IGN Summer of Gaming 2022 – Games I’m Excited For

I can’t believe we don’t have E3 this year but instead we have IGN Summer of Gaming, which has been just as good in all honesty! Since me and Dane have been together we’ve always tried to catch E3 every year to check out the newest games coming out on consoles and PC and the more years we’ve been together, the more invested we have been with E3. This year with it being taken over by IGN and the Summer of Gaming, everyday since Wednesday 1st June has been jam packed with game news, which has been amazing!

Last year I shared with you all games I was excited for after E3 2021 (which you can read here), so I thought I’d do it all over again this year… Because why not! I hope some of the games I share with you today are ones you’ve not yet heard about and end up liking the sound of getting yourselves.

At the time of writing this post, there hasn’t been a Nintendo Direct, which is making me sad. I think there’s been rumours of one coming later this month, but we shall see! I’m going to be mainly talking about and sharing games from Wholesome Direct, as well as Xbox & Bethesda, as they were two of my favourites this year.

So, sit back grab a hot drink and enjoy this weeks blog post! 😀

When Wholesome Games host their direct, it fast becomes one of my favourite time of year as majority of the games that are announced find their way onto my Steam and Nintendo Switch wish lists very quickly. I love wholesome games where you can sit down and play a relaxing game after a stressful day. I’ve discovered some amazing games the past two years since they started up and I really love them for that. I’ll try not to go into too much detail about all the games below as there’s quite a few to talk about… Twelve in total! 😛

Little Bear Chef – Release date TBH, on Steam and possibility on games consoles.

A game where you play as a tiny bear chef in a regular sized kitchen. Little Bear Chef is a cosy 3D cooking platformer where you play as a tiny bear chef in a regular sized kitchen. It’s all about coming up with creative and funny solutions to cook the recipe at hand.

Little Bear Chef looks adorable and one that I reckon would be so much fun to play! I love cooking and the little honey bottle inspired bear looks adorable to boot! I was hopeful this might be a multiplayer game, but the creators have stated there’s no plan for this in the future. There isn’t a lot I can really say about this right now as there’s no release date and no website either, just a Twitter page. Keep eyes peeled for this one, I reckon it’ll do really well!

LumberJack – Out now on Steam, Nintendo Switch and Xbox.

Jack is a humble Lumbearjack with a simple dream: to return to nature what is hers with the help of his trusty axe and his animal friends. Through real-time physics puzzles, fight destruction with destruction to thwart the sinister plans of up-and-coming industrial giant Evil Works.

I saw the trailer for this and thought it looks really interesting with the smash up style, but not going to lie, I didn’t quite realise it was a puzzles based game, which let me add I’m not the best at sometimes. This game is out now, so if I ever fancy giving something new a go and it’s on sale, I’ll definitely think about picking this up!

Usagi Shima – 2023 on iOS, Android and Steam.

You’ve been tasked as caretaker of an abandoned island — as you decorate and rebuild it over time, curious (but adorable!) visitors start to appear… Buy toys and and build structures on an abandoned island to entice curious bun tourists to pay you a visit! Discover, take photos, and even befriend a variety of bunnies that visit based on how you’ve decorated and arranged the island.

This game is RIGHT UP MY STREET and looks adorable! I got a quick glimpse of this on the preview at the start of the Wholesome Direct and was curious what it could be! This would be great as a mobile game as I can play it on the go and during lunch breaks at work. I honestly cannot wait for this game, it reminds me a little of Animal Crossing. 😀

Puffpalls: Island Skies – 2024 on PC, mobile, MAC and Nintendo Switch.

PuffPals: Island Skies is a game about eliciting the nostalgic memories of growing up as a kid; exploring the world and discovering everything for the very first time! From traversing new biomes, meeting new friends, and customizing your very own home, there is no shortage of things to do on these magical floating islands! The cozy, warm, yet adventurous and curious nature of being a kid is something we want our players to embrace when embarking on their journey in PuffPals: Island Skies!

I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it on my blog yet, but I actually backed this game on Kickstarter about a month ago now and I’m so excited for it! It was awesome to see it advertised on the Wholesome Direct, but not going to lie, I don’t think they needed to advertise it anymore. The adverts were EVERYWHERE recently with the Kickstarter being live. This being said, I am excited for it. It’s pretty much like Animal Crossing but a little bit different and with Fluffnest‘s original characters. I highly recommend checking it out if you love Animal Crossing.

Fall of Porcupine – Release date TBH on Steam.

FALL OF PORCUPINE is a unique story adventure. The collision of work and daily life – an exciting reflection of an unhealthy healthcare-system.

I wasn’t 100% sure about this game at first but since the Wholesome Direct, I’ve watched the trailer quite a few times and really do like the sound of it. Plus the art style of it looks really cute! I’m definitely going to pick this one up at some point.

Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly – 2023 on Steam and games consoles.

Dust off your coffee machine and prepare your warmest smile to meet your customers again in the second episode of the much loved coffee brewing and heart-to-heart talking simulator; Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly.

I remember buying Coffee Talk not long after I picked up my Nintendo Switch Lite back in 2019 and I really did enjoy the game, but I forgot to download it onto my Switch, so I’m only just continuing the story since the Wholesome Direct last week! I really love playing Coffee Talk, it’s a relaxing game of talking to your customers in the coffee shop and making them drinks. Nothing much to it other than that! The fact they are bringing a second game out, I must get it! Especially with the slight mystery behind the new characters revealed in the trailer too. 😀

Pekoe – 2023 on Steam. 

Blend tea and friendship in the flavourful world of Pekoe, a cosy cat-filled tea-making simulator about taking the time for self-care and connecting with what makes you happy. Build relationships, upgrade your teahouse, and discover new recipes as you work towards creating a place you can call home.

Pekoe was announced last year at the Wholesome Direct for 2021, which I mentioned at the end of last years blog post all about E3. I’m so excited to see this coming back for the Wholesome Direct this year and especially as it’s now come with more game footage too! Pekoe is such a cute little game about running a cat teahouse, whilst building a home for yourself and making friends. Perfect game for relaxing to.

Snacko – Out 2022 on both Steam, Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 and 5.

Former big city kitties Momo and Mikan are starting a new life on a seemingly deserted island. Unravel its mysteries while you rebuild a community, farm, fish, and explore the island and beyond! Lift a curse and revitalized a ruined island in Snacko, where former big city kitties Momo and Mikan are starting a new life! Grow crops, raise fluffy cows, go fishing, exploring, customize and decorate as you please, and much, much more in this farming cat-venture.

This is actually a game I backed on Kickstarter a while ago now and whenever I hear news about it in anyway shape and form, I get so excited about it! I’m also part of the Discord so I’m constantly hearing updates form the developers. Snacko reminds me of Animal Crossing but with cats! I’m definitely swaying towards getting my copy on the Nintendo Switch, I love playing PC games, sure, but I love how easy it is to move around to play you Switch. I’m literally counting down the days now for Snacko to announce when this will release!

Super Mini Mart – Release date TBH on Steam.

Super Mini Mart is a cosy take on the management genre with a charming 3D aesthetic and an endearing cast of characters. Stock, supervise, and manage store activities in a laid-back environment, befriending locals and turning those one-off bargain hunters into life-long loyal customers!

I love games like this one so when I saw the trailer for it at the end of the Wholesome Direct, I knew I’d want to get it! I used to work in retail and I’d never go back to it, but alas I’m happy to play a game all about looking after a shop. Ironic, huh? 😛 I hope this comes out on Nintendo Switch too, as I’d really love to give it a go on there rather than Steam.

Love, Ghostie – Release date TBH on Steam.

Be a wholesome ghost matchmaker and grow relationships between the mansion’s residents! Gift items to brighten their lives, set them up on dates, and watch their love bloom! What romances will you create?

This game is adorable and one I may not pick up straight away, but maybe when it’s on offer or I fancy something new to play? I love kawaii ghosts and that’s exactly what these ghosts are! You need to match match people up in a house and become a ghost cupid!

Bloom – Out now on Playdate.

Bloom is a real-time narrative-driven social sim about starting up a flower shop made exclusively for Playdate. Tend to Midori’s garden while texting friends and family as she starts a new chapter of her life. The game takes place over many real-life days.

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen the trailer for Bloom and it semi breaks my heart. I really love the look of this game, but unfortunately it’s currently only available to buy and play on Playdate, a new handheld console. Set in Japan you play as a young woman who has moved to create her own flower shop. It just looks like such a cute game, I’d honestly look at buying a Playdate to play this!

Now that I’ve mentioned the games I liked from the Wholesome Direct, I’m going to talk about Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase. This was one Dane watched before me but we spoke about it as I watched it. It was a good showcase to say the least, much better than PlayStation/Sony, let me put it that way… I’ll be talking about five games in total!

Redfall – 2023 on PC and Xbox.

The quaint island town of Redfall, Massachusetts, is under siege by a legion of vampires who have blocked out the sun and cut the island off from the outside world. Trapped with a handful of survivors against diabolical enemies threatening to bleed the town dry, choose your hero from a diverse roster, grouping up with others to create the perfect team of vampire slayers.

This was the first game to be shown during the showcase and I really liked the look of it from the get go. It reminds me of a mixture of Borderlands and Left 4 Dead, which are both two of my favourite games to play with Dane and friends! Not only is this a co-op game, but it’s also open world, both sound like so much fun! This isn’t due to come out until 2023, but as it’ll be on Xbox Game Pass, both me and Dane will get this for “free” from day one to play together!

ARK 2 – 2023 on PC and Xbox.

Starring Vin Diesel (Fast Franchise) as Santiago and Auli’i Cravalho (Moana) as his daughter Meeka. Survive the past. Tame the future. Awakened on a primal world filled with dinosaurs & humans struggling for dominance, you must team-up with legendary heroes to confront dark forces. Saddle up, & join the definitive next-gen survival experience with ARK 2!

During Covid, me Dane and some friends decided to start playing ARK and we played it for months! It was so much fun to jump on and play altogether each evening and it’s something I do miss. We’re all excited for ARK 2 to come out and as it’s on Xbox Games Pass, I’m pretty sure we’ll all download it to play all over again, but this time it looks like we’ll have a story to play with it too!

As Dusk Falls – July 19th 2022 on PC and Xbox

As Dusk Falls is an original interactive drama. Join friends or play alone, making choices that impact characters’ lives in this uncompromising story of betrayal, sacrifice, and resilience.

I love these types of games and always give them a go at some point or another! I’d love to play this with Dane as you can play with friends! It reminds me a little bit of a mixture between Life is Strange and one of the Quantic Dream games. It was commented on that it was made like a UK drama? I don’t personally see that, but I may when I play it myself? This will also be on Xbox Games Pass, so I’ll try it out for sure.

Diablo IV – 2023 on Xbox and PlayStation 5.

The endless battle between the High Heavens and the Burning Hells rages on as chaos threatens to consume Sanctuary. With ceaseless demons to slaughter, countless Abilities to master, nightmarish Dungeons, and Legendary loot, this vast, open world brings the promise of adventure and devastation. Survive and conquer darkness – or succumb to the shadows.

As Dane is a huge Diablo fan, I knew he would want this game and that I would be “dragged” in to play it with him, which is fine. I started to watch the cinematic trailer and didn’t realise it was Diablo IV at the time, so when it announced it was, I KNEW I would want to play it! I really love the necromancer class, it looks so badass and awesome! I think me and Dane are playing to try and binge play the other Diablo games before this one comes out.

Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden – 2023 on PC and Xbox.

When I heard about this I was super excited! As regular readers of my blog will know, I LOVE Persona 5 and I’m currently on and off playing Persona 5 Royal. I do also own Persona 4 Golden, but I’ve gotten stuck and plan to reply at some point on Steam. However, with Persona 4 Golden AND Persona 3 Portable coming to Xbox Games Pass, I’ll be playing them both on Xbox in the future for sure! The latter was only available on PlayStation Vita and I wasn’t able to get a copy, so this makes me so happy! Of course, I would have loved these to come to PlayStation, but meh.

Finally I want to share a couple of other games I’ve heard about! I’ll mention when talking about each of these where they were announced. 🙂

Super Zoo Story – 2023 on Steam.

Build and manage your own personal zoo in the pixel marvel RPG Game, Super Zoo Story. Construct your park, care for your animals, and ensure the happiness of both critters and humans alike. Maybe even find that special someone while building the zoo of your dreams!

Dane actually showed me this game which I really like the look of! It’s apparently heavily inspired by Stardew Valley, which I’m not a massive fan of… Purely because I just don’t get the hype around it, which in turn surprises everyone. This being said I really love the look of Super Zoo Story and I discovered whilst researching for this post that it’s got a Kickstarter coming soon, which I’ll link here. Make sure to go and check it out if you love building/managing games. I really hope this will come out on Switch, but Steam is fine too. 😀

Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet – November 18th on Nintendo Switch.

Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet offer an open-world experience that only the Pokémon series can deliver—one welcoming even to newcomers to the series.​ You can experience a new style of adventure, with a world that you’re free to explore at your leisure and not in an order dictated by the story. You will, of course, journey to hone your skills as a Pokémon Trainer, but many more discoveries and stories await you. Meet a variety of people and Pokémon, and adventure in the world of Pokémon the way you want to.

OBVIOUSLY I have to share Pokemon announcements here! I know I mentioned a while ago on here about how excited I am for the new Pokemon game, Scarlet and Violet and I already have both pre-ordered with Gamersheek for me and Dane. They’ve announced more details about the game, which, if you’re a Pokemon fan you’ll have seen already I’m sure. 😛 I’m really excited for it and contemplating booking the day off work so I can just play it as soon as it arrives! 😛 I need to talk to Dane about whether or not he fancies us booking off the day to binge play this gen like we did with the last gen. At the time of writing this post there are supposedly leaks from the new games… I’m going to have a nose into those later. I’m never fussed about seeing leaks myself, if anything it gets me more hyped for the game. xD

Roots of Pacha – 2022 on Steam.

Roots of Pacha allows you to build, harvest crops, make friends with animals and help grow your village in single-player or co-op mode. This trailer for Roots of Pacha gameplay shows off some new elements you can experience while playing.

Another game similar sounding to Super Zoo Story, we have Roots of Pacha which looks like such a chill and cool game to play! I especially love that this has co-op mode so it means me and Dane can play together if we wanted to! I’m going to look into this sooner rather than later as this looks to be launching sooner rather than later. I didn’t know that this was a Kickstarter game until researching for this post too.

Choo-Choo Charles – 2022 on Steam.

Choo-Choo Charles is a survival horror, open world, shooter game. Navigate an island in an old train, upgrade it over time, and use it to fight an evil sentient train that terrorizes your home. Charles is hungry; don’t be his next meal.

This is actually one of the first games I saw to be announced from the IGN Summer of Gaming and it’s one I’m not 100% sure about. The concept of it sounds fucking hilarious and one I’d love to try, but at the same time it sounds so scary and I don’t know if I’d like it? I think Dane was interested in this game too, so if there’s a chance to play co-op I can see us both playing this at some point for shits and giggles!

So, there we have it guys, all the games (so far anyway…) that I’ve really loved the look of from IGN Summer of Gaming!

What games have taken your fancy so far? Have you discovered any new ones from this blog post today? Make sure to let me know in the comments below! I’m especially excited for a lot of new games to add to my library!

Until next time guys, take care and I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend.

May Favourites ’22

Another month is due to end and with that we of course have our monthly favourites! I can’t believe it’s June in four days time, the year is just flying by and I’m not liking it… But I am sort of liking it because excited things are coming up at the start of June!

May was a weird month for me, it was full of bank holidays, and annual leave which left me wanting more four day weeks at work. As well as that, last week me and Dane went to see My Chemical Romance and let me tell you it was amazing! I haven’t been to a show that big to date. The atmosphere was great and took me back to when I’ve seen them live twice previously, as well as to how I used to be when I was younger. If it wasn’t obvious enough, I was a little emo kid. 😛 I’m going to save more details for later on in my monthly favourites, because it obviously counts!

Aside from that, June is looking to be an exciting month for me and Dane! We have the UK Games Expo coming up with my best friend and her boyfriend and then me and Dane have a week off together for our nine year anniversary, which in itself has flown by! For our anniversary this year we’ve decided to go to Manchester for a few days, which we’re so excited for! Like MCR, I’ll talk more about it later in my monthly favourites, as whilst it hasn’t happened yet, it’s something I’m excited about, so it classes as a favourite… Right?

Me and Dane also finished our first Dungeons & Dragons campaign too, which lasted for three years! We had so much fun playing it and can’t wait to start a new campaign in June/July.

On top of all that I’m going to be bloody skint this month, with MCR, UK Games Expo, Manchester AND my car needing to be taxed and serviced… It’s a good job I have plenty to keep me busy. 😛

Content wise for June I’m hoping to bring you some kawaii AF stuff, as well as some future posts about our Manchester adventures, especially geeky places to shop, fun things to do and good places to eat. I hope yah’ll are excited for it!

Anyhoo, on with the monthly favourites! I really hope you enjoy this months post, I feel like it’s going to be full of me being excited about adventures and MCR. 😛

Favourite Beauty Product – Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask in Berry.

I was planning to write a blog post showing off all the goodies I picked up from YesStyle a couple of months ago, but I decided against it as I thought I’d end up showing off the goodies in monthly favourites posts anyway (which I have!). One of the items I picked up is the Laneige lip sleeping mask in berry, which I have wanted to try for as long as I can remember. It’s recently started to hit the UK beauty stores, so it’s becoming more available to us in the west, however the price for the pot is a bit of a joke… Hence why I turned to YesStyle. From memory I only paid £10 for my lip sleeping mask, whereas here in the UK stores will charge £19 for it. Anyway, I’ve been using it for almost two months now and it’s definitely safe to say I LOVE it! It has definitely made an improvement to my lips, which is great with summer coming around. I don’t just use this at night like it’s known for, I use it in the morning before I start work (if I’m not wearing a lip tint that is), and I apply it before bedtime too. The mask is said to work best overnight as it “dissolves” all the dead skin on your lips, so you wake up with lovely soft lips. A lot of people claim it does what it says, but others claim it’s just Vaseline in a fancy jar, with some colour added to it. As someone who uses Vaseline on a daily basis, this is thicker than Vaseline and really does feel like it’s moisturising more, but that may just be me? To add a little bit of this stuff goes a long way, and due to that, I’ve not really made much of a dent, which is good! To add here, I picked up the Berry scent and it doesn’t really smell or taste like berries to me… But that doesn’t bother me, it would be a plus but yeah, it’s one of them. I’d say if you’re thinking of trying the Laneige lip sleeping mask, go for it, especially if you suffer with dry lips and live for lip balms! If you buy from YesStyle you could always get some of the little “sample” pots too to see what you think of it before buying a bigger jar.

Favourite Film – Jackass 4.5.

This is a recent addition to Netflix and one I was super excited to see! As many regular readers and friends will know, I’m a MASSIVE Jackass fan. I mentioned last month how I’d watched Jackass Forever and that I didn’t love it as much as the previous films they’d made. Jackass 4.5 really did make up for that, I laughed so much and even had to look away a few times in the fear of feeling (or being) sick! It was amazing, I just enjoyed it so much. The amount of times though that both me and Dane said, “Why didn’t they put that in Forever?” was crazy. I need to buy Jackass Forever and 4.5 at some point to add to my collection. If you have Netflix and love Jackass, definitely make sure to check it out! You find out a lot about the new crew members too, which I really liked. I’d love to see them come back and do more now after watching 4.5

Image taken from Empire Online.

Favourite TV Show – Moon Knight.

I’ve been a mixture of excited and nervous/sad to watch Moon Knight, but me and Dane decided to binge watch it one day over the last bank holiday in May and I can honestly say it’s my favourite Marvel TV series to come out to date! There was so much I loved about it, but the thing that made me sad was the fact it’s one of Gaspard Ulliel’s last acting role before he passed away in January. That being said, the show itself was amazing and I need more! The story of Steven/Mark and their role as the Moon Knight, as well as the dark themes and character build up were just incredible! Everyone did an amazing job and honestly, I loved it. Let me say this without spoilers when I say, Steven must be protected at all costs and he’s now up there as one of my favourite Marvel characters alongside Deadpool.

Favourite Music – My Chemical Romance.

Okay, the part of this months favourites I know some of you have been waiting for! At the time of writing this post I am still struggling with some post gig blues and I don’t really know when they’ll go away? I just crave more after last Thursday’s gig and I wish I could go see them again already! First things first, the show was amazing. Gerard dressed up and the band played a lot of popular songs from all their albums to date, including “Helena”, “Teenagers”, “Welcome to the Black Parade”, “Famous Last Words” and of course “I’m Not Okay”. We got to the gig shortly after doors opened, got some merchandise, drinks and headed to our seats. Our seats were shit as they were high up and all the way at the back, even with the screens you couldn’t see fuck all. This being said, I didn’t let it affect my experience of the gig, I was so in my element singing along to the words, watching the screens, the stage and everyone else around me that I was past caring after a while. I almost cried whilst listening to “The Foundations of Decay” due to how proud I am of the band, as well as how happy I am to see them back, as well as almost crying singing “Famous Last Words” and “Welcome to the Black Parade” as they both mean so much to me. MCR are one of the bands that were always there for me when I was struggling with my mental health growing up and especially the day my gran died. I went home to be on my own to grieve and ended up putting on The Black Parade so I had something to occupy my mind. When the song “Disenchanted” came on, I couldn’t stop crying and since that day, it always makes me sad to hear. Alongside all this the show was just incredible! Everyone was so friendly to talk to (when we did) and the atmosphere was one I’ve missed from previously seeing MCR play in 2007 and 2011. I’m just dying to see them again now… Maybe standing tickets next time for shits and giggles or at least closer seats! I was going to write a blog post about the whole day, but I feel like this is enough. 🙂

Image taken from PC Gamer.

Favourite Game – Valheim.

This is a game Dane has been pestering me to play with him for as long as I can remember and finally in May I cracked and bought it, which made him so happy! Valheim is a Viking style game where you need to gather resources, build a base, defeat the enemies nearby and ready yourself to defeat even bigger enemies! We spent a weekend playing it together and I soon got my bearings with how the gameplay worked and was. However, tragedy happened when not only did I lose a lot of my stuff in a tomb (and couldn’t get back!), but then some boars we had captured and bred were all killed by an enemy! We both rage quitted after the latter and didn’t touch it for a week or so… Until one of our friends came to join us one evening to play and since then we’ve been playing it more. She’s really helped us build our base, defeat more/bigger enemies, as well as teach us a lot more about the game as she’s been playing it longer than we have. It’s such a fun little game to play, more so with people than alone and I highly recommend it!

Just a few of my favourite things…

Picking up old games/game completion goal – Pokemon Mystery Dungeon DX and Persona 5 Royal.

I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned on my blog since the start of 2022 how I have started working on completing games I currently own and making note of them on a Twitter thread here. This is something I was inspired to do by my friend Connor, who took part in it last year. I have a lot of games I’ve bought, played for a few hours and then never picked up again. Some games I could sell, whereas others I can’t as I’ve bought on stores/Steam. I decided to start spending less time sitting online window shopping and more time playing the games I love, but have allowed to gather dust!

The first one I want to talk about is Pokemon Mystery Dungeon DX. This game is a remake of the original Mystery Dungeon games that came out in 2005 on the Game Boy Advance and DS, I still own both of these and loved them to death! The remake DX came out in 2020, just before Animal Crossing: New Horizons so I told myself I would try and complete it before Animal Crossing came out, which didn’t happen. However, what did happen is I got stuck on the second boss (Moltres) and no matter what I did, I just couldn’t get past them, so I ended up resetting the game and starting again. I grinded for ages to make sure I was ready for that boss battle again and last weekend I felt ready to take the boss on! I turned to Dane prior and said, “If I don’t beat this fucking thing, I’m selling the game.” Thankfully it wouldn’t come to that as I beat Moltres, as well as the boss after that too (Articuno), so I look like I’m going to be fine from there! I’m so glad I’ve picked this game up again, it’s making me feel so nostalgic to between 2009-2010 when I picked up both of the original games to play.

Alongside playing Pokemon Mystery Dungeon DX, I’ve also started playing Persona 5 Royal again, which is something I also picked up in March 2020! I hardly played it due to Animal Crossing: New Horizons and only played the first palace and some of the second. I decided to play it over a bank holiday weekend and haven’t looked back since. I genuinely forgot how much I love Persona 5 and the characters behind it, it really means a lot to me as the original game helped me through some dark days. So far I’ve completed the second palace and I’m probably near to beginning the third one from memory. I always recommend Persona 5 to people to play, but these days I often suggest people playing Persona 5 Royal, just because it has more to the story than the original. I’m probably going to focus on completing Pokemon Mystery Dungeon DX first and then on Persona 5 Royal, depends on my mood I guess. Currently my PS4 is in the living room, which I’d love to move temporarily to my desk in our office so I can play it with Dane in the background as company, but we shall see!

Image taken from UK Games Expo.

June adventures – UK Games Expo and Manchester.

As I mentioned at the start of this post I have lots of exciting things booked in and planned with Dane and some friends at the start of June, which I’m really looking forward to!

First we have UK Games Expo the first weekend of June, which is a board game convention in Birmingham. Me and Dane went in 2019 and spent WAY too much money (which you can read about here), but we had an amazing time and always said we’d go again, but of course Covid happened… That being said we’ve finally plucked up the courage to go again this year. Due to my anxiety of Covid still, I do still wear masks in shops, as well as around the office at work, so I’m not 100% sure if I’ll wear my mask or not at the convention yet… I’m worried it’ll be really warm and I could maybe die from the heat haha! We’ll see how it goes though! There’s going to be some amazing vendors there from years before that I’m excited to purchase from and support again, plus I’m hopeful we can all play lots of board games and have fun! I’m so happy my best friend recently got into board games, because it means we can all venture to cafes and play games more! Me and Dane got into board games before Covid and then Covid happened… And we couldn’t play board games with many people. 😦

Then as I mentioned before, for our nine year anniversary we decided to go to Manchester as we’ve booked to go to Point Blank Shooting with a voucher I was gifted for my 30th. Point Blank Shooting is a simulation shooting range and bar, offering food and drinks whilst you play on the shooting simulation games! We plan to go and have a day of shopping in Manchester and then head to Point Blank Shooting, finishing up at some themed bars on the way to our hotel. The next day we plan to have some breakfast, more shopping, a big lunch and then heading to Bury for The Arcade Club! My friend Daysei is always telling me how much fun it is there and after showing Dane how many floors of arcade games they are, we booked it in to do! I’m honestly so excited for our gaming and shopping days away for our anniversary, it’s going to be so much fun.

I’m hoping to write Manchester guides and reviews of places we go to, so keep eyes peeled for those!

My Chemical Romance merchandise.

I mentioned earlier about how I went to see MCR last Thursday, well of course I had to grab some merchandise as well and man I bagged a few bits, one which has been semi sought after since. I want to state now, none of these are for sale. xD I also want to state, I apologise for how shit the photo is!

I decided to grab both the tour t-shirts, as well as the Boy Zone t-shirt as well. I couldn’t decide which tour t-shirt I wanted as they were both cool in their own ways. I’m so glad I picked up both after trying them on as they’re so comfortable! All of the t-shirts are in a men’s size large and I could have probably gotten away with a medium, but I like my t-shirts baggy!

The tour t-shirts have the tour dates on the back for their shows between 16th May until 18th June which is always a good t-shirt to have. On the front of the short sleeved is an updated version of the bloody bride and groom from the Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge album, which I just had to get for that alone! On the front of the long sleeved there are some skulls and bones, as well as “Decay” written backwards. I LOVE the long sleeved t-shirt the most and already can’t wait to wear it. I’m really into my long sleeved band t-shirts lately to wear with joggers, skirts and trousers for a relaxed look.

Finally the Boy Zone t-shirt that everyone has gone mad for! I knew I had to pick this up and even though I probably won’t wear it out and about, I’ll definitely live in it at home on lazy days. It was designed by Kerin Cunningham with support from Gerard Way. It honestly reminds me of my early teens where I would always buy the music magazines that was full of bands, love quizzes and more. I honestly love it so much!

So, there we have it guys, all of my favourites from May! I honestly can’t believe we’ll be going into June in less than a week now, it’s really flown by. The whole year is, Christmas is just 6 months away now… How crazy is that?!

What were your favourites from May? Did you go and see My Chemical Romance in May too? If you did tell me all about your feelings, thoughts, etc! I’m eager to hear everyone’s stories and experiences. 🙂

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

March Favourites ‘21

March has flown by in the blink of an eye and I cannot believe that Easter is just a week away now! 2021 is going quickly and it’s really scary… But good at the same time due to lockdown easing in the UK at the moment, as well as the fact March didn’t feel like a good month for me. At the same time however, towards the end of March it was going really nicely and I can’t complain at that. 😛

April I’m already looking forward to for Easter. A long weekend to cook a yummy roast for me and Dane, as well as eat out bodyweight in chocolate and chill out together. I really can’t wait!

Alongside that I have some exciting things coming in April including a commission and some pre-orders – I’ll be talking about those in April so make sure to keep eyes peeled for this. 😛

On top of this, it’s Dane’s birthday in a couple of weeks and I’m excited to bake him a cake, spend the day together and give him his presents. I’ve bought most of his gifts already, which I’m hoping he’ll love.

For anyone who is curious – My March spending ban went REALLY well! It was only after I got paid the ban went a little bad… I bought myself some treats after a stressful and busy month, as well as Dane’s birthday presents. I’m going to continue with my spending ban in April for sure!

I’m rather excited to share one of my favourites with you this month, but it’ll be at the end of this post, so please make sure to continue reading to find out what my exciting news it! 😀

Anyhoo, on with my favourites from March!

Beauty.

• Lacura Glow Rose Tonic.

I recently picked up a new tonic to try from Lacura, as I’ve always heard nothing but good about the brand. I’ve bought a couple of different ones but I decided to start using the glow rose tonic first. I’ve been using this for almost two weeks now and my skin looks and feels amazing! It smells like rose water, feels lovely and cooling on the skin. My skin feels baby soft, looks healthy and just all around looks and feels good! I know these get bought up quickly from the Aldi website, but honestly give the Lacura tonic a go if you’re in need of a new one. These are said to be perfect dupes of the Pixi tonic. I’ve never tried this, but I’m definitely sold on the Lacura tonic now. 🙂

So… Now it’s time to talk about the miscellaneous favourites of the month! If there isn’t anything I’ve done I’m not going to mention. I haven’t mentioned a movie this month as I don’t actually think I/we watched one!

Image taken from GIPHY

Favourite TV Show – RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 2.

If there is a show I have really enjoyed watching so far in 2021, it’s the second season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK. It was fucking amazing and I couldn’t have asked for a better season, especially for the UK. There was the right amount of entertainment, drama and the queens were (mostly…) amazing! I was so happy who went into the finals and I’m especially happy at who won too. Couldn’t have gone to a better queen in my opinion. If you haven’t yet and you love Drag Race, then make sure to head over to BBC iPlayer and watch the whole season now. 😀

Favourite Music – JEDDI – HEARTBEAT (Worthless Protoplasm’s Cool Dude Remix).

I feel like I’ve hardly listened to any music lately and the only track I can think that I’ve discovered in March and really enjoyed listening to on and off is this one! I actually discovered this through one of PayMoneyWubby‘s Twitch streams and it took me an age to find a version that was longer than 30 seconds. Now I have it, it’s so cool and funky to listen to. I really like it. 🙂

Image taken from GIPHY

Favourite Game – Persona 5: Strikers.

I’ve not played a whole lot of this game so far this month but from what I have played so far, I LOVE it! It’s great to see the Phantom Thieves back together, as well as a fresh style of gaming! It’s not the turn based gaming we all know and love from Persona 5 and Persona 5: Royal but it’s more of an attack and slash a lot of enemies at a time, if that makes sense? I do really like this style and it makes a nice change. Alongside that I also love one of the new characters, Sophia/Sophie. She’s so adorable and she’s already slowly making her way up the top to knock Futaba from the best girl spot. I need a Nendoroid figure of her for sure.

Just a few of my favourite things.

Gardening.

If there is one thing I really don’t like, it’s gardening… But at the same time I also get some enjoyment out of it. When I lived at home I never did any gardening. My mom LOVES gardening and it’s her main hobby, so I never needed to do any. I was asked occasionally if I wanted to help out but it was always a no and instead I sunbathed. Now I own my own home, gardening is something I have to do, whether I like it or not. Due to that I do feel good and happy when I’ve done some. This year it’s different. Now my aunt is no longer with us, my mom doesn’t have someone to help with their gardening anymore, so she’s ended up jumping over to me (if you will) to help, which is VERY much appreciated! My mom helped us with the garden the first year we’d been here and it looked amazing, however since then it’s never looked as good, but it’s time to change that!

My dad built me a planter (the long brown one in the first photo) and my mom gave me some planters from when my aunt passed away (the cat and the swan). Not only that, but my mom had bought me loads of bulbs at Christmas so it was time for them to get planted! I spent a late morning/early afternoon planting all the goods and called my mom to see what she thought. Nothing has come up yet, but time will tell!

My mom even made me a hanging basket, but at the moment we aren’t 100% sure where we want to keep it! Alongside gifting me the hanging basket, my mom also brought me round an aloe vera plant one afternoon on her way to work. It was a cutting from one my aunt had gifted her many years previously, so it’s nice to have in my kitchen window. I wanted to buy an aloe vera plant back in 2015 and 2017 when we were in Fuerteventura but we never did in the end. So, it’s good to finally have one!

I know my mom has ordered me some more plants too to try and help out with my garden and in the future she plans to come over to give me a hand getting everything planted. Although it involves work, I’m really excited to spend some bonding time with her later on the spring and early summer. I just can’t wait to finally have a colourful garden!

I just want to stress here by the way – my parents have not been in my home. They have seen us at the end of our drive. I just want to clear this up. I can’t wait until after Monday 29th so that I can have my parents in the garden instead of at my front door. :’)

Animal Crossing commission by sunny_acnh.

I’ve known about sunny_acnh for a while now and have always wanted a commission by her, but it’s from one of her recent giveaways on Instagram (that my friend Sarah over at Raiin Monkey won!) that made me want to request my own icon commission with her! As you can tell from the icon above it’s my character in Animal Crossing, as well as my favourite villager Cookie! This icon and three others cost me $6, which is less than £5! What a bargain for three icons of your Animal Crossing character and a villager and all in less than 24 hours!

The icon above has now gone onto my blog social media pages, as well as my Twitch channel… Which is mentioned below. 😛

A new journey through Twitch.

Speaking of my Twitch channel AND Persona 5: Strikers earlier on as part of my favourites, I want to share my exciting news with you now we have reached the end of this months favourites.

You may have already seen on my social media platforms (Twitter and Instagram) but on Friday 26th I did my first Twitch stream and I LOVED it! I streamed me starting my first play through of Persona 5: Strikers and due to the amazing response I had from my first stream, I’ve now decided on a schedule to stream three times a week! Two of those streams will be for Persona 5: Strikers and one for a random game and chill evening.

Streams will run from 7pm-10pm GMT with Persona 5: Strikers being played Monday and Friday.

If you like the sound of this please make sure to give my Twitch channel a follow and come and watch a stream! I’m going to be keeping it nice and chill, with me talking to you guys as I play, as well as reading out parts of the game that aren’t voice acted. If you’ve missed out on any of the streams so far they’ll be up on my channel for two weeks from when they were live so you can always check them out.

So those are my favourites from March. I still can’t quite believe how quickly this month has flown by! In all honesty, I’m rather excited for April as I mentioned before. There just feels like there’s more going on, as well as the slow ease of lockdown incoming (we hope…).

I’m also excited for what blog posts I’m hoping to bring in April including sharing my purchases from the Black Milk Clothing x Pokemon 2.0 collection, a Loungefly purchase I’m hoping arrives in April and (what I’m most excited for) an Animal Crossing Cookie commission I have coming up!

How was March for you all, as well as some of your favourite things from March too? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time, take care all and I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!

March Wish List ‘21

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

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

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

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

• Persona 5 Animation Parts 1 & 2 (link)

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

• Pokémon TCG: Eevee Sweet Choices Playmat (link)

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

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

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

• Smoko Pearl Boba Tea Air Purifier (link)

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

• Asda Artificial Succulent In Dalmatian Pot (link)

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

• Lunaticgumis Puppycat Enamel Pin & Sticker (link)

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

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

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

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

February Wish List ’21

I honestly can’t quite believe it’s February already… 2021 is already flying by and it only feels like yesterday that I was going back to work after the Christmas/New Year break!

I have to be honest here and say, I am on a spending ban! I spent a lot of money before Christmas and I suffered during January due to it. It’s not all bad though as it means I can save up for stuff in the future, especially things to do with my house!

Some of the items on this months wish list I’ve pre-ordered, with one item arriving already which is pretty good! Seriously though guys I’m on a MAJOR spending ban this morning and I might even do it going into March as well, just to try and save lots of money to do stuff to the house. 🙂

• Kittynaut Soot Sprite Enamel Pin (link)
  

I really love Kittynaut’s designs, especially the Studio Ghibli related ones. I really like the look of this Soot Sprite enamel pin, which reminds me of a collar pin. The Soot Sprites look so cute and happy with their sugar candy! I’d love to wear this with a shirt on the colour to add something different, or maybe even on a sweater on the neck. I’m definitely going to look in ordering this via their Etsy in the future!

• Razer Base Station V2 Chroma in Quartz (link)

I mentioned in my monthly favourites that I recently picked up the Razer Kraken Quartz gaming headset and I LOVE IT! I don’t just use it for work, I use it for personal too whilst playing games with friends, D&D sessions with friends and also phone calls with friends via Discord and Messenger. At the moment when I’m not using the headset I wrap the cord around it and keep it on our shared desk. In the future I would really love the Razer Base Station in the matching Quartz colour as not only would it be able to hold my headset on the desk, but it also looks like you can have some USB items plugged into it too, due to the ports at the base. This isn’t something I would buy soon, I’d prefer to wait a while, especially if I can get my own desk in the future.

• Persona 5 Strikers PS4 (link)

To think when I was in Japan in January 2020, this game was coming out late February 2020. There were no talks of it coming out in the UK and people worried we wouldn’t get it. I knew we would deep down and it’s FINALLY coming out in the UK at the end of February! I made sure to get my copy pre-ordered so I don’t miss out. I pre-ordered from Gamersheek as they have the BEST game prices out there! Plus, if you see a game cheaper elsewhere, but would prefer to buy with Gamersheek, they’ll match the price for you. They’re my go to for games in 2021! Honestly I am really excited for Persona 5 Strikers, but I am disappointed the name “Persona 5 Scramble” wasn’t kept like how it is overseas. If you’d like to read a review all about Gamersheek, make sure to check out this post from last year where I spoke about Persona 5: Royal.

• MartithArt Foxtober Throw Blanket (link)

I’ve had my eye on this blanket for quite a while now and I’d still love to get it but meh spending ban. 😛 I love foxes and I love being snuggly and warm so this blanket is perfect for me. MartithArt appears to have created this during “Foxtober” which I can assume is a drawing challenge for October. The designs are gorgeous and the size of this blanket looks like it would be perfect to pop on my lap whilst working at the desk to keep snug and warm. I’ll definitely pick this up in the future, but not yet due to spending ban.

• Nendoroid Hatsune Miku: Kōrin Kimono Ver. (link)

This is an Nendoroid figure I pre ordered MONTHS ago through YY Kawaii (yykawaiimerch1 on Instagram). I saw it and I knew I had to have it quite frankly. We only own one Miku Nendoroid figure, which is the snowboarding Miku from back in 2016. As Dane is a snowboarder (and I’ve done a little!) we knew we had to get her! However, with the kimono version she just looked so pretty and it sort of reminded us of our Japan holiday too from January 2020. I’m already unsure where she’s going to go once she arrived, but I’m tempted to have her in the office so I can look at her whilst I work. She’s due to arrive in February! Would you guys like to see her reviewed on my blog or Instagram page? Let me know. 🙂

• Pin & Tonic Sakura Fox T-Shirt (link)

Pin & Tonic is an independent UK artist/store that I’ve always seen floating around social media in the past and eventually followed. I recently got wind of their fox and tanuki/raccoon designs AND a sale on their store, so I went to check them out. I stumbled across this sakura fox t-shirt and have fallen in love with the design! It’s the perfect mixture of my favourite animal, my favourite tree and sakura reminding me of Japan too! I would love to pick this up in the future, as it would be lovely to wear. The colours work so well!

• Bravissimo Flora Bralette (link)

This is the final item on my monthly wish list and one item that has arrived. This is by far one of my favourite purchases of 2021 so far (spoiler alert, I’ll be talking about it in February’s favourites!) as it’s the most comfortable bra I’ve ever bought! I bought quite a few new bras at the start of 2021 as I knew I was due some new ones, I opted for an old favourite, as well as a new design. I love both, but since working from home wearing a bra all the time is something I’ve… Not… Done… Just being honest! I’ll be honest, I’m not a small busted lady anymore so sometimes my boobs just need a break from the wire, especially if I’m sat at my desk all day and potentially slumping and uncomfortable etc. I’d heard nothing but good things about non-wired bras, but never understood the appeal. I decided to get one myself after seeing good reviews about the flora bralette from Bravissimo. It’s amazing and when payday comes at the end of the month I will be buying another. I’m not going to talk too much here as I want to talk more about it at the end of the month. 🙂

Anyhoo, those are the items I have on my wish list for February! As I’ve said various times throughout this post, I am on a spending ban this month so I’m going to be good. I may even continue it into March, but that won’t stop me from creating another wish list next month! 😀

What do you all have on your wish lists for February? Make sure to let me know in the comments below!

Until next time all, take care and stay safe. 🙂

Gamersheek and Why You Should Shop With Them*

The title of today’s blog post is pretty self explanatory and to the point… Just the way I like my blog posts!

Today I am talking to you all about Gamersheek, a company I befriended in 2018 and who I have worked with a few times now, including today. I don’t know if you guys are feeling the way I am, but whilst we are in quarantine I have been shopping loads online… I can’t help it! If I’m not playing games, or binging stuff on Netflix, I’m window shopping and making cheeky purchases.

Gamersheek right now is one of the best places to go and shop if you’re a geek like me who loves gaming, repping your favourite game with clothing and merchandise and more!

Gamersheek were founded in 2015 by Sean with his vision being:

To have a company that was the go to place for all the Gaming “Chic”, from hoodies to Pikachu boxers, hence the company name Gamersheek!

Not long after I discovered Gamersheek, they relaunched their website with a new partner and started to sell video games and more!

The way I discovered Gamersheek and started working with them is through my love of Persona 5. I’ve been gifted and bought Persona 5 related merchandise from Gamersheek, with my most recent gifted item from them being Persona 5 Royal*, which has been a great new addition to my home with the lock down!

The one thing I really love about Gamersheek’s website is that they have a “Fandoms” section, so if you’re after a certain fandom, you can go here and find everything listed under it, including games, clothing, figures and more!

Videos games, they stock both consoles and games from Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch. They also have a “Brand of the Month” section, which their current brand being Cyberpunk 2077. I know everyone (me included) is excited for this game and although it was originally planned to come out this week, it’s now been pushed back to September. Alongside the game, you can also pick up some figures from Gamersheek, which look pretty damn good.

When I look at pre-ordering or treating myself to a new game, I always make sure to try and get the best price possible and this is something Gamersheek are great at. Their prices are really fair and to make things even better, they offer price matching! For those who may not know what this is, it’s when a store will match a price if you have found it cheaper elsewhere in the UK.

Gamersheek will always try and offer a price match against their competitors, which I think is really good! However, this isn’t something they are doing with video games, which is a shame BUT that being said, their video game prices are amazing anyway.

With anything else on their website, they will price match, unless you have found bootleg products at a cheaper price. It goes without saying why this is a no no…

When you try and request for a price match it will explain in more detail, as well as some points to think of when claiming.

At the moment there aren’t many games that I happen to have on my wish list, especially since Animal Crossing: New Horizons came out last month. However, I do have a few items I like the look of, which I will quickly talk about and link down below:

Catherine Full Body – Nintendo Switch (link) – When the original Catherine came out in 2011 on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, I wanted a copy on the latter console. I never got one though and I never really regretted it. However, now that the game has been remastered and re-released on the PlayStation 4 AND soon on the Nintendo Switch too, I’m happy to finally pick the game up. It’s by the same people behind Persona 5 and you guys know my feelings on that game series.

I had a look at Animal Crossing related items. I sort of regret not picking up the limited edition Switch console for New Horizons, but at the same time… I don’t! I do however want to get some of the amiibo figures (as well as some more of the cards) so was happy to see that some of them are still available to pick up from Gamersheek, including Blathers and Reece.

Finally I couldn’t venture onto the Gamersheek and not search for Persona 5! I noticed that they are selling the Persona 5 Shujin Academy hoodie, which I may have to treat myself to this at some point… Especially with how my daily “uniform” at the moment is hoodies and leggings or joggers. 😛

Overall I really love what Gamersheek is doing, as they’re slowly moving up in the world of game merchants and I’m so proud as a friend and shopper to see them progress so well! 🙂

Do you think you’ll buy some new games from Gamersheek anytime soon? If so, let me know which games you would like to pick up soon to add to your collection.

I’m off myself now to continue playing Persona 5 Royal… As well as Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Until next time, take care and keep safe. 🙂

 

March Wish List ’20

It’s officially March and I already know I’m going to be skint this month… 😛

I’m also aware that I’ve broken my “every Saturday will be when posts go up” rule that I set after I got back from Japan. Like I said on my previous post for my February favourites post, I have always had certain days set for my monthly posts and I’m going to stick with these. So this week I will have two posts up! This one today and then one on Saturday.

This months wish list is full of game and anime related stuff, which isn’t a bad thing! 😛 I’ve already mentioned in various posts about all the games that are coming out this month that I am excited for, so of course I need to mention them here!

I hope you enjoy this months wish list post, and it isn’t too Japanese gaming and anime related… 😛

• Nintendo Switch Animal Crossing: New Horizons (link)

Of course I had to mention my favourite thing about March! Animal Crossing is finally coming to the Switch this month and I know I’m not the only one who is really excited for it. I’ve had it pre-ordered for months now and I am counting down the days now until it comes out. I’ve actually booked the day off work so that I can head out first thing in the morning, pick it up from Smyths (where I’ve pre-ordered from) and spend the whole day playing it as much as I can! Dane is also getting the game, so we can play it together the weekend it comes out, which I am beyond excited for. I’ll be talking loads about his game this month… Just warning you now. 😛

• Nendoroid Mai Sakurajima (Requested through YY Kawaii)

As many of my readers know, both me and Dane collect Nendoroid figures and we made sure to pick up some that we really wanted when we went to Japan in January. HOWEVER I regretted not buying one in particular that I kept seeing, which is Mai Sakurajima from Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, an anime that me and Dane watched together last year. We both fell in love with it and it’s one of those anime series now that I really love. We saw LOADS of merchandise in Japan for this anime and aside from Dane buying me one charm of Mai Sakurajima in her bunny girl outfit, I didn’t get anything else. I saw the Nendoroid figure loads and at decent prices too… But I just never bought it, as I planned to when I got back to the UK. HOWEVER, she’s either sold out or the release date has been pushed back months. She hasn’t been re-released… Just pushed back, which I find odd. So, I reached out to my favourite person for getting my Japanese goods, YY Kawaii to see if she could get Mai for me and she could AND FOR A GOOD PRICE! I’m so excited to receive her now and put her on display either in my Nendoroid cabinet or maybe on a shelf I’m getting next to my bed for some of my favourite things! I’ll see how I feel, but yes! I am excited for get her now.

• Nintendo Switch Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX (link)

Back in 2008 my dad bought me a red Nintendo DSi (which I still own!) for Christmas and I LOVED IT! I remember not long after that whilst searching through Gamestation (who else remembers Gamestation?!) they had Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and I decided to pick it up. If there is one Nintendo handheld console that really disappointed me, it’s the Game Boy Advance. I hated pretty much all the games that came out on it, as well as the prices, so I hardly played it and instead stuck with my Game Boy Color. The DSi was great because you could play both DS and Game Boy Advance games in it, so I binge played Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team on it all the time! When I finished the game and found out that Nintendo had also made a version for the DS I decided to find it to buy! I found Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team from Play.com (who remembers play.com?! FUCK I FEEL OLD NOW) and again, I played the shit out of it! Since then I have been in love with the Mystery Dungeon series so I have been excited for the Switch remake of the original two to come out. I’ve played the demo as much as I can and have this game pre-ordered with Smyths to pick up after work on Friday. I am beyond excited and already know I’m going to play this game loads this weekend. Sorry for the massive ramble talking about this, but I just had to share. 😛

• John Lewis & Partners Premium Faux Fur Throw in Soft Pink (link)

A couple of weeks ago me and Dane popped into town as I had to exchange some Vans I bought before Christmas. I wore them to Japan as they were perfect for walking around in BUT they ripped at the side! The store was amazing and exchanged them for me straightaway. They are by far my favourite shoes now… ANYWAY as we were in town we decided to have a nose around whilst we waited for the trains to quiet down from the rush hour. We went into John Lewis, as we love a good nose at household stuff and I saw this gorgeous pink throw, which is one of the softest things I’ve ever touched. I really wanted to buy it, but they didn’t have any in stock. When we found out how much it cost… We were put off a tad. I still want it though to stick on the end of my bed BUT the price… I’m going to say this for a rainy day when I fancy a BIG house related treat. FYI if you haven’t gone to have a nose at the price yet… It’s £95.00… Ouch.

• Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai Blu-ray Collectors Edition (link)

It was only from looking for the Mai Sakurajima Nendoroid that I decided to take a look into the anime she comes from, to see if there’s any DVD’s or Blu-ray’s out for it… WHICH THERE IS THIS MONTH! Me and Dane love this anime, so as soon as I found this on Amazon I shouted to Dane, “Hey Dane? Bunny girl senpai is out next month… Shall we buy it?” His simple answer was yes. 😛 So this will be pre-ordered by one of us soon!

• Persona 5 Royal Steelbook Edition (link)

As a Persona 5 fan, I am beyond excited for Persona 5 Royal! It’s basically the same game but with loads more story and game play added… So an expensive DLC if you will, but I don’t mind as I love Persona 5 so much! There’s loads of stuff that has been added that I’m so glad to have heard and seen already. I won’t mention here, as whilst I didn’t mind spoilers, I know others may who have never played the original game, or who have and have wanted to stay away from the spoilers. I’m actually being sent this game from Gamersheek, who are an amazing company that I discovered back in 2017 and since then we have built up  great relationship! I worked with them for a time to advertise the Joker Nendoroid, which I loved! Since then, whenever Persona 5 related games have been released, Gamersheek have sent them to me! I will be writing all about Gamersheek at some point this month, so make sure to keep eyes peeled for that! 😀

• Nintendo Switch Lite Carrying Case (Animal Crossing: New Horizons Edition) & Screen Protector (link)

Another Animal Crossing related item! Nintendo have announced some amazing Animal Crossing related merchandise that will be coming out at the same time as Animal Crossing: New Horizons and this is one of the many items I would love to get! I don’t need a carrying case for my Switch Lite as I already have one, but this one is so cute! As I’ll be popping out the day this comes out, I might see if I can grab it whilst I’m out, instead of pre-ordering it. 🙂

• diy Crossing Cross Stitch Kit in Goldie (link)

Honestly whilst writing this post I have just gone and ordered the Cookie one of this… OOPS! 😛 I wanted to buy something to cheer me up, as I’m currently in bed with the flu and it sucks. I love cross stitching and doing kits and as I now have my plushie case (it’s a book case but I shoved all my Pokemon plushies in there!) I would love to decorate it a bit more with Animal Crossing related stuff! I’d like to do the cross stitch kits of my favourite Animal Crossing characters and hang them/place them inside the case somehow! I’m excited for the Cookie one to arrive now!

Anyhoo guys, that was my wish list for March 2020! It was very Japanese weeb heavy and I have zero fucks. 😛

What do you guys have on your wish lists this month? Are you excited for Animal Crossing too? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

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

February Favourites ’20

I know I mentioned on my life lately post that I would only be uploading/posting on Saturday’s moving forward, but my monthly favourites have always gone up on the 1st of each month. This isn’t a tradition I’m letting go of anytime soon! PLUS I didn’t see the point in having a post up on the 29th February and then one on the 1st March. It just seemed really pointless at the time…

I know February is a short month anyway, but damn did it fly by! Although to be fair, waiting for payday to come around felt like forever… 😛

February was a bit like a roller coaster with lots of ups and downs, but overall it was okay… I ended up having flu towards the end of the month, which sucked. I’ve come out the other side into March though, so it’s all good!

I’m so damn excited for this month. There are three games coming out that I’m excited for AND of all my favourite game franchises too! Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX, Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Persona 5 Royal. So yeah I think March will be a busy one for me. 😛

After coming back from Japan I’ve felt a little down with some post holiday blues, but I’ve tried to get back into the norm again and I’m okay… 😛 Until I go on another holiday! 😛 Speaking of Japan, I know since I’ve come back I’ve only done one post but I’m trying to pace them out nicely. I don’t want to flood you guys with Japanese content and as I would like to write more about Japan on my blog in the future, this isn’t exactly a bad thing!

Anyhoo, enough of me waffling away… On with my favourites from the month!

• Original Source Tropical Coconut & Shea Butter Shower Gel.

Okay I’ll be honest with you guys… I originally had a different product here for my favourite this month but that has been removed, scraped and GONE! Why? Because I learnt how shit the product actually was! The shower gel in question was Treacle Moon Gentle Powder Love Bath & Shower Gel. This shower gel smelt great, wasn’t cheap and ended up leaving my skin sore, dry and flakey… Which sucked! I had lovely soft skin during my trip to Japan, so the fact I came back and my skin had dried out, I put it down to a mixture of the products in Japan being better and the cold weather in the UK. Alas, this wasn’t the case. It turned out that the Treacle Moon shower gel is just… SHIT. I picked up this Original Source shower gel as to be honest, their products are always good. Not even a week into using the product and my skin has already improved, which I am so happy and relieved about. I get bouts of eczema and I started to panic this was one of them. This shower gel is amazing, not just for it’s ability to bring my skin back to life… It smells of creamy coconuts, which in turn always remind me of Fuerteventura and sunshine, but it’s cheap! This bottle cost us a £1, whilst the Treacle Moon cost me £3! I think I’m going to write a complaint as I’m annoyed at what it did to my skin. Sorry for the ramble by the way… 😛

• Sand & Sky Australian Pink Clay Porefining Face Mask.

I picked this face mask up on the plane home from Japan. I’ve wanted to try this face mask for a while now, but just never got round to picking one up. I didn’t realise how expensive it was until I checked out how much it retails for… £40 and up! Shocking price to be honest with you… So when I saw this for sale on the plane for £35, I thought I would treat myself. I’ve used it a couple of times now and I really love this! I find if I’ve broken out and I used this face mask, it really does help my spots to calm down and go away! I use this once a week/fortnight due to using other products, or my skin not needing a face mask. However, due to the price, I don’t know if I will repurchase… 😦

• Etude House Dear Darling Water Gel Tint in shade PK003 Sweet Potato Red.

After picking up the Etude House Dear Darling tint in Japan, I knew I had to get another one. I’ve had the sweet potato red shade on my wish list for quite some time now, so I found one on eBay and ordered! I am so glad I picked up this shade for so many reasons. The shade itself is gorgeous and reminds me of a colour I could call “my lip colour but better” if that makes sense? Also this is the newer packaging and product formula for this tint and this is SO MUCH BETTER! You don’t get loads of product on the applicator, it’s not as watery and it’s just great. I’ll definitely be reviewing these tints very soon!

• The Body Shop Peppermint Reviving Pumice Foot Scrub.

I picked a new one of these foot scrubs up from The Body Shop as I was in DIRE need of one! I’m going to put it down to that bloody Treacle Moon shower gel again, as my feet were so soft and smooth during my trip to Japan… My feet needed some major TLC this month so this foot scrub has been really good to use on my feet a couple of times a week, just to give them a good scrub over! I like to use this in the shower as the last thing I do before I get out and then before I put my socks on I’ll slather my feet in my favourite lotion. My go to at the moment is the Childs Farm Baby Moisturiser with Shea & Cocoa Butter – which you can read about on one of my previous favourites posts here.

• Maui Moisture Smooth and Revive Vanilla Bean Shampoo.

I picked this shampoo up just before I went to Japan and I have no regrets! I was after a shampoo that would lather easily, smell amazing, give my hair all the benefits we seek from a shampoo AND not contain any sulphates. This shampoo ticks all of the boxes and I couldn’t wait to talk about it on my blog this month. This shampoo goes a long way and you only need a little because of how thick it is, which is perfect for me. I hate shampoos where you needs loads in order to get a decent lather behind it. This smells so creamy and to be honest with you, I wish Maui would create a shower gel that smells just like this! I would be in heaven. 😛 This shampoo is for smoothing and reviving your hair… I don’t know if I need these benefits for my hair, but even so I really love this shampoo. It isn’t cheap at £5.99 BUT when you can buy Head & Shoulders for a £1 less… FYI Head & shoulder is one of the WORST shampoos out there that you can buy!

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

Image taken from Tumblr

Favourite TV Show – O Maidens in Your Savage Season.

This is an anime me and Dane binge watched not long after we got back from Japan. Dane is great at finding new anime series to watch together and this is one I fell in love with. It’s about a group of girls in a literature club who are going through puberty. You see the view from both the girls and the guys and how they’re all impacting each others sexual feelings… And awakenings if you will. It just reminded me of being a teenager and it’s a typical coming of age anime, which I LOVE.

Favourite Movie – 1917.

I loved this film so much. I was intrigued by it, but not fussed about watching it in the cinema… However, after someone I work with went to watch it and told me how amazing it was, I soon changed my mind. That and everything I had heard about it, I knew I had to see it for myself. Me and Dane booked it in the week after work and we’re so glad we did. We fell in love with this film for so many reasons. The way it is filmed, the editing, the acting, the story, just everything about it. I ended up crying at the end too… If you haven’t been to watch it yet, I recommend you do so as soon as possible before showings stop.

Image taken from Tenor.com

Favourite Book – Guys…

Guys I’m sorry. February was a bizarre month of being hella busy after Japan (both social and work related), as well as me being poorly with flu/chest infection… It sucked and reading was the last thing I wanted to do. It sucks because I said to myself that once I returned from Japan I would catch up on my manga so far as well as read new manga series. This hasn’t happened and I’m annoyed. 😦

Favourite Album – Billie Eilish – When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?

I decided this year that I wanted to listen to more music. I find I listen to the same stuff all the time and there are a lot of artists out there I would like to discover more of. Billie Eilish is an artist that blew up and I admit, I do like a couple of her singles (“Bad Guy” and “Lovely”) so, why not listen to her album? I didn’t fall head over heels in love with it, but I did enjoy listening to it whilst driving to and from work, as well as whilst I was at work. I especially love the song “Bury a Friend” which I haven’t been able to stop listening to since I first heard it! I definitely recommend giving this album a listen. It reminds me of a new genre of “depressing pop” and I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing…

Image taken from Amino Apps

Favourite Game – Neopets and Pokemon Shield.

Okay… Hear me out. Since before Christmas I have wanted to play on my old Neopets account. Sometimes I just want to play something simple, but I couldn’t get into my account due to email and password issues. I reached out to Neopets for months for help, but I didn’t receive any. After some digging around I finally managed to get into my account and since then I’ve been playing it for a few hours everyday! I forgot how shit, but addictive the games are, how you can grab a free slice of omelette and jelly daily and basically how the website hasn’t changed since I last went on in about 2016/2017… This being said it has really cheered me up to play after work when I’ve been feeling blue. It especially kept me entertained when I was poorly with my flu too, which isn’t a bad thing. Next month I will be super busy with games, so Neopets won’t have as much attention… 😛

Towards the end of the month I was really poorly (still am NGL!) and had to have some days sick at home. Due to the boredom of not being able to do much (apart from binge watch episodes and clips from Would I Lie to You? I decided to pick up Pokemon Shield again and try to finish the game, as well as complete my Pokedex. Well, this has now become an addition for myself AND Dane, who said he wouldn’t pick Pokemon back up until June when Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra are released. We are both working together now to complete our Pokedex’s and we’ve really been enjoying it!

There you have it guys, those are my favourites from February! Again, I honestly cannot believe how quick this month went by. I am so fucking hyped up for March for so many reasons! All the games, being able to go to Birmingham Comic Con, a blog related event I’ll be attending and more! 😀

What were your favourites from February? Do you have any exciting things coming up in March? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

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

July Favourites ’19

It’s August and only one more month now until my favourite of the year, September. I’m shocked at how quickly 2019 is going by, as well as the fact I have now been in my new (well not so much new anymore!) job for 4 months now. It’s flown, I still feel like I’ve only been here for five minutes.

Either way, summer is officially here and we had some glorious sunny days in July. It was amazing and me and Dane even got the BBQ out after work one of the days! I’m rather excited for this month and what it holds as I feel there will be plenty more BBQ days and pub garden evenings to be spent. 😛

July also brought along some blogger events in Birmingham, which I haven’t done/attended for YEARS! So I was really happy for that. I hope I am able to attend more Birmingham blog events in the future. This month I hope to be attending a couple of Coventry Blogger events too, so keep eyes peeled for that.

For now though, I’m back (even if it’s 2 days late!) to talk about my monthly favourites! 😀

• SBC Honey & Almond Bath & Shower Creme.

This is something my mom recently gifted to me, as she’d bought it in a set and due to the size worried she may not get around to using it alongside her other SBC shower creme. This is amazing and I honestly love it so much right now! I use it daily and I’ve noticed a dramatic difference to my skin. It doesn’t feel or look dry and tight, but looks and feels softer. Not baby soft, but definitely softer. It smells amazing too! I honestly cannot get enough of it right now! It reminds me of times away in Fuerteventura as I often use honey scented shower gels and cremes whilst I’m there. This bottle will last me ages! I plan to try it as a bath creme next month when the cooler weather is upon us.

• Cath Kidston Hand Cream.

I didn’t realise I had SO MANY of these little hand creams from my advent calendar from Christmas time. I found about three in one of my drawers recently and decided to take them all to work to use up. I actually forgot how amazing this hand cream is and when all of my hand creams are used up and gone, I plan to stick with Cath Kidston in the future. The hand creams are rich and a little bit of it goes a long way. The scent isn’t really my thing as it’s very “old lady” scented. I love my fruity and unique smells when it comes to perfume. However, I can live with it if it helps my eczema along the way, which I have recently noticed is rearing it’s dry, ugly head.

• MUA Pro Base Soothe & Cool Primer Stick.

This has been so perfect during July due to the warm weather. I usually only apply this under my eyes as I tend to find if I apply it all over my face it has a tendency of making me feel oilier and that’s not something I wish to be! However, I did use it all over my face on lazy days off work to try and cool down my face a little. Alongside powder it works okay, but on its own it’s so much better for me. I do love this primer stick, but whether or not I’ll repurchase it, is another story.

• Barry M Unicorn Primer Drops (review here).

I wrote a review about these primer drops towards the end of 2018 and you know what? I wasn’t very kind to these primer drops at all! If anything, I feel like I need to review these because I’ve changed my mind dramatically since then in so many different ways. I love these, they’re my go to these days whenever I wear a primer and whenever I go to buy a new one too. They just always do me good and never let me down. They leave my face feeling cooled, soft and plump looking, with a bit of shimmer to brighten the skin. I also use these on my lips to soften them too, as it works really well before product, even if it’s just a bit of lip balm. Would you guys like me to re review these in the future? Let me know in the comments!

• Taya Copaiba Resin Volumising Shampoo.

This is something else my mom kindly gifted me recently and it’s such a gorgeous shampoo. My mom is honestly the best when it comes down to beauty and I always go to her for suggestions on new brands and products to try and use. She gave me this as she’d given it a go and wasn’t sure if it was for her. Well, it’s definitely for me! This really does leave my hair feeling and looking healthy, shiny and thicker! Not that my hair needs to be any thicker… 😛 It smells gorgeous too and has a lovely honey smell to it, which works perfectly alongside the SBC shower creme mentioned here too. A little of this goes a long way, which is great because my hair always craves ALL the shampoo when it comes to cleaning it!

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

Image taken from GIPHY

Image taken from GIPHY

Favourite TV Show – Strangers Things 3 and Orange Is the New Black.

Fuck me, Netflix brought out the big guns in July and they did bloody good too! Not one, but TWO new seasons of shows that made Netflix what it is today, sadly with one leaving us for good. Me and Dane both made sure to binge Stranger Things 3 before any spoilers leaked out and ruined it for us. I honestly LOVED season 3 as I found it brought back the action of the whole gang that we missed out on in season 2. Season 2 was okay but it was meh at the same time. It focused too much on Eleven for my liking and this whole rebellion she seemed to go on. Season 3 definitely covered more of what was happening with the town and the shit that was about to hit (I totally rhymed on purpose)! I’m not saying too much due to spoilers, but it was amazing and I nearly cried at the end.

Orange Is the New Black is over. Like so over, that we need a new word for it (Sex & The City quote right there :P). I LOVED Orange Is the New Black so much and I’m glad it’s a season I invested time into because it’s been worth it. This season went too quickly and the end was shocking, so much so I don’t feel like the show has come to an end due to it. There’s no happy endings all around and there’s moments where you can’t believe it’s happened or happening for that matter. I can’t say much without spoiling. The one thing I will say is, Piper is her usual annoying as fuck self! I honestly hope the real Piper isn’t that annoying in real life… That’s the only good thing about the show coming to an end, no more annoying Piper. 😛 OH and who the hell calls their kid Piper?! Just me who thinks that, or?..

Image taken from GIPHY

Favourite Movie – Spider-Man: Far From Home.

This film was amazing. Absolutely amazing. I was on the edge of my seat throughout and stayed well until the end to see what was happening next! If you didn’t stay until the end then shame on you! 😛 Without saying too much (because apparently this IS spoilers) I LOVED Jake Gyllenhaal as Mysterion. He was one of my favourite baddies back in the day as a kid of spending my every waking moment playing the original Spider-Man PlayStation game. The movie overall with Mysterion’s scenes were done so well and I also loved the story of Peter Parker wanting to be a normal teenager, but needing to be Spider-Man at the same time. It was great and I definitely enjoyed it more than the first film.

Image taken from GIPHY

Favourite Book – Persona 4

Although I picked up the Elfen Lied omnibus in June – I didn’t actually get around to reading it in July… Which I am really pissed off about. It’s my favourite manga of all time (to date) and I don’t seem to want to read it again… Yet. To be honest, I will probably just prioritise series I need to catch up on and then start on Elfen Lied. So, as I had an Amazon discount code recently, I decided to pick up some more volumes for Persona 4, two in total (volumes 2 and 3). I haven’t finished the game, but I am loving and enjoying reading the manga. I feel like the story of P5 and P4 are both completely different and due to that I enjoy them both so damn much. I really do need to finish playing the game though…

Favourite Music – Litany 4 Track EP.

This is an EP I adore and I wish it had more tracks due to that. This is the song that introduced me to the band, which you may recognise from the Extra gum advert from TV… Where the zombie girl and the guy kiss. Yes, that advert. This song is just so chill and perfect for those summer vibes, as is the rest of the album. I recommend you go and check out Litany if you fancy something new to listen to! I recommend “Bedroom” which I have linked about and “Work It Out”, which isn’t on the 4 track EP.

Image taken from GIPHY

Favourite Game – Pokemon Edition Monopoly.

Completely random game for me to mention here this month but me and Dane recently had a little game date night in and we played this. It was actually really fun to play and we had a laugh during it, for a change! Monopoly can take forever (which this did) and be boring towards the end due to that reason. This was just fun. I find if you play Monopoly with the right people you can have an amazing time. Especially when it’s Pokemon themed too. 😛

So those are my favourites from July! I cannot believe how quickly the month flew by, it’s pretty crazy to be honest.

How was July for you guys? What were your favourites of the month, both beauty and in general. Make sure to let me know in the comments below.

Until next time all, take care and I hope you have a lovely weekend upon you all!