♡ Milky Night Carnival ♡

みなさん、こんにちは!

Today's post, I am going to talk about one of my closest's friends online business she has started up, and it is called 'Milky Night Carnival! I will put this in, even though Toni is one of my best friends, what I write here is 100% my own personal opinions with NO input from her whatsoever!

MNC brings the perfect combination of spooky and cute themes together, with a dash of bright colours and unusual styles. Most of the designs are original ideas, where as some take after the trends happening around on the scene at the moment. Toni makes everything by hand, and you can see that because if you do look really carefully at her creations, you can see a few finger print marks left under the varnish but that is OK to me, as that reassures me that she puts all the fine details together with love and attention.

As I am really bad at making decisions, I asked Toni to surprise me with whatever she wanted to send me... and along with some goodies from her trip to the USA, and she decided to send me a pastel beaded, eyeball necklace! Hands down, I love it because it's on elastic and so it would fit my wide neck without choking me or making me feel strangled, plus I have a soft side for pastel coloured things aaannnddd... Toni made the eyeball to my natural eye colour - hazel! How adorable is that, that she would go out of her way to make my eye colour?!

I will say this though... I did have a couple of pictures of me wearing the necklace but they seem to have gone walkies somewhere and so, I will take pictures of me wearing it ASAP (tomorrow) and then edit it into this post. But until there, Toni sent me some stock pictures of her Halloween goodies that she has on sale on her Etsy store!

So, pppllleeeaaassseee go and check out her designs and such! She is such a lovely person and pours her heart and soul into her work! Plus; she's starting to work with resin, so expect some future goodies featuring that! You can find updates and products from Milky Night Carnival on;

Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/MilkyNightCarnival
Etsy; https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/MilkyNightCarnival

Thanks for reading!
xoxo

♡ Hyper Japan Weekend w/ Waifu ♡

みなさん、こんにちは!

Around the same time every year, Hyper Japan holds its annual summer shindig of kawaii cuteness (yes I know they are the exact same words in different languages but shhh they go together) that is Hyper Japan. There is food to tantalise your taste buds, a gaming section to bring out your competitive streak, performances from artists that appeal to all and lots of yummy, scrummy stalls that sell a variety of things from tasty sweets, the latest fashion and a hoi palloi of music, movies and so much more!

It's not unusual now for myself and Saph to make plans for HJ every year now (even though I've decided not to go to the Christmas one this year unless it really, really, really appeals to me) and this time around we added Roxy to our little fold ♡ We all met up on the Friday, made our way to our hotel in Stratford, freshened up and then headed out to eat some delicious food. I /w a s/ intending on taking the others to Eat Tokyo (fffiiinnnaaallllllyyy) but when we arrived... the queue was around a mile long *inserts gross sobbing here* and so we had bubble tea in Chatime first and then headed into Taro's for dinner instead. Again, like usual, we ordered way too much (even though it was amazeballs) and had to roll back to the hotel... dangit.

**I see you creeping there Roxy... dammit!**

On the Saturday, we all had to get up super early as Saph was going to perform in the fashion show during the event and could only do the rehearsal that particular day.... at 8am. Roxy and I went into Costa to have breakfast and a major caffeine boast to help us out and of course, we couldn't resist taking some snaps! This one was my favourite of them all;

After breakfast and queuing for... about 30 minutes - which is quick - we got our wristbands and on our way in! Now, the 02 arena is effin' massive, I swear it took about 15 minutes before we actually reached the HJ area! Seriously, it was massive altogether and I just... whew so much walking was done over the weekend!! The area was packed with an array of stalls, entertainers and other things but it wasn't so tightly packed together so it actually felt nice to be able to move around freely and not feel claustrophobic.

I did have a super proud best friend moment watching Saph walk in the runway like omg best moment ever! She looked like that she had fun and it was super fun watching her! There were so many awesome outfits during the runway show but here are a few that don't look so blurry and they are just group shots really so yeah;

The main reason I wanted to go to Hyper Japan was because my absolute favourite band had travelled across from Japan to perform! I have adored LOST ASH since the day they debuted and when I heard that they were coming to the UK... I honestly thought that I was having a heart attack, I was so shocked but happy at the same time! I was lucky when I saw that they were having a meet&greet and that I hadn't missed it, so off I queued (and shook nervously) and just wow, they were so kind and easy to talk to! And I managed to get a picture with them... twice! One at the meet&greet on the Saturday and one at the meet&greet on the Sunday - and yes, I went to both of them like a loser and they recognised me because of my hair! Score!

Watching them perform live... just ugh and wow! I honestly cannot describe in the right words how I felt watching them perform both times during the weekend. It was electrifying and so surreal, I still pinch myself to the day  wondering if it was real, if the whole experience was real and that I didn't dream it all! On the Saturday, I was in front of Sai (bassist) and on the Sunday, I managed to get in front of Show (guitarist) and it was so awesome to see from different perspectives! I did get some pictures, but you know when you shake so much, most of them come out blurry?! Well... here are a few of the decent ones;

 

It was super fun and I would love to see them live again... if they weren't disbanding now *ugly sobbing* but I look forward to their future projects!!

I didn't actually eat a lot during the event, just bits here and there from different places dotted around the 02, but we did all get shaved ice as a treat and omg it was feckin' delicious I tell you! I had the strawberry flavour and they put a tiny bit of condensed milk onto it and it honestly brought the whole thing together... 10/10 would eat again!

Pretty much the entire weekend was walking around, gawping at pretty items on stalls, purchasing quite a few items, seeing lots of live performances, catching up with friends and watching Saph work the runway on the Saturday and Sunday... that was it. It doesn't sounds very interesting but it honestly was jammed packed from the moment we arrived. And I loved it. I, hands down, adore this convention more than MCM because of how friendly everyone is, how warm and inviting the atmosphere is and just for having some really good stuff all in one place.

Oh and before I forget... here is what I purchased! It's nothing compared to what Saph got! She couldn't get everything in one picture nor would it really fit on the bed jfc woman, what am I to do with her seriously?! As you can see I put it into two piles - the goodies and the LOST ASH merchandise;

I loved hanging out with my two potato queens, and I loved seeing everybody all over again! There is nothing I would change about the weekend whatsoever and I am grateful to be able to experience it with the most important people in my life. I'm still holding out for a Diamond Lash stall again though! A girl can dream!

Thanks for reading

xoxo

♡ August Japan Crate [[UNBOXING]] ♡

みなさん、こんにちは!

There are sooo many snack subscription boxes out at the moment and whilst most of them are rather tempting... Japan Crate is the one that called out to me the most somehow, so I decided to treat myself to a recurring subscription for a while. And, of course, you may notice that we are in October and this August's box... yes I am full aware how behind I am, I have just come back from a hiatus.

This general gist of Japan Crate is that you can subscribe to three different kinds of boxes; mini, original and premium with either a recurring monthly payment (from $12 plus p&p) or you can pay for either 3, 6 or 12 months worth of boxes, therefore saving you a bit of cash at the end of it. You can cancel at any given time, so if you fancied just one box then you can enjoy one box without the pressure of payments. It's as easy as 1, 2, 3.

I went with a premium subscription, as you can get between 12-14 items with a drink and a DIY candy kit all weighing up to 2kg. Not bad huh? Well, I can honestly say that I wasn't disappointed with the items I received in this box. It arrived about 5 days after dispatch, which isn't bad for international shipping from the USA, and it came in an extremely sturdy (and colourful) cardboard box so all my items were packed safely together with no casualties during transit.

You get a cute little magazine that tells you about the items you received, and there's even added information about how to do your DIY kit, a comic strip and other bits and pieces... I think that's a nice little touch to make it more personal somehow?

The first bundle is what I would have received if I had ordered the mini box; Chocolate Pucca, Crackling Cotton, Soy Sauce Pretz and Mario Kart Gum.

The second bundle is what I would have received if I had ordered the normal box - plus the mini box contents; Chocoroom DIY Kit, Puzzles & Dragons x Bikkuriman Wafer, Crayon Shin-Chan Candy, Pokemon Puzzle Gum and Shuwa Shuwa Soda Candy.

The final bundle is the added premium extras - plus the mini and normal box contents; Creamy Melon Soda, Japanese BBQ Scones, Wow Such Banana?! and Soda Mixing Jelly Beans.

So for 13 items it cost me $30 plus $15 post and packaging... which to me is a really good deal because to get these items in London it would cost a small fortune because of "import charges" blah, blah de blah. Out of all these items, I have actually only had two of them previously (the BBQ Scones and the Melon Soda) so it was a completely new experience for me and that is the main reason why I love subscription boxes, you get pushed out of your comfort zone. Japan Crate is really a great deal in my opinion and until another box comes along in my direction and decides to sway me... I think I will be sticking with this for a little while longer. Now I'm just hoping they put a few more savoury treats in future boxes now!

Thanks for reading
xoxo