What I Got For My 27th Birthday

I can’t believe I hadn’t yet thought about doing this post… Until now! Whilst chilling on the sofa and enjoying a well deserved Sunday lazy day I thought, “Hey! I never wrote a post about what I got for my birthday!” and I surprised myself. I mean I wrote a wish list so why not add a post about what I actually got?

Well better late than never… It has been over a week though since I turned 27… Oh dear. Maybe with age I am forgetting? 😛

These presents above are a mixture of gifts I received from Dane and his parents.

My favourite gift from his parents was this beautiful fox figure for the garden. I’ve been after something like this for quite some time now but hadn’t yet found anything I wanted and if I did it was shockingly priced (those are treats for in the summer when we do up the garden!) so I was really happy to get this. The detailing is gorgeous and it’s now sat outside by the back door. I hope we get some foxes in our garden when the weather improves… I love them so much!

Dane’s parents bought me some lovely gifts but I was especially happy to see four volumes of Your Lie in April manga inside of one of the gifts (which was actually on my wish list!). Apparently I was meant to receive the Azumanga Daioh manga instead but I already owned this manga so Dane is going to send that book back to Amazon. Oops. 😛 With the manga was an iPad holder from IKEA and a can of red spray paint. I had said how Dane’s moms was really nice but how I would want one in red. So that’s why I had a red can of spray paint. I’m going to definitely be spraying it when we have a nice day!

Then we have the gifts that Dane bought for me! Above as you can see there are four volumes of Your Lie in April BUT there is also the box on the far right which is the Blu-ray for the anime series of Your Lie in April. I’m so happy to have it as the art for the box is beautiful and it’s limited edition which makes me even happier!

As well as getting Your Lie in April manga I also got the first two volumes of Paradise Kiss manga! AHH! I love Nana which is written and illustrated by Ai Yazawa who is also the person behind Paradise Kiss. I’ve watched a little bit of the manga and I really enjoyed it, so I know I’m going to love the manga just as much. Sadly like Nana they’re not easy to find and when you DO find them they aren’t exactly cheap… We shall see what the future holds in terms of picking the rest of the manga up as there are five volumes in total so I only have three more to pick up.

My final present from Dane (that I got on the day anyway…) and my main one is this gorgeous Frozen Elsa Nendoroid! I had shown Dane her ages ago as she was on sale on a website we buy Japanese items from and bless him he went and ordered her. I had a feeling I was going to get a Nendoroid for my birthday but I didn’t think it would be Elsa! I’m not one of these obsessed Frozen fans but as soon as she was announced years ago I KNEW I had to have her. She’s gorgeous and so beautiful to look at and I know I’ll need to get Anna soon to go with her. I swear I need to do a collection post about mine and Dane’s Nendoroid’s soon as we have twenty now and counting. 😛

For my birthday in the evening we went out for a meal for both mine and my moms birthday as hers is the day after mine! We went to Frankie & Benny’s and had a lovely meal, drinks and had a right laugh! It’s a shame we didn’t get to do much else. The next day however me and Dane went to Peak Wildlife Park which was amazing! However we left pretty late so didn’t get to spend all day at the park like we wanted to. We intend to go back in the spring.

But on with more gifts! My mom didn’t buy me anything and instead gave me some money whilst my dad and brother both bought me some charms for my Thomas Sabo bracelet, which I got for Christmas from my mom (which you can read about here).

They both bought me some lovely charms and ones I had set my eyes on on Christmas Day when I was seeing what charms I could get in the future! My brother bought me both the robin and the lucky cat (which I recently found out is called a maneki-neko!) and they’re both so eye catching and different. The maneki-neko has definitely had loads of compliments and questions as to what it is.

Then on a daughter and dad day at the start of the week my dad bought me the fox charm which I’d hoped he would be able to get me. He also offered to buy me another charm too but sadly I didn’t see anything I was after in particular so we left it for another time.

I’m really loving how my Thomas Sabo bracelet is turning out! I’ll be writing up a wish list post for future charms in the next week or two.

This was one of my belated birthday presents from Dane, which he was intending on keeping a secret but wasn’t 100% sure if I wanted it still. I’ve been waiting for this game to come out for almost ten years and finally in late 2016 it came out! However whilst I was going to pre-order it and have it straight away Dane put me off due to some reviews he had heard about which were bashing the game and putting it down. This being said there were more positive reviews than negative and he bought it for me when it went down in price. Sadly due to so many people buying it we had to wait a couple of weeks for it to come out. It has been totally worth it though! We’ve been playing it together since we got it last week and I love it.

This is one of the final presents I got… I say got but I wasn’t gifted it. My aunt gave me some money for my birthday so I decided to treat myself to a new water bottle with the money. This is from The Disney Store and as you can see it’s a Baymax water bottle. It’s so amazing and I love it so much! I mostly use it for work as I like to keep hydrated during my shifts. It’s screw cap and fits a good amount of water in. I try to drink at least two of these a shift (I work 8 hours a day btw…) which I think is a pretty good goal! You can also pop lemons into this too but as of late I haven’t bothered with drinking lemon water. It’s something I’ll start doing again very soon.

So those were my presents I got (or bought with money…) for my birthday this year! I loved all my presents and I can’t say that I have a favourite… Although I do love how my Thomas Sabo bracelet is turning out! I loved everything though to be honest. I loved getting more manga to read, a fox figure for my garden, money and geeky things!

I just want to thank not just my family and friends for helping me have a lovely birthday this year, but mostly Dane for always being there for me. I’m so excited to start 2017 in our home and I’m even more excited for all the adventures we’re going to have this year.

How are all my readers doing? I miss your faces! Leave me some love down below or over at my Twitter (@maybeecoffee)/

Until next time take care all and I hope you’ve had an awesome weekend!

2016 Favourites

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! It’s New Years Day and hello 2017! I can’t believe how quick it came around. I’m happy for a new year, even though I rather loved 2016 for various different reasons. SO I thought I would do a favourites of 2016 but it won’t just be for beauty like my monthly favourites posts are, it’ll cover a lot more. I’ll be talking about beauty, fashion, games, books and films. For each I’ll be naming 3 things that were my favourite. I know I usually write why they’re my favourite(s) but I won’t be doing that today.

Image taken from weheartit.com

Beauty

1. Jeffree Star Cosmetics Velour Liquid Lipstick in shade Redrum (review here)
2. Holika Holika Smoothie Peeling Jam
3. Kat Von D Beauty Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in shade Bauhau5

Image taken from weheartit.com

Fashion

1. Ohayou! Umbreon t-shirt
2. Black Milk Clothing Lumpy Space Princess skater dress
3. Primark fox pajamas

Image taken from weheartit.com

Games

1. Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens
2. Mafia III
3. Pokemon Moon

Image taken from weheartit.com

Books (well manga and comics)

1. Nana
2. Bee & Puppycat
3. Sword Art Online: Progression

Image taken from weheartit.com

Films

1. Deadpool
2. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
3. When Marnie Was There

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!

April ’16 Wish List

Oh hello April, you’re here early?! Easter has come and gone, and the kids are currently on their Easter holiday’s still. Spring is officially here too, the clocks have gone forward, and people are moaning about not getting any sleep. Oh wow is them! 😛

I’m still on a spending ban, and apart from buying my boyfriends birthday presents last month, I have been really good so far! Alas, a spending ban doesn’t stop me from creating my monthly wish list, so here is it for month number four of the year.

• Pokemon I Love Mew Plushie – £27.55 (link)

I remember these cute plushies being announced back before the start of 2016 and I just KNEW that I would need one in my life, mostly this one pictured about. The little cutie is giggling with its eyes closed and hands on its cheeks. I don’t think these are very big plushies, which is nice for popping on the side, or on your bed. There are various people on eBay selling these, at various different prices, and from mostly Japan. I love Mew, they’re my favourite Pokemon (alongside the Eeveelutions) so I kinda need one of these in my life. Childish as it may be, I don’t care. Life is short!

• Deadpool Pewter Keyring – £4.50 (link)

I love Deadpool… I think people who come onto my blog know this from just reading my profile alone! I loved Deadpool before it was cool by the way 😛 I don’t like to hoard keyrings, this is something I used to do when I was younger and I’ve grown up from that now! I’ve been looking for a pewter Deadpool keyring for ages, and as of yet I haven’t been able to find one. Whilst my hunt for one has somewhat come to a stop, at the same time I’m still waiting, as this is out of stock at Forbidden Planet. OH WOE IS ME! This was actually one of the items I would have bought for my boyfriends birthday, but alas I wasn’t able to.

• Lady and The Tramp Boypants – £4.00 (link)

There is a lot of Lady and The Tramp items in this wish list this month… I don’t know why! For once there just seems to be a lot of said items on the market at the moment… Which makes me happy! I have enough knickers to last me a life time, but I just can’t say no to anything with these two cuties on. Topshop don’t only do their 3 for £10 on their knickers, but they also do student discount. So whilst I’m meant to be on a spending ban, I may just have to treat myself to these very soon. You can never have enough knickers!

• Reese’s Pajamas – £25.99 (link)

Just want to first of all say, these are from Primark but as I rarely go out shopping anymore and don’t step foot into Primark when I do, I’m having to resort to eBay for these. I love Reese’s peanut butter cups. Fattening, but oh so yummy! I know loads of people who love them too, and I’ve made my own “healthy” versions of the yummy snack. In the summer last year I picked up some short pajamas from Primark with the same Reese’s logo on. I love the look of these pajamas as they look snug and comfortable, with the awesome Reese’s logo all over the bottoms. I could just buy the bottoms for £14.99 but for another £11.00 I may as well get the whole set.

• Lady and The Tramp Letters Mug – £7.99 (link)

As I have previously stated, I love Lady and The Tramp so when I saw that The Disney Store had a new mug up for sale, I just fell in love. I want to order it as soon as I get paid from work, or at least pop into the store and pick it up, alongside the Eve mug, which I’ll be talking about shortly. I love Disney mugs, and whenever I get my own house that’s pretty much what all my mugs are going to be! xD

• Billabong Iti Jacket in Black Cherry – was £96.00 now £48.00 (link)

I am after a new jacket for spring and summer. I fancy something red or yellow. 😛 This is a winter jacket to be honest, but I still really like the look of it for autumn and winter time! It is pretty damn expensive at £48.00, so I am keeping my eye on it to see if it’ll go down even further. I’ve seen this in person and it is a gorgeous jacket and one that is perfect for seeing you from season to season. I love it in the black cherry colour, it’s a gorgeous colour and something different. You can also pick it up in Off Black and Grunge Green, so if you like the look of it but want a different shade to the dark red, you have a couple of options.

• Shades of Kawaii: A Cute Colouring Book – £4.99 (link)

I LOVE colouring books, and recently me and Dane spend out evenings and days off colouring in together, and watching movies. They’re just so damn relaxing to do, and we just both enjoy doing them together. He has a Deadpool one which I bought him, and I have three, a dog one, a seasons one, and an animals one. Yeah, I have enough to last me a lifetime… But I’m sucker for anything Japanese and kawaii, so of course I really like the look of this colouring book. I can see us doing more and more colouring over the next couple of months.

• Eve 3D Mug – £9.95 (link)

The other mug I said I was going to talk about from The Disney Store. I have the Wall-E mug that goes with this one, and when I finally get my own house I really want to get this mug so that I have the cutest (and my favourite) Disney Pixar couple ever. I love my Wall-E mug and how it’s a square shape, so it’d be nice to get this one too, which is a more “normal” shape. Perfect for hot chocolates, and cups of tea. It is more on the pricey side, but sod it. We only live once.

• Lady and The Tramp Socks – £3.50 (link)

The final item on my wish list that I’ll be talking about is of course Lady and The Tramp themed. Oh boy! 😛 As you can see, they’re these lovely ankle socks, again from Topshop like the boyshorts. I don’t really need any socks, but meh I can’t deny these! Like the knickers Topshop do an offer on socks, 3 for £8 so I think I may have to take up this offer when I buy the knickers. 😛

So that was my wish list for April! I’m still on my spending ban, but I may have to treat myself to a couple of things on this list, it depends how I feel, and also how my bank account feels. 😛

What do you have on your wish lists for April? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below.

Until next time, take care all and I hope you’ve had a great weekend.

Currently #4

I’ve kinda been updating you on my life recently due to so much happening what with Christmas, New Year, and my birthday, but I wanted to do a currently post so I could update you all properly on how things have been recently, aside from busy with all the holidays mentioned above!

I’ve been excited to do another currently list for ages! So here is currently number four.

Watching: I have been watching all sorts recently. Mostly a mixture of Mrs. Brown’s Boys, and Making a Murderer, but come on, who isn’t watching that? I do really like Making a Murderer but at the same time it frustrates me so much to watch, that I have to take breaks from it just to think about what the hell is going on! My boyfriend got me to watch the first episode on my birthday, and I was pleasantly surprised to see what it was about. I hate jumping on the bandwagon to be honest, but I’m glad I did as it is a very interesting documentary. I need to finish it mind… Might do that today. I got Mrs. Brown’s Boys as a reward from my old job for doing so well in my customer service and such. That will be one perk of my old job that I’ll miss, the rewards you would get! I really like Mrs. Brown’s Boys, it’s hilarious and the Irish humour is spot on. The movie isn’t that great however… My dad also loves this so we’ll be watching it together soon I hope. There are a couple of clips I love from this show, and I couldn’t pick one so I’ve added two above for you to watch, and a crappy one because I can’t find said clip anywhere online!

Image taken from Georgie Brown @ weheartit.com

Playing: As I am yet to write about, I bought a PlayStation 4 after Christmas and I am so happy that I did! With that I have been playing plenty of games on there. The one I’ve been playing the most (and actually 100% completed last night) is Life is Strange. I’ve played it before, but I bought it for my PS4 to get the trophies, as well as remind myself what happened in the story. I loved it, and I’m sure I’ll play it again at some point in the future. As well as that I’ve been playing Little Big Planet 3 with my boyfriend, which has been loads of fun! We played it loads on my birthday and it was nice, really nice. I can’t wait for him to get back from holiday so we can play it again soon. Until Dawn is another game I’ve played a little of, and I intend to play more after I’ve written this blog post as I really crave playing it right now! As well as tonight when I get home from pole dance fitness.

Listening: I’m pretty damn bored with my music at the moment. Like REALLY bored. I haven’t had something come up on the shuffle playlist that’s made me think, “Damn I haven’t listened to that artist for a while!” and put them on later, or the next day. I’ve been looking around YouTube for some new artists to check out, and Nightcore is one I have gladly discovered. They take songs and speed them up a little to make them sound sort of chipmunk like, sort of reminds me of Japanese music for some reason… Which is why I like it! I have been listening to a couple of the songs, and I intend to download some soon for my car. The second video I have linked I listened to for the first time today and it made me cry, as it made me think of how I feel about my boyfriend. So it’s officially my song for him. 🙂 Cheesy? Yes. Fucks given? Zero!

Eating: CRAP! Honestly I haven’t been eating that great at the moment. Not even in the sense of I’ve been eating rubbish like junk, but I’ve hardly been eating lately and it isn’t for bad reasons either. I just haven’t really had the energy to. I’ll eat little tid bits and that’s it. I cooked myself something though a few nights ago and it was lovely. I do want to start eating healthy again, like I was when I was dieting, but I don’t want to at the same time. I like having my treats. I have however been drinking lots of tea, and I don’t know why. I blame it being cold and not wanting to drink coffee all the time.

Wearing: I got some new PJs for Christmas (which you can see here) so I’ve been wearing them loads since receiving them! As well as that I have been notoriously wearing my 101 Dalmatians Vans (read about those here) as they are hella comfortable! I can’t wait to rock them more in the summer, as I think my shoes for winter will have to start being my Jake Dr Martens (can read about those here), as I’ve been neglecting them a little lately.

Image taken from blackmilkclothing.com

Wanting: SLEEP! Lots of bloody sleep at that! I am constantly tired at the moment, and I don’t know why. On my days off work I plan to have a lie in, and I never have one. On days where I start work late I usually end up having my lie in then. I like waking up early to get things done… But I do love my sleep. As well as that I am lusting after Black Milk Clothing leggings, the fox ones… Which I have mentioned time and time again. I am still after them… YES! I am going to see about ordering them with my birthday money when my boyfriend comes back from holiday, but I’m not sure yet. They are a lot of money. Sadly. As well as that I am lusting after the new MAC Cosmetics Retro Matte Liquid Lipsticks, especially shade Oh Lady… WHICH IS SOLD OUT EVERYWHERE! Soon… Soon.

Other than all those things I’ve been pretty chilled at the moment. I’m trying to sort my blog over the next month so that it can be better this year than ever before! I have recently changed my profile picture on the right (as I’m sure you can see) and I intend to do some more changes soon.

What are your currents at the moment? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time, take care all and see you soon.

Christmas Presents!

Merry Christmas one and all! Even if it is a tad too late to say now… Everyone is saying, “Happy New Year!” at the moment, aren’t they?

ANYWAY! Christmas has come and gone once again, and as you can tell from my absence the past couple of days, I’ve had a really good one this year. I spent the morning over at my boyfriend’s house with his family, which was lovely. We hadn’t done this yet, so it really did make a nice change. Then in the evening we came over to my house, which was super chilled out. Perfect Christmas!

I worked Boxing Day, which sucked but it was a laugh with my colleagues and we all talked about our Christmas Day’s, and what we got for Christmas.

Tonight I’ll be sharing what goodies I received for Christmas! As I’ve stated the past couple of years when writing these sorts of posts, I am in no way bragging, or showing off about what I received for Christmas. I love reading posts like this (because I’m a nosey cow!) so I always imagine people would enjoy reading mine too… Especially anyone who loves foxes, and anime/manga related goodies, as that’s what the majority was which I received.

I also want to apologise for crappy pictures. These were taken late at night, I was shattered after a busy day, and I knew if I didn’t get something taken, I would have nothing to write about now as I’ve literally not had any time.

So, here are my presents!

As you can see I received a lot of gifts, and this isn’t even all of it! Nope, there is more…

As I mentioned in my holiday haul post here my dad bought me this gorgeous Michael Kors Riley handbag! It has been my go to bag ever since the holiday, and I can see it being used pretty much forever now… I love using it for work as it’s so light to carry and it fits the right amount of items in.

One of the best presents I received for Christmas was nightwear. I haven’t received any for quite some time, so when my boyfriends parents bought me this fox slipper socks, and my boyfriend bought me these woodland animal pajamas, I was thrilled! The pajamas he bought me are so damn comfortable as well! I wore them from Christmas Day to this morning, and I wish I could be wearing them now. I love long-sleeved pajama tops!

My boyfriends family were really generous and lovely this year with their presents to me. My boyfriends brother and his girlfriend bought me Lush, and although my boyfriend states that they didn’t know which gift set I was after, they bought me the exact one! I’d eyed this set up only a week ago in Lush, due to it coming with Twilight Shower Gel, which is a limited edition product, and only comes out in the Lush Kitchen. I haven’t used it yet, but I can’t wait to.

My boyfriends parents bought me various little bits and pieces, from the fox slippers mentioned earlier, a cute little candle with squirrels on it, and this beautiful fox pillow. I snuggled it all morning after opening it, and it now sits lovely on my bed… I’m leaning against it right now, and it’s so fluffy and comfortable! They also bought me some Pandora, but I’m saving that until last.

My families gifts were lovely, and to the point. Alongside all these my mom also bought me a navy dressing gown, but I never got a picture of it, sorry. One of the nicest presents she bought me was this gorgeous fox mug! I had told her I wanted it from Avon for a while, and she offered to pick it up for me. Alas she told me it had sold out, and had secretly hidden it for Christmas. She also bought me a cute little fox purse. I’m unsure what I’ll use it for at the moment, but I’m sure I’ll soon find a use for it. The hair towels were a complete surprise, and I was keen on getting some new ones, so these pink ones will do just the job! I love using these towels to dry my long hair, they really do the trick. As my mom did last year, she has done it again and bought me a new face powder, only this time on by Laura Geller. So far since getting it a few days ago I’ve been using it and it’s lovely, I cannot complain.

My brother is great when it comes to presents, he always gets good ones, and usually he’ll get perfume. He never knows what perfume I’m after (because I don’t really talk to him about that sort of thing) but he always seems to get me something that I think, “Ooo that’s nice… Meh too much money…” and it makes me smile. This year he has bought me the latest scent by Marc Jacobs, Decadence. I can’t even describe the scent for this. It’s pretty unique, and reminds me of something that Thierry Mugler would come out with. The bottle for this does astonish me too, with its little handbag design. This came in a gift set with a shower gel, which I used on Boxing Day. I intend to wear this on my birthday.

My boyfriend bought me so much stuff! Like SO much stuff! But in return, I also bought him lots of things. The majority of what he seemed to pick up for me, they were fox themed. He’s never bought me this much fox related stuff before, which surprised me. He bought me a fox umbrella, and a fox car air freshener from a company called The Fox Project, a charity which helps foxes that have been hurt, and need urgent treatment. Along these he also bought me two pairs of fox socks from M&S, as well as a fox mug. Said mug now lives at his house, as I’m always pestering him for tea and coffee.

Alongside fox related items he had a habit for buying me lots of books this year (as I did for him too), and Umaru-Chan related goodies. He bought me two of these later items, one being a t-shirt, the other this adorable little notebook! I’ll be using that for work as a blog writing book. As I already mentioned, he bought me books, four in total. Three being books 10, 11, and 12 from the Nana manga, and one being the Pewdiepie book, This Book Loves You. I intend to go through it on my day off Wednesday.

As well as that he also picked up this cute little polar bear, as something I can snuggle when at his house, a Simon’s Cat calendar for next year, and a little Yankee Candle Christmas Eve votive candle.

He also bought me a special Pandora charm, but I’ll be going into more detail about that shortly.

These were two of the best presents I received from my boyfriend. I knew I was getting the Umaru-Chan Nendoroid, but the Baymax Pop! Vinyl was a complete surprise to me! I had told him I wanted it, but I didn’t know if he would buy him for me or not.

I am a massive fan of Big Hero 6, and Baymax really melted my heart. I can’t even remember how many times I cried when we went to watch Big Hero 6… It was a lot though! I’m not a huge Pop! Vinyl fan, I think the majority of the figures they release and sell look crap with how their paint work has been done. HOWEVER some of them do look amazing, and Baymax is one of these. He’s pearlescent in colour, and is bigger than normal Pop! Vinyl’s, which I actually really like.

As for Umaru-Chan she’s a gorgeous little figure, and one I fast fell in love with. I have spoken on my blog before about how much I love the anime that she originates from, and so when I got into the anime, my boyfriend knew he had to order the figure for me. I want to open her so badly, but she’s just too nice to open her. Instead I shall just gaze at her from afar and one day-dream of opening her.

Finally we have the two Pandora charms I was given this year. One from my boyfriend, and one from his parents. His parents gave me the little puppy charm (on the right) that is wearing a cute little red Father Christmas hat. It is such a little cute charm, and I wish I could have got some better pictures of it, but alas I couldn’t at the time. He’s sitting down, with his tongue sticking out. It’s a real cutie to add to my bracelet.

The charm my boyfriend bought for me is the fox (on the left) and it isn’t actually an official Pandora… But I don’t care about that! Pandora are taking too long to release a fox charm (you watch, they will now!) so when my boyfriend saw this one for sale on The Fox Project he snapped it up. It’s a cute little fox lying on a log, and I imagine trying to have a snooze. I love this charm so much because it really does stand out on the whole bracelet.

So that’s all… Wait… That isn’t ALL my presents? Is it?

My mom bought me a Kitchen Aid for Christmas. You know, like the ones they use on The Great British Bake Off? YES ONE OF THOSE! I was gobsmacked when I opened a massive present to not only see this, but a ceramic bowl, as well as a five piece kitchen/culinary set to use with the mixer as well. For weeks my mom has been lying about this massive box in the living room, saying it was something my brother had ordered… But it never budged. Until I came home for Christmas, and it had moved and was covered in wrapping paper. I am so excited to use it, even though I’m not 100% sure when I will yet. When I do, I’m sure I’ll have some sort of blog post about it.

Now, that IS all I received for Christmas. Although I did receive a wash set from my sister-in-law, and nephews, and I am yet to see what friends have bought me.

But yes, that is all my presents from Christmas ’15! What did you get for Christmas? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below, or even link me to your blog post about it if you’re a blogger.

Until next time, take care all and I hope you have a nice rest after Christmas. I would love one, that’s for sure. 😛

A Sunday Catch-Up Haul

So last Sunday my friend Poppy and I met up after 4 months of not seeing one another to have a much-needed catch-up, as well as do a little bit of shopping. We were both super excited and couldn’t wait to get together to do what we do best, drink coffee and talk about make-up!

I told myself I wouldn’t spend much and in just a few hours I spent about £50… Oops! I won’t be treating myself for ages though now and will be making sure to save up as much as possible!

Otherwise I’m not that bothered, it was a lovely day and all the things I bought were definite essentials and at one point I came out with something that sounded rather like something Rebecca Brandon (née Bloomwood) would say from the Shopaholic books by Sophie Kinsella… (I love that series!) But I’ll explain that later into this post!

The weather was pretty crap but I’d started my journey to town rather well, as I made my way from Coventry for a change. The train journey was pleasant and it only took me 20 minutes to get to Birmingham. It’s weird, from where I live it can take maximum an hour, but yet from Coventry it doesn’t even take half an hour… Weird, huh?

As soon as we met up we went to go and get hot chocolate to warm us up as it was pretty chilly and was raining none stop! I enjoyed my mint hot chocolate, Poppy enjoyed her soya hot chocolate and when we were warmed up and had a mini catch-up we headed over to Zara to make a must-needed purchase.

Poppy had her eye on the Mini Office City Bag (which you can find here) which she picked up in Navy. I’d never bought anything from Zara before, so I’d never looked at the bags either and I was expecting this bag to be at least £40-£50 but when she said it was £29.99 I was really surprised! She picked it up in navy and it looks gorgeous, she wore it all day whilst we carried on shopping. I’ve never seen someone so pleased with a new bag purchase before, she is adorable, bless her. FYI this bag also comes in burgundy, which looks really nice!

After this I made Poppy come with me into Primark, while as boring as I sound right now, I needed some new socks for work but I left with a new set of pajamas too!

I’m a big kid when it comes to 101 Dalmatians, like most people are about The Lion King or any of the Disney Princesses. Lady & The Tramp and Bambi are included in this too. I’d heard from a friend that Primark were selling 101 Dalmatians pajamas, which made sense as I recently bought myself some slippers of the same Disney movie from Primark too. There were two different sets, this one, which as you can see is shorts and another with had trousers, but out of the two, this was the only set in my size! I’m going to be checking quite a few Primark stores throughout the month to try and track down the other set. I really could do with some new pajamas and I might as well get some cute ones that I’ll love. I own too many 101 Dalmatians pajamas sets now… It’s a tad worrying! This set was £7, which I thought was good! I had a very anxious Wednesday afternoon so as soon as I got home I had a relaxing bubble bath, put on my new pajamas and slipped into bed to relax some more for the evening. These are really soft and fit comfortably, well worth the money I paid for them! If you would like to pick these up but sadly can’t find them in Primark anymore, they do have them on eBay, but they’re more expensive than they are in the shops, which is a bit crap.

Finally after making our way out of Primark we headed back to Zara as I saw something in there I really wanted and just had to have after spotting it from our previous visit there.

We walked past many hooks with scarves hanging off of them in Zara but this one stood out to me the most, a black and red striped scarf, that is long enough to wrap around yours as well as another person’s neck beside you. This is described on the Zara website as a Long Narrow Scarf With Stripes (which you can find here) and I got it in burgundy. The red is looking brighter on the pictures I took, when it’s more of a wine red, which I really like. This is super warm and since buying it I’ve been wearing it to and from work in the car, as well as when I went out Wednesday. I can really snuggle my face into my scarf, which I like and I haven’t bought myself a decent scarf for quite a few years now, as I’ve been a snood lover for a while. This was £19.99 which shocked me when I checked out the price tag, as every time I have been into Zara, their clothes have always seemed really expensive to me, but for how big and how warm this scarf is, the price didn’t bother me at all. This was a real treat today and one that I don’t think I’ll be regretting anytime soon. It goes with everything from my pleather spiked biker jacket, to my navy military coat, to even a grey or navy boyfriend cardigan. This will keep me really warm this autumn and winter and with the weather becoming so bitter and cold, it looks like I chose the perfect time to buy this.

We wandered around for a while, including Selfridges where I found out how much I need certain Laura Mercier products in my life (post about those in a few days!) as well as finally swatching MAC Speak Louder, which will definitely be my next MAC purchase… When however, I don’t know!

We went for lunch and some tea, as well as more catching-up and one of our last stops was to Boots, where I needed to pick up some essentials, as well as a few treats.

I had a list inside my head of certain things I needed to get, but I ended up bringing home a couple of things I really didn’t need. At the moment Boots are doing one of their 3 for 2 deals, so although I didn’t intend on doing this, I ended up being sucked into it and picked up three items, getting one free, hooray!

I knew I wanted to pick up Vaseline’s latest limited edition, Paint The Town Red lip tint as whilst some beauty bloggers had reviewed it as overrated and rubbish, most had reviewed it as being a lovely product to use on their lips and went on how good it was. So I decided to pick it up for myself! I’ve been using this loads since I bought it and I’ll definitely be writing a review for it! It leaves a lovely dark pink tint to the lips, which is perfect if you don’t fancy wearing lipstick but would like a hint of colour, plus it smells gorgeous and it reminds me of autumn. This was £3.49 but so worth it and I know come Christmas I’ll be buying these for my Vaseline loving friends, as well as picking some more up for myself before they’re taken off the shelves. If you can’t find this in stores to buy, you can pick it up from Boots and Superdrug.

Oral-B 3D White Brilliance toothpaste is the only one I’ll use since it came out… Well until something I think is better than this one comes out anyway! My Mom bought us some to try when it first came out a couple of years ago and since then whenever I’m close to running out, I’ll pick up a new tube. I run out of this every 3 months or so and since using it my teeth just look so much better and even my dentist agreed! It’s £3.49 a tube but it doesn’t bother me, as I really like this toothpaste and I use it day and night!

I nearly forgot I needed shave gel and I haven’t treated myself to a nice, woman’s shaving gel for quite a long time now! I usually opt for men’s shaving foam as it does a great job, but after buying a cheap can of shaving foam, my legs ended up breaking out in a terrible rash from an allergic reaction and I felt like the skin was being taken off of my legs, instead of my hairs. For a while I discontinued using any shave foams or gels and opted for using conditioners and shower gels instead, which didn’t do so much better for my skin either! When I looked at the women’s shave gels I saw that certain Gillette shave gels were on offer at £1.74 each, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to have one of these. I decided upon the Satin Care with Touch of Olay for Sensitive Skin as it sounded rather appealing. Not only is it suitable for sensitive skin but it also moisturises as you shave, which is exactly what I need for my legs of late! I gave this a go on Wednesday during my relaxing bath and afterwards my legs felt so beautiful and smooth and shaving them with this gel felt lovely too. I don’t think I would repurchase this at its full price of £3.49, but if I got it on offer again, I don’t see why not!

I needed to get another product for make my 3 for 2 offer and even though I don’t need anymore shower products, this seemed like something I wanted to give a go after Poppy telling me how lovely it smelt. I love strawberry scents, even though I hate them to eat or drink. I gave this a sniff and it reminded me of the Strawberry Shower Gel by The Body Shop, which is a firm favourite from my childhood. I’ve used Natural Collection products since I was a child too and Wild Strawberry has been around for ages, but I don’t recall ever trying it myself! The shower cream sounded yummy and as it was £2.00, it became my free product in the 3 for 2 offer! I gave this a go before going to work on Monday and it really did perk me up! It left my bathroom smelling lovely, as well as leaving my skin the same, as well as it being soft too. I’d love to try more of Natural Collection’s shower gels/cremes as although they’re a tad expensive at £2.00 each, it’s not as expensive as some shower products, eh? I can imagine my boyfriend stealing this whenever he comes over in future and I can hardly blame him! You can find this here on Boots website.

Last of all I had thought about picking up a new eye gel whilst shopping in Boots, but I was only going to pick up my good old Simple eye balm, but I wanted to try something new and decided to pick up Soap & Glory’s Puffy Eye Attack Turbo-Boots Hydragel. I’d looked at this before and thought how cooling the gel felt on the back of my hand, so who only knows how it would feel on my eye! I decided to go for it as you only need a little bit for the eyes and it goes a long way! I reckon this little jar will last me for 6 months, if not more! I tried some of this when I got home on the Sunday afternoon and it felt lovely on my eyes and when I’ve used it before going to work and out during the day it’s felt really refreshing on my eyes too! This was a pretty expensive purchase at £12.50 but it was a treat and it’ll last me months! You can pick this up in Boots and a lot of Soap & Glory products are featured in the 3 for 2 offer, which is what I bought mine in. I know I’ll be reviewing this in future as my eye bags can be quite big depending if I’ve had much sleep or not, so I’m going to be trying this little pot out day and night to see how it does!

So after another sit down with some pots of tea and some gossip to be had, it was finally time to go home and at the last-minute Poppy decided to drop me off at home, seeing as it was on her way, which was lovely of her!

I had such a lovely day and it was great to see Poppy again, as I had missed her terribly!

I’m now poor and need to stay in eating cheap meals, but at least I’ll be clean and warm eh?

Have you been shopping recently? What did you buy nice for yourself? Let me know in the comments!

Until next time, take care and I hope you all had a great week.