depicted here by a blend of fresh fluffy sponge encasing whipped double cream and fruity strawberry jam.

Not going to lie, this is my favourite scent out of them all and one I’ve been really excited to try since Tasha announced it on her Instagram around the end of January/beginning of February. About a month ago me and Dane went to Homesense (because, why not…) and I took to having a nose at the candles, as you do. I bought one for my mom but left without one myself, which I was a tad gutted about as they had the most AMAZING birthday cake scented candles! So, when Tasha announced the Slowpoke birthday cake wax melt, I KNEW I had to get one! This smells like everything I imagined it to and because of that, I am in love!

As it states on the description, it sounds like a strawberry vanilla cheesecake type cake and it definitely reminds me of that! In the packaging the wax melt is very strong scented and even more so when I burnt it in my wax burner! The throw lasted hours and really did perk me up on a miserable, stormy day! It reminds me of the summer and having ice cream and sweet treats whilst exploring a countryside town. I already know I’ll be buying some more of these for myself, as well as other for their birthday’s!

So those are all the wax melts I was sent and have tried from Little Ivy Rose & Co to date! There are so many I want to try though at the moment including Ravenclaw Blueberry & Vanilla and Disney Meeko Biscuits (which I inspired Tasha to create!).

If you really like the sound of what Little Ivy Rose & Co are offering but don’t know where to begin when it comes to burning wax melts, don’t panic, Tasha got your covered!

So, what do you guys think about Little Ivy Rose & Co? I personally love them! If anything it’s really encouraged me to use more of my wax melts now I’ve gone through a big chunk of my stash.

Although I’ve popped the Little Ivy Rose & Co store and Instagram page throughout the post, I’ll pop them below too:

Store

Instagram

I want to say a massive thank you to Tasha for being so lovely to me the past couple of months since we started talking on Instagram. Our love of candles and raccoons has really flourished and I’m so happy I got the chance to write about her on my blog today!

Any scents or themes you like the sound of more so than others? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time guys, have an amazing weekend and stay safe and well. 🙂

Nyanzilla The Elementalists Enamel Pin Collection

This is a blog post I’ve been looking forward to writing for a few days now since these adorable AF enamel pins arrived! Well, it’s been on my blog “do write” list for a while, but instead of talking about something else this weekend and wait until August to share these… I’ve sort of swapped my blog post schedule around. 😛

I hope you guys enjoy this weeks blog post! It’s all about Nyanzilla and their beautiful Elementalists enamel pin collection! None of these pins were gifted to me, I bought them all with my hard earned monies. 🙂

At the start of 2021 I mentioned Nyanzilla on a blog post of a enamel pin collective haul (which you can read here). This was the first time I’d ordered anything from Nyanzilla, which was an enamel pin from the RPG Job Class Enamel Pins – Warriors of Cute Kickstarter.

At the start of February this year Nyanzilla launched The Elementalists Enamel Pin Kickstarter. They have previewed all the upcoming enamel pin designs on Instagram and I was SO excited for it! I knew I was going to back for all of the designs and had zero regrets about it! I can’t 100% remember what happened but I know now that the Kickstarter in qu3estion is now subject of an intellectual property dispute and is currently unavailable… Which is rubbish! I wish I could have shown you guys the Kickstarter.

I know that due to being in the UK my Kickstarter pledge was cancelled by Nyanzilla and moved over to Etsy for payment and such. This was handled really well and Kanae even offered to throw some freebies in too for being so understanding.

The Elementalists collection is a Pokemon Eeveelution collection inspired by mages. As someone who often plays as mages in games (especially Elder Scrolls!) and also plays D&D, I knew I loved the collection! It’s something I haven’t seen yet. The first design for this collection was actually posted on Nyanzilla’s Instagram almost a year ago late August 2020! Eevee, Leafeon, Espeon, Umbreon and Glaceon’s designs were shown at the time, but it wasn’t until late January 2021 where Nyazilla posted about this collection again, as well as showcasing the rest of the Eeveelution designs (Flareon, Jolteon, Vaporeon and Sylveon).

As mentioned I backed for all nine designs, as well as one special design I fell in love with and HAD to have. Originally I was only going to back three designs, those being Eevee, Vaporeon and Sylveon. I’m honestly so excited to show these off to you guys! I’ll be linking back to Nyanzilla’s website as The Elementalists collection won’t be on Etsy. If you are from the UK/EU you can email Nyanzilla in regards to what items you would like to buy and a custom listing will be placed on Etsy for you! 🙂

I’ll be talking about these pins in their Pokemon numbers, because why not!

All designs are available in both their original colours, as well as their shiny colours too, which is an awesome touch! Just an FYI, some of the titles below for enamel pins will be missing their descriptions and this is because they don’t tell you anything more than what the title of the product does anyway!

I want to mention first of all that I didn’t receive any form of customs charges, which surprised me! I was prepared for this, as I spent so much money on these enamel pins, but alas I dodged it… Whether it was due to paying the VAT on Etsy or not, I’m unsure!

The package itself and how everything was presented was really nice! Everything was wrapped in blue tissue paper, with a Nyanzilla sticker being the first thing I saw when I opened the box. It says, “Thank you Adventurer! Happiness boost inside!” which I thought was a really cute touch.

Inside the package itself was of course the goodies I bought, but there is an adorable card/print as well as thank you for backing and supporting the Kickstarter campaign and a discount code to use on the online store! 😀

The image on the card is an Eevee making a potion up! It says “25th” along the table cloth and I wasn’t sure if this was that I was backer number 25 or something else… It’s actually to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Pokemon this year! I know this happened this year but completely forgot… And to think I call myself a Pokemon fan… 😉

I received some stickers in my parcel, as well as the enamel pins. I’ll be showing off the stickers first!

The stickers are amazing quality as they’re thick and have a matte feel/look to them, so I’d like to think they’d be long lasting!

• Vinyl Sticker: Sleeping – Cute little vinyl sticker of Sleeping Elementalist. – $3.50 – (link)

Look at this little cutie! It’s an illustration of Eevee sleeping on a book outside. It looks tired out after researching mage spells! It’s such a lovely design and I’m glad I have the sticker version of it. I have a feeling this was a freebie from backing the Kickstarter. This is also available as an enamel pin, which you can find here.

• Vinyl Sticker: Little Helper – Cute little vinyl sticker of Little Helper from the Elementalist collection. – $3.50 – (link)

I’ll be honest, Mimikyu isn’t a Pokemon I understand all the fuss about… But this Eevee x Mimikyu design that Nyanzilla has come out with is adorable! I’m pretty sure this was a freebie from Nyanzilla, which is really lovely!

• Little Helper Enamel Pin – Cute little helpers of the Elementalists! – $10.00 – (link)

Alongside the sticker, Nyanzilla also sent me a freebie of the enamel pin version of this! Like the sticker it’s an Eevee x Mimikyu design wrapped in a snuggly brown hoodie, with some Eevee ears and a cute and derpy little face. I much prefer this design to the original Mimikyu design to be honest with you. 😛 This enamel pin is gold metal plating.

• Flying Enamel Pin – Elementalists are powerful magic wielders each mastering an element to aide them in their journey. But they must also master the ways of flying! – $14.00 – (link)

This is an enamel pin designed I backed for with the Kickstarter. I couldn’t resist it, it’s so adorable! As you can see it’s an Eevee riding a broomstick, with a cute little brown hat on, behind a glitter blue sky! This is a huge pin and definitely the biggest lot of the bunch I received! It just makes me happy whenever I see it and because of that it’s up there in my favourite designs from this collection! This enamel pin is gold metal plating.

• Magic Portal Enamel Pin – Elementalists are powerful magic wielders each mastering an element to aide them in their journey. This is a magical portal the Elementalists use to travel great distances. – $14.00 – (link)

From memory this is an enamel pin that came free from backing the Kickstarter campaign. It’s a gorgeous glass window style design with an Eevee surrounded by all its Eeveelutions and elements. The types of Eeveelutions look exactly like the base energy cards seen in the Pokemon Trading Card Game. This is a gorgeous enamel pin though and I’d love to see it as a keychain that’s see through or a sticker! This enamel pin is silver metal plating.

• Elementalist Enamel Pin – Elementalists are powerful magic wielders each mastering an element to aide them in their journey. Where all Elementalists begin, the first step in choosing their elemental path. – $12.00 – (link)

The Eevee design, the main one from the bunch and it’s one of my favourites! I love how Eevee is wearing a cute little brown fluffy coat, alongside with an Eevee shaped staff too! Eevee looks ready for the winter weather, that’s for sure! I love the little smile on Eevee’s face too, as well as the subtle design on its coat. This enamel pin is gold metal plating.

• Hydro Mage Enamel Pin – $12.00 – (link)

This is another one of my favourite designs, if not my favourite out of them all! Vaporeon has always been one of my favourite Pokemon as I love it’s mermaid/dog look. This design is beautiful though and I cannot get enough of it. I love the flowing blue dress it’s wearing and I especially love that their staff has a Horsea at the top! The detail on this one is amazing and I just can’t get over it, plus the colours remind me of summer holidays in Fuerteventura, which I equally love. I semi regret not getting the shiny variant of this one too, I think I will in the future. Purple is my favourite colour and as this is up there as my favourite design, it’s kind of silly not to? This enamel pin is silver metal plating.

• Storm Caller Enamel Pin – $12.00 – (link)

I love what a little rogue Jolteon is always seen to be, but this design really does show that! The snaggle tooth is my favourite bit about this design for sure! I also love how fuzzy his coat is, it makes him look semi royal and important, which I love! His staff doesn’t stand out to me as anything… unique like some of the others, but it’s definitely cool! I also love how grumpy and serious he looks too. Nyanzilla really nailed this design. This enamel pin is gold metal plating.

• Ember Mage Enamel Pin – The Ember Mage is the Master of conjuring and controlling the flames. – $12.00 – (link)

This design is up there as one of the ones I feel had a LOT of detail put into it, which I always love! I feel enamel pins can never have too much detail. Flareon is surrounded by fire, even the staff is made out of fire! The pop of blue on the outfit really does stand out, which I like as it feels a little bit like the cloaks colour got lost amongst Flareon’s red/orange fur. I feel like Flareon isn’t as serious as Jolteon, but that sort of, “Don’t fuck with me or I’ll burn you…” look going on? 😛 This enamel pin is gold metal plating.

• Mystic Enamel Pin – $12.00 – (link)

Both of the gen two Eeveelutions have a VERY similar theme going on, in the sense they are clearly have face coverings on, which I really like! It makes them appear more mysterious, which they both are amongst the other Eeveelutions. Espeon is a gorgeous purple colour (of course!) and I especially love how much detail was put into their staff, which clearly is to resemble the sun. Their face covering only seems to cover their mouth. A sun brooch is also on their cloak too. This enamel pin is rose gold metal plating.

• Shadow Mage Enamel Pin – The Shadow Mage is the Master of controlling the dark energy. – $12.00 – (link)

As mentioned above, both of the gen two Eeveelutions are sporting face coverings, Umbreon however has more covering their face than Espeon. Umbreon definitely has a darker design than Espeon with their black and yellow cloak. I love that their mouth and nose are covered up as with the darker colours it makes it look more mysterious, if that makes sense! Umbreon’s staff is of a moon and the design of it is really detailed, which I love! This enamel pin is gold metal plating.

• Druid Enamel Pin – The Druid harness the power of nature to protect and aide them on their journey. – $12.00 – (link)

I actually think this is the design with the most detailing on it and due to that it’s up there as one of my favourites! The Leafeon design reminds me of Radagast the Brown The Hobbit, but this is kind of obvious why, isn’t it? 😛 The colour scheme of this design is one of my favourites and I especially love the white themes brought into it too with the flowers on Leafeon’s cloak, hat and staff. The staff is so pretty too to boot. Just everything about this pin is gorgeous! It reminds me of my friend Sarah (Raiin Monkey) as I know how much she loves this design. This enamel pin is gold metal plating.

• Frost Mage Enamel Pin – The Frost Mage controls the battlefield by conjuring storms of snow to slow their foes. – $12.00 – (link)

The Glaceon design is so pretty and it kind of reminds me of the White Witch from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The design is gorgeous and I just love every aspect of it! Glaceon’s cold stare, the snowflake staff, to the fluffy cloak. The colours of this one are perfect too and I especially love that it’s silver metal plating too! I can just imagine Glaceon being a bad ass and not standing for anyone’s shit. Again, this enamel pin is silver metal plating.

• Fairy Enamel Pin – $12.00 – (link)

Finally we have another one of my favourite designs from this collection and one I feel is a firm favourite from a lot of people who backed the Kickstarter campaign! The Sylveon design has a fairy theme to it and the design looks so playful and happy out of all of the designs. Sylveon’s whole outfit reminds me of a cross between Little Red Riding Hood and someone who is into Japanese Lolita fashion. Sylveon’s staff is also a heart shape, similar in style to the staff that Jolteon is holding. I especially love the fact Sylveon is winking. Like Vaporeon, I would love the shiny variant of this one too. This enamel pin is rose gold metal plating.

There we have it guys, all of The Elementalists enamel pins! I’m so glad I decided to get them all, as I know for a fact I would have regretted it and scrambled to try and buy the other designs at a later point.

I know in the future I’d love to pick up some of the shiny variants of Vaporeon and Sylveon, as well as the prints of Eevee, Vaporeon and Sylveon. I’ll be looking to pick some goodies for Christmas too… 😛

Alongside the enamel pins, Nyanzilla did also bring out vinyl sticker sheets and prints of all The Elementalists designs. If you’re interested in any of these, I’ll pop a link below for where you can view the whole collection. Alongside that, you CAN also buy all nine of the Eeveelutions enamel pins in bundle set, which I’ll link here.

Store

Etsy Store (UK and EU customers)

Instagram

The Elementalists Collection

What do you guys think of The Elementalists collection? What are your favourite design(s) and which would you pick up? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time all, I hope you’ve had a lovely weekend so far and make sure to keep safe during these times.

From Japan Pokemon Eeveelutions Haul

Almost a couple of months ago now, I decided to write about From Japan on my blog with a review of the proxy service, as well as showing you guys my haul from my second order. You can read all about that here.

I’m here again with yet another haul! This time it’s from my first order I made with From Japan in April, as well as my third order I made in June.

I know you guys loved when I spoke about From Japan before, so I knew when my first and third orders arrived I wanted to share what goodies I bought with you all!

I really hope you enjoy this post today, it’s such a hot weekend so grab a cold drink (or even better an ice cream!) and get in front of the fan as you read this post. 🙂

I mentioned on my From Japan review previously that I’d made my first order with them back in April and I was still waiting for my goodies to arrive! I’d decided to ship via surface mail, which is notorious for taking MONTHS. Alas, my order took almost 3 months to arrive, but better late than never and it was definitely worth it!

First things first, if you’re happy to wait ages for your goods to arrive, surface mail with tracking is fab… But I definitely prefer airmail! Your goods come within a week and they always usually have tracking too.

Anyhoo, the first item I want to talk about on my haul post is the Pokemon TCG playmat from the Eevee Sweet Choices collection. It’s so cute and it’s actually from me ordering this that I decided to get my own desk in our front room/office.

The packaging it came in was great and it even arrived in its original packaging! The playmat is in perfect condition and has now found it’s place on my desk, which I adore so much! It only arrived on Thursday but in the short time I’ve owned it, it looks great on my desk and I’m so glad I finally made the jump at not only ordering it, but using From Japan to get it.

As far as I’m aware this playmat was a Pokemon Center USA exclusive, so I can only imagine the person who owned it in Japan before me must have imported it. It’s been a longgggg way! 😛

Shortly after my second order arrived, I started to order items for my third order. I’ve been after the Eeveelutions Pokemon Dolls from 2017 for quite some time now. I bought Flareon back when they released, then Espeon and Umbreon a year or so later and finally Vapreon shortly after that through a Facebook group.

I was still missing most of the Eeveelutions and had been keeping my eyes peeled on Facebook groups, eBay and stores similar. When I was in Japan in January 2020 I looked in stores too, the only Eeveelution Pokemon Doll we came across was the Vaporeon one, which I already owned.

I’d already starting searching for the remaining Eeveelutions I was after on From Japan, with some showing loads of results, others showing very few and one not at all! It was definitely a challenge and I wanted to share with you some of the struggles I faced this time. FYI none of these struggles are any fault of From Japan!

To try and find the Pokemon Dolls I was after, I searched for just that both in English and Japanese. As I mentioned on the previous post about From Japan, you can use Google Translate to help you with getting the rough translation. This result showed not only plushies, but figures too. This took some time when trying to just locate certain Eeveelutions, but it made for something chilled to do whilst watching something on TV.

Whenever I found the Eeveelutions I was after, I would add to my watch list/favourites and order when the time was right! Sadly, some orders were cancelled and fell through. This could either be due to someone ordering the item(s) before me, or just because of proxy seller issues.

The Eeveelutions I needed to complete my collection were, Eevee, Jolteon, Glaceon, Leafeon and Sylveon.

Eevee was the easiest and cheapest out of the five to get hold of! Before shipping I only paid 800 yen for this, which in pounds is £5.36. Complete bargain!

Jolteon was the hardest to get hold of. I’d actually found someone selling the American version (tag was different) for £45! I was close to buying it, just because I was beginning to see no light at the end of the tunnel, but glad I didn’t. I was refusing to ship all of the Pokemon Dolls I’d bought to me until I’d found this one. You get 45 days to ship your goods to you, something I was starting to get closer and closer to. Alas one day I was randomly having a search around From Japan for this Pokemon Doll and low and behold… I found it! I didn’t hesitate to order and worried a few days after that it may get cancelled for reasons. Thankfully this didn’t happen and as soon as it arrived at the From Japan warehouse, I shipped my goods to me! This Pokemon Doll only cost me 2,200 yen, which in pounds is £14.72.

Glaceon wasn’t straight forward and if anything was kind of stressful. The person who had listed the cheap Eevee Pokemon Doll also listed a Glaceon for roughly the same price. However, the order got cancelled as someone else had snagged the bargain ice Pokemon quicker than I had. I quickly ordered a back up I had in my watch list/favourites, which was painful considering how much more it was. I paid 2,700 yen which in pounds is £18.15. It was worth it though!

Leafeon was one of the easiest I ordered alongside with Eevee as it never got cancelled and it seemed to be a popular Eeveelution Pokemon Doll for sale too, making it really easy to find. It’s such a cute Pokemon Doll, it’s one my friend Sarah (Raiin Monkey) owns so whenever I see it, I always think of her. I paid 2,600 yen which in pounds is £17.40.

Sylveon was fairly easy to get hold of, but it was also the most expensive! It appears whilst people love Sylveon, they also don’t seem to love it as much considering how many of them were listed on From Japan. The prices seemed to rise every time a new listing was made for it too, which is crazy! I paid 3,851 which is pounds is £25.77, quite the price jump from the previous Eeveelution Pokemon Dolls, but totally worth it!

These arrived a week after I paid for airmail shipping and they arrived in a bubble wrap style package. I expected a box to be honest with you, but due to them being plushies it worked out fine! Some of the plushies (as you’ll see from the photos above) had tags, which I didn’t expect from some of them!

As always, I’m really happy with all the goodies I bought from From Japan and they’ve all arrived in perfect condition.

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A post shared by Nat – Kawaii Nerd Blogger (@theremightbecoffeeblog)

I posted a reel on my Instagram page all about buying these and it has done SO WELL, which has really made me smile. I’ll pop it above so you can see it. 😉

A lot of people have already asked when I’ll be making a fourth order with From Japan… But I don’t know the answer to that question yet. I’m trying to be good with money since I bought my car. I am planning to use From Japan more in the future to buy my Pokemon goodies (old and new) as well as more! In the future, would you guys like to see a post of my From Japan wish list? 🙂

What do you guys think of the goodies I ordered and had arrive From Japan? What’s your favourite? Who is your favourite Eeveelution too? Make sure to let me know in the comments.

I know the UK is not only a very warm place right now, but a bit scary too with restrictions being lifted from tomorrow. So, until next time please take care all and feel free to drop me a DM on Twitter/Instagram if you ever need someone to talk to. ❤

From Japan Haul and Review

Hello guys! It’s been a few weeks now since I last posted something and I do apologise for this. Life sort of got in the way last week, hence no post.

BUT I’M BACK and I’m excited to share a new “store” with you today. I know a few people have asked me to share and talk about this website/store and alongside show you guys what goodies I bought too!

From Japan was introduced to me from my friend Emily (meimi132) a while ago now and it’s been a blessing in disguise but also a bit of a curse for my wallet. 😛

From Japan is an auction and shopping proxy service, as the name suggest, for Japanese goods. It’s really easy to create an account and even easier to search for items, which I’ll go through in more detail.

I’ve used From Japan mostly for buying Pokemon Center goodies, but I do have some Pompompurin, Persona 5 and Nendoroid related goodies saved in my favourites/wish list too!

Not only did I want to show off what goodies I’ve had arrive from my second order (first is still on route!) but I wanted to share my experiences of using the website too a I’ve had a few people ask me.

I haven’t been asked to write this post about From Japan. I wanted to share this amazing Japanese proxy service as I know I talk about Japan and kawaii goodies a lot on my blog. So, some of you may benefit from finding out about From Japan if you never had before, and if you HAVE heard about From Japan but don’t know anyone who has… Hello! Here I am! 😀

Image taken from Pokemon Center website

My first order is still on route and I regretfully went with surface mail, which can take between one to three months to arrive! It’s already been a month and still no sign so… Pray for me. 😛 Aside from the wait on shipping, this order was straight forward to do so I’m just annoyed at myself looking back at picking surface mail considering how long it’s taking. This is for the Pokemon TCG playmat from the Eevee Sweet Choices collection. It’s so cute and it’s actually from me ordering this that I decided to get my own desk in our front room/office. I don’t regret it, but I just want it to arrive now. 😛

My second order arrived on Monday and I was so damn happy with everything and how it was packaged! I went for airmail after Emily’s advise and it arrived a week after me paying for shipping, which wasn’t cheap… I’ll get into that little more.

First things first – searching for items on From Japan is really simple! What I tend to do is search for the item in both English, as well as Japanese. This is where something like Google translate can come in handy.

For example – on my third order I was searching for some of the Pokemon dolls. In Japanese this translates roughly to “Pokemon ningyō” or “ポケモン人形”. I always end up searching for the latter as it tends to find more results.

I more than often always search with Japanese now, but I do tend to have a look with English just to be safe! It was from searching “Eevee Sweet Choices” that I found the playmat I ordered, so it’s always worth using both if you’re after a certain item, especially if it’s rarer.

Something else to note is the stores that you could be potentially buying your goods from. There are three in total that I’ve purchased from so far – Yahoo! Japan Auctions, Rakuten and Surugaya. They’re all great places to buy from and I’ve not faced any issues… However, I’ve found with Yahoo! Japan Auctions and Surugaya that I’ve had a “hefty” (well, in my eyes!) charge for the privilege of someone either bidding on the items or wrapping items up in store to send to From Japan. Sometimes these charges are fair and it’s just one of them things. You do get fair warning prior of these charges, but as I bought so much stuff these charges added up. Please bear this in mind… I was semi gutted at the time but now my items have arrived, I’m not bothered.

When searching for items the search bar will usually cover for all of the shops that are purchasable through the service. If you were only looking to shop through Yahoo! Japan Auctions then you need to make sure to select this store and then search.

Some of the Yahoo! Japan Auctions are buy now, which is really good if you’re anxious about missing out on an item! I find items in the auctions are stupidly cheap and probably the best option to go mostly, but again it depends on what you’re buying, how many and if you’re happy with the charges that come after.

From experience, Rakuten is my favourite! I find their charges aren’t high and that’s always a bonus to me if I’m after a bargain.

When you’re happy with an item you’ve found you want, add it to your cart and then process with the payment. Make sure to read anything that comes up in red, as these could be charges you may be asked to pay and more. Some listings state that they won’t sell to overseas, so make sure to keep your eyes peeled for this too as you could be wasting time trying to buy an item.

You’ll be asked to pay “charge 1” – which is simple. Then once this is done, your item will be purchased by From Japan and then the seller will send to From Japan’s warehouse. You can keep a box of goodies for up to 45 days and fill this with as many goodies as you want! I did this with my second order to make the shipping worth it.

When you’re ready for your goodies to be sent to you, you can make you “charge 2” payment. This is where you pay any charges, as well as shipping. You’ll be able to pick and choose which items you’d like to have shipped too and such like that.

Be wary too by the way that some items you may guy may end getting cancelled for various reasons. I’ve had this happen a few times now and it’s a little heart-breaking, but I always have back up items in my wish list if I can in case this happens.

Then you wait for your items to arrive! I didn’t receive any customs charges with my parcel that arrived, but that’s because I asked From Japan to make my parcel as a gift, which was really handy!

I honestly cannot wait to show you guys all of the goodies I bought. These have been some items I’ve been after since 2016, with some of these items being from back in 2013/2014!

First thing I want to quickly cover here is that the Japanese are very careful when it comes to items people buy and take a great amount of care and detail to make sure your items are packaged safely for their trip. There was LOTS of bubble wrap and nothing arrived damaged. Even the box has “fragile” stickers on it.

This is something me and Dane noticed when we were in Japan. It’s amazing, it’s just a shame people in the UK don’t do this too… 😛

The first items I want to talk about are Eeveelution capchara figures. YY Kawaii gifted me some to share on my blog and Instagram page almost a year ago (you can read the post about them here) and whilst I was happy with just the Vaporeon and Jolteon she sent me, a part of me still wanted to get a couple more. Recently my friend Sarah (Raiin Monkey) had some extras, so I bought Flareon and Umbreon from here. I decided from there that I needed the rest and went on a bit of a hunt.

This is what sort of… Fuelled me to make a second order with From Japan. I had searched the UK for the remaining Eeveelutions I needed and although I found most of them, they weren’t cheap. I found someone selling a set of five (including Pikachu) for the price of one here.

I found Espeon on a single listing for a great price and Eevee, Leafeon, Glaceon and Sylveon on one listing and ordered them! When they arrived they were all brand new in their cellophane wrap and ready to be put together. I really enjoyed myself after work putting them all together and popping them in the office cabinet with mine and Dane’s Nendoroid figures. Sylveon however sits on my work desk for now. It’s such a precious figure that I just had to! May I just add, this Sylveon capchara goes for a LOT of money, so I was glad to snag it for such a bargain price.

The Pikachu that I had in the set I bought is now sitting on Dane’s desk. I thought about selling/giving it, but after looking at it, I thought it would be cute to give him something to have on his desk too. 🙂

The second items I decided to look for and pick up are some plates from the 2018 Pokemon Collection ichiban kuji. I’d wanted these at the time of their release but they were hard to find, especially for a good price so I had to sort of… Grin and bear the fact it didn’t look like I was going to get them. I loved the designs on each plate in all honesty, especially Jolteon and Sylveon.

Whilst I was in Japan last year I found three of the plates! Vaporeon, Espeon and Leafeon. I snatched them up so fast and popped them in my basket. I searched for the rest during the remainder of the trip but I had zero luck, I was gutted. I went to eBay when I came back to the UK but was sad to see people selling the plates for a lot of money… I kept them on my watch list.

Thankfully with a lot of hunting I found the remaining Eeveelutions I was after on From Japan and got them ordered! Umbreon and Glaceon appeared to be the rarer ones of the plates I was after. I’d only seen one Umbreon on the website, which I bought and a couple of Glaceon’s. The prices ranged for these, but personally they were still really good in my eyes, especially when I’d seen how much they were going for on eBay, both in the UK and US.

The plates I picked up were Eevee, Jolteon, Flareon, Umbreon, Glaceon and Sylveon. I finally had my hands not only on all of the Eeveelution plates, but Jolteon and Sylveon – the two designs I really wanted! I don’t think these are

The designs on these plates are all café desserts and cakes themed and I love them! They also have three colour variants of pink, blue and white. I already have the three plates I bought from Japan on display in a living room cabinet on little stands, which I plan to do for the rest of the plates too. I’m not 100% sure where they’re going yet however… Dane suggested above my new desk, which may be an option for sure!

Finally we have the items I was SUPER happy about snagging as I’ve been after them for years. From writing this post, I didn’t actually realise how old and technically speaking, rare these items are.

Back when I first bought the house with Dane five years ago is when I really started shopping with YY Kawaii for my cute goodies and it was through her I purchased a Flareon and Vaporeon figure. I loved them both so much and wanted more, sadly she didn’t have anymore and wasn’t able to get hold of any. I didn’t realise at the time it may have been due to how old they were.

The kyun-chara figures came out between 2013 and 2014 for the Eeveelutions, whereas I thought they may have been from around 2015-2016. I’ve been on the hunt for the remaining Eeveelutions for years, but never been able to find them and when I have they’re SHOCKING prices. Now I semi get why.

I found them on From Japan for great prices, not cheap, but great nonetheless for what they are.

These figures have big heads and little bodies and the quality of them is amazing! I snagged Eevee and Jolteon separately and Espeon, Umbreon, Leafeon and Glaceon. At the time Sylveon didn’t exist – hence why it isn’t part of the collection.

I was shocked to discover that ALL of these figures were brand new in their boxes, still in their plastic wrap and ready to be taken out, heads stuck to bodies and arranged. I haven’t yet opened the plastic wrap as I’m not 100% where I want to put them… Again I’m thinking above my desk next to the plates, but not sure at the moment.

I’ve literally snagged these items that I wanted because I just wanted to. I saw them and had the money to treat myself, so why not?!

So, that was everything I received from my second order From Japan! I have started to order some goodies to make into a third order… Of course they’re Eeveelution related. 😛

I remember back in 2017 the Pokemon Center decided to remake their Pokemon Dolls and I’m glad they did, because they’re cuter now than the ones from years previous. I bought Flareon at the time as it was the cutest design, Espeon and Umbreon whilst YY Kawaii was in Japan and then Vaporeon second hand from a Facebook group. Now I’ve ordered Eevee, Leafeon, Glaceon and Sylveon. I’m yet to find Jolteon at all, or for a good price.

Once I have them all, they’re going to be rearranged in my plushie cabinet in our bedroom! I’m so excited to just finally get them all. I wish I’d ordered them all back in the day… But I was still quite new to collecting Pokemon plushies then and was a bit anxious and probably skint. 😛

So, what do you guys think of From Japan? Do you think you’ll give it a go for ordering some Japanese goodies you’re after? Whether they be Pokemon related or something else?

I highly recommend them and can honestly see myself going back over and over again whenever I’m after harder to find items. The prices are amazing, the shipping is great if you go with air mail and to be honest, it’s a nice little way of window shopping when you’re bored. 😛

Let me know if you’ll be checking out From Japan in the future, as well as who your favourite Eeveelution is and why!

Until next time guys, take care and have an amazing weekend!

March Wish List ‘21

I can’t quite believe we’re coming to the end of the first week of March. I woke up this morning and said to Dane, “Is it Friday?” because the week has gone by so bloody quickly!

I’ve been having a think about what items to talk about and share with you for my wish list this month as I’m struggling a tad AND as I mentioned on my favourites post (which you can read here), I’m on a spending ban again in March. It’s not gone off to the best start but meh… It is what is it and I’m going to try and be better throughout the rest of the month!

All of the items on this wish list are things I plan to purchase come payday due to pre-orders or because they’re home related items I’d like to buy.

I hope you enjoy this months wish list as always! 😀

• Persona 5 Animation Parts 1 & 2 (link)

As everyone knows, I love Persona 5. It was a game I played when it first came out in the UK and I quickly fell in love with it. I’m currently playing Persona 5: Royal and will look at FINALLY starting to play Persona 5: Strikers today. I love anime and when I heard Persona 5 was getting one, I was so excited! This was quite a while ago now and I’ve never actually watched the anime. 😦 This is because at the time it was subbed (Japanese speaking with English subtitles) and as I’d played the game dubbed (English speaking) I wanted to watch the anime with the same voice actors that I’d played the game with. I know Channel 4/All  4 have the English dub to watch, but with adverts and all that, I was put off. Now it’s coming out for pre-order at the end of the month I’m happy to wait a little longer after ordering! 😀

• Pokémon TCG: Eevee Sweet Choices Playmat (link)

I’m not a Pokemon Trading Card player, but I do hope to get my own desk in the future and this ADORABLE Eevee Sweet Choices playmat would be amazing to buy to use as a massive mouse/keyboard mat for my future desk. It’s a cute design with an Eevee on the front holding and surround by Eeveelution themed chocolates. The background is white and is covered in the Eeveelution themed chocolates. This is really hard to get hold of now and you’re looking over £60 to get hold of one from America. This is kind of frustrating to be honest as it only sold for $24.99 this time last year. I’m going to keep my eyes peeled for it, as it’s definitely something I’d love for a desk. It would be so bloody cute. 🙂

• M&S Pure Cotton Strawberry Bedding Set (link)

I don’t know about you, but I’m always up for buying some new bedding, especially in spring and winter. I was contemplating buying some new bedding in winter but ended up leaving it, which I’m glad about as I’m definitely planning on buying this bedding soon! M&S bedding is really lovely and great quality, so when I spotted this strawberry bedding set on the website, I fell in love! I love strawberries and the print on this bedding is really sweet, delicate and the pink strawberries remind me of Japan a little. This would just be perfect to use throughout the year, especially spring and summer. When payday hits at the end of the month, I’m going to order this. 🙂

• Smoko Pearl Boba Tea Air Purifier (link)

I LOVE Smoko’s products! They’re so practical and kawaii that I do love having them in my own. I love their Pearl Boba design and I already own the little light variant of it. So when Firebox announced they’d got the air purifier in stock, I KNEW I had to have it! As someone who suffers from hay fever, this purifier would be perfect in the summer to keep next to me when working from home in the week. Imagine too if I had my own desk, with the cute Eevee playmat, as well as this air purifier? Would be so cute!!!

• Asda Artificial Succulent In Dalmatian Pot (link)

For some reason I thought I’d mentioned this last month… But I didn’t! I actually discovered this through someone on Twitter, which was amazing! I would have bought it last month if it hadn’t been for a mixture of spending ban AND you need to buy something else in order to snag this item from the website. I haven’t seen anything I want or need to justify ordering it, which is a bit of a shame. I’ll get one eventually I’m sure. I plan to keep it by the front door to add a bit of colour into the hallway!

• Lunaticgumis Puppycat Enamel Pin & Sticker (link)

Finally we have this amazing enamel pin and sticker design from Lunaticgumis. I LOVE Bee & Puppycat, so I’m always in the lookout for merch from independent artists. Lunaticgumis is my favourite for Puppycat goodies and I already own some stickers, an enamel pin and even an amigurumi of Puppycat from her (I’ll be talking about her in the future on my blog!). This Puppycat design is so adorable as Puppycat is dressed as Bee! 😀 This isn’t something I’ve seen anyone else do in the community yet, so it’s something unique for sure! I’ll definitely be ordering the enamel pin and the sticker in the future. 😀

So yeah there we have it, all of my wish list items for March! As I said previously, I’m on a spending ban this month so these items won’t be bought in a massive hurry in all honesty, but I do really love sharing my wish lists with you all to promote independent artists and more.

What item(s) do you have on your wish list this month? Make sure to let me know in the comments below!

Until next time, take care all and I hope you’re all having a lovely weekend. 🙂

February Favourites ‘21

Can you guys believe it’s March tomorrow? I can’t. February went by really quickly and you know what, I’m not complaining about that. I’m going to be honest, February was a shit month for me and I’m really glad to see the back of it. My mental health was really tested for three weeks solid and there was a time where I was in a really low place. To be honest at the time of writing this (Thursday 25th) I still have a couple of days left of the month to go, so fingers crossed the rest of the month treats me well!

I just want to be honest with you guys. The first week I felt numb and empty and it was mostly PMS related but I started to think about life before lockdown, COVID and my parents. I really miss them. The first thing I’m planning to do when lockdown is over and it’s safe to do so is see my parents. I was also starting to think about how I miss my aunt who passed away in September. I think about her almost daily and yeah. It’s shit.

The second week I can’t talk about too much. My mental health was just bad, I was a nervous wreck and I just couldn’t stop crying some days. Just to get this out there, I’m okay now and these feelings have now passed… Thank fuck.

The third week (well this week really…) things just didn’t seem to go right. Dane was told to self isolate at the end of the second week, we’ve had some issues in the house and we’ve been irritable and miserable as fuck. Thankfully we’re both feeling a lot better now.

I just wanted to get that off of my chest. Just because I appear happy and cheerful on my blog and social media, it doesn’t always mean I am and the same goes to everyone. I’m quite good at putting an act on when the time comes. It’s something I’ve had to do my whole life in regards to my mental health.

I also want to say a massive thanks to the handful of friends who have been there for me this month when things were rough. I miss and love you all. :’)

Besides me feeling like shit, February was also a month where I decided to go on a spending ban. I’d been very spend happy in January and due to it being a long month (payday wise) I was kinda skint. The February spending ban went pretty well… Until shitty week two out of three where I ended up treating myself to some Black Milk Clothing pieces… Oops. 😛 Aside from that, the spending ban went really well and it’s actually inspired others to go on a spending ban with me too! I’m already planning to do it again in March AND people will be joining me for that!

Of course if you’re interested to follow along, or maybe even join yourself I’ll pop the template I’ve created for March above. I’ve been posting daily to weekly updates on my Instagram page (theremightbecoffeeblog) stories. Come and join in!

Anyhoo, enough of me waffling on about spending bans and more, let’s talk about my favourites from February. It may have been a crap month but I loved so much stuff and have been excited to share it with you all!

Beauty

• The Body Shop Strawberry Shower Gel.

I’ve spoken about this shower gel from The Body Shop many times and I really do love it. I tell this story every time I talk about this shower gel, which I’m sure everyone is bored of now. 😛 Basically my mom used to always buy me a bottle of this shower gel whenever we visited The Body Shop (once every few months or so?) so whenever I use it, it reminds me of when I was younger. I had a £5 birthday voucher and I didn’t want to worry I lost it, so bought myself a MASSIVE bottle of the strawberry shower gel. It’s something Dane loves just as much as I do so it works out nicely. I’ve been using it loads this month and not only does it smell amazing, but it has left my skin feeling lovely and soft too. 🙂

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. I haven’t mentioned a movie this month as I don’t actually think I/we watched one!

Favourite TV Show – Attack on Titan Final Season.

It saddens me to say that we are on the final season of Attack on Titan, it only feels like yesterday that me and Dane were watching it for the first time (we’d travelled to Bristol for a long weekend for our first anniversary)… That was almost seven years ago! I love the show and I for one am sad to see it come to an end. So far this final season has been AMAZING and it’s something me and Dane have either watched Sunday night before bed, or Monday morning before work. I don’t want to say too much due to spoilers but it’s amazing and very “WHAT IS HAPPENING!” Moments throughout. This is because I don’t/haven’t read the manga yet. I plan to in the future. I definitely recommend watching Attack on Titan if you never have and want to!

I just want to add here that I was going to also add another TV show I’m loving right now… But I’m going to wait until next month when it’s due to end. Spoiler, it’s RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 2… 😛

Favourite Book – Remina by Junji Ito.

GUYS I actually read a book! One book, but A book! This is actually a manga that Dane bought for himself that I ended up reading before him. It’s the latest manga from Junji Ito and it was a strange but enjoyable read. It’s about a young woman called Remina whose dad has discovered a planet, which he names after her. The planet isn’t good, shit goes crazy and people start to blame Remina for it, due to their shared name. For those of you who aren’t aware, Junji Ito is described as the “king of horror manga” due to his unique art style. It’s incredibly detailed and beautiful, although creepy all the same. This isn’t a long manga, but a lot of packed in there! I didn’t really like the ending, but I don’t know what else I expected really. This being said it’s amazing and I recommend giving it a read if you’re already a fan of Junji Ito’s work, or a new reader of his work like I am.

Favourite Music – Childish Gambino – Summer Pack.

I recently discovered the track “Summertime Magic” by Childish Gambino through a game and I have fallen in love with it. From that I also discovered “Feels Like Summer” as both songs were on an EP called Summer Pack which I really love. I’ve found myself listening to them whilst working, even whilst writing up this post on and off too. I’ve never really listened to Childish Gambino before but I’ll definitely listen to his work more in the future for sure! I’m not super excited for the summer yet due to everything going on in the UK at the moment with lockdown and COVID, but as and when we can have a fun summer again, these are songs I’ll be playing whilst cooking something on the BBQ and sipping on a cocktail!

Image taken from GIPHY

Favourite Game – Ark.

Ark is a game me and a group of friends have been playing recently after we bought a server and with Dane and a friend of ours both needing to self isolate in February it’s been good for them to have something to do during the day, as well as in the week. I’d never played Ark before so I was feeling a mixture of excitement and anxious of what to expect. All I knew about it was that it’s a survival game surrounding dinosaurs. We’ve been playing it for over a week now and we’re all having an amazing time! 😀 I’ve become the one who looks after the dinosaurs and tidies up around the place. 😛 We have two robot stegosaurus’ which I called Daft and Punk. Yes, I’m a loser. 😛 It’s just such a fun game and I honestly recommend it to everyone who fancies something new to play. Plus, I’m pretty sure it’s free on Xbox too!

Just a few of my favourite things.

• Creating an amigurumi – Animal Crossing Bizkit dog villager.

Not long after the third lockdown began in the UK I decided I would take up a new hobby and that new hobby was going to be amigurumi! I’d been mesmerised by it for quite some time thanks to Instagram and I thought, “Why not give it a go myself?” I’m not going to lie, the first time I gave this a go I was stressed out and anxious that I’d picked up a hobby I couldn’t actually do… My aunt always tried to show me how to crochet when I was younger and I never got the hang of it. Dane was really good and helped me so much with learning how to do some of the basics of amigurumi and if it wasn’t for that, I think I would have given up.

I worked on this project for a couple of days and didn’t go back to it for a few weeks after getting busy. I don’t know what happened but when I picked it back up I just… Got on with it and something that I’d struggled with so much the two weeks prior just came natural to me! I haven’t finished Biskit yet, but I plan to at the start of March. I’ve been a bit too busy lately to pick it up back but I only have a leg and his ears left to do.

Due to the amount of wool I have left I’m actually planning to make another one to either gift to a friend or keep hold of. In the future I would love to do some more projects similar to this including more Animal Crossing dog villagers, Pokemon and maybe even try and find a Puppycat (Bee & Puppycat) and Morgana (Persona 5) design to play with too.

If you’re interested in this design too and fancy giving it a go yourself then make sure to go and check out HanisCrochet! I bought my PDF pattern on her Etsy store and she’s been so lovely and helpful when I’ve gotten stuck or confused with the pattern. I’ll link back to the Biskit pattern here. The next one I plan to buy from her is Cherry so I can make one for Dane, as well as my friend Gabriella. 🙂

• Pikarar photoshoot (read the post all about Pikarar here).

I’m not going to talk too much about this but I LOVED this mini photoshoot that me and Dane did for my Pikarar review! I had loved the mini photoshoot we’d done for my Black Milk Clothing x Pokemon collection post (which you can read here) so I knew I wanted to do another. Our front room is perfect for these photoshoots and I’m not going to lie, 2021 will hopefully bring more!

As you will have noticed on my blog, as well as on my blog social media pages my image has changed to be the one where I’m wearing my yellow Pikachu crane Pikarar t-shirt. I loved how natural the photo came out and I found by wearing something Pokemon and geeky related it’s more related to what my blog is about.

What do you guys think about the photos? 😀

• Food – Pancake day,fFakeaway and Japanese ramen.

February was a month of me cooking some yummy meals and if there is one thing I really love to do, it’s cooking. Towards the start of February we had Shrove Tuesday/pancake day! I always make pancakes for me and Dane when pancake day rolls around and I knew we had to have them with bacon and syrup! They were really yummy and now I’m craving them again. 😛

I’ve cooked a couple of “fakeaway” meals during February including Nandos and this burger meal we did! The burgers are Linda McCartney’s vegetarian pulled pork burgers and they are AMAZING! I cooked up some chilli halloumi to pop on top and on the side, as well as some salt and pepper chips. This was such a lovely dinner and it definitely hit the spot.

Finally earlier this week I made ramen. It’s been BLOODY FREEZING this week in Birmingham and both me and Dane needed something to warm us up, so I decided to cook us ramen. I used Oumph! spiced kebab meat which is vegetarian and it’s okay… But it’s not something I’d pick up often as I find for the price it isn’t worth it. I’m not 100% vegetarian (flexitarian?) but I’m not someone who eats kebabs so I’d rather have this, if that makes sense? 🙂

• Black Milk Clothing x Pokemon.

Pokemon Day was yesterday and can you believe Pokemon has been around officially for 25 years? I feel fucking old… 😛 I mentioned earlier in this post that I had splurged on some Black Milk pieces towards the end of February and pissed my spending ban UP THE WALL! One of the two pieces I picked up is the Pokemon Dreams Snuggle Suit that I’ve had on my wish list since the collection came out in 2020. I’ve been wearing this on and off toward the end of February and it’s so comfortable to wear during games evenings and chilling with Dane. Black Milk Clothing have their Pokemon 2.0 collection coming out TONIGHT (in the UK anyway…) and I’m planning to buy a couple of things from it. I’m eyeing up the Snorlax snuggle suit but… I don’t think I will. One is enough for me me thinks.

So that is everything from my February monthly favourites! As I said before, February was rubbish for me but writing this post I’ve seen some things I really loved and enjoyed this month, which has made me feel a bit better. 🙂

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

Until next time all, take care, keep safe and see you soon!

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.