Gund Pusheen Mini Haul

Hi lovelies! We've come to mid-way through December and now there are only 10 days left until Christmas is here! And believe or not, being as unorganised as ever before this year, I am STILL not finished with my Christmas shopping! Why am I like this?! Is anyone else in the same situation? We can do it guys, there's still over a week until the big day, we will accomplish this mission! I have faith in us! Haha :D Today's post might even give you some inspiration on what to get your loved ones for Christmas, especially if they are lovers of cute things & cats! As my title suggests, this post is going to be dedicated to a very adorable, chubby, grey kitty called Pusheen! Enjoy :) 

Earlier this month, I was scrolling down my Instagram newsfeed and I came across an advertisement by Gund, (the company that supplies Pusheen merchandise), and it grabbed my attention! On the ad, it was advertising that for that week only, Gund UK would be giving away a free gift with every purchase made! Even though in that moment I would have loved to head straight over to the website and buy something, I tried to be sensible and tell myself that I should be saving all of my money for Christmas shopping. However as the week went on, and me being typical me, I could no longer resist the temptation, considering Instagram wouldn't stop showing me the ad and I saw it over on another social media platform. I gave in to curiosity, eager to see what this free gift would be! I browsed the Gund website for something that was less costly and chose an item that I'd had my eyes on a few months back. After hitting that 'add to cart' button, I checked and there waiting for me was a 'free surprise gift', which was actually valued higher than the cost of the item I was purchasing, and this just fuelled my excitement even more! 

When my order arrived I was very happy with what I found inside the package, and so I just had to share it with you guys! 

So I thought I'd start off by showing you all the product that I purchased. The adorable fluffy item that you see above is the Pusheenosaurus, in the form of a 'fluffy pom soft toy' as the website lists it. It's one of those pom-pom keychains that have become rather popular over the last year or so, and to be honest it's no surprise because they are super cute! I think that they are also good for anyone who deals with anxiety; I have often found that whenever I've had a keychain like this one on my bag and have stroked it when I'm stressed, it has helped me calm down a little. So this might be something to look into if you are someone who gets nervous in social situations, etc :) 

I chose this item because I am a big fan of dinosaurs and I have adored the Pusheen X Dinosaur version ever since I first saw it on an official Pusheen gif. I am lovin' that combinations of two different animals and/or creatures has become such a thing because I love me a caticorn or a purrmaid! What's the best creature combination that you've seen? Anyhow, this Pusheenosaurus keychain was £6.95 when I added it to my shopping cart, but lucky for you guys at the moment it's on sale for £4.95 so grab yourself one quick or snap one up for a Christmas gift!! You can find it here, and also the Pusheenicorn version of this keychain is on sale too! 

As much as I love Pusheen's sweet little face, the other sides of this keychain are so much more adorable to me because dinosaur!! I really love the stripy tail, and the spikes/spines along the Pusheenosaurus' back & tail are too cute! If you didn't know already, green is my favourite colour and so I am a big fan of this pom-pom keychains colour scheme... so many pretty shades of green! Something else that I was really impressed with about this keychain is just how soft it is! The material that every inch of this item is made of is great quality and feels so lovely. For only £6.95, I found the fact that it was so well made to be fantastic! The keyring/chain itself is also great as it comes with both a ring and a clasp, and feels very sturdy, but I don't know yet if I want to put that to the test because I really don't want to ruin this beautiful pom-pom plushie! I am very tempted to get the unicorn one too.

Okay, so next I'm going to reveal what the free gifts were! Yay! The add-on that was put into my cart as soon as I added the keychain said that it was worth £7.95, and I was certainly interested to see how realistic this pricing was when my package arrived. Gund charges £3.95 for standard shipping, so my total order came to £10.90 and I was really hoping this gift made it worth the spend. £10 isn't too pricey really, but with it being around Christmas, I felt like I shouldn't be spending money on random stuff for myself so I wanted the outcome to justify my purchase, hahaha! 

So here is what Pusheen sent me for free!...

You may be thinking, is that all!? But this is just the smaller of the free gifts I got! Yes, there's more than one!! Eeee! Look how adorable this teeny little Pusheen plushie is! I love the pastel colours; this lilac shade reminds me of parma violets! *nom* I think the heart crest is also so sweet, and it just makes the whole item to me resemble a My Little Pony. There's actually larger plushies available in this design, with three colour variations, and I've wanted one for the longest time. This tiny one has just made me want one of the bigger ones more! Like every other Pusheen plushie I've ever had (I've gotten some in my Pusheen subscription boxes!), this one is very soft and made from the smoothest, loveliest fabric! The whiskers are the only 'rough' material on the product, because they are made from something that I can only describe as shoelace cord. As cute as this item is, I was a little puzzled why they would sell such a small plush, something that you can't really cuddle and is easy to lose... however.... 

IT'S A PENCIL/PEN TOPPER!! How sweet! I wish these were available when I was at school! It would have been a great excuse to bring a plushie to school with me, although I often hid one in my backpack anyway :D I don't know if this topper would be able to endure my habit of shaking my pen when I'm deep in thought about whatever I am writing because it feels like it would easily fall off, however it's still a lovely item! Now the item that I'm sure you're all waiting to see! I'm excited to show you ♥

LOOK HOW BEAUTIFUL IT IS!! Oh my gosh I love it so much! It's a Pusheen tree ornament/decoration, and I think the design is so perfect! I can't believe Gund were just giving these away with their orders, I definitely personally feel like it outweighed the item I purchased. I feel like people would pay more than £7.95 for a decoration this cute (or around £6 if you take away the price of the tiny plush)! I know I'm saying it for all of the items featured in this post, but I love the colours they have used! They are really pretty and with regards to this item in particular, they match the aesthetic I'm going for with the mini Christmas tree I'm putting up in my bedroom :) 

It's such a photogenic decoration! The quality is fantastic in my opinion, even though there's some messy glue marks/residue at the end of the whiskers! It's not really visible unless you get up close to the decoration, but I feel like all of the pretty features on the rest of it would draw your eyes away from these marks. Seriously though, how gorgeous are the scarf and hat? I like how the ribbon is pale pink to match them. I thought upon first glance that the decoration would be hollow but it isn't and is fairly heavy! And unlike with similar weighted items by other brands, Gund have made sure to use a thicker, more sturdy metal loop to attach the decoration to the ribbon, so it's not going to fall off. This Pusheen decoration is made out of a vinyl material and I love the feel of smooth vinyl so that makes me like it even more! What do you guys think of the decoration? 

I'm really happy with my decision to give into temptation and make a purchase on the Gund website to get these free gifts! They are so worth it, don't you think? I thought it was also really sweet of them to add in this little Dairy Milk chocolate mousse Snowman, which are super delicious by the way and if you've never tried them you need to! Even though my order arrived in a simple plastic mail bag, the items inside where packaged really well. The decoration was inside a polystyrene box and then some as it was also in a little plastic bag, and the other items were individually wrapped in plastic too. I love all of my new Pusheen goodies so much & I'm definitely going to take advantage of any other Gund offers I see in the future. Follow them over on their Instagram guys so you don't miss out! I hope you all enjoyed reading my post and please do let me know in the comments if I've inspired you to get a Pusheen related gift for your loved ones this Christmas. Have a lovely rest of the weekend! 

Thankyou for reading! 

♥

Are you a fan of Pusheen? 

Which of these items is your favourite and why?

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Primark Holler and Glow Unicorn Bath Fizzer | Review

Hey guys! I hope you all had a marvellous weekend, whatever you got up to! I spent it in typical cold season fashion, by staying indoors, in bed or wrapped up in blankets, complaining about how cold it is and how dark it's getting so early in the day! I've never felt more stereotypically British than I do in Autumn/Winter :D haha! This time of year is the perfect excuse to have lots of baths VS showers (although personally I struggle to stand up for long periods of time in the shower so baths it is for me all year round, #SpoonieProblems), which means it's also the perfect opportunity to use fun bath products! And that brings me onto today's topic! 

Back in October, I went out shopping with my mom and I picked up a few goodies from Primark, including a bath product that caught my eye because of how colourful it was! I have never tried any of the bath products by Primark, but I thought I'd give them a go considering Primark's makeup seems to have a lot of good reviews. I wanted to see if their bath products matched up to those that I have tried from other brands, and so I picked up the 'Holler and Glow' bath fizzer. I mean, how could I resist trying it out when it's so pretty!? Anyhow, I hope you all enjoy reading my review :) 

As you can see, the Holler and Glow/Rainbow Chaser bath fizzer looks amazing!! The bright colours are what first grabbed my attention, before I even realised the fizzer was shaped like a unicorn head! I am a sucker for novelty shaped things, I don't know why but they make me like a product so much more! Who else feels the same? I thought at only £2 I couldn't walk away from the product, since I was so curious about whether the colours would 'disperse' in a similar way to a bathbomb, or whether they were just to make the product look pretty. I am a big fan of bathbombs that make gorgeous bathart and I am always looking for cheaper products that do the same, because I already spend too much at Lush XD 

I have to admit that I use bathbombs a lot more than bath fizzers, and the two work a lot differently when added to water. Fizzers are usually smaller and less pricey, they don't have a very strong scent as far as I have experienced, and they don't really do much to the water after the initial reaction. They typically dissolve very quickly, making them fizz a lot, hence the name, whereas bathbombs are designed to dissolve slowly. Thus giving them time to release more colours and fragrance into the bath, and are fun to watch slowly working their magic around you as you soak! Regardless, I haven't seen many bath fizzers as colourful as this Primark one so I was very intrigued about whether we'd get more bathart than is typical for these products. 

Something that I really liked about this product, aside from the fact it looks so lovely, was the size of it! It is a chunky thing, which is another reason why I was hoping it was going to be different to a standard bath fizzer (having more space to layer up the contents inside the fizzer with colouring and oils, etc). How aesthetically pleasing is the Holler and Glow/Rainbow Chaser fizzer though!? The shape and design of it resembles an emoji so much, and I just love it!! I like to fill all areas of my life with cuteness, so I'm especially a lover of adorable bath products. I wish that more bathbombs/fizzers were designed in novelty shapes, instead of the usual spherical shape.

So, how did it work out when I used it? Did it meet my expectations? 

The answer to the latter is both yes and no! 

Like I mentioned before, I know that bath fizzers are a lot less exciting when compared to bathbombs so even though I was curious about this one in particular because of how bright it was, I was still pretty sure that that wouldn't matter, that it would still react in the same way that any bath fizzer does. When I first put it into the bath, there was a lot of colour 'bleeding' out of the fizzer, and it did look very cool! However to really see this you had to be holding the bath fizzer in your hand. It is a weighty product that would sink to the bottom of the tub and the colours coming out of it would be more muted by the time they bubbled to the surface of the water. The Holler and Glow/Rainbow Chaser dissolved pretty quickly and fizzled a lot, causing lots of bubbles as it went! I do like this about bath fizzers because it makes a change from bathbombs and when it only cost £2, it's not too bad that it didn't last very long. 

I also forgot to mention the fragrance of the bath fizzer, and that's mostly because it didn't leave a very lasting impression. It was a pleasant scent, which to me was a mixture of fruity and floral fragrances, although I couldn't pinpoint any of the specific scents. It was a little annoying that the scent wasn't written anywhere on the packaging, especially because if you don't like a particular scent, you want to be able to avoid buying products that smell of it. Like myself when it comes to Lavender! The smell didn't release any more once the product was in the water, and it did not linger so this product is designed for its look rather than its fragrance, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I know a lot of people who are very sensitive to strong fragrances and so prefer to opt for milder scented products. I think this would be a good option for them. 

It was difficult to get any decent photographs of how the bath fizzer actually looked in the water because the reactions were pretty subtle. Despite the packaging saying 'Drop the fizzer into a warm bath and watch it swirl, melt and fizz leaving a trail of unicorn magic behind', the colours that came from the fizzer were pale and cloudy rather than vibrant. To be honest, nothing much happened, but after the fizzer had completely melted, the bath water was a pale shade of purpley-blue for a while. This didn't last long at all though! 

Overall, I wasn't expecting the fizzer to do much, and my expectations were met, however it was still a fun product! I wasn't disappointed because it was not expensive and it still makes bath-time a little more interesting, which is always a bonus for me because baths are not the most easy thing to do when you have a chronic pain condition. The look of the product is gorgeous and so that made up for some of the shortcomings in performance. I do think that this product would be great for children, and would be good to gift as a stocking filler this Christmas :) I'm considering picking up some for my nieces as a little extra something. It hasn't discouraged me from trying more Primark bath products, and I'm wondering now if they sell bathbombs because I've never seen them if they do.... does anyone know if they do?

I hope you all found this post an interesting one and I'd love to hear if I made you want to try out the product for yourself. I think I'm ready for some festive bath products in my life now that it's officially Christmas Time! 

Thankyou for reading!

♥

Have you ever tried any Primark bath products?

How about bath fizzers in general? If so, would you recommend any specific brands? 

If you're a fellow fan of bathbombs, then check out my related posts: 

| Sir Fizzalot Bath Bomb | As Black As Your Soul Bath Bomb | Pool Party Bath Bomb | 

November 2018 Kawaii & Geeky Wishlist

Hi everyone! Here I am finally sharing a long awaited monthly wishlist!! It's only been a few months since I last posted one but it feels like forever... what is it with this year!? It's seemed to go by so fast, yet somehow still drag. Can anyone else relate? To be honest, I'll be happy when it's over and I can start 2019 afresh; I'm determined to make next year a good one, full of achieved goals and personal triumphs! Tomorrow is the first day of December, and I hope all of us have a wonderful final month of 2018 to make up for this past year, haha! Now, let's get back on a more cheerful note... who doesn't love some geeky and kawaii goodness!? It was pretty tough to put together this wishlist because in the lead up to Christmas, it's a challenge to decide what presents I'm going to buy for my loved ones, let alone what I want for myself! So the wishlist in today's post is going to be a little shorter than usual, but I hope you enjoy reading it nonetheless ♥

1. The Tales of Beedle The Bard by JK Rowling After reading the Harry Potter novels earlier this year, the Wizarding World has been pretty much consuming my life XD I spend so much time watching Harry Potter fan theory videos on YouTube and reading & writing fanfic, and my overall nerdiness for the Harry Potter universe has grown so much! I already loved the movies as a child/teenager, but I feel I appreciate them, and the stories themselves, much more as an adult, and whenever I see any books that are related to the original novels by JK Rowling, I just have a mighty need. I recently spotted a poster advertising this book when I went to the cinema to see Fantastic Beasts 2 with my best friend, and I would love to have a read! Especially of the Tale of the Three Brothers :) 

2. ASDA Unicorn Ornament My sister purchased this gorgeous ornament not too long ago and I've wanted my own ever since! It's so pretty and would go perfectly with my bedroom once it's decorated. My colour theme will be colourful & pastel, and this ornament is decorated with lovely pastel stars! I can't believe it's only £5!! It's also a lot bigger than it looks on the website! 

3. EMP Exclusive LOTR Elrond Funko Pop! I am currently reading the Lord of The Rings books by JRR Tolkien (I don't know why it's taken me so long to read them!) & I am so in love with the folklore and the mythical creatures/peoples, especially the elves. I have always loved elves, but these books, including The Hobbit, has made me love them even more! I now really want to add some Lord of The Rings Pop! Vinyl to my collection, starting with the new EMP Exclusive Elrond figure. It looks awesome online, and I bet it looks even better in person! 

4. Pomsies Plush Toy How adorable is this plushie though!? I fell in love with them as soon as I saw them, and it's all Estelle's fault!! XD She tweeted about them and I have wanted one ever since. My favourite is 'Patches' (the one I've used a photo of) but there's four different characters available, all with a different colour/pattern. Seriously though, how could I not fall in love with Pomsies!? Those big eyes! Plus they are so unique, oh and they even light up and make adorable noises!! Fingers crossed that Santa Claus leaves one of these cuties under my tree this Christmas! 

5. The Wild Thornberry's Nigel Funko Pop! I am so over the moon that Funko have finally released a collection for The Wild Thornberry's! Ever since they included some of the characters in their Nickelodeon Mystery Mini's blind boxes, I have been waiting for them to create Pop! versions, and my wish has come true! The Wild Thornberry's was one of my favourite cartoons as a kid, and I especially related to Eliza who is also a geek and an animal lover! I always dreamt of being able to talk to animals :) Nigel however was definitely on par with Eliza as my favourite characters. He was hilarious and I have always been a fan of Tim Curry! I need to add all three of the Wild Thornberry's figures to my collection! 

6. Sass & Belle Little Llama Bookends Everyone who knows me well will be aware how much I love alpacas! One of the first things that started my obsession with Japanese kawaii culture was the fact that there was so much alpaca merchandise, from plushies to chibi alpaca cartoons! I was really happy when the llama craze hit the UK  because, well llama are close relatives of the alpaca, both being in the Camelidae family of mammals, and so many of the llama designs don't look anything like llamas but more like alpacas! Which means that I can just pretend it's an alpaca and give myself an excuse to buy it! Just like these fabulous bookends by Sass & Belle. I cannot picture a more perfect bookend to go on my shelves now! I love the shade of blue that they've chosen for them, it's one of my favourite colours! I also really like the simplistic design of them :) I think they are really well priced at £15 for the pair too! 

7. Tofu Cute Kawaii Cat Lovers Bundle Something that is fabulous about Christmas Time is that all of my favourite online stores start selling bundles and offering other awesome bargains that are perfect for gifts, but also for treating one's self :D And I am very tempted to do just that with this awesome cat lovers bundle from Tofu Cute. It does seem a little pricey but Japanese items are generally more expensive here in the UK, and you do get 11 items in this bundle, including a plushie, stationery & yummy Japanese sweets! I think this would make a wonderful Christmas present for your loved ones who are fans of all things kawaii! There's also a dog lovers version available too :) I wish they'd made a rabbit one! (There's still time Tofu Cute!!)

8. Rick & Morty Simple Rick's Candle Are any of you guys fellow Rick & Morty fans? Do you have a favourite character? Mine are Birdperson, Tinkles the Imaginary Friend & Mr Rick Sanchez himself! Other than Funko figures, I am yet to own anything Rick & Morty related because well most of the items I've seen have been the typical mugs, bottle openers, band tees, etc., and as much as I like those, there's shows that I love more that I'm more likely to buy that type of merchandise for. Sorry Rick & Morty! However, lately I stumbled upon a couple of candles on the Merchoid website and having not seen anything like this before for the show, my attention was instantly grabbed! There's two available, but this one is my favourite because of the colour scheme and the sweet scent! It is more expensive than I would usually pay for a candle that isn't a Yankee Candle glass jar one, but I do really like that it comes in a tin! If you've been a reader of my blog for a long time, you'll know that I have a bit of thing for tins :D (does anyone else have a love for something random?). There are several other fandom related candles on the Merchoid website, if you want to go check them out. Candles always make great Christmas gifts in my opinion! In winter when the night is dark and full of terrors, I always want to light candles! 

Thankyou for reading!

♥

What's on your wishlist right now? 

Also, what's your favourite item I've featured in today's post? 

What I got for my Birthday 2018

Hello lovelies! October went so fast and I had so much to do that I totally forgot to share what presents I got for my birthday with you guys! It's been a whole month (and 28 days, hahah! Better late than never should be my blog motto at this rate!) since I turned 26 now, and I can't say I feel any different... are there actually people out there that do? I don't know about you guys but I still feel about 16. It's like I blinked and 10 years have passed! :D I definitely still look about 16! Just a few months ago, a neighbour asked my mom whilst I was standing there awkwardly (ahhh :O social interaction) how I was getting on at college XD like come on, I graduated from university around four years ago!! Before I go off on a tangent about the joys of not looking your age (It might sound good and yes, I may appreciate it when I'm much older, but it can be really annoying for many reasons!), let's get down to business! (You know you all finished that sentence with 'to defeat the Huns' and if you didn't, I don't think we can be friends XD). 

I just want to give a little disclaimer that I'm not sharing this post at all to brag about what I got, but because I know that lots of people enjoy having a nosey at the gifts other people get. I know I do :) My blog is also my happy place, so I want to share the joyful moments in my life with my readers ♥ I hope you all enjoy reading today's post! 

On my birthday this year, I spent the morning opening my presents and listening to my favourite musical soundtracks, and then me and my mom went out for a meal to celebrate. We went a local pub-style restaurant for a carvery, and it was delicious! Also, the chef very kindly upgraded my carvery to a large because it was my birthday :) I also got a scrumptious dessert, it was some sort of rocky road sundae. I had a great day! 

A few days after my birthday, I went out to celebrate with my best friend (you should all go check out Jess' blog here). Our birthdays are only 9 days apart so we always celebrate together :) We were short on money in October so we wanted to do something that wasn't too pricey and luckily, Jess' mom gave us a voucher that got us buy one, get one free on mains at Brewers Fayre! Yayy for discounts!!

I'm a creature of habit and usually opt for sundaes for dessert, so this time round I tried an Oreo one. It was soooo good! Jess got a mint one which also looked amazing! We ended up spending ages in the restaurant talking because we'd not hung out in what felt like forever (#SpoonieProblems), and after watching waiters constantly walk by with desserts, the temptation was too strong so we bought another to share! They ran out of profiteroles, which is what we wanted T_T  but we got a very yummy waffle instead. No regrets... I think we should start a tradition and get a second dessert everytime XD So, how do you guys like to spend your birthdays? I'm not a big partying person and I prefer to do something less-anxiety provoking so a meal & cinema date with friends is my usual go to way to celebrate :) 

Anyhow, without further ado, here are the prezzies I got for my 26th Birthday... 

Those of you who are regular readers of my blog will know that I am a toy collector, specifically of TokiDoki and Funko vinyl figures. I also really love surprises so blind box figures are my favourite collectables (although it can get very annoying when you just can't seem to find some of the rarer figures to complete your collection!). When I was asked this year what I wanted for my birthday, right away my answer was Funko figures. My mom knows that I am currently trying to complete my collection of the new Series 3 Harry Potter Mystery Minis that Funko released earlier this year, so she got me two boxes :) Here's which figures I found inside... 

How adorable are Mystery Minis though!? They're so chibi! I got Cedric Diggory, from Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire and Argus Filch's cat, Mrs Norris. I love that Funko have included Cedric in the collection because it's nice for characters from houses other than Gryffindor & Slytherin to get included in any kind of Harry Potter merchandise. Ravenclaw (my house) and Hufflepuff are usually left out, which sucks! But luckily, there's already a Mystery Mini of Luna Lovegood who's a Ravenclaw, and now we have a Hufflepuff! I love the colours of the Hufflepuff uniform/sigil, and they really stand out on this figure. I don't think the figure looks very much like Cedric's film character version (played by Robert Pattinson) as compared to the other mystery minis but he's still awesome! He's one of the figures that you have a 1/6 chance of pulling; he's really common but I didn't have him yet so I'm happy :) 

When it comes to the Mrs Norris figure, I actually already had her; I got her in the first ever blind box I purchased from this collection. I absolutely adore the design of this figure! I love all of the detail that has gone into her design, from the intricate markings and colouration, to the furry textured appearance of her fur. They've even included fur detailing in her ears! Doesn't she just look awesome!? In the movies, Mrs Norris is played by a Maine Coon cat and they are my favourite breed (as well as Norwegian forest cats) and so I've always loved her ever since I was a kid, despite the fact that she's a mean character. Since I already had Mrs Norris, I did a swap with one of my toy collector friends on Instagram, and got in return a Ronald Weasley Mystery Mini that I was missing from the Series 2 collection. Oh, and this figure is a 1/12 chance. 

As you can see, there's definitely a main theme for my birthday presents! I love when parents learn that you love something and then they just buy you anything they see that's related to the thing :D I'm certainly not complaining... I love Harry Potter and I think it's awesome that Primark have been doing such a service to us potterheads with all of this fabulous yet affordable merchandise. They've released a few badge packs, and I can't help but love them! They are super nostalgic for me, and remind me of my teens when I was obsessed, like most alt kids, with covering my bags and jackets with badges. It used to be a little tradition of mine to go to a stall in my town's market each Saturday to look for new button badges :) These Primark ones are much better quality than those ones though, haha. I'm totally going to channel my inner teenage self and cover my backpack with button badges again! This keyring is also super cute and I'm just thankful that Primark are providing my fellow Ravenclaws & I with house products, even though they seem to think that the emblem of the house is a raven and not an eagle.. but I'll not talk about how annoying that is for me right now XD

Awwww Pusheen is too adorable!! I will forever be obsessed with this super cute chubby cat, and it makes me so happy that Primark have been releasing merch of her! I was out shopping with my mom back in September when I spotted these Halloween Pusheen socks, and she remembered that I'd liked them and picked some up for my birthday :) Sorry guys, I should have taken photos of all three pairs, but I'll share some over on my Instagram when I eventually wear them! I don't actually like wearing trainer socks as is because they irritate me (does anyone else have this problem?), but I usually wear them over the top of standard socks to add an extra layer when I'm wearing boots that tend to rub my feet. I got quite a few pairs of socks for my birthday which is great because you can never have too many socks! I also got a pair of those things that are like a cross between slippers and socks, but I forgot to photograph them, oops! They are Ravenclaw themed, with a light blue and dark blue striped design and a big pom-pom on the top. These will come in handy for winter :) 

My family know how much I adore pusheen (mostly because I parade around the house showing/telling everyone who will listen about the fabulous items I get in my Pusheen subscription box every few months, haha!) so it's no surprise that my sister also bought me a Pusheen gift too. How sweet are these stickers!? They are designed to be used on devices such as laptops and phone cases, which is pretty cool. I absolutely love the mix of magical and food-themed designs, it incorporates three of my favourite things: sweet treats, cats & mythical creatures, so I can't not love these stickers! I don't know if I'll ever be able to bring myself to actually use them though! Are any of you guys sticker hoarders? 

Another thing that I asked for, for my birthday this year, is some of the newer Harry Potter & Fantastic Beasts Lego Blind Bags. I have been trying to resist the temptation to start collecting Lego figures for a long while now... there's so many brilliant Lego collections, but I didn't want to open another can of worms for myself because I cannot stop collecting Funko and TokiDoki figures enough as it is! I'm going to run out of room soon (Pfft, I'm already struggling XD oops)! But then, they released this wizarding world collection and all of my toy photography friends were sharing photos of their new figures and all of my favourite toy youtubers were posting 'unboxing' videos... and I just couldn't help it... I had a MIGHTY NEED! :D The more time that passed and the more figures I saw from these blind bags, the more I needed them, and so now I'm going to have to collect them all, haha! Opening the two blind bags that my mom got me on my birthday just sealed the deal for me, because they are awesome! Keep reading to see which ones I got... 

Seriously though, how cool do they look!? There were four characters especially that I really wanted to get, and it must have been a case of birthday luck because I found two of them in my blind bags! I wanted Cho Chang because there's a serious lack of merchandise for her character and she's a fellow Ravenclaw, plus she comes with a pretty eagle owl. I love how detailed it is, especially it's face. Other than the skirt, which was very fiddly to put on, the figures were easy to assemble, which I was very happy about. Me and intricate building that involves good hand-eye coordination skills do not go well together. I also wanted Voldemort because I'm a fan of villainous characters and he's one of the best ever. Plus he comes with his animal sidekick, Nagini and I love reptiles :) I can't wait to get the other Lego figures!

I am so so so happy that I received this gift for my birthday! I was over the moon when I first found out that Funko were to release a Pop! Movies collection for Little Shop of Horrors, because it's been my favourite musical for pretty much my entire life. I first watched it when I was 6 years old and have been hooked on musicals ever since, so it will always hold a special place in my heart. I really wanted to get all of the Pop figures as soon as I spotted them but I couldn't afford them at the time, plus they took a while to become available in the UK. In the meanwhile, one of my brothers had gone online to order me one from abroad, I think it was from Australia via amazon but I'm not 100%, and he chose my favourite character, The Dentist (who's forever been to blame for my love of leather pants XD)! 

He ended up having to tell me because he was worried that I was going to order the Pop for myself before the one he'd bought for me arrived, but despite it not being a surprise anymore, I was still super excited to be getting it! I LOVE it! I think it looks so much like the movie character! I really like his outfit and the fact that he's holding pliers ft. tooth and a gas mask in his hands. It was such a thoughtful present for me because it's something that I wanted so much :) I can't wait to get the other four Pop's! Are any of you guys fellow fans of Little Shop of Horrors? I'd love to hear what your favourite song or your favourite character is in the comments! Orin Scrivello wasn't the only Pop that I got for my birthday, but I forgot as usual to take photos of them for this post (Can I even blog though!?). Luckily, I took some photos of them for my toy photography Instagram so I can show you those :) 

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‘You’re entirely bonkers. But I’ll tell you a secret; all the best people are’ ♥️ | #PrettyPopSaturday • • Did you guys know that it’s National Mad Hatter Day? And so it’s the perfect excuse to show off the new Mad Hatter Pop I got for my birthday! 😍 • • #powerfulpopsaturday #31daysoftoytober #aliceinwonderland #disney #madhatter #toyphotography #toysgroup_alliance #toycollector #toycommunity #toys #funko #funkopop #popvinyl #funkofamily #autumn #pics_of_oct2018 #fall #wheretoysdwell #tfp_spotlight #f2id_horrormovie #fantasy #qualityfunkophotography #topfunkophotos

A post shared by Sarah (@otakutoybox) on Oct 6, 2018 at 6:50am PDT

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‘This isn’t real enough for you, Billy? I’m not real enough for you?! It was real enough for Georgie!’ | #FunkoFearFriday #f2id_HorrorMovie 🤡🧡🎃🖤 • • #horrortoyking #31daysoftoytober #IT #ata_horror_click #toysgroup_alliance #wherenightmaresdwell #wherehorrordwells #toyphotography #tfp_spotlight #horror #horrormovies #pennywise #stephenking #horrorfan #thadevilsrejects #toycommunity #toycrewbuddies #toycollector #toys #pics_of_oct2018 #toycollector #halloween

A post shared by Sarah (@otakutoybox) on Oct 5, 2018 at 2:45pm PDT

These two Pop! vinyls are from my mom and I absolutely love them! The Mad Hatter figure has been on my wishlist for ages now, so I'm very glad that I now have it! I love how unique he looks compared to the original Disney cartoon version of the Mad Hatter, even though I would love the Pop of him too. I really like how colourful the figure is, and how much detail is included, especially on his hat! I also adore the addition of the tea of cup in his hands, it's so cute! I just love miniature versions of things :D Who else does? It was perfect that I received him for my birthday because it's in Autumn and I think he just looks so great amongst the colourful autumnal leaves! The other Pop is from the new movie adaptation of Stephen King's IT and is the 'Spider Legs' version. Funko have released several different variants of Pennywise the Dancing Clown for this movie collection, and this one in particular is a favourite of mine. It just looks so wicked and super creepy! I really enjoyed taking spooky photos of him over the Halloween period. He was a really good candidate for me to practice photography using shadows and torch light to capture extra scary shots! IT was one of the best movies of 2017 in my opinion. What did you all think of it?

It's so wonderful that Primark have been making merch for so many animations that I love! If Pusheen and TokiDoki wasn't enough, they are now making Powerpuff Girls stuff! Thankyou Primark!! I absolutely adored this show when I was a kid, and I love things that give me the nostalgic feels. Everytime I look at these gifts, I reminisce about the good memories from my childhood. I love how sparkly and iridescent these items are, and I can never have too many notebooks! I've been really happy with the quality of each notebook I've bought from Primark so far and because they are cheaper than similar notebooks from other stores, I don't mind using them to jot messy notes in! I love the length of the pencil case too because it can fit some of my longer felt-tips and such inside :) Who was your favourite Powerpuff Girl? I always loved Buttercup as a kid because I was also a 'tomboy', but now as an adult, I feel like I relate to Bubbles more... I cry at everything and I love plushies & animals! :D 

How pretty is this mug that my best friend bought me for my birthday!? It makes me melt everytime I look at its little face! I love how it resembles the kawaii style that I adore so much and I like the pastel shades they've used. I also really like that the design is fairly simplistic, which just makes it, to me, an even more gorgeous mug! It's one of those mugs that I know I'm going to hoard and never actually drink out of... I have such a massive collection of mugs now! I'm going to have to use them all some day, OR have 100 mug 'pen pots' dotted around each and every surface of my bedroom, hahaha! Jess also bought me chocolate, which didn't take me long to devour at all, and another lovely cat-themed present. It was one of those bathbombs from Bomb Cosmetics that comes topped with a little plastic figure; in this case it was an orange cat. The bath bomb, or bath blaster as they call them, was named 'Meow', and I thought it smelt like orangeade. Thankyou so much for the wonderful presents dude! 

I always feel like birthday cards don't get enough appreciation, but I love when someone has chosen a card specifically for me and it features something that I really like! I didn't want to not include my cards so here they are :) I love how the card that my dad got me (bottom left) has a shaker inside the cake! These are very popular in the arts & craft community right now and they look awesome! It gives the card a very homemade feel about it, and I really like that.

Not only did my best friend get me cat-themed presents, she also got me a matching card :') So many cats makes my heart happy! So those are all but one of the presents that I got for my 26th birthday! My dad also give me some money towards a figure that I had wanted to buy for the longest time! It is a horror figure and my first ever figure from the brand, Neca. I have decided that I want to do a separate post all about it at some point, so any of my fabulous readers that are toy fans will have to wait to see what it is! I feel very lucky to have been given such wonderful gifts from my loved ones ♥ I hope that you've all enjoyed reading about them and that I didn't ramble on too much!

Thankyou for reading!

♥

What is your favourite birthday present that you have ever received? 

I'd love to hear all about it!