Pusheen Box Autumn Edition | Review

Hi everyone! Did you all have a great weekend? I'd love to hear about what you did. Finally, it's time to show you all my latest Pusheen Box :) I know many of you will have been waiting for this, and oh my gosh you will not be disappointed! This box was so awesome; it was definitely my favourite that I've received so far. I adore every single one of the items and it's made me so excited for my Winter box. I hope you all enjoy reading! 

If you've never seen this subscription box before, it's made by the creators of Pusheen and is filled with amazing merchandise worth up to $100, with most of the items you get being exclusively made just for subscribers. You always get a vinyl figure in every box, too. You can learn more about the Pusheen box on the website. Winter boxes are available to order now if you want to treat yourself! Although the Pusheen Box is more pricey than other subscription boxes I've bought, it really is worth it if you are a fan of Pusheen the cat :) The items are always fantastic quality and are all useful, which is something that I've found lacking with some other boxes. These boxes are also quartly, so you get a big box every three months VS the typical monthly type of subscription. So, I won't keep you all waiting any longer haha here's what I got in my Autumn box...

Inside the box: Exclusive vinyl figure, Pusheen Costume Set, Pusheen Tea Cup & Saucer Set, Sticky Notes, Pen with charm, Set of three coasters, notebook, air freshener, and a Pusheen sweater/jumper (which I couldn't get to fit into the photo!). 

I am wearing my new Pusheen jumper as I write this :) It is SO AWESOME! It's fabulous quality and the print is so cute. I love the colour too, and I like that it's a sweatshirt style jumper so it's warm and cosy, but not too warm if that makes sense. It's a great fit too and I feel like I never want to take it off haha I was so surprised to get such a big item in my Pusheen Box, I love it! 

How gorgeous are these Autumnal-themed items though!? Just look how pretty they are :) This notebook has to be my 2nd favourite item in the box, it's just so lovely! I think Pusheen looks so adorable curled up in a pile of leaves. It's holographic too which is really cool. However, I don't know when I'll be able to bring myself to actually write in it because I don't want to ruin it. I don't drive so this super cute air freshener will be used in my bedroom. I'm curious about how it smells, as it's pumpkin-scented. I like how this box includes a mix of items: autumn, halloween and then just handy products for this time of year. This pen is brillant. I love the turquoise and lilac colour scheme and I prefer chunky pens. The charm is nice too!

I found this super cute item hiding at the bottom of the box. It's a little Pusheen cosplay/fancy dress costume set. I love the tiny stripey tail! So considering wearing this to Comic Con next year! It's so sweet.

Nana nana nana nana na, BAT-PUSHEEN! (hahaha I tried! Admit that you sang that like the Batman theme song in your head though). I love the Halloween-themed vinyl figure in this edition of the box. It's unique and I like how it's colourful, because my previous figures have always been original Pusheen grey. This is something a little different and I like that. The paintjob is really good too and it's perfect condition with no marks or anything like that.

Awww, look at that expression on Pusheen's face! It's so precious. Another fantastic item and you get a thick pad too so that's great. Sometimes on sticky notes like this, you don't get a lot of space to actually write notes on but you get quite a bit on these. I have a few cute sticky note sets already, but these are definitely the best!

Autumn is the time of year when it's socially acceptable to drink a ridiculous amount of hot drinks, although I do this pretty much all year around. I love me a hot chocolate every month of the year! To fit in with the autumnal feel of this box, these three very cute coasters have been included, all with a different coloured outline/base. They are thick and made of rubber, and are very well-made. It was a little bit of a shame that my blue outlined one came with some sort of brown mark on it, but I'm hoping it can be washed off. Which one is your favourite out of the three? Mine's the orange outlined one because Pusheen looks as excited as I am before I drink my hot chocolates!

This Pusheen tea cup & saucer set is my favourite item that I received in my Autumn Box. I absolutely adore it! I've been after a fancy, cute tea cup set for ages now, and I was actually going to ask for one for Christmas so this item came at just the right time. I really like how the saucer has been designed to look like a basket, and so with the cup on top, it looks like Pusheen is sitting in a basket of apples. It also makes me think of picnics. I love things with apples on because they hold a special place in my heart. I had a bunny called Apple who sadly passed away and things with apples on remind me of her ♥ 

 

Overall, I think this edition of the Pusheen subscription box was amazing! I'm so happy that I subscribe to this box and I can't wait to see what my future boxes will bring. What's your favourite item in this box? 

Thankyou for reading!

 ♥

What's your favourite symbol of Autumn? 

Mine are colourful leaves and acorns! Oh, and the animals that are always associated with this season, such as foxes, badgers, squirrels and hedgehogs! 

 Take a look inside my previous Pusheen Boxes here:

| Summer Edition | Spring Edition |  

 

Black As Your Soul Hex Bomb | Review

Happy Saturday everyone! I hope you've all had a lovely day :) I had a lazy day today, spent in bed and binge-watching Orange is the New Black because I was seriously so far behind with the series, haha. My mental health unfortunately wasn't the best either today, so I decided it was time to practice some self-care and have a relaxing bath with some candles and music. I recently did a mini haul of Hex Bombs from Bella Muerte Clothing, and I was over the moon to finally be able to get hold of the 'Black As Your Soul' bathbomb! Today was the day to use it, and I was so excitable! I thought I'd share a little review with you all :) Enjoy! 

The internet has been going crazy over the 'Black As Your Soul' bathbomb for months now after a video of it went viral! It's no surprise though because it's so unique and it looked so bloody awesome in that video! Since then, it has been pretty difficult to purchase one of these bathbombs since it always seems to be out of stock on the hex bomb website. Luckily, my friends have all been after one too so as soon as the store announced it was restocking a load of it's bathbombs, I was tagged in a facebook post and almost immediately placed my order! I did not regret buying this bathbomb; it was absolutely amazing! I loved it :) All of my inner gothic, horror-loving dreams came true. It really was jet black and made my bath look like I'd made a potion to summon the Dark Lord or something! 

One thing that really impresses me about hex bombs is just how quickly they dissolve into the bath, the colour spreading through the water so fast and releasing their fragrance into the whole room. It's lovely! Although the 'Black As Your Soul' bathbomb's scent was not as nice as the bathory bloodbath one (read my review of that hex bomb here), it was still strong and smelt good. I can't seem to find out what scent this bathbomb is but it reminded me somewhat of liquorice. It has witch hazel in the ingredients and I could definitely smell that. It reminded me of some purple incense sticks I used to buy, but I can't remember what they were either! haha. My favourite part of using this bathbomb was how epic the bath looked! Especially with all of the seam rising off the water, it looked like a cauldron filled with a sorcerer's potion or a volcanic black pool from a spooky fairytale that could be home to all sorts of mystical creatures. My imagination was literally running wild! I tried to get a photo of just how awesome the seam looked, but it definitely doesn't do it justice. 

How cool does that look though!? I can't believe these bathbombs are only £3! It's such a fantastic price for such a popular bathbomb, and they are really good quality and are so pigmented. I can't recommend them enough and I'm determined to try every single hex bomb! Check out the Bella Muerte Clothing website to see the other products they have available. What do you think of this bathbomb? Have I made you wanna try it for yourself?

Thankyou for reading!

♥

Have you ever tried any of the hex bombs before? If not, which one would you choose from their website? The next one of my wishlist is the Elixir bath bomb :)
 

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Festive Drinks at Costa #1

If you follow me over on instagram, you may have seen that on Tuesday, I decided to take a trip to Costa in hopes of getting my first Christmas hot drink of the year. Luckily, the Costa not too far from my house was serving the festive drinks, unlike the little Costa I went to at the local hospital a few weeks ago. There were so many drinks to choose from but I was feeling in the mood for coffee VS hot chocolate. I decided to get myself a Honeycomb Latte and since my mum was there, she chose a Black Forest Hot Chocolate. 

As you read this post, I'll be spending the day having a little best friend date. We were supposed to be going to see Melanie Martinez in Manchester this evening, but unfortunately the lovely Melanie is poorly and has had to cancel the rest of her tour :( So instead, me & my best friend have gone to watch Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, followed by a trip of Frankie & Benny's. So I'll just be sharing a short post today, of my thoughts on the Honeycomb Latte :) I hope you enjoy reading!

Can I just start off by saying how awesome and pretty the festive cups are at Costa this year!? I love them, especially the medium cup which is a gorgeous shade of wintery blue with super cute snowmen on :) Fellow hot drink lovers... which is your favourite design of the current Costa cups? I'd love to know.

For those of you who have a serious sweet tooth like me, I'm sure you'll love the Honeycomb Latte. It was lovely but very sweet, so if you don't like your drinks tasting like liquid sugar, then maybe choose another of the festive drinks on offer. I absolutely loved this drink though :) I would definitely get it again. The costa website describes the Honeycomb Latte as 'A smooth and creamy latte with a dash of honeycomb syrup topped with freshly whipped cream and pieces of chocolate coated honeycomb'. 

The Honeycomb Latte reminded me a lot of my favourite flavour of latte, which is Caramel. It has a very similar taste but was much more sweet. The drink is a lot more resembling of caramel, with a lovely golden colour, vs an actual caramel latte from Costa. My latte came with whipped cream on top, but I didn't get any honeycomb pieces which is shame :( I'm going to give this drink a 7/10 altogether and I would recommend all my coffee fan readers to try it.

My mum opted for the Black Forest Hot Chocolate, which she really enjoyed. She usually finds Costa hot chocolates a little too strong and sickly for her, however she thought this festive hot choc was lovely and said she'd  get it again :) I'm not personally a fan of actual Black Forest gateau, but I had a sip of my mum's hot chocolate and thought it tasted good. However, it's still not my tea of cup. It tasted very much like an ordinary hot chocolate but with a subtle berry taste, which matches up with the information about the drink on the Costa website: 'Costa Hot Chocolate with a dash of Black Forest syrup, topped with freshly whipped cream, chocolate sauce and a real cherry'. I don't remember my mum's drink having any chocolate sauce on but she was given a cherry on top of her cup as you can see in the photos. If you like fruity flavours, then I recommend this festive drink for you!

I'll be going back to Costa very soon to try some of their other Christmas drinks. As well as the two flavours I mentioned today, they also have available a Gingerbread Latte, a Salted Caramel Cappuccino, a Lindt Hot Chocolate, a Mint Hot Chocolate and a Toasted Marshmallow Hot Chocolate. Chocolate overload! The sound of these drinks make me happy and I can't wait to taste them.

Thankyou for reading!

♥

Have you tried any of the festive drinks at Costa yet? If so, tell me what you think. 

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November Kawaii & Geeky Wishlist

Hello lovelies! Apologies for how little I've posted so far this month; it's been a hell of a month! However, things seem to be finally picking up and although I'm still riddled with flu-like symptoms, that's clearing up now too, so my blogging schedule should be back on track from now :) It's time for another kawaii & geeky wishlist. Enjoy! 

1. I Would Push You In Front of Zombies To Save My Rabbit Tee If you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll know that I'm a rabbit mama. I love my rabbits so much and this t-shirt just speaks to me! I have wanted it for ages now, and with my new-found love for The Walking Dead, it just seems perfect to add to my wardrobe right now. 

2. O.P.I Hello Kitty Nail Polish in 'Spoken From The Heart' I have been after some nail polishes from this collection for ages now. Mostly because of my slight major obsession with Hello Kitty, but also because I have recently really gotten into painting my nails again (I seem to go through phases when I love having pretty nails, and then times when I can't be bothered with the upkeep and end up wearing cripped nail polish for weeks, oops). It would be nice to own some brighter colours since all my current nail polishes are dark shades. The packaging of these O.P.I. polishes is just lovely!

3. Ditto Bulbasaur Plush Keychain I absolutely adore all of the Ditto plushies that are available and I've featured a Ditto Vaporeon plushie on one of my previous kawaii & geeky wishlists. I recently came across the mini keychain versions and I need one! I'd love an Eevee or a Clefairy but they've now sold out on the link I found, so the next best pokemon for me out of the selection they have would be bulbasaur because he's super cute :) 

4. Luminosity Thrilled the Cat String Lights How lovely are these kitty fairy lights!? Follow the link to see just how cute they are. I'd love to get some pretty lights to put around my bed and I love cats! 

5. Mini Kitty Garland I don't really know where I would put this garland but I just feel compelled to buy it! Probably because of all those adorable cat faces! I really love how all of the cats are a different colour/style and I'm sure I'll be able to find somewhere to display it in my bedroom. 

6. Positive Thoughts Colouring Book As you all probably know by now, I'm a big fan of colouring books and I literally find a new one I want every week! This one is just so pretty and I think it's lovely that it's filled with positive quotes. Colouring books are a wonderful way to relieve stress when your mental health is bad, and the fact that this one is also all about positivity is just great. 

7. Pusheen Surprise Plush Blind Box I spend a silly amount of my free time watching unboxing videos on youtube and I have wanted to get myself some of the Pusheen christmas blind boxes for ages now ever since I saw them on one of the toy channels I watch. They are so sweet and I would be happy to get any one of the eight plushies available. 

8. Pop! Vinyl Figure Daryl Dixon Rocket Launcher Daryl is my favourite character on The Walking Dead and I just think Norman Reedus is gorgeous :) The scene that this Pop! of Daryl is based on was seriously awesome and it's just such a cool-looking figure! I would love to add it to my ever-growing Funko collection. He's definitely going on my christmas list this year.

9. Sailor Cats Stud Earrings ObakeStyle is just an amazing etsy store! Back in May this year I purchased a gorgeous Princess Mononoke mask necklace from them and it's one of my favourite necklaces ever! It's such fabulous quality and so eye-catching, that it's made me want lots more jewellery from this store! They have so many pretty studs, including these adorable Sailor Moon Luna & Artemis ones, plus so many Studio Ghibli characters. I'd love the No Face and Calcifer studs, too. 

10. Daryl Dixon Bandana Dress Just getting a Daryl Dixon Pop! is clearly not enough to satisfy my fangirl needs! I would also love this dress :) It's such a pretty design with the grey paisley pattern (I love paisley!) and the print of Daryl wearing his bandana is fantastic because it's subtle and just fits in with the pattern of the rest of the dress so well. It's brillant!

Thankyou for reading!

♥

What's your favourite item on my wishlist?

Fellow TwD fans, who's your favourite character?

Enjoy this Kawaii & Geeky Wishlist? Check out my previous ones:

| October Wishlist | September Wishlist | August Wishlist | July Wishlist |

 

Operation Christmas Child #2

Happy Friday everyone! Today's post is going to be part 2 of my Operation Christmas Child post (see Part 1 here). If you didn't catch yesterday's post, Operation Christmas Child is a worldwide charity project set up by Samaritan's Purse. The organisation ask people to make up a shoebox filled with Christmas gifts and other essential items so that the joy of Christmas can be brought to children all over the world, in countries were they have likely never received anything like this before. I just think it is such a wonderful appeal and I wanted to join in. I hope you enjoy reading!

In yesterday's post, I explain all about the different age categories that you can choose, and showed you all what I put into a shoebox for a 5-9 year old boy and a 5-9 year old girl. I decided this year to put together several boxes and I have two more to show you :) Below are photographs of a shoebox for a 2-4 year old girl and a 10-14 girl. Each box should include toys, stationery/school supplies and hygiene products, and you also need to wrap your box in christmas paper :) 

Christmas Shoebox for a Girl (2-4 years old) 

 

The charity suggest three essential categories of items to include, the first being toys :) It was quite difficult to think of what kind of toys to include in this box because some toys are suitable for 4 year old's but not 2 year old's. I decided in the end to make the box much more appropriate for a 2 year old child, however I still feel that the items in my shoebox will still be great for a 4 year old too :) My mum managed to find a xylophone, which is awesome and I thought play-doh was something fun. The website also suggests adding a 'wow item' like a cuddly toy or a doll, so I added a little bear teddy bear. I thought some memo cards too and they were the perfect size to fit into the shoebox.

The next category of items that Samaritan's Purse include in their suggestions are school supplies. I decided to just into a pack of crayons and a mini colouring book (which I forgot to include in the photo, oops) because a child of this age is likely not in school yet. Hygiene products are an essential for these boxes so like with the 5-9 year olds shoeboxes, I added a flannel, a toothbrush, toothpaste and a bar of baby soap. I couldn't not get this little girl a hello kitty sponge, too because they are just so cute and double as a little teddy too :) I added some super cute hairclips and bobbles, too. The final items I included a plastic bottle, a gloves & hat set, some socks and some rainbow drops vs the haribos that I picked up for the older children, as I wanted to make sure a 2 year old could enjoy some sweets if she happened to get my box. 

Christmas Shoebox for a Girl (10-14 years old)

Putting together a shoebox for a 10-14 year old was tricky, because I didn't want to make the items too 'baby-ish' but I still wanted it to be fun! I think I managed to get a good balance :) I included the same hygiene products as with my othr boxes: toothpaste, toothbrush, bar of soap, flannel, little packet of tissues but then I also included a wash bag for her to put all of her items in. I thought it was a good idea to include a hairbrush, too and I wish I'd gotten her a few hair accessories now too. I did find her some toy jewellery that I thought was great for her. For the 'wow item' I added the same blue teddy bear as my previous box just because it's adorable and really soft. I also added some cosy socks as a second 'wow item'. 

As for school/stationery supplies, I choose a colouring book (with stickers inside), pencil crayons and a heart-shaped sharpener and two mini notebooks, as well as a small owl diary and pen that I got in one of my Kawaii Box subscription boxes because I thought she'd appreciate it more than me :) For toys, I popped a My Little Pony jigsaw puzzle into the box because who doesn't love jigsaws!? and also its a flat packet so fits easily into the box. I also thought a skipping rope would be an awesome toy for an older girl. Extra items that I wanted to add to my shoebox was a drinking bottle, gloves and some haribo sweets. I also found a few other items for my Kawaii Boxes that I thought made cute additions, a panda eyemask and a little pink bracelet. I hope she enjoys her box!

I hope that you've all enjoyed reading about Operation Christmas Child! I also hope that I've inspired lots of you to get involved yourself next year and create a shoebox filled with presents for a child in a poverty- or war-striken country. Here's a link to the charities youtube channel, where you can watch the sweetest, heart-warming videos of children from lots of different countries opening their boxes and also watch videos about the charities mission work. Even though I'm not a christian myself, I do love what the charity do and that they bring hope and faith to the lives of children and their whole communities :) 

Thankyou for reading!

 ♥

Which age group do you think you'd choose for your box? 

Operation Christmas Child #1

Last year, I started my own little tradition of taking part in an absolutely wonderful charity project, a shoebox appeal, by an organisation called Samaritan's Purse. Every Autumn, people from all over the world join in with the 'Operation Christmas Child' project by putting together a shoebox filled with Christmas goodies to be sent to children in poverty- and war-striken countries. You can check out my shoebox from last year here. Lots of people seem to have made these at Primary School which is lovely (did you?), but my school never took part. Although it's too late for you to put together your own shoebox for Operation Christmas Child as the deadline is tomorrow, I thought it would be good to share about the project with you all. Hopefully, some of my readers will decide to join in aswell for 2017's shoebox appeal. Enjoy!

The first step to making up your own Christmas shoebox is to decide if you want to send it to a girl or a boy, and then you have to choose one of the age categories: 2-4 years, 6-9 and 10-14. You can send as many boxes as you want, however for each you need to pay a £3 donation fee to fund the shipping of the box. It's super easy to pay online on the Samaritan's Purse website, but you can also pop a cheque for £3 inside your box if you prefer. If you pay online too, they will send you an email to let you know whereabouts your shoebox may have been sent, although I found out last year that they don't tell you the exact country which a shame just because it would be cool to know :) 

I decided this year to send four shoeboxes, one each for: 2-4 Girl, 5-9 Girl, 5-9 Boy & 10-14 Girl. I didn;t want this post to get too big, so I've decided to share the shoeboxes with you all in two seperate posts. Today's post will be all about the Girl and Boy's 5-9 years old boxes. 

The rules for the Operation Christmas Child project say that you must use no bigger than a medium shoebox. Shoe Zone usually work with this charity project and volunteer as a shoebox drop-off point so if your local store does this, then they will be more than happy to help you out with a shoebox. I also made my best friend search her house for me haha (Thanks Jess!). Firstly, wrap your box in cheerful christmas paper like you would any other Christmas present. Remember this box is going to children who made never have experienced the joy of Christmas or gotten any presents before, so you want to make the experience has wonderful as possible for them :)  

The website has a list of suggestions for the kind of items to include and not to include in your shoeboxes. They specifically ask that you include hygiene products and stationery/school supplies as these are going to be very useful for the children, and then also toys because it is a Christmas present after all! It's recommended that you try to add at least one 'wow item', like a cuddly teddy! I thought it would be easier for me show you photographs of the items I packed into my shoeboxes and then list them underneath, so here goes... 

Christmas Shoebox for a Girl (5-9 years old)

I always include the essential hygiene products such as a toothbrush, toothpaste and a flannel, but this year I decided to include a bar of soap too because I forgot to get them for last year's box. I found the cutest little hello kitty sponges in Savers/Superdrug, and I'm totally gonna get one for myself soon :) I then always look for some hair accessories as they are lovely but also practical. My mum picked up a pack of these mini picture cards for playing snap which are great because they can be easily ended to even the most packed of shoeboxes. Gloves and/or socks are always a good item to add to the shoebox if you have some space left.

I always get the children some colouring items because I don't know a child that doesn't enjoy colouring. Be sure to always include a pencil sharpener, because they won't be able to keep using their crayons otherwise. For toys, I added some kid's jewellery, a mini barbie figure and a little egg thing with a My Little Pony figure in. How awesome are the My Little Pony jigsaws that my mum found in Poundland!? They are perfect for these shoeboxes because they are basically flat and so don't take up much room at all. For the wow-item, I thought I'd give the little girl a plushie that I got in one of my recent Doki Doki subscription boxes because she'll appreciate it more than I will. Finally, I can't not include some sweeties! 

 Christmas Shoebox for a Boy (5-9 years old)

I think the Christmas shoebox that I made up for the little boy is actually my favourite of all of the boxes I've done this year. Mostly because I want some many of the items for myself! I need look at my wow-item, the Cookie Monster plushie; it's so cute! For hygiene products, I included just want I did in the girl's shoebox: a flannel, toothpaste, toothbrush and a bar of soap. He also got sweeties, gloves and the little snap playing cards. 

I got him this adorable animal colouring book, and some seperate animal stickers. I forgot to mention that I decided that after watching some youtube videos of children opening their Operation Christmas Child boxes, that I'm going to include stickers in all my boxes too. Luckily, the My Little Pony books that I got for the girls have stickers inside. For the toys, I bought a Paw Patrol recorder (PoundWorld), a little monster truck toy (my local pound store), a yoyo and this super awesome wind-up robot that I am literally going to buy myself one of next week haha (from quality save) and I found the mini puzzle still packaged with plastic in a charity shop for 50p. What a bargain! Lastly, I also found this stationery set complete with a tin pencil case, ruler, sharpener, eraser, pencil and notebook, all in a useful plastic case for only £1 in quality! How good is that? :) 

When you've filled up your shoebox, the final thing you have to do is print off the labels provided on the website that state who the box is for and what age group. You should also be able to pick up a leaflet at your local drop-off out (which can be found out on the charities website) which as a label you can cut out on the back of the leaflet. Tape this to the top of your box and it's good to go. Remember to follow the instrutions on the website for what to do if you paid your donation online before taking your shoeboxes to the drop-off point.

Seriously though, how awesome is this project!? I think it's just lovely and I'm so happy to take part and give a present to a child someone in the world. Have a search on youtube to find the cutest videos of some of the children opening their shoeboxes. Warning: you might cry so many happy tears, if you are anything like me. It's beautiful to watch the joy on the children's faces. The first time one of these videos popped up on my facebook news feed, I couldn't not join in after watching it! I hope that lots of my readers what to get involved too! 

Check back tomorrow for Part 2 of my Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes...

 Thankyou for reading!

♥

Have you ever made a Christmas appeal shoebox? 

If not, are you going to make one next year?

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