September Favourites ’22

I can’t quite believe how quickly September flew by. Literally it felt like yesterday it was the first full week of September, so the fact it’s now the second day of October… It’s just mad!

I’m rather excited for October due to Halloween, as well as Bonfire Night looming. It’s also at the end of the month when me and Dane have some time off together to celebrate the colder celebrations of the year and more. Not to mention the excitement of Pokemon Scarlett and Violet coming out next month too! November is an exciting month, but I’ll save chatter about that for next months favourites post. 😉 So yeah, October is a bit of a calm before the storm kind of month for us.

A lot happened in September with (what felt like) events left, right, and centre! I do just want the world to slow down a little to be honest… I’m wary we’re less than 100 days until Christmas and God knows how many until my 33rd birthday… I looked… 96 days…

One thing I’m especially excited for for the rest of the year is how many people I’m meeting who I’ve befriended thanks to the internet and similar interests. This time next week I’ll be meeting up with someone I befriended through a Discord, which I know we’re both excited for! 😀

I’m going to jump straight into the September favourites, as I’m wary I’m going to waffle on! 😛

Beauty – Dove Body Scrub Pomegranate Seeds & Shea Butter and Dove Body Scrub Crushed Macadamia & Rice Milk.

This was a more recent purchase that I got towards the end of September, and in a short space of time it has fast become a favourite! I love a good body scrub, especially foaming ones as I feel like they’re sort of cleaning as they scrub. Anyone else feel like that? Anyway, to be honest I mostly use body scrubs on my underarms and legs before shaving. However, I will use all over too if I feel it’s needed. I picked up two types of the Dove body scrub, Pomegranate Seeds & Shea Butter and Crushed Macadamia & Rice Milk, as at the time of purchasing (and publishing this post) they were buy one get one free from Superdrug. I have wanted to try the Dove body scrubs for a while now, so didn’t see the harm in taking up the offer! These have fast become a staple for sure as they smell really good and leave my skin feeling soft and moisturised after use. They’re not rough in terms of scrubbiness, which is ideal if you have sensitive skin. I had a horrible allergic reaction on my legs to a body scrub recently (name here) so my legs are grateful for the Dove body scrubs, that’s for sure. My only problem with the Dove body scrubs is that we don’t have as much choice as America do. For example, they have the Brown Sugar & Coconut Butter, which I would LOVE to get one day!

Movie – Kalifornia.

I’ll pre-warn you now, the trailer for this film is so cringe and typical of the early 90’s. I remember watching this film with my parents when I was a teenager, and although it’s classed as a horror/thriller, we found so many parts hilarious due to some of the stuff Early would come out with. Kalifornia is about a writer and his photographer girlfriend, who are planning to drive from Kentucky to California, writing and taking photos for his book as they go. Due to the costs of such a trip, they advertise for people to travel with them, with the advertisement being filled by Early and his girlfriend. Prior to leaving and during their trip, things go from weird, to bad. On my dad’s birthday we spoke about the film again, one Dane had never heard of before, so I decided to buy it for us to watch one evening. I think due to the trailer (and the way we sold it to him) Dane didn’t expect much from it, but by the end of the film, he commented how much he enjoyed! I highly recommend if you fancy giving it a watch! It has a big cast with Brad Pitt, Juliette Lewis, David Duchovny, and Michelle Forbes.

TV Show – Bee & PuppyCat.

I’ve been so excited to talk about Bee & PuppyCat this month! As regular readers may have seen, I did talk about the show prior to it’s launch on Netflix at the start of September (which you can read here). I really loved the updated version of season one, however there were some hilarious and memorable moments from the original that I was sad not to see. I can only imagine they were so good previously that recreating them again wasn’t doable… But I don’t know. I won’t spoiler by mentioning what they are, but in the future I might write a blog post of what I thought of the Netflix version. To conclude here, I’m so excited for another season (there better be one!) as well the hype that is now around the show. I’ve always followed the hashtag on Instagram for the show so I always saw people’s posts about it. Since the show came out last month, I’m always seeing and discovering new people through Bee & PuppyCat, which in turn just makes me so happy!

Music – Electric Callboy Tekkno.

Electric Callboy’s new album Tekkno released towards the end of September, which both me and Dane were excited for! We were also meant to go and see the guys play last week but due to one of the singers falling ill, the gig has been postponed, which is a shame, but at the same time it’ll still be an amazing show! 😀 Tekkno is such a fun album and one I’ve been finding myself listening to lots since it came out, with putting it on in the morning on my way to work, whilst I’m working, as well as on my drive home! Electric Callboy are a band everyone should check out at some point, with their sound being a mixture of metal and electronic. We discovered them in 2020 when “Hypa Hypa” came out. Our friend told us about it and since then we’ve both been hooked!

Game – Bear & Breakfast.

I’ll be honest, as the days loomed for this game coming out, I did contemplate whether or not to buy. A review I watched mentioned how repetitive the game is, which wasn’t such an issue for me, but it did kind of put me off. Alongside that, I already have plenty of games to play so I was a bit torn. In the end, I bought it and have played it on and off the past couple of weeks! Bear & Breakfast is a game where you’re a bear and start a chain of bed and breakfasts in your woodland to try and encourage humans back to the forest. It’s a very basic game, but fun nonetheless if you want a game you don’t want to have to think too much about! Sadly the past week I haven’t touched it, as I’ve been working on some last minute cross stitch projects… More about that under other. 😛

Just a few of my favourite things…

Nature Centre, Birmingham.

I went out yesterday with my bestie and our best boys to see some cute animals at the Nature Centre in Birmingham, then lunch at our favourite independent coffee place. It was so lovely and I’m so glad the weather held up for us, as prior to that it has been fucking miserable! I started to really get into the autumnal feels and I honestly can’t wait for more of that. My bestie loves red pandas, so I told her it was time for us to go and see some in Birmingham! We picked the perfect day and time to go as there were hardly any people there, and with some coffees in hand, we walked around the park, in awe of the cute animals in front of us. I think the red panda knew it was the main reason for us going, as it really did do some poses for us. 😛

THIS IS HALLOWEEN, THIS IS HALLOWEEN!

Back in the summer my dad asked me if I could get him some vegetable seed packets. They didn’t have one he was after, so as I joke I decided to pick up some pumpkin seeds for him to try growing. They weren’t cheap, so I paid for them and we had a laugh about it. The above photo is from yesterday. I cannot believe just how well his pumpkins have grown! They look incredible and I’m so proud of him for giving it a go! He did give one to me to grow too, but we didn’t have the luck he did. This photo just gives me so many autumn and Halloween vibes, both of which I’m excited and beyond ready for now!

“Kiki, look it’s me!”

FYI I will be posting a blog post up all about this glass, and shirayukinikki, the store/artist behind it so keep eyes peeled for that this month! Back a couple of months ago me and one of my newer friends decided to go halves on shipping some glasses by shirayukinikki to us. Since this arrived last month, I’ve been using it for iced drinks, alcohol and even just glasses of squash. I really love the Jiji and Lily bakery design behind it and couldn’t resist. Of course if you aren’t aware, the design is inspired by Studio Ghibli film Kiki’s Delivery Service, which you should go and watch if you haven’t before!

Kawaii goods.

Finally, I want to show off some cute items that arrive the past few weeks, because why not!

The first image is of my honey bear gacha by shigematsu_kun that my friend Emily was kind enough to add to her From Japan order for me! I’d seen someone buy the four honey bear gacha and showcase them on an Instagram reel, I knew I needed them! Once Emily sent them to me, I decided to stick them on my desk monitor as I thought it was the perfect home for them! I love when I’m working from home, or sitting at my desk that I can look up and see the four little cuties sat there! My desk is growing more adorable and I love it!

The second image is of my Toast the raccoon plushie by Yencat! I backed it on Kickstarter earlier this year in February, alongside with a plush pouch too. This guy is a CHONK and I love it! It’s a lovely plush for cuddling due to this, but as I already have one mochi plush I use for cuddling, I’m going to purely keep Toast for display purposes. As I may have mentioned before on my blog, raccoons feel like my spirit animal and due to that I do adore them, but this is actually my first raccoon plush! I don’t think I could have chosen a better one, do you? 😛

So, there we have it guys, my favourites from September! It flew by, didn’t it? 😛 I am excited for October though due to more autumnal vibes and Halloween. 😛

What were your favourite things about September? Are you excited for October too? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time, take care all and enjoy the rest of your weekends. 🙂

March Favourites ’22

I don’t want to be a broken record, but honestly 2022 is flying by! I can’t believe it’s April, but I’m definitely excited for this month! Not only is it Dane’s birthday, but it’d also Easter, which is one of my favourite events of the year. Alongside those two factors, me and Dane have some holiday today… Aka a long weekend for his birthday and Easter, so I’m really looking forward to that.

Currently the only thing I don’t like about April is how skint I’m going to be from spoiling Dane for his birthday, but it could be worse. 😛

March was okay for me, I had some rocky moments but nothing to write home about. I did good with money again, which is always good, but with Dane’s birthday coming I might be a little skint this month. 😛

Not going to lie, March felt like my blog was boring and didn’t have much content. I just had brain fog and couldn’t think of anything decent to write, unfortunately. However, April is going to be full of amazing content and I’m so excited for it! I won’t mention anything, let it be a surprise! 😉

Anyhoo, enough of me waffling, down to the favourites!

Favourite Beauty Product – Sol De Janeiro Coco Cabana Gift Set.

If there is something I have really been loving this month it’s been the two Sol De Janeiro gift sets I picked up! I bought both Bum Bum and Coco Cabana, with the latter being the one I started to use first. Both gift sets contain the body cream, body cream-cleanser and hair and body fragrance mist, as well as a reusable pouch. I snagged these gift sets with my mom from Look Fantastic, as they had an amazing deal at the time to snag these gift sets really cheap, so we bought one each! However, I ended up with two Coco Cabana gift sets as my mom wasn’t keen on the scent, which definitely isn’t the case for me. The Coco Cabana scent reminds me of my teenage years where I constantly used The Body Shop’s coconut body milk, as well as coconut scented beauty products in Fuerteventura too. The body cream-cleanser is really thick and moisturising, but one gripe I have is that I don’t feel like a little goes a long way. I put this down to the moisturising factors behind it. The body cream is for dry skin, but that being said it isn’t heavy and thick, but sort of like a thicker gel texture. It definitely leaves my skin feeling soft and moisturised after use, even my hands!. Finally the fragrance spray, this is GORGEOUS and I have to remind myself not to go mad on it when using, as my little gift set bottles are only 30ml! I’m already planning on buying all of the products in their full sizes when I’ve used the gift set sizes up! My skin has really thanked me for taking care of it a little more the past month. My arms were starting to become really tight feeling due to how dry and tight they were, and the backs of my knees were suffering with eczema/dermatitis too. Thankfully I’ve fast turned that around and I’m so much happier for it. 🙂

Would you guys like to see a review of both the gift sets/ranges? Let me know in the comments! I’m toying with it, as they are really lovely products that deserve shouting out about!

Favourite Film – Turning Red.

I HAVE BEEN SO EXCITED FOR THIS FILM! Literally the Friday evening it came out (11th March) I cooked me and Dane one of our favourite meals (macaroni cheese) and we sat down to watch the film. I’d tried to guess from the trailers and clips what was going to happen somewhat in the movie and I never guessed it to be fair. For those who are yet to watch it, Turning Red is about Mei Lee, a thirteen year old who loves boy bands (4-Town), doing her bit for the planet, and especially her best friends! Unfortunately for Mei, she’s also trying to be a good daughter, which conflicts with her loves at the best of times. One morning Mei finds herself waking up and she’s turned into a red panda! I said it on last weeks blog post about My Dress-Up Darling (which you can read here) but I LOVE slice of life and coming of age shows, films, etc. They tend to bring me so many nostalgic memories and feels which overall just make me feel so happy. This is exactly what Turning Red did for me. It’s based in 2002, when I was twelve years old and just about to become a teenager! I listened to all sorts of music, but definitely loved Daft Punk and Avril Lavigne. It was also an age I’d really started to discover the things I would love now, including Hello Kitty , Cinnamoroll, Pompompurin, Mashimaro and more! The one thing I especially love about Turning Red is how it’s the first Pixar film to be led by women, this is big and I cannot wait to see more female led films in the future. I’m just so sad for everyone who worked on this film, who never got the chance to see their film make it to the cinema, especially with how much love and praise it has received.

Favourite TV Show – Euphoria.

I have been wanting to watch this TV show since it came out in 2019, but due to where it was being shown and the fact I don’t have it, I’ve just never been able to… Until now. With season two recently coming to a close, I was desperate to watch and thankfully for me, I knew someone who was able to let me watch it! I’ve so far watched season one and I’m almost at the end of season two. I’ve really fallen in love with it, as I’m a sucker for slice of life (as I’ve seemingly spoken about a lot lately on my blog!), as well as teen drama. I fell in love with it from a very young age (want to say when I was ten?) so it’s something I’ve always enjoyed ever since, even writing my own teen novel(s) and scripts from time to time. Euphoria is about Rue and some of her classmates/friends at her high school. Rue is the narrator of the show and therefore the main character, and tells us as the viewer about herself and the people around her. The topics in the show range from love, drugs, alcohol, sex and general “issues” teenagers tend to deal with at one point or another. Someone once said to me, “If you like Skins, you’ll love this!”. Now, I fucking hate Skins. The show has always felt very trashy to me, so I’ve never enjoyed it. I watched the first episode in college and was immediately put off, however, Euphoria ticks all the boxes for me! If you’re able to watch it and are okay with all the topics mentioned, definitely give it a go as and when you can.

Favourite Song – Architects – Dead Butterflies.

This is a song that started playing in Dane’s car the one day we were on a trip somewhere and I made sure to add to my playlist, as I enjoyed it so much! Since then I haven’t stopped listening to it, nor the album (“For Those That Wish to Exist”) that it’s off of. Architects isn’t really a band I’ve listened to before, although I do know of them. I really do like this song though and just had to share!

Gif taken from Tenor.

Favourite Book – Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid Elma’s Office Lady Diary.

I recently picked up volume four of Elma’s Office Lady Diary (as I was missing it), so over lunches and the odd weekend I’ve been catching up on manga. I really miss reading it and have really decided lately to get back on it and catch up on series I need to finish reading, as well as series Dane owns that I want to read as well! Elma’s Office Lady Diary is a spin off of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, which is one of my favourite anime series, and quite possibly the longest manga series I own! Elma in turn is my favourite dragon character as I feel like I can really relate to her. She’s sweet, always wanting to do the right thing, but most of all wanting to eat all the yummy food! Plus, as an office lady myself, this manga spin off for Elma just makes me smile from ear to ear. I’m glad I finally started to read this series! I’m so excited for volume five to come out in the next month or so!

Image taken from Eurogamer.

Favourite Game – Pokemon Shining Pearl.

This is a game I’ve been coming back and forth to since its release towards the end of 2021 and it’s one I absolutely love! I think it’s because it’s really simple, yet nostalgic at the same time. Since I completed the story, I’ve been going back on every now and then to try and 100% complete the Pokedex! I’ve been exploring the underground mostly to try and accomplish this by catching lots of new Pokemon, as well as lots of breeding and egg hatching, and even digging the walls in the underground for plenty of rare items! It’s just been really relaxing and nice! I’m yet to complete the story for Pokemon: Legends Arceus, but I’m still not 100% in love with that game… I’ll finish it one day. Me and Dane were only on about it last weekend how we need to pick it back up, but he’s been obsessed with Elden Ring and now we’re both obsessed with Tiny Tina’s Wonderland… Spoiler for next months favourites. 😉

Just a few of my favourite things…

Pokemon Nendoroid figures.

As many of you know, me and Dane collect Nendoroid figures from Good Smile Company and have done since late 2014. I decided during Covid to start collecting series that I needed, with Star Wars being successfully completed. I then moved onto Pokemon, which has been bloody hard and heart breaking to boot. A lot of the figures are harder to find due to them coming out a long time ago and due to this, the prices are really high. I managed to snag quite a few in 2021 for good prices, which I was really happy about, but finding Cynthia, N and Champion Red has proven to be a challenge due to fakes and prices. I did however recently snag Cynthia and N from a UK seller on eBay for a great price! Now all I need is Champion Red… Which unfortunately won’t be as simple, especially as there’s currently one on eBay for over £300! I’m keeping my eyes peeled, but yeah. 😛

Dr. Martens x Lazy Oaf Buckle Boot.

I’d be fibbing if I said I’d been after these Docs for a long time, but I feel like on and off over the past year I’ve definitely liked the look of them! Someone I follow on Instagram has a pair of the Lazy Oaf Heart Buckle Docs and due to her, I decided that I’d really like a pair to wear with my Black Milk Clothing dresses and more! After scouring the internet for a few months, I finally found a pair for sale for £150, which I didn’t think was too bad for an almost new (tried on and maybe worn once from memory) pair of Docs, especially as these are also limited edition. They came out originally in 2019, but I missed out on snagging a pair at the time as I was saving up for my Japan trip. Now I finally have them though and I adore them… But I’m yet to actually wear them out and about. I haven’t yet as I just haven’t had the chance to, even though I’ve owned them a month. I’m anxious of my feet getting destroyed, but at the same time I do want to wear them! I think I’ll go for a walk in them around the local area with my ankle protectors on (Amazon link) to break them in more! I was toying about reviewing these on my blog, as well as some handy Docs tips that I know of, would you guys like to see that in the future?

Turning Red, Mei Lee Red Panda plushie.

I briefly wanted to show off this massive fluffy cutie that arrived at the start of March, my huge Disney Store Mei Lee red panda form plushie! I couldn’t resist ordering this as I’m a massive sucker for red pandas and plus I’ve been super excited for Turning Red to come out, as I mentioned earlier. This plushie has been living on my office chair and has proven to be an amazing cuddle buddy whilst I’m working (both work and personal stuff), as well as whilst I play games. This plushie wasn’t cheap at £40, but totally worth it!

My Dress-Up Darling… Annnnnd future content to look forward to!

Finally I want to give you all a reminder how much I’ve really fallen in love with My Dress-Up Darling! The first season of the anime finished at the end of March and since then I’ve been taking my time to read the manga, so I can make Marin and Gojo last as long as I can! If you really loved this manga/anime, or would like to discover a new series to read/watch, make sure to go and check out last weeks blog post all about My Dress-Up Darling. Since writing it I have since been inspired to write more posts about manga/anime series I love, including Nana, Elfen Lied and Bee & PuppyCat.

So there we have it, my favourites from March! March really did fly by and I don’t feel like I did a fat lot to be honest with you… I think my favourite thing we did in March was visit my best friend and her boyfriend in Nottingham! Nottingham is a city I’ve wanted to visit for a while and with my bestie living near the city centre, it was so much fun to finally visit it with her!

In March I really did reflect on what content I would like to bring to my blog in the future and I’ve come away with so many ideas, that I cannot wait to write and share with you all in the coming months!

What were you favourite things in March? Also, is there any specific you would like to see, or at least see more of on my blog? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

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

February Favourites ’22

I know February is a short month anyway, but 2022 is flying past and I don’t know how I feel about that. I’m glad, because I want spring to come for light nights and slightly warmer days/better weather, but at the same time, I don’t want time to go too quickly as before we know it, we’ll be back at Christmas all over again!

I was recently speaking to someone about the idea of going to Japan again in 2023 and was met with, “Wait, you only went last year?” I went to Japan two years ago… Proof that as you get older, the years fly by quicker!

Alongside that, since turning 32 in January, February has been a month of me going, “Jeez I’m really getting old now, aren’t I?” and that’s kind of made me feel weird. It’s crazy how quick time flies after you turn a certain age (want to say 21). I do sometimes wish I’d spent more time enjoying my twenties, but that being said I don’t have any regrets.

ANYWAY today’s post isn’t about that stuff and is of course my monthly favourites! February was a strange one as whilst I definitely have things to share with you all, I don’t feel like I have a lot of general stuff to share?

As always, I hope you enjoy reading about things I loved throughout February.

Favourite Beauty Product – SBC Cotton Sensitive Body Wash.

I’ve been so excited to share this body wash with you all today as since receiving it around the start of February, it’s really improved my skin, which in turn makes me happy! My mom is the person who got me into SBC and their skin care, especially their body washes which seem to live in our bathroom for at least half of the year! This SBC body wash smells just like fresh washing and leaves my skin feeling baby soft, which is something I don’t achieve often! I’m shite for looking after my skin with body lotions and potions, not going to lie! A couple of pumps of this on my new silicone shower sponge and I’m guaranteed to be left a cotton scented lather and soft skin after I get out of the shower. This body wash is dermatologically tested which is great for me and my eczema, which recently flared up on my legs. This body wash did really help with it though, with no discomfort or stinging during use. I highly recommend this if you want something fancy in your shower, but have sensitive skin like me.

Favourite TV Show – The Legend of Vox Machina.

The Legend of Vox Machina is a new animated series on Amazon Prime that Dane has been looking forward to since March 2019 when the Kickstarter launched, which he backed. So, when the show finally launched in February, he was all over it for us to watch, which of course I was down for. Vox Machina is based off of the first Critical Role campaign/series, which if you didn’t know is a Dungeons & Dragons campaign written by Matt Mercer and played by a group of voice actors (Marisha Ray, Sam Reigel, Travis Willingham, Liam O’Brien, Laura Baily, Taliesin Jaffe and Ashley Johnson). It’s really popular and has recently gone into it’s third campaign/series! Dane is all caught up on the campaigns and loves Critical Role, I’m not an avid watcher of their campaigns but if Dane has it on, I will watch it on and off. Although the show is based off of D&D (and the Critical Role campaign) Vox Machina can be enjoyed by anyone, even if you’ve never watched the campaign it’s based off like me, or even if you aren’t a fan of D&D! It’s got some amazing adult comedy, bit of singing, lots of fighting and action and all around amazing show!

Favourite Music – Spiritbox – Eternal Blue.

Spiritbox are a band that Dane introduced me to a while ago now and for some reason I thought I’d mentioned them on my blog previously, which doesn’t seem to be the case! The song that caused me to really get into this band is the one I’ve added above called, “Secret Garden”, which is such a nice, mellow rock song to enjoy. I’ve especially been listening to their first album Eternal Blue when I’ve gone into the office to work, as well as when driving to and from places. Eternal Blue came out towards the end of 2021, so it’s a fairly new album, which I didn’t realise until I was writing this post. The band themselves are described as metal (progressive, alternative, etc) so if you like this genre of rock, make sure to check them out!

Image taken from Nintendo Life/Nintendo.

Favourite Game – Pokemon: Legends Arceus.

How could I not mention Legends Arceus this month? It came out at the end of January and every other weekend me and Dane have stayed in the house the whole time playing it. During the weekends where we’ve played it, we’ve snuggled up on the sofa under blankets and with hot drinks as we play this together! I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t 100% sure about the game when I first started playing it and felt a bit nervous of all sorts of aspects, mainly because it wasn’t the same as I was used to, due to the RPG gameplay. However, the more I’ve played it, the more I’ve started to relax and enjoy it, especially with Dane. I’m yet to finish the games story and in all honesty it’s not one I’ve been hooked on/about. In typical Japanese RPG fashion, the talking goes on and on and whilst I’m happy with it in Persona 5/Persona 5 Royal, it’s something I don’t like for Pokemon. Due to this, I’ve mostly skimmed the story, which in itself is a shame. This being said I really do enjoy and love the game, bugs aside too! I’ve recommend it to so many people, it’s definitely one to play as a Pokemon fan, especially if you love RPG.

Just a few of my favourite things…

Pokemon Center Vulpix Plush.

I was so happy to get my hands on this Pokemon plushie at the end of January. It’s been on my plushie grail list for as long as I can remember and after January payday, I decided to finally order one! This cost me less than £20 with shipping from Japan and I’m so glad I finally decided to get it! It’s from the Chiku Chiku Sewing collection from 2015 and I didn’t realise when buying it that it was new with tags, which is even better. I had some people online query if it was a fake plush, which was a tad annoying, but alas it’s very much real.

Image taken from Black Milk Clothing. Unfortunately I don’t have any decent pictures of me wearing this yet… 😦

Black Milk Clothing Ghost Foxes Bishop Longline Dress.

This is a dress I decided to get to replace the Ghost Foxes Mini Strappy Dress, (which I have since sold) I bought back in July 2021. Although I’d removed the tags and washed it, I’ve never actually worn it and seeing the bishop dress style come out, I knew I had to get it. I LOVE the bishop style and already own three dresses in this cut, this one making it four. I’m planning to wear this dress for both work as well as in general. With it being white, it may be more the latter and especially for days out where I’m not eating or drinking anything that could stain and ruin this dress considering it’s white. I also picked up the longline so that it’s longer on me. The normal bishop cuts are okay on me, but if I can have a dress longer, I’ll always go for it! The length of this is amazing, it felt a little bit too long at first to me as I’m not quite used to it, but it’ll be perfect for work especially! The print is beautiful too with the ghost foxes on it. Foxes are my favourite animal, so I’m always a sucker for pieces with them on.

Cute outfits/clothes.

This is something I’m going to talk about in more detail in a couple of weeks on a post but I swear, getting myself some new staple pieces has been a big thing for me in 2022 so far. I don’t know what it is but I decided this year that I would love to do more with my style and change it up a bit. I’ve spent a lot of the past two years wearing the same baggy joggers, t-shirts and hoodies due to Covid and I want to change that. I want to dress up for the sake of it and feel cute whilst doing so, plus I think it would really do my mental health some good. I feel like a lot of pastel and cute prints have come into my wardrobe and I’m so excited to wear them all for work, as well as in general. If you want to see some of the stuff I picked up during February, make sure to keep eyes peeled for that post in a few weeks! For the time being, I’ve popped some of the items I’ll be talking about soon above, including Tallulah’s Threads, Disturbia and The Sad Ghost Club.

New enamel pins.

I ordered a couple of new enamel pins recently which was nice! I don’t know why but I feel like enamel pin purchasing has definitely slowed down a little, which is always good as quite frankly, I’m running out of space!

The sausage dog pin from MossFrogPress has been on my favourites list on Etsy for as long as I can remember. I made some monies from selling some pins at the end of 2021 so I decided to use the money I made to pick up this pin. As it was coming from America, the shipping was more expensive than the item itself, so this wasn’t a cheap pin in that aspect. Definitely worth it now! It’s such a cute pin I get to look at everyday when I get ready.

I finally decided to back FoxLeap’s enamel pin club on Patreon at the end of January so I could snag the Patreon exclusive Lady puppy pin that Sophie had made. Not only did I get my Lady pin (as this was a freebie), I also got a The Cat Returns pin too (which I chose), some prints and even a freebie Alolan Ninetales pin and mini pin! Sophie is one of the kindest and most generous people I know and definitely an enamel pin artist you should check out. Her Patreon is all about you picking what you would like that month, from a list of choices. No one else (as far as I’m aware…) offers this type of pin club.

Finally this is an enamel pin from Depop that I snagged second hand. This enamel pin is by Sugarbones, a Canadian artist I adore! I love her Studio Ghibli and Animal Crossing designs, but she decided in 2021 that she would move away from fan themed pieces, so whenever I see one I missed out on previously, I’m going to try and snag! Haku is my favourite Studio Ghibli character, so any gorgeous pins I see with him on, I have to buy! 😀

Kawaii AF Kickstarter campaigns!

Finally I’m here to share some adorable Kickstarter campaigns I’ve joined or at least had my eye on joining. They’re all so cute! I told myself in 2022 I wouldn’t back as many Kickstarter campaigns to try and save money, but some are just too adorable not to.

Image taken from Kickstarter.

Toast the Raccoon Cute Plushie Toys + Keychains – link (ends April 8th 2022).

This campaign is adorable and straight away as soon as it launched I backed it! It’s by Yencat and is based off of her popular and original character Toast, who as you can see is a raccoon. I LOVE raccoons, they’re my spirit animal due to their love of food and being chubby, I can relate to both of those. 😛 Yencat decided to create a plushie Toast, as well as an enamel pin and plushie keychain. I’ve backed for all of them and already counting down the days until it arrives! The Kickstarter ends in April, so if you like the look of this campaign, you have plenty of time to check it out and back it yourself.

Image taken from Kickstarter.

Delicows ~ enamel pins & more – link (ends March 19th 2022).

I’m pretty sure I mentioned this briefly on my post about Quirkory and their Patreon pin club (you can read all about it here) but if I didn’t, I’m mentioning it again as earlier this week Quirkory released a new Kickstarter campaign, all about cows! Delicows is a mixture between delicious (food and drinks) and cows. Hence, Delicow! There are loads of different types of designs to choose from and I’ve backed for five of the designs in question, Cowpuccino (ideally one with Shugarlump), Moocha Latte, Cowreo, Peppermint Moocha Latte and maybe Darcowness. It feels like there’s a design for everyone in this collection and considering there are 24 plus designs to unlock there’s plenty of choice for everyone!

Images taken from Kickstarter.

Cute Animal Knitted Sweaters and Enamel Pins – link (ends March 3rd 2022).

This is a Kickstarter campaign by Dogzsquadarts I really like the look of at the moment and one I’m tempted to back before it ends in a couple of days! I am trying to be better with my money in 2022 and so far, it’s been going really well! I’ve already bought a shit ton of clothes and I don’t know if I want to buy anymore due to this fact. This being said, two of the pieces from this campaign are adorable and I do feel like I’d love at least one of them in my wardrobe! There’s the Shiba Inu sweater, as well as the Golden Retriever cardigan that I would love to get, but… I don’t know if I can justify it? I’m going to see how I feel about it, they’d both be adorable to get but unfortunately they aren’t pieces I could wear to work, otherwise that would probably spur me on more.

So there we have it guys, my favourites from February! What did you guys love throughout February? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

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

November Favourites ’21

I can’t quite believe we’re less than a week until December but just four weeks away until Christmas! 2021 has flown by and I’m already frightened at what 2022 holds, as well as how quickly that may fly by too.

I know I’m posting my monthly favourites for November a little earlier than I usually would but this is because I want Decembers content to be full of Christmas related/style posts!

I’m actually really excited for Christmas this year! I’m excited to decorate the house a little more with lights, as well as lots of tinsel, and especially for being able to see the people I love and care about too. Me and Dane ordered our Christmas food months ago out the way, so the hardest part of Christmas Day is done. 😛

Now all I need to do is decorate this weekend, as well as finish my Christmas shopping ready for the big day! Hopefully I can smash most of it this weekend so I can spend the rest of December relaxing, buying any last minute bits and pieces, as well as spending time with people I care about.

I’m so excited for the content I have planned for the rest of December! A sneak peak includes independent businesses you should buy from this year, which will talk about geek goods, candles, beauty and more. Make sure to keep eyes peeled for that in a couple of weeks.

However, for now I want to dive into what I’ll be talking about this month. This may well be the last favourites of the year, as I rarely talk about the December favourites until the New Year. I hope you guys enjoy!

Favourite Beauty Product – Lush Yog Nog Shower Gel.

I picked up this shower gel in the Lush Boxing Day sales last year and I’ve been waiting for the right time to use it! I love Yog Nog so much, I was beyond gutted when they decided to discontinue the bath bomb. The bubble bar is good, but I don’t know… The bath bomb always smelt stronger to me. The scent has always reminded me of Biscoff biscuits, which I’ve loved since I was a kid. This shower cream/gel is so luxurious and creamy smelling and with the fact it’s gold, I feel so fancy when I use it in the shower! It always leaves me smelling good and a little bit soft. The scent isn’t crazy strong, which I really like. I’m hoping to pick up a replacement bottle in the Lush Boxing Day sales this year… If they do them online again that is! If you haven’t tried this before, give it a go! I’m not as much of a Lush fan as I used to be, I found they’ve really changed a company and their prices are shocking! I much prefer to buy and support small indie beauty brands, who have scents like Yog Nog and Snow Fairy all year around, at a more pocket friendly price.

Favourite TV Show – Komi Can’t Communicate.

This is a new anime series that Dane has gotten me into and I’m so grateful for it! It’s kind of obvious from the title of the anime what it’s all about. Komi can’t communicate due to social anxiety, but now she’s in high school, she wants to gain lots of friends and start to communicate more. Komi befriends Tadano, a guy in her class who really wants to help her with her goals. It’s a very cute, funny and heartfelt show. Not going to lie, I cried at a scene in the first episode. 😛 This is a Netflix exclusive, so make sure to check it out.

Image taken from GIPHY

Favourite Manga – Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: Kanna’s Daily Life and Elma’s Office Lady Diary.

Don’t double check this to see if you read correctly, because you have. Yes in fuck knows how many months now, I’ve picked up a book and read it. No, I can’t believe it either! I think due to my mental health declining the past year I just haven’t been in the right frame of mind to read, which really does break my heart. I love reading manga and in one of my jobs years ago, I couldn’t get enough series or volumes to read due to that fact. Thinking about Christmas present ideas, I know I’ve needed to stock up on my volumes of the Kobayashi series, so I decided to start catching up on the volumes I need to read, add ones I need to my Christmas present ideas list, as well as pre-order some volumes I need too. I forgot how much I love reading manga! I’d take it to work and read it more, but I don’t feel comfortable sat at my desk with some potential NSFW pages… Which has happened in the past at previous jobs and people have talked… 😛

Image taken from My Nintendo News

Favourite Game – Pokemon Shining Pearl.

I haven’t been nonstop playing this game due to how busy I’ve been, but when I have been playing it, I’ve really enjoyed it! Technically Animal Crossing should be noted here this month too as I’ve been playing it LOADS since the update but I felt like I spoke about it loads of my previous post (Games I’m Loving This Month). The Pokemon gen 4 remakes are officially out and not only are they cute, but they’re so fucking nostalgic and I know I’m not the only one feeling that. I’ve got to the second gym on my game, but I’m planning to try and fit in some more Pokemon game time soon.

Just a few of my favourite other things…

I bought an Apple Watch!

I finally took the plunge and bought myself an Apple Watch during my week off work in November! Thanks to Dane I’ve ended up not only buying the Apple Watch but also the Apple AirPods too so I have all the fancy technology I need/want. 😛 Dane bought himself a Samsung watch earlier this year and has been loving it, which in turn has influenced me to get my own tech watch and why not the Apple watch seeing as I have an iPhone? So far I’m really loving it and it’s definitely come in handy when out and about if I want to keep my phone in my backpack, as well as at work. I picked up the newest watch and highly recommend to anyone who is thinking of getting one.

New clothes pieces I’ve obtained (including a grail piece!).

Alongside my Apple Watch, I also snagged some clothing pieces I’ve been after a while, including a grail piece by Black Milk Clothing.

The pastel jumper is by Wego, a Japanese fashion brand. I heard about it through Instagram and immediately went to From Japan to see if I could order it! I requested a custom order and a couple of weeks later it arrived! It’s such a lovely jumper, super warm and cosy, as well as baggy too. I really want the bright rainbow version too, but that’ll have to wait. 🙂

Although the snake dress isn’t new, the Route 666 Underbust Corset is and I FUCKING love it! I bought it second hand through an amazing Sharkie who I know and speak to often via Instagram. Instead of £42.61 I only paid £30 (not including postage) which is a complete bargain. I’m really happy with it, it’s so comfortable and the exact size I’d want as well which is perfect.

Finally I’m so excited to share my grail piece! I’ve been after the Merboy Shatter Reversible Skater Dress for the longest time and through one of the Black Milk Clothing sales groups I’m a part of someone in Australia was selling this piece for a second price including shipping. I decided to treat myself to it when last pay day came around and finally a few weeks ago it arrived! I honestly cannot wait to wear it over the Christmas period for parties with a pair of boots and a sheer mesh top underneath. It has pockets too, which is amazing!!! So damn happy to have this. :’)

Finally, Christmas nails season has begun.

Finally, I wanted to show off my Christmas nails because I’m in love with them! I know they aren’t in your face Christmassy, but I think they sort of are! I’m waiting for 16th December for my green and red OR blue and silver nails to be done. I’m feeling the latter as I can get away with them for New Years as well. Honestly though, these nails are bloody gorgeous and the rose gold makes me so happy to see.

So there we have it guys… The last favourites post of the year! I know it’s a bit short but I honestly couldn’t think of loads of talk about this month. There hasn’t been a film or music that has stood out for me this month. Plus, as I said before, November has been a tough month for me this year, so I haven’t felt all that… “get up and go!” kind of thing.

That aside, what were your favourites from November? I can’t believe November is done in less than a week now… Can you?

Make sure to let me know in the comments below what your thoughts are about November, as well as December being just around the corner!

Until next time guys, take care and hope you have a lovely weekend.

October Favourites ’21

In the blink of an eye, October has flown by and I don’t know how I feel about that! xD October wasn’t the best month for me in regards to my mental health but the end of October, start of November has been really nice so far. Albeit with cute games coming out this week and some time off work with Dane… 😛

Of course I won’t go too much into my personal issues but instead I’m excited to share how exciting the first week of November has been for me! Not only did the Animal Crossing: New Horizons update and DLC (Happy Home Paradise) come out, BUT so did indie games Unpacking and To The Rescue! came out too, with the latter being a game I backed on Kickstarter. So, my week off mainly consisted of playing games with Dane, doing things around the house and catching up with people. It was great and very much needed. I’ll be talking about the games on a separate blog post at some point this month, so keep eyes peeled for that!

For now however, I want to share my monthly favourites with you guys! I hope you enjoy this months favourites.

Favourite Beauty Product – Badedas 3 in 1 Original Indulgent Bath Gel.

This is something my mom bought for me and Dane Christmas 2020. I’ve always loved the smell of Badedas as it was always something we had on the side of the bath when I lived at home. It smells really fresh, masculine and gorgeous, plus it always reminds me of my dad so it has a nice comforting/familiar feeling to it. I used some of this throughout the winter period at the start of 2021 and stopped when spring and summer hit. Now the weather is colder again, I’ve brought it out to use not only as a bath gel, but as a shower gel too! When I was poorly with flu later on in October, this helped clear my sinuses somewhat, as well as comfort me with the scent. I know it’s a bath gel both me and Dane used too with the flu (I passed it onto Dane…), so it’s definitely good it being in our cupboard! It’s a bloody huge bottle and it feels like it’s lasting forever! This isn’t something I’d buy for myself to be honest, but I did enjoy receiving it as a gift last year.

Favourite Film – Violet Evergarden: The Movie.

For any regular readers of my blog, you’ll know I LOVE Violet Evergarden and have done since it first came to Netflix in 2018. Violet is about a young girl/woman who has fought in the war as a child and comes out to be “adopted” by a post office owner. She begins training to become a ghost-writer and the feelings and emotions she lost during the end of the war slowly start to come back through helping people by writing their letters. Violet is also pained by the meaning of some words spoken to her during the war. I don’t want to say too much for fear of spoilers, but the movie basically ends a lot of questions that long time viewers will have been asking/wondering. It definitely answered these for me and Dane and my emotions were all over the place! We’re still asking questions after the movie, but we hope this won’t be the end of Violet Evergarden’s story and only the beginning of a new one!

Image taken from GIPHY

Favourite TV Show – Squid Game.

Okay, now I know you’re either thinking… “YAY someone else who loves Squid Game!” or, “Urgh, someone else who loves Squid Game?” and of course I loved it. I heard all the hype around it on Instagram and Twitter and wanted to watch it before spoilers started to show, which I thankfully missed. Damn, Squid Game is a journey and it was one me and Dane completed over two evenings of watching nonstop. I don’t want to share spoilers, even if the majority of people HAVE seen it. It’s basically a Battle Royale style show about people competing in life or death situations to win a lot of money. It’s really good to be honest and much better watched in subbed (subtitles), not dubbed (voice over in your language), which I know a lot of people have watched it in.

Favourite Game – Dorfromantik.

This is a game that Dane introduced me to fairly recently and since then when I need a moment to relax and not think about stuff for a while, I pop this on. Dorfromantik is a game where you need to build a town/village with puzzle style pieces. Pieces will differ, whether they be pieces of river, railway track, farm, trees and homes. You need to pop pieces in certain places to make up targets, such as fifty trees altogether, or ten homes, etc. It’s such a relaxing game and I really do love to play it!

Just a few of my favourite things…

Black Milk Clothing Ghouls Night In photoshoot with Dane.

I want to say a massive thank you to Dane for doing the mini photoshoot on Halloween for my last blog post, which was all about Black Milk Clothing and their Ghouls Night In collection for Halloween. I was sick the week of Halloween with flu, as was Dane so we both felt a little sorry for ourselves. My original plans for the photoshoot I wanted to do was to venture out into the area(s) nearby and take photos in autumnal weather… Because why not! Alas, due to how we were feeling, those plans didn’t go ahead. Instead Dane suggested we grab some Halloween themed props and take photos in our office. We were able to change our smart bulb to various different colours to make the photos look better and personally, I feel like they came out amazing! I’ve received so many lovely compliments and comments in regards to the photos, which has made me so happy! I can’t wait to do more fun photoshoots in the future! You can read all about the Halloween collection here.

Rae Dunn boo ghost candle.

I fell in love with some of the Halloween merchandise offerings that TK Maxx brought out this year, including the massive DW Home ghost candle I bought in September (you can see it in my September favourites here). I’ve been on the hunt for the Rae Dunn boo ghost candle for the same amount of time and in October I found one at a decent price on eBay, so I ended up snagging one. I started burning it on Halloween and it has a lovely toasted marshmallow scent to it, but it isn’t very strong… Which is a shame. I mostly wanted it for the jar though, which I’m probably going to use for fake flowers. 😛

Halloween nails!

Guys you know me by now (well, I hope anyway!), I bloody love Halloween! Last yeah my Halloween nails were ON POINT and gave Beetlejuice vibes. This year I decided to go for orange and black and white stripes instead after getting some major inspiration from Pinterest. I wasn’t going to bother getting the stripes as I hadn’t booked in the extra time with my nail technician and instead I was going to get white with black glitter. However, my nail tech being the amazing person she is did it anyway and at no extra charge! She is such a star and I honestly always look forward to my nail appointments. I’m currently rocking glittery purple and green nails… Halloween isn’t done for me yet. 😛

BarleyBlossom Glow In The Dark Animal Crossing Halloween Timmy & Tommy T-Shirt.

Finally, I wanted to show you guys the Halloween Animal Crossing t-shirt I bought by BarleyBlossom. I wore this t-shirt on Halloween, as well as earlier in the week and it’s SO BLOODY COMFY! As you can see, Timmy and Tommy are dressed up as ghosts for Halloween. The white fabric glows in the dark, so when in a dark room the Nook brothers look spooky as fuck! I was planning to write a blog post all about my purchase, but when I was due to, BarelyBlossom was taking the Halloween goods down from the store, so unfortunately I didn’t see the point in sharing the item at the time if no one could buy. 😦 This being said, at the time of writing this (4th November) BarelyBlossom has listed two Molly pieces (t-shirt and sweater) where she is dressed up as a bat, so make sure to go and check it out!

So, there we have it guys! All my favourites from October! Honestly it really did go by quickly and I partially hope November doesn’t go as quickly. I’m not ready for Christmas yet… xD

How was October for you guys? What were your favourites from the month? PLUS are you all playing Animal Crossing now? 😛 Make sure to let me know in the comments below.

Until next time guys, take care and see you soon!

August Favourites ’21

I cannot believe it’s September now, my favourite month of the year. September is a month I’m really excited for, but also very anxious and a little sad about too.

August is a month I couldn’t wait to see the back of as it wasn’t exactly great, especially for my mental health, but at the same time I had a really lovey time running up to the end of it. Me and my best friend went out for one of the days over bank holiday and it was so lovely. I’ll be talking about it more later on in the favourites.

September though… It’s always been my favourite month of the year due to feeling of a fresh start (due to education), as well as my favourite season of autumn starting. However, since last year September also carries some sadness I don’t want to discuss on my blog, as well as some big anxieties in the weeks leading up.

This all being said, me and Dane will be off holiday from work together and we’re planning to just chill out together and have lots of cuddles and chilled days. I honestly cannot wait for some time off of work to just do nothing and relax.

I’m sorry to start off this months favourites with a bit of a miserable topic, but I just wanted to be honest here. I’m incredibly worn out, even after bank holiday. xD

Favourite Beauty Product  – Boots Extracts Marshmallow & Peppermint Body Butter.

Not going to lie, this is actually an old product from many years ago that I only recently opened. I’d bought it as part of a gift set I bought back in 2016 and decided to finally crack open the body butter to use as a hand and foot butter. On my hands this just did not agree with my dermatitis due to the scent and ingredients, however, used as a foot butter it’s been a dream to use. I put a very generous amount on before socks in the morning which results in my feet looking and feeling lovely and smooth by the end of the day. It also has a gorgeous creamy peppermint scent too, which I adore. I’ll be honest, I don’t know if you’re supposed to use products past their sell by date… I think with beauty products it’s from when they’re opened you have the use by date. Of course, if you aren’t sure it might always be best to throw the product away.

Favourite Film – Us.

This is a film I’ve been wanting to watch since it came out in 2019, but we just never managed to. We planned to go to the cinema to watch it but never did and I’m really glad we didn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed the film but without saying too much, I guessed the twist of the film around thirty minutes in, which was a little disappointing. That being said, the overall plot of the film is really good and you’re definitely on the edge of your seat wondering what’s going to happen next.

Favourite TV Show – Centaurworld.

This is a new Netflix series that came out to the UK at the end of July. Dane thought it looked batshit crazy so he decided to pop it on for us to watch. We LOVED it and binge watched it in a few days. We follow Horse as she finds herself transported to Centaurworld during a battle with her owner. Horse discovers a group of centaur friends, who soon help Horse to try and find her way home. There’s singing involved too, as this is a musical show. It reminds me of Adventure Time crossed with Disney films. Give it a watch if you haven’t done so already!

Favourite Music – Unprocessed – “Candyland”

Unprocessed are a progressive metal band that Dane introduced me to recently with “Deadrose”. As I really love this song, Dane played me one of their newer songs to see what I thought of it. “Candyland” has fast turned into one of my favourite songs to listen to lately. Their music style seems to have changed a little when you hear “Deadrose” before or after “Candyland”. I really love them and I’m going to be checking out more of their stuff in September!

Image taken from Waterstones.

Favourite Book – The Sad Ghost Club.

Yes guys, I read a book this month! Don’t act too shocked, please. 😛 I bought The Sad Ghost Club back in January this year and I thought I’d read it, instead I placed it in our office and… Never touched it. As I found out a second book is due to come out in January 2022 (I’ve already pre ordered it too…) I decided it was time to finally dig the book out and give it a read! It’s actually a comic more so than a book, where we follow Sad Ghost and their struggles with their mental health, including social anxiety, worries about education and even going to a party. The comic itself is really sad at times, but at the same time makes you feel less alone. My mental health hasn’t been very good the past couple of months and reading The Sad Ghost Club really did help me feel less lonely.

Image taken from Tenor.

Favourite Game – State of Decay 2.

Recently Dane has really gotten back into State of Decay 2 again and as some of friends have also wanted to play it, I thought I’d jump on and play it too. State of Decay 2 is a zombie game where you need to build up your base, all whilst gathering resources, getting people to come and join your base, as well as killing zombies. It’s a really simple game to play and really nice and chilled to play with friends! I highly recommend it, I really do love it and the zombies don’t come across as too scary either, which is always good! 🙂

Just a few of my favourite things…

Loungefly bags, old and new!

I didn’t quite realise I received two new Loungefly bags in August, as well as decided to finally cut the tags off of one I bought at the start of 2021! The Pikachu wallet chain bag and the Baymax backpack are my new bags, whilst Meeko is one I bought via a Facebook group (and now one of my Instagram friends!) in January.

I was after a new shoulder bag so decided to pick up the Pikachu bag, however the images that Loungefly have out there are so fucking misleading and make the bag look bigger than it actually is. This being said, it’s the perfect bag for quickly going out to run errands as well as nights out. I’ve used it quite a few times throughout August and it’s a really good bag for if you don’t need to carry much, but still do need a bag.

Alongside that I also decided to purchase the Baymax backpack very last minute. The day the Baymax cosplay backpack and wallet went on sale on the Funko Europe website, I just fell in love with it and had to buy it. I didn’t need it, but I have ZERO REGRETS. I used it over the bank holiday and it’s such an adorable bag! I felt so cute using it around town during mine and my best friends mini bar/pub crawl and I honestly cannot wait to start using it more. I regret not getting the matching wallet for it, so I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled on trying to get it at a decent price in the future.

Finally my Meeko backpack. This is a bag I was after for MONTHS before I finally snagged it via a Loungefly Facebook group. I also got the matching purse, but this is something I’m yet to use. Little story behind how I “missed out” on this bag. I was told by a Forbidden Planet store when the bag was due to come out that they would take my details and pop a bag to one side for me. They didn’t want any money for the bag to be put down as a pre order just in case they never got the bag in stock. This being said, they assured me they WERE going to get the bag in stock. Alas they never and they didn’t even bother to reach out to me to let me know. It was kind of obvious I wouldn’t be getting it and I was gutted. This being said, I have it now and I do really love it! I used it for the first time whilst out for my best friends 30th birthday and it is so comfortable and cute! It feels soft and isn’t a sturdy bag due to this, but this being said, I really love this aspect of the backpack.

I’m hoping to write a post all about my Loungefly collection in the future. If this is something you’re interested in, please let me know! I’d also love to do a YouTube video showing off my collection too, but I’m so anxious about doing YouTube… :’)

Some of my favourite gel nails.

As many of my readers will know, I do love getting my nails done and it’s actually been a really positive change in my life in regards to my anxiety. Before I started getting my nails done I would cute them so short they would bleed. They’re not incredibly healthy, grow quickly, don’t break and it’s stopped me from cutting them short, as well as chewing them when nervous.

My reason for especially posting my nails this month as this set has been one of my favourites to date. The colour shares its name with my gran and is such a beautiful colour to boot. I’m actually getting my gels redone tomorrow and I’m a little sad as I honestly love this set. They’ve lasted so well and they just make me happy to look at. I don’t have a bloody clue what new set I’m going to get yet. xD

Dog sitting again.

Me and Dane dog sat Eddie again for a couple of days and we loved it. If you read my favourites from July, you will have seen that me and Dane had Eddie at ours for a week and we loved every moment of it! We didn’t have him for as long but it was nice to have him around for cuddles, fuss, playtime and walks were lovely to do with him too. I wanted to share this adorable photo of him that I took during my lunch break. He was having a lovely snooze and I felt so guilty when I had to return back to my desk and wake him up.

Claire Likes To Doodle‘s Bernard takes over Birmingham Cass Art!

First of all I want to say how fucking proud I am of Claire, she has come so far in such a short period of time with her art and it’s just growing more and more as the years go by. Over the bank holiday (Saturday) Claire posted on her Instagram page how she was doing something exciting in the Cass Art in Birmingham city centre. I kept my eye on her Instagram stories and she revealed she was actually drawing one of her Bernard’s on the window of Cass Art! I watched the process of it throughout the morning and as me and my best friend would be in town that day, we made sure to take a diversion over to Cass Art to go and take a look, as well as take some photos!

I wanted to show this off and share with you guys, as well as say if you’re in Birmingham and see Claire’s Bernard in the window of Cass Art, make sure to take a photo, post on your Instagram stories and tag Claire’s Instagram page (linked above under the photo) as I know for a fact she would love that! 😀

There we have it then guys, those are my favourites from August! August was a very strange month for me and I feel like September is going to be a nice month, but a very anxious one too.

What were your favourites from August? Also, what are you looking forward to about September? Make sure to let me know in the comments below.

Until next time guys, I hope you’ve had a great start to September and here’s to spooky season finally beginning! 😛

May Favourites ‘21

I honestly can’t believe it’s going to be June in just a few days time… It’s really crazy how quickly 2021 is flying by and I don’t know how I feel about it. 😛

The start of June is going to be hella busy with me, with both mine and Dane’s eight year anniversary, as well as our five year anniversary in our home too! Alongside that my best friend is getting married, which is really exciting! I honestly can’t wait for it.

Aside from that I’m not 100% sure what else June is going to bring… Hopefully some better weather to be honest! I’m always a spring and autumn girl for the cooler weather, but it would be nice to have some decent weather so both me and Dane can go into the garden to do it up, have a BBQ and more. Plus, I have some pretty dresses that need to be worn and right now it’s too miserable and cold to do that. 😛

June is also the month that I need to go on a serious spending ban as I’ve spent quite a lot of money lately and yeah… I bought myself some cool accessories for my desk, as well as LOADS of Pokemon Nendoroid figures too! I would share some of these later on in this post but I’m contemplating having a post for it because… Why not! 😀 My new desk accessories are too kawaii not to share on their own.

Hint – they’re Razer x Sanrio themed… 😉

May I finally add how gutted I am that I won’t be seeing My Chemical Romance in June… It’s been postponed until May 2022 now… I’m happy to wait but, I am gutted. 😦

Anyhoo on a lighter note – let’s get on with this months favourites!

Beauty.

• SBC Propolis Shampoo – (link).

This is a shampoo I started using a good couple of weeks ago now and I LOVE it! It’s one my mom gave to me as she bought one too many and as we’re both fans of SBC, she thought I’d love it. Well, she wasn’t wrong. 😛 This shampoo smells like honey, both in the bottle, whilst using and after drying your hair too. It lathers up really nice and a little bit goes a long way, which is always good for my hair considering how much there is of it. It leaves my hair feeling soft to the touch, thick and without any frizz. It’s honestly been a bit of a gamechanger to my hair care and after it’s finished, I think I’ll buy it again! It’s actually a shampoo for scalp care and personally I have found my scalp isn’t as dry as it has been in the past, which is always good!

So… Now it’s time to talk about the miscellaneous favourites of the month! If there isn’t anything I’ve done I’m not going to mention.

Image taken from GIPHY

Image taken from GIPHY

Favourite TV Shows – Taskmaster and Line of Duty.

This month instead of a movie AND a TV show, I’ll be talking about two TV shows, as quite frankly me and Dane have been addicted to both of these in May and I know we’ll be obsessed about them in June too! We’ve been binge watching both of these TV shows recently and have fallen in love with them! Not going to lie, Line of Duty hasn’t been continued recently as we’ve been binge watching Taskmaster.

Line of Duty finished it’s sixth series recently and I decided that I wanted to watch the show from the beginning. I know loads of people who watch and love it and as I had nothing to watch I thought, why not? Dane started watching it with me too and we’ve both become hooked on the show. We’re currently on series four and DAMN so much has happened leading up to the episode and series we’re currently on. The show is about AC 12, a group of anti-corruption police with Steve, Kate and their boss Superintendent Hastings being the main characters. We follow them as they investigate “bent coppers” and sit on the edge of our seats as they do so. The show is amazing and I’ve been recommending everyone I know to watch it. As I said, we do need to continue watching it. You can watch for free on BBC iPlayer.

As I mentioned before, we’ve also been binge watching Taskmaster. I remember being told years ago when it first started to watch it and how funny it was. At the time it didn’t appeal to me and I thought it sounded crap, oh how wrong I was. We’re currently on series five of the show and hoping to get through the rest of the series before my free two week All 4+ subscription runs out. 😛 It’s such a good show to put on whilst we’re chilling out together, especially whilst eating dinner, doing work in the office, in the morning before work, etc. I highly recommend Taskmaster if you want something new to watch and want a laugh at the same time. A funny story to share, we went for a food shop over the weekend and we both occasionally commented on items used in challenges and how we would use them and such. Such geeks, right? 😛

Favourite Music – Tremonti – “Take You with Me” and Boston Manor – “Liquid”.

These two songs have popped up on my YouTube Music playlist this month and you know when you hear a song again and you forgot just how much you loved it? Yep, that. 😛 I have quite a few Tremonti and Boston Manor songs on my playlist and I often love hearing them come on and have a good sing, especially if they come on whilst I’m driving. I don’t really know what to say about these, aside from check them out and see what you think! Tremonti are heavy metal and Boston Manor are rock.

Image taken from Nintendo UK

Favourite Game – Miitopia.

Miitopia is a game that came out back in 2017 on the 3DS and it’s one both me and Dane owned and played to death! Now we play our Switch’s, we don’t touch our 2DS handhelds anymore, so when Nintendo announced that Miitopia would be coming out on the Switch I decided to order a copy for both me and Dane so we could play it all over again! The Switch version has some additional features, including better customisation for characters, as well as being able to have a horse in your party, which is pretty cool. I’ve been playing it none stop the past week as it’s such an easy and laid back game to play. To describe the game – a bad guy turns up and starts stealing people’s faces. You need to travel the land, fighting the creatures who have people’s faces. It’s a laid back and fun game and it’s one I thoroughly enjoy. There is a demo of this you can get from the Nintendo eShop but I highly recommend if you’re in the UK and want to purchase a copy, get it from Gamersheek! They have the best prices around. 🙂

Quite a few of my favourite things…

Animal Crossing and friends!

If there is one thing I have loved doing in May, it’s travelling to my friends islands on Animal Crossing to have island tours, meeting their villagers and exchange goodies! I especially love that my friend Sarah (Raiin Monkey) has finally got her own island to decorate and make her own. I went on a long tour recently and we took so many cute pictures, including the one above! This photo with her favourite villager Lily is PERFECT and I just had to show it off to you guys! If you love Animal Crossing content then make sure to go and check out my friend Sarah, she has an Animal Crossing Instagram account – acnh_kireishima.

Cross stitch.

If there is one thing I recently rediscovered it’s cross stitch. My mom got me into it from a young age and on and off over the years it’s a hobby I’ve done. I feel though since COVID I’ve done more cross stitching more than ever, especially the past month. I’d finished my Cookie cross stitch kit last month and had decided to buy some more in April/May, these being Lucky and Bones. Bones is almost finished and as soon as he’s finished, I’ll be working on Lucky. Then when Lucky is finished I’ll be ordering Cherry, Goldie and Shep. These Animal Crossing cross stitch kits are from DIY Crossing, who creates and makes some AMAZING Animal Crossing goods. Make sure to go and check them out if you’re interested. 🙂

Commissions.

If there is one thing I like getting, it’s commissions. Not only do you support a small artist/business owner but you’re getting something unique and hella cute out of it! I commissioned quite a lot of of people in May and I have ZERO REGRETS!

First commission – Claire Likes To Doodle. Claire recently opened up for people to commission her to draw her original character design Bernard to be cosplaying/dressed up as whatever you want! I decided to go for a Bernard dressed as an Eevee and holding a sign advertising my Twitch channel! It’s so cute and adorable. I have it on my Twitch, as well as on the right hand side of my blog, which you may have already seen as you read this post. 😛 I’ve spoken about Claire and her amazing store on my blog in the past which you can read here and here.

Second commission – mellencrossing. I’d noticed Mel’s work around Instagram and fell in love. The style of her work was so cute and the variety was even cuter! Mel does various styles including full body and a plushie villager, full body and two plushie villagers and two full bodies which is what I went for! The turn around was super quick and Mel was really easy to work with. I told her I wanted me and Cookie playing Switch’s together and for Cookie to be wearing the dreamy sweater. I also sent a photo of me wearing my Bee and Puppycat dress. Mel sent me the commission once it was finished and asked if I wanted to make any changes. I altered Cookie’s mouth from the usual smile to a massive smile. I love the commission so much and plan to print it off to pop above my desk. I’m planning on getting another one or two commissions from her in the future, but instead full body of me with two plushies instead. The one thing I want to mention is how fair Mel’s prices are for how amazing her work is. 🙂

Third commission – lunaquete. Finally I’ll be talking about Leony and her ADORABLE Animal Crossing designs. Leony is quite well known in the Animal Crossing community for her Pantone x Animal Crossing artwork and it’s also how I discovered her. I decided to commission her to draw me a Twitter header with my blog name on, as well as some of my favourite villagers including, Lucky, Marshal, Cookie, Eunice and Bones. It’s such a pretty commission and like Mel’s commission, I’m planning on printing this off to pop on the wall above my desk! I highly recommend checking out Leony’s work if you love Animal Crossing. If/when I hit affiliate on Twitch, I’m contemplating commissioning her to draw me some emoticons. 🙂

Cookie amigurumi.

I HAVE BEEN SO EXCITED TO SHARE THIS CUTIE!!! Back at the start of 2021 I discovered cotswoldscrochet through Instagram and when I found out she was going to open her commission slots for amigurumi, I was ON IT as soon as I could! As Cookie is my favourite villager, I decided to get a huge Cookie amigurumi made to display with my Pokemon plushies. Harriet was amazing when it came down to making Cookie, she asked me loads of questions of what I wanted and how I wanted her to be, showed me the colour of the wool before starting her and more. Harriet faced a few issues when it came to creating Cookie’s head as this was her first dog villager and more. I was happy to wait though for Harriet to work on Cookie a little more to get her perfect for me. Harriet was amazing and finally a couple of weeks ago Cookie arrived and she’s now comfortably at home with my Pokemon plushies. 🙂 I’ll be writing a HUGE review about cotswoldscrochet in June, so make sure to keep eyes peeled for that! Harriet’s commissions are closed but you can check out her Etsy store.

Homemade enamel pin hoops.

I need to add here in case anyone asks – NONE OF THE PINS ON MY ENAMEL HOOPS ARE FOR SALE. IF YOU ASK YOUR COMMENT WILL BE DELETED.

I decided in May that I was going to make my own enamel pin hoops. I’d wanted to buy some for a while but to be honest, the prices people charge for them on Etsy are a JOKE. I saw someone asking £10+ for one that was smaller than the ones I made. For two twelve inch hoops and two different types of fabric I spent £16. The amount of fabric I bought could make 8 twelve inch hoops too… Anyhoo! I decided to make my own as it seemed reasonable (price wise) and fun to do. I picked up the pin hoops and fabric from Hobbycraft whilst going bridesmaid shopping with my best friend and her bridesmaids. Making these was pretty simple and it took me max about an hour to do including popping the fabric into the hoops, cutting down to size and using a glue gun to stick the stray fabric to the hoop itself… I hope this makes sense. 😛

I decided to have one enamel pin hoop dedicated to all the Quirkory enamel pins I own currently. As and when I get more they’ll be added to the hoop. I would happily buy another hoop to create a second Quirkory hoop too! If you like the look of Quirkory’s designs, make sure to use my unique discount code on their Etsy store to snag yourself 10% off your order – “TMBQUIRKORY”. Also make sure to check our their currently Kickstarter campaign about Souls Of Nature. I’ve backed for some enamel pins and one of the deskmats.

I also decided to have a pin flag dedicated to all my Pokemon enamel pins. Aside from Quirkory, Pokemon designs take up the majority of my collection, with Animal Crossing and Ghibli hardly having any, which surprised me! I have more Pokemon enamel pins coming in the future after I backed Nyanzilla’s Eeveelution Kickstarter… I’ll be showing those off when they arrive. 😛 If you’re wondering who any of the enamel pins are by on this hoop, please ask.

Razer x Sanrio Characters mouse and keyboard.

Finally I want to show off something that arrived for bank holiday weekend! I recently ordered the Razer x Sanrio Characters mouse and keyboard from YY Kawaii and I HAVE NO REGRETS. As regular readers will know, back in March/April Dane decided to buy me my own desk for both working from home, as well as for my streaming on Twitch, playing games and working on my blog work. I wanted to have my desk be as cute as possible, so I decided to order the Razer x Sanrio goodies. You cannot get any cuter than this! Over the bank holiday

I’ve been using the mouse mostly (using at the moment!) which is perfect! It also came with the mouse mat seen in the photo which is adorable. It makes me so happy to look at. The design on the mouse is so sweet and not too OTT which is always good. I’ve also been using the keyboard on and off but I’ll be honest, it’s so fucking loud. I knew it would be due to the type of switches inside but yeah… I didn’t think it would be THAT loud. I’ve bought some stuff to try and help quieten the noise down a little. Aside from that, the keyboard is just as cute as the mouse and I cannot wait to use it more in the future for writing blog posts and maybe for work too.

What do you guys think of this months favourites? May has honestly flown by and I seriously can’t believe it’s June already. I know the first couple of weeks of June are going to fly by, which saddens me.

I’m just excited for June. I feel like I’m starting to sort of get back to normal. We’ve visited some friends, sat in the house with my parents to have a roast dinner, planning to go the cinema and planning to go for food and drinks. I can’t wait for the world to get more and more back to “normal” as the year goes on.

What were your favourites from May? Make sure to let me know in the comments. 🙂

Until next time all, I hope you enjoy the rest of your bank holiday as well as the gorgeous weather!

April Favourites ‘21

How is it May already? I can’t believe how quick 2021 is going and it’s making me feel old in a way! At the same time, as much as I’ve enjoyed April it’s been bloody cold this week. We are meant to be in spring, I need me some sunshine and warmer weather now.

I think the most I’m excited about for May is some pre-ordered goodies I have arriving, making my new desk look cute as fuck and playing lots of New Pokemon Snap.

April has been such a strange month. It’s the month I really started to get into Twitch and I even bought a brand new Animal Crossing edition Switch, which I LOVE. You can read more about that here. I’m excited for the future of my Twitch channel and by the end of May I hope to have made affiliate.

For the time being however, I’m going to get cracking with my favourites and what I loved in April.

Beauty.

• Bodyform Intimawear Period Underwear – (link).

I know this isn’t a typical beauty product to talk about but I REALLY wanted to share these period underwear this month after trying them in April. Three words – They are amazing and I’ll never look back. I’d been thinking about buying reusable pads for a while now, but was feeling a bit lost of where to look, start, etc. Whilst doing my monthly shop at the end of March I found these in Tesco on offer and decided to pick up a pack. I gave them a go on day two of my period and they were amazing. I could tell I had them on at first, but the longer I wore them the more I got used to and comfortable with wearing them. I felt anxious throughout the day but at the same time I felt confident of no leaks. I wore them to bed and woke up with no issues… If you know what I mean. 😉

From memory they last 50 washes and are as easy to wash as they are to wear. You rinse them with cold water until the water runs clear and then throw into the washing machine. Simple! I clean them with cold water when I jump into the shower in the morning, run under the cold tap and when I’m out of the shower I throw them into the machine.

There are loads of brands you can buy and try, my reason for picking the Bodyform underwear up is the price I snagged them for and more. Again, I highly recommend these, they’re amazing!

So… Now it’s time to talk about the miscellaneous favourites of the month! If there isn’t anything I’ve done I’m not going to mention.

Favourite Movie – Midsommar.

This is a film I’ve seen a few times now and recently I had the urge to watch it again. It’s a horror film by Ari Aster (also directed Hereditary) who has seemingly come out of nowhere. Aster’s horror films are eerie and will leave you with questions and an unfamiliar feeling, which is exactly what Midsommar did to me. Midsommar is a film about a group of friends who travel to Sweden to visit their friends home. A festival is taking place during their stay and they end up finding themselves in part of a cult that they aren’t 100% sure about. Amongst the group of friends there is also a couple whose relationship is being held together by a tragedy that occurred years prior. The film is overall just eerie and the things that happen are strange and odd to say the least. I’ve watched so many videos analysing the film, which is what fuelled me to watch it again. Watching it for a second time has really opened my eyes to the film and if you don’t get upset easily (there are a lot of sensitive subjects such as suicide and gore) I highly recommend watching it!

Favourite TV Show – Invincible.

This is a new TV show I’ve literally finished just before writing my favourites and I LOVED it! It was a recommendation from my colleagues and when I mentioned it to Dane we decided to start watching it that evening. It’s based off of a comic book of the same name and is about Mark, son of superhero Omni-Man, who eventually becomes superhero Invincible. We see Mark juggling being a superhero and trying to finish high school. There’s more to the story, but I don’t want to worry whatever I share may spoil. I highly recommend watching! This is an Amazon Prime Video exclusive show by the way.

Favourite Song – Lil Nas X – “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)”.

This song. I don’t feel like I need to write anything about it because I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like this song at the moment. I kept hearing this song on a Logitech advert on Twitch and I started to really like it, so Googled. This song came up on YouTube and it has literally JUST come out. I fell in love with it and I’ve not been able to stop listening to it since. I play it at least once a day in the week whilst working and maybe once or twice throughout the weekend. It’s blowing up the internet though and before hearing this song I’d never heard of Lil Nas X before. Now I’m quite excited for his new album to drop this year. I don’t know if it’ll be my sort of music, but I’ll definitely check it out.

Image taken from Twitter

Favourite Game – Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX.

I’ve owned the remake of the original Pokemon mystery dungeon games since it came out at the start of March 2020, but I’d only played it for a short amount of time before Animal Crossing came out. Why? Because I got bloody stuck and gave up on it. At the start of April I decided to start streaming me playing it on Twitch and it’s been really fun. I decided to restart the game as I hadn’t played a lot anyway when I got stuck. So far it’s going okay, but I’m yet to get to the point I was stuck at before… I just forgot how much I like this game and it’s one I can see me playing outside of stream in the future. I highly recommend picking it up to play if you’ve never played the mystery dungeon games before, or if you want the nostalgia from the games back in the day!

Just a few of my favourite things.

Gel Nails.

As the salons were able to open back up in April I was booked in to get my nails done and it was WELL overdue! I decided to go for a duck egg blue colour with glitter. They’re still lasting now and I do love them. If there’s one thing I have really missed during the second and third lockdowns it’s getting my nails done. I feel like every three weeks it’s my time to get pampered, not have to do or think about much for an hour and I can just have a good natter with my nail technician. I’ve been going to her for over a year now, but due to COVID I’ve only had my nails done by her sixteen times, which isn’t as many as it should have been by now. I’m already excited to get a new set of gels done next week, but I do not have a clue what I’m going to get yet! maybe something pastel for spring? 😛

New Desk.

Me and Dane decided in April that it was time for me to get my own desk in our office. I’ve wanted my own space for a while to work at for both work and personal. I’ve had a few of my items dotted on Dane’s desk but I have to always move them at the end of the working day and put them back at the start and the same happened with my work laptop too. I’d put it away at the end of the day and set it up at the start. The desk Dane bought me wasn’t the one I’d thought he was ordering, so I was worried at first that it would be too small. However, this being said we’ve made it work and I’ve had it and been working at it for a week now. It’s amazing! I got my office chair from work so I didn’t need to buy a new one (although I may eventually) and we already had an old monitor that I could use. All that was left to do was decorate the desk and the area really!

As you can see from the above photo I have started to make it my own with my Danbo Nendoroid, Smoko ramen cup lamp, a Tokidoki plush and fox coaster that my friend Sarah (Raiin Monkey) sent to me, my raccoon planter from Tesco and finally my Razer quartz headset and headset stand. I have a lot more work to do to my desk including making use of the white space above the desk and more. I’ll be showing it off more in my monthly favourites I’m sure!

Pokemon and Disney purchases.

I made some cute purchases during April and they’re all featuring towards the end of my monthly favourites. The first group I want to talk about are Pokemon and Disney themed.

I picked up this Loungefly bag second hand from someone via a Loungefly Facebook group (who I’ve since befriended) and I’ve been using it since. After I discovered this bag existed at the start of the year it fast became one of my holy grain and sought after bags. One weekend around February I searched all over for this and could only find it for around $200-$400 which I was NOT willing to pay. I gave up on the search eventually and had the frame of mind, “If it turns up at a decent price… So be it…” so when I saw it for a decent price, I snatched it up! I love it so much. The first shopping trip I wore it out I heard people commenting on it which was awesome. It’s my go to bag at the moment and one I’ll definitely use when I return back to working in the office. I have taken it into a work a few times now, which is good. Would you guys like to see a blog post about my Loungefly bags? I have one coming soon and I’ve bought a couple of new ones in 2021 so yes, let me know!

I picked up some Disney goodies from Fox Leap and alongside the two items I bought, Sophie sent me LOADS of extra goodies too which made me smile! She’s such an amazing seller and lovely person to talk to. I decided to finally pick up the Angel enamel pin and Lady and the Tramp print that I’ve had saved in my favourites on Etsy for the longest time. As regular readers will know, Lady and the Tramp is my favourite Disney film and I have fond memories of the sequel when it came out too. Alongside my purchases I also received a Scar print (which I’d been eyeing up for a while), Fennekin enamel pin, Bambi and Faline enamel pin, an Angel sticker and some Disney horse stickers. I don’t feel like I can thank Sophie enough for sending me so many lovely extras.

I’m giving Sophie a bit of a plug here (because she bloody deserves it!) but if you like watching streamers, make sure to check out her Twitch channel. Sophie’s streams are great to relax to and she’s even come to mine before, which is always lovely and supportive. I’m also part of her Discord which is so friendly. 🙂 I’m looking to join her Patreon in the near future.

Finally I ordered the Nickit plush from the Pokemon Center via YY Kawaii and it arrived in April. Nickit was my favourite Pokemon in Sword and Shield and as soon as I could catch one in the game, it stayed in my party for as long as possible! This plush is bigger than I thought it was going to be, which was great! It now lives on my plushie cabinet alongside my Dragonite, Eevee, Morgana and more. It’s just a nice plush to add to my collection. Don’t forget by the way that if you would like to save 10% off of the YY Kawaii website, make sure to use the code YYCOFFEE10 – which is my brand affiliate code with YY Kawaii!

Animal Crossing Cookie.

April appears to have been a month where I have been slightly obsessed with Cookie from Animal Crossing. Why? I don’t know but I’ve either bought items, received items or found and finished things with her featured.

As you may have seen from my last blog post, my Quirkory pre-order arrived for some Animal Crossing enamel pins, one of the pins was Cookie. It’s such an adorable enamel pin and it’s by far one of my favourites in my collection now! If you want to read a bit more about this enamel pin AND the latest Animal Crossing collection from Quirkory please make sure to check out the latest post all about it. 🙂 If you like the look of the Cookie enamel pin and would like to save 10% off of Quirkory’s store then make sure to use the code TMBQUIRKORY!

Alongside the enamel pin arriving, I decided to finally order myself something from Nooks Needles Co as I’d wanted to for a while. I noticed the store had started to stock Cookie designs, so I decided to reach out to potentially buy a custom order. I wanted Cookie on a light purple sweater, but I wanted the image of Cookie to be larger and in the middle of the chest area of the sweater, instead of smaller and on the left hand side of the chest. Laur the person behind Nooks Needles Co was happy to oblige and ordered a sweater in shade orchid for me. It arrived over a week later and I’ve worn it loads so far, as you’ll see from the image above, as well as my new picture on my blog too. I’m looking to review this store and sweater in the future, so please keep eyes peeled for this in May/June. 😉

Finally I want to share this Cookie cross stitch I FINALLY finished after owning it since March 2020. I don’t know why it took so long as it was practically finished when I picked it up again towards the end of this month. This cross stitch kit is from diyCrossing and although I bought this last year, they still have plenty of cross stitch kits available to buy! They’re really easy to follow, whether you’re new to cross stitch or not. I’ve been cross stitching since I was about ten why my mom first got me into it, so to be able to do this kit of a villager I adore, it’s been lovely. I’ve since ordered two more, Lucky and Bones, two more of my favourite villagers. I plan to buy and work on all the dog cross stitch kits from diyCrossing in the future and display them.

There we have it guys, those are my favourites from April! As I said at the start of the post, I can’t quite believe it’s May already! I don’t know what May brings, but I feel like it’s going to be good. I have some time off work in June so I feel May is going to be a month of planning what me and Dane are going to do.

What were your favourites from April? What do you think of my favourites? Make sure to let me know in the comments below!

Until next time guys, take care and have a lovely bank holiday weekend!

March Favourites ‘21

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anyhoo, on with my favourites from March!

Beauty.

• Lacura Glow Rose Tonic.

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

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

Image taken from GIPHY

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

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

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

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

Image taken from GIPHY

Favourite Game – Persona 5: Strikers.

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

Just a few of my favourite things.

Gardening.

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

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

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

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

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

Animal Crossing commission by sunny_acnh.

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

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

A new journey through Twitch.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

February Favourites ‘21

Can you guys believe it’s March tomorrow? I can’t. February went by really quickly and you know what, I’m not complaining about that. I’m going to be honest, February was a shit month for me and I’m really glad to see the back of it. My mental health was really tested for three weeks solid and there was a time where I was in a really low place. To be honest at the time of writing this (Thursday 25th) I still have a couple of days left of the month to go, so fingers crossed the rest of the month treats me well!

I just want to be honest with you guys. The first week I felt numb and empty and it was mostly PMS related but I started to think about life before lockdown, COVID and my parents. I really miss them. The first thing I’m planning to do when lockdown is over and it’s safe to do so is see my parents. I was also starting to think about how I miss my aunt who passed away in September. I think about her almost daily and yeah. It’s shit.

The second week I can’t talk about too much. My mental health was just bad, I was a nervous wreck and I just couldn’t stop crying some days. Just to get this out there, I’m okay now and these feelings have now passed… Thank fuck.

The third week (well this week really…) things just didn’t seem to go right. Dane was told to self isolate at the end of the second week, we’ve had some issues in the house and we’ve been irritable and miserable as fuck. Thankfully we’re both feeling a lot better now.

I just wanted to get that off of my chest. Just because I appear happy and cheerful on my blog and social media, it doesn’t always mean I am and the same goes to everyone. I’m quite good at putting an act on when the time comes. It’s something I’ve had to do my whole life in regards to my mental health.

I also want to say a massive thanks to the handful of friends who have been there for me this month when things were rough. I miss and love you all. :’)

Besides me feeling like shit, February was also a month where I decided to go on a spending ban. I’d been very spend happy in January and due to it being a long month (payday wise) I was kinda skint. The February spending ban went pretty well… Until shitty week two out of three where I ended up treating myself to some Black Milk Clothing pieces… Oops. 😛 Aside from that, the spending ban went really well and it’s actually inspired others to go on a spending ban with me too! I’m already planning to do it again in March AND people will be joining me for that!

Of course if you’re interested to follow along, or maybe even join yourself I’ll pop the template I’ve created for March above. I’ve been posting daily to weekly updates on my Instagram page (theremightbecoffeeblog) stories. Come and join in!

Anyhoo, enough of me waffling on about spending bans and more, let’s talk about my favourites from February. It may have been a crap month but I loved so much stuff and have been excited to share it with you all!

Beauty

• The Body Shop Strawberry Shower Gel.

I’ve spoken about this shower gel from The Body Shop many times and I really do love it. I tell this story every time I talk about this shower gel, which I’m sure everyone is bored of now. 😛 Basically my mom used to always buy me a bottle of this shower gel whenever we visited The Body Shop (once every few months or so?) so whenever I use it, it reminds me of when I was younger. I had a £5 birthday voucher and I didn’t want to worry I lost it, so bought myself a MASSIVE bottle of the strawberry shower gel. It’s something Dane loves just as much as I do so it works out nicely. I’ve been using it loads this month and not only does it smell amazing, but it has left my skin feeling lovely and soft too. 🙂

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

Favourite TV Show – Attack on Titan Final Season.

It saddens me to say that we are on the final season of Attack on Titan, it only feels like yesterday that me and Dane were watching it for the first time (we’d travelled to Bristol for a long weekend for our first anniversary)… That was almost seven years ago! I love the show and I for one am sad to see it come to an end. So far this final season has been AMAZING and it’s something me and Dane have either watched Sunday night before bed, or Monday morning before work. I don’t want to say too much due to spoilers but it’s amazing and very “WHAT IS HAPPENING!” Moments throughout. This is because I don’t/haven’t read the manga yet. I plan to in the future. I definitely recommend watching Attack on Titan if you never have and want to!

I just want to add here that I was going to also add another TV show I’m loving right now… But I’m going to wait until next month when it’s due to end. Spoiler, it’s RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 2… 😛

Favourite Book – Remina by Junji Ito.

GUYS I actually read a book! One book, but A book! This is actually a manga that Dane bought for himself that I ended up reading before him. It’s the latest manga from Junji Ito and it was a strange but enjoyable read. It’s about a young woman called Remina whose dad has discovered a planet, which he names after her. The planet isn’t good, shit goes crazy and people start to blame Remina for it, due to their shared name. For those of you who aren’t aware, Junji Ito is described as the “king of horror manga” due to his unique art style. It’s incredibly detailed and beautiful, although creepy all the same. This isn’t a long manga, but a lot of packed in there! I didn’t really like the ending, but I don’t know what else I expected really. This being said it’s amazing and I recommend giving it a read if you’re already a fan of Junji Ito’s work, or a new reader of his work like I am.

Favourite Music – Childish Gambino – Summer Pack.

I recently discovered the track “Summertime Magic” by Childish Gambino through a game and I have fallen in love with it. From that I also discovered “Feels Like Summer” as both songs were on an EP called Summer Pack which I really love. I’ve found myself listening to them whilst working, even whilst writing up this post on and off too. I’ve never really listened to Childish Gambino before but I’ll definitely listen to his work more in the future for sure! I’m not super excited for the summer yet due to everything going on in the UK at the moment with lockdown and COVID, but as and when we can have a fun summer again, these are songs I’ll be playing whilst cooking something on the BBQ and sipping on a cocktail!

Image taken from GIPHY

Favourite Game – Ark.

Ark is a game me and a group of friends have been playing recently after we bought a server and with Dane and a friend of ours both needing to self isolate in February it’s been good for them to have something to do during the day, as well as in the week. I’d never played Ark before so I was feeling a mixture of excitement and anxious of what to expect. All I knew about it was that it’s a survival game surrounding dinosaurs. We’ve been playing it for over a week now and we’re all having an amazing time! 😀 I’ve become the one who looks after the dinosaurs and tidies up around the place. 😛 We have two robot stegosaurus’ which I called Daft and Punk. Yes, I’m a loser. 😛 It’s just such a fun game and I honestly recommend it to everyone who fancies something new to play. Plus, I’m pretty sure it’s free on Xbox too!

Just a few of my favourite things.

• Creating an amigurumi – Animal Crossing Bizkit dog villager.

Not long after the third lockdown began in the UK I decided I would take up a new hobby and that new hobby was going to be amigurumi! I’d been mesmerised by it for quite some time thanks to Instagram and I thought, “Why not give it a go myself?” I’m not going to lie, the first time I gave this a go I was stressed out and anxious that I’d picked up a hobby I couldn’t actually do… My aunt always tried to show me how to crochet when I was younger and I never got the hang of it. Dane was really good and helped me so much with learning how to do some of the basics of amigurumi and if it wasn’t for that, I think I would have given up.

I worked on this project for a couple of days and didn’t go back to it for a few weeks after getting busy. I don’t know what happened but when I picked it back up I just… Got on with it and something that I’d struggled with so much the two weeks prior just came natural to me! I haven’t finished Biskit yet, but I plan to at the start of March. I’ve been a bit too busy lately to pick it up back but I only have a leg and his ears left to do.

Due to the amount of wool I have left I’m actually planning to make another one to either gift to a friend or keep hold of. In the future I would love to do some more projects similar to this including more Animal Crossing dog villagers, Pokemon and maybe even try and find a Puppycat (Bee & Puppycat) and Morgana (Persona 5) design to play with too.

If you’re interested in this design too and fancy giving it a go yourself then make sure to go and check out HanisCrochet! I bought my PDF pattern on her Etsy store and she’s been so lovely and helpful when I’ve gotten stuck or confused with the pattern. I’ll link back to the Biskit pattern here. The next one I plan to buy from her is Cherry so I can make one for Dane, as well as my friend Gabriella. 🙂

• Pikarar photoshoot (read the post all about Pikarar here).

I’m not going to talk too much about this but I LOVED this mini photoshoot that me and Dane did for my Pikarar review! I had loved the mini photoshoot we’d done for my Black Milk Clothing x Pokemon collection post (which you can read here) so I knew I wanted to do another. Our front room is perfect for these photoshoots and I’m not going to lie, 2021 will hopefully bring more!

As you will have noticed on my blog, as well as on my blog social media pages my image has changed to be the one where I’m wearing my yellow Pikachu crane Pikarar t-shirt. I loved how natural the photo came out and I found by wearing something Pokemon and geeky related it’s more related to what my blog is about.

What do you guys think about the photos? 😀

• Food – Pancake day,fFakeaway and Japanese ramen.

February was a month of me cooking some yummy meals and if there is one thing I really love to do, it’s cooking. Towards the start of February we had Shrove Tuesday/pancake day! I always make pancakes for me and Dane when pancake day rolls around and I knew we had to have them with bacon and syrup! They were really yummy and now I’m craving them again. 😛

I’ve cooked a couple of “fakeaway” meals during February including Nandos and this burger meal we did! The burgers are Linda McCartney’s vegetarian pulled pork burgers and they are AMAZING! I cooked up some chilli halloumi to pop on top and on the side, as well as some salt and pepper chips. This was such a lovely dinner and it definitely hit the spot.

Finally earlier this week I made ramen. It’s been BLOODY FREEZING this week in Birmingham and both me and Dane needed something to warm us up, so I decided to cook us ramen. I used Oumph! spiced kebab meat which is vegetarian and it’s okay… But it’s not something I’d pick up often as I find for the price it isn’t worth it. I’m not 100% vegetarian (flexitarian?) but I’m not someone who eats kebabs so I’d rather have this, if that makes sense? 🙂

• Black Milk Clothing x Pokemon.

Pokemon Day was yesterday and can you believe Pokemon has been around officially for 25 years? I feel fucking old… 😛 I mentioned earlier in this post that I had splurged on some Black Milk pieces towards the end of February and pissed my spending ban UP THE WALL! One of the two pieces I picked up is the Pokemon Dreams Snuggle Suit that I’ve had on my wish list since the collection came out in 2020. I’ve been wearing this on and off toward the end of February and it’s so comfortable to wear during games evenings and chilling with Dane. Black Milk Clothing have their Pokemon 2.0 collection coming out TONIGHT (in the UK anyway…) and I’m planning to buy a couple of things from it. I’m eyeing up the Snorlax snuggle suit but… I don’t think I will. One is enough for me me thinks.

So that is everything from my February monthly favourites! As I said before, February was rubbish for me but writing this post I’ve seen some things I really loved and enjoyed this month, which has made me feel a bit better. 🙂

What were your favourites from February? Make sure to let me know in the comments.

Until next time all, take care, keep safe and see you soon!