Manchester Pride | Photo Diary

Hey everyone! If you follow me on social media, then you'll know that this weekend, I went to Manchester Pride. It was the first Pride event that I've ever attended and I had an absolutely fantastic time. The event is held over several days, but my friends & I chose to go on Saturday because we really wanted to watch the Parade. It was really amazing to see so many people crowding the streets to show their support and love for the LGBTQIA community. The atmosphere was wonderful, and I was so happy to be part of it. 

There was probably close to 100 companies, organisations and charities taking part in the parade, and it lasted almost two hours. Some of the organisations/companies included Manchester Amnesty, Mardi Gras Foundation, Manchester Lesbian & Gay Chorus, LGBT Cosplay Ladies, Imaan LGBT Muslims, Out at Tesco, and many more! It was such a fabulous experience to be there, and I can't wait to go again next year. I took a few photographs of the Parade, so I thought I'd share a photo diary post with you all. They are not the best photos as I was dancing, jumping around cheering and trying to hold a phone and a flag too, haha. I hope you all enjoy reading! 

Everyone who took part in the parade looked fabulous in their bright, flamboyant outfits and costumes. It's too difficult for me to choose a favourite, since I had so many! It was great to see so many companies in support of the employees, such as ASDA and Tescos, and to see the Police and Fire Services on the parade too. One of the groups on the parade were spreading awareness about testicular cancer, handing out cards with instructions on how to check properly, and they were dressed in eye-catching, comical costumes with giant balls on the front! There was even a Coronation Street float with some of the actors on. My mum was pretty jealous that I got to see them, she loves the show :) 

It was awesome to see a group holding 'Some People are Bi. Get Over It' signs because there is still so much bisexual erasure in society and in the media that needs to changed. Something that also made me happy was a group of people who were openly and proudly into BDSM on the parade. As someone who is also into BDSM, it was fantastic to see people in their fetish gear smashing the taboo. After the parade, we headed towards the Manchester Gay Village to visit all of the stalls and the event's expo, which was fun but really crowded so getting to the stalls was a challenge! We then decided to head to our hotel to check in and get ready, before going back to the Gay Village at night to party! We had an excellent time. We've decided that we are going for the whole weekend next year, and I can't wait!

Thankyou for reading! 

♥

Have you ever been on a Pride event? 

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August Wishlist

Happy Saturday! At the time this post goes out, my friends & I will be in Manchester city at our first ever Pride event. I can't wait to spend the day supporting the LGBTQ+ community & celebrating everyone's right to be able to love whoever they want to! I'm going to be sharing snaps of the event throughout the day so follow me on snapchat if you wanna see what's happening (add me at raiin_monkey). Anyhow, here's my wishlist for this month :) Enjoy! 

 

1. Pets Pop! Vinyl Figure German Shepherd How cute are the figures from the new Funko Pop Pets series!? I'd happily have one of every dog breed that they have available in the series, but German Shepherds are my second favourite breed, after Belgian Shepherds, so this has to be the first to join my Pop collection. It's sad expression looks so adorable, makes me just want to give it a cuddle!

2. Oversized Hand Print Tee I've been curious about trying the plus size range at Boho.com for a while now and I'm gonna start with this lovely shirt. I absolutely love the Hamsa Hand and the symbolism behind it. It is a protection symbol in many religions, representing happiness and good fortune. I love the beautiful, intricate design of the Hamsa, and I would love to own this tee. The range is also called Plus Sarah apparently, so it's literally made for me haha

3. Urban Decay Moondust Palette This new eyeshadow palette is so flippin' gorgeous! Just look at all those shimmery, vibrant colours! I especially love the blues and the green shade, and the names of the shades also sound awesome. Glittery eyeshadows have really grown on me, and I'd love to experiment with more colours.

4. 104 Things to Photograph Recently, one of my lovely friends sent me a picture of this book, and it went straight onto my mental wishlist. I have other books from the 'Things To' range but I never knew they had a photography version. I'm really curious to see what prompts are inside this activity book, and I'm hoping they will help give me some blogging inspiration, too. The book is hardback & I know that it includes slots inside for adding your photographs, so it's pretty much like a photo album which I think is really cool. 

5. Lush Cosmetics Roller Bath Bomb I'm always on the look out for new Lush bath bombs to try! I really love bath bombs, as they make me motivated to have a bath VS a shower. Living with chronic pain, chronic illnesses or disabilities can mean that tasks that others may find simple are challenging. When I am feeling very fatigued, I don't have the strength to stand up for long in the shower, but I am put off by the idea of having a bath because it sometimes worsens my back pain. Using bath bombs makes getting into the bath both a fun and pampering experience, so they are really helpful for me. I've never tried the 'Roller' bath bomb before and I would love to, since it contains citrus which is one of my favourite scents and geranium, which I'm curious about as I really enjoyed the Mother's Day special ladybird bubble bar that contained geranium oil. Have you tried this bath bomb before? Tell me what you thought of it :) 

6. Five Cream Heart Drawers I've been searching for a pretty set of drawers like these for a while now that I can store all of my make-up and jewellery in. These are just perfect; I love how they look and the heart shaped cut-outs that work as 'handles' are super cute! For just under £20, I thought they were fantastic!

7. CowCow Watecolour Beetles Skater Dress I had heard so much about CowCow online because they made the prettiest dresses in plus sizes, and so I decided to order myself some to see if they were as good as they looked. I absolutely adored the dresses I received, they were really comfortable and the designs didn't stretch when the dress was on, which is a new for me. I have been able to find lovely plus sized quirky skater dresses online but when you get them, they are either not very flattering, or the design almost always stretches, making some of the patterns look all misshapen. Well, this didn't happen with my CowCow skater dresses & I was over the moon! I now want to order sooo many of their dresses, and at the top of my list is this watercolour beetle dress, because I love watercolour designs & I really love insects. I'm a bit of an entomology nerd. Yes, I'm the weird person who finds bugs fantasinating (even wasps, although they can be fascinating behind a glass barrier thankyou very much!). Anyone else a proud bug lover?

8. Pets Pop! Vinyl Figure Maine Coon The new Pets series of Pop figures includes cats too! Yay! So of course, I also need one of those. When I was little, I was almost 100% sure that I preferred dogs to cats, but as I've gotten older, my love for cats has definitely been awakened. I now can't actually decide which I prefer, since they both have qualities that I adore. Norwegian Forest Cats are my favourite breed, however since Maine Coons are so similar, I love them too. This Pop! is really really cute! What's your favourite type of cat?

Thankyou for reading!

♥

What's on your wishlist this month? Also, are you Team cat or Team dog?  

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August Pop in a Box

Hello lovelies :) this post was supposed to go out yesterday but it was just not my day at all! I was so fatigued and brain fog meant that my concentration was literally non-existent. So apologies for my sporadic posting schedule. It's been a busy week! I've been preparing for going to Manchester Pride this weekend, and doing lots of panicking over it. Thanks anxiety! I am really excited though too. The weather is lovely today & I really hope it's like this tomorrow. Today's post is this month's edition of my Pop in a Box subscription. I hope you all enjoy these posts! 

I was delighted with my Pop in a Box this month! Although, I'm always going to be happy with the Pop! vinyls I receive because I have given them a thumbs up on the website, it's always exciting to find out which ones are going to be inside the box each month. You almost forget which ones you've 'liked', which makes the surprise even more awesome. If you read my Pop in a Box posts each month, you'll already know that I get two each time. In my August box, I was sent Luna Lovegood & Snowball. I thought it would be fun to take my Pop in a Box photographs in the garden this month, and I'm glad I did!

I'm so so happy with this Luna Lovegood Pop! Luna is my favourite character from the Harry Potter novels/movies and she's a fellow Ravenclaw! (Where my fellow Harry Potter fans at? :) Let me know which house you are in in the comments). I really love the design of the entire figure; it's just so pretty!

I really like the design of Luna's hair. It's just so pretty and they've captured the wavy look perfectly. It has me feeling very envious of that hair! It reminds me of Daenerys' hair from Game of Thrones too. I think all of the detail that have gone into her uniform is fantastic! It looks great. All of the little details on this Pop make it one of my favourites in my entire Pop collection. I'm definitely impressed by the tiny spider ring on her hand and by her strawberry earrings, which are so intricately designed. She even has a wand! This figure is just so amazing, and has done justice to my favourite character.

  
 Look, Funko have even given her rosy red cheeks. She's just too adorable! 

This little cutie is called Snowball, a character from the animation movie 'The Secret Life of Pets'. Although, I've not watched the movie and I'm not sure it would actually be my cup of tea after seeing the trailers, I am obsessed with rabbits and so I had a mighty need to add this figure to my collection! It's just so bloody cute!

The first feature that I noticed on this Pop figure is it's ears! I love the design of them, they are awesome! They look so much better than if they were just pointed, and they just add so much to the figure as a whole. This Pop's tiny pink nose is gorgeous! It just makes the figure look so sweet and I love that he's holding a carrot too. Something that makes it just so much more adorable is the fact that it's smaller than standard Pop figures. 

How sweet are his two little bunny teeth!? Overall, I am more than happy to have added both of these fabulous figures to my Funko Pop! collection, especially the Luna one! I can't wait to see which figures arrive next month. Who else collects Funko Pop's? 

*Update* those 'strawberries' in Luna's ears are actually radishes :) You can tell I haven't read the books haha (well I've read The Philosopher's Stone & The Chamber of Secrets, but I seriously need to get them all read!).

Thankyou for reading! 

♥ 

Who's your favourite Harry Potter character? 

Have you seen the Secret Life of Pets? What did you think of it? 

 Which Pop figures are on your wishlist? Check out mine: 

| Pop! Wishlist |