May Favourites ’22

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Favourite Beauty Product – Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask in Berry.

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

Favourite Film – Jackass 4.5.

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

Image taken from Empire Online.

Favourite TV Show – Moon Knight.

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

Favourite Music – My Chemical Romance.

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

Image taken from PC Gamer.

Favourite Game – Valheim.

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

Just a few of my favourite things…

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

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

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

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

Image taken from UK Games Expo.

June adventures – UK Games Expo and Manchester.

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

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

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

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

My Chemical Romance merchandise.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

July Favourites ’20

I can’t believe it’s August already, can you? I for one am glad as July was so bloody stressful and it drove me mad due to that fact. I just couldn’t wait for it to end to be honest, it started to affect my mental health, which is never good so to have a new month will be good. Plus, September is my favourite month of the year and I want to make sure to have a relaxing month before that favourite comes up. I could write a post every year as to why I love September… Maybe I’ll do it again this year? Let me know if you’re interested.

July wasn’t just a month of being stressed out however, it was also a month of getting good things done, including our bathroom and my nails. We had some issues with our bathroom in May with water damage and decided instead of just getting the water damage repaired, we would look and see if we could justify getting the whole bathroom done. Alas we did justify it and a couple of months later the work was completed and we now have our gorgeous new bathroom! We’ve had the work completed for two weeks now and I have loved it so much. I was going to show off the completed bathroom on my blog, but I have since gone against that as I’d like to keep some privacy.

As well as my bathroom being done, nail technicians were able to open their salons again, so I went to get my first gel manicure done in almost 4 months, which I was very happy about. Yesterday I went and got them done again and I went for black and holographic silver, because why not. 😛

Image taken from The Latest Kate

As always I like to share a positive photo here from The Latest Kate as I find her images are really sweet and the message behind them meaningful.

Here’s to August being a relaxing month, before my favourite comes. 🙂

• Bath Bake Love Cherry Lime Sugar Whip.

I have know about Bath Bake Love for quite a long time now through Instagram, but I’ve never bought from them until now. I feel like I’ve been missing out for a long time as I honestly love their products. So far I’ve bought quite a few of the sugar whips (including Frosting Fairy, Billionaires Shortbread) and some other items they create and sell. The one sugar whip I have fallen in love with is Cherry Lime, it smells just like it and it makes me so happy. I haven’t used it as much as Frosting Fairy, but that’s because I’m savouring it a little. The sugar whips are really creamy in texture and like a mousse, which make it really easy to lather them up and wash with. They make you smell really good and feel soft! The Cherry Lime scent is very zesty and summery, hence why I’ve loved it so much this past month. I can’t wait to use it more and I’ll definitely buy it when it’s restocked next. PLUS look how pretty the product is with the bright pink and green foil inside! It’s actually inspired me to potentially get my nails painted in these shades towards the end of the month.

• Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau de Toilette.

I decided to use some of my “older” perfumes up that I’ve had for quite some time. Years ago my mom bought me a set of mini Marc Jacobs perfumes and I’ve never used them… Until now! These bottles are TEENY and they aren’t the easiest of bottles to work with, but I just dab some of the scent on my neck, wrists and inside my elbows. For an EDT this scent lasts ages! It’s really light and I rather like it, although I doubt I would buy the full sized bottle. I’m not a massive fan of the Marc Jacobs scents, although I really do love Decadence.

• Revolution Skincare Blemish and Pore Refining Serum – 10% Niacinamide + 1% Zinc 30ml.

My good friend Claire recommend this serum to me a while ago, so I decided to buy myself a bottle of it back in June and since then I have on and off used it. I do really love it and I ended up buying some more niacinamide items from Revolution Skincare too, which I’ve been using alongside the serum. Niacinamide is good for oily skin types as it balances oil production and improves texture by making pores look smaller. Considering how warm it’s been towards the end of this week, after using this on my skin in the morning with my moisturiser, my skin hasn’t been as oily on my nose as it usually is! I’m going to keep trying this though, as I do feel like it’s starting to do something for my skin.

• romand – Juicy Lasting Tint Autumn Fruit Series Shade Cherry Bomb.

In June I ordered some goodies from Yes Style and it was a mixture of regret and happiness. I was happy to finally own some more Korean lip tints but regretted it due to the fact it took a whole month to arrive and I was paranoid about customs charges. However, looking back I don’t really regret it and I think I was just on edge and anxious. I’ll happily order with Yes Style again, especially as I’ve seen some stuff I would love for the future. That aside, I ordered two lip tints by romand and out of the two, Cherry Bomb has been my favourite. It’s a gorgeous cherry red lip tint that really does last ages on the lips. I’ve found myself wearing it on the rare occasions I’ve left the house, but I’ve mostly worn it whilst working from home. I recommend these lip tints to everyone and I already know I’ll be buying more romand products in the future.

• The Body Scrub Peppermint Candy Cane Body Scrub.

This is one that I received a couple of Christmases ago and have FINALLY gotten around to using! It’s one of The Body Shop scrubs and I honestly wish I had used it sooner as it’s amazing. It’s a very thick sugar scrub which really does scrub away! I’ve been using it on the tops of my arms, bum, thighs and even my feet. It’s worked amazingly on the latter but has left me feeling a little smoother than usual everywhere else. This was only a small pot as it was part of a set, but if I ever see this pop up in sales on the website in future, I may have to buy a bigger pot. It also smells AMAZING by the way!

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

Favourite TV Show – I May Destroy You.

First of all, this TV show is amazing and I cannot recommend it enough to you right now. In all fairness this does have some warnings due to scenes of sexual abuse/rape. The show is written and stars Michaela Coel (who also wrote Chewing Gum) and is about a writer who goes for a night out to take a break from her work. The next day she can’t seem to remember what happened during the night out, or how she even got home. Everything begins to unravel and she soon grows to realise she’s been raped during her night out. With the help of her friends she gains support, as well as tries to get justice for what happened to her and more. I definitely recommend watching it, it’s an amazing show.

Favourite Movie – A Whisker Away.

This film was an absolute delight to watch and after a takeaway me and Dane snuggled together and watched it on the sofa. It’s about a girl who is in love with a boy and the only way she can get close to him is by turning into a cat. We watched it dubbed, but it is subbed on Netflix as well. The story itself is adorable and we have all been there at some point in our youth with lusting over someone but not being able to get them to like you the same way! My only gripe with this film is that both me and Dane felt like it went on for a little bit too long… Which started to ruin the film for us. This being said, I would happily watch this film again as it did make me smile and the kitten that the girl turns into is adorable!

Image taken from Tumblr

Favourite Book – Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid manga.

FINALLY I HAVE READ SOMETHING! Can you believe it?! I had a quiet weekend in July and decided to start making my way through some of the volumes I haven’t read yet in my manga collection. Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid was a priority to me as it’s one of my favourites and I know quite a few volumes have come out for this and the spin off volumes (Kanna’s Daily Life and Elma’s Office Lady Diary) too. I feel so much better for catching up on my manga series but I do need to read more! I feel like I need to just assign myself two evenings a week to just read, as I’m terrible these days for reading and I don’t know why? I’m going to blame gaming as I feel since I bought my Switch Lite I’ve neglected reading, which is a shame. Not only do I have manga to read, but comics and even “normal” books to read too!

Favourite Music – Dai Numo – SUITED.

Years ago on Soundcloud I discovered Dai Numo and I have never regretted that day. I LOVE his music and keep wanting him to release more. I listened to his album on and off to and from Japan, whenever I visit Fuerteventura and when I really need to knuckle down with work of any type (work or personal). I thought I’d share a couple of songs above, but I’d highly recommend you go and check out his Soundcloud AND Bandcamp where you can download the album. I can’t describe what kind of music this is… It’s like chillout hip hop? I love it either way and I definitely recommend it for everyone to check out.

Image taken from GIPHY

Favourite Game – Aggretsuko: The Short Timer Strikes Back.

First of all guys I just want to say, I am still playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons, however I am not on it ALL the time. It has began to “bore” me a little, but lately I decided to sort out my island and redo parts of it, so every other day I’ve clocked onto Animal Crossing a couple of hours. However, recently an Aggretsuko game came out, ready for when the third season hits Netflix at the end of the month. This isn’t an in depth game in anyway shape or form, but towards the end of July I got addicted to it! It’s a free game and I can’t recommend it more if you want a puzzle game to play.

So those are my favourites from July! Again, I can’t believe it’s August already, the eighth month of the year! Next month will be my favourite month of the year and then before we know it we’ll be in autumn, Halloween, Bonfire Night, winter and then Christmas before we get a new year!

2020 hasn’t been amazing due to COVID, but we’re over halfway through this year now.

How has July been for you? What were your favourites? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time, stay safe and take care all!

February Favourites ’20

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Original Source Tropical Coconut & Shea Butter Shower Gel.

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

• Sand & Sky Australian Pink Clay Porefining Face Mask.

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

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

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

• The Body Shop Peppermint Reviving Pumice Foot Scrub.

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

• Maui Moisture Smooth and Revive Vanilla Bean Shampoo.

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

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

Image taken from Tumblr

Favourite TV Show – O Maidens in Your Savage Season.

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

Favourite Movie – 1917.

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

Image taken from Tenor.com

Favourite Book – Guys…

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

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

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

Image taken from Amino Apps

Favourite Game – Neopets and Pokemon Shield.

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

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

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

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

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

LANEIGE Two Tone Matte Lip Bar in Red Velvet – Review

This is officially the first review of 2019 on my blog! It’s been a long time coming and I do apologise for that. To be fair this review is a day behind and that’s purely due to how busy I’ve been with life. I could keep apologising for this, but I’m human.

I am so excited to be writing this review today as I’ve really fallen in love with the product I’ll be talking about and in all honesty, I want to talk more about Korean beauty on my blog this year.

As you’ll have seen from the title of this post, I’ll be reviewing a lip product today, a lipstick in fact. This is a product I’ve owned for almost a month now and I can’t rate it highly enough! As always I’ll write an honest review and give as much information about the product as possible.

Grab yourself a cuppa and sit back as I review one of the amazing lip bars from LANEIGE.

From what I can tell LANEIGE seems to be quite a high brand in Korea and due to that the prices of their products seem to be a little bit more than other Korean brands such as Etude House, Tony Moly and more. Whether this is true or not, I’m unsure.

Although you can buy the two tone matte lip bars on Yes Style I picked mine up on eBay as I found someone was selling the shade I wanted cheaper. I paid £16.99 for mine, but at the moment Yes Style are selling these for £17.41, link here if you wish to check them out!

There are 10 shades to choose from,

The two tone lip bars are; Burgundy Mood, Red Cashmere, Powershoulder Pink, Fitting Rose, Sunshine Coral, Apricot Candy, Rose Layering, Raspberry Latte, Soft Knit and Red Velvet which is the shade I picked up.

Red Velvet is literally a red velvet dark red as the main colour, which a lighter red alongside it.

The product itself claims to give you an ombré look on your lips with a matte finish, but at the same leaving them feeling soft and moisturised.

The packaging for the product itself isn’t anything special and is pretty basic, which I like! Don’t get me wrong, I love packaging that stands out and gets heads turning but at the same time I’m not all that arsed if it’s “boring”.

To get the lipstick up and out of the tube you just pull the slider down on the side and you can bring as little or as much of the product up as you need. Personally I just bring it up enough so I can use some of the product on my lips.

As both the name of the product explains, as well as the pictures the lipstick is two toned. This is so you can create the ombré look on your lips.

Now the way you apply the two toned lipstick isn’t as straight forward as you might think, this being said it isn’t super complicated or anything either!

For the lower lip you want the darker colour at the top and the lighter colour at the bottom.

For the top lip you want to turn the lipstick around and instead have the lighter colour at the top and the darker colour at the bottom.

The reason it needs to be this way is so you get the darker colour inside of the lips and the lighter colour on the outside, hence giving it the blurred out and ombré effect on the lips. I’ve popped photos above of how the lipstick needs to look as you’re holding it to apply to both lower and top lips.

Then when you’re happy with the result you’re ready for the day and can go!

As I always do, I show off my mug wearing the lipstick. 😛

The lipstick itself is pretty opaque and a little bit goes a long way! I feel like I only need to apply one coat of this to the lips and I’m done for most of the day! The only time it wears away is if I drink loads, eat something or apply Vaseline over the top for some moisture. I’m sure if I applied a red tinted lip balm it would work better with the lipstick. I worried due to the matte look of these that they would be incredibly drying, but they’re so comfortable and even when I was really poorly last week I knew I could wear this and not worry about my lips drying out. Even with dry lips this worked!

I always apply some Vaseline on first and as I’m finishing getting ready I’ll let it do it’s work, rub the Vaseline in a little so it’s not too greasy and sticky and then apply the lipstick over. It means I still get some extra added moisture underneath the lipstick.

I found the lasting power of this lipstick was pretty amazing in all fairness and I don’t really feel like I need to reapply it and even when I do it feels so quick and easy to! It doesn’t feel like a chore.

So overall, what do I think about the LANEIGE two tone matte lip bar? I bloody love it!

I’ve been eyeing up the two tone tint lip bars and they were the first ones I wanted out of the two. When I saw these however I knew I had to pick one up. I love wearing blotted ombré lips to be honest with you so this is perfect for me. It doesn’t have the staying power of a liquid lipstick which I love! I had a massive thing for those for some time and now I can’t stand them.

Lip products like this are right up my street and if you love the look of the blotted and ombré lips too, then I HIGHLY recommend you pick one of these up!

What do you think of the LANEIGE two tone lip bar? Would you pick one up to try or give it a miss? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below.

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

February Wish List ’19

I can’t quite believe it’s February already! January really did fly by and to be honest I’m so glad as aside from mine and my mom’s birthdays it was fucking crap. The fact it flew by in a blur was shitty. I wanted to at least get a chance to see January before it was gone.

This being said, I’m using February as a, “this is the month I get my shit together for the rest of the year!” I hope it actually is.

For now however, I’m STUFFED with Korean BBQ and I’m re watching Shameless for the fifth time. I’m actually trying to save up right now so me and Dane can hurry up and book Japan for my birthday, but this being said I’m still going to write my monthly wish list post, because why not. 😛

As you may have already noticed, for the first time in God knows how many years my monthly wish list post isn’t up on the 3rd of the month. I’ve decided that moving forward that this post every month will now be up on the 4th of every month!

Without anymore delays, let’s get on with the post! 😀

• Persona 5 Futaba Sakura Nendoroid (link)

I am so stoked for this Nendoroid being out now! I’m awaiting the delivery of mine from Gamersheek and I can’t wait for her to arrive. I pre-ordered her back in July 2018 so I’ve been waiting for her for over 6 months now. Soon as she arrives she’ll be going next to my Morgana Nendoroid and then before we know it Joker and Queen will be joining them! As soon as she arrives I’ll try and show her off on my blog. I don’t really talk loads about Nendoroid figures on my blog, as in like a dedicated post. Would you guys like that? Let me know if you would like to.

• Pink Soda Sport Arden Panel Sports Bra (link)

I’ve been going to my pole fitness once a week with my best friend Jacqui and I always forget how much I miss it as soon as I start it up again. I also plan on starting the gym with Dane this month too so I could do with some more fitness clothing. I own one Pink Soda sports bra and whilst it isn’t the most supportive in the world, it’s super comfortable and does the job for what I need it for. I’d love to get this one soon!

• Pink Soda Sport Fitness Tights (link)

I know these are called fitness tights… So is that another term for leggings? I could do with some more leggings, again for the gym as well as when me and Dane go for walks together. These match the sports bra that I want to get, so it would be nice to have the matching set in all honesty. I’m going to go for a mooch in JD Sports soon to see what goodies I can get from Pink Soda as I really love the brand.

• Bravissimo Maya Balconette Bra in Plum (link)

If there is a brand I discovered and fell in love with in 2018, it was Bravissimo! I was actually meant to write about it back when I first bought my bras from them, but that never happened. I may end up doing that soon considering it’s been since around July time. I can have a good natter about my experience, as well as which bras I own and why they’re good. ANYWAY this is one of the new styles they’ve brought out in 2019 and it looks GORGEOUS! It looks super comfortable, the colour is really pretty and it just looks fab. It’s not the cheapest in the world, but if it feels comfortable, makes me feel sexy and well does the job, I can’t really complain.

• Himouto! Umaru-chan Vol. 4 (link)

New month, new manga! I’m not going to lie, I hardly read any manga throughout January and this is purely because I was just too bloody busy. I don’t think I’ll pick up this manga until I’ve caught up with all the series volumes I have right now. This being said, I LOVE this manga so as soon as I can pick this up to read I will for sure! I need to finish watching season 2 of Himouto! Umaru-chan in all fairness.

• Paperchase Valentines Pink Ombre Heart Pen (link)

This is such a random item on this list, but in one of my most recent emails about Paperchase’s Valentine’s Day collection I noticed this being advertised and I kind of fell in love with it. It’s obviously meant to be a lolly and even though it’s nothing special, I still love the look of it! I’d have it for work to brighten up my pen pot even more so than it already is. My only issue however is, I bet it’s not a black pen! Which I use the most in my job. 😛 I MAY pick it up as for £3.00 it’s not a bad price. 🙂

• Laneige Two Tone Matte Lip Bar in Red Velvet (link)

I really want to try some more Korean beauty products in 2019, especially lip products. I feel like I need more lip tints in my life as I really love doing the “bitten” lip look. I stumbled across the Laneige two tone lip bars and fell in love. I intend to pick some up soon but the one I really have my eye on is this red velvet shade, which will look really nice in colour opaque, as well as blotted out. I don’t know why but the shade colour reminds me of something vintage, which I love even more! If I end up getting this one, or any of the lip bars, I’ll definitely review them! 😀

So that was my wish list for February! I’m trying to save money to be honest with you as I REALLY want Japan booked out the way, so I can spend the next 11 months saving up spending money. As soon as Japan is booked, you guys will definitely know about it. 😛

What are you guys wishing for throughout February? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time, take care all and I hope you’re having an amazing start to the week. 🙂

June Wish List ’17

It’s the sixth month of the year, which means we are officially halfway through 2017 AND it’s also the month of both mine and Dane’s four year anniversary as well as our first anniversary since we got the keys to the house. YAY!

It’s also another month where I need to watch my money and be good… Which I don’t think I’ve really done this month sadly. 😦 I’ve bought things here and there. URGH! If I buy anything next month though it’ll be something for Dane’s anniversary present. He wants a Fitbit but they’re so expensive! 😥

Although I need to be good it won’t stop me wishing for things I can’t have! 😛

• Smoko Elodie Unicorn Ramen Bowl – $29.99 (link)

I’ve always wanted a proper ramen bowl but I’ve never really found one I like the look of. I discovered this a couple of months ago when I saw that Smoko had a Kickstarter page going and I found they had created a ramen bowl to go alongside their Elodie mug, which I also want! I was going to back the Kickstarter they were doing but when I saw how much they were charging extra because of me being in the UK, I changed my mind. Very sad times. I’d still love this bowl though! It’ll be something I get when I have some spare cash. Import from the USA will be a fucking fortune.

• Firebox My Neighbour Totoro Mug – £16.99 (link)

Okay so it’s not like I need anymore mugs… BUT who can resist this one? Honesty! I love Totoro just as much as most people in the world so this mug is right up my street. I love how he has a lid which obviously makes for his ears. I don’t know what I’d use a mug with a lid for. My mom does all the time… 😛 I’d have this for hot chocolates to be honest in winter time. You could put marshmallows inside and pop the lid on to help them melt! YES THIS IS THE BEST IDEA EVER!

• PS Vita Slim – Prices vary depending whether you buy new or second hand…

I REALLY want a PS Vita… Don’t ask me why I just do! I love my Nintendo 2DS loads and although I don’t play it as much as I used to I do love my handheld consoles and enjoy playing them. I guess I just want to add another to my collection. I also like a lot of the exclusive games on there and they’re super cheap now to buy on the official PS store so why not get one now? Sadly they’re only mostly available second hand and are £80-£150 depending which one you get. The slim is what I want and is sadly more expensive. Places like GAME and CEX sell them second hand so if me and Dane go through with our ideas for anniversary presents I may be getting this and he may be getting a Fitbit. 😛

• Root Letter PS4 Game – £20.00 (link)

I don’t really need a new game for my PS4 anytime soon as I can see Persona 5 taking up much of my life until The Fractured But Whole comes out later this year. BUT I have looked into Root Letter and it looks pretty damn cool! It’s set in Japan for a start, which is a genre of games I appear to enjoy now. It’s a murder mystery style game which looks and sounds really interesting. For £20.00 if I really want to grab myself something else to play alongside Persona 5, at least I know it won’t break the bank!

• Your Name Manga Vol. 1 – £9.99 (link)

I did a little digging last month about Your Name after I saw it in the cinema in April and I delightfully discovered that the film was being turned into a novel AND a manga! I knew I would want to pick up the manga, and guess what? IT’S OUT THIS MONTH! I’ll want to pre order it or at least order it the day it comes out… But money… I may order the novel though for when I go on holiday. I’d love to add it to my collection.

• Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid Manga Vol. 3 – £9.98 (link)

This is a manga I’ll definitely be pre ordering closer to the release date! I’ve been waiting patiently for it to come out for a couple of months now so it’s something I need to read! 😀 I love Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, especially the anime! I soon picked up the manga and although I don’t like it as much as the anime, it’s still great.

• cKy The Phoenix Album – £6.99 (link)

Oh my I am sooooo excited for this album to come out this month! I’ll be downloading it as soon as possible to listen to in the car. I love cKy so much and they’re one of my favourite bands so it’s going to be like seeing an old friend hearing the new album. I already know however that it’s going to be completely different to the previous four albums and I’m unsure if I’m excited or nervous about this… We shall see…

• Secret Key Pink Racoony Hydro-Gel Eye & Cheek Patch – £12.47 (link)

I’ve had my eye  on these for a couple of months now as they look pretty amazing to be honest and I have heard some mixed reviews on them. They’re cute little pink patches that you apply to your under eyes and cheeks. I’d only use these on my eyes though to give me a cooling sensation, help my bags and wake me up a little. They sound like they’d last ages as well and at a decent price. PLUS the raccoon on the packaging is so damn cute! Which is something that first attracted me to the product… 😛

I feel like this months wish list is so boring… I also feel like there was so much more stuff that I actually wanted… Obviously not! I really need to watch my month this month as I was a little naughty in May… I’m meant to be saving up for the holiday in September as well as stuff for the garden. FUCK SAKE I HATE BEING AN ADULT!

What items are on your wish list for June? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!

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