The Kawaii Tag

This is a tag I stumbled towards the weekend and I had done at least half of it but then meh I felt tired and crabby so stopped and I’ve only just had the chance to come back to it!

I found this tag on Eleanor’s blog eleaanormay.com and it shouted at me straight away to give it a go. So, here we are. 😛

1. How did you start liking Kawaii?

It started when Pokemon first came out, both the game and the anime series. I fell in love with the franchise and all the things that come with it! Years later I’d watch the odd bits of Dragon Ball Z and Spirited Away before really falling in love with anime after watching Elfen Lied. I love that anime so much and I recently re watched it.

2. What is the cutest thing you own?

Definitely my Nendoroid figures and also my Pokemon Eeveelution plushies too. Me and Dane are huge Nendoroid fans and we collect them whenever we can. Usually we buy them each other over Christmas, birthday’s and anniversaries but recently we’e treated ourselves to a few including Morgana from Persona 5 and Naruto. Dane’s birthday is less than a month away now and I don’t have a bloody clue which to get him for his birthday!

Image taken from GIPHY

3. Who is your favourite Sanrio character?

Ooo this is a tough one! I have always loved Pompompurin BUT more recently I have definitely fallen in love with Aggretsuko. I love them both equally to be honest, my youth lies in Pompompurin and my older self with Aggretsuko.

4. Do you wear Kawaii fashion?

I don’t to be honest and although I did want to in the past, it just wouldn’t suit me. I’d love to rock certain “kawaii” fashions but as I said, I doubt very much it would suit me… Nor my wallet as they aren’t exactly the cheapest of pieces to pick up…

Image taken from GIPHY

5. Do you watch anime? What’s your favourite?

Do I watch anime?! BAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh I watch it all the time! I have a couple of firm favourites including oldie Elfen Lied, K-ON! which me and Dane discovered last year together and I’ve recently fallen in love with How To Keep A Mummy.

6. What is your cutest piece of clothing?

Either my Pikachu skater dress, or either of my varsity jackets by Ohayou Clothing! where one has a picture of Eevee and the other has Umbreon. I love them so much and rock them all throughout the summer months when the weather is warmer. I attempted to wear my Umbreon jacket yesterday and had to throw my yellow raincoat over the top due to how cold it was!

Image taken from GIPHY

7. What do your friends and family think of your Kawaii obsession?

I think my family accept it, but they don’t quite understand it fully. My friends are amazing and support it fully and even some have mutual feelings about certain obsessions, which is always amazing. I’m proud of being a geek/otaku lover but I do always feel slightly anxious when talking about stuff in case people think I’m weird. But these days, I’m past caring. 😛

8. Who is your Kawaii role model?

Without sounding like a knob, I don’t actually have a role model. When it comes to kawaii I have my own loves with it and I love what I like and I’m not influenced by anyone on social media, celebrities, etc. If anyone influences me at all, it’s Dane and I’m sure I influence him too. When I say influence, I mean in the sense if he’s discovered something he thinks I’ll like, he tells me and vice versa.

So that is The Kawaii Tag! What did I think of it? I’m not going to lie, there needs to be more questions that are to do with kawaii in my opinion. I did love the questions though, I just wanted more. 😛

I’m tagging everyone who reads this post and loves anything kawaii to give it a go themselves! If you do, please make sure to tag me in it!

Now I better hurry and scamper, I’m in the middle of cooking dinner. 😛

Until next time, take care all and I hope you’ve had an amazing weekend, even with the snow. 😛

Nerddom Is the Greatest Kingdom

This is my super-lame intro: Pepi Valderrama is the writer of http://dePepi.com, a blog about geek anthropology and all things geek. She’s interested in fandoms, Superheroes, comics, books, and Anthropology.

Let’s face it; Nerddom is the greatest Kingdom online and offline. For starters, we get all types of nerdy cultures, nerdy sub-cultures, and brilliant people. If we take in all the fandoms and realms, we’ll realise that Nerddom is the greatest out there.

However, we must also realize that being a Geek, a Nerd, or a Dork isn’t easy. While years ago we were ostracized from mainstream society, now we’re the new cool kids on the block. And let’s face it, we’re here to stay.

Yup: we’re here with all our nerdiness! We’re geek, sexy, and proud. And that means that we share tons of aspects of our nerdy cultures on our blogs, the groups we go, and the friends that suffer us. (Yes, not all of them are geek).

And despite all the mainstream culture about nerdy sex, we’re so sexy that even Mount Doom shudders from the suggestion. Whether we’re nerdysexual, heterosexual, homosexual, queer, or [insert-a-word-here]+sexual, the reality is that we rock. It’s true: most people have the idea that Geekdom and Nerddom are sexually boring.

But they’re wrong.

If you visit any fan fiction page out there, you can have a nosebleed in less than a minute. Whatever your imagination has produced can be found a million times harder, wider, and more impossible than ever, in fics online.

If you hadn’t enough with fics, you only need to find yourself a cool geek and join the reindeer games. Cosplay isn’t a practice that will rock only comic cons masquerades! Close the door, and lock the key! Let’s have fun with the Hobbit! Or the elf! Heck, or the Superhero!

And if you hadn’t enough will all of that, you can always end up with a different type of D&D.

In short, Nerddom is the Greatest Kingdom in all aspects. We have the greatest villains ever, the most despicable trolls in history, the most brilliant heroes, and the sexiest minds. We spark passions all over the world, we ignite imagination, and we create fantastic alternate Universes.

I know: this is a cheeky post. But, isn’t it time for Nerddom spreading its wings everywhere? Isn’t it time for us to shout out loud how cool we are.

Be Proud. Now: Nerd Out!

I just want to say a MASSIVE thank you to Pepi for writing this post for me! I have loved discovering fellow geeky bloggers this year and she’s definitely one of my favourites out there! We were joking about geeky stuff on Twitter, which I’m sure inspired this post somewhat. 😛

I hope you enjoyed reading her post just as much as I did! Until next time take care all and I hope you’re doing well!

Fan fiction: real or not real?

Hi everyone! I’m Kanra, taking over for Nat today since she’s on a vacation (and can’t answer the phone right now). I’m one of those odd bloggers who don’t really have a particular niche I stick to. Some days I’m posting about school (I’m a medical student), some days I’m posting about art (I really like painting) and some days I’m posting about random things that take up my interest. Today’s random topic of the day is fan fiction.

I’m not an avid reader of fan fiction and certainly not a writer either. In fact, I don’t think I would have been overly concerned about this topic at all if it hadn’t cropped up in a chat room I frequent. It was a writing group, where people who were either in the process of writing or editing would congregate to share their work and request for constructive criticism. It was a pretty nice group, until someone posted a fan fiction and asked if it could be reviewed.

Admittedly, it was a poorly written piece of work. I guessed the writer was maybe around 14-15 years old, merely writing out a rough draft of a fantasy or day dream they had. The writing was disjointed, meaningless details about the main character, unrealistic bullying and resultant save by ignoring the situation and focusing on the power of friendship or something along those lines. If someone asked me to constructively criticize that piece of work, I would have probably declined because there’s just so much wrong with it that needs to be fixed.

The moderator then decided to throw out the question: should fan fiction be banned from the group entirely?

I recently took an MBTI test which classed me as an INTJ, given the title of “The Architect” or “The Mastermind”. There are other characteristics of this personality type which include things like “avoiding eye contact while talking”. To be honest, I didn’t even realize I had some the characteristics I have until I read up on it, like arguing as soon as a person of power suggests something. So of course when the discussions started shifting towards a “yes, ban fan fiction”, I couldn’t help but argue against it. It’s like my inner rebel teenager came out.

The history of fan fiction is something long and messy, something we will not discuss at the moment (it involves lawsuits and copy rights). The only thing you need to know is that fan fiction is a gray domain. What fan fiction basically does is create a new story from an already published piece of work. There is almost nothing that you, as a fan fiction writer, can claim for yourself. Everything you build on, from the setting to the characters, is not yours. You can’t monetize your writing. I guess that’s why it explains why most fan fictions are poorly written wish fulfillment pieces.

Yes, I’m not going to lie. More often than not, fan fiction has disappointed me. The majority of these pieces of writing are poorly written, self insert fantasies. The occasional rare gem does show up and I couldn’t let a brash decision of “ban fan fiction” stamp these out. Not to mention the fact that most writers started out using fan fiction as a way to improve their writing before creating original content.

It’s okay to write bad fan fiction! You have to start somewhere and practicing it out with preexisting characters, universes and laws is better for hammering out the fluency of your words and polishing the entire process of writing before putting in effort to bring to life an original creation.

It’s really sad that there are amateur writers out there, who write as a hobby, dismiss fan fiction as legitimate literature. In my opinion, fan fiction involves just as much effort and skill as original content. It doesn’t matter what your idea is or how novel your plot is, if you don’t have the ability to convey ideas properly through good pacing, than what’s the point? It’s much more important for writers to focus on presentation and delivery rather than whether it’s original or not. To be very honest, the kind of attitude I see about fan fiction really makes me wonder why people focus on the wrong things. It’s just a harmless exercise that helps young writers develope their skills. If it’s not good fan fiction, then just leave it?

Personally, I like the idea of fan fiction. I watched Dexter a few months ago and in one of the seasons, Dexter is set up to almost turn himself in to the police, but of course, it doesn’t happen. When I finished that season, I wanted to know so bad what would have happened if Dexter had turned himself in. What would the other characters think? How would they react? I needed to know and I really wanted a fan fiction to answer these questions for me. Imagine how many other “could’ve been” scenarios there are out there that can be elaborated and explored through fan fiction! Isn’t that exciting? Of course, finding such literature is truly a challenge.

I normally don’t read fan fiction regularly, but there are some popular fan fictions that I’ve checked out and was blown away by and if you have zero exposure to fan fiction, then you should check it out! My absolute top favorite fan fiction ever is “Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality”. This is a full fledged Harry Potter book and it’s amazing, it condenses the plot of all seven books and years just into this fan fiction Harry’s first year at Hogwarts. It’s amazing and I can’t stress enough about how great this is. The writing style is great, the concept is great, it’s just amazing and deserves more attention!

The other fan fiction is something I came across while seeing art on Pinterest. This might sound really childish but it’s a PowerPuff Girls fan fiction called “More than Human”. Revolving around a high school (instead of preschool) where the PPGs go, it turns out the RowdyRuff Boys are there too. I actually haven’t read all of it (to be honest I kept getting the boys’ names mixed up) but it was really nice nevertheless (very slice of life, high school drama sort of thing) and there’s a lot of artwork out these from fans who loved the fan fiction, so hey! Check it out, might be your cup of tea!

What do you think about people who write fan fictions? Have you ever dabbled in this art? What’s your favourite fan fiction? Have a nice day!

I just want to say a MASSIVE thank you to Kanra for writing this post! As regular readers on my blog will know, I always love talking geeky on my blog whenever the chance arises! Although I’m not a fan fiction reader, Kanra’s post really opened up my eyes to it from both a reader and a writers point of view!

I hope you enjoyed reading her post just as much as I did! Until next time take care all and I hope you’re doing well!

Back To Education Bag Ideas!

It’s now September and I know the kids are now officially back at school. FYI the weather is also rubbish, it’s 10am as I’m writing this on my day off (day before this post actually goes up!) and I NEED my light on to see what I’m actually doing. I feel sorry for the kids who have just has 6 weeks of crap weather. YUCK!

ANYWAY! I thought to go alongside the back to education post I did recently (which you can read here) I would write a bag ideas post too, so you have somewhere to store all that awesome stationary I talked about before. 😛

To be honest a lot of the bags I feature on this post are ones I’d buy myself if I was starting back at school, college or university. The prices will also range too due to this. I do understand that some of the bags on this list are very expensive, but it’s just to give an idea I guess on what kind of styles you could buy and use. Doesn’t mean that exact bag. 😛

On with the post… That has secretly made me want to buy new bags! Oh dear… 😛

• Killstar Spektra 90’s Warp Backpack – £49.99 (link)

Wow I’ve really kicked off this blog post with a HELLA expensive backpack, haven’t I? It is gorgeous though and is obviously 90’s inspired and follows the grunge trend. It looks to be quite a big bag though which in turn makes it perfect for education use. You can shove all your books in there as well as stationary and necessities. I just love the random patches all over the bag, but yes it is expensive for what it is… You could always find a black bag similar to this one and buy all sorts of patches on eBay or Etsy to iron or sew onto it!

• Pink Moomins Love Shopping Bag – £20.99 (link)

I wasn’t sure whether to add this bag to the list or not due to it being a shopping bag, but hey! When I was at college and university I used bags similar to this one and they were great! Due to how big the ones I used were they were a perfect size for carrying books in and a pencil case or pens. It wasn’t anything over the top and it did the job. I saw this bag though and thought the pink and Moomin print on it was so cute and definitely one you could use at university to go to and from lectures with.

• The Legend Of Zelda Shoulder Bag – £25.99 (link)

Although I’m not a Zelda gamer, I know A LOT of people who are and who were really excited when the new game came out with the Nintendo Switch. The main reason for adding this bag here is because of the type of bag it is. I had a bag exactly the same as this during my GCSE’s at school and I loved it so much! It was the exact same colour as this but it has a huge Green Day logo on the front… I was a massive fan okay!? The bag was huge though and you could fit everything in there including folders. I don’t know if this bag will be the same but it’d be a great bag to use during GCSE’s like I did and especially throughout college and university. It’s also a conversation starter when your’e meeting new people!

• EMP Full Volume Pearl’s Backpack – £24.99 (link)

If you love holographic like myself then maybe a holographic backpack is the way forward? This would probably be more ideal for school due to how bright it is, but hey if you want to rock something like this as you get older then I salute you! I would have probably worn something like this at school and college and probably ended there. I love holographic, but I feel like a backpack would be a bit much at my age… God I make myself sound REALLY old. 😛

• Ita Bag – £20.00 (link)

Don’t worry if you don’t know what an ita bag is, I will educate you! An ita bag is something that every anime mad girl in Japan will use and wear. The trend is now well and truly in the UK and myself included wants one. They come in various colours but I decided to use the black one as you can’t go wrong with that colour. Where the clear heart is on the front you use as a display window for badges, charms, keyrings etc of your favourite anime character(s). It’s a way to show off your love of a certain anime or just a certain character. I’d love to get a black one to put loads of Persona 5 charms in. I do think I’m too old for this trend now. If this came out when I was in university I may have contemplated getting into it, but alas I’m a little old now. 😛 This would be an amazing bag for someone starting secondary school to have. It would make for great conversation between anime fans. This would work out to be very expensive though, but at the same time it would make an amazing hobbie!

• Iron Fist Wolfbeater Tote – £45.99 currently £28.99 (link)

I actually owned this bag many moons ago when I was at university and it was by far one of the best ones I owned! I still have it at my mom and dads house somewhere! It was huge and you have a few different ways to wear it too. Not only that but it’s like a Mary Poppins bag, you’ll never be able to find what you want straight away as it’s huge! You’d be able to keep folders, books, necessities and of course stationary in there without a worry. You can get all sorts of designs on this style of bag too, I just chose this one as this is the same one as mine.

• Missguided Faux Fur Bag – £18.00 (link)

I can’t say I agree with the faux fur look fashion wise… It looks tacky to me and yuck. BUT I put this down to the hideous fluffy sliders that have appeared this summer. This backpack has the faux fur trend all over it and although I’m not a massive fan of the trend, this bag is really cute in it’s own right. This could  be worn by anybody and considering it’s by Missguided it’s probably going to be more fashion orientated and not as practical… But sod it! If you’re at university and live on site then this will definitely be a winner for you! You can carry your folder and look all American high schoolesque.  😛 If that wasn’t already a word… It certainly is now! 😛

So that’s some of my bag ideas for returning or even starting back in education. I can’t believe how quick the school holidays went, can you?

Do you have any bag recommendations for younger people than I? Make sure to tell me down below! Have you bought a new bag recently? If so let me know that too.

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

5 TV Shows I Can Watch Over And Over Again

This is a random idea I came up with during a shift at work earlier this week. I was bored and looking for things to do and ended up coming up with this idea and thinking about all sorts of TV shows I could talk about throughout a post. It’s been four days since then and I’ve only just thought of five shows that I can watch over and over and now I want to marathon them all!

Image taken from weheartit.com

Sex and The City

This is by far one of my favourite shows and before writing this post I started watching it again… It’s probably the tenth time I’ve watched it now. I don’t have an addiction, I have a massive passion and love for this show! I remember asking for it for Christmas/birthday one year and when my brother gave it me I was so damn happy. Before being given it I had watched the odd episode here and there, either online or on TV. It was just nice to be able to watch the show from start to finish. I laughed, I cried and I definitely related to all of the characters at least once. My favourite character is definitely Samantha. She’s just like me, honest, to the point and doesn’t give a fuck. The only characteristic I wish I could share is how confident she is. If you have NEVER seen the TV show and you’re a woman, then get on it RIGHT NOW! Oh and if you’ve watched the movies but not the TV show then WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! The TV show is so much better!!!

Image taken from weheartit.com

Jackass

Aside from Sex and The City this is definitely my favourite show. It’s one of the first of its type that I got into and one that grew on me faster than a rash. I fell in love with all the cast, especially Ryan Dunn. He was always my favourite and when the first film came out and he had the best stunt, I was so damn happy! Of course I was heartbroken when it came out that he had died and it still sucks to this day. I just love how far all the Jackass guys have come throughout the years, including Ryan Dunn before he died. I of course love what Johnny Knoxville has done with Bad Grandpa, and Steve-O with giving up the alcohol and drugs.

Teachers

I’m sad that I couldn’t find a gif from the show to add to this post. It would have been good! Teachers is one of my favourite shows to come from Channel 4 back in the day! Not a lot of people have heard of it, so when I first met Dane and found out he loved it too I was so happy! It’s basically as the title suggests, about a bunch of Teachers. Andrew Lincoln’s character Simon is the main character for half of the series and I love him so much. I just want to slap him and tell him to sort his life out! My favourite character is Brian, a P.E. and Geography teacher who is crap with women but fucking adorable! If you like good British humour about work then give this a watch.

Image taken from weheartit.com

South Park

How could this NOT go on this list?! Between 2015 to 2016 me and Dane watched South Park from start to current (well was to season 19, although season 20 was on recently) and it’s one of those shows where you could watch it over and over again and never get bored of it. I can’t say I have a favourite season in particular but I do have the odd favourite episode or two. This being said I will always hold the first season close to my heart. Purely because it’s the season that begun my love of South Park. My favourite character is Kenny, followed by Cartman, Butters and Towlie.

Dirty Sanchez

Finally we finish this post by talking about Dirty Sanchez and like Teachers I couldn’t get a gif for it. When I WAS searching for one I was really nervous as to what I may have found… I was lucky and nothing came up. 😛 ANYWAY! Like Jackass I got into this when it first came out but only ever got to watch the odd episode on MTV late at night or during the day when I was skipping school… Oh what a rebel I was! 😛 When I was sixteen during the 6 weeks between the end of secondary school and starting college I found series 1 and 2 for sale in HMV and decided to buy them. I only noticed as I got to the till that they were rated 18 and of course I was only 16 at the time so I panicked that I may get ID’d but luckily it never happened and I watched the two series when I got home. Series 2 is my favourite by far as I found it had the funniest moments in. The show is just so real feeling to me and although Jackass is similar they’re both a hell of a lot different in their own ways. Dainton is my favourite by far, hands down!

SO those were five of my favourite TV shows that I can watch over and over again without getting bored! One TV show I didn’t mention was Stranger Things, even though I was close to. Why I hear you scream? Well because I’ve only recently watched season one… I haven’t given it enough time to even watch it again! Maybe in the future though. 😛

What TV shows can you watch again and again and again and never get bored? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time all take care and have a lovely weekend.

Kat Von D Beauty Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in Bauhau5 – Review

I have wanted to write this review the week after I first wore it but I decided to wait until 2017 to kick start off the year with an amazing review, because this one is going to be good! I haven’t fallen in love with a product for quite some time and it is safe to say that my Jeffree Star Cosmetics liquid lipsticks have been pushed aside a little since me buying this in November last year.

When I went to visit my friend Sophi in London I decided to visit the Oxford Street Debenhams store so I could swatch some of the Kat Von D liquid lipstick shades. I have always wanted Bauhau5 but never ordered it from people on eBay, or Sephora, or anything else like that. Well this shade was certainly worth the wait as since me buying it two months ago it has been my go to lipstick. I can’t wait any longer, I have to review this lipstick once and for all!

The first thing you need to know about Kat Von D Beauty if you’re from the UK is that it is FINALLY out for sale here! YAY! No need to use dodgy eBay sellers or paying the odds to get it shipped from America. However the only place you can buy it from is Debenhams. If you aren’t able to get down to the London Oxford Street Debenhams store to buy anything then do not worry, you can order online. WOOHOO! I decided to buy Bauhau5 from the store because I was down there anyway and I wanted to swatch a few shades to get an idea of what I would like to buy in the future from the Debenhams website.

As I have already mentioned (and the title… DUH!!!) I picked up Bauhau5 which is a deep raspberry shade. I have seen liquid lipsticks like this before, Masochist by Jeffree Star Cosmetics being one of them. However I wanted to try something by Kat Von D and this was the shade I had always been drawn towards. I love wearing my dark shades and especially my pinks, purples and reds. Raspberry pink is a definite win for me when it comes to lipstick thanks to my love of Rebel by MAC Cosmetics.

I love the packaging for Kat Von D as it just looks so gothic yet expensive and luxurious. The black packaging with silver roses definitely does this for me and what makes me even happier is that the pattern continues onto the product itself. As you can see the black and silver pattern is on the lid of the liquid lipstick, as well as some detailing on the tube itself.

The applicator is a doe foot like most liquid lipsticks and lip glosses these days and is to me on the small side, which I really like as not everyone has big lips so it means anyone with smaller or thin lips will be able to apply this all over without any worries of over lining or making a mess. The tube for Kat Von D’s liquid lipsticks are long, unlike Jeffree Star’s liquid lipsticks which are shorter. I’m never preferable length wise with the tubes, although I know a lot of people are. I don’t find it any harder or easier to apply with a longer or a shorter wand. I do like the size of Kat Von D’s liquid lipstick though as I find the length of it looks nice and slick, especially as you take it out of a glitzy handbag on a night out. This does also have a scent which I was rather surprised by! I thought it would be scentless to be honest but I am really pleased about the scent as I find the chemical style smell with some liquid lipsticks I own puts me off. This one has a light scent which reminds me of vanilla and very much so reminds me of the smell that you get with MAC Cosmetics lipsticks.

I can’t compare to any other Kat Von D liquid lipsticks but this is very pigmented to me and it is a beautiful shade! I didn’t know what to expect before I swatched this in Debenhams but I was surprised at what a gorgeous colour it was and by how creamy it felt when applying it to the back of my hand.

Due to the public Twitter and YouTube arguments that happened between Kat Von D and Jeffree Star I feel like I am sounding like I am siding with one or the other (I’m not I don’t give a shit about all that rubbish!) but I found when applying this to my lips and wearing it that it felt more comfortable than Jeffree Star liquid lipsticks. They’re both comfortable, don’t get me wrong but I found due to the creamy texture of Kat Von D’s liquid lipsticks that this felt like I was just wearing a lip balm rather than a lipstick.

I don’t feel like I need to apply a lip liner with this as it’s a thick enough consistency that I can take my time and line my lips. However with Jeffree Star’s liquid lipsticks I find the majority of his shades are watery in consistency and can be a bit more fiddly when applying without a lip liner as a guide. This being said I do feel that I use more of the Kat Von D liquid lipstick over than Jeffree Star liquid lipsticks due to the texture of them.

The true test of a liquid lipstick for me is the staying power. I never ever have a problem with this staying on my lips and I always get lovely compliments on it due to that. It lasts the same amount of time as all my liquid lipsticks do, which is great!

Just a reminder that all liquid lipsticks this will get worn away if you are in contact with any food (or possibly drinks) that contain oil. This lasts throughout my shift at work too, only budging on my lunch break when I grab something to eat, which of course is perfect!I do find if you reapply this however you can tell a little bit when looking close up that you’ve reapplied which I can’t say as I liked but meh nothing that can’t be solved with another coat all over the lips.

I of course used the “kiss” and “finger” test to show off that this product doesn’t come off when in contact with anything, and everyone I have shown it to has been impressed, especially my boyfriend who hates being covered in lip shaped kisses.

I do find that Bauhau5 does stain a little but nothing a couple of cotton pads soaked in make up remover won’t fix!

I’ve swatched Bauhau5 above Jeffree Star Cosmetics Masochist.

In good There Might Be Coffee spirit when it comes to reviewing lipsticks, I have to show off my mug wearing them! Dane bought me a selfie ring light for my phone so I’m using that today to show off the colour, woop woop!

So what do I think of the Kat Von D liquid lipsticks? I think they’re fucking amazing! Excuse my language but I love them so damn much. They’re creamy, comfortable to wear, long lasting, reasonable price wise to buy and come in loads of lovely different shades. I don’t want to own all the shades but I want to own the majority of them to be honest. Whenever I go out somewhere nice for the day or I fancy looking good I always go to Bauhau5 as it’s one of my favourite shades to wear and it just feels and looks great when on. This is the sort of colour I will wear all year around, especially in the summer. If you’re after a shade which will get you out of your nude and pale pink comfort zone then I would say go for Bauhau5 as it’s definitely a shade that will suit everyone.

If you want to pick up this or any other shade of liquid lipstick by Kat Von D then here is the link to Debenhams. They cost £16.00 each which I think is a reasonable price. Sadly in store it is only available at the Oxford Street store right now, but I heard that more stores in the UK will be stocking it at the start of this year. AHH EXCITING!

Like I do with the Jeffree Star Cosmetics I’ll be saying at the end of this post which three Kat Von D liquid lipstick shades I want to pick up next!

Mother – A cool pink. (Temptalia review)

L.U.V. – A warm purple.  (Temptalia review)

Nocturna – A deepest grape.  One of the new shades recently revealed and I LOVE IT.

So that was my review! What do you think of Bauhau5 and the Kat Von D liquid lipsticks? Do you own any yourself, if so which shade(s) and what do you think of it/them?

Until next time take care all and I hope you’ve had a great week so far.

Lush Halloween & Christmas 2015 LEAKED! Part Two – Christmas

It’s here! Part two, and it’s going to be a long post. There is more information about the Christmas products than there is about the Halloween ones. Apart from the gifts, everything that is on offer looks to have been leaked, which is pretty exciting! I don’t know what September 15th will hold, but from what I have read from official UK Lush stores on Instagram, the winter range (Halloween and Christmas) will be out at the start of October, SO we have less than a month to wait! Exciting huh?

Without further ado, I’m going to share with you all what we’ll be getting awesome for Christmas this year.

Bath Bombs (and one Bath Melt):

Ignoring the bath melt at the bottom, this is the line up for the bath bombs! Not including Lord Of Misrule (as that’s a Halloween product) there are 10 bath bombs all together, 2 of them being new, whilst the rest are returning products.

I am of course really happy to see that So White is back for another year as it’s my favourite bath bomb from Lush and always reminds me of Christmas time. I remember when it was teeny, but it’s really evolved over the years, which is great to see. Alongside that I’m happy to see the return of Shoot For The Stars, as I loved it when it first came out, but never got to try it last year. I’m also glad to see that Father Christmas and Golden Wonder are back, as I got to try Golden Wonder thanks to the Boxing Day sales, and luckily have one left, which I’ll be using soon! It’s such a gorgeous bath bomb and I’ll be stocking up as and when I can. As for Father Christmas I wanted to try that so much last year as it shares its scent with Snow Fairy, my favourite from Lush! I’ll be making sure I try it this year.

The one product I am SUPER excited about is Yog Nog. Oh my GOD! I loved the soap last Christmas and bought myself some when I did some shopping in Lush, and you know what? I STILL own it. I haven’t used it, and it’s still in the packaging. I intend to start using it soon, but now that there will be a bath bomb out with the same scent, I’ll be buying these up as much as possible. Inside the bath bomb there is a luxury bath oil and also contains some bubble bar grating so this bubbles up when popped into the bath. Isn’t that just the perfect bath bomb???

There is only one bath melt being released this year, which is of course Snow Angel. I’m quite sad to see there will only be one as I really wish Lush would bring back the old Snow Fairy Bath Melt. That was probably one of my favourite Lush products from Christmas in 2009/2010 and they never brought it back. Sad faces all round.

Bubble Bars & Resusable Bubble Bars:

I’m really excited for some of the newbies that are coming our way with the bubble bars! There are 5 altogether, 3 of them being new and all of them sound amazing! I always love the bubble bars that Lush come out with, but this year they just look and sound really lovely.

Every year I love that Lush bring back Candy Mountain, even though it is just a nicer looking version of Creamy Candy. There are quite a few bubble bars that have gone this year, so Lush have had to make sure they replace them with goodies, which they have done! I’m going to be trying ALL the new ones. Five Gold Rings sounds really creamy and delicious, and looks really nifty too. I just hope it isn’t too glittery, otherwise I may just have to leave it… I hate when bath products are glittery, I get covered in it! Peeping Santa is another one which sounds delicious! It sounds like it’ll smell of yummy strawberries, and you can never go wrong with something like that. It would probably go really nice with So White Bath Bomb to give you a fruity bath! Finally the other new bubble bar that I am excited about is Bar Humbug. I’m not the BIGGEST fan of liquorice scents, but I’m pretty sure with Christmas around the corner this will be perfect. I’ll definitely give it a smell before I buy it mind, just incase I don’t like it.

I love reusable bubble bars, and I’m super excited to pick up Magic Wand! I’m sure this has been out previous years but sadly I’ve never bought it before, something I’m going to make sure I do this year! It’s said to share its scent with Snow Fairy, so I can’t pass this product up!

FUN:

I can’t say I am the biggest fan of FUN. I’ve used it before and enjoyed it, don’t get me wrong and really liked it, but I would prefer to pick up other products over FUN. The main thing I love using it for is to shave with. I recently used some of my boyfriends Pink FUN and I loved it. So maybe I’ll see if I like the look of one of these. I can’t really imagine how any of these will smell to be honest, but I’ll be giving them all a sniff, and see what I think. I love how creative you can get with them all though! It makes for something cool to pop into a friends stocking, something I might do with my friends and family.

Shower Gels & Jellies:

If there is one thing that I get excited for every year it’s Snow Fairy Shower Gel. Ever since I can remember I’ve bought at least a tiny bottle of the good stuff to keep me going. I still have my bottle from last Christmas, something I’m probably going to keep for when I go on holiday as a treat to wash with in the evenings before nights out.

I’ll be picking up loads of huge bottles of Snow Fairy to keep me going throughout the year! I’ll also be keeping my eye on it in the Boxing Day sales, I missed out last year, which was a shame. Alongside that I may pick up one of the jellies, I’m unsure at this moment in time as I’ve never been that bothered about Snowman, but Santa’s Belly does sound rather nice for winter! I’ll give them a sniff and see how I feel!

Soap:

I’m never a huge fan of the soap from Lush, as the majority of it leaves me with bad allergic reactions, however there are a couple of the Christmas soaps that I can get away, and I can’t resist either to be honest! There are 5 soaps, only one being a new face this year. Last year I picked up Reindeer Rock and Yog Nog, two soaps I LOVED so much and ones I’ll be picking up again this year. Reindeer Rock smells of The Comforter Bubble Bar, which is really comforting. Yog Nog reminds me of cheesecake, which again is comforting. Old Father Time is the new soap this year, which really isn’t something I’ll be buying, sad to say.

Shower Products:

Bar the roulade, I love everything on this page! Christingle Body Conditioner sounds like a gorgeous and menthol mint conditioner, which will be good for cooling down in the summer, and maybe even in the winter. I love mint scents, and Intergalactic Bath Bomb (review here) will work perfectly with this one before I go out for Christmas parties, or maybe even after a day of Christmas shopping. Either way I really can’t wait to pick this up and I can see me stocking up so I have enough to last me through the year. The Salt And Peppermint Bark Shower Scrub looks and sounds amazing, not to mention delicious. This would be great to use alongside Christingle and Intergalactic to give me a proper minty scent and feel! Icing On The Cake does sound delicious, but I’m not a huge fan of the roulade, so I’ll more than likely give this a miss.

Body:

I’ve never used Dusting Powders before but I’ve always wanted to. Last year I was going to pick up First Snow, but I left it as I didn’t think I would use it in the end. Now that Lush will be bringing out Fairy Dust I’ll be making sure I pick some of this stuff up! I would wear it before nights out, and for days out with my boyfriend. I’d be tempted to buy it and take it on holiday with me to wear in the evenings, something I still might do. I’m so excited to give Fairy Dust a smell though! I can see it flying off the shelves alongside Snow Fairy.

Face & Lips:

I’m not all that fussed about the face and lip products this year, but that’s mostly due to the fact I already own both the lip products from last year and the year before. Although I would love the Santa Baby Lip Tint in the new tube form! I may just pick this up to replace my old tin version. I might try and grab a sample of the Cranberry Festive Fresh Face Mask as I don’t feel it will do much for my skin but it would be lovely to try.

Sadly those are all the Lush Christmas products for Lush 2015! As I have said previously, I can only imagine what America get is exactly the same as what we get too. I hope so anyway as there are some gorgeous products that I can’t wait to get my hands on.

So, now you know what products are out for Christmas, what are you most looking forward to buying? I’ve already stated mine, I want to hear yours. Make sure to let me know your thoughts on the 2015 range in the comments section.

Until next time, take care all and keep those eyes peeled for Lush news!

Lush Halloween & Christmas 2015 LEAKED! Part One – Halloween

I’m super excited to write this post at the moment! I had recently discovered the leaked Halloween products, but in the past ten or fifteen minutes I’ve heard about Christmas leaks, and boy are they good! I haven’t been this excited for Lush Christmas products since 2009! I know it’s probably naughty sharing leaked products with you all, but honestly I am just too on the edge of my seat to wait for an official announcement.

As these leaks are from America, I’m not even 100% sure if we’ll get these over here in the UK, but I’m pretty sure we will, and maybe more considering Lush is from the UK originally. But I just couldn’t help but share, I know a few blogs from over the pond are at the moment, so I don’t see the harm in doing the same. I’ll be talking about which items I’m excited about and why.

I want to say thank you to Golden Glamor for all the pictures and information on these leaks, she’s been very thorough about everything, which is amazing and due to that I have copied and pasted some of her information here, as she just explains it all better than I do! You can read her Halloween post here, and her Christmas post here.

So here it is, Lush Halloween and Christmas 2015, let’s start with Halloween first for part one of this two part post.

I apologise that the picture for this isn’t that great, but it’s the only one that is lurking around the internet at the moment. Lush Halloween this year is mostly Lord Of Misrule themed, which I should have seen coming to be fair! As usual, the bath bomb will be making an appearance, which I think is staying around until after Christmas. There will also be the Oxford Street exclusive shower cream and Aliens and Monsters FUN coming to stores, which is pretty exciting! I’ve never been a HUGE fan of Lord Of Misrule I’m more into my sweet scents, but I want to give it a chance this year. I really do like the smell of the shower gel. Alongside those three there will also be Sparkly Pumpkin Bubble Bar which I’m sure came out last year and has a boozy citrus scent to it. The one product I am most excited about though is the bat shaped shower jelly Nightwing! No one knows quiet yet what it’ll smell of… Hopefully not Lord Of Misrule! 😛 There are rumours it will replace Sweetie Pie for Halloween and smell of blackcurrant. It would be pretty awesome if that were the case, AND if it is I’ll be picking up multiple pots to last me for as long as possible!

So the list includes (thanks to GG for this list):

Lord Of Misrule Bath Bomb
Sparkly Pumpkin Bubble Bar
Lord Of Misrule Shower Cream
Nightwing Shower Jelly
Aliens and Monsters FUN

Of course there will be gift sets too (thanks to GG for this list):

Pumpkin Heebie Jeebie – includes Sparkly Pumpkin and Lord Of Misrule Bath Bomb
Bat Heebie Jeebie – includes Nightwing and Lord Of Misrule shower cream
Firecracker – includes Cinders, Experimenter, and Lord Of Misrule Bath Bombs
Full Moon KnotWrap – a super adorable, spooky knot wrap with a purple moon and bat outlines.

I’m pretty damn excited for Halloween! I don’t know when it’ll be out in the UK, but I imagine towards the end of this month. I know where my earnings will be going. 😉

So now we’ve spoken about Halloween, we can talk about Christmas… BUT due to how big that post is going to be, that will be up on my blog tomorrow. I feel mean making you guys wait, but oh well, it’ll be worth it! It’s going to be a very Lush themed week on my blog this week, but is that really a bad thing?

What do you think of the Halloween products that Lush are bringing our way this year? Are you a Lord Of Misrule fan and mega excited about all the goodies? Or do you hate it, and wish Lush had brought out something different? Make sure to let me know in the comments.

Until next time though, take care.

Disaster Designs Paper Plane Satchel & Bonus What’s In My Bag

Recently I bought myself a new bag and after a few weeks of using it, I’m finally getting around to showing it off on my blog!

It’s my gorgeous new Disaster Designs bag! It’s the Paper Plane design and it’s been about for ages, since my second or third year of university and that was back in 2009-2011! One of my favourite shops in Birmingham used to sell the whole Paper Plane’s range but as a skint student I just lusted over the expensive bags, never buying one for myself. At the time it was out in the shop in question it cost either £40 or £50, a lot of money for a bag and I couldn’t justify paying that much. To make matters worse a girl in one of my classes at university had this bag and I envied her every class we had together!

As regular readers will have seen, I mentioned this bag in my February Wish List earlier this month and how much I was in need of a new one and when I remembered back to this satchel that I had wanted all those years ago, I went straight to eBay to try and find a good bargain.

There were a couple of these on there but they were either new but too expensive or used and in terrible condition for nearly just as much as the new ones on there. Eventually I stumbled across this bag, brand new and bloody hell did I have to do some bidding to get it! Eventually I won the bid and snapped this beauty up for £30.00, with £4.00 for P&P.

Since test driving this bag over the past 2 weeks, I knew I had to do a post about it, and as well as writing about my new bag, I thought I’d show you what I keep in there too. Think of it as a bonus!

But first of all, about the bag!

This is definitely a different satchel than ones you would normally buy, and that’s what I like about it! I love the Paper Plane theme and it looks so pretty and cute. You can buy all sorts of bags from the Paper Plane collection but this one just grabs my eye that little more than the others, probably because of its letter and plane theme. It just seems frightfully romantic and really does bring out the writer in me.

Not only does the bag look gorgeous with the style of it and design, but the cute little features on it too really do stand out and make it rather unique to anything else you would find out there. The front of the bag has little features such as a bird, which looks to be a swallow, as well as a red and white bow on one of the buckles, a hanging postage stamp shaped piece that says, “travel in style” with a swallow in the middle, and in between the two buckles on the flap of the bag it reads, “Return to sender” which I love the most about this bag.

Even on the back of the bag there is some detail, but only one! In the middle of the back of the bag there is a little white square with a red envelope inside, underneath it says “S.W.A.L.K” and quite frankly I don’t have a clue what it stands for! So, I went to Google and I found out exactly what it means (I found out the meaning on Wikipedia):

S.W.A.L.K. is an acronym usually seen on a love letter of a courting couple. It stands for “sealed with a loving kiss” and is one of several acronyms that seemingly originated during the Second World War. A variant is S.W.A.K., sealed with a kiss.

If I didn’t love my bag before knowing this, then I must be IN love with it now! It’s such a gorgeous think to put on the bag and makes the bag seem even more beautiful than I already thought it was.

I love this bag so much and whilst some websites do still sell it, your best bet might just be to pop onto eBay like I did. I typed in “Disaster Designs paper plane satchel” and you should at least find one bag if not a couple.

So, what’s IN my bag?

Yes it’s time for the bonus part of this post where I show what I’m keeping in my new bag. I took these pictures after a close shift at work, so this is what was in there when I got home. I didn’t add or remove anything either, so I’m not cheating. 🙂

I always make sure to throw a book in my bag if I’m going to work or if I’m meeting a friend as I like something to read before I head into work or if I turn up somewhere early or a friends running late. I’ve recently started reading Simon Pegg’s autobiography called Nerd Do Well. I’m only on chapter 2 and I love it already! It’s such an amazing book and so far with the way he’s planned it out it’s great. I can see me writing a huge post about it once I’ve finished reading it.

Of course I must have my iPhone 5 in here. I actually slipped it into the case I use at home, which is my rubber Game Boy case, but when I’m out and about I use my hand red case as if I were to drop it with my Game Boy case on, it could smash… Which isn’t good!

Another necessity for anyone, whether you have a bag or not are house keys and some money. I love my house keys, they’re multicoloured tartan but it’s my key rings that I like the most. Three of them are Lego related, one being R2D2 from Star Wars (this is my second one of him, as my first was 10 years old and the print faded), whilst my other two are of Frodo Baggins and Bilbo Baggins from Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit. Finally I have a glass seahorse that was a recent purchase when my friend Poppy and I visited The Sea Life Center in Birmingham. She bought the same one, so now we have matching key rings, which is somewhat cute.

I love my wallet so much, as I love foxes, but also because it reminds me of my Gran. For my 22nd birthday in 2012 she gave me some birthday money, which I used to buy this wallet and as regular or old readers will know, she passed away nearly a year ago. Not only is it a gorgeous wallet, but it holds so much stuff in there too! It’s by Loungefly and whilst it wasn’t cheap, for the two years I’ve had it, it’s doing me well! I thought about buying the matching purse and bag for this but sadly I can’t find them anywhere to pick up!

As I drive I keep my car key and my car stereo in my bag whenever I’m at home as I drive pretty much everywhere now! I really don’t know how I could travel via the bus, it’s all cars and trains for me now. I love my car and what better way to show it than a couple of cute key rings! I was going to have small key rings on my car key but I knew it would be impossible to find them in my bag and I didn’t want to keep my car key with my house keys… So I opted for a massive plushie key ring for my car key! As well as that when I saw this cute 101 Dalmatian key ring in the Disney Store years ago, I couldn’t leave it behind and bought it to keep on my car key too.

My stereo is pretty standard, I listen to must a lot whilst driving, but I HATE having to make a new CD to listen to every few weeks.

Just some standard things a woman will keep in her handbag… A mirror for when I top up my lipsticks, hand sanitizer, paracetamol, tissues and some hand cream. Nothing special!

Finally we have what I keep in the little zip pocket inside my bag… I know I have a lot of lip balms, but I shall explain why! I bought the Carmex one on a whim that I was loving the original and wanted one to keep in my handbag. As you can see this one is in Strawberry and it’s vile! I can’t wait to use it up, but at the same time it does do a good job when applied over lipstick, but it tastes fowl! I think my favourite lip balm every has to be my Apple Chapstick and I think I’m running low on this too. It’s not the best lip balm in the world though, it just tastes and smells delicious! The best one out of the three is my Palmer’s Cocoa Butter. It’s really creamy and out of them all is the only one that I can actually feel working when I apply it, but at times I think my lips are allergic as they tingle and hurt. Either way I keep three in my bag incase I lose one… Good enough reason, right?

As well as those I keep a little hand cream in here which is the same as the large one in the previous photo as well as a lip product. The one I’ve been using a lot this week is this lip gloss by Collection 2000 called Lock N Hold. I might review this soon but I know one thing I will say, it doesn’t last 6 hours at all! I wear this at work and have to top it up every hour, which doesn’t bother me, but when I’m on a shift for less than 6 hours, it’s concerning. Let me know if you want me to review this!

So with an empty bag, I’ve thrown everything back in and got into bed!

I love my new bag so much and it’s going to be featured a lot on future What I’m Wearing posts, which I want to try and get back up on my blog again.

So, what do you think of my new bag? Love it, hate it, or not arsed? 😛 Let me know in the comments!

If you have any questions about the bag, or anything else mentioned in this post, please feel free to ask in the comments too.

I hope you’ve all had a great week so far and here’s to the weekend!

Until next time, take care all.