Wednesday 29 April 2015

Cosmetic bag

Hello Lovelies,


A quick little post for you today! Check out this cute little make-up bag I found on eBay! It's made of a velvety material, and has a little pocket in side too! I really like the fluffy pom-pom on the zipper too (It may have been the deciding factor in buying it!

Just what I needed for keeping bits and bobs on the go in!

Ta-ta for now,
x

Tuesday 28 April 2015

WRAPPZ - Personalised phone cases and skins ~*~SPONSORED REVIEW~*~

Hello Lovelies!



I’ve a fun post and offer for you today! I recently saw an opportunity to work with a personalised case company and excitingly, they picked me to work with!

Now, I go through phone cases like anything, I like to change them with my outfits, moods anything really! But I’ve never tried getting my own case printed – that’s where Wrappz comes in! Wrappz was founded in 2007 with the simple aim of being able to customise gadgets easily.  The site offers all sorts of printed items, from phone cases to wall art. They also offer printed skins for laptops, tablets and phones too, which I don’t think I've seen before.



The site itself is easy to navigate and stocks a really wide range of products to choose from and personalize. This means you could put your favourite kawaii character, a favourite photo or even a saying you love onto your very own phone case. The back shells for the phones are also printed o the sides too which means your design will go the whole way round, how cool is that? (Most I’ve seen have blank sides). They’d even make a lovely present for someone.

I’ll be ordering Wrappz shortly so will be sure to review my case once it arrives!

To check out Wrappz phone cases please click the link below:

You can check out the skins they offer here
Click here to go to skins

Wrappz have given me some discounts for my lovely readers.
For a 20% discount on any personalised phone case use the code:
FBFAN20
If you’d like a free skin for your gadgets, you can get one for free! All you need to do is pay the postage to yourself using the code:

 FREESKIN

Ta-ta for now
X





Monday 20 April 2015

Afternoon out in Reading



Hello Lovelies! I was very lucky on the Easter bank holiday week and my lovely Beccy came to visit! We don't get to see each other that often as we live at opposite ends of the country. We spent the Friday after shopping in Reading before going for Dinner at Cosmo with my Husband.


Beccy drove all the way to our house and Harry was very happy to see her when she arrived! (He really does love everyone, especially Beccy!) He spent most of the weekend being Beccy's shadow.



We stopped for coffee at BBS Muffins - it's been for ever since I went out for coffee and it was lovely to sit and chat. We'd been walking around the shops for quite a few hours by this point and it was very busy in town because if the holiday. We did get quite a few nice things though! My highlight was the River Island sale where I got a dress reduced to £10 from £100 and a cute pair of pink shoes for £3.75!


Somehow we both ended up wearing leather jackets! It was probably a good choice as it started raining quite hard.


 Beccy wanted something from the Urban Decay Counter in Debenhams - I really love their counter, it looks so pretty.
 

We found this funny little Iwako whale eraser in one of the stationary shops. There seems to be a lot of 'kawaii' stationary shops cropping up aside from paperchase recently. Reading has at least three of them.


Then it was time for dinner at Cosmo! For those of you that don't know, Cosmo is an all you can eat buffet place - but it has food from all around the world to choose from! My favourite is the the Dim Sum and some of the other dumplings, but that was out of order when we went (Can I use that as an excuse to go again??)


So I totally forgot to get photos inside the restaurant, because it is a little rushed (You have a time limit as it's so popular and it's always super busy).


 Beccy's cute plate of desserts - they have lots of tiny little cakes to choose from.


My plate of dessert - I didn't each much of this as a lot of it wasn't what I expected. The apple crumble and the chocolate cake were nice though!

All in all, it was a fun day out, even if the weather was bad and it was so, so busy! (The queue in Primark was half way down the store!!) I can't wait till Beccy comes to visit again.

Ta-ta for now,
X

Wednesday 15 April 2015

An Interview with Desu Box!



A few days ago I came across an intreagueing new company, based in the UK. Desu Box! Desu Box are aiming to start a monthly subscription service that will delivered tasty Japanese sweets, drinks and snacks to your door. This seems like a fantastic idea to me as it'll cut down on shipping times from abroad, and as far as I'm aware there isn't already something like Desu Box in the UK. I love Japanese foods so I followed them on Facebook to get regular updates of when they might be ready to launch. As this is something I'm very interested in and I thought my dear readers may be too, I contacted the owners of Desu Box to see if they'd like to do a mini interview!

Hello Desu Box!
Thank you for agreeing to a mini interview! I'm hoping I can spread the word about yourselves!

Q: Your company name is Desu Box - who is behind Desu box and what made you pick the name?


A: We’re a couple of friends, James (writing) and Jon, who both love Japanese tea, food and snacks. We (semi-)regularly go to the London Comic Con where we usually stock up on bags full of Pocky, Melon Pan and other snacks. Personally, I’m the one known for eating weird food at work!We thought about many different names and originally planned to come up with one that had a meaning, as Chanoyu does (the parent company we started), but in the end ‘Desu’ just sounded fun and out of the ordinary!


Q: Desu box is hoping to be a monthly box full of tasty Japanese goodies. What made you decide that you wanted to start a monthly subscription service, and why Japanese snacks?

A: I stumbled across a UK based retailer and while stocking up on a few snacks the thought just crossed my mind for a moment, but after looking for a subscription box and finding only international options I decided to research a little more, finding that these types of boxes are popular for almost every other niche, but with nothing already available in the UK (other than international options).
After attending so many conventions we’ve tried a myriad of foods - we also import Japanese tea (which is part of a future plan for the parent company, Chanoyu) and can’t stop drinking it! It’s been years of exploration that’s lead us to try so many different foods, so we had the idea that we would share the experience of trying new things with our friends.



Q: What’s your favourite thing about the thought of starting Desu Box?

A: My favourite thing must be that there are so many people I have spoken to who really want us to succeed so we can all try different snacks every month.
The emails we have had and the comments on Facebook are so supportive and positive, it’s quite amazing just how many people there are out there who think along the same kind of lines that we do! Considering we’re only eight days into starting, there must be so many more who think the same!
As a second favourite, there are many, many snacks that we haven’t yet tried ourselves, which we’re both really looking forward to trying!

Q: What would you like Desu Box to achieve in the future?

A: As long as we can meet our minimum Kickstarter funding goal that’s more than enough for us to ask! It would be so satisfying to know that others will be anticipating their boxes and will enjoy them every month.
We will have a very low funding goal of about 50 backers (we’re still not fully sure), which will mean we can just about pull this off, but we really want to put as much into the boxes as possible, so we’re talking with suppliers to negotiate lower prices for higher quantity orders.


Q: It takes a lot of work to start a company, what so far has been the most straight forward thing and what has been more complicated?

A:The most straightforward thing so far must be Facebook, which is turning out to be a great tool to help us reach new people, although it is getting expensive with all of these boosted posts!
We haven’t had anything complicated thus far so I’ll anticipate something for the future: Outreach. We’re currently compiling a list of blogs (like yours!J) whose visitors might be interested in us, so that we can contact them to see if the might give us a mention.
I would estimate that we might get about 5% of those blogs to spread the word about Desu box – at most 10%, so this will probably be the most difficult thing for us to achieve!

Q: Where would you like to see Desu Box in a years time?

A: A year is such a long time when it comes to this stuff – we could be running dry on minimal (~50) subscribers if the Kickstarter gets minimal funding, or maybe we might not even have started Desu box if the campaign doesn’t get enough backers. So this is hard!
What I’d really like to see is hundreds of fans who’re ecstatic to be part of a community, where we can all meet at conventions to discuss our favourite foods. Meeting the people who help make Desu box possible will be the real success for us!

And just for fun!

Q: If you could have any job in the world what would it be?


A: I won’t lie, I’ve always had a bit of an entrepreneurial way of thinking so the ideal job would have to be my own business. I would love to travel regularly, especially to Japan and China – with Chanoyu and Desu box I’m hoping that I can do that a bit further down the line – even if it is just for business! :D

Q: Do you have a favourite cute character?


A: Favourite cute character, hmmm… You’ve got me on this one! …Pikachu? :D

I really hope Desu box managed to fund their kickstarter as this would be a fantastic company to have in the UK.

If you'd like to support Desu Box or find out more you can reach them at the below

Website

Facebook

Ta-ta for now
X

Monday 13 April 2015

Clobba Online - Shopping service review + Taobao Spring 2015 haul ~*~ Positive~*~


Today's post is a review of Clobba Online - my go to Taobao shopping service. Back in February I found quite a few items I wanted on Taobao and decided to place an order. I used Clobba again as I find that they have the best service, and are very timely with replies which are written in good English. I sent the email containing the items for a quote and received a reply back the very next day! I picked the items from the list I wanted and sent the order back through, Martin sent back the order form very quickly and the invoice which I paid right away. The same day I got an email from Martin informing me that the dress I had on my order had come off the sale price, and asked if I still wanted to buy it - I decided instead to get a refund as I didn't want to pay any extra for it. After that everything went a-ok and at the end of March, I dropped an email to ask how the order was going and when the order was ready to ship if he could quote me for both airmail and EMS. Martin replied that my items were ready to ship and gave me prices for both services. I chose air mail and paid the invoice. Two days later Martin emailed me to let me know the package had been sent to the sorting centre, and sent me a picture of the parcel and the tracking number and then I patiently waited!


Two weeks later and this arrived! I love that Clobba use this wrapping, and it was very securely taped up as well.


Inside was a box covered in bubble wrap - The bubble wrap they use is quite thick and feels a better quality than most. 


Under the bubble wrap was a secret shop box! I've never seen one of these before, it's so cute that I'm going to use it for storing things in.


Everything I ordered fitted neatly in the box, with even more bubble wrap for safety.



 


 And here's what I ordered - a desk calendar (This is lego brick styled so you can change it around, there are even special bricks for birthdays and holidays too!),  a dust plug for my phone, I finally replaced my Yamanote line Rilakkuma (I lost my original one), a pair of socks, a top, some phone stickers (The seller kindly sent me both colours instead of just one!) And a Rilakkuma handbag.

I'm really happy with all of the items I ordered, the quality was what I expected and the clothing items fit perfectly! I've spotted a few other things I wanted from Taobao so I expect I'll be using Clobba again in the near future!

If you'd like to use Clobba for your Taobao order you can find them on the below:

Clobba Online website

Clobba Online facebook


Ta-ta for now
x





Friday 10 April 2015

KiraKiraKawaisa ~ SPONSORED REVIEW ~*~Positive~*~


Today I have a sponsored review for you!

I'm reviewing a necklace from KiraKiraKawaisa which is owned by the lovely Kat. KiraKiraKawaisa specialises in kawaii handcrafted jewlery and stocks beautiful necklaces and rings. Kat is also very happy to take custom orders as well. I contacted Kat last week to see if she would like to work together. Kat asked me to pick something to the store and she would send it to me to review - I picked a Rilakkuma (my favourite!) necklace.


Yesterday this package arrived for me in the post! How cute is this? I guessed straight away who it was from.


Upon opening the box I found this little baggy!


Which had lots of little sticker, stationary papers (my favourite!) and a Japanese kit-kat! (Another favourite!) This was very cute and a very nice touch! I love the little thank you note as well, it just makes it feel so much more personalised.


Under this was some shiny and pink tissue paper and a little packet with Rilakkuma's face on which contained the necklace.


Holy crap guys. I am speechless. This necklace is amazing! It looked fantastic in the photos but in real life it's even more stunning, and so so cute!



Check out all the little details, it's so sparkly too! You can tell it's been made with a lot of care and attention. The gems have been placed perfectly too.


Even the back is lovely - you could wear it back to front if you wanted a plainer necklace for the day! (I really do love all of the colours in the sparkle!) I love how the chain also co-ordinates with the colours in the pendant too.


I really can't stress enough how much I love this necklace, it's part of my outfit today! I'll definately be purchasing some more items in the very near future - KiraKiraKawaisa have some cute Little Twin Stars necklaces and I spotted a ring I rather adore as well!


Please go check out her store here, you won't regret it!

KiraKiraKawaisa Etsy Store


Ta-ta for now
x

Wednesday 8 April 2015

Spark plugs on a CBR600F


We made good use of the bank holiday weekend and made a second attempt at changing the spark plugs on my bike. The CBR600F has 4 spark plugs, 1 located on the right hand side and 3 on the left.


The first attempt a few weeks ago ended like this (Someone had nicked the bendy spark wrench + tool kit from it meaning it a normal wrench doesn't fit in the gap the access panel in the fairing allows. We did try going through the top but decided to give up and pay Honda £17 for a new wrench,)


16.5 Spark wrench - £17 direct from Honda - you will need this if you want any chance of changing the sparks with out having disassmble the whole thing.




Remove the access pannel with an allen key so you can get access to the spark plugs. 


Pull out the HT leads and label which one goes to which with either sticky labels or masking tape + pen. Un-screw the plugs with the spark-wrench, and remove. Check the gap on the plugs (You can find the gap needed in the Hayne's manual) before replacing them in the cylinder and screwing back in and replacing the hose. Repeat this another 3 times for the others and you're done! Start the engine and check its running as it should do (e.g.No cylinder mis-fires etc) 


It's a pretty easy job once you have the right tool for the right job!