October Kawaii Box

Last week, I received my October Kawaii Box. These boxes usually arrive around the second week of each month, so I was worried it had been lost in the post. When it finally got here, I released why it had been delayed. The box had been damaged :( it was crushed in several places and had a hole torn in it. It had been put into a plastic bag by the Royal Mail which had an apology and details of how I can complain, but thankfully none of the items were missing so I decided not to bother with the hassle of complaining. It's just a shame because I like to store the items all neatly in their boxes, but it's about to fall apart so I'll have to put them elsewhere. There were some adorable products inside this month's box so that made up for the damage. Here's what I got inside my October Kawaii Box...

(1) Flan Dakigurami Plush Pouch - (2) Popcorn Rolling Stamp Set - (3) Unchi-Kun Poop Lollipop - (4) Animal Sticker Sheet - (5) Neko Emoji Mini Mini Pouch - (6) Pattern Envelope Set - (7) Meiji DIY Sushi-Bar Gummies - (8) Jewelry Seal Deco Stickers - (9) Finger Family Monster Pouch - (10) Heart Shaped Nail Flakes - (11) Lollipop Pen 

Upon opening this month's Kawaii Box, I was first greeted by an adorable rabbit plush! It is also a pencil case which is a really cute idea. It would be perfect for primary school children who don't need to take much more than a few pencils, a ruler and an eraser because there's not much room inside the pencil pouch. It would also be like taking a teddy into school; I would have loved this when I was little... for the first few years of school, I used to pack a teddy into my schoolbag :) Did anyone else take a teddy to school with them?

Every box always contains a Japanese or Korean snack, and this time I received DIY sushi sweets. I was very relieved when I noticed they are fruit flavoured, and not fish flavoured! I haven't tried them yet, but I've watched some unboxing videos on youtube and they are apparently very yummy! I don't think I'm going to use the rabbit pouch as a pencil case, I'm going to sit it on my bed with my other adorable plushies. 

I'm really really happy with these stickers! They are my favourite item from this month's box, just look how flippin' adorable they are! I love how there's such a variety of different small pets... my favourite are the hedgehogs and the bunnies. I'm impressed that they even have some bunnies that resemble lionheads (I am a lionhead mamma myself! Who else has a lionhead?) & there's also some little sugar gliders on there *heart eyed emoji* I'm so glad that I got sent this sticker sheet, because I prefer it to the dog & cat one I've seen in other's October boxes. The stickers are good quality and I like that they are small so I can use them for postcrossing.

 

The stamp set is very cute! I love stationary so I'm happy to add this to my collection. The individual stamps say 'Study', 'Very Good' and 'OK!' and the roller stamps look like they are music themed & space themed, but I won't know for sure until I use them. The little cat mini purse is adorable, and it's facial expression represents the cute emoji ':3' which is one of my most used emojis. I will probably use it to store jewellery in. The poop lolly is quite quirky and comical, and I'm interested to see which flavour I got. The jewellery seals are not something that I'll probably use, so I think I'll give them to one of my nieces or keep them for any crafty projects I do in the future. 

My least favourite item in the box is the yellow 'Finger Family' purse. To give my honest opinion, I'm quite disappointed when items like this are included in the box, that are made of what seems like a very cheap material. The material is hard plastic that doesn't feel or look good, and I personally don't think the monster character is cute but others might like it so I think it's all down to personal tastes. The name 'Finger Family' is a little weird too. 

My next favourite item are these pretty envelopes. I've needed to buy some new long envelopes like these for a while now so it was great that I received them in the box. I love the pretty key print and I'll definitely be using them for penpal letters. The lollipop pen is awesome! I'm not sure if it's supposed to be scented or whether the ink just smells different. The last item I got was the little heart nail flakes. They are very pretty but I don't use these nail deco accessories so I will probably also give these away. 

I can't wait for next month's box... It would be great if the Kawaii Box Co. included a Christmas themed item. 

♥

Fellow subscribers, what was your favourite item in the October box? Were your items the same design as mine? If not, what was different? 

November Wishlist

(1) Plus Size Burgundy Skater Dress from New Look

(2) Jiminy Cricket Tsum Tsum from Disney

(3) Tokidoki Messanger Bag from Blue Banana

(4) Fairisle Boot Slippers from ASDA

(5) Dark Brown Buckle Strap Ankle Boots from New Look

(6) Reindeer Print Christmas Jumper from Yours Clothing

(7) Fabric Owl Decorations from Paperchase 

(8) Cinders Bath Bomb from Lush Cosmetics

(9) Fleece Bunny Pyjama Set from ASDA

I have seen so many awesome products this month and have experienced a lot of heartache due to  my ever dwindling bank balance in preparation for Christmas. I love the items available this time of year with beautiful winter themed designs and A/W fashion is my favourite. I'm also really happy about all of the adorable animal themed products popping up in the shops. I could have easily made several more wishlists, so it was a challenge to pick out my favourites for this post. I hope you enjoy reading!

I absolutely love this dress! It was brought to my attention in a post by the lovely Georgina at She Might Be Loved. She looked so gorgeous in the dress & I really like the colour burgundy. I NEED this dress and I hope I can get it very soon.   

How could I resist this adorable Jiminy Cricket tsum tsum!? I love his little hat & seeing him on the Disney Store website made me excited that they might make a Pinocchio collection in the future. I'm in need of a new bag to use for when I stay over at my friends houses and the Tokidoki bag on my wishlist this month is perfect in both size & design. It's about time I bought a new pair of slippers and I prefer these boot-style ones. I'm lovin' the Christmas jumper appearance of the fairisle boot slippers!

I've had black boots, grey boots & even lime green boots, but I've never had a pair of brown boots before. Brown boots go so well with the colour schemes of Autumn fashion so I'd love to get my hands on a pair... I really like the design of these ankle boots from New Look.  With Christmas fast approaching, I want to buy a new festive jumper with a cute animal print. There's currently 20% off on this jumper from Yours Clothing, which is fantastic! On the subject of Christmas, I need to start stocking up on decorations. I'm hoping to get a mini tree to put in my bedroom and I would love some of these little owl decorations to put on it. 

There are so many lush bathbombs which I can't wait to try! Cinders is one of them. I'm a fan of citrus scents and I know this bathbomb contains a mixture of orange, cinnamon & almond... it sounds interesting and looks pretty. It also contains popping candy so that's an added bonus. The last item on the November wishlist are these super cute bunny PJ's. I'm definitely obsessed with rabbits.. will probably one day become the bunny equivalent of a crazy cat lady! haha so of course, I want these PJs! I really like this style of PJ bottoms, they are very much like leggings & are so comfy! 

Thanks for reading

♥

What's on your November Wishlist?

Lush Bathbomb Review

Today, I'm going to do a little review of the three bathbombs I purchased last month in my Lush haul. I bought The Experimenter, Intergalactic & Sakura and I really enjoyed using them. Trying new bathbombs for the first time was an exciting experience, and I can't wait to buy some more!

I chose the Experimenter bath bomb because of it's vibrant colours and interesting name, but also because it contains fairtrade vanilla & I love vanilla! If you a fan of awesome bath art then you'll love the Experimenter (for any of my readers who have never heard of bath art, check out all these fantastic instagram photos). When I first dropped it in the water, it immediately started filling my bath with swirls of pink, blue, purple, orange and yellow. It looked amazing and was exciting to watch! After all the colours had fizzled away, the bath water remained a dark purple-black colour, which is different than any bathbomb I've tried before. The soft scent of vanilla mixed in with scents I'd never experienced before (tonka & vetivert oil) was relaxing, and I recommend this bathbomb. 

 The Intergalactic bathbomb is AMAZINGGG! I am in love with it! I first heard about this bathbomb via instagram, and I was fascinated with watching videos of it. As soon as I got chance to go to a Lush store and smelt this bathbomb, it was very difficult for me not to spend all my budget by purchasing several of these. Another of my favourite scents is mint, and the Intergalactic bathbomb is made up of a mixture of oils: Peppermint, Grapefruit, Cedarwood & Vetivert. Like the Experimenter, the Intergalactic also contains popping candy which is a fun addition that adds to the awesomeness of these bathbombs. I've heard that this bathbomb is based on the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, and sitting in the bath surrounded by the blues, pinks, purples and whites definitely made me feel like I was floating in the galaxy. After all the bright colours had disappeared, the water was a beautiful shade of blue with sprinklings of glitter. It was magical and so far this is my favourite lush bathbomb. 

 I decided to buy the Sakura bathbomb because it looks really pretty and because of it's Japanese name (I'm a little obsessed with Japan). I had also read somewhere that it turned your bath water pink... but that was wrong! :( Instead as this bathbomb dissolves, the bath is filled with a cloudy white colour with little hints of pink. It had a nice scent, a combination of Mimosa, Orange flower, Jasmine & Lemon Oil and I would recommend it for everyone who loves floral fragrances. As the name of the bathbomb translates to cherry blossom, I did expect cherry or cherry blossom to be one of the components. It was a nice experience to try the Sakura bathbomb and it left my skin feeling very soft, but it's not really for me. 

I can't wait to buy more lush bathbombs! Next month, I'll be reviewing the two bubblebars I purchased along with these bathbombs. I hope you all enjoyed reading! 

 ♥

 I'd love some suggestions on which bathbombs to try next :) 

 

Homemade Fudge | Baking

Hey guys! Over the past week, I've found it quite difficult to stick to my blogging schedule. I completed my Saturday post on Sunday and today I'm writing up the post I had planned for yesterday. I've been feeling tired and under the weather, and my motivation to get stuff done is almost non-existent. I've had a lot on my mind lately so my organisation has been all over the place... I've just bought myself a lovely new weekly planner to help keep me more focused and hopefully that will get me back on track soon. I've been wanting to do this blog post for a while now but I was gathering up all the ingredients needed for the homemade fudge, and yesterday I was finally able to make it! Yayy! I hope you enjoy reading :) 

Last year, I watched a video on facebook created by about.com that was a step-by-step guide on how to make easy microwave fudge and I've had it bookmarked ever since. Although it was quick & easy to make, it did require more chocolate chips than I expected and the measurement for the chocolate chips was a little confusing since it is an American recipe and they have a different way of measuring ingredients using different metric units and such. Luckily, a quick google search sorted that out. Here's the video so you can have a go at making the fudge yourself: 

Here is a list of the ingredients you will need to make the fudge, and I've added the measurements I used to make it easier for us British baking enthusiasts (or just me).

3 cups of chocolate chips

(1 cup is equivalent to 175g so you'll need 525g. You can get big bags of choc chips but I could only find 100g bags so I had to buy 6)

A 14oz can of condensed milk 

(I found a 397g can which is pretty much 14oz)

4 tablespoons of butter

(4 tablespoons is equivalent to 60g and I had to use margarine because we'd ran out of butter, oops)

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence 

A quarter of a teaspoon of salt

You'll also need a large microwave-safe bowl, a glass or ceramic pyrex-style dish to set the fudge in, foil to line the dish with and a good sharp knife to cut the fudge up after it's set. 

This part was difficult for me because all my good knifes are packed away with the rest of my stuff from uni and I couldn't find a good knife so it took me a while to cut the fudge into pieces! 

I ended up leaving my fudge in the fridge overnight because when I took it out after 3 hours, it was still sticky so I cut it up into cubes and put it back in to set some more. This morning, it was perfect and ready to eat. Although the fudge is different than British traditional vanilla dairy fudge, it's very yummy & tastes like the chocolate fudge cream made for cakes. It has a soft, creamy texture. I think it would be a nice homemade Christmas present for a friend or family member. The recipe also makes a lot of fudge! 

I'm very happy with how the fudge turned out :) Thanks for reading!

♥

Does anyone know a good recipe for traditional vanilla fudge? 

Let me know if any of you have a go at making this quick microwave fudge.

US Candy Swap

Last month, I organised a sweet swap with a fellow snailmailer & blogger, Amanda ,who's from the United States and today, I wanted to show you what she sent me. Firstly, the packaging she used was awesome! It was decorated in a Halloween theme with lots of washi tape and stickers, and she wrote on 'Trick or Treat, Smell my feet, Give me something good to eat!' which reminds me of my childhood halloween so much. My favourite thing about the packaging was the adorable glittery ghost sticker. 

The rest of this post is going to be quite pic heavy, but 'a picture paints a thousand words' and I want you all to see the great things I received. She sent me a few kinds of snacks that are enjoyed in autumn & around halloween, plus some crafty bits I can use for snailmail or scrapbooking. Here's what was inside:

 This morning, I tried all of the sweets, apart from the candy corn. I couldn't resist eating some as soon as I opened the package a few weeks ago because I've wanted to try candy corn for around 10 years now and it was the only candy I asked for (the rest was all a surprise)! The candy corn was really nice, very sweet and I thought it was quite similar to the soft rock we can get at the seaside. I read online that it has a taste like marshmallow, but I thought it tasted more like vanilla. I can see why it's really popular in the US and I will probably have to buy some online each Halloween now. 

 When I noticed I'd been sent m&m's, I was really excited to try them. I love m&m's and I know in the US, they have so many different flavours. Although we can get some of them here in American candy shops or B&M Bargains, I've never seen these before! The sweets are orange, yellow and white in colour and are filled with white candy corn. The candy corn inside the m&m's tasted different compared to the original candy corn that I was also sent, but they are still yummy. I can't really describe the taste but they were very sweet. I wish we could buy them here!  

The next snack I tried was the Reese's peanut butter cup with pumpkin. I'm not a massive fan of peanut butter but I do like the reese's products and I was quite interested to try this because I've never eaten anything pumpkin flavoured before. I love how in Autumn in the US so many pumpkin flavoured foods are available! The taste of pumpkin in this snack was very subtle and I couldn't really taste much more than peanut butter. I've only ever eaten an original Reese's peanut butter cup once before... I think I should have bought one so I could compare the flavours. I still have some of the pumpkin one left so I will look for Reese's when I next go shopping. 

How cute are candy corns!? (if a sweet can be considered cute haha). I love all the little halloween bits that were added to the package. I am putting my Drawlloween Challenge drawings (see them here) into a scrapbook so I can use all the halloween crafty things for that. The sweets in the photo above are called Goetze's Caramel Creams and at first glance, I thought they would be similar to English dairy fudge. I was wrong, the outside of the sweet is coated in a sticky toffee, the middle is creamy with a little hint of a vanilla flavouring and the rest of the sweet has a similar texture to fudge but tasted like toffee. I enjoyed being able to try these but they are not my cup of tea. 

 
 I really love jellybeans! They are one of my favourite sweets & I was so happy when they started selling Jelly Belly jellybeans in the UK :) the only problem is that they are quite expensive if you want to buy a big bag or jar. I like how these jelly beans come in so many flavours, some are great and some are not so great, but this means there will be at least one flavour to suite everyone's tastes. My favourite ones are french vanilla, strawberry cheesecake, coconut & dr.pepper. I love how colourful they are. Me and my niece enjoyed trying to figure out what each flavour was without looking at the label :) 

Here are some of the lovely crafty things and a postcard I was sent in the package. I'm going to use the paper for writing to-do-lists and put the halloween bits in a scrapbook. I love the funky colourful striped envelope that was filled with even more lovely bits and pieces. Here's a photo of what was inside: 

 

 Everything inside the colourful envelope is so pretty! I can't wait to start using it in some of my penpal letters. Foxes are one of my favourite animals so of course I adore these stickers, and I will probably keep them all to myself instead of using them for snailmail.

 Thankyou Amanda for sending me such a lovely halloween candy package! 

 ♥

I hope you all enjoyed reading this post. 

Have any of you from the UK tried these sweets before?
Which other US sweets can you recommend for me to try?