November Wish List ’22

First of all apologies for the silence from me for two weeks! As I mentioned in my last blog post (October Favourites ’22) both me and Dane were due to have some time off work together, and we pretty much chilled all the week, and went for a chilled holiday the weekend. It was a much deserved and needed break for us both and we were sort of gutted to be back at work.

We just spent a lot of time together, which was also very overdue. We live together, so we are always just a room away from each others company, but sometimes we might be doing our own thing, whether that be online with friends, or solo. I’ve been spending a lot of time on my cross stitch projects lately, whereas Dane has been playing a lot of games, so it was nice to come together to do things we both love… Which was playing games. 😛 Then over the weekend we went to North Wales to stay at a shepherds hut, have a go at clay throwing, and of course explore some parts of the area. I’m going to talk more about our trip soon, so keep eyes peeled for it at the end of the month on my November favourites. 😉

I’ve realised whilst putting this wish list together that not only is it very clothing and plushie heavy, but it’s also very Pokemon heavy as well! Not that there’s anything wrong with any of those things, but if you aren’t a massive Pokemon fan… This months favourites may not be for you. 😛

So, sit back, grab a hot drink and let’s get into this months wish list post! I hope you enjoy it. 🙂

• Pokemon Center Vulpix & Alolan Vulpix Snowflake Knit Sweater – (link)

Christmas is just around the corner and with that, the Pokemon Center here in the UK and more have launched their Pokemon Christmas goods! Last year I purchased a Pokemon Christmas jumper, and I didn’t plan to again this year. However, when I saw this Vulpix snowflake sweater appear on the website, I just knew I had to get it. At this moment in time I haven’t ordered it, but, I do potentially plan to when I’m paid at the end of the month. I intend to wear the shit out of my Eevee Christmas jumper this year, but I love the look of this one for winter overall, as it doesn’t exactly shout “Christmas” at you, does it? It’s not cheap at £39.99, and the size I planned to get is currently sold out, so we’ll see what happens. 🙂 I remember last year a lot of people bought the Christmas jumpers and quickly sold them online in January.

• Lumichee 100% Cotton Batbat Hoodie – (link)

Lumichee is an independent store/brand I’ve been in love with for a while now, especially since my own goodies from the brand arrived last month that I ordered! I picked up a plush, and a hoodie and on this wish list I have the same types of items wished after all over again. The Lumichee hoodies are SO COMFORTABLE and by far my favourites in my wardrobe alongside my Pokemon Center UK 2019 one. They’re really baggy too, which is ideal for me as I love an oversized hoodie. I love Lumichee’s Batbat design, so the fact they have released one makes me happy. This probably won’t be something I purchase for myself until after Christmas, for obvious reasons. 😛

• Pokemon Center Plush Flareon Pokémon Fuwa Fuwa Daki – (link)

This is up the top of my wish list right now! Recently the Pokemon Center announced three new fuwa fuwa daki plushies would be available to buy, Vaporeon, Jolteon, and Flareon. These haven’t hit the UK Pokemon Center yet, which I’m hoping they do for a few reasons… The first one (and main one at that) being the cost for shipping is very high… £30 plus in fact, which is more than the plush itself. The second reason being I could maybe ask for one as a Christmas/birthday present then. I’m wary only Dane would order from Japan, but even then I don’t think it’s something he wants to do at the moment. Whilst I’d love all three of these cute fluffy babies, the one plush I want the most is the Flareon. It’s cute little surprised face is adorable, and my favourite out of the three. We’ll see if I get this cutie in the future or not. 😛

• Lumichee “Monochrome” Mini Batbat Plush Series 4 – (link)

The other Lumichee item, and another plushie to boot. 😛 The Batbat plush is one I’ve wanted for about two years now, as I do love bats. 🙂 I recently received my sakura inspired Mousemoth, which I do adore, but I still want a Batbat… This monochrome version is really cute and it’s mini too, so it won’t take over my plushie collection too much! 😛 Like the Batbat hoodie, I do plan on ordering that and the plush for myself after Christmas!

• Pokémon Scarlet & Violet – Dual Pack Steelbook Edition – (link)

The new Pokemon game is out in less than a week now and I am SO EXCITED! I’ve had the dual pack pre-ordered since June and I’m ready for it now. I’ve watched all the trailers, and in all honesty I’ve also seen all the spoilers. I’m sick of seeing other people play it, I want to have my turn now! I ordered the dual pack as Dane will play Scarlet, and I’ll play Violet. We have Friday off work to play this all day together, as well as over the weekend, which I am beyond ready for! If you haven’t watched any of the trailers for the new games, go and do it! I know I’ve linked the dual pack, but I’m wary that a lot of places have sold out of this now, so keep eyes peeled for where you can grab your copy/copies. 🙂

• Pokemon Gastly Winter Coat – (link)

Finally we have the item I’m probably most after on this list, which is a Pokemon themed winter coat, and of course if you didn’t gather by the name, it’s inspired by Gastly! This is from EMP, an alternative fashion website I frequent to every now and then, more so at Christmas for gifts for Dane. I saw a Twitter account share this coat, and some other Pokemon fashion items from this EMP Gastly range and fell in love straight away! If it wasn’t for the fact I’ve had so much stuff to pay for lately, as well as Christmas looming, I think I’d have bought this coat for myself by now! I’m semi hopeful I can pick it up for myself after Christmas as it would be a nice addition to my wardrobe. I love how long it hangs at the back, as well as the hood. Plus, it’s a duffle coat style, which is one of my favourites! I currently own and wear a red duffle coat during the colder months, which I don’t really want to replace.

So, there we have it guys, my wish list for November! Realistically from this point until after Christmas, I probably won’t be buying myself a lot of stuff, as that’s what Christmas is kind of for, as well as my birthday in January.

What items do you have on your wish list? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time, take care all and have a good weekend!

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!

Black Milk Clothing x Pokemon

Guys I have been SO excited to write this blog post! I wasn’t planning to until later on this month, but I can’t wait any longer. It needs to go up as soon as possible! 😀

I discovered Black Milk Clothing back in 2011 through a forum I used to be on. It was only in 2014 when I got my first piece, my mermaid leggings from eBay. Since then I’ve always bought my pieces second hand/new via eBay and Depop. I’ve never been caught out by fake Black Milk, thankfully! So, although I own Black Milk Clothing pieces, this is the first time I actually bought direct from them. I’ll share that experience later on in the post. For now, I want to talk about the Pokemon Collection!

Back in June Black Milk Clothing released their Pokemon collection and it was one I was SUPER excited for. I was worried there wouldn’t be any pieces I wanted to get, but it turns out there were at least a handful of pieces I really like the look of, one in particular, the Butterfree Romance Dress.

I knew I wanted this dress and decided if I was going to pick up one item from the collection, it was going to be this piece. The collection launch was slowly looming and I got myself ready to put the dress into my basket and pay. When it came to pressing “confirm payment” I kind of… Freaked out. It was coming to a lot of money, I was preparing for my bathroom to be worked on and… I hesitated. By the time I had some mini regrets, the dress had sold out… Followed shortly by the rest of the collection. I was gutted but at the same time I felt better for not picking the dress up, due to money.

Weeks flew by and I kept thinking about the dress. Every time I ventured to Instagram, Black Milk Clothing was showing off people wearing THAT dress and even one of my Instagram friends had bought the dress. I WAS GUTTED! I tweeted Black Milk Clothing pleading with them (not seriously… but seriously! :P) to bring the dress back.

Black Milk Clothing heard mine and many others pleads and prayers for the Pokemon collection to return and guess what? They announced a restock in July, over a month after the original release of the collection. I knew I was going to get that Butterfree dress this time and more! I wasn’t exactly rich in July after the bathroom being worked on, but I was so gutted about not getting the Butterfree dress, that I knew I wanted it.

I settled on three pieces I wanted to pick up, including the Butterfree dress and I managed to snag them all! 😀 Before I show them all off though I just want to share how I went about buying from a popular collection, as well as from Black Milk Clothing for the first time.

As I mentioned before, due to hesitation alone I missed out on buying the Butterfree dress from the original launch. Items do not get saved or kept in your basket, so you need to act fast, which I made sure to do when buying from he restock.

Something Black Milk Clothing do is to pop all collection items up in the store for you to view and add to your wish list ready for when they release. You select your size, and click on the “add to wish list” heart, simple!

The Pokemon collection launched on Tuesday at 7am Australian time (as that’s where the company is based), which is Monday 10pm here in the UK. I wanted to pick up three items from the collection, so I had three tabs open of my wish list ready. I kept it open for about an hour, but at 9.45pm I kept refreshing all three tabs. The collection for me launched at 9.58pm, so as soon as items started to become available to buy, I clicked buy on each tab until all three items, in my chosen size were in my basket.

I proceeded through the payment sections and confirmed my order, which went through without any issues! I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t shaking before, during and after ordering my pieces… Which sounds pathetic but I was so anxious that I wouldn’t get ANY of the pieces, let alone all three.

I was so anxious to be honest that the order wouldn’t go through, or it would be cancelled, so I waited for my email to say it was confirmed, which came through pretty quickly. I also waited to hear about my goods being sent… Which was a couple of weeks later after ordering.

I’d already ordered some goodies from Australia, which had taken a month to arrive from me, but I also knew of friends who had bought from the first release of the collection and had waited a month for their goods to arrive. I was happy to wait and just under a month after ordering, my goodies arrived!

The tracking was really good! I was able to keep up with where my parcel was and more. It did give an estimated arrival, but my goods arrived almost a week later than what was suggested. Again I didn’t mind, as long as my goods arrived to me. 🙂

I know a lot of people who were stung by customs and I also know a lot of people who weren’t. I was the latter, thankfully! I know someone who bought three pieces like me and wasn’t charged customs. I also know someone who bought one piece and was charged customs. Finally I heard of someone online who bought four or five pieces and was charged £40 in customs! FUCK!

I don’t know why I wasn’t charged customs. I don’t know if it’s due to Royal Mail delivering my parcel or what. I was very lucky and I’m grateful I wasn’t stung. I can only hope for the same in the future whenever I want to order pieces from Black Milk Clothing.

I didn’t take any photos, but the pieces I ordered arrived in perfect condition! Two of the pieces were made in China and came in clear plastic bags, whilst one of the pieces that was made in Australia arrived in a special bag you can throw away in your compost bin and it’ll decompose. I love this idea! More brands need to do this. It’s a shame that only the pieces made in Australia get these bags.

Finally the time has come to share with you the pieces I picked up… But if you were aware of the collection and all the pieces that released with it, you may have realised by now just which pieces I picked up… Seeing as I posted a photo of them all together at the start of this post! xD

I just want to add here by the way that all the pieces I bought are sold out and as far as I’m aware, they aren’t making a return. There are some pieces under the Pokemon collection that WILL return (which you can see here), so make sure to sign up for restock alerts if you’re interested. 🙂

• Butterfree Romance Dress (link)

As mentioned time and time again this is the dress I fell in love with from the Pokemon collection and I KNEW I had to have it! It’s a gorgeous light pink colour with Butterfree’s all over it. I went for a size L and I have no regrets! I could have probably gotten away with an M but I like the extra give. It’s really comfortable and roomy and I love clothing like that. Tighter/snug fit clothing often make me anxious and self conscious of my figure and always have, even when I was really skinny.

The romance dress style is one I’m new to but one I really love as it’s really flattering to my shape with it’s skater style skirt and the v-neck front. V-necks are usually something I pick up as I’ve always worried it doesn’t suit… Especially considering I’ve always had a big chest, but if anything this v-neck really suits that and I’m so pleased! I was wary that the v-neck may be too low and actually show off a bit more than I wanted to. This isn’t exactly the case, however due to the dress size giving a little, I think I may need to invest in a new bra to wear with this, or wear one of my other bras as you can see my current go to a little… This is something that is easily sort able!

The fabric itself is sheer, especially on the sleeves, but it’s not too sheer that you can see completely through the pink material and Butterfree design. The sleeves are also puffed, but the wrists are cuffed which I really like!

The style of the dress really does remind me of something from the 60’s/70’s and although it seems more like a spring/summer dress, I already know I’ll be wearing this all year through! I plan to wear it for evenings out with Dane and friends, as well as at work for any special events that are going on.

I’d wear this dress with black tights, a fake leather jacket and either some flats or boots.

• Gastly Evolution Handkerchief Dress (link)

This dress is one I really loved from the start but wasn’t sure if I was going to pick it up or not when making my order. Purely because it sold out so quick in the first release, that I didn’t think I’d even get hold of it when making my order. Alas, I did and it’s a dress I’m glad I ordered. It’s a dress that is out of my comfort zone, purely for the fact it’ll be hard to cover my arms unless I wear a t-shirt underneath, or a constantly cardigan over the top. It’s a gorgeous grape purple colour with Gastly, Haunter and Gengar printed all over it in a flocked fabric. It’s a mid thigh length, which is perfect for me but it’s just something different with the handkerchief style.

I’ve seen some girls over on Instagram style this piece up and they look AMAZING! I’ve seen some wearing a black mesh t-shirt under and some with a thick chain belt around the waist. I’m loving the latter, but I haven’t yet found a belt I want to get for it. Shoes wise, I don’t have a bloody clue what I’m going to wear with it yet! Probably end up being my Dr Martens boots to give it a rock/punk look.

Someone over on Instagram said how perfect this dress is for Halloween and she couldn’t be anymore accurate! Although I’m glad I ordered this dress, at the same time I need to get the right bra to wear with it, as well as how and when I want to. I think this is a dress I’ll wear for evenings out with friends, meals for work events and more. I have worn it around the house without one and whilst I can manage to get away with it in my own company, I’d never 100% feel comfortable doing that outside of the house.

If there is one issue I have had with this dress it’s the fact you have to hand wash it in cold water… But this isn’t the problem. The problem was the amount of purple dye that came out of the dress when I washed it. The bath looked like I was draining away a purple bath bomb! Plus it was just a pain in the bloody arse to try and wring out the dress. I thought I’d done it enough and hung it on my clothes horse. An hour later I went down to check on it, only to discover a MASSIVE pool of water underneath it! Thankfully the floor was fine, I mopped up the water and put the dress outside to dry on the line. It didn’t take long to dry, but due to all the faff it’s put me off wearing it and washing it a little… I’ll wear it and wash it, but it’ll be a dress I need to wash when it’s a good day outside so I can dry it!

I already know how I want to dress this up! I’ve bought a chain belt to wear around the wait, black tights, my Dr Martens boots and a fake leather jacket.

• Eevee Evolution Black Scoop Skater Dress (link)

The last dress I picked up from the collection is one that I’ve worn the most out of all three and it’s because it’s a Black Milk Clothing dress style I own a lot of. I love Eeveelutions and they’re some of my favourite Pokemon, but what encouraged me to pick up this dress was Attack On Mew purchased it and it looked adorable on her! PLUS this dress has pockets! I’ve never owned one of the skater dresses with pockets and it has literally changed my life! 😀

I ordered it in a size L and with Black Milk Clothing I fit either an M or L. Their sizing has definitely changed over the years and if anything their pieces feel like there is more room to them now than before… At least with the skater dresses anyway, which makes me really happy!

I’ve worn this dress with a long sleeved black mesh t-shirt underneath, black tights and my lilac Vans for a relaxed look. This dress is so comfortable and makes me feel confident, I honestly can’t wait to wear it more! I wish I could wear it at work as I think I’d feel super confident wearing it. Instead it’s going to be a casual dress to wear over the weekend, as well as for events and such. I’m already excited to wear it for Hyper Japan and Comic Con in the future.

So, those are all the pieces I picked up from the Pokemon collection! I could have easily picked up more looking back and there are a few limited pieces that I kinda regret not picking up, including – Mew Sheer Midaxi Dress and Ghost-Type HW Toasties. I definitely regret not grabbing the toasties leggings as I think they would have come in handy over the colder winter months. I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled on eBay and Depop for either of these in the future.

There are also some permanent pieces that I’m definitely looking to pick up in the future, including – Bulbasaur Apron Dress, Eevee Evolution Floral V Dress and Eevee Evolution Floral Cuffed Pants. I could say I regret not picking up any of these pieces, but as they’re permanent items they’ll be back in stock in the future. I’m already planning on picking up the apron dress as well as the cuffed pants in the future!

I have always been a Black Milk Clothing fan, but for the past year and a half I’ve really forgotten just how much I LOVE the brand! I haven’t worn my pieces as much since joining the company I currently work at, but COVID and the Pokemon collection has reminded me how much I love Black Milk Clothing and why. 🙂

Since picking up these goodies from the Pokemon collection I’ve already purchased another piece from the Welcome to Halloweenia collection. I can’t wait to show it you in the future… 😛

Overall I am really happy with the pieces I picked up from the Pokemon collection and although I may have wished to pick up another item or two, I got the main three pieces I wanted and that is kinda enough for me… For now. 😛

What do you guys think of Black Milk Clothing? Do you own any pieces by them? Are there any pieces you like the look of? Would you guys like me to eventually show off all the pieces I own? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below.

Until next time, stay safe, take care and have a lovely weekend!

Japan Haul #1 – Pokemon Center

Guys it is officially the first post of my Japan trip and I am so excited to share it with you today!

I decided to kick start this post with two things I love, hauls and Pokemon. YES I will be sharing with you guys not only the goods I picked up from the Pokemon Center, but a quick glimpse of the Pokemon Center’s I ventured to as well as some random Pokemon bits and pieces too.

As a lot of you know, I am a massive fan of Pokemon and have been since the young age of 9 (I lose track of how old I was but I think I was roughly this age?). I’ve never looked back and it’s still a massive love of mine 21 years later.

Of course when I went to Japan I HAD to go to the Pokemon Center… More than one to be fair. 😛 I ventured to the Tokyo DX, Tokyo Station and Shibuya (Parco). Me and Dane did try to go to Mega Tokyo in Sunshine City, but this was closed. They’re currently refurbishing it for renewal, which will reopen in Spring this year! Sad that we missed out on that store… They did have the Pokemon Go Lab, which is a Pokemon Center… But full of Pokemon Go merch! We walked past and had a glace,but we weren’t bothered about going in to be honest with you… We don’t play Pokemon Go as much as we used to… Although we may get back into it for some fitness.

Years ago I discovered the Pokemon Center existed in Japan back in around 2011 when I finished university. I had loads of time on my hands and found out LOADS about it! I wanted to go, be there and experience it myself. I’d search for YouTube videos, just so I could see what it was like and imagine I was there. I never thought I’d get to go to the Pokemon Center myself, so being able to go with Dane was something magical for me and I was so excited.

The first one we went to was the Tokyo Station one, which is tiny! I was fascinated by all the plushies they had in there and wanted to buy so many. They also had a limited coin machine you could get a printed brass/copper coin from too for just 200 yen. I didn’t get one on my first trip. I went back and picked one up.

Just an FYI with this post, I won’t be including prices, as most stuff I honestly don’t remember… I just remember buying lots of stuff I wanted and paying a lot of money… 😛
I bought a few plushies from the Tokyo Station Pokemon Center including a Cyndaquil plushie and a Poke Doll Mew plushie. Surprising, Cyndaquil is one of my favourite Pokemon and out of all the games, it’s also my favourite starter to choose from too.
Later that day we ventured over to the Tokyo DX Pokemon Center, as we had the Pokemon Cafe booked (which I will be talking about on another post soon!) for the evening and Tokyo DX is right next door!

Just entering the building that takes you up to the Pokemon Centre and Cafe is amazing. There are four pictures that line the sides of the room which are COVERED in loads of different Pokemon and a lift in the middle. You have to take the left up to the 5th floor in order to get to both the Pokemon Center and Cafe. The doors open behind you when you reach the 5th floor and you’re met with a massive Snorlax, Mew and Pikachu statue in front of you with the Pokemon Cafe on the left and the Pokemon Center on the right of it. I was in awe and felt like a little kid. I was FINALLY at a Pokemon Center and I knew then that I was going to enjoy this moment the best I could. I took as much in as possible.

We had plenty of time to look around the Pokemon Center before our slot at the Pokemon Cafe was due, so we made sure to spend as much time shopping, taking photos and admiring the store as we could.

When you enter the Tokyo DX store they have a history wall to showcase and celebrate all of the Pokemon games that have come out, so from Red, Blue and Yellow back in 1996 to where we are now with Sword and Shield! It was amazing.

As well as that, outside where the area is for the statue (which separates the Pokemon Cafe and Center) there are little silhouettes of all Pokemon to date that cover the wall around the area. This was pretty cool to have a look at and we made sure to glance over as many of the silhouettes as we could! They have so much space leftover too to add anymore Pokemon, which is really cool. They clearly thought the idea through before doing it, which is amazing!

One thing I took advantage of at the Pokemon Center is the birthday discount you can get. If you visited the Pokemon Center (apart from the Tokyo Station, the other two I mentioned above did this!) on the month of your birthday you could get a birthday card, a crown AND 5% off that day in the Pokemon Center, amazing eh?! I made sure to take advantage of this. I just needed to show my passport as proof and I was okay. You get to write down what name you would like in your card (I did this twice I did one with Nat and the other with Natalee) and they get a crown for you too. On the back of the birthday card is the discount, which you MUST use that day (and I assume only in that store too?), which I made sure to do!

I don’t think I grabbed the discount when I visited the Tokyo DX store for a second time, which I was a tad annoyed about as I bought more than I intended to… OOPS!

I’ll talk about each store for now and of course, mention what I bought from there too.

First of all I’ll share what I picked up from the Tokyo Station store.

Mew Poke Doll Plush – I LOVE the Poke Doll plushies from the Pokemon Center and as I already own four of the Eeveelution Poke Dolls already, I know I wanted to get this Mew to add to my collection. Mew is one of my favourite Pokemon’s and when I saw and looked at this cute little Mew, I knew I had to pick it up. It’s eyes are huge, so kawaii!

Cyndaquil Poke Plush – Cyndaquil is actually my favourite starter Pokemon and has been since I first played Pokemon Silver in 2001. I knew that during our Japan trip I would pick up a Cyndaquil plushie at some point. I ended up getting two in the end (the second one was from a second hand store, so won’t be included on this post) which I wasn’t shocked by. At first I picked up one of the Pokemon Fit plushies but when I saw a bigger plush for just 100 yen more, I decided to pick this one up. It’s flame back is so damn fluffy and bushy! I couldn’t have asked for a better Cyndaquil plushie to be honest with you.

Dratini Plush Keychain – This was something I had been eyeing up loads during the whole holiday, as I had seen it through YY Kawaii when the campaign it came from first came out. I put off buying it until the last couple of days we were there. I wanted it, so I decided to pick it up! It’s a cute little Dratini plush keychain that has found its home on my Kanken backpack. If the weathers rubbish (which, let’s face it, has been awful lately!) I’ll take it off and pop it into my backpack until the weather improves. In Japan a lot of people (both men and women of all ages!) had plush mascot keychains on their bags, which I loved seeing! I’ve hardly seen it since getting back to the UK and it makes me sad. I like to think someone will see my backpack and my Dratini will make them smile. 🙂

As I mentioned previously in the post, I ventured to the Pokemon Center in Shibuya, but to be honest with you I only bought one thing (which is why I’m showing this Pokemon Center next)! The Pokemon Center itself was incredibly impressive with the Mewtwo in the glass tank, as well as some of the exclusive Shibuya goods. However, as we had previously ventured to the Tokyo DX Pokemon Center, this was incredibly underwhelming… Size wise anyway and the sort of items on offer.

Eevee Roll Cookie Tin – I had looked for this cookie tin in the Tokyo DX store, but all of the Eevee ones had gone, with only the Pikachu ones left. I like Pikachu… But not as much as Eevee! These have been opened by me and Dane and eaten some of the yummy treats! The roll cookies come in chocolate and honey flavours and they’re gorgeous! You didn’t get the chocolate ones in the Pikachu tin. I don’t know what I’ll be doing with the tin after all the goodies are eaten. 😛

So, I have saved the best until last… In terms of Pokemon Center’s… I found that Tokyo DX was my favourite out of the three I went to as it was the biggest and hence had more variety! It also had loads of artwork to take photos with. OH and the Pokemon Cafe was next door. 😛 I visited this Pokemon Center twice, as I just felt the need to go again to spend my monies. 😛

I’ve been so excited to share with you guys all the goodies I bought and what better item to start off with, than with an adorable plushie! 😛

Mew Sekiguchi Plush – I have wanted this plushie for about 4 years, so when I saw it in the Pokemon Center I knew I had to grab it! It wasn’t cheap, but I knew I was expecting to spend a lot of money in the Pokemon Center anyway so… Yeah. 😛 I think this was 2,900 yen, which in pounds works out around £20. This is so fuzzy and squishy which is amazing! It’s definitely something that stands out in my plushie case (it’s a book case full of plushies :P) which I love. I honestly regret not picking up the Eevee, Umbreon and Espeon Sekiguchi plushies too. 😦

Pokeball Random Mini Plush (Eevee) – This was a spontaneous item I picked up from the Pokemon Center and it was purely because me and Dane thought it would be fun to have a go and see which Pokemon we get! We could have gotten two different Pikachu’s, Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Vulpix, Gengar, Snorlax, Mew, or Eevee, which is the Pokemon we got! It’s adorable and I couldn’t have asked for a better Pokemon to have inside the Pokeball. 🙂 The Pokeball clips into itself so it’s easy enough to open and close. I hate it open on my plushie case with the Eevee inside.

Eeveelution Puzzle – Me and Dane love doing puzzles together so when we spotted this Eeveelution one, we knew that we had to pick it up! It’s not a massive one, but it’s one we will make up and hang up in the house somewhere. 🙂

Mofu Mofu Eevee Mirror – I didn’t really need a new pocket mirror for my backpack, but I fell in love with the Mofu Mofu Eevee collection and whatever I found with the Mofu Mofu design on, I wanted. I started using this mirror when I got back to the UK and sadly, my first outing with this and using it, my perfume bottle leaked and it’s ruined some of the pattern on the front. 😦 This being said, it’s still kawaii!

Mofu Mofu Eevee Bento Lunch Pouch – I wanted so much more from the Mofu Mofu collection, especially the lunch related goods. I knew I couldn’t buy them all however, so I just picked up the lunch pouch, which I’ve been using for work to take my lunch in… Obviously. 😛 It’s so damn cute, it makes me happy to take my lunch to work in.

Eevee Cookie Tin – If there was one thing that the Pokemon Center has loads of, it was cookie tins! If anything, I regret not buying more. 😛 I picked up this Eevee cookie tin, as I’ve seen it around for years and knew I wanted to pick it up. The cookies inside are chocolate, with white chocolate in the middle. This is really nice, but to be honest they do leave a funny aftertaste in your mouth.

Camera Strap – July last year I treated myself to a new camera, a mirrorless one at that both for my holiday to Japan, as well as in general. As much as I love my digital SLR, it can be quite a chunk to carry around. Anyhoo, the camera strap that came with my new Sony camera is horrible and would cut into my neck… Not good! I noticed this Pokemon camera strap for sale and decided to get it! It has some of the more popular Pokemon on the strap itself, as well as a handy lens cap holder too! This was great to have whilst we were travelling around Japan and just wanted to keep taking photos, without the worry of losing the lens cap. I love this strap so much, its one of my favourite purchases during the holiday

Just an FYI – I bought a LOT of stationary related stuff from the Pokemon Center! I’ve been using it a lot for my Dungeons & Dragons sessions, as we as writing down notes here and there for my blog. 🙂 I love stationary and have always wanted stationary from the Pokemon Center, so it was just something I knew I was going to buy a lot of. 😛

Mofu Mofu Eevee Notebook – I have too many notebooks… I needed this one though. It’s adorable! I don’t quite know what I’m going to use it for as of yet… Maybe blog related stuff whilst I’m out and about? Dungeons & Dragons in the future? I don’t know… 😛 I just needed it! The designs on the front are adorable, with all the Eevee’s doing different things such as sleeping on books, holding quills in their mouths and sitting in teacups. Cute! There’s designs in the book too, with the Eevee holding the quill in it’s mouth again.

Mofu Mofu Clear File – I bought quite a few clear files whilst I was in Japan, but this is my favourite one by far! I actually bought this to keep my files in for Dungeons & Dragons, but as of yet I haven’t had the chance to use it. The image on the front of the two Eevee’s is so adorable, I’d frame it to be honest! 😛

Mofu Mofu Eevee Pen Case – I didn’t need a pen case… But due to how much stationary I bought whilst I was on my holiday, I kind of had to! That and the pencil case I use currently for all my stationary items is from when I was studying my GCSE’s at school… Which was 15 years ago now! That pencil case is great, but I wanted something smaller and more refreshing! This one is a perfect signs for everything I bought on the trip, and I really enjoy taking it out with me. It’s so cute to bring out of my bag when I want something to write with. The image of the Eevee’s cuddling together on he one side is so kawaii!

Mofu Mofu Eevee Mechanical Pencil and Pen – The blue design is the pen, the red is the pencil. There were four designs/colours in total including the blue and red ones I own, as well as a brown (pencil) and green (pen I think). I didn’t really want anymore mechanical pencils as I have a pink one I really love (well… loved until I bought my new ones in Japan :P) to use so I didn’t need another mechanical pencil. I picked up the pen, which is black ink and was happy. When I went back to the Pokemon Center, I ended up picking the pencil up too and I don’t regret it! The pencil writes really well and I much prefer it to my pink mechanical pencil to be honest with you! The designs on them both are gorgeous with the fluffy, happy Eevee designs all over.

Mofu Mofu Eevee Washi Tape – I decided whilst I was in Japan that I would become a washi tape collector… Purely because I’m working on a scrapbook soon about our trip to Japan and wanted to use cute patterned washi tape to make the scrapbook look pretty inside. Of course I couldn’t not pick up the mofu mofu design, which is just loads of cute Eevee’s running along the tape. I haven’t opened this yet and don’t plan to until it comes to me using it.

Pikachu Mechanical Pencil Lead – Due to now owning a total of four mechanical pencils, it’s always good to make sure to have plenty of pencil lead for these! I couldn’t get a mofu mofu Eevee design (they didn’t make one…) so instead I picked up a cute Pikachu design instead, which is kind of similar to the mofu mofu design. This came with quite a lot of 0.5 size led inside already, but as I owned some already from my first mechanical pencil, I decided to add them into this holder. I’ll never run out of led now!

Eevee, Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon, Dragonite and Mew B-Side Label Stickers – Finally we have some stickers from the Pokemon Center. I’d heard about the B-Side label stickers from YY Kawaii and had always wanted to buy some… But never did. However, when I was in the Pokemon Center, I went overboard! I bought three when I went for the first time and then another three when I went the second time! There were cheap at 350 yen (£2.43) but the more you picked up, the more the price wound up! I picked up the Eevee, Dragonite and Mew stickers as these are my three favourite Pokemon. So, when I visited the Pokemon Center again, I knew I had to pick up the rest of the original Eeveelutions from Gen 1 as they were at the till I was being served at. I have zero regrets, I just don’t know where to stick them now. 😛

Overall, that is my haul from the Pokemon Center’s in Tokyo! I did buy more Pokemon goodies which were official from other stores, secondhand, or from kuji’s both me and Dane played on. I’ll be talking about those in another post in the future.

What did you guys think of the Pokemon Center’s I ventured to? As well as the goodies I picked up? What would you pick up from the Pokemon Center if you had the chance to go? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time all, take care and I hope you’re having a lovely weekend so far, I’m poorly at the moment… Which sucks. 😦

 

JenniFairy Illustration – Review*

2019 is the year where I really got to work with some amazing people and companies on my blog, but 2019 is also the year where I have been privileged to work with one of my favourite independent artists, JenniFairy.

As readers will know, since 2018 I have discovered a new hobby, which is enamel pin collecting. I just love them so much! They’re affordable, can be pinned anywhere and best of all a great way to show off some of your favourite artists, game series and more.

If there is one independent artist I really do love and adore, it’s JenniFairy! I love her Pokemon pins, as well a her food pins too. We’ve been talking together for a while now through Instagram and I’ve discovered what a lovely person she is to talk to! We spoke about Japan, what she hopes to do with her store in the future and more. She’s one of my favourite artists to talk to, purely for how approachable and honest she is.

So, when we decided to work together, I was so excited! Whilst I have worked with loads of big companies and people this year, I have also learnt that I actually get more joy out of working with smaller/newer companies and independent artists, especially ones I have loved and bought from for many years.

JenniFairy is definitely one of those people! I’ve spoken about Jenn and her store on my blog before. Once back in 2017 when I first discovered her and mentioned her on my old independent artists series and literally this time last year when Jenn worked with Sour Attitude Club to create two gorgeous Pikachu enamel pins in their Pika Sweets Cafe range!

I remember wearing these pin badges to Birmingham Comic Con in March on my Persona 5 varsity jacket and EVERYONE asked me about them. Who they were by, how much, etc. I felt so happy to share JenniFairy and her store with everyone at the con. 😀

I am so excited to share with you guys not only the pins that Jenn sent me to talk about on my blog but I’m also going to show you some I have bought myself! As always, I will share links, prices and of course which pins were gifted to me, as well as which ones I bought. 🙂

Some of the items mentioned in this post have been gifted for promotional and reviewing purposes, so all views on this post are entirely my own. Items that have been gifted will have a * next to them.

I have a few different pin designs (and a sticker!) from a couple of different “series” that JenniFairy has released recently, as well as throughout the rest of 2019. 🙂

The first series I will talk about is the most recent one, which is called Spoopy Cuties. I remember when Jenn was sketching the ideas up for these cute pin designs and I honestly fell in love with all the dressed up ghosts! I knew I had to pick up one of these when they came out.

The Spoopy Cuties will be perfect all year around! I know loads of people who love Halloween and I feel like these designs will be perfect for showing off your love of the spooky month. 😛

In the collection there are 6 designs to choose from – Pumpkin Buddy (you can also grab a glitter variant too which is special edition!), Boolloons, Angel Ghost, Devil Ghost, Witch Bunny and Boonicorn. I was gifted and bought the last 2.

Witch Bunny Enamel Pin* – A Grade £8.00 and B Grade £6.00 (link)

I know loads of people who actually picked up the Witch Bunny enamel pin and I can honestly understand why. This is one of my favourite designs to come out in the Spoopy Cuties because it’s so cute with that bit of Halloween too! The purple hat works really well with the white bunny and I especially love the star detailing on the hat too. This is on a gold finish and has two clutch fixes on the back. I do really love this bunny! It would be really cute to wear on a leather/fake leather jacket!

Boonicorn Enamel Pin – A Grade £8.00 and B Grade £6.00 (link)

This is the pin I knew I had to buy when it came out! I actually picked up a B Grade for a change and I have to be honest, this doesn’t look like a B Grade at all! If anything it looks like an A Grade, which makes me so happy. I can’t see any defects on it at all, which is good. The Boonicorn is so pastel, I love it! It has a pastel mane made of colours yellow, pink. blue and purple, as long as a sparkly white unicorn horn, which I found to be such a cute and magical unicorn touch! It’s face is so happy with it’s pink rosy cheeks and little arms. It’s just so damn cute! I love ghost themed things at Halloween so this pin is perfect for me! I already plan to wear it in my new itabag whilst I’m in Japan! This is on a gold finish and has two clutch fixes on the back.

The next collection I want to talk about is actually from the first Kickstarter that JenniFairy released this year, which is Big Cat Cuties. The campaign came out in July, with pins being sent out to backers at the start of October. I backed one of the designs, but Jenn was kind enough to also send me one of the cats I regret not picking up!

The collection (as the name suggests) is inspired by big cats of the world, with the collection including 6 designs to choose from – Jaguar, Black Panther, Snow Leopard, Lion, Lynx and Tiger. Again, I was gifted and bought the last 2.

Big Cat Cuties Tiger Enamel Pin* – £9.00 and Seconds £7.00 (link)

I actually think this is my favourite design out of all the Big Cat Cuties! It looks so bright with the orange and adorable with it’s little happy face! As I mentioned before, I did regret not backing for 2 pins because I wanted this one so much! This will look adorable on a cream jumper or cardigan at work, or even on a coat throughout the winter months. I know cat fans are also massive on cat toe beans, which the Tiger has! It has little black pads, so cute! It’s the only Big Cat Cutie design to have this. This is on a gold finish and has two clutch fixes on the back.

Big Cat Cuties Lynx Enamel Pin – £9.00 and Seconds £7.00 (link)

This is the Big Cat Cuties design I chose from backing the Kickstarter campaign and it’s so adorable! I’m not a massive “cat” fan, but I couldn’t resist this cute animal pin designs, especially as they were by JenniFairy. I love the grey colour of the Lynx design and especially the cute little pink nose. It adds such a perfect touch alongside the white and grey. This is an enamel pin I know I’ll wear loads, as I love the colour scheme so much. I love the fluffy detail on the ears, it’s so well done and really does bring out more detailing on the character. I would love to wear this both in my new itabag as well as on my red winter coat! This is on a gold finish and has two clutch fixes on the back.

Big Cat Cuties Sticker Sheet – £4.00 (link)

I was gifted these with my Kickstarter campaign award (Lynx) and just wanted to show them to you guys! They’re so damn cute and I don’t have the heart to use them yet, as I’m not 100% sure HOW I want to use them! You get all of the Big Cat Cutie designs here and these would make a lovely little Christmas gift for someone who loves cats.

The next pin I want to talk about is a design that brought me to JenniFairy’s store in the first place, which is her adorable Eeveelution collection called Chubbilutions! I actually already own a couple of the Eeveelution pins already, which is both Eevee (a seconds pin) and Sylveon. The one I opted for this time is Vaporeon, which is one of my favourites out of the 9 cuties! Of course you can pick up Eevee, Flareon, Jolteon, Espeon, Umbreon, Leafeon, Glaceon and Sylveon. I would LOVE to own all these in the future! 😀

Vaporeon Enamel Pin* – £8.00 (link)

I’m so glad I chose this design as it’s absolutely adorable, as well as really well detailed! I love that all of the Chubbilutions are munching on their tails, which is such a cute idea. I love how JenniFairy worked on this for each Eeveelution too. I do love the tail in Vaporeon’s mouth though, the cute little mermaid pupper that it is! I also love the detail on the scales of the Vaporeon too along its tail and as odd as it sounds, it feels really comforting on the fingers when you stroke it. This pin will be perfect to wear all the time and I especially can’t wait to put this pin and the Sylveon one together in my itabag! This is on a gold finish and has two clutch fixes on the back.

As well as enamel pins, Jenn also sent me a sticker! I actually own the enamel pin design of the sticker that I was sent. I wanted this sticker to pop either into my Filofax diary, or even a notebook.

Pikachu Crepe Sticker* – £2.00 (link)

I love this design so much, it shouts Japan to me in every sense with both the Pikachu and the crepe. It’s so cute and really does remind me of when I went to Birmingham comic con in March and everyone adored this design, alongside the Pikachu ice cream design that I own both of the pins of.

Finally I’m going to be talking about my favourite item that Jenn sent me in my gifted package and it’s an item that is sadly no longer available as it was limited edtion. HOWEVER, Jenn will be bringing a special Christmas edition out of this little cutie, so make sure to keep your eyes peeled for this!

Detective Pikachu Enamel Pin*

I love this pin so much and it’s one that Jenn was kind enough to put to one side for me before it sold out, as she knew how much I wanted one! As I mentioned before, this pin is now sold out but I just had to mention it here because I know JenniFairy will be bringing this back for Christmas… So make sure to keep eyes peeled for this limited edition cutie! The original design has his cute little deer stalker hat on and his takeaway cup of coffee! I love the pastel colour scheme for this too, it’s perfect and really does shout JenniFairy’s unique style to me! I loved Detective Pikachu so I’m so pleased to have a little pin badge to show this. This will definitely be going into my itabag and taken with me to Japan! This is on a gold finish and has one clutch fixes on the back.

So that is everything that both JenniFairy sent me, as well as the few bits I picked up myself. 🙂

I cannot thank Jenn enough for giving me the opportunity to work with her for this blog post today and it is by far one of my favourite collaborations of 2019! I’m so excited to put these pins in my itabag, as well as on cardigans, coats/jackets and more to show off to the world and especially when I go to Japan! 😀

I love talking about independent artists on my blog, especially when I love what they do! If it means I can talk about something I adore and help my readers discover new places to buy kawaii goods from at the same time, it’s real blessing.

Overall I honestly love Jenn’s designs and they’re so unique and whenever I see her work I instantly know it’s her. Her designs are cute, pastel and chubby, can you get anymore kawaii than that? I don’t think so. 😛

Not only does she design Pokemon themed goods, but she does also design food and Japanese food, as well as some other animal designs too. Make sure to go and check out her store for more, as well as go and bag yourself some goodies as well! 😀

I’ve posted JenniFairy’s links down below so you can check out her store, as well as all her social media platforms. 😀

Etsy

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Christmas is looming and I feel JenniFairy would be a great place to pick up a Secret Santa present, as well as gifts for friends or young teenagers who love Pokemon.

What would you like to pick up for yourself, or a friend? Make sure to let me know in the comments below!

Until next time all, I hope you’ve all had a lovely weekend. 🙂

What I Got For My 29th Birthday

I cannot believe we’re nearly two weeks into January! The month is already going by quickly and I cant say as I like it. 😛

As I always do, I thought I’d write about what gifts I received for my 29th birthday. Like Christmas, I love reading gifts that people receive for both that and of course for birthdays too!

Since the 21st December I haven’t stopped and this weekend I’ll be doing sod all! I just want to relax and not worry about doing anything in all honesty. The only thing I want to do is clean my bathroom and play games. 😛 Nice mixture of adulthood and childhood right there. 😛

Anyhoo, without further ado, I’m going to show you all the wonderful gifts I received!

I started off the day by opening with Dane’s parents had bought me, which I was surprised by! I couldn’t believe that they’d not only bought me the Elodie the Unicorn humidifier as well as some essential oils to use with it! There are three essential oils in the box which are lavender, tea tree and eucalyptus. Since Sunday night we’ve been using this every evening whilst we sleep and it works so lovely! So far I’ve used the eucalyptus essential oil as I’ve felt like I’ve had a bit of a head cold the past couple of days and it works so great!

Seeing as this is an Elodie the Unicorn item and I’ve mentioned their stuff before on my blog, would you like me to review this humidifier? Make sure to let me know in the comments! 😀

After opening my adorable humidifier I opened the gifts that Dane had bought me. I was rather excited for what he’d bought as bar one thing, I didn’t have a clue about the others!

First of all the item(s) I knew about receiving are these amazing Pokemon Center Pokemon Doll pin badges! I started to collect these over a year ago and had been picking them up in dribs and drabs. As there was three I was missing, I decided I wanted to finish off my collection, but that was proving easier said than done considering these seem to now be discontinued. Then I found the three I needed on Asakura-Japan, an eBay and online store me and Dane use whenever we’re after certain things from Japan. I’d asked Dane for these for quite some time whenever he asked what I wanted for Christmas, birthday etc and Christmas he finally decided to order them! However, they got lost in the post and it sucked. He felt guilty and seemed a bit bummed about it as it seemed the Royal Mail had misplaced them at our local depot. He got his money back though and the seller offered Dane a discount so he could reorder them, which he was hesitant to do. However, I really wanted the pins so ordered them myself with a discount code I had myself for eBay. Dane being Dane sent me the money I’d spent on the pins and when they arrived he wrapped them up and popped them into my birthday bag. 🙂

As you can see I have three of the original four Eeveelutions, Eevee, Jolteon and Flareon. I’m so chuffed to have all 9 Eeveelutions pin badges now! I plan to buy a frame and some cork board from IKEA so I can make a nice little frame to hang up in the house. 🙂 I’ll definitely post about the making of this as and when I do it!

The next gift I received I had a feeling was a Nendoroid, but when it comes down to these gifts both me and Dane always open them last as they’re classed as our “big” or “main” presents from one another. I wasn’t quite sure which Nendoroid it would be in all honesty as I know Dane struggled to get me one as most of them I want right now I’ve either pre ordered myself, or are sold out in most places.

Alas, I opened it to see he’d bought me the casual version of Yuri Katsuki from Yuri on Ice. He’s so gorgeous and in all honesty I worried I would never get it to add to my Yuri on Ice collection. I remember when he was announced, I was so excited for him to come out so now that I have him, I can’t wait to get him into a cute position and pop him with the rest of my Yuri on Ice babies! 😀

The Nendoroid also came with a wooden Yuri Katsuki charm, which is so cute! He’s sat on the floor with an ice skate in his hands. I plan to keep him on my backpack alongside my Persona 5 Joker charm.

The final present that Dane bought me is by far my favourite gift and one that is so cute and thoughtful. He knew I’d had my eye on the Pokemon Pop’n Step figures for a while now and being the cutie that he is, he found the Eevee one and bought it for me. I actually think with this present he was more excited for me to open it than I was! 😛

This is amazing though and I couldn’t be happier with it! It plays three songs from the original Red, Blue and Yellow games which is cool. You click the button on the right and Eevee will dance to the music played. If you push that button again it stops the music. The button on the left is the volume, which is muted, low or high. We tried muting the music so you could hear how Eevee dances without it and it’s amazing that you can still tell what the songs are without the music.

I especially love how you can connect these to the other Pokemon Pop’n Step figures, but this is also dangerous because I want them all now. 😛 Honestly though I love this gift so much, it made me so happy for almost an hour the day I received it and the day after. The Eevee’s little face is just so magical to look at whilst it dances.

So those are all the gifts that Dane bought for me! I also received some money from family. The money I was gifted from my mom is being saved until I’m paid next month, so for now it’s saved for a rainy day. The money my dad gifted me went towards a new Pandora charm for my bracelet, this charm being the Bobby Bot Dog charm that I’ve been eyeing up for some time now. It’s so damn cute and the online store didn’t do it justice. I love it so much and every time I look at it, I think of my dad. 🙂

The rest of the money I received went towards some bits and pieces whilst shopping in town on my birthday, including some Lush products which were Christingle Naked Body Conditioner (which was in the sale), The Big Banana Massage Bar (which smells amazing! I don’t quite know what I plan how/where I wish to use this yet. It was tested on Dane and smelt too good to pass up!) and Six Yellow and Red Reusable Bubble Bar (which smells JUST LIKE YOG NOG! One of my favourite Lush scents!).

I plan to try and review Six (Yellow and Red) Reusable Bubble Bar reviewed on my blog before Valentine’s Day, so keep eyes peeled for that. 🙂

I also picked up the Blu-ray of Mary and the Witch’s Flower as it was only £9.99! I planned to watch it when me and Dane got home from town on my birthday, but we were too tired and just chilled out together in bed and read manga.

Finally I picked myself a little something up that I’d been eyeing up before Christmas. It’s the Loungefly Pokemon Eevee Embossed Tri-Fold Wallet which I mentioned before Christmas I’d wanted, but had sold out and I was gutted about. I still kept it saved on my Amazon wish list just in case it came back, WHICH IT DID! I was so happy and as soon as I saw it was back up for sale, I made sure to order it. I didn’t want to miss out on it again and for it to be permanent the next time. It arrived a few days later and it’s gorgeous and even better than I thought it was going to be! It’s a lovely vintage brown colour with a picture of a happy Eevee on the front. When you open it up there’s a gorgeous floral pattern inside of the wallet.

This is the same style as my current wallet (which is also by Loungefly) so I can transfer loads of stuff into it easily from my old wallet, which I’ll do as soon as this post is written, as I can’t wait to use it later today! 😛

So, that was everything I received and even bought for myself. 😛 I loved my birthday this year, even if it did go far too quickly for my liking. I went to town for the afternoon with Dane, went to Ghetto Golf with Dane and friends and went for a meal with Dane after. It wasn’t anything special, but it was good nonetheless.

I don’t quite know what to ask at the end of this post other than, when is your birthday? 😀 Make sure to let me know!

I hope everyone is ready for the weekend, I know I am! 😛

Until next time all, have a lovely weekend!

Independent Artists I Love! #2 JennifairyW

This is the second post of this series and one I wanted to get written and posted on my blog before I go on holiday! This cute little package arrived a couple of days ago and as soon as I opened it I went straight to the computer to get writing!

So my second post for the series is about the lovely Jenn and her store JennifairyW. I discovered her through Instagram a long time ago whilst I was looking for some Eeveelution related merch. One of her Eeveelution charms popped up on my feed and from there I’ve been lusting ever since for products by her.

She recently announced on her Instagram page that she was doing a seconds sale on her Eevee pin due to the pin having some faults. So she popped the limited amount of stock on the website at half the price and I made sure to snap one up before they sold out! I also took the opportunity to snap up one of the Eeveelution charms that I’ve been lusting after for ages… I now wish I’d bought 2… 😛

So alongside ordering the Eevee pin, I also ordered one of the two designs of the Espeon charm.

Jenn’s based in Scotland and I only had to wait 4 days from ordering to have them arrive! I wanted to write a review on her Etsy store straight away, but I’m not able to until the 20th and I doubt I’ll be able to that day… We’ll see if I can before I go on holiday!

I love how she packaged my order by popping it into this little packet. The Eevee pin I ordered was also in a little zip lock bag to keep it extra safe.

Alongside with the pin and the charm I ordered you get one of Jenn’s business cards, which is adorable! You also get a little note from Jenn herself and if you can’t quite read mine it says:

Thanks so much for adopting a seconds Eevee. I hope he and the charm make you smile. Come back soon. Jenn x

I think it’s lovely that she pops a personalised message inside her parcels, it’s such a sweet touch and not only did my goodies make me smile, but also the note!

The first thing of the two I’ll talk about is the main reason for my order with Jenn, the cute AF Eevee pin. He’s so teeny and cute and I love it! The basic colour of the metal as you can see is gold, with the standard Eevee colours of light brown, dark brown and cream. The Eevee pins she brought out for her seconds sale are all meant to have not been printed properly by the person she bought/ordered them from. To me my little pin doesn’t appear to have anything wrong with it and even if it does, I love having a pin that isn’t going to be like all the others! I really hope that Jenn brings out the rest of the Eeveelutions designs she has in pin form too!

Ages ago Jenn was on about doing a Kickstarter for some food related pins, I still hope that she does this as it would be amazing! I’d definitely back it. ^_^

The second item I purchased is probably my favourite of the two, purely because I’ve wanted it for so long! As you can see it’s an Espeon charm and I’m so pleased I ordered it when I did as it now appears to be sold out! All of the Eeveelutions she’s drawn so far have 2 different poses, the only one left for Espeon was the standing pose, which I prefer out of the two anyway. It’s so small and cute! It’s only got a design printed on one side but that doesn’t bother me. I didn’t mean to but I scratched a little on the non printed side to see how if the print would scratch off and alas it never. This is a very good sign to me!

I want to get both versions of all of the Eeveelutions to be honest as they’re too cute to choose between the two! I like the Eevee that’s lying down, the Flareon sitting, the Vaporeon standing and the Jolteon that is sitting. Either way I’ll be ordering some more when I’m back from holiday!

Overall I love my goodies from Jenn’s shop and I already know I’ll be buying the other Eeveelution charms from her store when I’m back from holiday! I kind of wish I had ordered more from her to be honest, but with the holiday I wanted to be good.

If you like what Jenn does, then please check out her store as well as all her the social media! I’ll leave all the links below.

Store

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

I’m so pleased that I started this series off on my blog! There are so many independent artists I want to talk about and share with you guys and I’m so pleased to be able to do that whilst dedicating a whole post to them!

Do you like the look of the amazing work Jenn creates? If so make sure to go and let her know on all of her social media pages!

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

Post Christmas Natter (Plus What I received…)

It’s almost a week since Christmas Day was here and I can’t quite believe how quickly it’s flown by! I had a lovely Christmas even though I was working both Christmas Eve and Boxing Day (WAH FML!) but it’s come and gone now. Plus I have New Years Eve and Day off, woohoo!

So I decided to do a little catch up post about my Christmas and share what lovely gifts I received from Dane, my parents and everyone else. 🙂

Christmas Eve I didn’t finish work until late (6pm to be exact) and due to being tired and lazy we decided to get a takeaway and spend the evening watching movies. One movie we watching in particular was Sausage Party, which came out this year. Not exactly a Christmas movie, but one we both enjoyed watching, although at the end it got very weird and we sat in shock with hands over mouths, awkwardly laughing.

We got an early night as we were both shattered! This being said I had an awful nights sleep. I kept waking up throughout the night as the wind was waking me up. So we both woke up early Christmas Day and popped on a Christmas movie whilst we opened our presents. I spoilt Dane rotten this year and he loved all of his gifts. He spoilt me just as much too and every gift he gave me I loved. We both asked each other what our favourite gifts were out of the bunch. Dane’s was Vol. 1-9 of One Punch Man and mine was a tough one. I’ll show off what gifts he gave me before I tell you which were my favourites… I can’t pick one!

We decided to do stockings this year, as a new tradition and we filled them both full of yummy treats, well Dane filled mine full of Japanese sweets, mostly Kit Kats! My friend Sophi (heyyy!) picked up some of these stockings for us which was lovely of her! She of course got an N for me and a D for Dane.

As you can see Dane bought me LOADS of Kit Kats, Japanese ones to be exact! As well as a few other Japanese treats, which are mostly matcha flavoured… My favourite. 😛 He bought me a little geisha pouch full of different flavoured Kit Kats, which I loved as it looked adorable! It came with a piece of paper inside telling you about all the flavours which I was pleased about, as you never know what you could be trying. For example there is a wasabi flavoured Kit Kat in there!

Onto the main gifts from Dane and I was well and truly spoilt this year… But so was he. 😛 All of my gifts from him were thoughtful and I can’t really say I prefer one to the other, but I will of course say my favourite 3 or something. 😛

One of my favourite gifts from what Dane bought me were these two sleeping Pokemon plushies from the Pokemon Centre in Japan. As you can see he gave me a Pikachu and Jolteon which I love, especially Jolteon’s cute little bum and feet. 😛 I knew I was going to get one of these but I didn’t have a clue which and these were both a lovely surprise to get. They’re now in my Pokemon cabinet in the living room.

Another one of my favourite presents from Dane was these South Park figures from the new game coming out in 2017, The Fracture But Whole. I already have a couple of the figures from the first game (Princess Kenny and Cartman as a wizard) and I love them so much, but not as much as these. I have Butters, Kenny and Cartman all as their super villain and hero alter egos. They’re now in my cupboard and look amazing. It’s a shame they didn’t bring anymore of the characters out, but I guess these three are the main ones.

I keep saying this is my favourite present from Dane even though I knew I was having it, but it’s my new jacket… A Pokemon jacket! This is by a brand I have grown to love since August when I bought my first pieces by her, the brand being Ohayou! Clothing. She’s a designer in Bristol and most of her designs are Pokemon related and anything Japanese and kawaii. As you can see from the pictures it’s a varsity style jacket with an adorable picture of Eevee on the back! I love it and since Christmas Day I’ve pretty much lived in it! I can’t wait to write a post about Ohayou! Clothing in the new year!

Everyone who knows me knows that I LOVE foxes and I think every Christmas we have shared since being together, Dane has always bought me a fox related present. This year he of course had to keep up the tradition and bought me this beautiful tote bag with a fox and wolf on it. I’ve viewed this seller on Etsy before and if you love foxes then you will love her work! He also bought one of her illustrated books about foxes, which I really enjoyed reading in bed on Christmas Day morning.

Yay for manga! I’m in need of some new books to read after finally finishing Nana (and my heart broke!) and of course Dane knew I wanted some new material to read including Nichijou. As of yet I haven’t started to read it but I intend to start very soon. It’s like Azumanga Daioh so it is based around a school and the lives of the students there. I can’t wait to read it!

MORE KIT KATS! I told you he bought me loads! These are sake flavoured and we tried one on Christmas Day. I LOVE them! They’re very strong smelling and tasting of sake, which I thought I would hate but really enjoyed. I would definitely buy these again… But I have a feeling they aren’t cheap.

Finally we have a few little stocking fillers Dane gifted me, one not being in this picture as I forgot to take it! That item is the Bee & Puppycat cooking book. I thought it would be all jokey cooking recipes but they’re actually legit and ones that both the workers of the comic have submitted, as well as fans of the comic book too. Both me and Dane had a flick through it on Christmas Day and have already decided on some recipes that we want to bake and cook very soon.

Speaking of food he also got me a Pikachu sushi mold which I am SO EXCITED to use! I love making Japanese food and the next thing I want to learn how to make is sushi. I’ve already discussed with Dane that we make onigiri (rice ball with fish, chicken, veg inside… Basically like a sandwich to us but with rice instead of bread) with the mold. I can’t wait!

I knew I was getting these for Christmas (even though when it came to opening them I FORGOT ALL ABOUT THEM!) but Dane bought me some Victoria’s Secret body sprays. One is a minty scent and the other more vanilla and sugary. I love things like this and the VS body sprays are the best I’ve ever tried.

The final thing Dane bought me was a new calendar which as you can see is Pusheen.

This was meant to be one of my Christmas presents but Dane gave it to me about a week before Christmas and I love it so much! It’s a little glass bottle with a little soot sprite inside from the film Spirited Away. That’s one of my favourite films so I love anything to do with it. He’s now in my cabinet in the living room.

We spent Christmas at my parents house and then Boxing Day at Dane’s parents. We both had a lovely time at both houses and I wouldn’t change anything! Sadly my mom was working but me and Dane played games and watched movies with my dad and my brother, which was really fun! We practically did the same with Dane’s family too and we had a right laugh. We played Joking Hazard with my family and The Game of Life with Dane’s. We had lots of laughs and giggles!

I’m not showing off all my presents in  this post, mostly just Dane’s to be honest but I thought I would show off my favourite gifts from my family and Dane’s.

This was one of my favourite presents this year and it’s from my parents. It’s a Thomas Sabo charm bracelet with a martini glass charm. She kind of hinting to me getting something like this but I wasn’t 100% sure what it would be. I love it though, so much more than my Pandora bracelet and I’ve already eyed up what other additions I can add to it. I’ve found so far that it’s just so much lighter than Pandora to wear and therefore easier to wear.

My mom bought me and Dane a couple of other things too, some of which are on the way apparently in the post. But one of my other favourite items from her is this giraffe dressing gown (which I have on at the moment!). The hood on it is huge and had a giraffe face on which I think is cute. It’s also a great length too which is ideal as one of my old ones would drag on the ground as I walk up the stairs and trip me up. I’ve pretty much lived in this since Christmas Day!

Like the presents my parents bought me I won’t talk about everything, but more so my favourites. Dane’s parents bought me these lovely pajamas which I knew I was going to get due to asking for them, but they were still a lovely surprise and as soon as we got home Boxing Day I put them on. They’re burgundy with woodland animal print on. Right up my street! They also bought me a Lush gift set (Snow Fairy one!) and some stuff for the house.

Finally we have one of the gifts that Dane’s brother and girlfriend bought for us. They bought us a huge box full of Japanese candy but sadly I never managed to get a picture of it. However I did manage to get a picture of the candle they bought us. It’s a WoodWick candle, a brand we both love just as much as Yankee Candle. This one is in the scent Black Cherry and it’s HUGE! When you burn these it makes a crackling sound like a fire and when we lit this for the first time it was nice to see the flame move over from the right to the left side of the wick. It’s a lovely present, especially for the house.

So those were my presents from Christmas this year. As well as these presents I did of course get more from work friends, my friends, family and more. I just wanted to show some that I had managed to snap pictures of.

I had a lovely Christmas this year even though it did come and go in the blink of an eye! I don’t have a clue when to take my Christmas tree down. Probably tomorrow after work as it’ll soon be 2017 and our tree wont need to be up anymore, sadly. I’ll miss our cute little tree. 😦

What lovely presents did you get for Christmas and did you have a lovely time over the Christmas period? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below.

Until next time, take care all and I hope you’re having a great week so far!