Shop Small UK Guide – Christmas 2021

We are officially less than two weeks away from Christmas now and DAMN it’s starting to feel real! I’m just about finished now with most of my Christmas presents in the run up to the big day, but in some cases I’ve been and still am in need of some inspiration. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve really struggling this year to find the perfect gifts for Dane, my friends and especially my mom! My dad has been the easiest person to buy for this year, which makes a change. 😛

Alongside my Christmas present woes, I always enjoy writing and sharing gift guides with you all and this year is no exception. Last year I wrote about independent businesses in the UK that you should buy from and I wanted to do that again this year. The past twenty-one months has been hard for everyone, especially independent businesses, whether or not they existed before or after COVID began. This doesn’t just apply to the UK, but I’ve seen a lot of small businesses struggle lately, and in worse cases close down due to not being able to make enough sales to keep going.

I really want to continue to do my bit in helping these businesses as much as I can. Not only do I hope it helps you gain some new gift ideas, but I also hope it introduces you to some businesses you may not have heard of before and decide to shop with going into the New Year!

I still love a lot of the small businesses I mentioned last year, so I will link that post here! I won’t be mentioning businesses again that I spoke of last year, just so it’s fair on other businesses mentioned here.

Anyhoo, I hope you enjoy this blog post today! I’ll be mentioning stores last dates to order for Christmas too.

Image taken from SplashJaguarCo

SplashJaguarCo – Kawaii home and stationary items inspired by Animal Crossing. Rugs handmade in West Midlands, UK.

Last date to order for Christmas – 2nd Class 18th December and 1st Class 21st December. However, as Royal Mail are struggling at this time of year due to Christmas AND the new COVID variant, please bear in mind delays may occur. If you want to guarantee item(s) to arrive for Christmas order as soon as possible.

If there is one thing people have been really loving towards the end of the year, it’s been Animal Crossing! With the new update and Happy Home Paradise launching at the start of November, Animal Crossing fans have gone mad even more than ever. If you know someone who loves Animal Crossing, as well as stationary you should definitely check out SplashJaguarCo! Not going to lie the Cookie washi tape pictured above is on my Christmas list and I really hope I get it this year. I plan to use it to decorate my diary for 2022 and more. There are various characters to choose from to have on washi tape including Maple, Marshal, Tangy, Roald, Stitches and more! A roll or two of these cute little washi tapes would make perfect gifts for any Animal Crossing fan of any age or gender, whether it be for Secret Santa, a stocking filler and more.

Image taken from BeaconCandlesUK

BeaconCandlesUK – Scented candles for Gamers, Readers and Film Fanatics handmade in Manchester, UK.

Last date to order for Christmas – The store will be closing on Sunday 19th December. However, as Royal Mail are struggling at this time of year due to Christmas AND the new COVID variant, please bear in mind delays may occur. If you want to guarantee item(s) to arrive for Christmas order as soon as possible.

BeaconCandlesUK is a brand I’ve known about for as long as I can remember now and have always wanted to order from. I can’t remember how but I discovered them through their Lavender Town candle that is clearly inspired by the town in Pokemon. Not only does it sound amazing, but it looks really cool with the Cubone skull and bone on the top of the candle too. Alongside Pokemon candles you can also get some inspired by Final Fantasy, Animal Crossing, Lord of the Rings and more! The scents sound delicious and I’m sure these would make great gifts for any candle lovers out there! I’m contemplating buying some of these for friends this year for Christmas. I feel like candles make amazing gifts for people and it’s one of those where even if you aren’t sure what smells someone will like, if you bought a Pokemon fan one of the Pokemon candles, they would be so thankful!

Image taken from PokieMinx

PokieMinx – Terrariums and vanity desk gifts inspired by Pokémon & The Moomins. Handmade in South Yorkshire, UK.

Last date to order for Christmas – Unfortunately orders for Christmas have now ended. This being said the store IS still open with items being sent 1st Class tracked and signed so they arrived within 1-2 business day. However, as Royal Mail are struggling at this time of year due to Christmas AND the new COVID variant, please bear in mind delays may occur. If you want to guarantee item(s) to arrive for Christmas order as soon as possible.

I couldn’t not share PokieMinx and her adorable creations! These would make perfect gifts for any Pokemon or The Moomins fan out there, especially if they’re like myself and have started to work from home part time. A terrarium with their favourite Pokemon inside sitting on their desk could really brighten their day. Or maybe a mirror? The Cubone one shown about is gorgeous and I can’t stop looking at it whenever I venture over to PokieMinx’s website whenever I take a look at it. Anything from PokieMinx’s store would make amazing and personal gifts for any Pokemon or The Moomins fans, especially as everything is handmade by Kimmy! There are also enamel pin/earring stands too so if you know someone who has started to get into collecting pins or earrings, these would make amazing gifts too.

Image taken from ARTBOX

ARTBOX – Cute character goods from Japan and Korea. Based in Covent Garden London, UK.

Last date to order for Christmas – Not known at the time of writing this blog post. If you’re based in or around London, the Covent Garden store will be open on Christmas Eve from 11am until 4pm. However, as Royal Mail are struggling at this time of year due to Christmas AND the new COVID variant, please bear in mind delays may occur. If you want to guarantee item(s) to arrive for Christmas order as soon as possible.

I wanted to mention ARTBOX here as whilst it isn’t as independent as some Etsy sellers and independent stores might be online, it’s a great place to buy Japan and Korea based items, whether it be online or from their store in London. I’m yet to come to the day where I actually order something from them, which might be later today! 😛 ARTBOX would be a great place to get items for your friends and family who love Sanrio, Pusheen, Rilakkuma and BT21. There are all sorts of different items to buy from and at all price ranges so it’s perfect for anything and everything. Personally I’m toying with treating myself to the PomPomPurin plush shown above, which you can pose and dress up! How cute is that?!

Image taken from Stitchtothepast

Stitchtothepast -Video Games Cross Stitch, Patterns & Kits! Based in the UK.

Last date to order for Christmas – Not known at the time of writing this blog post. However, as Royal Mail are struggling at this time of year due to Christmas AND the new COVID variant, please bear in mind delays may occur. If you want to guarantee item(s) to arrive for Christmas order as soon as possible.

The final store I wanted to mention on today’s post is about Stitchtothepast, which is a store I discovered in the summer. If you’re a newbie to cross stitch, or a “pro” like me there is loads of choose from. Personally for gifts the cross stitch kits from their store would make great gifts for anyone, especially if they’re into Nintendo video games series such as Pokemon, Animal Crossing, Zelda, Kirby and more. I personally really love the look of the Animal Crossing Celeste cross stitch kit where she’s stargazing. It’s such a gorgeous design and one I would love to do and display in my house in the future. The kits are really good and come with a cross stitch guide, a wooden hoop, thread and a thread organiser, pattern, a needle and more. If you know someone who would like to get into cross stitch in 2022, one of the kits might make a great gift for them!

So, there we have it, my 2021 guide to small shops you should buy your Christmas gifts from this year! All UK based of course. 🙂

What do you guys think? I didn’t cover off as many stores and themes as I did last year, but I felt like last years post was so detailed, I couldn’t really improve on it as good this year. Please do check out last years guide too, those stores are still around and amazing to boot!

Honestly guys, I hope you enjoyed this post today as much as I enjoyed writing it. I watched Christmas movies whilst writing, as well as chilling with Dane in our office. It’s made a lovely change sitting at my desk to do blog work.

Are there any small shops in the UK that you feel I should know about? Make sure to let me know and I’ll take a look for next time and promote on my Instagram page before the big day. 🙂

Until next time, take care all and I hope you had a lovely weekend. 😀

What I Got For Christmas 2018

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! I hope you all had a lovely day, whether it was with loved ones, friends or even (sadly) on your own.

I can’t believe how quick both Christmas Day and Boxing Day went! We just have that little slum between New Years Eve now and as depressing as it sounds, I’m working today and tomorrow… Which was completely my own choice! YES I chose to work. 😛

However, at the time of writing this, it’s Boxing Day morning and I’m snuggled up in bed and looking through all the gifts I was spoilt to this Christmas and as I always do, I share with you those lovely gifts I received.

Now I understand not a lot of people like posts like these because it’s seen as, “showing off” which I completely understand! I’m not showing off though, I’m just sharing what I received. I love reading and seeing what people get for Christmas, especially when they’re heartfelt and special gifts, where the receiver has clearly been thought about.

If you’re one of those people who think it’s showing off, you can bugger off because this post clearly won’t be for you. 😛 HASHTAG – honesty is the best policy.

Not all my Christmas presents have made it into this post sadly as I’m still yet to receive some from my best friends, but I can always share those in a separate post, can’t I?

Anyhoo, on with the post! There’s a lot of goodies to show off. 😛

The first gifts I’m going to talk about is what one of my best and oldest friends Sophi bought for me! She gave me my gifts back at the start of November so it’s been hard having to wait until now to open them! She bought me so many awesome bits and pieces and they’re all so fab! I’ve got so many Pusheen items it’s amazing.

These items include a Pusheen pyjama top, three pairs of shoe liner socks, Christmas Pusheen fluffy socks (which will be HEAVENLY to wear around the house!), a stationary pouch (which includes a notebook, blue pen, purple gel pen, two pencils, a sharpener and a rubber), a gorgeous notebook (which in turn I’ve had my eye on for agggges!), a pencil case/make up bag and finally some cute little pin badges! There was also some Japanese sweets inside the pencil case/makeup bag which taste AMAZING!

As well as Pusheen, Sophi also bought me a few Lady and The Tramp items, including a pyjama top and some shoe liner socks. I honestly love all the bits that Sophi bought for me, especially the Pusheen stationary to be honest with you! I’ve always been a sucker for stationary but I love using this sort of stuff at work and seeing as Dane bought me something lovely (stationary wise!) these bits from Sophi are perfect. 😀

The next gift I received is this gorgeous fox origami necklace and I got this from my gorgeous friend Sophie… Yes, another Sophie! 😛 I wasn’t expecting this so it was such a lovely gift to open when we met up recently. Since she gifted it me I’ve worn is everyday and I adore it so much. It’s definitely one of my favourite gifts I received this year. 🙂

The next gifts I received were the ones from Dane’s parents, which were all so lovely! The first thing I opened was the Empire Cinema voucher, which I found really random but when I read what they wrote inside it was so thoughtful and cute! It’s definitely the sweetest gift I’ve received so far. As you’ll probably see it says it’s for when Detective Pikachu comes out! You’ll see that I’ve blocked out some information, this is just to keep Dane’s parents names private, as well as how much is on the card.

They also gifted me this gorgeous fox hair towel from The Body Shop, as well as a cute patchouli fox candle, which I doubt I’ll ever burn! I think I’m going to keep it by the front door on our shoe cabinet, but I need something to stand it on before I pop it down there. It smells gorgeous to be honest.

Finally they bought me The Body Shop peppermint candy cane sack gift set. I’m so glad I got this as I LOVE the peppermint candy cane scent and I’ve already picked up a few items in the sales. I’ve tried a bit of the body butter on the back of my hand it’s so creamy and smells AMAZING! I can’t wait to try the shower gel out now, as well as the body scrub.

Next up we have the gifts my mom bought for me, one I knew about and two I didn’t. My mom knows me so well when it comes down to buying me gifts and every year not only does she surprise me, but she just reminds me of how much she knows me. 🙂

This was actually a gift for both me and Dane and that’s a massive refill bag of Australian Bodycare’s tea tree skin wash. I LOVE this stuff so much and have done since my mom bought it me as a teenager. I mostly use it on my face these days but I do occasionally use it all over my body, especially in the warmer months. I’ve already refilled my bottle with this, so I’m really chuffed! 😀

The second thing she bought me is this cleansing brush and it was such a surprise when I opened it! I’d mentioned to her a while ago how I’d stopped using the facial brush she bought me years ago as I found it didn’t work for me anymore… Not as in power, as in what it does to my skin. So when I opened this, oh man I’m so excited to give it a go! 😀 It’s easily charged and turns on and off easily! Not going to lie though, when I opened it on Christmas Day Dane made a lewd joke… 😛 Either way though this will hopefully work wonders on my skin!

Finally we have what is probably my favourite gift this Christmas. My mom had asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I mentioned this watch to her, which isn’t the cheapest in the world… So when she said she was more than happy to buy it for me, I was over the moon! I love gifts when they’re bought from someone, as they have some meaning behind them. I’ve wanted a new watch for some time now and have eyed up the Olivia Burton ones since I started my job just over a year ago. As many readers will know, I LOVE foxes, so when I finally saw that Olivia Burton were doing a fox design, my heart was kind of set on it. I showed it to my mom and she sent me the money to order it for myself. I mentioned how you could get your name stamped on the band and she told me to make sure I did just that! As you’ll see, I did and THANK GOD they spelt my name right. 😛

I adore my new watch so much and when I wore it Christmas Day it was so comfortable. I love it. :’)

Finally we move over to Dane and the gifts that he bought for me. He really spoilt me this year and although I feel lucky as anything throughout the year, when it comes to Christmas, birthday and anniversary he always reminds me just how loved I am, as well as just how well he knows me.

These were mostly in the stocking he made up for me, we started to do stockings when we moved into the house and I really do enjoy doing them. 🙂 So some of the items Dane gifted me were matcha/green tea related, which was lovely but so bloody random! 😛 I LOVE green team KitKat’s from Japan and I’ve already eaten one of these whilst writing this post. 😛 He also bought me some matcha knock off Oreo’s, which look yummy, I can’t wait to try those. Finally he bought me a matcha ramune drink… I can’t imagine how this is going to taste! I think I’m going to wait until my birthday to try it. 😛

I didn’t think Dane would buy me squishes, but he did and he did good! I’m not a squishy person to be fair BUT I do like them as they help me relax whilst when I’m anxious or overthinking. I find they’re great when I’m a passenger on the motorway. He did actually show me these and I can’t remember if he said he’d bought them for me  before or after showing them off to me. I LOVE the fox ninja so much and it’s definitely my favourite of the two, but this being said I love the panda ninja for squishing. Due to the way the paint is on the foxes face, I’d worry it would crack, so the panda is going to be my go to for squishing!

It seems to have become a tradition every Christmas now that Dane buys me Nichijou! I never really pick it up for myself throughout the year, so he does it for me. 🙂 I do really love the Nichijou series, it’s something different and a manga series everyone needs to read! They have an anime version of it too, which I also need to watch through, I’ve only watched the odd episode… I might suggest me and Dane watch it tonight whilst we have dinner. ^_^

I love getting calendars for Christmas and when I opened this one from Dane, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect… So when I saw it was Juniper I was so chuffed! Dane bought me the Juniper calendar for 2018 so it’s nice to have that lovely Instagram famous fox hung up in our living room again! I love writing down stuff me and Dane plan, as well as days off, birthdays and even blog events!

This was something I had a feeling Dane had bought me as he showed it me before Christmas and asked what I thought of it! It’s so adorable and I LOVE Pompom Purin. 🙂 I actually saw this when I was in the Japan Centre in London and I rather liked the look of it to be fair. I’m just not sure whether to have it for work, or for the house to keep my stationary in downstairs in the living room… We’ll see but either way it’s so adorable. 😛

Bless Dane, he’s such a cutie! When we went to EGX in September he asked if I liked the Spyro pin badges that had been released to coincide with the game as he wanted to buy them me for Christmas. Sadly I didn’t like the look of them… They just weren’t for me in all fairness. So he asked me to have a look around to see if there were any other Spyro items I liked the look of online, alas I found this incense burner and hey presto! He bought it for me. 😛 I haven’t had chance to use this yet as I need to get some incense cones for it, but how it works is you pop a cone into this and as it smokes, the smoke comes out of Spyro’s nose. Funky, eh?! 😀

This is definitely one of my favourite Christmas presents this year and one I had a feeling Dane had bought me. I spoke recently about this item here and how much I’ve wanted something for the wall behind our bed. Alas I found this awesome wall tapestry online at Redbubble and I just knew I had to have it! Me and Dane plan to buy some easy stick on and remove hooks, as well as some fairy lights and we’ll soon have our room taking some shape after a few years of it looking bare. 🙂

I was rather shocked by the size of this in all honesty, I thought it was going to be bigger like my other Morgana cushion (which you can see here). This was an ichiban kuji prize and as YY Kawaii was selling it, I asked Dane for it for Christmas. Alas here it is! It’s such a cute little pillow and will be nice to use as a head pillow whilst in bed, especially if I’m feeling poorly or under the weather and need to rest my head on something a little more.

These again are some of my favourite gifts that I received from Dane! Again, I had a feeling I was getting something like this for Christmas as I’d hinted to him about it and he’d asked me to put in order which ones I’d like. I’m not only 2 short of having ALL the Eeveelution plushies and I’ve now pre ordered them from YY Kawaii! Some of these were in my stocking and some were in my present bag, so it was a nice surprise when I found out I had another two to open! I cant wait to show all nine of the Eeveelutions off to you in the New Year!

I know I’ve said this for a few gifts now, but this is definitely up there in my top three Christmas presents! I know it’s just a pop vinyl figure and I know it’s just Wall-E BUT it’s Earth Day Wall-E and he’s pretty damn rare now! I mentioned on my post a few days ago how he’s now worth a maximum of £50 on places like Amazon and eBay, so the fact Dane managed to get him new for £15 on eBay is such a bargain. He’s how the original Wall-E should have looked in all honesty and I just love the look of him so much! He’ll be going into mine and Dane’s manga cabinet and he’ll be staying in the box. 😛

Finally we have my number one present, which of course is a Nendoroid! I was surprised to only see one in my Christmas bag as Dane and me usually go Nendoroid happy over Christmas, birthday and anniversary. I bought Dane three and he only bought me one. This being said, a lot of Nendoroid’s I want at the moment aren’t THAT easy to get a hold of, or I’ve already ordered them for myself. There’s quite a few of the Yuri On Ice Nendoroid’s I want, mostly the casual versions at the moment BUT I was missing Yuri Plisetsky, so I’m glad that Dane managed to get hold of him for me! I’m going to pose him as a cutie with kitty ears on with the other two guys. 😛

So that’s all the Christmas gifts I have received so far! I know I have a few bits left to get from two of my best friends, but that’s okay, they’ll be worth the wait. 🙂

I can’t believe the whole hype of Christmas we work ourselves up for is now over. It’s only 4 days now until New Years Eve and then it’ll be 2019. It’s crazy, I don’t honestly know where this month has gone. It’s flown and it’s rather scary to be honest with you.

What did you get for Christmas from family, friends, significant others and more? 🙂 I want to know! I love hearing about what gifts people receive.

Until next time all, I hope you had an amazing Christmas and Boxing Day!

February Wish List ’18

I can’t believe we’re already into month 2 of 2018! To be honest I’m not going to complain as January sucked! For the first couple of weeks of January I was poorly with various different things and in the end me and Dane pretty much worked out that I had the Aussie flu that was going around, which of course sucked! I booked 4 and a half days off work for my birthday and not only was I poorly for the whole of it, but Dane was also away for work so I was on my own. YUCK!

ANYWAY enough of me moaning, this wish list is one I was rather excited to do as there’s loads of awesome bits and pieces on it, however I am so stuck for money lately and especially since my car has recently been MOT’d and taxed! But my little red bug is my baby and I must take care of it, because let’s face it, it takes care of me 5 days a week. 😛

Random but I decided recently that I will no longer be showing the prices of items on wish lists. The reason for this being is that the price changes CONSTANTLY! Especially on websites such as Wordery, which I have featured twice on this post with the manga books. Of course I will continue to leave links for items so you’ll soon find out how much items are for yourself. I will still be talking about what a “bargain” something is or if it’s expensive. So you’ll get an idea from that alone.

So, let’s not delay anymore, on with the wish list!

• A Polar Bear In Love Vol. 2 – (link)

As regular readers will know for my birthday at the start of January I received A Polar bear In Love Vol. 1 from Dane (you can see what else I got for my birthday here) and I read it within a few days as I was so excited to! I now really want to get Vol. 2 which is released at the end of this month. I can’t wait to see what happens next in the story as it’s just so damn cute! 😀

• Pusheen Trinket Tray – (link)

I’ve wanted this cute little trinket tray for a while now but every time I contemplated buying it I changed my mind due to monies and that I didn’t exactly need it at the time. NOW however I really do need it as I want something to keep my jewellery in, such as the new ring I received for my birthday, my watch and my Thomas Sabo bracelet.

• Kimi No Na Wa/Your Name Bracelet – (link)

For my birthday in the evening me and Dane ate Japanese food and watched this film. After watching it I had a nose on eBay to see what merchandise is around from the film and I found this bracelet which is what Taki wears in the film. I’d love to have something like this from the film and I’d wear it all the time and for just £3.99 it wouldn’t break the bank to buy either. I’ll see if I fancy getting it throughout the month.

• Pusheen Door Mat – (link)

Me and Dane decided recently that we need another door mat, but this one would be for inside by the back door. I want something nice to match up to our awesome Deadpool one by the front door! I’ve had my eye on this one for a while and now it’s available to buy from Truffle Shuffle I really want to get my hands on it as soon as possible. I’m pretty sure we’ll be picking this up when we can.

• Barry M Cosmetics Under The Sea Nail Paint – (link)

Barry M are really on it lately with their releases and it includes some of their newer products they released at the end of January! I’ll be mentioned two here but this is one of them which is a mermaid inspired nail paint collection called Under The Sea. In the collection there are four shades Angelfish (pearlescent orange/nude), Jellyfish (purple/green), Butterflyfish (blue/pink) and Pinktail (pink/orange). Jellyfish and Butterflyfish are the two shades I’m after as I find they’re the prettiest and most aquatic/mermaid looking. I love wearing nail polish these days thanks to work so I’m always after getting pretty polishes to wear now! Barry M are really good with their nails paints so I’ll definitely be giving these a go.

• Persona 5 Morgana Nendoroid – (link)

If there is one Nendoroid I REALLY want right now, it’s Morgana from Persona 5! I was actually hoping Dane would have bought me him for my birthday but most websites in the UK who sell Nendoroid’s don’t actually have him until this month so… I recently shopped with Gamersheek and this is who I’ll be hopefully buying Morgana from them this month as I have a 10% discount code too! I just need him in my collection, especially being a huge Persona 5 fan! 😀

• Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: Kanna’s Daily Life Vol. 1 – (link)

This was actually a manga Dane had ordered me for my birthday but the website stopped selling it and cancelled his order. NOW it’s back on the website I’ll be ordering it this month to read at some point. I love reading Miss Kobayash’s Dragon Maid and I’m currently all caught up until Vol. 6 comes out in May, so I may as well read Kanna’s Daily Life next. ^_^

• Barry M Cosmetics Holographic Lip Topper – (link)

Alongside Barry M’s Under The Sea nail paints they’re also bringing out these lip toppers which I’d also love to try! I keep lusting after the Lime Crime lip toppers but they’re expensive to be honest with you and if the Barry M ones do practically the same job then win win! I definitely want the blue and the pink shades.

• Chamilia Disney Lady and The Tramp Charms – (link) and (link)

When I saw these advertised about on Instagram I was SO HAPPY! I have been waiting for Lady and The Tramp charms for way too long and at £35.00 each they’re a bargain too! Apparently you can put these on Pandora bracelets but to be honest with you I’d fancy picking up a Chamilia bracelet for a change from Pandora. They sell Star Wars charms which is AMAZING! 😀 I’m going to keep my eye on picking these up when I have spare cash.

So there’s my wish list for this month! I’m still saving money or paying for other things so I’ll be watching my money again this month and only buying things I actually need or REALLY want.

What items do you have on your wish lists this month? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!

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

 

What I Got For Christmas!

Christmas is nearly over and bloody hell it went by fast! I can’t believe we’ve had the three magical days fly by us and leave a coating of snow behind.

I hope all of my readers and blogger friends had an amazing Christmas and (although it isn’t important) I hope everyone got what they wanted for Christmas! I know I did and more!

So, (as pretty much most bloggers do now!) I thought I would write about what lovely gifts I got from Dane, my family and friends this Christmas.

I want to disclose here that this is by any means me showing off what I got this year and I never feel like when I read fellow bloggers posts, or watch YouTube videos about it that people are meaning to show off. I love reading and seeing what my fellow bloggers received (as I’m a nosey bitch! :P) as it’s nice to see goodies they’ve wished for throughout the year as well as special meaning behind them! If you feel this is me showing off, click off of this post now because, ain’t nobody got time for that!

NOW! On with the post!

When writing this post I haven’t actually received all my gifts and one of my best friends still hasn’t been able to give me hers, but I’ll be seeing her around my birthday so I can definitely mention it then!

The first gift I want to talk about is the gorgeous little Sylveon print that Sarah over at Raiin Monkey sent me in the post! I wasn’t expecting it and it’s so sweet of her! I’m going to pop it up in the office somewhere so I can look at it whilst doing blog work. 🙂

My friend Jacqui was able give me hers from both her and her boyfriend Chris and it was such a thoughtful and beautiful gift! It may not look like much to many, but we’ve had quite a few cocktail evenings together and my cocktail shaker isn’t the best. It gets stuck and then you struggle to get the lid off. So they bought us this Smirnoff kit, with a gorgeous red and silver shaker in (it matches our kitchen!) as well as a glass and measure cup in! I couldn’t be any happier with it to be honest.

My friend Sophi sent me a little box of goodies and I love them all so much! She sent us some little Japanese sweeties (which sadly we ate before I took my pictures! :P), a Pusheen tote bag and some Pusheen socks, as well as a pair of fox socks. I can’t complain at getting socks and I’ll be wearing them to work to keep my feet toasty over the rest of the winter months! OH and she also put in a cute little Pusheen keychain too, which I’ll pop on my tote bag!

Speaking of Pusheen! Dane’s brother and his girlfriend bought me a gorgeous boxed Pusheen mug with socks! I love it so much and am currently drinking some lemon green tea from it. The socks that came with it are so adorable and have paw prints on the feet. As well as that they also gave me a cute Minnie Mouse face mask as well as a Winky Lux flower balm in green. When you apply it to your lips it works with the PH and turns into a gorgeous light pink! I can’t wait to use this and I’ve wanted one of these since they first came out!

My aunt and cousin both bought me and Dane this gorgeous dachshund pillow which I’m going to have for the chair in the office! As well as that they also picked me up a gold fox keyring which was popped into my Christmas card.

Dane’s gran bought me a little something for Christmas and that’s a Bailey’s gift set with a little glass and some Lindt Lindor chocolates, which I LOVE! This will be enjoyed New Years Eve or on my birthday for definite! 😀

My sister in law and  my nephews bought me a cute little lip butter set, and it’s so strange! They’re lovely and you get three flavours, coconut, cherry and peppermint.. I’ve never used a lip butter like this before but I’ll definitely be keeping these for work and around the house!

Dane’s parents bought me some lovely gifts and one that really did make me chuckle! The first gift I noticed they’d bought me and one they get me every year is a Lush Christmas gift set! This year they bought me The Snowman gift set. This one contains The Snowman bubbleroon, Butterbear bath bomb, Man In The Moon bubble bar and Snow Angel bath melt. I’m super excited to try Man In The Moon!

They picked me up three hot chocolates on sticks! I LOVE these and they actually bought these from one of our friends coffee stalls in Coventry! These are so amazing and work really well! They bought me a normal one, a mocca one and a peppermint one! I can’t wait to try the peppermint flavour and I’ll definitely make it in my new Pusheen mug. 😛

One of my favourite presents from Dane’s parents has to be the Your Name Blu-ray that they bought me! This isn’t just the ordinary Blu-ray either, but actually a collector’s edition so it comes with both Blu-ray, DVD and also a CD of the films soundtrack! It’s such a beautiful film and was one of my favourites I’d been to see in the cinema last year. I definitely recommend watching it if you get the chance, or if you have Amazon Prime as it’s on there to watch in both subbed and dubbed right now!

Finally the present that made me chuckle is this little pom pom… That is actually a panic alarm! You pull the keychain and it makes a very loud noise! I doubt I’ll pop this onto my handbag but I’ll definitely keep it inside of my bag for emergencies! You never know to be fair. I get why she picked this up for me though to be honest! In my old job I would get to the car park at 5.30am, I would be the only one, it was dark and at one point we had issues with people hiding in the dark on the level of the car park I was on. It did frighten me! So this gift whilst being strange, as very thoughtful all the same.

Now onto the gifts that Dane bought me, I’m going to save the present my mom bought me until last. Usually I would save Dane’s until then, but wait until you see what she bought for me!

Since moving into our house we have a tradition now of making stockings up for each other, which consist of cute little bits and pieces, as well as Japanese sweets! This was no acceptation this year and we both gifted each other Japanese gifts!

He picked me up an assortment of Japanese treats, which includes some Puccho sweets in ramune flavour (Japanese soda), some sour candy sweets which are also ramune flavoured, some Pokemon grape gummy sweeties and some green matcha flavoured Kit Kats which are MY FAVOURITE! Finally he bought me a Gudetama DIY kit where you get to make a pudding version of Gudetama to eat! I cannot wait to do this and I think I’ll be saving it for my birthday. ^_^

Also in my stocking I had a few other bits and pieces such as a new refill for my Filofax and what a cutie he is, he bought me on in pink! I need to use my Filofax more this year!

Also in my stocking and presents overall was a couple of little Pokemon goodies, all of them are so cute! The first thing I opened was this Eevee pouch type bag, which is an official Pokemon Center item! I don’t know quite yet what I’ll use this for, but I can see it being for feminine products once a month and maybe some random handbag bits and pieces. This was a gift he’d asked me if I liked the look of when we were both having a nose online for gifts for one another. I wasn’t all that fussed at the time but all the same when I opened it Christmas Day I still loved it! It’s a little Eevee which you’re meant to rest over a glass, but I can see me sticking it to the PC monitor or even by the side of my bed. Another Pokemon gift he bought me was this blind box (although he knew which one he’d ordered) which contain desk buddies. Dane bought me this Pikachu one which holds your mobile phone for you. He bought me this to have for work but I want to have it for by my bed! It’s so cute and such a thoughtful gift all the same.

One of my favourite gifts from Dane just has to be this onigiri squishy keyring from Tofu Cute! I get anxious during long car journeys, as well as in other certain situations! This not only feels relaxing to squish over and over, but it’s also scented with (what I think anyway) strawberries! On the way to and from Coventry for Christmas Day I was squishing away at this, as well as whilst at Dane’s parents on the day! It’s going to end up living in my handbag for when I feel anxious or angry and need to relieve some tension.

One of the presents I had asked for for Christmas after discovering its existence are these Haku chopsticks. Haku is the dragon from Spirited Away and is my favourite Studio Ghibli character! I didn’t know if these chopsticks would be real or fake, but when I inspected the packet they are in fact real and Studio Ghibli approved!

The first main gift that I opened was this, The Manga Cookbook, which also came with a pack of chopsticks! I love cooking Japanese food, especially if I’m craving Japanese and I can’t and don’t want to go out and eat or buy any. This is a cute little gift and I can’t wait for me and Dane to cook recipes together from it.

The next gifts are these two little Pokemon Center plushies, which are like Beanie Babies! I’ve been collecting these for a few years now, thanks to Dane but they’re now so hard to get hold of! I found someone in the UK selling these 2 for a decent price and I didn’t know if Dane wou;d pick them up or not… Alas he did and they’re so adorable! We have a Flareon and a Raichu here and they’ll go so well with my other Eeveelutions, as well as with my Pikachu!

If you got back and take a look at the Christmas wish list I made on Christmas Eve (which you can read here) you’ll see that I wished for a lot of anime shows/films on Blu-ray and apart from one, all of the ones I asked for I got! Two of those being A Silent Voice and Your Lie In April part 2. Alongside Your Name, A Silent Voice was one of my favourite films from 2017 and I’m so stocked to have it on Blu-ray! The box itself is gorgeous and I cannot wait to binge watch it with Dane one of the evenings this week. This is the collector’s edition Blu-ray too, which also includes a DVD and a special booklet that tells you all about the film, as well as about the manga.

The second Blu-ray Dane bought for me is part 2 of Your Lie In April, which is the final part of the special collector’s edition! He bought me part 1 and the special box at the start of the year for my birthday, so now I’m so happy to finally have the box set completed! This is definitely the first thing I’ll be watching with Dane out of all of the Blu-rays I received as I want to binge watch all of this with him! I haven’t continued to watch anymore of it until I had all of the box set for us to binge watch!

Aside from my main presents this was probably one of my favourites to be honest! It’s The Art Of Persona 5 and I have been lusting after this book since they announced it way back in the summer! I’m so pleased Dane bought it for me to be honest as on Christmas Day after I opened it I had a good flick through the whole thing and I cannot wait to sit down with a cup of coffee and read the whole thing, cover to cover. This year I discovered Persona 5, as well as the Persona franchise! I haven’t fallen in love with a franchise this hard since Pokemon and I am so chuffed that back when it came out at the start of the year that I bought it.

Finally we have the main gifts from Dane and my favourites! These are the 2 Nendoroid’s that Dane bought for me this Christmas and I was so surprised to be honest with you! I mentioned on my Christmas wish list that I had a feeling Dane would have bought me Yuri but when I opened Viktor and THEN Yuri I was so happy! I couldn’t have asked for better Nendoroid’s to have received this Christmas and I feel like such a lucky girl. We have no room right now to put these up anywhere so sadly they’ll be staying in the boxes until we have room. But I love my 2 YURI!!! boys so much and I cannot wait to play with them and display them in the future! So many YURI!!! On Ice Nendoroid’s have been announced lately that we will definitely be getting in the future!

Dane really spoilt me this year and I am so grateful for everything I received! I know I have another present arriving that he ordered me, it’s nothing special but it’s the thought that counts! FYI it’s a Macaroon Treats Yankee Candle!

Now onto my final present and definitely the one that blew me away the most. I was so surprised when I opened it to discover my mom had bought me a Dyson hairdryer! I know these aren’t cheap to be honest and I’ve lusted after one since they were announced, so the fact that my mom bought me one makes me feel so loved and special. I still can’t believe she bought it for me and after trying it, I really do adore it. I wish she could read how thankful and grateful I am.

So those were all the goodies I got for Christmas and I am so, SO thankful to everyone who bought myself, as well as Dane gifts this year!

What did you get for Christmas? Big or small I would love to hear what you got from loved ones. You know where to tell me. 😉

Until next time, take care all and I hope you’re all resting after loads of Christmas and Boxing Day dinners!

September Wish List ’17

It’s September! My favourite month of the year and the month of our holiday! YAY! Due to that this months wish list isn’t anything special really and if anything is me adding some items I want to get as staples for my autumn and winter wardrobe.

This months wish list was really hard to be fair as I just can’t think of much I want right now. There’s just been a few big things I’ve wanted, but I’ll go into more detail about that as and when.

But no more chit chat, wish list time! 😀

• Naketano Put The D On Me II Hoodie – £60.38 (link)

I actually stumbled across this hoodie when shopping with Dane recently. Sadly it was TK Maxx and at the best of times it’s like a jumble sale so whilst I found one I couldn’t find anymore. Sadly the one they had left was too small for me. I looked on their website and sadly they didn’t have the hoodie in stock on their either. ARGH! I did get a note of the brand and looked online at their official website and discovered that Naketano are a German brand. The best bit being that they had the hoodie I wanted in stock on their own website as well as on Blue Tomato, which is where I found it. It’s a gorgeous navy hoodie with red stars all over. It has a cowl neck which means it’ll be lovely to snuggle into when the weather begins to get chillier. It’s not cheap though as you can see from the price, yet TK Maxx was selling it for £29.99! I’ll be scouring local TK Maxx’s for this before I go on holiday.

• Primark Pusheen Sweatshirt.

Primark are really upping their game with character clothing and merchandise and I would like to say I can’t get enough of it, but I haven’t bought any for ages! When I was out shopping with Dane I nearly bought a Marie sweatshirt but left it. I just want a cute and baggy sweatshirt to snuggle up in in my house whilst I do blog and house work. I didn’t see this when I popped in though and I had forgotten all about its existence until I looked on my eBay earlier. I wish I had looked for it now as I would have picked it up! I don’t know how much it’s meant to be from Primark itself, but on eBay it’s going for between £18.00-£25.00! Shit. I won’t buy this unless it’s from Primark itself.

• Living Dead Clothing Aggretsuko Rainmaker – £39.78 (link)

This brand is very similar to Black Milk Clothing and a lot of people argue about whether one or the other is better. I can’t really comment as I’ve not yet bought any pieces from Living Dead. I want to though and I have my eye on a few pieces (I’ll have to do a wish list in the future!). The one thing that I really like about Living Dead is the amount of geeky anime and gaming related pieces they bring out. They’ve had Studio Ghibli and Pokemon related pieces out in the past and I wish I had picked some up. But they currently have some Sanrio pieces up for grabs in the final chance area of the website which is the newer member of the Sanrio family, Aggretsuko! She’s a red panda who works a shitty office job and spends her time after work singing metal on karaoke to take out the frustrations of said job. They have a crop top with her on as well as the rainmaker which is what I want more out of the two. These like Black Milk aren’t cheap though and due to them coming from Australia, shipping isn’t either. I would rock this with black leggings and jeans in the summertime and a long sleeved t-shirt underneath in the winter. Due to it being discontinued I’m torn over whether to buy or not… I probably won’t though. 😦

• Marks & Spencer Striped Round Neck Jumper – £16.00 (link)

This is a jumper I keep seeing lately and it’s gorgeous for an M&S piece… 😛 A lot of their clothing is designed for the older lady but this one is pretty nice and can be worn with all sorts. I’m really after a jumper that I can wear with my new skater skirt (which you can see here). I’m after wearing stuff like this throughout autumn and winter this year, so I’ll be on the hunt for lots of lovely jumpers to team up with the skirt.

• Disney Store Lady and the Tramp Tsum Tsum Bundle – £21.00 (link)

I saw these a couple of days in the Disney Store and I wanted to buy all of them! As old readers will know I LOVE Lady and the Tramp, it’s my favourite Disney movie so whenever I see merch come out for the film at the Disney Store, I have to buy. I already have the old Lady Tsum Tsum, but now I want the new one, as well as all her friends and enemies! I won’t get these until after the holiday though.

• Dr Martens 8761 BXB Boot – £135.00 (link)

I don’t need a new pair of Docs… I really don’t. I saw these advertised recently on their official Instagram page and fell in love! I have a thing for Dr Martens boots with a steel toe, my Triumph boots have this same sort of look and it looks so chunky and amazing! I love the classic 1461 boots, but the chunky toe just gives them that edgy look. As much as I love my Triumph boots they aren’t the easiest to put on when in a hurry and I’d like some ankle boots that I can just shove on and go out the door in! These are going to be something I’ll treat myself to before my student discount card runs out. 😛 I’ll rock them throughout autumn and winter this year FOR SURE!

So that’s my wish list this month. It’s not the best wish list in the world but there’s a couple of pieces on here that I really want to get for my colder weather essentials. I don’t know if I’ll be buying anything whilst on holiday beauty and fashion wise. I’m sure I’ll have a massive list of goodies up I’ve bought when I’m back. Unless I buy the Docs before I go, I won’t be buying anything on this list anytime soon. Money that I get paid this month will be for holiday and bills. 😛

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

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

Back To Education Stationary Ideas!

I just want to start this post off by throwing it out there that the title and original idea for this post was for back to school, not education. Then I realised that it’s not just kids and teenagers who get to have fun buying funky stationary, older teenagers and young adults get to as well!

September is by far one of my favourite months of the year and I’ve explained on various different posts over the years why. It just feels like a fresh start to me. It’s when you started a new year at school, college and university. Hey! It’s even when many start their first years at these places and you want to always leave a good impression to the others in your year and classes.

I remember in August as a kid my mom taking me to the stationary shops to pick up some new bits for school. It was always an exciting time! New books, scented gel pens and a fluffy pencil case and I was ready!

Things haven’t changed either, with 90’s trends making a comeback in fashion AND stationary we now have so much funky stuff to feast our eyes upon again! There’s holographic, fluffy, unicorn and even Hello Kitty and Pokemon! Talk about bringing back some nostalgia!

Today I am very tired from a night of awesome drinking and talking with my friend Jacqui, her boyfriend Chris and of course Dane. I didn’t want to write anything at all today. I’m not hungover, but I’m very tired and lethargic. Urgh!

BUT I was scrolling through the internet and decided to do this post. The summer holidays are coming to a close and whether you’re returning or even starting a new year of education, here’s so funky stationary ideas for you to have a look at! 😛 P.S. Pray for me that I feel better by bed time. 😛

Oh by the way, this post won’t contain things you’ll need such as special equipment for maths, art, science, etc. This is just the bog standard necessities. 😛

• Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Ruled Journal – £12.99 (link)

Now, although I am not a Harry Potter fan myself (sorry guys…) I know a lot of people who are, young and old! I find journals to be great not only for use as a notebook for classes, but also for personal too if you want to get any thoughts written down on paper. Although I’m not a Harry Potter fan this journal looks gorgeous and is definitely one that would get a conversation started for any Potter fan who would see it. It’s not cheap however, so this is a journal for something a little more special.

• South Park Barrel Pencil Case – £3.99 (link)

This pencil case was mostly added for nostalgia. I remember when South Park came out and everyone and I mean EVERYONE went mad for it! Then WHSmith brought out some pencil cases for it and all the boys in my year had one at some point or another. I wanted one, but they were forever sold out in my local store. This is definitely more for guys but sod it, girls can pull this off just as much! I don’t think this is anything huge either which is always good if you have a small bag.

• Hello Kitty Gel Pens – £6.00 (link)

Who doesn’t love gel pens eh? Especially scented ones! These aren’t scented but they’re Hello Kitty… What more do you want?! I always found different coloured gel pens to be great to use on certain projects and I’d like to say during revision too… I was one of these stupid kids who didn’t revise… How I would have been if I was as level headed then as I am now… 😛

• Green Marble Notebook – £2.49 (link)

This is actually a notebook I really want to get for myself… But I won’t because I have WAYYYY TOO MANY! This is a notebook for the more older members of education who may read this post. It reminds me of the notebooks they have over the pond… You know the black and white ones that EVERY SINGLE high schooler owns and uses to write secrets in. ANYWAY! This is gorgeous and would be great to use as a notebook for a certain lecture or class.

• Bramblewood Fox Notebook – £2.99 (link)

Yes, another notebook. BUT it has a fox on it and you know I love my foxes! I used to own a phone case with this same fox design on, which I adored! It’s just a bog standard notebook really, which you could use for classes or personal. I’d probably end up using it for classes. I find that when you have a really nice and funky notebook for classes, lectures or even at home for notes you just feel good opening it up to jot stuff down.

• Aquamarine Pencil Case – £5.59 (link)

If I had to have a favourite item on this list, I’d say this is it. As you all know I LOVE anything holographic, turquoise and mermaid themed. This just ticks all those boxes for me and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t at all want to buy it… 😛 It’s a gorgeous turquoise pencil case with a fish scale sort of texture to it. This definitely reminds me of something the “cool kids” at school would have used. Either that or a fluffy pencil case! WHSmith have loads of these sorts of pencil cases available, with quite a lot of them selling out. So if you like the look of these sort of cases, get on there (or even in store) pronto!

• Pusheen A4 Ringbinder – £4.99 (link)

I LOVE Pusheen and I have a feeling that if I had been a kid when Pusheen first came out, I would have saved up my pocket money ready for when school shopping came around to buy EVERYTHING I could! I remember in my last years of secondary school I used an A4 pad of lined paper inside of a ringbinder for when I jotted notes down. I don’t know how I did it to be fair, as years later I attempted to do that again when studying my MA and I HATED IT. Folders are really handy to have, especially during GCSE’s, but it’s always better to have a cute one.

• What Would A Mermaid Do Prediction Pen – £8.00 (link)

Holy shit. I randomly found this obviously whilst researching for this post and I hesitated adding it at first as I thought it seemed so daft. I just couldn’t resist though. It’s so dumb but also so funny! If you love mermaid related stuff this pen is for you and the younger you are, the more you can get away with having it. 😛 It’s not cheap at £8.00 however, but it’s just such a novelty! Definitely something to cheer you up when you’re feeling down.

• Gemma Correll Unicorn Pencil Case – £12.95 (link)

I love Gemma Correll’s designs and in the past I’ve bought and used her stationary items! I still to this day own my ringbinder I bought and now use it to house adult documents in, because I’m now a motherfucking adult. 😛 I saw this pencil case and knew it needed a place on this list. I’ve got a couple of mermaid items, so a unicorn has to be part of the mix too! This isn’t cheap but it is a brand and it’s massive too! This would especially be good for an art student.

• Getting Shit Done Sticky Notes – £3.50 (link)

I remember when I was at university in my final year I was organised as fuck. I bought some post it notes, expecting to use them seriously and in the end I used them as a way to piss about so that I didn’t have to do any work on  my dissertation… I got a 2:1 on it and overall so it’s not like they affected my mark. 😛 They were boring though, so whenever I see funny or funky post it notes I wish they had been around when I was studying. These made me laugh so much! I may have to buy them for the office and blog related work. 😛

• Scented Pencil Pack – £4.50 (link)

Smiggle is notorious for their scented stationary, even their pencil cases! It’s cool but I do wonder if they’ve overstepped the mark just a tad… I always give stuff a smell on the rare occasions that I pop in however. I have looked at these scented pencils in the past and it just makes me wish I was at school again! I’d have definitely bought the banana ones.

• Mini Cookie Eraser Pack – £4.50 (link)

Again another scented item from Smiggle and one I just couldn’t leave out of this list. I was always a sucker for cute little erasers as a kid and I still remember to this day my mom bought me some puppy ones for when I started year 1. I couldn’t bear to use the one as it was just too cute. I’m pretty sure it’s still in my room at home somewhere! These little erasers are just adorable and I especially love that they come in a little plastic tub so you can keep them nice and smelling strong before using them.

So those were my picks for what you could buy for going back to education with. This list was definitely aimed more at a younger audience, but if you’re an adult who loves anything cute and kawaii then this list is totally for you too!

What items would you suggest people to pick up? Please leave links down below! I’m forever on the hunt for cute stationary!

I said at the start of this post that I hope I feel better when it’s finished, and you know what? I actually do feel better! I’m off to spend the rest of my Sunday chilled on the sofa with Dane.

Until next time, take care all and have an awesome bank holiday Monday tomorrow!

February Wish List 17

I’m still on a “spending ban” so I don’t actually know why I’m making this post… 😛 I’m not going to lie, my wish list posts are probably my favourite to write as I like to share some awesome new stuff that I want to add to my home, as well as to my lipstick and geeky collections.

So sod the spending ban! I’ll continue to do these posts until I don’t want to write them anymore! There won’t be anything too special on the list this month however… Just stuff I want to buy and cannot. Le sigh.

• ASOS Reclaimed Vintage Black Sabbath Long Sleeve Top – £35.00 (link)

I recently discovered this piece thanks to Zoe London as she bought it herself and was talking about it in a video. To be honest though a lot of fashion YouTuber’s have bought this piece lately and it’s just made me want to get it myself more and more. Sadly it is out of stock at the moment… I’m hoping it’ll come back in stock in my size so I can erm… Maybe order one… ONLY A MAYBE CALM YO’ TITS!

• Good Smile Company Deadpool Nendoroid – £42.99 (link)

As regular readers will know me and Dane love and collect Nendoroid’s and from the day it was announced we knew we would be getting the Deadpool one. I mean look how cute he is! We were planning on buying him this month ready for what we thought was his release date at the end of the month. Sadly that isn’t until next month… We can still pre-order him though as we intending on getting him as a Valentine’s treat to ourselves. 😛 What an excuse eh???

• Disturbia Kiss My Ass Acid Wash Shorts – WAS £29.95 – NOW £22.95 (link)

I’ve wanted these jeans for quite a while now after I found someone selling them on Depop. I didn’t actually know they were still available to buy from the actual store until recently when I decided to check out their sales. I would love a new pair of denim shorts as I haven’t bought myself a new pair for quite some time now. I’d pair them up with geeky t-shirts and tuck them in. I doubt I’ll get these due to spending ban, but they’ll stay on my wish list for as long as possible.

• Ray Ban Glasses – £98.00 (link)

I went for an eye test the weekend just gone after about two years of going without one and sadly my eyes have worsened, which means that I need to get a new set of lenses… Probably frames too it depends. I looked for ages in the opticians that I went into for a new pair and the one Ray Ban pair I liked were bloody expensive and the second pair I liked were nice but seemed really cheap. I had a mooch online and found Glasses Direct who sell designer frames at really good prices! They also sort out your lenses for you too, including thinning them down, which is what mine will need doing to them… Due to the blindness and all. I’ll hopefully get some soon but we shall see! I do really like my current frames so I don’t know why I should change them… A lot of people don’t want to put new lenses into them though which is annoying!

• Nintendo 3DS Poochy and Yoshi’s Woolly World – £34.99 (link)

If there’s a Nintendo character that I really like (apart from Pokemon of course…) it’s definitely Yoshi! He’s just so damn cute and adorable and I just wish he was real. I especially love the little woolly Yoshi that was realised to coincide with the wii U version of the game a few years ago and really wanted to get one myself to put in my bedroom at the time. NOW the 3DS is finally getting its own version of this game which is really exciting! I gave the demo a go recently and really did enjoy playing it, so much so I’d love to pick it up today if possible as that’s when it comes out! 😛

• Pusheen Colouring Book – £9.99 (link)

I’ve been after this colouring book FOR AGGGGGES as I love Pusheen so much! I guess I just want something I can faff about with and just relax with instead of playing games or reading, as sometimes I’m not always in the mood to do either of those. This being said, surely this colouring book with mostly consist of grey? 😛

So that was my wish list for February! Although I’m on a spending ban there are probably a couple of things off of the list that I’ll end up buying due to needing them (glasses), Valentine’s Day gift (Deadpool Nendoroid) and because I fancy a new game (YOSHIIIII!) but we shall see… We shall see.

What are on your wish lists for the month? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!

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

Post Christmas Natter (Plus What I received…)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Last Minute Christmas Ideas

It’s only a week until Christmas now and although myself and Dane have finished our Christmas shopping I know of a lot of people who probably haven’t even started yet! My parents for example leave their Christmas shopping until the last minute.

SO this Christmas ideas list will be handy if you’re like them! This list will cater to men, women, children, and teenagers.

• Zoella On My Travels Back Pack – £50.00 *currently £30.00* (link)

This is a great present idea for a woman of any age but I would say this is more for a teenager or student, especially if they’re a fan of the YouTube star Zoella, who has teamed up with Boots this year to create some lovely gifts for Christmas. Inside this gorgeous grey backpack you get a ceramic takeaway cup for those hot drinks, a keyring for your keys and some pencils. You can’t really go wrong with something like this. Hell I’d love it but I have enough bags to last me a lifetime. 😛

• Stormtrooper Decanter – £21.00 (link)

This is the perfect gift for anyone who loves Star Wars, but I would say more so for your boyfriend, brother or even your dad. It’s a decanter which you can pop any alcoholic choice in. I was going to get one of these for Dane and fill it with Jack Daniels, but I left it. BUT you don’t have to fill this with alcohol! You could always buy some cheap battery operated fairy lights and put them into the decanter, leaving the on and off switch outside. This was another idea I had for Dane for Christmas, but again I left it. May have to do it though now as he loves this.

• Lush Rudy and Pip Gift Set – £11.95 each (link) & (link)

Look how adorable these two little gift sets are! These will make lovely last minute gifts for children and even secret Santa gifts. My favourite of the two is Rudy. If you want to get one or even both of these though you will have to hurry as Lush run out of things like this super quickly as Christmas grows closer.

• Pokemon Christmas Pikachu Mug – £7.99 (link)

Who doesn’t like to get a mug for Christmas? Or any occasion for that matter! I have eyed this mug up myself many times over December so far but I don’t really need anymore mugs… BUT this would make a great addition to any Pokemon fans cupboard, or even their desk at work! Yeah it’s Christmas themed, but sod that, I’d use it all year around. 😛

• Chocolate & Peanut Butter Cupcake In A Mug – £9.99 (link)

It’s funny because I’ve actually bought this mug for Dane for Christmas as he spotted it in Lakeland last night and really liked it. It’s also a present he’s received early which is kinda nice. On the mug there is a guide and ingredients as to how to make a chocolate and peanut butter cupcake in the microwave,  which Dane really liked. So this is a definite mug for anyone you know who doesn’t just love cake, but loves anything chocolate and peanut butter flavoured. It also makes an amazing mug for big cups of coffee!

• Pusheen Shaped Purse – £7.99 (link)

I LOVE Pusheen and although I wouldn’t be bothered about receiving something like this, I know a lot of little girls who would! I loved when I was bought my first coin purse as a little girl. I was able to keep my pennies in there for sweeties and pound shop treats. Pusheen is starting to become a more known thing in the UK now after being out in America for agggges and little girls go crazy for her. So why not get a lovely little coin purse and pop some silver in there for good luck. 🙂

• Hamster Hottie – £9.00 (link)

I LOVE hotties and I recently bought myself a new one, as well as buying one of my best friends one for Christmas. They’re a lovely gifts to receive for Christmas due to how cold it is, as well as in general! I bought my friend Jacqui hers as it was Gromit, who she loves! But also because I know she would appreciate the warmth of it. I love mine because I like to snuggle it when I have bad period pain, or in bed and on the sofa if I’m chilly and need something to warm me up a little bit. These are great for anyone of any age and you can pick so many different varieties and animals up which is great!

• Christmas Slipper Socks – £12.00 (link)

This a cheesy Christmas gift, but a nice one if you’re stuck for ideas on what to get a male secret Santa, boyfriend, brother or your dad. I’ve bought these for Dane as his feet are always cold, I wanted something nice/cheesy for him to wear Christmas day and he wanted them! They have cute little bells on which jingle as you walk and some support on the soles so that you won’t slip on wooden flooring (which is handy in our house seeing as all downstairs is wooden floor!). I am just so excited for him to wear these Christmas!

So those are just some of my ideas for some quick last minute Christmas presents! There are hundreds more I could have added to be honest. Check out Boots for some good ideas, as well as your local supermarkets! M&S had a 50% off gifts sale recently, which I’m sure is still on so that is definitely worth checking out!

I hope everyone isn’t stressing too much with presents and even food for next week. Have you finished all your Christmas shopping? If so what was your best purchase this year for someone? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time take care all and I hope everyone is getting excited! Only 7 days now!

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November ’16 Wish List

Wish lists are getting harder to write now… You know why? Well Christmas is just around the corner and usually in November you stop buying things so that people get the chance to buy you something you want. Well that’s what I know me and a few of my friends do anyway…

Due to that this months wish list was really hard to write. I kept writing ideas down only to then think it would be better suited on my Christmas wish list next month. I eventually came up with some items but due to lack of funds, presents to buy for others and needing to give people ideas for myself this months list won’t be all that great. Sorrrrrrrry (not sorry :P).

• Bee & Puppycat Vol. 3 – £12.25 (link)

This comes out at the end of the month and I am so damn excited! As Dane has Prime I always ask him to pre-order things for me so I make sure to get them in good time. As this is included on Prime I asked him to pre-order it for me recently. I love the Bee & Puppycat show so I love the comic books just as much! I just wish they would come out a little sooner and quicker though. I really love Bee and hope to cosplay as her at an event one day.

• Lush Bubbly Shower Gel – £4.95-£16.50 (link)

I recently bought a little bottle of this when I went to the Lush Coventry beauty blogger event (you can read about that here) and since then I have fallen in love. I want to pick up a large bottle when I’m down in the Oxford Street store in a couple of weeks. It has a lovely fresh scent to it that reminds me of Fanta orange. I love to use it some mornings to perk me up. I’ll be reviewing it very soon!

• Pusheen Self Stirring So Lazy Can’t Stir Mug – £12.99 (link)

I love Pusheen and there’s so much Pusheen stuff I want to get but it’s just about finding stuff I want to buy which I’ll ACTUALLY use! I wouldn’t mind this for Christmas really, as whilst I have a lot of cups and mugs in my cupboard I don’t have a Pusheen one and I definitely don’t have a self stirring one. This also comes with a lid so it’d be great for on the move like before work, on the way home from work, to the shops, etc etc. Also it’d be really nice to make hot chocolates in due to the self stir action.

• Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in shade Bauhau5 – £16.00 (link)

I was meant to mention this on my wish list last month but I forgot! How dare I! I would have added this to my Christmas wish list next month as I would love at least some money to go and buy one of these myself. However as I am going down to London in a few weeks I may as well pick one up whilst I visit the first Kat Von D counter! That’s if there is any left… I really hope there are to be honest. I have my eye on Bauhau5, a raspberry pink shade. I’ve had my eye on it since I ever heard about the shade, so I know I want to pick it up eventually.

• Pokemon TCG Dragonite EX Box – £18.99 (link)

I’m a Pokemon nerd through and through and I remember back in the day being obsessed with the trading card game. Me and my friends in my street would play the game all the time and spend our pocket money on new packets of the cards and open them together. That’s some of the nicest memories I hold and remember from a couple of summers during half term. I’ve recently decided that I want to start playing the games again and intend to start collecting the cards again next year. I saw this on a website being advertised and as Dragonite is one of my favourites, I fell in love! I hope to get this for Christmas, or as a treat beforehand.

• The Pretty Reckless Concert Tickets (no picture added and prices vary depending where the show is held!)

I kind of have to include this on here because it is under my wish list and the tickets come out tomorrow! I’ll be ordering them when I finish work as I really want to go and see The Pretty Reckless live again. I’ve loved them since I saw them support Evanescence all the way back in 2011. I’ll be going with Dane and as of yet we haven’t been to a gig together yet so I’ll be excited to go. AHHH! 😀

• Pokemon Moon on 3DS – £32.00 (link)

This is the final item I’ll be talking about on the list because it is the one I am most excited for! It is of course Pokemon Moon which I have been super excited for since it was announced. I recently got to play the demo for it which I really enjoyed and after seeing the three new starters final evolutions I am even more excited for it. I guess I’m just glad I only have a couple of weeks to wait for it. I’ll be pre-ordering it closer to its release date. I can’t wait for this! 😀

So that was my wish list for November. I know it was nothing special but I’ve saving all of that for next month and my Christmas wish list! I need to start putting a list together to give people ideas of what they could get for me. Might go and do that now… 😛

On that note, what do you have on your wish list for this month? Apart from plenty of money due to Christmas! 😛 Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time take care all and hope you’re having a great week.