April Cute Things

Hello Everyone! Wow... it's been absolutely ages since I last blogged, and for a second there, I wasn't sure if I was coming back. Not gonna lie, 2023 hasn't started off great for me. Sorry to begin a cutesy themed post like this, but I don't want to sugarcoat things. Mental health struggles are unfortunately common and if me being open about my own struggles helps just one person feel not so alone, or gives them that little push to be open about what they're going through with their loved ones or a therapist or something, then it's worth it. Up until my early 20's, I used to be one of those people who hid what I was going through, but my OG readers will know I'm pretty open about the mental health conditions I have; I've even written a few posts about them in the past as well. Anyhow, this year has brought with it many unforeseen circumstances that have had a big impact on my already messy mind, and my ability to get-up-and-go all but vanished, until literally last week. So, here I am FINALLY with a new post, something short and sweet, as the saying goes (well, I'll try to keep it short but overexplaining is part of my package deal, haha!). I hope you all enjoy reading! 

Back in late December when I was doing what a lot of us do, thinking about our goals for the new year ahead, I came up with a post series idea. I used to share several posts a week at one point, but reality check: going from nothing to that just wasn't happening. I was trying to wrack my brain for ways to still talk about all the things that make my day-t0-day life that little bit brighter, whilst only sharing something once a week. Eventually, I thought why not do a sort of round up post at the end of each month, to share with you all anything cute that I might have bought or watched or whatever. I feel like most of you folks are here for that anyway! I'm not sure if the title will stay the same, but getting back to writing took enough energy without attempting to come up with a catchier name... I mean, does it really need one? We'll see :) 

Since today's post has more of a catching up vibe, I'm going to be sharing all about the cutest additions to my life since Christmas Time. Some might think it's a little late for that now, but the last few months have felt like one giant never-ending month. Somehow simultaneously speeding by and dragging at the same time! Who can relate? Plus, I think all my cutesy acquisitions deserve to be celebrated. I know I'll enjoy talking about them and remembering the joy I felt when I first got them. Fingers crossed it's still a fun read for everyone else! 

Decided to start off with these embroidery pieces. Aren't they gorgeous!? They were made for me by my wonderful blogging bestie, Natalee from ThereMightBeCoffee. Embroidery has been a new hobby of hers for several months now and she's made some lovely pieces, including these which she surprised me with for my birthday last Autumn and for Christmas. I know that I said I was just going to be featuring things from Christmas onwards, but I couldn't not show both pieces off,  because I'm absolutely over the moon with them! Both these characters are special to me, as Lily is my favourite villager from the Nintendo video game series, Animal Crossing, and Hamtaro holds a big place in my heart from my childhood. It was an anime series that I really adored growing up, so much so that I even named a pet hamster of mine after the main character. If you're also a fan of this little cutie, you should check out my previous post all about the Hamtaro Nendoroid :) Which is your favourite of the two pieces Nat very kindly made for me? I feel so loved because I know how much time these pieces take to put together ♥ I cannot wait to get them up on the wall in my bedroom! 

It wouldn't be a Raiin Monkey life update if it didn't include something about plushies! I am addicted to buying them, always have been and don't think I'm gonna be stopping any time soon, with new releases and collections popping up all the time. I have my eye on Jelly Cats now, so watch this space, haha! I've actually added a couple more to my collection this year, but I thought I'd leave something for the next edition of my monthly Cute Things series. Which of the plushies below pulls on your heartstrings the most? 

I have been aware of this lovely little froggy character since the early days of the internet, at least the early days for me which would be the early 2000s. I have always been very fond of frogs, but the obsession hadn't quite taken hold back then. I was all about Sanrio and San-X, especially some of the less talked about characters nowadays, such as Chi Chi Monchan. I would occasionally see this froggo around the kawaii enthusiast communities, but I didn't have a clue who it was until a few years ago. Its name is Pickles, and even though I have a tendency to refer to plushies as 'he', something cool about this frog is that, according to the info I found on wiki, its gender is a secret. I think that's really cool. Back in January, a new store was brought to my attention on Instagram called Disco Waffle. They sell plushies that can be quite tricky to source here in the UK, and as soon as they announced that they were stocking Pickles, I had to have one! I chose yellow, because it's just such an eye-catching and cheerful colour, and I am very happy with how well-made this plush is. 

I said I was going to attempt to keep this post short, but that ships already sailing... I can't help myself. I have to tell ALL THE DETAILS :D 

Another plushie that I got back in January was this fabulous Cinnamoroll from the Build A Bear Workshop. When BAB announced that they would be bringing out a Hello Kitty plush for the iconic character's 40th Anniversary, I was super excited, however, I wasn't a fan of the silver design choices they went for. I still have the original Hello Kitty plush they released when I was a teenager (it was my second ever purchase from them), so I didn't really need another, but the anniversary release had me hoping for a new series, like they seem to be doing a lot over the last several years, with the Pokemon collection for example, that seems to be still going strong! It was the prospect of more Sanrio characters that made me snap up a Cinnamoroll as soon as I spotted an ad on the stores instagram. I don't usually buy white plushies, just because of how quickly dust and stuff shows up on them, but I couldn't say no... he's sooooo cute! I love his little cinnamon bun shaped tail and squishy, floppy ears. They make up for the fact that whoever stuffed him did so so thoroughly that he can't be put into a sitting position, making him tough to display with my other plushies. Oops! Are you hoping for anymore Sanrio BAB's? Kuromi is my fave, so I'm hoping for a plush of her, but I'm also super curious how they would design Pom Pom Purin to make sure he's the chubby cutie we all know and love. 

How sweet are the squishmallows!? The standard sized one on the right was bought for me by my sister off my Christmas wishlist. It's supposed to be a beluga whale, one of my favourite sea creatures, and his name is Laslow. I fell in love with him as soon as I saw him, but the name also had a nostalgic appeal to it. I've been trying to think of where I'd heard the name back when I was a kid, and my sister made me remember the Cartoon Network show, Camp Lazlo, so I'm thinking that might be the one! Again, as I'm not generally a fan of white plushies, I am really glad that Squishmallow decided to shake things up and make Laslow a pastel lilac and blue colour, and to give him what I call the uwu mouth, that classic :3 face. It's so cute! The tiny squishmallow was gifted to me by my lovely friend, Sophie, and it was the perfect surprise because I'd been thinking about getting the standard sized Maggie the Stingray squishmallow for a while. If it wasn't due to the fact that my room is slowly being overtaken my plushies, I would have so many more squishmallows by now, but I'm trying to only get the ones I really have a mighty need for, so it's great that I now have a pocket-sized Maggie instead :) No matter how long it's been since I bought my first squishmallow, I am still amazed at how soft they are everytime I touch one! 

I thought I'd include some snippets from my instagram of other cute things I've been buying. There's just something about pez dispensers that makes me never able to walk away whenever I see one of my favourite characters. So, I had to grab this Bulbasaur when my sister spotted it in B&M. And of course because I have no self control, when she mentioned that they had a Pikachu in stock, I got that one, too. Do any of you guys like pez? Have you kept any from your childhood? The rug I got from Kenji when I headed to Manchester City with my best friend in December last year. I'd spotted these fabulous little rugs/mats back in September when I had visited the Trafford Centre store for the first time, and very much regretted not picking one up then. The Arndale store didn't have the Oppy the Frog one I wanted, so I got my second favourite Tiny K character, Dorothy the witchy cat. I was really impressed by how soft these rugs were, and love that they aren't fluffy so will be easy to clean. They were £8 each as far as I remember! 

I have the most fantastic of friends!! All but one of these items was a gift from one of my loved ones :') Thank you for being amazing, guys!! 

So, the only item above that I purchased myself was the stationery blind box with the adorable strawberry pig on the front. During my Christmas Time trip to Manchester, I popped into Miniso to see whether the rumoured Sanrio collection had been stocked yet. Unluckily, it showed up not long after we'd been! Because I was a little gutted, I was determined to find something to buy, but it's a pricey store so I was almost ready to admit defeat, when I spotted these little Miniso X Penple Toys boxes not far from the till (and discounted!). I have no idea what's inside yet, as I've been meaning to unbox it on the Tiktok I made just for sharing my toy collecting and unboxing hobby. I've not posted on there in ages, but hoping to change that very soon. So if that's your cup of tea, please give my account a follow. 

My friend Sophie, along with the tiny ray squishmallow gave me a gift bag filled with all sorts of lovely things when we met up in February (thank you!! ♥). Due to covid and just general life getting in the way, we hadn't seen each other for a ridiculously long time so it was so great to finally get a chance to hang out! We had lunch at a cute little tearoom in my hometown, and then headed to a local park to feed the ducks and have a wander about. It was a really nice day! And thanks for her, I now have my first Cats VS Pickles blind bag!! It's been so tough not to open, but I'm trying to save things for my tiktok. Everyone cross your fingers for me that there's a super cute cat inside! Lovin' the Winnie the Pooh initial mug she got for me, too. I really like the old style illustrations of A.A. Milne's charming characters, vs the cartoony ones :) 

Another of my awesome blogger friends, Kim from ChimmyVille, surprised me at Christmas Time by getting me something off my amazon wishlist. She's been buying me a gift off there for my birthday and Christmas for a few years now, because she's such an incredibly kind person ♥ I really appreciate it! This time, she got me the Jolteon Funko Pop, so I now have all three starter Eeveelutions thanks to her getting me the electric baby :) Really chuffed about that every time I look at my Pokemon shelf! 

How adorable is that Tiny K notebook from Kenji!? When we went to Manchester at the end of 2022, my best friend wanted me to pick something for my birthday and christmas presents, and this was one of the things I chose. Kenji has been my favourite store for a long time, and I am so delighted for them that they have grown so much that they are doing partnerships/collaborations with other companies and also expanding out of the north, with a few stores now popping up in the midlands. Go Kenji! We spotted this notebook in HMV, and I absolutely adore that it features most of the store's original characters, apart from the frog and the orange cat. It's also a really thick notebook and has the cream pages that I prefer. Only time will tell if it ends up being added to my hoard of notebooks that I can't bring myself to use, haha! 

Look how precious these babies are!! It's been well over a year now since these endearing Pucky X Pop Mart figures became my new favourite collectable blind boxes, and if it wasn't for the fact we've been experiencing a cost of living crisis in the UK since then, I'd have so many by now! These adorable little vinyl figures are always so well detailed and brilliant quality. I love that many of them come with tiny accessories, too, and the fact that there's loads of versions available. My most sought after collection is the Animal Tea Party Pucky Babies, which is where the two figures above come from. My sister bought me these for Christmas and I couldn't wait to open them in all the festive excitement. I probably should have included a photo of all the different figures you can find inside these blind boxes, but the ones I wanted most were Ducky Baby and Poker Rabbit Baby (as it looks like the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland!). It must have been the Christmas magic because I only went and got Ducky Baby in my first box!! What a sweetheart he is with his tiny duckling mug!! I'm obsessed with how each of these cuties come with their own mug for the tea party. I was just as happy to get Squirrel Baby because there's not one Pucky Baby in this series that I don't like. A big thank you to my sister for making my Christmas Day so wonderful! 

In the previous photo, I featured another of the Animal Tea Party blind boxes and that's because the other gifts that my best friend got for me were Pucky Babies blind boxes!! Thank you so much, Jess ♥ I was super close to choosing two of the Tea Party ones as there was a deal on 2 in the Kenji Arndale store; I can't remember the price though, but I hope they keep that deal as a permanent thing! However,  I was so intrigued by the packaging of the Pucky Festival Babies! Each figure is dressed in a traditional outfit to represent elements of a festival celebrated in Asia, and they all have a gorgeous design! I'll get around to opening them on my tiktok soon, so keep on the lookout, fellow toy fans! 

Well, that's all I've got for you today, guys! I really hope that this was an interesting read and that I had you all thinking 'AWWW!' at some point thoroughout. Please let me know your thoughts on this new monthly series idea :) I am very glad that talking about some of the cutesy things I've gotten over the last several months with you all has pulled me out of that blogging slump that I was starting to worry would never end. It's good to be back, and I hope I can stick at it! Much better than I can stick at keeping my word count down... I think that one's an impossible hurdle for me though! Wishing you all an excellent month of May (in addition to being a fan of the adorable things in life, I am also a Eurovision Song Contest fan so I'm very much looking forward to that!). 

Thank you for reading! 

♥

What's the cutest thing you've bought lately?

Also, tell me what you're looking forward to next month! 

I've been a lot more active on my social media lately, 

so why not give me a follow over there?: 

| Instagram | Tiktok | Twitter | Tumblr | 

You Are Enough Planner by The Latest Kate

Hello, lovelies! Long time, no see read... (that sounded more funny in my head!). Please ignore my rusty first line, it's been so long since I've written a post intro and I was never particularly good at them in the first place :D If you follow me over on Instagram, you may have seen my gorgeous new planner! I recently shared a photo of it, and promised to blog all about it, so here we go. FYI: I'm obsessed with it already!

LOOK AT THAT COVER! Isn't it the most adorable thing you've ever seen!? That tiny bumblebee now fills me with happiness every single day. Most of my readers are also fellow lovers of the cute things in life, so will likely recognise the artwork style right away, but if not, Kate Allan, aka The Latest Kate, is the artist and you seriously need to give them a follow over on Twitter and Instagram, because their art is the loveliest, with each piece featuring a cute creature along with a signature uplifting quote. With the world seemingly getting more and more crap each day, seeing these types of wholesome messages is even more important for our mental well-being, and so what's better than a planner filled with them? Sometimes venturing online can be overwhelming, for so many reasons, and so being able to see Kate's artwork without logging onto social media has been great! 

I am so impressed with this planner that I just had to share all about it, and give you all my first impressions, plus show off the pages you will find inside :) 

The first thing you will be greeted with when you open up the You Are Enough planner by The Latest Kate (side note: how lovely is that title though?) is a sheet filled with the most wonderful little animal stickers. All of the bee ones include sweet captions and I absolutely love that. I can't possibly choose a favourite, but the rainbow dinosaur and the sleeping bumble on the flower are up there! Which is the best, in your opinion? 

The next page you will find inside the planner is a 2023 overview calendar. I've never required my planners to have sheets like these, as there's not really space to make a note next to the dates and I am a perpetual over writer! However, I'm sure lots of people find them very handy to be able to circle important dates to remember, that they can make a more detailed note of elsewhere in the planner. The back of the planner includes two more pages like this one, one for 2022 and another for 2024. Personally, I would have liked all three of these pages to be grouped together, especially because the 2022 one is at the back and easy to forget about as its located after the main planner pages. Maybe using this page will prompt me to be more organised when it comes to planning things in advance :) 

Something that I find adorable about this planner is that so many of the pages are in pastel colours! As a fan of kawaii culture, something that is very much pastel in aesthetics. I find this so visually appealing. I also feel like it will help my writing to stand out more, than if it was surrounded by darker shades, if that makes sense. I've always had a tough time sticking to writing in planners daily, so little things like this can really make a difference for me. 

After the calendar overview page, you will find monthly calendars, with a box for you to jot down notes for each date. These are the type of calendars that I much prefer as I can jot down people's birthdays, appointments, etc. As the You Are Enough planner runs from September 2022 until December 2023, these are the dates included for the monthly section, with each one being in a different pastel shade. They note important holidays and special days from across the world, such as Diwali and Earth Day, as well as the different moon phases, which is one of my favourite features. I love to take photographs of the full moon :) 

Cute bird alert!! The next section of the planner is where all of the beautiful artwork begins! Of course, the large majority of the planner is made up of weekly pages, with each of the seventy weeks being accompanied by an A5 print of Kate's art, and oh my gosh, they are all such a joy to look at! I am super happy with how spacious the weekly pages are; there's lots of room to write in each box, and I'm very glad to see that Saturday & Sunday have an equal amount of space. I've bought so many planners in the past that have made the weekend into one bigger box, and it's so frustrating! 

The only detail I would personally change about the weekly page set up is that the bottom left corner space is taken up by a mini calendar. Again, this may just be because I am not a fan in general of these number calendars, where you can only highlight a key date, but I would have liked to see a blank box, maybe titled as 'notes' so I could jot down extra things, or even just have a blank square to decorate with stickers, washi tape and/or a little doodle or something. What do you guys think? 

I am seriously in love with the artwork in this planner! Here's the design for my birthday week next year; I was so chuffed to find a cat there, especially when it could totally be a Maine Coon or Norwegian Forest Cat (my two favourite breeds)! It's so great that when you have completed using the planner, you could cut out your favourite art pieces and display them on your wall/in a frame. You're essentially getting seventy The Latest Kate art prints for only around £10... it's amazing! I got mine from Book Depository here. The special days and also the moon calendar dates are printed onto the weekly pages, too, which is awesome, as I am always in need of a reminder. I have a tendency to forget things if I don't have some sort of visual reminder. Who's the same? 

I love that there's a variety of different colour schemes and themes included throughout this planner. One page may have a super colourful, bright illustration of a dragon, and the next has a couple of foxes coloured in calm shades of blue and purple. It's so wonderful! Such attention-to-detail has been put into these designs, with some of the themes matching up with the season. There's a pretty bird sitting in a pink blossom tree in the April section, for example. The margins/grids for each weekly page are a different colour, which is a very nice touch. 

At the back of the sixteen month's worth of weekly pages, you'll find two pages allocated for 2024 planning. On each, you're given a few lines for every month of the year. I think this is a great idea, as lines are a lot more spacious than an alternative design, such as grid calendar. After this are the 2022 and 2024 overview calendars I mentioned earlier, and I just think maybe these pages could have been used for something else, like a budgeting/expenditure planner, a page for your details in case you somehow lose your planner, etc. I mean, other people might need these kinds of pages in their planners, so it's all down to preference, and it's only 3 pages out of 176 that I won't use much :) 

The final section of the You Are Enough planner is made up of notes pages. I counted thirteen sides, so there's lots of room! I'll probably use these pages to write up detailed plans for special events, like if I'm going somewhere for a day out, I might make a note of important details such as addresses and local attractions, stuff like that. All of the note pages are blue, which for some people will be preferred as it categorises the section. I think it would have been cool to have these pages in different colours to keep in with the colourful theme of the rest of the planner, but the colours of the pages don't impact the functionality of the planner. It's fantastic regardless of my thoughts about little feature changes. 

Check out the sleeve/pouch on the back page of the planner!! It's so eye-catching being in vibrant yellow and with the most fabulous multi-coloured dinosaur, that matches one of the stickers at the start. They're iconic and I've named them Nijiro. Nijiro will now be the handy guardian of my cute little planner tabs and stickers! I really love how the yellow contrasts with the muted blue tone of the notes pages, Like bam! it's a surprise dino! 

Toadstool dragon!?! HE'S SO PRECIOUS!

All-in-all, I absolutely adore my new planner! I look forward to writing in it each day, and I hope that continues to be the case. As someone who seems to be a chronic starter- none finisher when it comes to projects, it has always been a struggle to keep up with these sorts of things, but I am feeling really confident about the You Are Enough planner. 

Just some final opinions I don't want to miss out of my review... I really like that this planner is spiral-bound, as it can be super frustrating not being able to lay a page flat when writing. I have fibromyalgia and one of the symptoms I struggle with is wrist pain, so I need notebooks and planners that don't make it unnecessarily challenging to write! Also, the paper used to make this planner is such nice quality and thick. I haven't tried out if felt-tip pen or highlighter ink bleeds through to the other side yet, but I feel like it's not going to be a problem. Another detail that is awesome about this planner is that it has been printed using soy ink! There's just so many things that make this newest planner by Kate Allan so brilliant, and I can't recommend it enough. What a great value for your money, too. I'm surprised it's so affordable for the quality :) If you're looking for a new planner, get yourself this one! You won't regret it! 

I hope you all enjoyed reading today's post and checking out this lovely planner by The Latest Kate. Be sure to go check out their artwork, and the other books and planners they've published. As the weekend approaches, I wish you all a marvellous one! Keep a look out my next post early next week, that will be all about what I bought on my recent trip to Manchester where I visited my favourite kawaii store, Kenji. 

Thank you for reading!

♥

Are you a fan of writing in planners? 

I'd love to hear all about your favourite ones!

What I Bought in London | Haul

Hey Everyone! Happy Spring!! I'm so delighted that the season of flower growth and newly-emerged butterflies and blue skies and cute baby animals is here :) Goodbye season depression, and hello days of being able to read outside in the mild sunshine. I cannot wait to get out and about more with my camera in nature, and for the stores to start filling up with cutesy pastel things! What are you most looking forward to this Springtime? 

At the beginning of February, I went on a trip to London with my best friend and her family. It was my first time properly visiting the city. I went there once with my university to go to the Natural History Museum (which is fantastic, by the way!), but it was a straight-there, straight-back kind of trip and I never got to explore the surroundings. This time round I was actually able to experience London, and despite hearing how much of a nightmare it can be for people with social anxiety, like myself, I was surprised by how similar it was to other cities I've visited with regards to how crowded it was (well, apart from how busy the restaurants were!). Even the infamous London Underground wasn't the hellish experience I had tried to prepare myself for, but I didn't actually have to do any of the navigating myself, so that helped a lot! If you're like me, I recommend going this time of year, and also planning where exactly you want to go beforehand, because London is massive and it can be so overwhelming. But this isn't a post about how to survive London as an anxious wreck of a person, so on with the topic at hand, haha :D

I personally love a good haul post, and so I thought I'd share one of my own, for those who are curious to see what I spent my money on whilst visiting the capital of my country. I hope you all enjoy reading anyhow! 

So, I didn't actually pick up many things whilst I was in London, or go to many shops for that matter, because that wasn't the main objective of our trip. We were there to go to the Warner Bros. Harry Potter Studio Tour, and we were only staying down south for the weekend, so ended up with just a couple of hours to actually shop. My best friend & I chose to head to Covent Garden, because it's just one of those places that's an iconic part of the city, and I was curious to see it with my own eyes. Plus, ARTBOX is there and as a lover of all things kawaii, I felt it would be atrocious for me to not go! There are not many stores dedicated to 'kawaii culture' in the UK, ones that sell only officially licensed goodies from Japan and Korea, so I wasn't about to miss an opportunity to visit. Now that it's obvious that I went to Artbox, I guess I'd better show you what I picked up from there first :) 

The first thing that went into my little basket was one of these Hamtaro Re-ment blind boxes!! I have been a fan of this super adorable anime since I was a kid, and this was my first time ever encountering official merch in person. I could have cried with excitement, and it didn't take me long to circle back around after browsing the store to pop another into my basket, haha! If you want to read more about my love for the anime, and are just a fellow fan of this adorable bunch of hamsters, check out my previous post all about my new Hamtaro nendoroid :) 

If you've never heard of Re-ment before, it is a Japanese company that makes miniature toys. Their most well known products are blind box series, like the Hamtaro ones I bought, containing a selection of tiny set ups, which once all variations are collected can be display together to create a scene. This series in particular will allow you to create the perfect little Ham-Ham Club House, with all the furniture and accessories needed to add character to the scene. The ones that I was hoping most to get where set 4 with the little sunflower-print bed & hamster slippers (featuring the characters Howdy & Dexter), and also set 1, which comes with ham-ham desserts and a tiny figure of the main man himself, Hamtaro. To be honest, I would have been happy to unbox any set because I would love to complete the entire scene some day. I'll show you guys the two sets I had inside my blind boxes later on in the post :) 

I seriously cannot go anywhere without buying a new notebook! And London was certainly no exception. I picked up this super sweet hamster notebook because how could I not when I had hamsters on the brain? The design is so eye-catching, and the back of the notebook shows the little ham-ham's butt, which made me laugh. It's blank inside so I can use it for anything: a journal, a small scrapbook, a sketchbook for crappy doodles, and it was less than £2 if I'm remembering correctly. 

As I rarely get the chance to buy blind boxes by Japanese brands in person unless I'm at Comic Con, I was determined to get a few different ones in Artbox. If I'm honest, I was expecting there to be a lot more selection in store, considering their website is packed full of goodies, but I discovered the shop was small and they didn't have a lot of the products I was hoping to see. I was sure I would be leaving the store with a big plush, and also some Pusheen blind boxes, but that didn't happen. I admit I was a little sad about this, especially because we had to queue outside for half an hour just to get into the store! Nevertheless, it was still fun to finally be able to visit Artbox, and I love the things I picked up, including this Sanrio My Melody & Friends keychain blind box. I kind of regret not buying another one now after seeing how pretty the keychain was!! Have you ever been to Artbox in London? If so, I'd love to know what you bought, and also what your thoughts about the store itself were. 

Before I share my unboxing finds with you all, I wanted to talk about the other store that was at the top of my list of places to visit in Covent Garden, The Moomin Store! When I was really young, I adored watching The Moomins cartoon, and still know all of the words to its lovely theme song (which I now have to take a momentary break from writing to sing and get out of my system so I can continue... oops!). I have only ever found a few official Moomins products whilst out shopping, so I was very much looking forward to the array of products I would find in the London boutique shop, and it did not disappoint! Sure, the store is super small and very tough to get around with lots of people also in there trying to squeeze past one another down the narrow 'aisles', but I feel like the size of the store gave it more character. It was so cute! And I adored the way that they decorated in the entrance and up the stairs leading to the boutique. It was really difficult to choose what I wanted to take home with me! 

I decided as soon as I walked through the doors that I was leaving with a plush of Moomintroll. He just looked so small and cuddly and precious; I couldn't resist :) I love the simplistic design of these iconic hippo-esque trolls! Who else is a Moomin fan? I'm pretty sure that they had a few other plushies available, but I can only remember Moomintroll and Snork Maiden for definite. I am super happy with this new addition to my plushie collection! He's so smooth and fantastic quality, and he wasn't overly expensive. I was expecting everything to be super overpriced because I've heard that's commonplace in London, but all the items were priced similarly to what I've seen online. 

I collect pin badges, among so many other things, and was hoping to find one I liked in The Moomin Store before I even got there, as I was yet to own a Moomin pin but also because I wanted a keepsake to commemorate the trip. I love how cheerful the design I chose is! Moomintroll looks like he's living his best life dancing in the sunshine, and I thought the quote on the backing card was sweet! It says 'I only want to live in peace and plant potatoes and dream!' And it made me instantly think this is something Samwise Gamgee (from The Lord of the Rings) would say, and I just had to have it. I bought the postcard because a) I also collect postcards XD, and b) I wanted something to display in my bedroom that I can look at and have remind me of the trip. This one caught my eye because of how colourful and vibrant it is, and also because Snufkin is on it. Snufkin, the flute-playing guy sitting in the tree, was my favourite character when I was a kid. I also love Moominpappa's top hat, aka the Hobgoblin's hat.  

Here's a closer look at the eight different designs you could get inside the My Melody Acrylic keychain blind box. I wish I knew the name of the product to tell you guys, but I think it might be something like the 'Good Friends Share' series, featuring My Melody & Piano. My Sweet Piano was this adorable fluffy little sheep characters original name and she's My Melody's best friend. The charms I wanted to get most were the first one shown, My Melody holding a tiny plushie of her bestie, and also Piano with tiny bunny ears. Am I the only one who thinks it's a little 'weird' for My Melody to be wearing extra bunny ears? I've heard that she's supposed to be a little girl dressing as a bunny, just like Hello Kitty is in fact not a cat, but why wear a bunny hood and then another pair of bunny ears? :D So that's the design that I was hoping not to get, as well as the one with Piano & My Melody's backs facing towards us, because I want to see their cute faces! Who's ready to see which one I received?

YAYY!! I got the one I wanted most! That almost never happens to me, so I was over the moon :) And I was so impressed by the size of these charms! I was expecting something tiny but this keychain charm is big and so pretty. I love the pastel lilac outline, and the way the shading has been done, with an almost airbrushed look. I don't know if that's what it's even called, but I love how the colour is faded around the edges. My Melody's rosy cheeks are the sweetest, but by favourite feature is the tiny plushie of Piano, which I feel like I need for myself in the real life now! The charm itself is thick and well-made, and features the design on both sides. It looks sturdy but I won't be risking putting it on my bags and ruining it. I don't trust those types of keychain not to come loose either. Which would have been your favourite to receive?

As for the Re-ment boxes, here's what was inside the first one I opened. I got number 8, the bench set! How flippin' cute is that bench though!? I need a life-size replica in my own garden :D Even though this set wasn't one of my favourites, I couldn't be more happy to have unboxed one that came with a tiny hamster figure!! This pigtail-wearing cutie is called Bijou, and I'm lovin' that the tiny present matches her in colour. Included with this set are some stickers to decorate the green book, however, I decided not to try to stick them on before I took the photos because I am very uncoordinated and will properly misalign the stickers and mess everything up. My favourite character from the anime series has always been Sandy, and she's one of the tiny hamsters on the pages of the book, so seeing that made me smile! Here's what I got in the final blind box...

It's number 3, which I think is supposed to be a living room type set! As you can see, you get a wooden cabinet, a little lamp(?) type decoration, a picture frame and a tiny Bijou figure! It was a bit of a shame to have gotten another Bijou, however, this doesn't really matter because it means I'm another step closer to completing the collection :) 

This re-ment came with some cut-out's instead of stickers, but again, I might ruin them so I am hesitant to try to cut them out. There are two photos to display inside the frame, and also a rug. I love that Sandy is there again, with her rhythmic gymnastics ribbon in hand! The other photo is of Hamtaro munching on a sunflower seed, and on the rug, we have the sister characters, Pashmina & Penelope. My favourite part of this set has to be the tiny Penelope decoration, which I assume is supposed to be a little lantern. What do you think? Penelope always makes me think of a little ghost, so this piece reminds me of a Halloween decoration and that makes me love it even more. For those of you who aren't familiar with the series, Penelope is incredibly shy and so she permanently wears a blanket over her head. Sometimes I feel like doing the same when I leave the house, so I vibe with Penelope, haha!

How cool do these sets look when they are displayed together!? And that's only two of them. I cannot wait to see a full completed scene. It will look marvellous! After setting up this photo, I realised how much smaller the other Bijou figurine was so I feel like one of them is supposed to be a plushie of Bijou, because why would there be two of the same character? Plushie bijou is a treasure and must be protected!! I think it's awesome that the cupboard doors can be opened and there's space inside it to store things. So much attention to detail! I need more re-ments in my life! Which is your favourite of the two sets? 

So that's all of the adorable merchandise I picked up whilst visiting London, aside from what I bought at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour. I am kind of glad that I didn't have much time to shop whilst there because I might have been recovering financially for a long while *insert embarrassed emojis here*. I am really chuffed with everything I got, and I hope you all enjoyed checking out my haul. I wish you all the loveliest of Springs, lots of yummy snacks at Easter time, and months of sunshine wherever you live :) 

Thank you for reading!

♥

What was the last cute thing that you purchased? 

Have you ever visited London? Tell me your favourite thing about it!

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Hamtaro Nendoroid | Review

Hi guys! I hope you have all had a lovely start to your week. I finally got my first Nendoroid!! And I've been sooo looking forward to sharing my excitement with you all :) I waited to unbox it until yesterday because I had to move some things around and clear a space on my bookcase for the little cutie to go, and procrastination is a part of my personality at this point. But that just means the hype is fresh in my mind, so it's the perfect time to write all about it.

In case anyone is wondering why it took me so long to step into the wonderful world of Nendo collecting, it's because I literally collect so many other figures and, as many of you guys will know, Nendoroids can get pretty pricey! I was certain that when I eventually did get my first Nendoroid, it would be the Kirby one, as I've wanted it for a super long time, but then the Good Smile Company (who makes these awesome figures) announced they were releasing a Hamtaro version. So after freaking out, I knew now was the time! I couldn't be more thrilled!

Before I get into my first impressions and whatnot, let's backtrack a little. I almost forgot to even explain what Nendoroids were! It's easy to assume everyone who's been on the nerdy side of the internet for a while will have seen them before... oops. But anyhow, Nendoroids, or Nendos for short, are a type of vinyl figure made in Japan. They were originally of anime characters, then game characters, and now you can get other popularised characters, such as Elsa from Disney's Frozen. They are super detailed for being figures on the smaller side, and so photogenic, too! As someone who partakes in toy photography as a hobby, this made them appeal a lot to me. Have a google of the different Nendoroids you can get after reading my post; you'll not be disappointed. 

I also wanted to introduce Hamtaro :) If you're a fellow lover of kawaii culture, then you may have come across the most adorable hamsters and not even released that there's a whole anime series surrounding them. Hamtaro: Little Hamsters, Big Adventures began airing in Japan in 2000 and didn't take long to arrive in Australia, the US and across Europe. I first watched it on the channel Fox Kids, and I was obsessed from the get-go! 

I remember having a sketch book that I filled with drawings of all the different ham-hams. I would record the episodes on VHS tapes and then pause them so that I could draw the characters. Can anyone relate to this? I was already a lover of Syrian hamsters, having had two as pets before I ever watched the show, and you can bet I got another and named him Hamtaro :D He ended up being the sweetest, most friendly little ham-ham I ever had the pleasure of knowing, too. I still have many of the tiny Hamtaro character pencil-topper figures I got back then, as well as two Hasbro plushies. One is of Hamtaro and the other is Bijou, a little white hamster with two ribboned pigtails and a French accent, from 2002. 

Hamtaro will always be a fond favourite of mine when it comes to anime, and of course, I couldn't pass up on getting the main man Hamtaro in Nendoroid form!! I will end up talking about my love for the franchise all night if I let myself, so here goes... brace yourselves for some cuteness overload! 

As the back of the box shows, you can style this Nendoroid in four ways. The set comes with three faces: a chubby cheeks version, a standard open eyes look & a happy, closed-eye expression. You also get two body options, standing up and sitting down. There are various accessories and tiny hands that match with the different face parts, such as a hand for holding onto a tiny sunflower. This is one of my favourite things about Nendoroids! That you can style one figure in so many different ways because of all of the parts that come with it. They remind me of my Pennywise the Clown figure by Neca, but obviously a smaller, more chibified type of figure, haha! (I think I need a chibi Pennywise in my life though... *quickly google searches for horror Nendos*). 

LOOK HOW PRECIOUS THIS NENDO IS!!!! I love him so much. He's going to be so fun to use in photography scenes and I can't wait to get creative with that :) As you can see, the colour is so vibrant, and the eyes are so expressive and eye-catching (well duh). His little tail and paws are the cutest! I love the way all the interchangeable parts were organised in the box, and was impressed by how securely everything was packaged with tape and tiny bags and such. 

Here are all of the main pieces, not including some of the tiny additional hands. All Nendoroids come with a stand, along with a thing to connect the figure to the stand, so the figures are easier to display. I've decided to display my new Hamtaro in a sitting pose so I'm not currently using the stand, but it's still very handy to have. Honestly, collecting figures is a nightmare sometimes when slight vibrations can send a figure flying off your shelves, often knocking over several other figures on its way to the ground :D I'm looking at you Tokidoki...

One of my favourite things about the Hamtaro Nendoroid has to be the sunflower seed 'accessories'. If you watched the show or played the video games then you'll understand the significance of these seeds, they are like a bone to a dog. It's really cool that Hamtaro gets to be surrounded by one of his favourite snacks! 

I mean, have you ever seen anything more adorable in your life!? He looks so happy having his cheek pouches stuffed with yummy sunflower seeds! This is definitely my favourite of all the poses/styles, and the one that I have chosen to display my figure with. I really like the rosy hue that the designers have decided to include on Hamtaro's cheeks, because it helps to add even more character to the figure! And the point of the sunflower seed in Hamtaro's hand lines up so perfectly with his mouth, giving the impression that he's just about to devour it. So sweet! 

Here is another of the styles that you can arrange this Nendoroid in. Hamtaro with a gleeful expression and arms held up high, as if he's exclaiming 'I found a pretty flower! LOOK!'. The sunflower has a lovely, simplistic design to it, which I think will be great for summertime photography :) You have to attach a specific hand that has a tiny hole it in for the sunflower to sit in. And as some of you will have guessed from the gap between the base of the arm and the body, all of the parts of Nendoroids are moveable, and as I realised quite fiddly. I have never been great at assembling things. My fine motor skills are so bad. And this figure in particular has been very awkward to put together, as my friend let me know when I messaged her struggling with the pieces XD I got there in the end, although apparently not before I took this photo, haha! 

This is how the Hamtaro Nendo looks when attached to the stand. The part used to secure the figure to the base looks like it was made for a robot because of the screws and I love it :D That part, too, can be a little tricky to get the hang of at first, but I like that it's clear and again, it's always good to have the option of using a stand. Hamtaro's side profile is so damn cute! Check out that tiny 'snout' and pointed nose. Awww!

Another feature I adore about this figure is the open mouth expression! In the series, Hamtaro and his hamster friends speak to one another like humans do, however they also have this little ham-ham language (I think it's called 'Ham Chat'), with specific sounds and words for things. This expression makes me imagine that Hamtaro is saying 'Oopaa!', which is something the hamsters say when they see something they want and are excited. 

This is the third style that you can display your Nendoroid in. Adorable closed eyes, and paw posed in the V-sign/Peace Sign, that is so iconic in Japanese animation and kawaii culture. This style just makes Hamtaro look so precious and friendly and like he's posing for a photo. I also think it makes him look kind of shy, and with the slight rosiness of his cheeks, he could totally be blushing. What's not to adore? 

Which is your favourite of the variations you can display this super cute Nendoroid in? As I mentioned, mine is the chubby cheeks, sitting down version, but I like all of them for different reasons, and think that it's awesome to have so many options. Overall, I am very impressed with my first Nendoroid, even if it is a little tough to pull apart and put back together! It has opened up a whole new rabbit hole for me and I can already hear my bank account screaming. 

I was so delighted to be able to get this figure so easily here in the UK, as I know it can be difficult to source certain Nendoroids without ordering directly from Japan. I got mine from Gamersheek, after the recommendation of a friend who preordered hers from them (shoutout of Nat, for always helping me bring kawaii goodies into my life!). The figure is available for £49.95, and there's an option to pay in 3 with PayPal, which I was very glad about. I'm pretty sure that the shipping was free as well. Thank you Gamersheek, for the quick delivery and for helping me to add this absolute gem of a figure to my collection! 

I took SO MANY photos in preparation for this blog post, as it was just impossible not to! This smol guy deserves to be shown off, but I have done my best to refrain from filling this post with all the photos! I just had to add this one in at the end. Some final thoughts I would like to mention about this figure is how smooth the material is, the quality just feels so good, and all of the little details add so much to the finished look, e.g. the whiskers, the dash of blue in the eyes, the fluff on the edge of the inner ears. I couldn't get a photo I liked showing the front of the box, as it was too bright and the light was reflecting off the plastic screen, but the Nendoroid is No.1615. 

I hope you all enjoyed reading today's post :) It's been fun to nerd out over figures again, as I feel like I've not properly done that for a while. Let me know if you'd like me to do the same when I get my second Nendo. I'm crossing my fingers that the Good Smile Company release all of the main characters from the Hamtaro series, if not all then at least Oxnard and Bijou. Who else has watched the show? Do you have a favourite ham-ham? My favourite characters growing up were Sandy and Cappy, so I would love to see them in Nendoroid form some day! 

Thank you for reading!

♥

Do you own any Nendoroids? Which one is at the top of your wishlist?

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