Meccha Japan – Review and Haul

Guys I cannot tell you how excited I have been to write this review and haul! I have literally had the items I’m going to be talking about with you sat in the box they arrived in in anticipation! 😛

In 2021 I decided that I wanted to explore my options when it comes down to buying kawaii goodies from Japan, such as the Pokemon center, Nintendo Tokyo, Nendoroid figures and more. I’d heard about Meccha Japan for quite some time, but never really thought about buying from them before as I always get anxious when shopping with new places based in Japan. I decided to go for it though last month and ordered myself some Pokemon plushies, as well as some of my favourite Japanese candy. All items are soda themed by the way, which I thinks pretty cool. 😛

I wanted to write a review all about Meccha Japan, as when I searched online for reviews via blogs and YouTube, I couldn’t find anything! No one I knew at the time of making my purchase had ordered from Meccha Japan either, but as they had great Trustpilot reviews and you could pay via PayPal (always important for me!) I decided to go for it. Spoilers, my experience was pretty good. 😛

So, sit back and grab a hot drink and maybe one of your favourite plushies to cuddle as I share with you my thoughts on Meccha Japan, as well as the soda themed goodies I bought.

For those of you who may be asking who Meccha Japan are a Japanese online shop who sell exclusive items that only come from Japan, which range from Pokemon, Sanrio, Studio Ghibli, Nendoroid figures and even Japanese food! All items are ready and available on the website, so now requesting items or trying to purchase through third parties.

I discovered Meccha Japan in 2020 when I came home from Japan and was after some items from the Pokemon Mofu Mofu Eievui collection. I found Meccha Japan through Google searches and had them bookmarked since.

Recently the Pokemon Center in Japan announced they would be adding more plushies to their Saiko Soda Refresh line, including Psyduck, Mew, Marill and Chikorita. I fell in love with the Mew plush especially but Marill’s cute little face definitely caught my eye too! I couldn’t decide between which to order, so I really went for it and ordered both, calling it an early Christmas present to myself. 😛

One thing I wanted to mention and show here is how well packaged I found everything to be! The box wasn’t too big for the goodies I ordered, as well as a fair cost for airmail, which arrived a week after it being sent. The cost for all my goods to be shipped was £11.54 which I found really good considering. A lot of people may feel this is a lot, but considering it arrives in a week, I’m not complaining!

Plush Mew Pokémon Saiko Soda- (link)

The Mew plush is a gorgeous Barbie pink colour, with huge cobalt blue eyes and the CUTEST tag design I’ve seen since the Eeveelution Poke Dolls. This is a really nice sized plush for a collector, especially if you love Mew and the colour pink as well. At the time of purchase this cost me £11.32, which is a complete bargain! I couldn’t not pick up Mew, considering it’s one of my favourite Pokemon. I’ve really loved the Saiko Soda Refresh collection, but just never really “loved” anything from the collection enough to buy, until now. This Mew plush was my reason for finally taking the plunge for making my first order with Meccha Japan.

Plush Marill Pokémon Saiko Soda – (link)

This is the first (and probably only) Marill plush to come to my Pokemon plushie collection and it’s so BLOODY CUTE! Literally, “It’s so fluffy I’m going to die!” feelings came when this arrived! I ummed and ahhed a little bit about buying this plush, but due to the price at the time (same as Mew at £11.32) I thought it would be rude not to buy it and I’m so glad I did, as since then the price has increased. I only assume this is due to these plushies selling out and being harder to get? I especially love it’s confused and surprised looking face, which is so cute! Everything about the Marill Saiko Soda Refresh plush works and I don’t think they could have picked a better Pokemon for it. I especially love Marill’s tail too, which is really springy and cute, definitely something different for my collection. Like Mew, the artwork on the tag is so adorable!

Alongside the Pokemon plushies, I also ordered myself some of my favourite Japanese candy, Bourbon Fettuccine Gummies in soda flavour!

Bourbon Fettuccine Gummi Soda Gummy Candy – (link)

I discovered these ramune flavoured sweets in Japan in 2020 and fell in love, so when I found these on Meccha Japan, I made sure to order a decent amount… Aka five packets. I had ten in my basket originally, not going to lie. 😛 These are chewy strips that are a aqua blue colour with a sugar coating and taste of ramune, my favourite! These are stupidly cheap at just 96p a packet (at the time of ordering)! Some stockists in the UK are selling these over £3.00 which is a joke. I’ll definitely order some more of these on my next order from Meccha Japan, it would be rude not to.

Overall I was really happy with the service from Meccha Japan! Their costs are extremely fair, the delivery costs were too and overall I was just happy with how everything arrived too.

I’m already planning to order from them again in the near future and have some goodies bookmarked for next time, including, Pokemon Mew Cookie Roll Tin and Pokemon Fit Phanpy Plush.

Have you ever purchased from Meccha Japan? If so, how was your experience and what did you buy? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time all, have a great weekend and see you next week. 🙂

HUGE Shop Small UK Guide – Christmas 2020

Can you believe there is only 18 days until Christmas? Have you finished your Christmas shopping yet? I’m awful this year and I’m not done. I usually have all my gifts bought by now, but alas I still have my parents to buy for.

This year I wanted to do a gift guide, but not my usual one aimed at the geeks, otaku and kawaii fans, beauty, fashion etc etc. I wanted to instead focus on small companies/independent artists/businesses who need our support more than ever due to COVID and it’s affects from lockdowns here in the UK.

First of all, I’m only speaking about the UK as with a Twitter poll a couple of weeks ago, it’s what you as the readers voted for. However at the end of the post I will mention who you can shop small with all over the world too.

I’m going to add all sorts of categories here, not just geek, kawaii, otaku related. I’ll be talking about beauty, home, geek, Japan related, food and more! I want to try and talk about as much as I can, so when you need ideas for Christmas gifts you have lots of choice. I will also mention the last date to order for Christmas too if you’re in the UK. Please bear in mind with the COVID situation and Christmas on the horizon, Royal Main is struggling a little, so if you want to order, order as soon as possible!

Let’s get started! I really hope you guys enjoy this post. 🙂

Image taken from GIPHY

Geeky/Kawaii

Image taken from Jennifairy Illustration

Jennifairy Illustration – Creating cuties to make you smile. Enamel pins, stickers and keychains, all inspired by cute animals, video game characters and more.

Last date to order for Christmas – 14th December. However, if order after this date it could still get there but that can’t be promised. If you want to guarantee item(s) to arrive for Christmas order as soon as possible.

Jennifairy Illustration is an independent artist/store I have spoken about on my blog since 2017 and I knew they were one of the first places I wanted to speak about today! Jennifairy has a range of products – enamel pins, stickers and keychains. Her style is incredibly cute and kawaii and the designs make me smile whenever I see them, both on her store and in my home. If you know someone who loves cute animals and certain characters from popular video games, then they will love to open a cute design from Jennifairy. Christmas wise you can pick up some gingerbread friends or even a Christmas Pikachu, with a Santa’s hat and a cup of coffee. There are loads of different designs to choose from, there is something for everyone.

Image taken from Littlest Spook Shop

Littlest Spook Shop – We put the Oo in spooky! Cute spooky ghost prints, mugs and other items to choose from!

Last date to order for Christmas – Currently Littlest Spook Shop is looking to close 9th December.

Halloween isn’t just once a year with Littlest Spook Shop. I discovered them around Halloween this year and I love their spooky ghost designs. They’re so damn cute and spoopy and I’m down for that. I regret not ordering some of their Christmas cards this year to be honest, but there’s always next year. If you know someone who celebrates Halloween all year around then a print (or two!) from Littlest Spook Shop may just be for them! Not only do they sell prints but they also sell mugs, tote bags, enamel pins and patches so that spooky friend or family member can show off their love of ghosts and all things spooky all year around! The Always Cosy Club spooky print shouts out to me so much. During the colder months I’m like that little ghosty.

Image taken from FoxLeap

FoxLeap – Kawaii designs inspired by Disney and Japanese characters from films and video games.

Last date to order for Christmas – Not known at time of writing post.

FoxLeap is an independent artist/store I love buying enamel pins from. They’re adorable and there is always something in the store I want to pick up, including the Jiji enamel pin which I may need to order myself as a treat for writing this post. 😛 There is something for everyone when it comes down to FoxLeap including designs inspired by Disney (especially The Lion King series!), Pokemon, Studio Ghibli, Wolf’s Rain, Okami and more. Anyone who loves enamel pins will really love to receive a FoxLeap design and honestly they probably already know of FoxLeap’s existence. Not only do they make and sell enamel pins but they also sell prints, t-shirts, stickers, enamel pin flags, tote bags and more so there is plenty to choose from!

Image taken from NaomiLordArt

NaomiLordArt – A freelance artist who creates adorable prints inspired by animals, magical creatures, witches, Goddesses, Critical Role and more!

Last date to order for Christmas – Orders will be shipped until the shop closes for Christmas on 20th December. If you want to guarantee item(s) to arrive for Christmas order as soon as possible.

Guys you know me I love kawaii animals, especially foxes and that is something NaomiLordArt does so bloody well! I mean, look at them cute seasonal fox designs! I feel anyone of any age will love a little stocking filler that involves one of the many designs that NaomiLordArt has on offer. Plus if you and your friends are fans of Critical Role, she’s drawn all of the gang and put it onto a print, which you can find here. I feel NaomiLordArt would be perfect as items to gift children, teenagers and anyone who loves prints and stickers. I’ve gifted my best friend goodies from there before that were surrounding Star Wars and Harry Potter. There are also RPG class animal stickers and prints too, so if you play in a D&D group and are taking part in a D&D themed Secret Santa, these would make perfect gifts alongside some dice.

Image taken from GIPHY

Japanese Snacks

Image taken from Something Japanese

Something Japanese – UK based online shop that sells the best things from Japan! Chocolate, Candy, Collectables, Otaku Goodies and much much more.

Last date to order for Christmas – December 21st. If you want to guarantee item(s) to arrive for Christmas order as soon as possible.

Something Japanese is a store I have bought from for about five years now and they are really good! I especially love to pick up the Japanese snack boxes from them as they’re always an amazing price for how many Japanese sweets and treats you get. I ordered the Halloween one and it was amazing and I’ve ordered the Christmas Japanese Candy Box too. This might make for an amazing gift to someone who loves Japanese sweets and treats and who may also miss Japan or want to visit Japan. COVID has prevented travelling to Japan for a lot of people and I know a lot of my friends who missed out on their trips this year. This would make for a nice treat to open Christmas Day. Something Japanese does sell other items too and separate sweet treats so make sure to check that out too.

Image taken from Tofu Cute

Tofu Cute – A UK kawaii shop that sells all sorts of cute and unique Japanese snacks, plushies, accessories, stationery and other goodies.

Last date to order for Christmas – Not known at time of writing post.

Tofu Cute is a store me and my boyfriend often order our Japanese sweets from as they’re great prices and they always seem to have the goods that Japan get at the same time. Not only do they stock sweets but also drinks as well! We’ve bought many bottles of ramune and Pokemon fizzy drinks from Tofu Cute and they’ve all been enjoyed! Think my favourite thing I’ve ever bought from Tofu Cute are the Melty Kiss chocolates. They’re to die for and would make an amazing gift for someone’s stocking this Christmas. 🙂

Image taken from GIPHY

Home

Image taken from Cushty Co Twitter page

Cushty Co – Handmade home fragrance. Scented soy wax melts beautifully crafted with sprinkles of glitter and careful colouring. Vegan friendly.

Last date to order for Christmas – Monday 14th December – Store will close at 5pm. If you want to guarantee item(s) to arrive for Christmas order as soon as possible.

Cushty Co are my go to for wax melts and I’ve ended up buying so many this year! Their autumn/Halloween collection being my favourite to date. If you know someone who loves burning candles and wax tarts like me, Cushty Co are a great place to check out. They do LOADS of different scent varieties and three different sizes of wax so the choices are huge. They currently have their Christmas/winter scents in stock and I have all of them! They’re absolutely amazing and if you know someone who loves Christmas and wishes it could be everyday, then some of the Christmas/winter scents will be right up their street. Not only do Cushty Co sell wax tarts, but they also sell room sprays too, which I’m yet to try. If you know someone who loves Lush then they’ll love Unicorn Dreams which smells exactly like Snow Fairy and Nightfall which smells exactly like Twlight.

Image taken from Bubble Baskets UK/Books Baths and Beauty

Bubble Baskets UK/Books Baths and Beauty – Lovingly Custom made 3D printed Bubble Baskets.

Last date to order for Christmas – 17th December if ordering a pink, black or ombré bubble basket. 14th December if ordering a custom colour. If you want to guarantee item(s) to arrive for Christmas order as soon as possible.

I recently decided to buy myself a bubble basket from Books Baths and Beauty as I’ve wanted one for over a year now and as my bathroom was redone in the summer, I’ve finally been indulging in bath products and having bath cocktails more. It arrived over the weekend I’ve used it a few times since. It’s really good and if you’re like me and use bubble bars, shower gels and more to create bubbles, then this is for you! They’re made with a 3D printer and are sturdy and amazing! 😀 If you know someone who loves taking baths and using the same products as I do, this will be perfect for helping them create lots of bubbles! Teenagers will love this, as well as mermaids.

Image taken from GIPHY

Beauty

Image taken from The Bath Bae

The Bath Bae  –  Handmade bath treats to make you glow inside and out. Vegan and cruelty free!

Last date to order for Christmas – Monday 21 December at 3pm Royal Mail Tracked 48 or Tuesday 22 December at 3pm Royal Mail Tracked 24. If you want to guarantee item(s) to arrive for Christmas order as soon as possible.

I recently made my first order with The Bath Bae and honestly – I have zero regrets. They focus on bath bomb products in various different varieties and scents so there is plenty to choose from! So far I’ve only tried the bath cubes and they are amazing, perfect for anyone of any age. You can pick up bath sparkle, sparkle rocks, bath cubes and bath soak. These would make great stocking fillers for teenagers and anyone who loves a good soak in the bath. My favourite scent from them so far is Oh So Slushie, which reminds me of Tango Ice Blast slushies from the cinema.

Image taken from Happy Melon

Happy Melon – Handmade beauty products made in small batches and packed with cuteness, colour and yummy fragrance. Cruelty free!

Last date to order for Christmas – Restock this Sunday (13/12/2020) and as items sell out quickly, there isn’t really a last date to order for Christmas.

Happy Melon is a brand I discovered this year and bought from during their last restock. If you know someone who loves their beauty and bath products and for them to be as colourful as possible, Happy Melon is a good indie brand for this! They have a wide variety of products including bubble bath, lip sugar, perfume oil, bath soak (snuggle soak), sugar scrub and more! One of the bubble baths I own is a Lush Snow Fairy dupe (Sabrina bubble bath) and it’s one of my favourite products to use after a long day. Plus a little goes a long way and this stuff lasts AGES! One of the products I am excited to try soon is the Pop Kei Snuggle Soak, which smells just like Tango Ice Blast slushies! It would work so well with the slushie bath cubes from The Bath Bae. Again this is a great brand for teenagers due to how colourful everything is and maybe even children too due to how colourful and sparkly the bubble baths are.

Image taken from Hex Bomb

Hex Bomb – Divine handmade gothic beauty products for dark sweets hearts. Creator of the first black bath bomb! Cruelty free and vegan!

Last date to order for Christmas – 21st December. If you want to guarantee item(s) to arrive for Christmas order as soon as possible.

Hex Bomb is a brand I have always wanted to try since the Black As Your Soul bath bomb came out. I’m yet to try it still and plan to buy it in the near future! I’ve mentioned some colourful and kawaii beauty indie brands so far, so I wanted to through a gothic, dark brand in there for good measure. I love me a dark bath, it reflects who I am inside and this brand would be perfect for any goth friend or relative out there! Not only do they make bath bombs but Hex Bomb also sell shower gel, soap, scrub, lip balm, perfume oil AND even wax melts for your home. If you aren’t sure what to buy that gothic beauty in your life (because Hex Bomb have a lot of variety!) you could always pick up one of their gift boxes which contains a variety of products. If you want to see a review (or two) of Hex Bomb make sure to go and check out my great blogger friend Raiin Monkey’s blog posts here.

Image taken from GIPHY

Honourable Mentions

Geek/Kawaii – Quirkory – Due to being based in Italy, they didn’t qualify for this shop small post. However, I couldn’t not mention them! They sell enamel pins, stickers and prints inspired by Japanese video games and cute animals.

Geek/Kawaii – Claire Likes To Doodle – The reason I didn’t mention my friend Claire and her store is because she got a post allllll to herself recently! Which I am going to link here. 🙂

Geek/Kawaii – 1 In 100/One In Hundred – A local Brummy like myself, Alex over at 1 In 100 has some amazing designs on her store and you can buy items from clothing, badges, keyrings, stickers, prints, stationary and more. I keep meaning to pick up some of her Japan inspired prints. Check them out here and here.

Geek/Kawaii – Chibi Shibby – May have bought a Christmas present from one of my favourite artists… 😉 Shibby recently reopened her store and has filled it was gorgeous kawaii goodies! There’s also some Christmas related goods in there too.

Geek/Kawaii – Lunaticgumis – Due to being based in Gran Canaria, they didn’t quality for this shop small post. However, I am planning to write about them on my blog very very soon! 😀 They sell stickers as well as amigurumis (Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small, stuffed yarn creatures). They stock Bee and Puppycat designs WHICH I LOVE!

Geek/Kawaii – Taiyakiblue – This store is joint owned by tattooists senseoftheterrific and tubbybeartattoo. They stock clothing, prints and even some keyrings and pins made out of resin. They’re both inspired by geeky/kawaii themes such as D&D, Studio Ghibli, Dragonball Z, Moomins, Adventure Time and more. I’ve purchased a Christmas present from them and plan to buy prints in the future! I love their style so much.

Bath – Bath Bake Love – No restock until after Christmas where there will be lots of enchanted teasers for the New Year Wonderland and plenty of goodies in January!

AND THERE WE HAVE IT! My HUGE shop small Christmas shopping guide for the UK!

What do you guys think? I wanted to try and cover as much as I could and I like to think I’ve done that quite well. In the future I may pop up with some of these after Christmas, just as good shopping guides throughout the year for birthday’s and more!

Honestly guys, I hope you enjoyed this post today as much as I enjoyed writing it. I’m off work for the week and the first thing I knew I wanted to do was to write this post.

Are there any small shops in the UK that you feel I should know about? Make sure to let me know and I’ll take a look for next time!

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

Tokyo Direct – The Place To Go For Japanese Goods*

I’m bringing you guys a pretty cool post today that I’ve been excited to write about since I received my goodies last week! As regular readers will know, I love anything to do with Japan, especially the food, games and anime and manga.

A while back Tokyo Direct followed me over on Twitter and mentioned to me how they were looking for bloggers and vloggers to talk about their brand and some of the stuff they sell. Months later I FINALLY got back to them about this and they agreed to send me some goodies in the post to talk about on my blog.

Tokyo Direct are a UK-based online shop that sell Japanese products and ship worldwide.

Tokyo Direct is founded in 2017 to bring amazing Japanese products directly from Japan to UK, Europe and worldwide. Our products are carefully selected by our Japanese staff and imported from Japan so that genuine products and trends in Japan are guaranteed to deliver to you.

I was so excited for what they were sending me and let me know what I would be expecting. They sent me some Japanese candy, as well as a sheet mask. I’ll be talking about them on this post of course!

The first thing I took out of the package is this sheet face mask!

• Hadabisei 3D Mask Series in Ageing Care Whitening* – (link)

The first thing I want to mention about this product is that on the website they actually sell a box of 4, which is the item I’ve also linked in this post. So sadly if you only wanted to buy one, I don’t know if you could or not!

I noticed on the packaging that there isn’t any English on it, apart from a few little bits and pieces. This doesn’t matter though really as it’s fairly straight forward how you use a sheet mask, you know?

I was sent the ageing care whitening mask which contains highly pure vitamin C, which is said to help brighten your skin.

As of yet I haven’t given this face mask a go as I’m waiting for the right chance to use it, which will probably be during my week off work this month. I cannot wait to give this a go as I’m such a sucker for face masks to be honest with you, especially sheet masks on a warm evening!

The Japanese candy that I was sent are some old favourites of mine and I was happy to receive them!

• Morinaga Hi-Chew Green Apple* – (link)
• Morinaga Hi-Chew Grape* – (link)

I’m no going to sugar coat this when I say it, but to send a blogger stuff is amazing, absolutely amazing! But to send someone out of date stuff is pretty shocking. Sorry Tokyo Direct but whilst I’ll still eat these, it’s still pretty lame and it’s a tad disappointing.

I used to love Hi-Chew’s back in the day when I first discovered Japanese sweets and snacks and I would always make sure to pick up a tube of the grape flavour! I always buy these in my local Japanese supermarket if they have my favourite flavours too, which includes peach alongside grape.

Hi-Chew are fruity chew sweets and were first released in 1975. The sweets were created so that Japanese people could have an edible chewing gum which could be swallowed. This is because of the Japanese taboo against people taking food out of their mouth/

If you have never given Hi-Chew sweets a go then I HIGHLY recommend them, especially the strawberry and apple flavours, as I know so many people who love those flavours.

 

Also, the links above aren’t for single packets of the sweets, but actually for a pack of 12.

Overall I love my little blogger package that Tokyo Direct sent me, although very disappointed with being sent out of date products.

Would that put me off buying food products from them? Oh definitely and sadly I doubt I ever will due to that! I’d definitely love to try to order some of the beauty products from there in the future though, as well as the stationary items! I’ve already got my eyes peeled at some I’d love to pick up for work. 😛

I’ll pop all of Tokyo Direct’s links down below!

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

What do you guys think of Tokyo Direct? Would you order any of your Japanese goodies from them? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time all, take care and I hope you’re ready for the weekend.

What I Got For Christmas!

Christmas is nearly over and bloody hell it went by fast! I can’t believe we’ve had the three magical days fly by us and leave a coating of snow behind.

I hope all of my readers and blogger friends had an amazing Christmas and (although it isn’t important) I hope everyone got what they wanted for Christmas! I know I did and more!

So, (as pretty much most bloggers do now!) I thought I would write about what lovely gifts I got from Dane, my family and friends this Christmas.

I want to disclose here that this is by any means me showing off what I got this year and I never feel like when I read fellow bloggers posts, or watch YouTube videos about it that people are meaning to show off. I love reading and seeing what my fellow bloggers received (as I’m a nosey bitch! :P) as it’s nice to see goodies they’ve wished for throughout the year as well as special meaning behind them! If you feel this is me showing off, click off of this post now because, ain’t nobody got time for that!

NOW! On with the post!

When writing this post I haven’t actually received all my gifts and one of my best friends still hasn’t been able to give me hers, but I’ll be seeing her around my birthday so I can definitely mention it then!

The first gift I want to talk about is the gorgeous little Sylveon print that Sarah over at Raiin Monkey sent me in the post! I wasn’t expecting it and it’s so sweet of her! I’m going to pop it up in the office somewhere so I can look at it whilst doing blog work. 🙂

My friend Jacqui was able give me hers from both her and her boyfriend Chris and it was such a thoughtful and beautiful gift! It may not look like much to many, but we’ve had quite a few cocktail evenings together and my cocktail shaker isn’t the best. It gets stuck and then you struggle to get the lid off. So they bought us this Smirnoff kit, with a gorgeous red and silver shaker in (it matches our kitchen!) as well as a glass and measure cup in! I couldn’t be any happier with it to be honest.

My friend Sophi sent me a little box of goodies and I love them all so much! She sent us some little Japanese sweeties (which sadly we ate before I took my pictures! :P), a Pusheen tote bag and some Pusheen socks, as well as a pair of fox socks. I can’t complain at getting socks and I’ll be wearing them to work to keep my feet toasty over the rest of the winter months! OH and she also put in a cute little Pusheen keychain too, which I’ll pop on my tote bag!

Speaking of Pusheen! Dane’s brother and his girlfriend bought me a gorgeous boxed Pusheen mug with socks! I love it so much and am currently drinking some lemon green tea from it. The socks that came with it are so adorable and have paw prints on the feet. As well as that they also gave me a cute Minnie Mouse face mask as well as a Winky Lux flower balm in green. When you apply it to your lips it works with the PH and turns into a gorgeous light pink! I can’t wait to use this and I’ve wanted one of these since they first came out!

My aunt and cousin both bought me and Dane this gorgeous dachshund pillow which I’m going to have for the chair in the office! As well as that they also picked me up a gold fox keyring which was popped into my Christmas card.

Dane’s gran bought me a little something for Christmas and that’s a Bailey’s gift set with a little glass and some Lindt Lindor chocolates, which I LOVE! This will be enjoyed New Years Eve or on my birthday for definite! 😀

My sister in law and  my nephews bought me a cute little lip butter set, and it’s so strange! They’re lovely and you get three flavours, coconut, cherry and peppermint.. I’ve never used a lip butter like this before but I’ll definitely be keeping these for work and around the house!

Dane’s parents bought me some lovely gifts and one that really did make me chuckle! The first gift I noticed they’d bought me and one they get me every year is a Lush Christmas gift set! This year they bought me The Snowman gift set. This one contains The Snowman bubbleroon, Butterbear bath bomb, Man In The Moon bubble bar and Snow Angel bath melt. I’m super excited to try Man In The Moon!

They picked me up three hot chocolates on sticks! I LOVE these and they actually bought these from one of our friends coffee stalls in Coventry! These are so amazing and work really well! They bought me a normal one, a mocca one and a peppermint one! I can’t wait to try the peppermint flavour and I’ll definitely make it in my new Pusheen mug. 😛

One of my favourite presents from Dane’s parents has to be the Your Name Blu-ray that they bought me! This isn’t just the ordinary Blu-ray either, but actually a collector’s edition so it comes with both Blu-ray, DVD and also a CD of the films soundtrack! It’s such a beautiful film and was one of my favourites I’d been to see in the cinema last year. I definitely recommend watching it if you get the chance, or if you have Amazon Prime as it’s on there to watch in both subbed and dubbed right now!

Finally the present that made me chuckle is this little pom pom… That is actually a panic alarm! You pull the keychain and it makes a very loud noise! I doubt I’ll pop this onto my handbag but I’ll definitely keep it inside of my bag for emergencies! You never know to be fair. I get why she picked this up for me though to be honest! In my old job I would get to the car park at 5.30am, I would be the only one, it was dark and at one point we had issues with people hiding in the dark on the level of the car park I was on. It did frighten me! So this gift whilst being strange, as very thoughtful all the same.

Now onto the gifts that Dane bought me, I’m going to save the present my mom bought me until last. Usually I would save Dane’s until then, but wait until you see what she bought for me!

Since moving into our house we have a tradition now of making stockings up for each other, which consist of cute little bits and pieces, as well as Japanese sweets! This was no acceptation this year and we both gifted each other Japanese gifts!

He picked me up an assortment of Japanese treats, which includes some Puccho sweets in ramune flavour (Japanese soda), some sour candy sweets which are also ramune flavoured, some Pokemon grape gummy sweeties and some green matcha flavoured Kit Kats which are MY FAVOURITE! Finally he bought me a Gudetama DIY kit where you get to make a pudding version of Gudetama to eat! I cannot wait to do this and I think I’ll be saving it for my birthday. ^_^

Also in my stocking I had a few other bits and pieces such as a new refill for my Filofax and what a cutie he is, he bought me on in pink! I need to use my Filofax more this year!

Also in my stocking and presents overall was a couple of little Pokemon goodies, all of them are so cute! The first thing I opened was this Eevee pouch type bag, which is an official Pokemon Center item! I don’t know quite yet what I’ll use this for, but I can see it being for feminine products once a month and maybe some random handbag bits and pieces. This was a gift he’d asked me if I liked the look of when we were both having a nose online for gifts for one another. I wasn’t all that fussed at the time but all the same when I opened it Christmas Day I still loved it! It’s a little Eevee which you’re meant to rest over a glass, but I can see me sticking it to the PC monitor or even by the side of my bed. Another Pokemon gift he bought me was this blind box (although he knew which one he’d ordered) which contain desk buddies. Dane bought me this Pikachu one which holds your mobile phone for you. He bought me this to have for work but I want to have it for by my bed! It’s so cute and such a thoughtful gift all the same.

One of my favourite gifts from Dane just has to be this onigiri squishy keyring from Tofu Cute! I get anxious during long car journeys, as well as in other certain situations! This not only feels relaxing to squish over and over, but it’s also scented with (what I think anyway) strawberries! On the way to and from Coventry for Christmas Day I was squishing away at this, as well as whilst at Dane’s parents on the day! It’s going to end up living in my handbag for when I feel anxious or angry and need to relieve some tension.

One of the presents I had asked for for Christmas after discovering its existence are these Haku chopsticks. Haku is the dragon from Spirited Away and is my favourite Studio Ghibli character! I didn’t know if these chopsticks would be real or fake, but when I inspected the packet they are in fact real and Studio Ghibli approved!

The first main gift that I opened was this, The Manga Cookbook, which also came with a pack of chopsticks! I love cooking Japanese food, especially if I’m craving Japanese and I can’t and don’t want to go out and eat or buy any. This is a cute little gift and I can’t wait for me and Dane to cook recipes together from it.

The next gifts are these two little Pokemon Center plushies, which are like Beanie Babies! I’ve been collecting these for a few years now, thanks to Dane but they’re now so hard to get hold of! I found someone in the UK selling these 2 for a decent price and I didn’t know if Dane wou;d pick them up or not… Alas he did and they’re so adorable! We have a Flareon and a Raichu here and they’ll go so well with my other Eeveelutions, as well as with my Pikachu!

If you got back and take a look at the Christmas wish list I made on Christmas Eve (which you can read here) you’ll see that I wished for a lot of anime shows/films on Blu-ray and apart from one, all of the ones I asked for I got! Two of those being A Silent Voice and Your Lie In April part 2. Alongside Your Name, A Silent Voice was one of my favourite films from 2017 and I’m so stocked to have it on Blu-ray! The box itself is gorgeous and I cannot wait to binge watch it with Dane one of the evenings this week. This is the collector’s edition Blu-ray too, which also includes a DVD and a special booklet that tells you all about the film, as well as about the manga.

The second Blu-ray Dane bought for me is part 2 of Your Lie In April, which is the final part of the special collector’s edition! He bought me part 1 and the special box at the start of the year for my birthday, so now I’m so happy to finally have the box set completed! This is definitely the first thing I’ll be watching with Dane out of all of the Blu-rays I received as I want to binge watch all of this with him! I haven’t continued to watch anymore of it until I had all of the box set for us to binge watch!

Aside from my main presents this was probably one of my favourites to be honest! It’s The Art Of Persona 5 and I have been lusting after this book since they announced it way back in the summer! I’m so pleased Dane bought it for me to be honest as on Christmas Day after I opened it I had a good flick through the whole thing and I cannot wait to sit down with a cup of coffee and read the whole thing, cover to cover. This year I discovered Persona 5, as well as the Persona franchise! I haven’t fallen in love with a franchise this hard since Pokemon and I am so chuffed that back when it came out at the start of the year that I bought it.

Finally we have the main gifts from Dane and my favourites! These are the 2 Nendoroid’s that Dane bought for me this Christmas and I was so surprised to be honest with you! I mentioned on my Christmas wish list that I had a feeling Dane would have bought me Yuri but when I opened Viktor and THEN Yuri I was so happy! I couldn’t have asked for better Nendoroid’s to have received this Christmas and I feel like such a lucky girl. We have no room right now to put these up anywhere so sadly they’ll be staying in the boxes until we have room. But I love my 2 YURI!!! boys so much and I cannot wait to play with them and display them in the future! So many YURI!!! On Ice Nendoroid’s have been announced lately that we will definitely be getting in the future!

Dane really spoilt me this year and I am so grateful for everything I received! I know I have another present arriving that he ordered me, it’s nothing special but it’s the thought that counts! FYI it’s a Macaroon Treats Yankee Candle!

Now onto my final present and definitely the one that blew me away the most. I was so surprised when I opened it to discover my mom had bought me a Dyson hairdryer! I know these aren’t cheap to be honest and I’ve lusted after one since they were announced, so the fact that my mom bought me one makes me feel so loved and special. I still can’t believe she bought it for me and after trying it, I really do adore it. I wish she could read how thankful and grateful I am.

So those were all the goodies I got for Christmas and I am so, SO thankful to everyone who bought myself, as well as Dane gifts this year!

What did you get for Christmas? Big or small I would love to hear what you got from loved ones. You know where to tell me. 😉

Until next time, take care all and I hope you’re all resting after loads of Christmas and Boxing Day dinners!