May 23rd shopping trip!

After I finished work on Saturday I went shopping. 

I went to H&M to stock up on some Hello Kitty and this is what I bought:

I already have this travel container set but it is so good and great value for money that I got another!

I love this eye shadow palette – it’s not the first one I’ve bought that’s HK! I really wanted both of the MAC Hello Kitty eye shadow quads but they were soooo expensive and I had already blown my budget on loads of the lipsticks and lip glasses so only ended up with Too Dolly. Hindsight is a wonderful thing… but these colours are very cute and sparkly, although not very pigmented – but they are about 10% of the price of a Mac palette!

Then I wandered up to the kids section to look for a t-shirt that I wanted – luckily the 13-14yr or 14+yr sizes fit me as I’m quite small! AND the kids tees are like half the price. 

And lo and behold, there it was waiting for me in the right size. So amayzeeeng…

Then I finished off in H&M with these clips, which I already have/had but either lost or cannot find. Luckily H&M is quite good value for money and the kids section is even cheaper!

So after I had spent about £15 in H&M (yes, for all that!) I went home and went to go shopping again, this time in Bluewater. I didn’t get time to visit the Hello Kitty store, maybe after I graduate as I will have no social life from this day forward. I went to Urban Outfiiters and found these:

They were £5 each, but I had a staff nominee discount card that belonged to my ex-boyfriend! It was given to him by his friend who used to work there, but he couldn’t use it himself because the name on the card is a girl’s name (I think the ex girlfriend of his friend) so I always kept it in my purse when we were together and clearly ended up with it after we broke up… not like he could use it anyway, I doubt anyone would believe his name was Melanie Harris! So thanks to my ex I can get 25% off! Most useful he has ever been… unlike my amazing TOM – who buys me HK anyway!

I haven’t opened them and It’s possible I might not as they are too damn cute and the packaging is so pretty. The tins are lush - the lower half is the corresponding bow colour… beautiful. I’m so glad Urban Outfitters does more HK stuff, I’ve got some transfer tattoos and a very cute T-Shirt from there, of HK dressed up in loads of African animal costumes with the words ‘SAVE OUR ANIMALS’ (I used my discount card for that one too) but I’ll share with you another time…

I bought this skirt in Dorothy Perkins before I went home – it’s primrose yellow and although it doesn’t look too flattering in this picture it does look better with a tee – specifically the HK one I’d bought earlier that day!

These gorgeous shoes (also DP) were only £7! And I got 10% off on my entire total with student discount.

Wooohooo, overall a great day for shopping… really need to cut down on the HK spending (not that I want to). There’s so much more I could splash out on! Logic goes out of the window when it comes to purchasing HK items. Don't need it, but it's got Hello Kitty on it!

Anyhoo, Ta-Ta for now, and thanks for reading!

Swaf

xxx

Hello Kitty ring on ASOS!

Every now and again I like to check the ASOS website (as seen on screen) to see if they’re doing any good Hello Kitty Jewellery. As it turns out, the ranges they feature are always available in the Sanrio stores – but they bump the price up because it’s categorised as ‘designer’. In a way I suppose it’s a compliment to Kitty’s status as a globally recognised icon.

Sanrio stores mostly stock a range of Hello Kitty jewellery exclusive to them and not as a collaboration with anyone else. Obviously in the United Kingdom the Sanrio jewellery lines aren’t on every high street – with the exception of Claire’s Accessories who sometimes stock a couple of items already in Sanrio stores but mostly have their own range. If a department store has a concession it’s usually aimed at kids with a select few ranges of plushes, bags and stationery. So kudos to ASOS for making it more readily available to hardcore Kitty lovers who find it hard to get their fix. It’s just a little annoying that they’re slightly ripping us off because they’re trying to market it as ‘couture’. I don’t really know how the deals work when they are given license to sell so I can’t whinge and moan too much about what I’m unaware of. When I worked in Sanrio Bluewater almost all our customers complained about the steep prices, but I’m in no position to do so anyway seeing as I was entitled to 30% staff discount!

ANYWAY the whole point of this blog-turned-rant was to share the beeeeyooooteeeful ring they have at the moment (come on ASOS, just one HK item?).

I love the mix of Purple and Gold, very luxurious indeed… but not too high a price difference from ASOS this time as there has been in previous collections.

It’s currently available here for £7.75 (not including P&P). Or if you can get to Sanrio Bluewater (in Kent, England) I think it is going for £4.95! I’m sure it’ll be available in Sanrio stores across Europe too.

I actually bought some matching earrings from the range a few visits back! Sorry about the pic quality, the macro setting on my digital camera likes to be very shaky – even with ASR!

You can call Sanrio Bluewater on (01322) 387663. In fact I think I’m long overdue a visit…

Beautiful shoes... just beautiful!

I often fall madly in love with a pair of pretty heels, but I am seriously admiring, nay pining for these ones by Nine West.

A-LIATRIS9 £69.00

Peep Toe Covered Platform Glitter Court Shoe by Nine West

Colour: Pink

Upper: Synthetic

Sock: Synthetic

Lining: Synthetic

Heel Height: Very High

Although I have paid more than that for a pair of shoes I had saved up for them for a long, long time. These are more than I can afford at present so I am waiting for them to go in a sale, maybe then I can have a belated birthday treat to myself! But if anyone’s feeling super generous my size is 37 UK! Just kidding. Or am I…

Yes I am. But I would be eternally grateful/forever in your debt.

There are a few other colour types in the same design which are also beautiful:

this is the gold/brown sort of colour

and this is the dark grey/silver variation.

My second favourites were a pair that were black with a purple/green iridescent sheen to them, but I can’t seem to find a picture any more and they are no longer on the same website as the ones above.

While I was searching for a picture elsewhere I did get distracted by an awesome pair in the Vishnu range which doesn’t appear to be available in the United Kingdom yet:

They would look great with the eye make-up look that Temptalia’s Christine tried out, and wore to the launch of the Hello Kitty Mac collection!

Oh well. Maybe I should stop lusting after shoes for a while and get on with my Uni work. If only my work was about shoes!

Turning 21!

Well I've been meaning to try out the blog for ages but I've only just got round to it, so best to start as I mean to go on - with lots of FUN!

My name is Sophie and I live in Kent, which is very close to London in England. First of all can I just say that like many of you I am obsessed with Hello Kitty. I love her. So with this blog I hope to share with you the Hello Kitty related things in my life! There will also be a lot about Jewellery and Cakes I imagine as these are some of my other passions! And I will probably tell you lots about my boyfriend Tom as I will be moving to the south coast of England to live with him later this year when I finish university. He is one of those special men who put up with Hello Kitty being everywhere and is even ok with the fact I am going to take over the house with it! But more about him in another blog. I might even tell you some things about when I used to work for Sanrio!

But today’s post is all about the tenth of may. For many of you in Europe and across the world this would mean Mother’s Day, but it’s also my date of birth, and this year I reached my milestone 21^st birthday! In the United Kingdom Mothering Sunday is towards the end of March.

I awoke to find many PINK presents wrapped and waiting, and lots of cards too. I thought I would share some of my cute gifts with you (especially the Kitty ones!) – want to see?

First of all was the best balloon I have ever seen in my entire LIFE.

If you live in the UK then you can get it from MATALAN and it comes with stickers so you can spell out your desired name. It is a foil balloon made by anagram so I suppose you can get it elsewhere too!

I didn’t get loads and loads of Hello Kitty presents this year, but I’m not complaining because all my gifts were wonderful!

It’s a tradition in the UK to get a key on your 21^st birthday – I don’t know about anywhere else. I think it comes from receiving the keys to your first adult home, I’m not too sure. But seeing as nobody really gives a house as a 21^st birthday present anymore, we usually give a giant plastic silver key with 21 on it! Which of course I got. I also got my Mum’s heavy brass key that she was given on her 21^st birthday – I can’t believe she kept it for so long!

you will have to excuse all the cups, plates, food and kitchen stuff in the background here – we are having our kitchen rebuilt and we had to move it all to our lounge!

One of the Hello Kitty presents I received this year was also a key, one that my parents had brought me all the way back from Miami!

It’s too pretty to put my keys on though. I like the enamel diamond shaped pendant and diamante charm. Very cute, and quite grown up, too!

I also got this great little keychain, which came from Miami as well.

Sorry about the picture quality – it’s a birthstone key ring in Emerald (plastic of course).

I got some great presents from Mum and Dad. There was a lot of cake related stuff too:

A special electric mixer with rotating bowl and detachable handheld whisk section!

And this box was full of cake making goodies like tins, cooling rack, cookie cutters and piping back, apron, cupcake cases – there were lots of little bits and bobs all lovingly collected! And some excellent recipe books too – I can’t wait to get making (although at this point we still have no kitchen, therefore no oven!).

Then there was my Harajuku Lovers fragrances from Gwen Stefani’s label!

Mum bought them as soon as they came out, when I mentioned that I wanted them weeks before! How sweet – and again I can’t believe I got all 5 of them!

They all smell amazing and G reminds me of Hawaii. Although the bottles are small you don’t need to spray loads so as a set, if you chop and change, they will last a long time. And how adorable are the bottles?

One of my favourite labels is Betsey Johnson. Every time I am in the States I try and get to one of her stores or a concession – I just love it so much! It’s so quirky and girly. So how lucky did I feel when I got some of my coveted pieces this year?

Stripey make up bag and polka dot with pink bows see-through handbag (which I am using already). Sooooo gorgeous!

But then, combining two of my favourite things; cake and jewellery…

How beautifully kitsch is this set? Although the ring on the left is a little big – I will get a rubber grip to tighten it up. These are by far the best Betsey Johnson jewellery pieces I own now! And all the BJ presents were from Miami too.

Keeping with the jewellery theme I also got some beautiful elegant birthstone earrings.

They are emerald and Swarovski on silver, although they look blue in the picture they are actually VERY green. Also hand made from Miami!

Speaking of Swarovski, look what my best and oldest friend Emma got me!

So pretty! AND IT’S PINK! You can’t really see it but the central pink stone is flower shaped.

And there is the trademark swan logo as a charm on the clasp with more crystals (not pictured). I love Swarovski! It’s also much much sparklier in real life…

Speaking of sparkly things, my wonderful boyfriend Tom gave me the most romantic and unique gift I’ve ever had:

That’s right, he named a star after me! Isn’t that so sweet? What an honour! The pack came with a certificate, maps of where my star was, a tool to help you find the star, and a book on stars and astrology. The best bit was his personal message, which made me cry happy tears:

We’re going to look for it when I move to his town where the skies are much clearer. He is my soulmate!

And being the attentive and observant boyfriend that he is, he made sure he include the second instalment of my Hello Kitty Gift Quota:

We saw these Hello Kitty fragrances when he took me to Southampton last time I visited him. Luckily he is patient and doesn’t mind me going mental over Hello Kitty things that I see in shops! We think I have an in-built radar, I can trace HK from miles away and hone in on it like a magnet. It’s very weird, almost psychic. Anyway we saw these and lots of other pieces and being the complete sweetheart that he is he wouldn’t let me leave until he’d bought me something. He got me a gorgeous pyjama set and some lipglosses but I was having trouble deciding which set I liked. Because he is clever and always knows what I want he went back to get the other set for my birthday but they had sold out, so he got me another one which was equally as gorgeous (I’ll take anything with Hello Kitty on it but it was especially nice). Unfortunately I’ve worn it and it’s in the wash so I don’t have any photos of it, I will do a blog one day about my Hello Kitty pyjamas! Oh and I bought the other set later at my local H&M with my birthday money!

Although I had a lot of birthday cards instructing me to become inebriated to the point of damaging my health, I had a very quiet and reserved birthday. First came the cinema – Tom, Emma, her fiancée Alex and I went to see Coraline in 3D at our local cinema. Absolutely stunning and very charming characters – please go and see it if you haven’t already! Oh and then Tom bought me a Hello Kitty magazine. Then we went to the pub where we chatted in the sunshine

[Emma and Alex, she’s still wearing her 3D glasses!]

[Tom and I, he’s wearing my glasses! Which had to be pink – obviously!]

and played musical chairs when Tom got a round in.

[where have they gone?]

Then we met up with Mum and Dad again and went for a meal!

[l-r] Emma, Alex, Tom, Me

note delicious chocolate Thornton’s cake!!

Quite boring to some people, but I had all my most important people around me so I couldn’t have been happier. I had a great time. Plus it was in the middle of a huuuuuge pile of university work, so I will be partying in a month or so to make up for it!

Thank you to everyone who made my day so special!