♡ What I Got For Christmas 2019 ♡

Hello everyone, it's been a while! >< ♡

Occasionally I get the inspiration to write on here again, and now is one of those times; I can't promise that I'll continue after the next few posts that I have planned, but one can always hope!

Firstly, Merry (late) Christmas! I hope those of you who celebrated had a nice time with your loved ones ♡ I really love the holiday season and always look forward to it, this year was no exception (though I do feel like it passed by really quickly!)

I'm really happy and thankful about all the gifts I received this year, and since I always like seeing what other people got (and for my own reference, since I like looking back at what I got in years past), I thought I would post a little Christmas haul! I'm very thankful to my family for always getting me such thoughtful gifts ♡

Let's start!

My absolute favourite makeup brand is Jill Stuart-- both for the beautiful packaging, and the amazing quality! I got a lovely blusher/highlight duo, as well as a really pretty dark red lipstick~ I haven't used any Jill Stuart lip products before (and I have yet to try this out), but I've heard good things about them! I've been wanting a nice dark red lipstick for a while, and I thought the colour of this one was so pretty~ (Plus, the flowers on the cap lift off to reveal a small mirror- how cute and useful!)

In the realm of beauty/self-care type things, I also got some nice bath products! The apples are both from Lush; the silver one is a soap, and the big white one is their "So White" bath bomb~ I got one a few years ago and really loved it, so I'm looking forward to using this one! The salt block should also be nice, it smells like lavender and is so fragrant~

I'm not sure how well the print is visible on this, but I got this gorgeous ginkgo-leaf patterned shift nightgown from the Australian shop Papinelle, which makes the most beautiful sleepwear! It's made of silk and feels so divine, I can't wait to wear it ♡

I have several cookbooks from LEON (their "happy salads" and "happy soup" ones), and I was overjoyed to see this "Happy Curries" one!! Curry is one of my absolute favourite foods and this book has a lot of really nice recipes, I'm looking forward to making things from it! I also got this beautiful Cardcaptor Sakura collector's edition, which I've been wanting for the longest time because it's just too pretty ;v; To tell the truth I've never actually read Cardcaptor Sakura, so I'm looking forward to reading this iconic magical girl manga!

This is possibly one of my favourite gifts-- Rammstein's book of piano versions of their songs! Rammstein has been one of my favourite bands since I was very young and I wanted this book for ages, but they stopped making it rather quickly after its initial release 4 years ago ;-; They recently rereleased it however, yay! It's such a beautiful book of sheet music (and it comes with a CD too!). I have yet to start learning anything from it, but I'm excited to do so~

We slowly move on to somewhat more miscellaneous items, with this lovely bottle of gin! Gin is without a doubt my favourite spirit and I'm always interested in trying different blends of herbs; this one is definitely very unique! It has acai, which stands out very prominently in the flavour profile. I don't think I've ever tried anything quite like this!

To some of you this might seem a bit boring, but I've wanted these double-walled glasses for ages, I just thought they looked so pretty! The nice thing about them is that the double layer of glass provides a lot of insulation so that your drink stays warm and so that your hands don't burn~ 

Some small things; cute nail polish with heart-shaped glitter, and some nice relaxing aromatherapy gel~

Lastly, some sweets! ♡

Again, I'm very grateful for everything my family got me; and I look forward to using it all ♡

Lastly, is a Christmas gift to myself! Some of you might know that I recently started working, and with my first paycheck I decided to buy myself something I've wanted for a while: a Vivienne Westwood wallet!

My mum got a similar one last year for Christmas and it held up very well over the course of the past year, so I could tell that it was nice quality and decided to make the plunge and purchase it ^^ It came in the mail the day after Christmas-- perfect timing! I love it so much and can't wait to use it; I've never had such a nice wallet and all the details in it are just so perfect ♡

Thank you for reading! I hope you liked seeing the things I got; I always love reading/watching/seeing people's holiday hauls~

See you in my next post!

♡ March 2019 London Haul ♡

Why hello! ♡

I'm sorry that it's been so long since my last post-- I know I said there were many posts you could expect (like my Paris trip, which at this point I think it's too late to write about...), but it's been a fairly hectic semester and I've barely had any time for social medias other than my Insta ><

However, if you follow me on there, you'll likely know that I recently got back from a trip to London! I went there for about a week, and had a really wonderful time ♡ I did a bit of shopping while there (naturally), so I thought it would be fun to do a quick post showing the things that I bought!

I had a few stores in mind that I knew I wanted to visit, however for most of them I didn't have specific items that I wanted to purchase. The one exception however was... Vivienne Westwood!

Vivienne Westwood is a brand that I adore; I'm not the sort of person to spend large amounts of money on accessories, but I really love the brand's jewelry and knew that I wanted to purchase something from the shop when I visited. Naturally, I browsed online prior to my trip, and entered the store already knowing what I wanted:

This bracelet! I already have a necklace and a pair of earrings, so I thought the next reasonable thing to get would be a bracelet~ I don't actually own any bracelets, and I really liked the design of this one (and that it's quite simple for day-to-day wear), so I thought it was the perfect choice!

I love that the charm has a slight curve to it so it fits comfortably on my wrist and doesn't jut out very much~ I know it's a piece I'm going to reach for very often!

The bracelet was by far my largest purchase of the trip; before leaving, I knew I wanted to take a look in Ted Baker for a purse and Jo Malone or Penhaligon's for a perfume, but ultimately I didn't get either of those items due to the cost ^^" But, I'm still really happy with everything I got! So let's get into it~

Only a little while before my trip, I found out that London had a Moomin Shop, so I knew I had to visit! It was such a charming little shop, and I couldn't help but pick up a few items!

I've always wanted a Moomin mug; one of my friends back in middle/highschool had a very large collection of them at home, and I've always thought they were so cute! This one with Moomin in the snow was just so precious (there was another mug that I liked that was pink, but I thought I'd get this one instead to add some colour diversity to my mug collection hehe). I also got a box of Moomin teas! I've seen these teas on the Japanese Moomin site before and been curious about them, so I was happy to see that they had them in the shop! I've already tried the pear and vanilla one, and it was really nice~

Another shop I wanted to visit was Artbox! I went there on my last trip to London, but it was so cute I just couldn't miss out on it~ I didn't want to buy anything very big (since last time I got a massively overpriced Sanrio shirt), but a few small things did catch my eye!

I used to have a big issue with sticker collecting; I would buy them but never use them! However, since I've started keeping a daily positivity journal that I decorate with stickers, I have much more of a use for them, thus I could justify getting these sweets stickers~ I also couldn't resist this little cotton candy bunny memo pad! 

I was going to only get those two items of stationary, but I fell in love with this adorable cheeky Piano the Sheep plushie the moment I saw her. I wasn't initially going to get her, but after wandering around the shop for a bit longer I still couldn't stop thinking about her, so I ended up giving in! She wasn't terribly expensive though, so it's okay hehe~

I love Lush, and a large part of my skincare routine is composed of their products, so their Oxford Street shop was one I couldn't pass by! I had run out of a few of my essential skincare products, and rather than ordering them online, I decided to wait for my trip~ 

The Angels on Bare Skin cleanser is one of my absolute favourites-- I use it every morning! I also use the Imperialis moisturizer in the mornings, it's quite nice and not too heavy (which is a very welcome feature in the humid hot weather here). The Prince of Darkness mask is an Oxford Street exclusive, I believe! It's such a nice face mask; I really wish they would sell it here!

I was so excited to see that they still had the peach bath bomb from their Valentines Day collection! By the time I visited a Lush near me, they were already sold out, so I was worried I wouldn't have the chance to try it ;-; It smells so yummy and peach-like, I can't wait to use it! The little bunny is from their Easter collection-- it's actually a body scrub! It smells really nice and sweet and like coconut, I really like it~

They had released a lot of nice bath bombs for their Easter and Mother's Day collections, but they were quite surprisingly pricy so I ended up not getting anything ^^" I'm still very pleased with the items I got though! 

I really love traditional Japanese sweets (broadly called wagashi), and the last time in London I visited a shop called Minamoto Kitchoan that had a lovely selection of beautiful mochi, jellies, dorayaki, and other traditional sweets~ So, of course I had to go back this time to get my fix!

I brought back sakura waffles (which look like two pink biscuits sandwiched together with what looks like white chocolate), the Gozenguri (a candied chestnut covered in chestnut bean paste, mochi, and chestnut sprinkles), and the Oribenishiki (chestnut wrapped in bean paste, covered in a thin dough). I haven't eaten any of these yet, but on my last trip I had the Oribenishiki and it was delicious~ At Minamoto I also got three other sweets, but they had a much shorter shelf life, so we ate them on that day~ I really like Minamoto-- I know they have several locations worldwide, and I really recommend them to any of you who might be interested in traditional Japanese sweets! They have such a subtle sweetness and such harmonious flavours, I really love them ♡



There was one last thing I knew I wanted to buy on my trip: tea!

Specifically, this 'First Romance' tea from the East India company~ This shop is right next to Sketch (which I had the luck of visiting once again on my trip!), and I actually tried it for the first time when I went there for afternoon tea this past summer. I really love this tea and am running low on the satchet I bought on my last trip, so I had to get it again~ It's a black tea fragranced with strawberry, mango, and orange, and it's absolutely delectable!



That's pretty much it for planned purchases/shops I knew I wanted to visit, but there were a few more things I picked up while on my trip~ I don't really buy clothes in-person anymore (since I do most of my clothing shopping on 2nd hand Japanese sites), but I did find a few things!

I like wearing cute and cosy t-shirts when I go to lab or when I'm lounging around home, and Uniqlo shirts are some of my favourites. When I saw they had a collaboration with Meiji chocolate, I couldn't resist! I loved these Apollo chocolates when I was younger, and the t-shirt was such a pretty shade of dusty pink, it's like it was made for me hehe~
I also got this red tartan patterned wool scarf from the Dr. Martens store! I've wanted a red plaid scarf for what feels like a decade now, but it's never been something I've actively looked to buy, if that makes sense. I really liked this scarf when I first saw it though, and decided to get it! 



One thing that really amazed me about London was the sheer amount of beautiful bookstores! Unfortunately there aren't all that many bookstores here, so it was nice to see so many, whether they were parts of a big chain, like Waterstones, or small independent-run ones, like Daunt. Books were also a fair bit cheaper than they were here, so I had to get a few!

Just a mix of things I've been wanting to read (If Cats Disappeared From The World is a book I saw first in Paris, but only decided to get now; I've started reading it recently, and am enjoying it so far!) and books that just seemed interesting (like the book of word origins; it's so interesting to read about how words originated and where they came from!) One can never have too many books, eh?~



Lastly, I've been wanting to have a cute apron for a while, and on a quick stop at Cath Kidston, I found the perfect one!

Featuring some very cute Hello Kitty plasters I found hehe~

Cath Kidston always has such pretty prints, and this vintage-style blossom one was too perfect to resist ♡ Everything, from the colour of the print, to the little pink ruffle on the skirt, is absolutely adorable! I've been enjoying wearing it when I cook~



And that pretty much concludes everything I bought while in London! Of course, there was lots more sweets and tea and other yummy things purchased for the family, but I can't really consider those "my" purchases so I decided to not show them here. I hope you liked reading about the things I got! I'm really pleased with everything, and look forward to using it all~
Thank you so much for reading~

Bye-bye!

Valfre Luna and Bowie Choker Reviews~

Long time no see!

Sorry for not writing in a while- school was taking up a lot of time and I didn't have much motivation for writing anything at all...

In any case though, I hope you're all enjoying the holiday season, and that you had a nice Christmas if you celebrated it yesterday ♡

Today I thought I'd write a small review of some chokers I got from Valfre! They have a really nice selection of vegan leather chokers (and they also carry clothes and phone cases and that sort of thing). If I remember correctly, their stuff is handmade in California, which is really nice (correct me if I'm wrong though).

Anyways, let's start!

The chokers came in individual boxes which are quite sturdy. This is really useful because it makes storage much easier~

I was worried that they would have an artificial/plasticky scent (as fake leather often does in my experience), but these were perfectly fine~

Bowie Choker (Tan)

I thought this choker was really cute because of the large bow~ It comes in pink and black as well, but I figured that the nude one would be the most versatile and less garish (since it's already a fairly attention-drawing piece). It closes on snaps, which allows you to fit it to your neck size more or less.

I think this choker is really cute~ It's quite comfortable too! I honestly have no complaints about it- it's really well made and doesn't seem like it'll be falling apart any time soon.

Here's a worn photo of it~

I highly recommend this choker if you're looking  for something cute, but not too obviously cute~

And now for the next choker, which is my favourite of the two

Luna Choker (White)

I was really drawn to this choker because of the huge pom-pom~ I really love everything that's fluffy and I thought that this would be such a cute piece for winter.

Unlike the Bowie choker, this one closes on a buckle, which I really like because it feels much more secure that way. The pompom is also incredibly soft- if it wasn't stated that this was a vegan choker, I'd definitely think that it was real fur.

The construction on this one is also great~On the whole I really like this one because it goes with a lot of my outfits, so I can wear it frequently!

Overall I'm really pleased with the quality of Valfre chokers- they're really cute and well made, and I highly recommend them if you're looking for something unique and nice quality!

♡ Thank you for reading ♡