November Favourites ’22

Holy shit guys, we are overdue a blog post, let alone another favourites! I’m wary now that I’ve been M.I.A. for almost a month and I do have my reasons why. I thought I’d write my favourites from November, whilst I also share where I went.

November was a mad month, especially towards the end of it, with some highs and lows to finish it off. First of all, I had Covid. Right at the end of November I tested positive and it sucked. I’m negative now, but I still have a cough (and sometimes head cold symptoms) that I’m just waiting to clear out of my system. Hopefully in time for Christmas…

It was my first time with Covid and I hope the last realistically. Self-isolating was the worst for me as it meant I was trapped in one room (two if you include occasional bathroom trips) relying on Dane to look after me and a crappy airbed for comfort of an evening. I didn’t enjoy it and it really did start to give me really bad mental health issues towards the end. The sickness itself was meh. I had a really bad temperature and all around just didn’t feel great, I just wanted to lie on the sofa or in bed all day, which I mostly did the weekend I found out I had it.

As I’ve been sick both at the end of October and the end of November, I really hope December doesn’t decide to join in too. In 2021 I was really sick at the end of December/start of January and that was vile, a lot worse than Covid, so I’m praying not to be sick like that again ever. 😛

Anyhoo, enough of the bad and onto the highs! As we all know, Pokemon came out mid November and since it released I’ve been playing it on and off, and thoroughly enjoying it, may I add! I’ll speak more about this later in the post. I also went to see Electric Callboy in Nottingham, which was amazing! Again, I’ll speak more about this later on in the post!

With no time like the present, let me get onto all my favourite from November, even with sodding Covid towards the end. 😛

Beauty – Lime Crime Wet Cherry Lip Gloss in Black Cherry.

With my lipstick journey I’ve gone from wearing lipsticks, liquid lipsticks, tints, and of late glosses. This has gone around full circle ever since I was old enough to be gifted make up as a young teenager, and lip gloss has made a come back for me! I find if I just want a bit of colour, lip glosses are great for that, alongside lip tints! I watched a beauty account on Instagram showing off some gorgeous black cherry glosses, so I decided to get myself one! I own one of the Lime Crime wet cherry lip glosses, which I love, so I thought I’d get the black cherry one. Prior to getting sick with Covid I was wearing this on a daily basis, as I just loved how light you could wear the colour, as well as how buildable it can be. I highly recommend the Lime Crime lip glosses if you want a gloss with some good colour, smells yummy and isn’t sticky!

Movie – Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl.

Technically this film classes as December, but I thought I’d mention it for November, because why not! We have been waiting YEARS to watch this movie, and finally we were able to yesterday. We’re big fans of the anime Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, so back in 2019/2020 when we heard about there being a film made of a sequel to the anime, we wanted to watch it. However, it’s only seemingly become available to us in the UK more so recently, and even then it’s only through someone uploading the movie onto YouTube. We watched it and it was such a beautiful film. If you’ve watched the anime and would love to know what happens next, make sure to go and watch the movie too. If you search for it on YouTube, you should find it straight away. I don’t want to link on my blog as realistically it being on YouTube isn’t the best.

Music – Electric Callboy.

So, as I mentioned at the start of the post, towards the end of November me and Dane went to see Electric Callboy in Nottingham. It was by far one of the best gigs I’ve been to in my life to date. I originally said it was in my top 5, but now it’s in my top 3!!! The whole vibe of the show was incredible, everyone was clearly there for a good time and everyone did just that. Each track they played from old and newer stuff got everyone going mad, including us of course! We both had a sore throats after attending the gig as we were both screaming the lyrics, and our bodies ached from dashing and moshing as much as we could. We got decent places to stand too as we started queuing quite early, so we were on the balcony, right at the front, which we loved! We’ve already said we want to go and see them again, as we had such a blast! I’d love to book to go and see them in Europe somewhere, or even London at some point next year, but we’ll see! Another cool thing is you can kind of see us on the photo that they took at the end of the gig! We’re on the left of the photo and I’m holding my bright yellow rain coat… 😛

Game – Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.

As I mentioned at the start of the post, we got our copies of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet and whilst we haven’t been binge playing them, I have really been enjoying playing Violet! Sword and Shield are both games I’ve enjoyed, but found you could complete the story in a day. However, Scarlet and Violet is, to me, a little overwhelming in the sense there is so much more to do! You have the gyms, titans and star challenges, as well as the usual filling up the Pokedex from catching and breeding, as well as battling with people. There’s A LOT to do in Scarlet and Violet and due to that, I really love it! I’m enjoying playing it as and when I want as well, instead of feeling like I need to pick it up to play most evenings. I wanted to show off the cute pictures I got of me and Fidough on my first day of playing. Fidough is for sure my favourite Pokemon to come out of Scarlet and Violet and I can’t wait to get some Fidough merch from the Pokemon Center due to this!

Just a few of my favourite things…

Lumichee 100% Cotton Batbat Hoodie

Lumichee “Monochrome” Mini Batbat Plush Series 4

Adorabubblesshop Ditto Cookie Candy Wrapper Loop Strap Charm

Adorabubblesshop Ice-Cream Pom Candy Wrapper Loop Strap Charm

Tomodachi Monster Cereal Vol.4 Pins

Black Friday

Did I go spend happy over Black Friday? Yep, I certainly did! If I’m honest I didn’t just shop for me either, I did save quite a lot of money on Dane’s Christmas presents, which was incredibly handy as it meant I could spoil him (and me) more. 😛 Black Friday happened when I was really sick with Covid, and not only did I go spend happy for Dane, but I definitely did for me too as I was feeling sorry for myself. As you can see, I bought quite a few bits and pieces from various places! I decided to get some more goods from Lumichee, Adorabubbleshop, as well as Tomodachi! They all had vouchers for Black Friday, which I just couldn’t pass up! I’ll be looking to write a blog post all about Lumichee in January, as well as showing you guys the volume 4 pins from Tomodachi, as I spoke about them at the start of the year!

Wales trip

I’ve been so excited to talk about our trip to Wales, but due to being so quiet on here this is the first chance I’ve had to really talk about it! At the start of November we went to Wales for a weekend to a shepherds hut on a farm in North Wales. The hut itself was absolutely gorgeous and everything we wanted! We made sure to book it in the autumnal months too so we could make the most of some of the features of the hut, which included underfloor heating, a log fire indoor, a firepit outside, as well as a hot tub! We definitely made the most out of all these features of the hut, even though the weather was raining and vile! We managed to dodge the rain every time we wanted to use the hot tub! Whilst we were in North Wales, we ventured to have a go at clay throwing, where we made a pot and a mug each! We are yet to receive these in the post, but as soon as we do, I’ll make sure to show them you guys!

I really can’t wait to venture on a holiday or short trip with Dane again, I really loved our weekend in Wales.

We made a Christmas advent calendar!

Finally I wanted to quickly show you guys the advent calendar we made this year! This project was ongoing for about a month, and even came with us on our trip to Wales, as we had planned to carry on with it there, but never got around to it. We finally finished it on Saturday and we both love what we have done with it! We kinda wanted it to be like a gingerbread house, but it’s not really become that. It’s definitely become our own unique thing and we love it to death! We’ve hidden some of the images of the doors as these are inspired by rooms in our home, so we’d like to try and keep this private. I also added some stickers from Pikarar as they just look so cute and it seemed the right time to use them! We picked our calendar up from Hobbycraft to decorate and it was so much fun for us to do together. If anything, we’ve said how we want to do more crafting together!

So there we have it! A long overdue blog post from me after almost a month and I think it falling around favourites time has worked out quite nicely.

I’d say sorry for being absent but, I’m not going to. This isn’t my job at the end of the day, it’s my hobby and one that just had to take a break whilst I was busy and sick. I do wonder if in the New Year how often I’ll write, in the sense of if I’m too busy, I’m not going to force anything, a choice I’m sure you guys won’t mind. 🙂

So, with that being said – how have you guys been the past month? Have you started your Christmas shopping? Bought any goodies during Black Friday sales? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time all, take care and I hope you’ve all been keeping well. 🙂

November Wish List ’22

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Lumichee 100% Cotton Batbat Hoodie – (link)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Pokemon Gastly Winter Coat – (link)

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

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

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

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

Shirayukinikki – Jiji & Lily’s Bakery Glass Tumbler – Review

Today’s post is one I’ve been excited to write about and share with you all for a couple of months now, but as the item(s) I’ll be talking about today only arrived a month ago, I’ve only just had the chance to properly talk about them!

Shirayukinikki is a small business in America that I discovered in the summer through Instagram and specialises in creating lifestyle goodies and more, mostly sponsored by fan art, which is what attracted me to their Instagram page and items initially. I discovered them through their Jiji & Lily’s Bakery glass tumbler, and as someone who likes to drink their iced coffees, soft drinks, and alcohol out of a pretty glass, I kind of knew I wanted to get one (or two) some day.

Shirayukinikki does an assortment of designs, with pretty much all of the glass tumbler designs being fan art. These designs range from Pokemon, Studio Ghibli, Spy x Family, Cardcaptor Sakura, BT21, and more. Not only does Shirayukinikki sell glass tumblers, but also mugs and glass water bottles too!

When it came to placing an order, I sat on it for a while, as due to the cost of shipping from America to the UK, I didn’t feel like one glass was worth it. I contemplated ordering more glasses but left that idea too as I didn’t want to spend more money, you know?

I was sharing my love of the glass tumbler with one of my newest friends (hi Sammie!) and after she eyed up Shirayukinikki’s Instagram page and website too, she fell in love with the Anya Forger glass tumbler! So with that, we placed a shared order together. Finally, we were both getting cute glasses for our drinks!

We ordered our glasses on the 24th July, but they didn’t arrive in the UK until 14th September. We were both aware at the time of a 2-3 week wait when ordering the glasses, but after having a nose on the website three weeks later, we noticed the waiting time differed from previously. It now stated 3-6 weeks which confused us both a little. Since then I have checked both glass listings and they both have different wait times, with Anya Forger having 2-3 weeks, but Jiji & Lily’s Bakery having 3-6 weeks.

We weren’t bothered by the waiting time, as long as got our glasses after 6 weeks, which we pretty much did as 6 weeks later on the 4th September our glasses were shipped! Just be mindful of the waiting times, as like us, they may differ if you order more than one item!

One thing I want to add here is around the 4th September I dropped Shirayukinikki a message on Instagram to ask about an update on our order, as I knew they were due to go on holiday, and quite frankly I didn’t want to wait anymore for an update. Shirayukinikki’s customer service was great and not long after messaging our order was set as shipped and a tracking number supplied!

Prior to ordering our glasses I was wary Shirayukinikki had offered frosted versions too, which I enquired about for if I wanted to order a glass in the future. At the time I was told no, but as I messaged Shirayukinikki anyway about updates to our order, they asked me if I wanted the frosted option still, as Shirayukinikki had remembered me asking previously! It was really lovely that they remembered me asking and I said yes to the frosted option!

Since then the frosted option is now on all glasses, which I think is a good move as with and without a drink in the glass the design is visible, which is good!

Just over a week later and our glasses arrived! I couldn’t wait to get mine out the box to check it out, give it a wash and start using it! I also had a quick look at Sammie’s to make sure it was okay, which it was!

Glasses cost $26 each, roughly £23-£24, which isn’t a bad deal for a reusable glass with your favourite characters on. Plus, you are supporting a small business! I love that Shirayukinikki ships to the UK as there are still some American small business  that don’t ship to the UK or UK shoppers have to purchase through Etsy and get charged more.

Each glass comes with a bamboo lid and a glass straw, although it does state on the listings that they come with plastic straws.

Glasses are recommend to be hand washed, although they are dishwasher and microwave safe it is not recommended as it could cause the image on the glass to slowly fade, get scratched or even bubble. When hand washing use a soft sponge and wash lightly on the design.

Glasses can also be used for hot drinks, which I may have to try at some point with my matcha latte drinks. 🙂

Anyhoo, enough of the product details and such! I’ll show them off below, with links so you can check them out!

Jiji & Lily’s Bakery 16 oz Glass Tumbler – (link)

I LOVE Kiki’s Delivery Service and Jiji is definitely one of my favourite Studio Ghibli characters. Due to the cup mainly focusing on him, Lily and bakery themes I really loved the design for a glass… And maybe a mug eventually. 😛 The images on the glass includes Jiji, Lily, an assortment of baked goods including croissants, bread, etc, the mug with a Jiji doppelganger on and more! I love using my glass for iced coffees, but as the weather gets warmer I am finding myself using it to drink squash, as well as fizzy drinks! Thanks to Sammie she confirmed to me that one glass will hold two cans of fizzy drink! 😀

Washing the glass is really simple and I only wash gently on the outside and inside, as it’s easy to clean!

Anya Forger 16 oz Glass Tumbler – (link)

Sammie was such a good egg and sent me a photo of her Anya glass so I could show it off to you guys today! I’ve also added a picture from Shirayukinikki’s store so you can see some more photos of it too, which show it off in the frosted design. Sammie went for the standard glass (which is no longer available) which I really like! The designs shows up a lot more when there’s a drink in the glass, as you can see from Sammie’s photo. The Anya Forger glass of course has lots of different faces of Anya, as well as a bag of peanuts/peanuts, her chimera doll, and Bond Forger the dog!

Overall I absolutely adore our glasses and since getting it I’ve been using it constantly! If anything, I need to stop using it so much as I’m neglecting my Pokemon Café glass now. 😛

I know both me and Sammie have discussed which glasses and other items Shirayukinikki offers that we’d love to get in the future! Some of mine are as listed below:

Haku, No Face, and Ootori – Sama Frosted 16 oz Glass Tumbler – (link)

Totoro & Friends Frosted 16 oz Glass Tumbler – (link)

I’ll pop Shirayukinikki store and their social media handles below!

Store

Instagram

Twitter

So, what do you guys think of Shirayukinikki? I personally think their creations are absolutely amazing and quite frankly, I can’t wait to own more in the future! The quality of the glasses are amazing and I can see mine lasting a very long time! What do you guys think of Shirayukinikki? Any designs you like in particular? Make sure to let me know in the comments below!

Until next time guys, have an amazing rest of your weekend and take care!

KawaiiKraftsDesigns – Pokemon Cubone Terrarium

You guys know how much I love Pokemon, and especially supporting independent artists/businesses who create amazing stuff of things I love. So, today I’ll be merging both of these together to talk about KawaiiKraftsDesigns and my experiencing with getting a custom Pokemon terrarium!

KawaiiKraftsDesigns is a Birmingham based independent business who specialises in creating terrariums, but they do also sell keyrings, necklaces, 3D frames, hand painted, plant pots and more, plus, they’re all kawaii themed too, hence the name!

I discovered KawaiiKraftsDesigns at the UK Games Expo in June 2022 when I went to Dane and our friends. There were quite a few terrarium creators there, but KawaiiKraftsDesigns stood out to me the most, especially on Cubone design in particular. As we’d not long got to the expo we decided to walk around and get an idea for everything before we decided to do any buying. Alas, when I went back to the stall towards the end of the day, the Cubone terrarium I liked the look of had sold. I was gutted but made sure to grab one of their business cards so I could give them a follow on Instagram, their store, etc.

About a week later I decided to reach out to Jade, owner of KawaiiKraftsDesigns on Instagram to ask when she would be working on commissions again as I was interested. Jade was so lovely and replied relatively quickly to inform me she would be opening them again and asked what I was interested in. I’ve also loved the Cubone funko, it’s so adorable and as Cubone is one of my favourite Pokemon anyway, I knew it was one I would love in terrarium form. Plus, it’s the same Cubone I’d seen at the UK Games Expo, so I knew that’s what I wanted from a terrarium by Jade.

I proposed my idea and paid a deposit that covered the cost of the Cubone figure, as well as some materials. I decided to go for Cubone in a Japanese garden themed terrarium, so I was super excited not only to hear of updates from Jade on my commission, but when it was completed! When Jade was ready to start working in my commission she made a unique listing for me on her Etsy, which was the rest of the monies I needed to pay for my piece.

During Jade working on my piece she constantly sent me updates and photos of how it was going and made sure to ask if I was happy/unhappy with anything. Some ideas were proposed to me that I didn’t feel worked with the idea I was going for, so I politely declined these, but did suggest others. Jade was amazing to work with on bringing my commission to life and once it was completed I couldn’t wait for it to arrive!

Before I knew it, my Cubone terrarium arrived and I couldn’t wait to display it!

You get a little stand with your terrarium so you can display it easily without the worry of needing to make sure it stands up on it’s own, propped up against something, and more. I keep my terrarium near my desk at home so whenever I fancy looking at it whilst working, it’s not too far.

I don’t want to mention how much I paid for my terrarium as prices change all the time, and the last thing I want is for Jade to get guilt tripped for putting her prices up. One thing that I stand by with independent businesses and their prices is that they know their worth, and if we don’t want to pay them prices as shoppers, we don’t have to as they’re not forcing us!

The price I paid for my terrarium was incredibly fair, especially for the time, communication and quality of the item too. 🙂

Overall my experience with Jade and KawaiiKraftsDesigns was incredible and I couldn’t have asked for a better one to be honest. As I said previously, Jade was really thorough with any questions or suggestions she had for me with my terrarium and to boot she was also really lovely to talk to! As you all know, I love supporting and talking about independent businesses on my blog, but I especially love to talk about and share ones who are also from Birmingham like myself. 🙂

I know that Jade has stated on Instagram that her next restock is due this month with a date to be confirmed. I can only assume this is restocks, as well as commissions, so if you’d like to get something like mine yourself, or even as a gift for someone else, then make sure to follow her on Instagram. I’ll pop all the links below.

If you have any questions in regards to commissions I highly recommend going to KawaiiKraftsDesigns Instagram page and view the highlighted stories. All the information will be there for you, and if it isn’t, you can always drop Jade a message on Instagram or Etsy. Both are linked below.

What do you think of the Cubone terrarium I got? Would you like a Pokemon or any other kawaii themed terrarium of your own? If you already own one, what do you have in yours? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

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

September Wish List ’22

It’s officially September and not only has the weather been showing this, but the start of the earlier nights have been a reminder of this too. If you know me, or have been reading my blog at any point over the past ten years, you’ll know I LOVE autumn, and usually the month of September too. Autumn is just a beautiful season, and September always reminds me of fresh starts due to education. I’m hopeful this month will be a good one and fingers crossed, a fresh start for me in more ways than one.

This month has already been an expensive one for me, with too many purchases/treats. I need to stop, or at least be stopped. 😛 To be honest, with the idea of a potential Japan trip next year, I need to save up now more than ever!

That aside, this months favourites does include a couple of items I would love to get in the next few weeks, as well a some I would like to pick up payday at the end of the month. I hope you enjoy this months wish list anyway! 😀

• Bath & Body Works Ghost Car Vent Clip – (link)

This is an item I’m hopeful I’ll get before the end of the month! I’ve sourced it through a proxy server, so just waiting for an invoice now. I’ve always wanted one of the Bath & Body Works car vent clips, but bided my time until a cute one came along. I’m a sucker for cute ghosts and bats, so this one is perfect! Plus it lights up, so will look really cute on drives home from work in autumn and winter when it’s dark. I’ve also asked for some of the fragrance refills too, in one of my favourite Bath & Body Care scents, crisp morning air.

• Poroful Pokemon Dragonair Lake Pin Banner – (link)

I could really do with another pin banner as mine are all full, with any new pins in tins. Ideally I’d like this one as it’s such a gorgeous design and would look cute on my dressing table with an assortment of pins on it. I can’t justify purchasing this at the moment, but I guarantee when payday comes at the end of the month I’ll be picking it up. The Dragonair design is just so adorable, and as the Dratini evolution line is one of my favourites, I can’t not get this!

• Essence Vault Home Reed Diffuser 444 – (link)

Essence Vault is a store I’ve wanted to buy from for as long as I can remember now and soon I might bite the bullet and actually order myself some nice perfume, but I love the idea of my home smelling of some of my favourite perfumes! 444 is a dupe of Tom Ford’s Lost Cherry EDP, but with the cost of the official perfume, trying a dupe would be amazing! The idea of my home smelling of cherries is on of my favourite things. I’d definitely keep this reed diffuser for my bedroom. I also wanted to share this this month as I feel something like this would make a great gift too and with Christmas pretty much around the corner, you may as well start getting ideas now. The only issue I personally have with Essence Vault’s reed diffusers if you can’t buy refill bottles…

• Nintendo Switch Bear and Breakfast – (link)

I have been so excited for this game to come out, BUT even more so for the Nintendo Switch! The game actually came out July 28th, so myself and other Switch fans have been waiting over a month for this to come out on that platform. Bear and Breakfast is pretty much the name, you’re a bear who runs a bed and breakfast. I tried the demo earlier this year and really enjoyed it, so have been eagerly waiting for the game to come out on Switch. I’m toying with picking this up when it comes out in a few weeks, but I may bide my time and wait. I already have games to play and it’s not like I’m itching for something new.

• POP! Vinyl: Pokémon Cubone – (link)

Finally we have a Pokemon item and one I’ve wanted for as long as they’ve been launched. We’re getting more of the Pokemon POP! vinyl figures to the UK now and with Cubone being one of my favourites, it’s a figure I have wanted for quite a while. I’d love him to keep on my desk at home, or at least somewhere in our office. The prices for him vary and at some point in the future I’ll be sure to pick him up for sure!

So there we have it guys, this months wish list post from me! What do you guys like from my list above?

Plus, what items do you guys have on your wish lists this month? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

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

August Favourites ’22

How quickly did August go? Too bloody quickly if you ask me! I can’t believe it’s almost September already, as well as August bank holiday. I’ve started my long weekend doing sweet FA, aside from writing this blog post. 😛

This month was an up and down month, with some positives and negatives, so I am semi looking forward to September for many reasons. For a start, it’s my favourite time of year with autumn starting, but we also have some stuff booked too, which we’re excited for! I’m also hopeful that the month will cool down so I can meet up with some online friends for coffee, shopping and maybe yummy Asian food too!

With that, let’s get into my favourites from August!

Beauty – Fenty Skin Cherry Treat Lip Conditioning Oil.

I can’t tell you guys how long it took me to get this bloody lip oil! I’d heard about it through Instagram and then when watching reviews I was hooked on snagging it myself! I mentioned on my August wish list post how I’d ordered it after it came into stock. Not only was I checking the listing on the Boots website daily for it to come back into stock, but also which stores nearby had it in stock too! On a day out with my dad to Stratford-upon-Avon we popped into a Boots store that stated it was in stock, only for there to be none left, BOO! Finally the lip oil did come back into stock so I ordered one. Since it arrived, I’ve been using is almost daily. It smells like sour cherry sweets, is easy to apply and the conditioning feel lasts for hours! I find it use it at work mostly, as well as when I’m out and about. I’ve definitely become a lip oil fan and plan to try more in the future! ALSO please excuse the dust on the shelf in the photo, it’s cleaning day tomorrow. 😛

Gif taken from Giphy

TV Show – Adventure Time.

Recently I’ve decided I wanted to binge watch Adventure Time again, well, at least the first two seasons as this is how far I got originally. To get the Blu-ray it would have cost me a lot more than I was willing to pay at the time, so instead we decided to get a NOW TV subscription, so now I have until the end of the year/a year to watch all of Adventure Time! I’m currently on season five at the time of writing this post and I’m discovering more about Finn, Jake and the Land of Ooo, which I’m really enjoying! I find myself binge watching it whenever I want something to relax to and watch, including cross stitch, writing for my blog, whilst I work from home, and cooking. If you love animation like I do, and, are yet to watch Adventure Time, please give it a go! My favourite character is Lumpy Space Princess, hence the gif. 😛

Music – Beyoncé “BREAK MY SOUL”.

I heard the new Beyoncé song a couple of weeks ago thanks to Instagram and I’ve really fallen in love with it since! Sometimes it comes on whilst I drove home from work and I can really relate to it some days. 😛 I just really enjoy it as a song, some of the lyrics, but especially the beat. It’s so good! 😀

Book – Lore Olympus.

Lore Olympus is a web comic series I was into back in 2018 when it first came out, but I stopped reading it after a while due to one reason or another. A couple of weekends ago I found out that Lore Olympus had released omnibus comics of the series! I decided to order it last week in order to read over the weekend and so far I’ve really been loving it! I ordered volumes one and two, with three on pre-order. I’ve read volume one so far, and I’m yet to start reading two. I’m hoping to over the bank holiday weekend as the series is addictive! Lore Olympus is a romance comic of a modernised Greek mythology retelling of the relationship between Persephone and Hades. It definitely has some adult themes, but I honestly love it! I’ve linked the web comic, so if you fancy a read definitely go and check it out! 😀

Game – LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga.

I decided to pick up the latest LEGO Star Wars game as I had a £10 voucher for Amazon and had had my eye on this since it came out in April. Since buying this me and Dane have been playing it on and off since and it’s been something lovely to play together during weekends off, as well as in the evenings after work. My only gripe with it is how buggy it plays sometimes, which on the first day of playing really pissed us off! Thankfully since then we haven’t noticed it as much, which in turn has made it a lot more fun to play! If you play the original LEGO Star Wars games, then you should definitely get this one! It’s better than ever now and it’s so much fun too, as you get to spend blue bricks and money on upgrading your characters, which is something new to me for LEGO games.

Just a few of my favourite things…

OkieDoodleStitches Pokemon Eevee cross stitch is COMPLETED!

Last month I told you all about my latest cross stitch project, which was Eevee by OkieDoodleStitches. Well, last weekend I finally finished it and it looks so damn cute, as I’m sure you’ll agree from the above photo! This took me a couple of months to complete, but it was so worth it! I found myself getting lost whilst working on this, as well as binge watching a variety of shows (Adventure Time, Inventing Anna, and The Dog Rescuers to name a few!), which in turn has been really helpful for my mental health. I’m planning to pop this in a frame at some point to put up in the house at some point. I’ve already started my next cross stitch project, but I won’t be showing that on my blog for quite some time, as it’s a Christmas present. 🙂

Yuena Art haul.

I decided to place a cheeky enamel pin order with Yuena Art recently as I noticed one of the pins I really wanted was looking to sell out soon, and I didn’t want to worry I’d regret not getting it. The pin design I was after was mainly Yui the Kitsune, but I did love the look of Shino and Diana too! These are all either b-grade or seconds pins, but you wouldn’t know it as the quality of them all is really good! I’m yet to give them a home, but I definitely need to sort through my enamel pin collection(s) again!

Image taken from My Figure Collection

Image taken from My Figure Collection

Exciting figure pre-orders!

August was definitely a month of ordering figures, Nendoroid but also Hobby Max figures for the first time too! I wanted to show off a few I’m really excited about. I don’t feel like I talk about figures and our collecting of them enough on my blog, but it’s something I’d like to do more! First of all, I decided to pre-order the Hobby Max Nana Osaki and Komatsu figures. Nana is probably my favourite manga/anime series so I couldn’t really pass up not ordering these, even though they weren’t cheap, but worth it 100% as they’ll make me so happy to display in our house. Second of all I ordered Marin from My Dress Up Darling, an anime and manga series I’ve really fallen in love with this year! I’m so excited for this Nendoroid to be released! She’ll be going somewhere special as me and Dane love the series together!

So there we have it guys, my favourites from August! I still can’t believe it’s September soon, and before we know it, it’ll be Christmas. :O

What were your favourite things about August? Anything you can relate to from my favourites? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time, have an amazing rest of your August bank holiday and as always, take care!

Amazon Japan Kawaii Haul

This isn’t the first time I’ve mentioned Amazon Japan on my blog, and I very much doubt it’ll be the last! At the end of July I decided to splurge and place my biggest Amazon Japan order to date, which I was so excited to have arrive.

I decided to grab some items I’ve been after for a long time, as well as some newer items on my radar that I found were a bargain from Amazon Japan. I placed my order on July 23rd and my goodies arrived on July 29th, amazing time frames when you think about it coming all the way from Japan! I was honestly counting down the hours the day everything arrived. I did film a reel over on my Instagram page literally hours after my goods turned up too, which you can watch here.

I’ll briefly share my experience with Amazon Japan before I go into the goodies I’ve bought. As I mentioned before, this is the biggest order I’ve placed through Amazon Japan to date and is also my third order. Goodies are packaged quite quickly after your order is placed and as mentioned, I received my goods just under a week after I placed the order, which is fantastic! My parcel arrived via DHL and cost £17.76 which I personally felt was worth it for how much I ordered. Due to this I find with Amazon Japan the bigger the order, the more you’ll get for the price you pay for shipping too. I don’t think they’ve ever offered any other form of shipping, which is fair enough.

Right enough of that, on with the haul!

Bandai Hobby Pokemon Mew Model Kit – (link)

I can’t tell you how long I have been after this model kit, but it feels well over a year for sure. One of my favourite Pokemon is Mew, so whenever I see any form of merchandise I like the look of with it on, I just can’t help myself from picking it up. I’ve never done a model kit and loved the appeal of giving one a go. The reason I’ve not purchased this until now though however is unfortunately due to how much people sell these Pokemon model kits for, especially this one it seems. I paid under £4 for my model kit, but to be honest people sell these for almost £20, which is such a jump. I understand import charges and delivery that people may face getting these model kits to the UK, but yeah. With the price of the item and splitting the overall shipping costs, this would cost me under £10. Of course you can shop with who you wish to, but personally I don’t want to feel “ripped off” by anyone, so would rather purchase directly from Japan. I haven’t made this figure up yet, as I’m sure you can see from the photos, but I’ll definitely do it at some point before the end of the month!

Animal Crossing Kicks Amiibo Figure – (link)

This is another item I’ve been after for quite some time but it appears to be a rarer find in the UK and due to that isn’t exactly cheap! This was the last Animal Crossing amiibo figure I needed, so when I found this one on Amazon Japan for less than £8, I knew I had to buy it! Aside from the Super Smash Bros. Animal Crossing amiibo, I definitely have them all now, which makes me so happy! I only really started to collect them last year, with the majority of them being second hand.

Sanrio Cinnamoroll Smartphone Stand – (link)

This was one of the items I wanted the most from this Amazon Japan order, as I’ve been after a phone stand for my desk for a while, I just never found one I liked the look of. I discovered that this item existed through someone I follow on Instagram, but wasn’t aware that it was available on Amazon Japan until I had a good look around for it. This phone stand is probably my favourite thing from this haul as it’s really changed how I keep my phone on my desk. If I was to be on a FaceTime call with my mom, I’d try and lean my phone on the desk somewhere, and laid flat whenever it was charging whilst on a call with her. At least with the phone stand now I don’t have to do that anymore, all whilst it looks super cute in the Cinnamoroll shape! 😀

Sanrio Cinnamoroll Stainless Steel Mug with Lid – (link)

Finally we have a Cinnamoroll travel mug I bought, which I’d had my eye on for a while from a UK kawaii store. I only have one takeaway cup I use for work during the week but I wanted another so I wasn’t just constantly using the same one. This one has a handle as you can see, which is really good for if I fancy a mug to drink from when in the office instead of a hot drink flask. The one great thing about this too is how long it keeps your hot drinks hot for too, plus it’s cute. 😛

So there we have it guys, my haul from Amazon Japan!

Which item(s) did you like from what I ordered? Are there any items you’d like to get from Amazon Japan? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time guys, have a lovely rest of your weekend, stay cool and hydrated!

July Favourites ’22

I can’t quite believe how quickly July has flown by, it’s crazy to think it’s August on Monday. After the suffocating few days of heat we had a couple of weeks ago, I am READY for autumn and winter for some colder days, weekend baths and getting cosy in some of my favourite clothes. Who else agrees with me? 😀

I mentioned last month that I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about July and to be honest with you all, July has been a shit month for me. Without going into too much detail, my mental health hasn’t been good and I’m kind of at a bit of a loss at times. This sounds really sad, it isn’t as bad as it sounds, I think it’s just a lot of stuff happening in all different parts of my life and it does suck. I’ll be okay though, I’ve been through worse. 🙂

With the doom and gloom out of the way, I’m semi excited for August! I have a dad and daughter day planned next week, as well as some days off to spend with time Dane and do some dog sitting, which we’re both looking forward to! I really hope August is kinder to my mental health. :’)

Enough of me rambling, on with the monthly favourites!

Beauty – Soap & Glory The Real Zing body wash and body sorbet.

I mentioned in my July wish list last earlier this month how I really wanted to pick up the Soap & Glory The Real Zing body wash and body sorbet. I did end up picking these up just before we had the few days of extreme heat and I’m so glad I did, as the body sorbet really did help cool down my skin. The Real Zing collection smells gorgeous, zingy lemon and lime and if you loved the Sugar Crush range, you’ll definitely love this! The body wash is really creamy and a little goes a long way on my silicone sponge. The scent doesn’t last or stay strong, but it’s great for mornings in the shower when you need to wake up. After using the body wash, I apply the body sorbet, which is definitely a sorbet/gel texture. A little goes a long way and feels lovely and cooling when applying to the skin. The only flaw I have with the body sorbet is the more you rub, it starts to ball up and look like dead skin, which is never a good look! The scent doesn’t last to be honest and I’ve yet to receive a compliment of, “Ooo you smell nice!” like what I get with the Sol de Janeiro goods I use. Alongside that, as The Real Zing contains alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) there is a warning on the packaging for both the body wash and body sorbet of a sunburn alert! AHA may increase skins sensitivity, hence the warning. Typical I bought this and then the heatwave hit us! This being said, I’ve been fine. One thing I’ll say is I don’t know if I’ll buy these again, as although the price was amazing and these leave my skin feeling lovely and soft, I think I’d rather spend more on Sol de Janeiro so the scent lasts longer.

TV Show – Barry, season one-three.

Barry is a TV show that started in 2018 that someone I work with told me about. The someone in question tends to have good taste when it comes to shows, movies, games, etc. So, me and Dane decided to give it a go and we LOVE it! Barry is about Barry, an ex army hitman, who one day moves state for a hitman job and finds out he wants to quit being a hitman to pursue an acting career. This isn’t straight forward for Barry however. If you like the sound of this, make sure to watch the trailer! If you love Dexter and Bill Hader (who stars and created Barry) then you will love this show! We’re almost at the end of season three and can’t wait to see how it ends, especially as season four has been confirmed!

Music – Teardrops – Bring Me The Horizon and Spaceman – Electric Callboy.

Music wise has been a bit “odd” this month for me as I wasn’t really all that fussed about what I was listening to, but a couple of songs that stand out are these. Whenever they came on, I just felt the need to jam out, sing loudly or just bop my head if I was at work. I love rock music like this. 😀

Game – The Swords of Ditto: Mormo’s Curse.

This is a game Dane bought many years ago now for us to play together! It’s a (name) which I’ve never played previously, or since picking up The Swords of Ditto: Mormo’s Curse to play with Dane. This is such a cute game, with amazing vintage style music and hours of play. Your character is brought back every 100 years to take on Mormo’s curse, with the sword of Ditto in hand. It’s up to you to bring peace to the land. You’ll keep dying until you reach the end and with cough co-op, you can do it with a friend, like what me and Dane have done. We semi rage quitted this game as we kept dying and coming back, however we recently picked it up during the heatwave to try and see if we could finally finish it. We thought we had… We still have a lot more gameplay and hours to put into this game, but it’ll definitely be worth it in the end! We picked this up on Nintendo Switch and I highly recommend it to others!

Just a few of my favourite things…

OkieDoodleStitches Pokemon Eevee cross stitch.

If there is one thing I really got back into doing during Covid it was cross stitch. It’s a hobby I picked up when I was ten and my mom bought me a Forever Friends cross stitch kit for Christmas. Not going to lie, I still haven’t completed that, but it’s in the bottom of my embroidery box, waiting to be completed! I’m sure I’ll finish it one day… Anyway, it all started with working through some of the patterns from diyCrossing that are Animal Crossing inspired. These have been a lot of fun and I do plan to do more, but I was after Pokemon cross stitch kits/patterns to try next. I went to Etsy and found some cross stitch patterns from artist Sevi Yummy, whose work I adore! OkieDoodleStitches is the one behind bringing Sevi’s work to cross stitch patterns, which I’m so grateful for! I decided to go with the Eevee design as the first and throughout July I’ve been working on it on and off, especially towards the end of July. I don’t think this piece will be finished for another week or so, but I’m so excited to finish it! I’m showing you some of the progress so far, but I would like to write a blog post about it in the future. What do you guys think, should I? 😀

Black Milk Clothing Trash Pandas Dress.

This piece by Black Milk Clothing quickly made it’s way onto my DISO (desperate in search of) dress after I didn’t purchase it months ago. The trash pandas design is by Caley Hicks, an American designer who works with Disney, as well as on her own goods, including this amazing trash pandas design! I’d asked BMC ages ago about making this design a reality and low and behold they did it! I doubt it was because of me, but yeah. 😛 Anyway, I was told by one of my friends that BMC had listed the trash pandas strappy dress as seconds and it was a hell of a lot cheaper than it had been originally, so I had to snag myself a bargain! Raccoons are one of my favourite animals, and I feel like they’re my spirit animal too, so I’m so happy to not only own a piece from BMC that was designed by Caley Hicks, but also with these cuties on! I’m yet to wear this, as I don’t like wearing strappy pieces that show off my arms, plus it’s very low cut… So, as you can see from the image above, I need to layer this with a t-shirt underneath. I’m hopeful I can wear it with a thin jumper in the winter!

Pokemon Center Alolan Vulpix AirPods Pro case.

I mentioned on my July wish list that I was planning to pick up a new AirPod Pro case form the Pokemon Center and I’m so glad I did! I didn’t exactly need a new AirPod case, but the one I was using previously was about a month old and the lid kept coming off, which was incredibly annoying, so I wanted to grab something a little more sturdy. The Alolan Vulpix/Ninetales one isn’t just a massive improvement quality wise, but it’s bloody adorable, as the photos are showing I’m sure! I’ve had so many nice compliments on it, which is always appreciated, and I’m planning to grab a beaded bracelet keychain soon so I can attach it onto the hook of the case. If you’re looking to grab a new AirPod Pro case make sure to check out Meccha Japan for a cute one, as they have a massive range to choose from!

The Folky Fox ghost fox necklace.

The Folky Fox is an amazing artist who creates adorable pieces from polymer clay, including jewellery. I picked up my ghost fox necklace last year around Halloween and have only just started to wear it, as I was anxious I would ruin/break it before. I’m so glad I’ve started to wear it though now as with my mental health no being great, when I’ve worn my necklace it’s really cheered me up as it’s absolutely adorable and includes two of my favourite things. I’d love to look at buying another necklace from The Folky Fox in the future, including the flying fox/bat necklace. If you like the look of the fox ghost necklace and would like to get one of your own, The Folky Fox has pre-orders open at the time of writing this post, so please make sure to go and adopt one. 🙂

I’m an affiliate for oshoppu!

Finally I want to share some exciting news that happened yesterday which is… I become an affiliate for oshoppu! This is amazing news and I’ve been really excited to share it with you guys on my favourites for the month. This is a relatively new store that has come to my attention, which sell Japanese stationary, apparel and kawaii goodies including plushies. I’m hoping to place an order in the near future as I’ve seen a plushie I’d really like to get to add to my collection! If you guys want to check them out, I’ll pop the link here. It’s now on the right hand side of my blog BUT if you do want to make an order, make sure you use code THEREMIGHTBECOFFEEBLOG to save 10% on your orders!

So there we have it guys, my monthly favourites for July!

How was July for you and what did you get up to? Make sure to let me know in the comments, as well as what were some of your favourite things, and if you have anything exciting happening in August. 😀

Until next time, take care guys and have an awesome weekend!

Collective Japan Haul

I have been so excited to write this haul post for you guys this week, you can’t believe! I don’t know what it was, but at the end of June I decided to place a massive order from Meccha Japan, as well as a smaller one from Amazon Japan as I was after some goodies in particular. I can’t wait to share them with you all today! My Meccha Japan haul only arrived a few days ago, so I’ve been eagerly waiting to finish off this post, take photos of all the kawaii goods and show them off to you all.

For those of you who aren’t regular readers of my blog, I have written about Meccha Japan before, which was after my first order with them back at the end of 2021, which you can read all about here. As this was my second order with Meccha Japan, I want to share some newer experiences with them, including shipping, combining orders, as well as a slight issue I had with one of my plushies.

I placed both Amazon Japan  and Meccha Japan orders on 24th June, with Amazon arriving less than a week later on 29th June, however my Meccha Japan order didn’t arrive until 14th July, which was due to one of my items being a pre-order, as well as me having to change my shipping type.

This was my second order from Amazon Japan and it went as smoothly as always. I’m actually tempted to play another order soon for some cute bits and pieces for my desk at home, but I may need to wait until payday in a few weeks to do this. I’ve eyed up a Cinnamoroll takeaway mug, Cinnamoroll phone stand, Sirotan hand fan and more.

I always highly recommend people to use Amazon Japan if they’re after some goods in particular, as they’re decently priced and whilst the shipping is on the higher level, you can always ship yourself a massive box of goodies to make the shipping worth it later. Also, for the shipping costs your goods do arrive fairly quickly, which is something we all want when buying stuff from Japan.

From Amazon Japan I ordered two of the six Cinnamoroll 20th Anniversary plushies I wanted, including Cinnamoroll himself and Mocha.

Cinnamoroll 20th Anniversary Cinnamoroll Plush – (link)

I mean, who can refuse picking up Cinnamoroll considering the whole collection is based off of him and his 20th Anniversary! I already have a Cinnamoroll plushie, bit I couldn’t resist picking up another one. It’s soft and fluffy and perfect size for adding to plushie cabinets. Of course Cinnamoroll’s little cinnamon roll tail. I’ve always loved Cinnamoroll as alongside Pompompurin, Cinnamoroll was one of the first Sanrio characters I got into, as he released around the time when I got my home computer as a kid. To add here for all of the Cinnamoroll plushies, they all have the tag around their neck that states they’re part of the 20th Anniversary line, which is a nice touch! I debated whether or not to take these off and I’m still unsure. If anything I might take them off, keep them in a zip-lock bag and keep them somewhere safe! Another thing to add here is the tags that are on all the 20th Anniversary plushies. They’re all pretty much the same but inside each plush has their design within, which I think is a really nice touch! I’ll be showing them all on each character when talking about them.

Cinnamoroll 20th Anniversary Mocha Plush – (link)

I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for Mocha growing up as she’s a gorgeous coffee brown colour and mochas were actually my first introduction to coffee, which I now adore, love and start my days drinking! I especially love the little pink flowers that Mocha wears in her fur, and by her ears. Mocha is the leader of the Cinnamoangels and I feel for Mocha too as she really likes Cinnamoroll but I don’t think his feelings are the same for her. This is actually the hardest to find out of the all the 20th Anniversary plushies, so I’m glad I was able to find her for a great price.

Next we have a LOT of goodies to talk about and share from Meccha Japan, which I’ve been so excited to have arrive. They arrived a day earlier than planned, which I was so grateful for as I’d not been having the best day and my mental health was in a really bad place. As soon as I had a moment to calm myself down, I opened my plushies and was met with fluffy, kawaii goodness that gave me the serotonin boost I needed!

To add here, I’d seen the Cinnamoroll 20th Anniversary plushies and was toying with whether to buy them all or not, and at the time I’d gone with the latter. However, when Pokemon Center Japan announced they were adding a Phanpy to the Saiko Soda line, I KNEW I had to order that, as well as the Cinnamoroll 20th Anniversary plushies. So, I ordered the rest of the Cinnamoroll 20th Anniversary plushies I needed, which was four in total. Thanks to Phanpy I now have them all. 😛

I’d like to semi address something here to make anyone else aware of when ordering from Meccha Japan. Phanpy was a pre-order so my items didn’t ship until that has been purchased and added to the order, which is fair enough and Meccha Japan always state when the item is due to be in stock on the item listing, which is always handy to know.

I’m going to sound like I’m having a dig now with my next couple of sentences, so I apologise, but I don’t because yah’ll know I like to be honest here! I had a few gripes with my second order with Meccha Japan, one of them being that airmail is currently available to select as a shipping option, when in actual fact airmail is still unavailable due to what is happening between Russia and Ukraine. So, when I placed my second order I selected airmail as I thought it had now become available again and I’d been hidden under a rock! Shortly after placing the order I realised it wasn’t available and went to the “contact us” section of the website to see if I could change my shipping to DHL. It took me three attempts to get the contact us form to work, which was a massive ball ache! I eventually was able to change to DHL but not until my Phanpy plush had been purchased and my order was ready to be sent.

I do not understand why Meccha Japan have left airmail on and haven’t warned people at the time about how long they may have to wait for their goods to ship. Plus, if they have a lot of customers selecting airmail, surely they’re going to run out of room in their warehouse eventually? Or even face a LOT of backlog when airmail is back? Maybe even some price changes to airmail shipping? It doesn’t make sense to me to leave this option on.

The second thing that bugged me is I wanted to add an item to my pre-existing order, which I had paid for and I was just waiting to pay the extra invoice for the DHL shipping upgrade. They don’t combine orders, so I was told no. I understand this, but if you’re happy to quote and invoice your customers via PayPal so they can change their airmail shipping to DHL shipping, why can’t you do this for another item? I don’t own a business so I’m sure there will be other factors behind it, but I don’t get it… Either way it doesn’t matter too much now as I have that item I wanted ordered and on route, along with an item for Sarah (Raiin Monkey), which I won’t mention here as I’m sure she’ll want to talk about it on her blog! 😀

I wanted to raise these two points on my post so anyone who is new to Meccha Japan knows of these things now and not later like I found out.

Anyhoo, enough of me moaning, on with the kawaii goods!

Pokemon Saiko Soda Phanpy Plush – (link)

As mentioned previously, this is the reason why I made the Meccha Japan order in the first place! This has quickly turned into one of my favourite plushies in my collection. Phanpy is one of my favourite Pokemon from gen two (Gold and Silver) and I’ve always wanted a plush of it to add to my collection! I was close to buying the Pokemon Fit plush of it recently, but glad I held off as the Saiko Soda plush is much cuter. The one thing I love especially about this plush is the little shocked sort of expression of it’s mouth. It’s a gorgeous plush and I’m so happy to have it as part of my collection now.

Cinnamoroll 20th Anniversary Espresso Plush – (link)

Espresso is a gorgeous cream plush with curly ears and a cute little face! This plush was a little worse for wear when he arrived as one of his ears thread has come a little undone. I think I’ve fixed it now by tightening the string but I’m toying with emailing Meccha Japan about it. It’s a bit of a let down in all honesty but it’s fine. I’ve just got to be extra careful with Espresso! I have to find, I find it so bizarre that he’s called Espresso and is a cream colour, when we all know espresso is dark brown. Unless the colour is from the crema you get when you brew coffee… Who knows! 😛

Cinnamoroll 20th Anniversary Cappuccino Plush – (link)

In Cinnamoroll: The Movie Cappuccino is one of my favourites as he’s a sleepy boy with a massive appetite and some days I can definitely relate to that! Cappuccino is a caramel brown colour with a white mouth, so he clearly resembles a Cappuccino coffee! As he’s represented as being a sleepy he is often drawn and shown with sleepy eyes, so I’m a little torn with how his eyes are on this plush? I like that they’re open as he looks adorable, but at the same time if they’d been closed I may have preferred it a little more? Just to give a bit of diversity amongst the plushies.

Cinnamoroll 20th Anniversary Chiffon Plush – (link)

Chiffon is such a cute plushie and is one my favourite characters too as she’s a tomboy, something I definitely was growing up! Chiffon is also part of the Cinnamoangels with Mocha. Not going to lie, Chiffon threw me a little when I took her out of her packaging! Her brown ears and and brown tail are a completely different material to her cream body and feel rough and old/worn, if that makes sense? Thankfully they aren’t the latter and were designed that way to give a curly sort of look. It does work, but they don’t feel very nice so I feel like they may have flawed this plushie in that regard? This being said, I do love her, she’s gorgeous!

Cinnamoroll 20th Anniversary Milk Plush – (link)

Finally we have Milk, the baby of the gang and an absolute cutie! I don’t know why but I always thought Milk was a baby of Cinnamoroll’s and one of the Cinnamoangels, but alas this isn’t the case. Milk is labelled as a life size version, so when put next to the other plushies, Milk is actually a little smaller, which is a nice touch. He’s absolutely adorable with his blue dummy, brown curl on his head and again, the size difference isn’t out there but it is a cute touch. With the brown curl on his head, it does make me wonder if he will have a brown mohawk or something when he’s older?

To add here, for those wondering what the item was that I wanted to add to my order, it’s the alolan Vulpix AirPods Pro case that I mentioned on my previous blog post about my July wish list (which you can read here).

So there we have it guys, my collection Japan haul! I know it was pretty much Sanrio/Cinnamoroll goods with one Pokemon item thrown in for good measure. 😛 Although I did have a moan about Meccha Japan, don’t let this put you off. They’re an amazing company and I do really love shopping with them. I placed my third order with them on Monday and it shipped on Thursday! It’s due to arrive in the next couple of days so I’m excited to change up my AirPod Pro case, as well as sent Sarah her goodies!

What did you guys like the look of the most and who is your favourite Pokemon, Sanrio character and Cinnamoroll friend? Any items from Amazon Japan/Meccha Japan you’d like to get? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time, take care and stay safe next week with the warmer days hitting the UK!

July Wish List ’22

How are we already into the first week of July? This month is already flying by, it’s crazy. The past week has flown by for me and it has been a mixture of ups and downs, mostly the latter unfortunately. I’m hopeful that things will turn around soon however, as I’d like to try and spend days less mopey and more cheerly, especially as we get some nicer weather too.

June was an expensive month for me with our trip away to Manchester and other things we did, and with me trying to be better than money, I told myself I’d be good in July. Alas, so far I have not been good at all and I’m now banning myself from buying anything else until payday at the end of the month. This month I decided to get back into cross stitch, which wasn’t exactly cheap as I had to buy a lot of thread and some patterns. This being said it’s definitely been worth it as I’m really enjoying doing the pattern I bought and it’s a big one, so it’ll keep me going for quite some time! Plus, as I’m part of diyCrossing’s Patreon, I get access to lots of Animal Crossing themed patterns, so I can always do some of those too!

So, this months wish list will be items I’ve pre-ordered, need to get as staples, and items I’ll be saving to pick up in the future as a monthly treat. I really do need to be good now, I made a lot of big purchases this month. Spending ban has to come back! That being said, I really hope you enjoy this months wish list, the colour palette for it is so pretty!

• Pokemon Center Alolan Vulpix AirPods Pro Case – (link)

At the time of writing this post (day before it’s due to go live!), I have literally just discovered this AirPods pro case and I really do want/need it in my life! My AirPods currently have a cheaper ghost case on them, which I do love but it would be nice to mix it up, especially if I can get an official Pokemon one. The Alolan Vulpix and Ninetales designs for this collection is adorable, and it’s actually been quite a while now since a Pokemon collection has come out where I’ve really liked at least one item from it! As there is a little hook on the side of the case too, I’d look to try and find a special keychain/bracelet to wear when I use them to go walking.

• Sugary Carousel Puppermint Plush – (link)

This is an item I have preordered from Sugary Carousel as whilst I don’t need anymore plushies, I fell in love with their Puppermint design! I love dogs and as a kid I always loved mint chocolate chip ice cream, so this just felt like a must have purchase for me. I didn’t quite realise how big this plushie is either, but it’s approximately ten to eleven inches tall, which is huge! This won’t ship until December, which I don’t mind, as I’ll class it as an early Christmas/birthday present for me. 😛 Not going to lie, the shipping for this item was so expensive, but it’ll be worth it! The quality of the plush looks really nice and soft.

• Shirayukinikki Jiji & Lily’s Bakery 16 oz Glass Tumbler – (link)
  

I discovered Shirayukinikki recently on Instagram and since then I’ve really fallen in love with their pieces, especially their glass tumblers, with the Kiki’s Delivery Service themed one grabbing my attention the most! I’d love to pick this up in the future, but as Shirayukinikki is an American based small businesses, I’m wary the shipping costs will be a lot. This being said, it would make such a cute addition to my home, especially as recently I’ve started to make my own iced coffee, and plan to start having a go at making my own matcha bubble tea!

• Soap & Glory The Real Zing Body Wash and Body Sorbet – (link) and (link)

I kind of forgot how much I like the Soap & Glory range as I was using up the Sugar Crush body buttercream recently. Their stuff smells divine and it’s especially perfect for summer due to that. I’ve decided when I’ve used up The Body Shop goods I have currently, I’ll be picking up some stuff from The Real Zing collection, including the body wash and the body sorbet. I gave them a sniff during my short stay in Manchester and really liked how fresh and summery they smelt! Plus, I can imagine them giving me an extra wake up during and after my morning showers before I start the work day in the week. These are currently on offer too, so I may take advantage of them sooner, rather than later.

• Pokemon TCG Vulpix Seasons Playmat – (link)

We started this months wish list with Pokemon and we’re going to finish it with Pokemon too, and to boot they’re both Vulpix themed items too, which I find funny! I love how the Pokemon Center UK website is updating daily pretty much, and I especially love that we’re slowly seeing items land to the UK store that the Japan and American store have had for years! When the Vulpix Seasons collection launched in Japan in 2017 I purchased a few items from it, but regretted not ordering more. Now we can get the playmat in the UK, I’m definitely planning on picking it up in the future for my desk! I love my Eeveelutions one, but it would be nice to change it up every now and then for fun!

So, there you have it guys, the absolutely adorable items from my wish list this month! As I said, I am pretty much on a spending ban the rest of this month now, so any items on this list that I’d like to get eventually will need to wait for payday treats, or even Christmas and birthday, considering they’ll be here before we know it! :O

What do you guys have on your wish lists? Have you discovered some new items through mine? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below.

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