January Favourites ’19

It’s officially the first monthly favourites post of 2019! Woohoo! Of course with that comes me talking about all the things I loved throughout the previous month, which of course was January.

I usually talk about beauty and lifestyle and it’s something I really enjoy talking about overall. I wanted to think of more things to add to my monthly favourites, what with there being a New Year and all but honestly, I couldn’t think of anything else worth adding! I thought about maybe adding like a favourite fashion piece, but my fashion sense isn’t everyone’s cup of tea… So I think I’ll leave that for now. 😛

As always I’ll talk about beauty first and lifestyle after! I hope you enjoy the first favourites post of 2019!

• Lush Christingle Naked Body Conditioner.

This was something I picked up in the sales just after Christmas. Lush in Birmingham had LOADS of these in stock still and for half of the price they retailed for originally. I’m not as big a fan of Lush as I used to be, but as I had some Christmas/birthday money I decided to treat myself to some of the Valentine’s Day Lush goodies! I use this twice a week at the moment and to be honest with you it’s such a fab little product. I do find it to be incredibly greasy and I have to actually wipe off the excess body conditioner with a flannel as it’s just far too greasy feeling for me. I won’t be repurchasing any of the body conditioners again due to this, but it’s nice to give a go for the money. It makes me feel soft and smell of gorgeous peppermint, so I can’t complain. 😛

• MUA Luxe Inked Lip Stain in Sangria.

If there is a lip trend I have been loving lately it’s the bitten lip look that has come over from Korean Beauty over to us! It’s been around for ages to be honest and is something I have done on and off over the years, but more so lately than ever before. I love these MUA lip stains as they’re super cheap, come in a nice selection of shades and are long lasting! I love to apply it into the inside of my lips to give that bitten look. It’s flattering too if I don’t want to have a heavy lip colour on and as it wear away quiet naturally, I don’t feel like I need to constantly top up. If you guys would like me to show you how I get the “bitten” look, please let me know and I’ll do a post about it!

• Cath Kidston Hand Cream.

I got so many of these hand creams in my advent calendar at Christmas and I LOVE them all so damn much! The Cath Kidston hand creams are really thick, which are a blessing for my eczema prone hands. I use them at work mostly to be fair and always keep a tube on my desk now to use on my hands as soon as they feel dry and sore. I do have some at home too, but I have other hand creams I tend to use here. I don’t know if you can buy the tubes that I have, but you can buy all sorts of versions from Cath Kidston in their permanent range, so if you’re after a luxurious hand cream but don’t want to spend a fortune, I definitely recommend giving theirs a go! The one thing I dislike the most about them is some of their scents. They remind me of scents that your gran would have on her vanity. They’re lovely, don’t get me wrong but they aren’t ALWAYS for me. 🙂

• The Body Shop Drops of Youth™ Youth Liquid Peel.

This is a product I LOVE so damn much and keep meaning to reveal since I bought it before Christmas. I’ll definitely get around to it sooner rather than later. This is a liquid you apply to the face and rub constantly all over your face to remove deal skin. It comes off in balls and chunks, which is gross to admit is your dead skin! 😛 I love using this liquid peel before my tea tree skin wash on my face, as well as before face masks. I use it once maybe twice a week if I feel the need to and it really does help my skin out! 😀

• Rio Sonicleanse Glo Silicone Facial Cleansing Tool.

My final favourite beauty product of this month definitely has to be this facial cleansing brush that my mom bought me for Christmas (which you can see here alongside all the other goodies I was gifted in 2018! I use this facial cleansing brush everyday and I can tell it’s made a massive improvement to my skin. It makes me feel like I’m getting deep into my pores and giving my skin a good clean, alongside getting rid of old and dead skin cells to reveal fresh skin. I’ve been using this for well over a month now too and haven’t needed to recharge the batteries which is amazing! I probably will over this weekend. Again, if you would like me to review this facial cleansing brush please let me know!

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

Favourite TV Show – Inside No. 9.

This is a show I was told about back in the day when the first series came out. I watched some of the second episode and liked what I saw, but never watched anymore of it. During my Christmas holiday time from work I watched ALL of The League of Gentlemen and fell in love. I always found it to be a “creepy” show but after watching it, it’s right up my street. When I wanted to watch more from Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton I stumbled across Inside No. 9 on BBC iPlayer and decided to give it a go. It has fast turned into one of my favourite TV series and I love it! It’s a dark comedy/horror series with episodes about what’s happening to people behind a door, house, room etc with the number 9 on it. It reminds me of Black Mirror but different. It’s not all technology based like Black Mirror is and I like that. Definitely give it a watch if you like this sort of thing though, you won’t be disappointed!

Favourite Film – Mary and the Witch’s Flower.

This is probably the only new film I’ve watched this month and in all honesty it’s the only film that I can think that I’ve watched at all this month! I picked it up on my birthday to watch as it was in the sale for £9.99 for the Blu-ray so I used some of my birthday money to treat myself (you can see what else I got for my birthday here). It’s about Mary, a girl who seems to have moved to live with her aunt and is due to start a new school soon. She doesn’t really seem to have any friends yet, is clumsy and doesn’t like her bushy red hair. One day she discovers a special flower and from there her life changes rather quickly! This is by Studio Ponoc, who are pretty much a sister company to Studio Ghibli. This is their first feature film and it did really well! I love it so much and really enjoyed watching it with Dane on one of our weekends off together.

Image taken from Wikipedia

Favourite Book – I Am a Hero.

This is a manga Dane randomly discovered quite a while ago and every birthday, Christmas and anniversary I’ll buy him as many copies of the manga as I can! Not only doe she read this manga, but so do I. I read a couple of he volumes throughout last month and it’s just getting better and better! I’m up to volume 6 at the moment and the story line is getting really juicy now! It’s about a zombie apocalypse in Japan and we follow Hideo Suzuki as he tries to make his way through it, meeting people as he goes. The art style is amazing as it’s so realistic and gives the zombies something a little different. I definitely recommend you giving it a go if you like zombie related films, shows, books, etc.

Favourite Song – “Promises” Calvin Harris Feat. Sam Smith.

Oh man I love this song so much, so much so whenever I hear it on the radio at work it just cheers me up so damn much! I only recently popped it onto my YouTube to listen to whilst I get ready in the mornings, do blog work, as well as any other tasks throughout each day. Sam Smith has a lovely singing voice and Calvin Harris is an artist I’ve loved since back in the day when he made that song and sang about the 80’s and what was acceptable. 😛 Yes Mr Harris I still dig the stuff you made back in the day! 😛

Image taken from GIPHY

Favourite Game – Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp.

I was going to talk about Style Boutique 3 this month and although I’ve played it loads, I feel like I’ve played Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp almost daily to be honest since I got my iPhone XR but over the Christmas period and the odd days off I played this game loooooads. I find I play it most before bedtime as I find it relaxes me. I mentioned it a post last month about games I find help anxiety (which you can read here). They’ve just added some new updates too, one which makes playing the game so much easier than it used to be! I also love playing this in the car at the moment as it deices, you know with how crap and cold the weather has been lately. 😛

So those are all of my favourites from January!

What do you have on your favourites list from last month? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below and even let me know what your favourite fashion pieces too. I know mine has for sure been my Lazy Oaf rainbow “boring” cardigan. 😛

Until next time, take care all and I hope you’re ready for a relaxed 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!