♡ HYPER JAPAN Christmas Weekend ♡

みなさん、こんにちは!

I am back! I had a wonderful weekend away for Hyper Japan and my birthday with my best friend and my other closest friends ugh I miss them all already someone save me! I honestly haven't had such a good time for a while now and my head space was starting to get a little muddled again until last weekend. I won't bore you with any more details, on with what happened!

On the Friday, it was spent packing (and unpacking, the repacking to make sure I didn't forget anything) and travelling to the hostel - which was located in Earls Court. I honestly believed that we got such an amazing deal for the place - £12 p/n for three nights?! How could anyone refuse? Plus is was the cleanest hostel I have stayed in... ever. After Sapphire and I had finished settling in, aka throwing our suitcases into our room, we headed out into central for food as we were both pretty hungry by this point. Originally, I was going to take Saph to 'Eat Tokyo' but the location I knew about had moved to Soho and upon arriving at the destination... we found out that it was closed until the 17th!! Typical. So instead we hopped over two doors and went to eat at Taro's. I've only been to Taro's once previously but I remembered that the food was delicious so it wasn't an ultimate loss for us. We did however, eat for more than two people;

Gosh we were super full afterwards but we took the long route back to Piccadilly Circus station (through Soho and Chinatown) and even stopping off at Hotel Chocolat - where I treated myself to a couple of goodies as a pre-birthday present - we felt a lot better walking off the food.

On the Saturday, we woke up way before our alarms - excitement had set it - but we weren't going to get there super early and were aiming for the venue around 10.30/11am as that would give up plenty of time to go around before the closed session. Meeting Sharan at Earls Court Station, we eased on over to Kensington Olympia where the event was being held. We were a little confused at first on where to go as there was another event being held at the same location, on the same weekend, but we managed to find our way to the entrance and walk on in. It was super quiet in the morning, there was no pushing/shoving/cramming to get to the tables and honestly, I prefer that kind of atmosphere to that of MCM. We then met up with Victoria and mooches around the bottom level most of the first session, even getting to the front of the stage to watch the fashion show was a good sign! I was excited to see the show as I knew that a couple of my friends were participating;

Just a select few of my favourites! There was a massive spectrum of Japanese fashion on the catwalk... ahhh everyone was just so pretty! The best surprise at the end was seeing Anna Yano come onto the stage! She's super small and doll like in person and she has such a lovely singing voice as well... ahhh I could have just put her in pocket and kept her forever!

After her performance, we went around the bottom level again and purchased some food, took some pictures with friends and before we knew it, it was time for the first session to end! Saying goodbye to Victoria at this point, we headed outside and waited until the second session had opened and was in full swing... it was much busier in the afternoon than in the morning! Squeezing through people to move around and look at things makes me feel a little anxious but we managed somehow! Despite getting distracted by things... I did manage to take some form of pictures of stalls with goodies for sale;

After going around the top level, buying more goodies and also being spoilt by my noonim *shakes fist at her* Sapphire, Sharan and myself headed into central London to go and eat at Shroyu Ramen! This place has been on my bucket list of restaurants for ages and I was extremely happy to be finally going to go and eat there! We had a twenty minute wait before we could be seated but it was certainly worth it in the end;

Again, lots more food purchased and consumed! I remember ordering an onigiri, chicken karaage (to share), a spicy pork hirata bun and curry ramen with a non-alcoholic yuzu mojito to wash it all down with! Being super full at the end of it was worth it as the food was sublime! I honestly recommend it to anyone wanting to go and eat ramen! I forgot to add... before we headed to Shoryu Ramen, we popped into Japan Centre as it was (literally) thirty seconds away and I was lucky enough to pick up the last copy of ANAN magazine with Hiroki Nariyima on the cover!!! Extra special birthday present to myself there! After our food escapades, Sapphire and I said our goodbyes to Sharan and headed back to the hostel as we were exhausted from the day already! Normally, I feel awkward going back to the hostel so early (around 11pm) but the hostel had a nice atmosphere so it was all good really~

On the Sunday (my birthday yay!!) we awoke around the same time as on the Saturday... but I was surviving on only four and a half hours sleep as we had an extremely loud snorer in our room... fucking perfect. Sapphire surprised me with birthday presents and a card ;333; and after much appreciation of what she got me... we got ready for HJ. It was quiet again on the Sunday, kind of like the Saturday morning session the day before, and it was nice to properly go around the stalls and talk to people etc. I did take some more pictures of things again;

Around 3ish, Sapphire's Sei cosplay decided to break on her so we went back to the hostel to change and for myself to have a short nap as there was no one around... I honestly get really cranky if I have little sleep so a nap was the best decision! When we left the hostel around 5ish, it decided to rain on us! Just typical.... it's not my birthday unless it decides to rain on us! We met Monique and Richard at Misato's... cheap and massive portions of food? How could anyone refuse? After we had our fill, we walked over to Costa and sat talking in there until closing time! I cannot remember the last time I stayed in a coffee shop until closing time... we just had that much of a good time together;

I loved taking our group picture together and spending time with this people, my face hadn't stopped hurting from all the smiling and laughing that happened until Tuesday afternoon? It's crazy how certain company will do that to you...

And thus... Monday came and Sapphire and I had to travel back to Essex - so Sapphire could be picked up to be taken back to Telford and for me to go back home for work the next day. It felt like the weekend went by extremely fast and that we never stopped! Heck, the lack of sleep from snorers in our hostel room made me feel like that I had been out clubbing all night... I had such an amazing time with my friends, meeting new people whom I hope I can call friends for an extremely long time and I was spoilt rotten with presents for my birthday... and extra surprise being a birthday cake and cards upon my arrival through my front door - as well as being tackled by two excited dogs!

This is such an extremely long post and I apologise for the length of it.... but hey I did cut out some pieces to make it less of a feat to read! As I had purchased a lot of stuff and been given a lot of stuff, I had to put them in categories! The picture on the left is all of my birthday treats whilst the other two are pieces I purchased from Sushi Noms, Third Windows Films, a k-pop stall that I can't remember the name of and JPU Records!

If anyone would like to see any reviews about any of the above products - I do have a post planned about the Sailor Moon items in the top left picture - then leave a comment below and I shall what I can do! Thank you so so so much for putting up with an extra long post from me, I really hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing!

Thanks for reading!

xoxo

♡ Oyatsu Cafe Unboxing // Review ♡

みなさん、こんにちは!

I am super duper behind on my planned blog posts and I apologise so much! There were a couple of obstacles in the way though... the first one being that we switched internet providers and something went wrong so we were without internet for about six days. The second obstacle was Hyper Japan last weekend and didn't really have internet then and the final obstacle being work! Seriously, I wake up and it's dark and when I get home from work it's dark again and I just haven't had enough energy recently to get everything done? ANYWAY; small babbling session over, on with this post!

As many of you probably know, I do enjoy my snacks (more savoury than sweet but I am trying to branch out more!) and I do have a stash hidden around my room so my family doesn't pinch my goodies! If I wanted to share them, they I will do so but as they like to sneak it away from me, I'll just keep it hidden until further notice!

Tohato Caramel Corn in Delicious Milk (Yo-Kai Watch Edition)

I had only tried one flavour of this product before in the past and I have wanted to branch out more with the flavours (there seems to be a few around?) so when I saw the milk flavour with an added bonus of extremely cute packaging... how could I refuse?! The taste of this reminds me of something I've had before, but do you know when you cannot remember what it was and you just ponder where you have had this familiar flavour before? Yup, that was me for about two weeks. I still cannot remember what flavour I am on about but this caramel corn is absolutely delicious! It is very sweet though and I could only eat about a quarter of a packet every couple of days... but I did take a packet in to share with my work colleagues and they seemed to enjoy them as well!

Mitsuya Cider Candy in Original and White

Ugh, Mitsuya Cider Candy is honestly one of my favourite sweets out there! I love the raspy texture you get when you suck on it and I adore the tartness of the lemonade. I remember when I first saw these I, hand on my heart, believed they were alcoholic but alas like wine gums over here in the UK they are not, in fact, doused with alcohol. I love all of the cider candy flavours so I couldn't resist getting a couple of these packets just to hide a few in my purse for when I have a sugar crash moment during a long day at work.

Fujiya Milky

These little buggers are extremely addictive!! They remind me of taffy because of the texture but also like a softer version of a chewit (google it for you non-UK folks if you don't know!) I adore the milky flavour of these sweet and it has such a subtle after taste that you're not left with a sugar residue left in the roof of your mouth - I know that sentence sounds weird but I get that feeling sometimes with certain sweets?

Home Run Ken Miso Sauce Instant Ramen

No order is incomplete without an instant ramen and I've had my eye on this particular brand and flavour for an extremely long time. I wanted to try it that badly that I ate this bad boy on the same day my parcel was delivered... talk about impatient!! The taste of the miso was just  a little bit over powering at first for me but I grew accustomed to the taste towards the end. Sometimes, I find with instant ramyun (Korean instant ramen) that the portions are a little bit too much but this portion size was just perfect and didn't make me feel bloated slash overfull at the end!

So as you guys may have already guessed... nearly all of these goodies are gone! I only have one packet of Mitsuya Cider Candy left in my tuck box and I'm saving that for whenever I need a pick me up! I really do recommend Oyatsu Cafe for getting your Japanese snack fixes out of the way (as well as a couple of others but shhh) and I'm dying here because I want to do another order - as well as subscribe to their Oyatsu Box - but I'm waiting until Christmas and New Year is over so I can treat myself then!! And another point I'd like to make, I paid an extra few pounds and upgraded the shipping so it came within less than a week instead of waiting around for 2+ weeks with impatience! I now have, officially, been converted and will always pay that extra few pennies to bump up the shipping to a faster service and Oyatsu Cafe really deliver with that service - you honestly get what you've paid for!

And on the final, final note; I do apologise also for such a short post... but as I said, I'm super behind on what I need to get out that I'm just zooming them out for you! Be prepared for an onslaught of posts filling up your timelines over the next week ohmigosh!

Thanks for reading!
xoxo

♡ October Wishlist ♡

1. Sleek I-Divine Eyeshadow Palette in Au Naturel 

2. Sleek True Colour Lipstick in Vamp

3. Sleek True Colour Lipstick in Liqueur

4. Makeup Revolution Iconic 3 Eyeshadow Palette

5. Little Twin Stars 2015 Diary Planner

6. Velvet Cross Strap Wedges in Wine Red

7. MAC Rocky Horror Lipstick Collection

Thanks for reading!
xoxo

♡ SHO-BI Decorative Eyelash Play Sexy #1 ♡

みなさん、こんにちは!

Oh look, more eyelashes to review! I (literally) have about 30+ different designed eyelashes and I love each and every one of them because they all help to create different effect with whatever style of make-up I'm aiming for and these particular eyelashes are no exception. These lashes I purchased from Japan Gift Bay so this review is 100% honest and not driven by sponsorship!

First things first, you'll notice from the above picture is that there are three styles of clump lashes rolled into one big lash to give a different outcome throughout your eye style. The smaller inner lashes are to stop poking that extremely sensitive part of your inner eye - trust me I've been there where the length of eyelash stays the same and it was not pretty for my poor inner eyes! The next section gives a little bit of flare as it then builds up into a whoosh on long, pretty lashes to create a sexy kind of cat eye effect. The end result kind of reminds me of certain Diamond Lashes styles but it still has its own uniqueness involved. Also, I love how you can't really tell that there are three different style clumps in the end result. 

The second thing I always talk about, and if you all remember, is that I always struggle with getting the lashes out of the packaging right? Well, this particular brand has the lashes attached to the packaging in three places; the inner corner end, the middle and the outer corner end. Simple right? It was super easy to slide off and not make any clump lash go in an awkward direction from pulling it too much as it was tacked down but not tacked down hard enough to make it difficult, if that makes sense at all?

Finally, as I have deep set eyes (and I mean really deep set and hooded) and thus this (sometimes) makes it hard to find the right style of eyelash that doesn't overpower my eye make-up and conceal it so it just looks like I'm wearing eyeliner with weird eyelashes. BUT, the great thing about these particular eyelashes that you can still see each individual clump of lashes as well as my eyeshadow and eyeliner... personally that is an ultimate win for me. Also, another bonus was that I didn't have to trim the inner corner lashes as, sometimes, when I get new lashes I have to trim the corners as they'll poke my eyes after a few hours of wear but these ones, nope didn't have to trim nor did they irritate my inner corners either. They are super lightweight as well and, using Dollywink eyelash glue, they stayed in place until I took my make-up off around 6 hours later with no little lash flicks at the end  - where the glue comes off so you have a wobbly lash band.

Pictures taken on Google Nexus tablet;

Pictures taken on Samsung digital camera;

Pros; 
↑↑ extremely flexible
↑↑ easy to remove from packaging
↑↑ decent pricing
↑↑ gorgeous style
↑↑ can easily reuse one pair of lashes more than once if cleaned correctly
↑↑ brand comes in other styles and colours

Cons;
↑↑ errr.... oops no cons for this one!!

Overall Verdict; ★★★★★
It's sad but I literally cannot find a fault with these particular lashes... if I find one I will edit this post and put it in! Oh, in the beginning of this post I wrote that I purchased these lashes from Japan Gift Bay and they are $16 on there (£9.95) which seems to be the average price for lashes and as you get five pairs for the price... can't really complain? Normally with lashes, I tend to move onto different styles once I've used them up but this particular style, I think I'll stick with for a little while longer and will certainly repurchase once I need to.

Thanks for reading!
xoxo