An early birthday present! Apple iPhone 6s - Rose Gold

Hello Everyone!

How lucky am I?! My lovely Husband bought me an early birthday present of the very new rose gold iPhone 6s and a case too! I have never had a new phone so close to launch before, and this one is so pretty I had to share! Mr Lock was up at the crack of dawn on Saturday to reserve one for me (The rose gold is pretty much sold out everywhere, and I was saving to buy one around Christmas so hadn't pre-ordered it yet).

This is the phone and case! The case is the pink silicone one an the iphone is the 64gig. I've always loved Apples packaging, it's very neat and stylish. There's also not a lot of wasted space which is great too as it requires less materials to make.

Upon opening the box the phone is sat right at the top! It's covered in that special plastics that stops the phone and it's screen getting marked in transit. They are packaged very well so there's not room for the phone to slide about in the box. The front of the phone is white with a rose gold band around the home button.

Under the phone is the plug, USB cable and the headphones all in Apples standard colour of white!

Here's the back of the phone (still in the plastic as I was worried about putting it face down). It's definately pink! Though under some lights its more gold when you take a photo of it. I quite like the white lines that break up the colour.

Here you can see the phone with out it's plastic protector - you can also see the inside of the silicone case, it appears to be lined with a suede like material to make sure the phone doesn't get scratched whilst its in it.

Fitting the case is really simple - it's quite a tight fit which is good as it means it won't come off if dropped or in a bag. The screen is nice and bright and it's so much fun to use!

I'm really loving this phone - I've really missed using Apples OS on a phone, it's so straight forward and really simple to use. The camera is fantastic which is great as I can use it for photos but also to start making videos for you! (I have a few planned out, and hopefully they'll be come a reality soon!) The system is really fast, I've not noticed a lag when switching between apps, the finger print scanner works perfectly - Apple pay is really handy too. I really like the force touch feature with photos - it takes around 3-4 seconds of video when you take a photo so that when you use force touch with it it plays a little clip, which is perfect for trying to take a decent photo of Harry. The fact its an awesome kawaii pink colour just makes it perfect too!

Thank you to my lovely Husband, Mr Lock for the early birthday present!

Ta-ta for now!

x

~*~ REVIEW ~*~ Etude House Dear Girls Oil Control Pact - Positive

Hello Everyone!

I recently purchased a small haul of make up! After posting a photo to the sites Facebook page quite a few people asked me to review my purchases when they arrived, so as promised, here's a review for the first that arrived, Etude House's Dear Girls Oil pact.

Now, my reason for purchasing this is quite simple, I suffer from combination skin and usually use a UK purchased coloured powder compact to combat this, which was all fine and dandy until I realised that despite trying several different brands, both high and low brand, NONE of them match my skin tone. Not even close. (Don't get me started on foundation, that's a story for another day!) The closet match I could find was oddly Poundlands own brand, but it seems like this is never in stock in the right shade.

So off I set on the internet to try and find something that was suitable for combination skin that wouldn't leave me looking like a can of Tango. I did consider buying the same pact I had before from Etude house but I couldn't find any for sale and came across the Dear Girls pact and Zero Sebum. I went for the Dear Girls powder as I wanted a compact I could easily throw in my bag and take out and about with me. So I placed my order online (This was not direct from Etude but the AU Rose Rose shop.) Then waited for my make up to turn up! This didn't take very long to arrive at all and came wrapped up in bubble wrap in a sturdy box.

First things first, look out how cute the packaging is! I really love Etude's attention to detail with these boxes, they are always bright and happy looking. The box also has the ingredients list and other useful information in Korean and in English.

Inside was the compact! This is made of a smooth plastic with the Dear Girls logo on it. It feels very well made and is easy to open, but not so easy that it would come open in your bag.

Opening the compact you'll find a mirror, a sponge for applying the power and the powder itself. The mirror is great, it's very clear and not blurred at all.

The powder has an adorable bird design on it! It smells quite delicate and isn't heavily fragranced.

The puff is perfect for picking up just the right amount of powder and lets you apply it where you need it smoothly. It's very easy to apply as it just glides on. 

Being white I was a little worried this would wash me out as I am already quite pale, but it didn't at all. (I didn't blend this in so well on my hand so you could see where the powder was, else it's fairly invisible!) I was really pleased with how long this lasted - I usually apply make up before leaving for work (around 6:30-7:15am) and this lasted till about 3:00pm before I needed to touch it up! It's also very light so it doesn't feel like your skin is caked in powder.

I'm really pleased with this purchase and I'd definitely buy it again. At just under £5 I think this is well worth the price as a little goes quite a long way too!

Have you tried out this compact before? Let me know you thoughts in the comments!

Ta-Ta for now,

X

Kawaii & Cute on a budget! Stationary

Hello Everyone!

As promised, here is the first post for Kawaii & Cute on a budget!
Today's subject is stationary! I love cute stationary, but its often hard to find or really, really over priced.

Paperchase and some of the other high street stores in the UK have started to stock kawaii items like the Iwako erasers, or in Paperchase's case, their own lines, but these are often quite expensive outside of a sale, but do keep them in mind around sale seasons - eg. After Christmas, as I've managed to find quite a few bargains here, if you don't mind stocking up you can even pick up cute Christmas cards and decorations for next year!

Of course buying online is nearly always cheaper and usually offers a better selection than you would find on the high street and if you don't mind waiting a week or two you can also purchase from abroad giving you even more choice!

So for online purchases you have a few options: eBay is one of the main ones, though it can be a tad hit and miss. As long as you stick with sellers that don't have too high a percentage of negative reviews you should be fine - and you can always dispute if paying by Paypal if you have an issue. The key to finding great and cute things is to search worldwide - there are a lot of sellers charging way over for items they have imported from China for a fraction of the cost, if you look carefully, you'll be able to find the item direct! Another way is, again keeping the world wide selection on, search for the item you want and switch the sort by to items ending soonest, quite often I've found items with very few or extremely low bids.

I thought I'd also share a couple of stationary shops that I've found whilst on my travels on the web too!

MIMO PENCIL CASE SHOP

USA BASED - free shipping for domestic USA orders - other countries need to email for a shipping quote.

Oh my gosh you guys, I recently discovered this store after a friend tagged me on a photo of a Rilakkuma pencil case (I can't imagine why they tagged me, haha!) it's totally filled with the most Kawaii and cute stationary! MIMO specialise in providing cute stationary that you won't find in main stream stores. 

There's my favourite Rilakkuma, the adorable Bunny Molang, cute kitties and so much more! They sell a variety of themes but more importantly they stock a really wide selection of items. I also love that they sell planners and everything to do with decorating planners! 

I've found pens, markers, pencils, highlighters, diaries, tapes, stickers, mascots and more!! The site itself is bright and cheerful and really makes you want to browse the contents which is also super easy due to the clean layout

I also like the banner at the top which features new and upcoming products (it currently has the Rilakkuma pencil cases and some pretty pastel coloured Macaron planners that are arriving soon. 

The prices are also very good and definitely on the cheaper side of the scale, which is always good news! Handily for those not in the USA there's an option to change the prices from USD to GBP, CAD or Euro too. They also offer a gift wrapping service for a little extra, which is great news if you are buying a gift for someone. 

MIMO also has their own reward scheme which means you'll get discounts with them for future purchases too - I like when stores offer this as it makes me think that they care about return customers.

To check out their store click the link below!

www.mimopencilcaseshop.com

MODES4U

Hong kong based £2.25 base postage + fee based on weight OR free postage for orders over £54.00 FedEx also available for those in a rush!

Now Modes4u I have known about for a few years and I've used them once or twice to purchase presents for a friend. Modes4u only stock genuine products -  Rather than just stationary Modes4u also stock lunch boxes/bento, phone cases, fabrics and other items too! The site itself is very easy to navigate with different categories and there's a useful search bar so you can go directly to what you are looking for. 

Some of the stock seems quite expensive but they are well worth checking out if you are looking for something specific, especially as its genuine, and its definitely worth checking out the sale page!

You can also change the currency from USD to GBP and the site is available in a few different languages too. I seem to remember the last time I ordered was around Chinese New Year and they sent a little new year gift of washi tape  with a card which I thought was a lovely touch - everything arrived quite quickly too which is always a plus.

www.modes4u.com

Do you have any favourite shops for stationary? Let me know in the comments below!

Ta-ta for now!

X

~*NEW SEGMENT*~ Kawaii/Cute on a budget!

Hello Everyone!

Today I'd like to introduce a new segment called 

Kawaii & Cute on a budget!

There's a couple of reasons I thought I'd start this segment - firstly, thinking back to Hyper Japan and some of the scalping going on, I wanted to show you where you can find the same things, if not similar for a reasonable price, I'm also aware that some of my lovely readers are on a pretty tight budget or want to get the most value they can for their hard earned money (I know I certinaly do!) and lastly I wanted to share with you a few of the sites and sellers I use to buy for myself! I'll also probably be putting in some how-to's for you to make 

I thought I'd split this up into several posts so that I can add to the finds/make it easier for you to search via the labels - so if you're searching for something specific, say stationary or lunch boxes you can just click that label to find all the posts on that subject! (They'll be labelled with the prefix K/CAOB: so for example K/CAOB: Stationary so they'll be super easy to find!)

So far I've figured out a couple of different ideas for what you might like, but if you have any more please let me know in the comments or on the Facebook page!

Bento/Lunch Boxes

Home Wares

Clothing

Mascots

Plushies

Make-Up

Jewellery

Stationary

As always any and all suggestions are welcome!

Ta-ta for now!

X