Magical Maidens Pin Haul | Reviews

Hey guys! Hasn't the weather been lovely today!? Even though I'm not the biggest fan of hot weather, 1) because it effects my fibromyalgia & 2) because my wardrobe consists almost entirely of black clothing, I still enjoyed the sunshine today (mostly from the comfort of the shaded areas of my garden, haha, but still!). I had to pop into my local town centre this afternoon to pick up my eBay click & collect order... I thought it was a cool idea to purchase a Viking helmet to wear at one of the Eurovision semi finals in support of my favourite song of 2018, the Danish entry, which is all about Vikings and is just fabulous! :) Whilst I was out, I decided to make the most of it and find a geocache too, and it was such an interesting cache idea, very creative and well hidden. I ended my little outing at subway *nom nom*. Back at home, I spent the rest of my day relaxing out in the garden, playing with the dog and watching butterflies. I am so happy that I'm starting to see so many butterflies appearing! How did you all spend your day? I hope you had fun whatever you did!

Another awesome thing that happened today was that I received the most wonderful mail, including my pre-order from a super kawaii pin creator called Magical Maidens! If you've been a regular follower of mine, you'll know how much I love Studio Ghibli and so when I spotted the new Ghibli X Pokemon inspired pin collection coming soon to this great store, I couldn't resist ordering some for myself! I really wish I could have bought them all!! If you love pin badges, Japanese animation, or just all things cute, then this is a post for you. Enjoy ♥

On the adorable postcard above that I was sent along with my pins (this had a nice note from the seller on it), you can see an array of examples of the various Studio Ghibli pins that are available from Magical Maidens. There are even more  designs than these available too so you totally need to go check out their website and etsy to discover what other character pins they've created. I had been noticing more and more of these gorgeous pins popping up on my Instagram timeline, and was finding it so hard to choose which ones I wanted more!

Can you guys tell which Pokemon is also incorporated into the design of these pins? If you thought Ditto, then you are correct! These pins remind me of the Ditto transformation plushies that are available from the Pokemon centre and I absolutely adore them! I'd been putting a little bit of money aside each payday to finally add some of these marvellous pins to my collection when I noticed a special offer code... Magical Maidens were offering a free pin if you purchased five pins or more, and so I of course jumped at this chance and purchased my pins right away!! Keep reading to find out which characters I chose :)

The first pin I added to my shopping cart was Calcifer, the little fire demon from Howl's Moving Castle (2004). This movie is my second favourite Studio Ghibli and Calcifer is definitely one of my favourite characters from across all of the amazing animation movies! He is so adorable, grumpy but with a big heart, and I am really happy to finally have a pin of him!! I really love the vibrant colours of this pin badge, as well as the wiggly edges/outlines of the design. I think it's super cute that Calcifer is sitting in the shovel that Sophie uses to move him around in the movie. It is a very eye-catching pin and the gold outline matches really well with the orange and yellow colouration. 

Next up we have the Catbus from My Neighbour Totoro (1988), which is literally the cutest of all of the Studio Ghibli movies. It is about two little girls who move into the Japanese countryside and meet the ancient forest spirits that live there; one of them being the Catbus! It is like a bus X cat X caterpillar, which is both hilarious and adorable! It is such a random and unique creature, and I love the how perfectly this pin resembles it. Even the tiny mouse shaped headlights of the character have been included. I love the paler brown shades used for this pin, and I feel like it will go well with any outfit no matter what colour. I really like the tiny cat paw detail on the foot of the Catbus, it's so sweet! I've not seen as many Catbus pins available VS some of the more well-known Ghibli characters, so it's nice to see one this cute! 

You can never have too much No Face merch in your life in my opinion! I LOVE this character & I will literally buy anything I come across featuring him, so there was no way that I would be checking out without purchasing the No Face pin! This is the only pin of this character from Spirited Away (2001) that I have seen where he's holding the gold from the movie! Without going into too much detail for those of you who might not have seen the movie yet (you seriously need to!), this character tries to bribe and trick people by offering them gold! And so it's super awesome that he's holding a pile of gold in his hands! Another thing that I like about this pin is how simplistic it is, it looks so cool just having the characters most iconic features and nothing but the gold coins to distract from his overall look, if you get what I mean. Overall, it's just a very nice pin badge :) 

I'm pretty sure this little cutie was the first Magical Maidens Ditto X Studio Ghibli pin I saw and it had me lusting after the collection from then on! It's been exciting to follow the store and see all of the brilliant designs that they have come up with! Of course any Studio Ghibli set wouldn't be complete without Totoro, the character which is the logo of the company itself! He's obviously from My Neighbour Totoro, and he is a troll, a guardian of the forest and a big friendly giant basically! Am I the only one who's sad that he's not real? I wish I could give him a hug because he looks so fluffy! He is magical and can control the natural elements around him, along with his two little sidekicks, Chu-toro and Chibi-toro (I would really love to see these two as pins in the future too so I could wear all three of the trolls together!). This is another pin with a simple design, which is not a bad thing at all. Totoro is an iconic character and he is wonderful just the way he is in terms of design. I cannot wait to show him off to the world! 

YAYY! I'm over the moon that Magical Maidens included a Turnip Head pin in their collection! I very rarely find pretty merchandise for this Howl's Moving Castle character, which is such a shame because he's so charming and endearing! His character is an interesting take on a scarecrow and I just think he's fabulous! This pin is so well-detailed and illustrates all of Turnip Head's best features, even down to the smallest detail like his legs and the flap on the top of his hat!! I am lovin' his bowtie, it stands out! He's in my top 10 favourite characters by Studio Ghibli, and I think he might be my best out of all of the pins I bought in my haul. When I showed my dad (who's never watched a Ghibli movie in his life by the way!) my new pins, he immediately pointed out Turnip Head as his favourite too. I think his character doesn't get as much attention as it deserves, so Thankyou Magical Maidens for creating a pin of him!! 

The sixth and final pin that I chose was this Soot Sprite one! It was hard to resist it, with that huge happy grin and all of the colourful stars! These stars are actually a traditional Japanese candy called Konpeito, and they became famous worldwide amongst Japanese animation fans when they were featured on the movie Spirited Away. The soot sprites had made an appearance in other movies by the company, however they weren't focused on as key characters until we see them as the workers in the boiler room in Spirited Away. There's a scene where they are given these sweets and they are all so excited!! It's too cute! I have actually tried Konpeito myself because I was so curious about what they tasted like. You can read my review here if you're interested :) 

I love that the Soot Sprite pin has these candies in it's design because not only are they pretty but they also make me picture the adorable movie scene I mentioned everytime I look at it! I like that the shape of the Soot Sprite is also a little different than the typical design we see; this pin makes them look more like a ball of fluffy dust and adds even more cuteness to the overall look of the character! It's just another wonderful pin badge and it feels great to have it in my collection. 

I wanted to show you guys this photo above because it captures how pretty the gold outlines of these pins are! They are all like that and so when they catch the light, the gold shines and makes them even more eye-catching. I've always preferred silver to gold, and I don't own many gold accessories so I wasn't sure what I would think of the gold detailing before they arrived, however I can confirm that I love love love it! I think the gold shine makes these pins look so presentable and fashionable, and it just adds that little extra something to them, especially the character pins with the more simplistic designs, like the Totoro one above. What do you guys think of the gold outline? 

An additional thing that I find fantastic about these pins is that they can be worn on their own because they have such bold and colourful designs that make them very noticeable, but they can also be paired up and would look fabulous together. Oh, and they also have rubber backs which I prefer, as they are less likely to rub and irritate your skin VS the traditional metal pin badge clasp. 

I couldn't be more happier with my new Ditto X Studio Ghibli inspired pin badges from Magical Maidens. They are all great quality and in perfect condition, with the most beautiful designs and detailing. I think they are also such a bargain for only £7 each! At this price, I am super tempted to go back for more once my bank account has recovered after my upcoming holiday! I still cannot believe I got one of these pins for free because of the special offer, what an amazing deal! I have a mighty need to fill my life with more of the pins from this collection. I hope that you've all enjoyed having a nosey at these Studio Ghibli goodies. Do you have a favourite pin? Please let me know in the comments guys?

Thankyou for reading!

♥

Are you a fellow pin collector?

If so, do you have a favourite pin in your collection?

Also fellow Ghibli fans, what's your favourite movie and/or character? 

Share:

enamel pins, Geeky, Japanese animation, Kawaii, Magical Maidens, nerdy, pin badge, pin game strong, studio ghibli