#hope i captured the only bathes once a week vibe still .

[ppppppppppol]

something something trying to study the way oda draws faces via fem luffy

[aggresivelyfriendly]

Umbria

He’s looking at you @dirtystyles! Be the world’s best fic commenter, get custom made smut!

A halene drabble in the Italian sunlight.

“Umbria”

"What are you doing this weekend?" The text comes through from a known number very late on a Tuesday night a month after tour ends.

Helene's mind starts racing. He said he wanted to do that with her in Paris, she is in Paris.

Is he coming to see her?

She would love to see him. It's only been a month. It's been a whole month.

He didn't say much in LA, just rocked her socks off, mentioned doing it again, or at least wanting to, and then she got on a plane and posted pics for him that were so bittersweet it was like drinking real hot chocolate in Mexico. She's trying to think of  a response. Something funny, and that lets her appear available but not desperate.

If those merde gray dots didn't appear every time she would just write something out and then erase it until it sounded right. But before she can decide between, 'Nothing set in concrete', or 'you?' another message pops through. He had his grey dots turned off, how did he do that? That was handy!

"Come to Italy?" he put a winky emoji at the end, so she flirted back.

"Bologna?" she had major nostalgia for Bologna, vibed herself to oblivion with her face in her comforter to remember the feeling.

"No, we've done Bologna. Let's try Umbria..." her heart raced. He wanted to kiss her everywhere, everywhere it seemed. But-

"Why Umbria?"

"I have a job for you." Her boss man, former/current lover sent. Oh, she deflated, a job. Well, things had been quiet, not really, but certainly in comparison to the whirlwind her last nine months had been.

"Ok, how do you want me to book the flight, what exact dates?'"

"Already booked it." She'd be pissed, but she knew somebody else had done it at his nod. He'd pitched an idea, nobody had a better one, or big enough balls to counter him, he got a yellow light from her, nod, boom, done.

In some ways it was very good to be Harry Styles, in others it was a lot of pressure. But he was easing into himself as he was allowed to be just that, himself, and follow his own lead, build his own brand.

She'd watched it over the course of tour, him stepping back from social media and his sex appeal and his cheek to find it again, anew, as he got more comfortable. And she got to be his eyes, or lens. It was a rush.

A rush she'd been missing acutely. That's what had been missing. Something was playing on the back of her mind most days. She also may miss the family they had all become, the Harry Styles Circus. Full of freaks and music geeks, all kind and lovely, from the top down.

She was always gonna go to Italy.  So she'd better get herself together, her go bag was empty right now, she had nothing for a few weeks when her next tour picked up. It needed to be stocked. Maybe slightly differently than her average weekend job.

As she packed, well, it was still hot in Italy she assumed, and he said weekend, and work, but gave her very little details, so she slipped in a few things, her trainers, trackies, a tank. And also a few sundresses, some lacy pink things. In case.

She'd let it be known she wanted him, but follow his lead. Helene loved being on his lead.

A lot could happen in several weeks though. She'd been busy, dated, been dicked, been disappointed. That was down to Harry, too. As her life had sorta revolves around him for a while, and her pussy seemed to want to too.

Henri was a frequent partner. Safe, fun, no drama. She'd come back from a disappointing date and called her fall back friend. They were both casual about it and could hook up and remain friends. They'd been doing it since art school. It had always scratched her itch.

But, his eyes were blue, a pretty blue, and he didn't have dimples, and his dirty blond hair was straight and though she'd always loved his body, he was softer than she'd like, and bulky above her.

His dick too. It didn't feel like it used to. Like more than enough. She didn't come, and dammit, she expected to now.

Harry might have ruined her.

She knew no other tour would feel as crazy beautiful while also family fun after that one- but she didn't know he'd risen other expectations too.

Helene impatiently waited for Italian summer.

The flight was so quick, she was stumbling off the plane before she'd finished her glass of wine. And there was a man with a placard with her name. She got the hotel without an agenda though. There had been in the past a printed itinerary at the desk or in her email. Neither were present. Helene was alone in an unknown place, with no work yet, so she did what she always did, grabbed her camera, her wallet and walked.

Umbria had been idyllic from the air, Perugia awaited and promised to be a treasure. The city felt like a fortress, there on a hill with its stone walls. They must be hiding goodies behind all those rocks. She was gonna find them.

The streets were old, cobbled, like the oldest parts of Paris. Her trainers were a good choice, any kind of heel and she'd be on her ass. And walking the medieval streets were a good choice too, she wouldn't even want to be in an cab, definitely not a Nike. She'd have to tell Harry. No handy face masks in Italy though when forced to walk. But the smells and tastes might be hindered by a mask. Those were golden.

And she found treasure, red gold in a tiny wine shop. She bought a bottle to ship to Mitch and Sarah. He'd love it. And a bottle for herself since she already loved it. She'd have a glass now. Helene didn't save experiences. She tried to live them as the came. Take the picture now, eat the eclair, drink the wine, fuck the boss. These were her raison d'etre. It's how she found herself alone in Umbria on two day's notice.

And there was a lot to find to capture momentarily in Umbria. Beauty in the air, literally. The light glowed. The air here danced, the sun was a presence, everything had a golden hue.

Whatever she was shooting would be like a constant golden hour, less filters and fiddling needed. It made her excited.

She took so many pictures come for herself, waited on Instagram. Was flipping through them as she walked into the hotel.

"Helene!" She heard Jeff's voice go up and her feet picked up speed quickly. Where Jeff was Harry was, or vice versa. Almost always.

"Jeff!" She kissed his cheeks and he bear hugged her, and he caught her looking for Harry immediately.

"He's already up in his room, this is kinda an incognito trip for now. We don't want too many people to know where we are exactly. Did he tell you that?" Jeff knew she liked her instastories.

"No, but I was using the big guns, the light is so pretty here. I didn't really use the phone, or take any video. I was caught up, lucky." She smirked and he smiled back.

"So what are we being sneaky about?" She asked when Jeff got distracted handling some logistics.

"Well, Harry's got this Gucci thing."

Helene made a face, then what was she here for? Gucci would have contracted their own photog.

"You're here because Harry requested you for behind the scenes stuff, in case he wants to use it for his next, who knows, he seems to have an idea." Jeff was good at mind reading, face reading.

Part of Helene hoped the idea was to fuck her in a new place, but it would be weird to be paid for it. Not so weird she wouldn't do it, but strange.

"I'm gonna go to my room, what's the plan for dinner?"

"Harry mentioned he wanted to sleep," they both chuckled, or course. "so I may go out, may just do room service."

"K, if you want company?" She said while she headed to the stairs.

"I'll give you a shout."

Her room was lovely, and she ran a bath to ease all the muscles from climbing the hilly streets. Once she was out, she stepped onto her balcony in her robe, she loved a good hotel robe and caught sight of curly hair and wind of garlic from the next one over. She and Harry shared a wall. He was leaning out over the balcony watching the sun go down and Helene pulled her phone from her pocket and took a picture.

By the second one, his neck had lolled around and he was looking into her lens. He wasn't smiling, not even a smirk, his lips gaped just a bit and a slick of wetness caught the light.

She caught that on camera too.

When she put the phone down, slid it against her hipbone to find the square pocket of the robe she hadn't tied tightly, she kept her eyes on him. His dimples grew then as he smiled at her and she was sorry she had put the phone away.

He looked dreamy in the Umbrian light.

"Hiya Helene, have a nice bath?" He smirked then, let his hot eyes slide over her chest, if it wasn't already red, she was sure it was now.

"Oui, it's a really big tub, you seen it?"

"Big enough for two?" His cheek heated hers.

"Not sure."

"We could test it? If you wanted..."

"Think we'd make it that far?" Helene moved her shoulders back, felt wind caress a nipple.

He looked down. "No."

"I bought a bottle of wine at this beautiful shop. I could show you tomorrow."

"Or you can come over right now. We can drink it after our bath." He bit his lip. And hers parted.

"I just had a bath."  She reminded him.

"It's a ruse, I want you to come over so I can take off your robe, Helene." His hand ran over his baggy track pants, her eyes followed, they'd lingered on his face, it was enough to wet her thighs. "Bring the wine and yourself, leave the robe if you're brave enough."

If she was brave enough? She was plenty brave. She undid the poor robe and relaxed her shoulders down. She wondered how she looked in the light.

"Don't move." He pulled his phone out and her back arched. He looked at the screen. "Now come."

She almost did.

Helene turned around and grabbed the bottle of wine and her key, carried them in one hand so she could knock.

There was no need. He had the door open and an impressed look on his face. "Ballsy!" he said with a wiggle of his mouth.

She looked at his crotch, "you'd know."

He canted his chin to the side. "Can I say what an absolute pleasure it is to see you, Helene."

Her nipples hardened to diamonds, round cut, from his gaze. Her knees were drunk. "Yeah, boss man, you're a sight for sore eyes."

"Hopefully sore thighs too." And he reached out and caught her hand and pulled her to him. His other hand caught the long hair at the back of her neck and cushioned her press against the door. He tasted like Italy, like basil and decadence and she lifted a naked leg to wrap around his clothed body. He leaned back from her and his chin caught her mouth, she opened her lips over it and he kissed the tip of her nose. It was a sweet moment before he picked her up so fast she was lightheaded.

He eased back on the couch and spread her body over the top of him. With her lips against him, her toes barely passed his knees. The immediate groping grip over her ass and his hands splitting her thighs around his hips had her forgetting how unequally they matched in height. Because the way his bulge swelled to fill the negative space between her thighs was all that was important right now. He rocked her over his hips and she unbuttoned his shirt hastily.

"Don't rip the Gucci!" He cautioned with a twinkle in his eye.

"Alessandro will give you more tomorrow," She thumbed his bottom lip.

He bit it and said, "there are these grey trousers I want."

"Harry, can we take off your trousers instead."

"Oui!" He pushed down his pants, put his fingers in her mouth which she dutifully licked, wet his tip, and spread her open. She slid down with the help of the grip he'd resumed on her cheeks.

"Ugh!" She got out when she got over the tip, raised back up over the snap of it. Tucked her hips to brush her spot inside.

When she tried to do the shallow penetration a third time, Harry shook his head, "uh-uh." and used the hands full of ass he had to push her down to the last inch.

"Fuck!" She clenched at the fullness and had barely adjusted around it when he set her rocking.

"C'mon, Helene. Take it."

Her response was to make him sit up, so she could lean back with a grip on his neck and use his hold to ride him at a gallop. "Like that?"

"Yeah, that's fucking perfect. Too perfect!" He stopped her pace. He grunted and let her bounce over him until he suddenly grabbed her hips to still them. "Hmmm, M'gonna come like that."

"C'mon, Harry, take it," She bit his bottom lip, licked the indent.

"What's gotten into you?"

"All of you, apparently!" God, he was fun in bed.

"Yeah, can you handle more?"

She narrowed eyes at him and he laughed.

Harry unseated her and slid her over his face. The full flat tongue over the ripe redness he'd exited made her pull up. That was a lot of sensation. He'd just pulled her down onto his tipped tongue, seemed to have no qualms with her motion putting his mouth at back door level. The wiggle of his tongue and the slide over her perineum and up under her hood made her shiver. "Like that!" She begged and he gave her a couple more head waggles, before splitting his fingers to fill both empty places and sucking her to orgasm.

"Fuck, fuck! Yes!" He had the craziest hit rate, she always came with him. No wonder everybody else previously adequate was now lacking.

She was still shaking when he slid her over his weeping erection, and she whined when he passed her over it a couple times, responded by gripping his hip, then got hold of his cock to angle it up, so he couldn't graze her sensitive clit again. She needed to get him inside again, that she could take.

He laughed at her move.

"Fuck you!"

"Be my guest, love." He challenged, and she leaned her body back, grabbed his knees and didn't stop when he needed her to. Just fucked him and her to completion at a rough deep rock. She'd have laid back over his legs when her arms went out had he not caught her.

The bath was big enough for two.

And the wine was so good he wanted her to show him where she bought it after the shoot the next day. "I want more of that when I don't need to worry how I'll photograph for it!"

She'd agreed to see him wine drunk and silly.

And the next day, after seeing his softer side, arms full of baby animals and her eyes full of hearts, Harry got the grey trousers and they took them for a walk around Perugia.

He did look lovely in the light, and she knew he'd noticed that she hadn't worn panties just by the look he cast down her lens. Her thighs'd be wet from it alone, let alone the hand full of rings she'd felt the clink of on her ass yesterday afternoon, but the smirks and smug look he kept giving her when she took his pictures were making her ready to find an alley, bench, streetcorner, side walk cafe table, wherever. He looked as ready too.

Her suspicion was confirmed when after a stiff breeze as she was walking in front of him in her sundress, she'd heard him groan. He'd caught up to her, his hand coasting over her ass cheeks beneath the fluttering hem.

She'd copied his signature smirk. And he'd gaped.

The next hour was a game of grab ass she loved. When they were anywhere near cover, his hand was up her dress, and she was skating away out of reach.

"Hands to yourself, boss." She'd tsked.

"Nope, don't wanna." He'd pinched her cheek then, the right low one.

Helene turned her back and brush her back against his front, but took off before he could get his hands on her.

Every time he got close, she let him touch, or she'd get close and cope her own feel, leave herself open to his hands, beringed fingers.

He got one between her legs in the back on the wine shop and she stepped on his vans to stop him. Bit her lip to keep from moaning.

Harry had them open the bottle and they gave him glasses, because he'd shipped 10 bottle, their entire stock to the azoff's and Winston's and his mum.

He'd asked where a good private place to enjoy it and a view was too.

He was boiling when they found the isolated picnic table. But he'd sat down so she could get his magnetism on film.

Taking the picture had her rolling and popping too.

The wood table top was low, but Harry hardly complained when he had to stay in a squat to get the right angle. All that exercise had to have another benefit.

She was the happy recipient.

She'd remember Umbria for more than just the light.

She'd be taking splinters home with her.

[9r7g5h]

Shut

Fandom: Xena: Warrior Princess 

Genre: Humor

Rating: K

Words: 1,704

Summary: Joxer really, really needed to learn when to keep his mouth shut. 

AN: So a week and a half ago, I asked people on tumblr to give me numbers so I could pull fic ideas from the vast list of fic ideas I have. @forestfairyunicorn gave me number 123, which resulted in this fic! I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Xena.

Joxer was going to die.

Being a warrior, death was always on the horizon, just waiting to strike. Like a cobra, or a panther, only held off by his astonishing reflexes and superhumanly quick wit. And, of course, his good looks- even the goddess Celesta had turned a blind eye to his more dangerous actions after getting an eyeful of what a man he was. Had her touch not caused immediate and painful death, they would have consummated their love long ago. But, alas, they couldn’t be, and so their love affair continued through looks instead of touch.

So Joxer was used to death. He had faced it many times and said “Not today, Hades. Not today.” He didn’t fear it, not a single bit, and laughed at the idea that it could ever come for one such as him.

But Xena was a force beyond the gods, beyond Fate and Death and everything in this existence, and to not fear her? Even when the two of them were so close, the closest of confidants (except for Gabrielle, and he was pretty sure that she only took the position of Xena’s “best friend” because she had some things to offer he couldn’t. Like her tongue, and her clever fingers, and her bedtime entertainment. She was one Tartarus of a bard, Joxer would give her that, and she told and wrote a great story), to not fear Xena would be the mark of a fool. And while Joxer was many things- mighty, great, courageous, fantastical- he was not a fool.

So, on a normal day to day basis, he treated Xena with a healthy amount of respect for her powers as a warrior and stayed out of her way as much as he could.

But he had to get involved. He just had to. The warlord had mistaken him for his brother Jett, Gabrielle had landed herself in a cage with a bunch of other slaves, and Xena had been captured and forced into the warlord’s service. She’d been serving the disgusting man his wine, a low position for one such as herself, and so he had to step in.

Even Xena needed the great Joxer’s help, and while she’d clearly been too ashamed to ask him for it, he’d seen the plea in her eyes. Some might have mistaken it for a glare, but Joxer knew better. He had taken one look at her and seen the truth. Her eyes had said ‘Joxer, please, you’re our only hope. Save us.’ And so he’d taken action.

“I’m sorry, my lord,” Xena said as she leaned over, her small top clearly showing her assets as she refilled his goblet once again- the fifth time in the hour since Joxer had been invited into the tent. “About that ambassador you’re meeting with, the one you’re planning on selling the slaves to? I couldn’t help but-“

“But wonder when we’re going to betray him and cut off his head,” Joxer cut in, sending Xena a pleased look that he had picked up on her train of thought. “I say we take his money, give him the slaves, and then come back twenty minutes later with all our men and take them back! We could have the whole thing done in an hour, two tops, especially if we get one of the slaves on our side. Maybe promise one of the girls their freedom if they help out? I noticed a cute little redhead in the pen, maybe she would be willing to play friendly with the ambassador to keep him busy?”

And there. Not only had he picked up on all of Xena’s thoughts, just like two great minds would be able to, but he had even found Gabrielle a role to play in all of this. And once Gabrielle was separated from the rest of the slaves, and the warlord became over concerned with double crossing the ambassador, he’d be able to free Xena from whatever had her captured, rescue Gabrielle from the ambassador’s tent, and save the day.

“An excellent plan,” the warlord said after a moment, nodding wisely and holding his goblet out for more wine- a big drinker, this one. “We just keep selling the girls over and over again, kill anyone who could give us away, and make ourselves rich! The perfect plan- and I should have known it would come from you, Jett.”

“B-but my lord,” Xena protested, scurrying over and pouring him another glass of wine, “that would tarnish your reputation! You’re well known throughout the area as a top quality slave dealer, only passing on the best specimens to the buyer. To damage that ideal, that would destroy you and any future business ventures you might have! Best to let the deal go through without a hitch, to keep the people’s shining opinion of you sparkling.”

Once again, Joxer nodded, picking up on Xena’s vibes. Yeah, her gaze might have been a bit…intense, as she stared at him over the jug of wine, but he knew that was just an act for anyone else. He knew what she wanted.

“What’re you listenin’ to a woman for,” Joxer said, rolling his eyes and slapping Xena’s ass as she walked by- for a second he thought he had over stepped, by the terrifying look on her face as she whirled towards him, but a moment later she smoothed over her anger and stiffly walked away to refill the jug. Perfect. Her protesting the plan and then him coming in and countering everything she said was exactly what would make the warlord go for it. “Come on. Who cares about some reputation- build a new one! A fearsome, terrifying one that will raze the world to the ground. Stick with me, bud, and I’ll make yah rich.”

The warlord laughed and clapped Joxer on the shoulder, his mirth too much to contain. When he had calmed enough to speak, the warlord gestured for Xena to come to him, gently pushing Joxer towards her.

“Take Jett here to the tent next to mine,” he said, still chuckling. “And show him a good time, eh? Want to make sure he stays around for a good long while. Oh, and pass on orders to have that cute little redhead Jett mentioned bathed and prepared. As a gift- a bedmate- to the Ambassador, to show my…good will.”

“Yes, my lord,” Xena said, her voice sickeningly sweet as she gave a little bow, “of course. Please, follow me.”

She didn’t speak as they walked through the camp- a good move, since you never knew who could be listening. The tent, when they finally got there, was small but comfortable, with thick cloth walls that would at least semi-muffle their words if they kept them down. The perfect place to talk, at least as perfect as they would get in the middle of the enemy’s camp.

But the discussion didn’t exactly go as he had planned.

“Are you suicidal, or just insane,” Xena hissed the moment the tent flap closed behind them, her fingers jabbing into his neck and silencing him before he could speak. “Do you know what you just did? Do you even understand the three weeks of planning you just destroyed?”

As if she just realized he couldn’t exactly breathe when his windpipe was partly crushed, Xena jabbed at his neck again, turning away and pacing before he even took his first breath.

“The ambassador stole a very important artifact to the Amazons, and they want it back. Selling Gabrielle and the others as house slaves- all of whom are Amazons- was our only way to get them into the castle so they could steal the artifact back without being slaughtered. And you just convinced the warlord making the deal that it would be better to have Gabrielle have sex with the man and then kill him, getting us nowhere near the castle or the artifact.” Stopping her pacing before him, Xena leaned over so they were eyelevel- and this time, this time Joxer saw the anger, loud and clear. “Do you understand what you’ve done?”

“I thought…” Joxer’s voice trailed off as he swallowed thickly, his heart in his throat making it hard. He did understand what he had done, now that the plan had been laid out for him, and understood he was only alive because the warlord would think it suspicious if he died. “I thought I was helping?”

Even to him his voice sounded weak and pathetic, and perhaps that appealed to some part of Xena’s nature, because her glare slightly softened.

But only slightly, and that did nothing to stop him from fearing for his life.

“Next time we’re in a position like this,” Xena said, her voice a low demand, “you’ll wait until we can talk, and then you’ll do exactly as I say. You’ll promote the ideas I give you, you’ll encourage the lines of action I lay out, and you’ll never, ever dare to speak for me again. Got it?”

Joxer nodded quickly, his helmet sliding over his eyes as he did so.

“Good,” Xena almost purred, pulling away. “Now, I’m going to go do damage control and see if this plan can be salvaged. You stay here like a good boy, and if anyone asks, I rocked your world. Got it?”

Again, Joxer nodded quickly, well aware that that was the correct answer to her question, and unwilling to find out what would happen if he got it wrong again today.

“Oh, and Joxer?” Xena paused at the tent entrance, her head half turned so she could just see him out of the corner of her eye.

A terrifying sight, because he knew he would be dead in a moment if she wanted, and it was only because of her good graces that he wasn’t.

“Yes, Xena?”

“Touch my ass again, and you’re losing that hand.”

“Yes Xena. Sorry Xena. It won’t happen again.”

With that she was gone, and once again Joxer had to tell Hades not today, though not for the lack of the god trying. Because if they couldn’t fix this, he was dead. Xena was going to kill him, and he’d be dead.

[cutiecrates]

Cutie Reviews: NMNL Nov 19

Sorry to anyone waiting for the next review, right after I took the pictures, it sorta took a backseat to everything else going on. Besides still playing Animal Crossing, my mom came home from the hospital so I’ve been taking care of her, I got back into a manga series that I had took a break from, wiki editing, etc...

Anyway, I’m back again! I’m going to try to get things back on track so hopefully my next review will be done within the next few days.

“This November we want to give you a kawaii makeover! In Japan “kawaii” can be anything that you find trendy and cute. We hope to capture your heart with unique beauty products inspired by Japanese games, anime and famous characters such as Kirby and Hello Kitty but also the Korean characters from BT21 will make an appearance. Are you ready for your makeover?“

Contest

In going with the theme, this months mini-contest involves a bunch of Cardcapture Sakura items; like a really cute heart-shaped lip cream. The grand prize winner will receive a pack of multi-functional creams, 1 day tattoo eyeliner, and a makeup pouch.

Glam Gift and Horoscope

Meanwhile, this months Glam Gift features no characters, but some cutesy looking wine-flavored products from the brand Labiotte, and some egg-based (but they don’t smell like them thankfully) Too Cool for School products.

I can’t say I’m a wine girl, but I think 3, 5, and 6 look adorable~ I’m a sucker for makeup products shaped like other things.

- - - - -

The Horoscope for this month is “The signs as Cute Japanese Characters“:

Aries: Kuromi Taurus: Totoro Gemini: My Melody Cancer: Gudetama Leo: Rilakkuma Virgo: Pikachu Libra: Jiji from Kiki’s Delivery Service Scorpio: Korilakkuma Sagittarius: PompomPurin Capricorn: Eevee Aquarius: Hello Kitty Pisces: Cinnamoroll

Which one would yours be? If you’re unfamiliar with my blog, I’m a Libra, so I got Jiji- which is ironic, because last month, Hello Kitty was the “what you should dress up as for Halloween“ character I got. I’ve got no complaints, I love kitties.

Kirby Lip Cream

Our Kirby trendy continues with this adorable limited edition lip cream, but what also makes this one special is that it comes in 10 different styles! Each one has the same Peach scent, but the designs are based on famous locations in Japan: Mt. Fuji, Hokkaido, Yokohama, Tokyo, Okinawa, Kyoto, Kochi, Osaka, Fukuoka, and Nagoya.

I got Hokkaido ♥ which is one of my favorites, so I was pretty excited. I’d love to get the whole collection if they have it on the Japan Haul website though~

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

This lip cream feels wonderful on the lips. It’s very smooth and soft, and you can feel it on the lips because it’s a tiny bit greasy, but you only taste it for a moment or so after applying it- which can be a good or bad thing depending on preference. The peach smell is lovely too.

Sho-Bi Lollipop Lipgloss or Lip & Cheek Cream

This one was included because it reminded the makers of the box of the invincible candies in Kirby :3 It came in 4 variants, two lip & cheek and two lipgloss. It has a strawberry scent, and a light pink shade. It contains moisturizing ingredients like shea butter and hyaluronic acid.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

It smells really good and it doesn’t feel bad on the lips. The only problem is, it’s patchy and very light and it doesn’t go with my skin tone at all. But it looks really nice on my cheeks as a blush, it actually matches the blush I normally use and blends in very smoothly (I didn’t blend it into my hand skin, it’s much more natural looking when it is), so this would be a nice alternative to applying powder if I’m in a hurry.

If you recall one of my summer NMNL boxes, you might recall the similar looking popsicle we got. It’s so cute, so I’m glad to add this to my collection~

Anime Girl Bath Bomb/KiraKira Ring Bath Bomb

I was really excited when I saw this next item, because I’ve seen them before on a couple Youtube channels I watch and I’ve always wanted one. I love the packaging because it gives me heavy Pretty Cure vibes, this girl is so cute ♥ 

This is a typical spherical bath bomb with an orange scent, and it features a prize; 6 rings in the shape of a glittery, clear heart or star, coming in pink, blue, or yellow.

♥ ♥ ♥ 

A+ for the bath balls fizz and scent. The ring is also very cute, I got a pink star (I love pink but I really wish I got the ♥ so close~), but I used this to soak my feet and they felt really dry after a while when I finished. I’m not sure if it was the bath bombs doing, or if it was because they were already dried prior to soaking them.

Fate Grand Order x Sanrio Nail Stamping Plate

This item is a partner to the one we got last month, as part of the collaboration between Sanrio and the FGO series. As I said last month I’m not a fan of this series or know of it very well, but I think it’s pretty popular, I see it pop up a lot. I love Sanrio collab items though, they’re always so cute.

The one I got is Gilgamesh, who I can’t say would have been my first choice... unless I got his makeup palette in last months box, so they could match. But anyway, this kit includes the shape plate, a scraper, and a stamper. The back also includes an image of nail polish colors matching the character, and the inside includes some example designs. 

♥ ♥ 

As cute as it is, as I said, I’m not really into this specific set. I was willing to try it, but the problem is that I really couldn’t figure out how to. The directions seem clear enough, you just wet the specific stamp/area with polish, then use the stamper to pick it up and transfer it onto the nail. But for some reason I couldn’t get it to work.

I could get the nail polish to apply and the scraper to work- but the stamper wasn’t picking it up. I was fiddling with this for probably a half hour before I gave up. The booklet suggests using “nail stamp polish“ for best results, which could in theory explain why I couldn’t get it to work? I might see if I can find one to see if it makes a difference.

Kawaii Character Makeup Pouch

This item features everyone’s favorite Sanrio and San-X characters, in the form of a cute little cubical pouch. I’m not sure what its made out of but it feels very smooth on both the inside and out. PomPomPurin isn’t my first choice, but it’s very cute.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

It’s very nicely crafted, and it feels really nice to hold. It can fit smaller items (such as the two lip products, ring, and hand cream from the box) and it’s actually pretty spacious. But it could also work just to carry some necessities, like keys, change or money, cards, coupons, etc.

Nam Chi Ni Message Sheet Mask & Mediheal BTS BT21 Face Point Mask Set

These items are 2 of the 3 Korean products in this months box, and both of them are facial masks. Our first one features the popular mascot characters designed by the members of Korean boy pop group BT21- and to be honest, I’ve never actually listened to them before. I feel like I’m one of the only people who never has.

Not because I don’t like their type of music or anything, I just never felt the need to.

What makes these mask fun is that rather than being one single sheet, they come in the form of 6 mini-sticker like pieces you stick on the various skin points in need of some quick 5-10 minute relief. Each of the 7 characters has a focus in this set, such as: 

Cooky - radiance and skin barrier protection

Koya - moisture and glow

Mang - soothing and vitality

RJ - soothing and calming

Shooky - skin enhancement

Chimmy - evening skin tone & nourishment

Tata - skin energy & vitality

Out of these, Koya is definitely who I would have wanted ♥ so I’m glad I got him. But Cooky and RJ look really cute too. It has a strong sort of lotion scent.

♥ ♥

As cute as this was... I think this product needs some fine-tuning. It’s very moist (in fact I didn’t nee to use these all at once, they remained wet for over a week so I could just use them when I felt like it) and they adhere to the skin great. But they do begin to lose moisture quickly after application, so the 5-10 minute thing is accurate, but I don’t think its long enough to really help much. The skin where I used these didn’t feel any different, other than a little sticky. But I will say that the skin does look a little more vibrant than it did prior to using.

It’s a bit silly, but I can’t bring myself to throw away the cute little patches. They dried very quickly after use and smoothly, so I plan to hang onto them. I might turn them into stickers, or put in a scrap book. 

- - - - - - -

Our other face mask features a unique concept of a handsome guy in 4 difference outfits, with the mask featuring a quote and detail taken from the guy. For example, mine is the prince-looking one, and besides a message the mask has blue sparkles near the eyes and a crown.

Each mask also has a “focal point“ like the above set did, with mine focusing on moisturizing. The scent has a strong... sort of flowery-perfume scent? I never know what it is and I’ve gotten it a few times, but I really really like this scent.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

Besides its great scent, I feel like this mask did a lot better then the above. It’s not nearly as cute and it’s kinda silly looking- but I did like how cool and refreshed my face felt after using it.

Korean Manga Hand Cream

Our last item is a hand cream based on Korean manga, with a peach scent. On the back, this seems to be from a series called Tale of Felluah. 

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

The art on this is very pretty, and the peach scent is surprisingly different than the Kirby lip cream. This one reminds me more of a realistic and refreshing peach, rather than a creamy candy peach. The cream is very smooth and it soaks into the hands quickly. I really like it. Besides the Kirby lip cream, I’ve also decided to put this in the stand near my bed for quick access.

♥ Cutie Ranking ♥

Content - 3.5 out of 5. I like everything and we got a decent variety of items! However, I feel like a couple of the could have been better...

Theme: 5 out of 5. I’ve been waiting for themes like this, because I love products base on series I like. Plus everything was really cute. Spot-on.

Total Rank: 7 out of 10. This box was really good, but the items themselves  could have been a little better. I really like how some of them weren’t really like... the typical mainstreams like Pokemon, but at the same time, I wish they could have used series I was more into- like Sailor Moon, Pretty Cure, or more video game series. But I wasn’t unhappy with this box at all.

♥ Cutie Scale ♥

Lip Cream - I love how it feels on my lips, and the packaging is my most favorite. I wish we tasted it a little longer though.

Hand Cream - I love its scent more than the kirby’s peach version. It made my hands feel so soft, and it soaks in quickly.  

Lip & Cheek Lollipop - smells lovely and it’s very cute. I wish it did more for my lips though.

Anime Girl Bath Bomb - very cute and fun, smells great. I’m not 100% sure on the quality of the bomb itself though. 

Koya Point Mask - I loved the design, but the quality could have used some work. I feel like it didn’t really do very much.

Makeup Pouch - I love the quality of it, but I really didn’t need more pouches.  

Message Sheet Mask - it’s pretty silly looking, but I think I got one of the tamer masks. I do like those princely types, and it smells great~

Nail Stamper - it’s a cute and fun little item, but I couldn’t get it to work... 

[blancagriswold]

Real Weddings: Our Graceful Bride, Vicky Marries Rob

Happy Friday Cwtchers!

Excited to show you all our gorgeous Real Wedding this week.  Not only is it beautiful, with stunning images by David Wickham, but its of our one and only Graceful Bride.

If you have been following her blog entries, then you know about everything that went into making this day so wonderful! And its not just about the shoes (although they are, of course, pretty spectacular!)

Without further ado, I shall hand over to the beautiful Victoria, to tell you all about her and Robs big day……

Victoria and Rob

What was your budget?

We had an initial budget of £20,000 with £18,000 being joint money and then a £2,000 budget of my money for my dress. I figured no one could tell me off for spending too much money on the dress and shoes if it was my own! We still managed to go over budget in the end though!

How would you describe your wedding theme?

I have these great ideas in my head which I’m then useless at explaining to people so I think that Wendy our florist was the only person to get my theme in the planning stages!

I was describing it as relaxed country elegance. I wanted everyone to just be chilled out and enjoy themselves. A church wedding but not too traditional, a country house for the reception but not too formal, everything had it own meaning. My aim was it to look like it was effortless, that the house was ours almost and we’d just used whatever was around to decorate with flowers cut from the garden that morning.

Trouble is once you start saying to people about centrepieces with books and teapots everyone automatically thinks a vintage theme which wasn’t quite my aim! I hope people got it in the end, or at least a feel for what I was going for. Maybe I should have walked around saying relaxed country elegance a lot more!!

Colour wise we decided to stay away from the traditional Autumn colours and go slightly different. Rob wanted to wear a navy suit and the hints of blush just seemed a perfect compliment to it.

What was your favourite part of your wedding?

I’m not sure I can pick just one part! Our wedding turned into a bit of a 4 day extravaganza and I loved it all.

We had a great few days beforehand with various golf, afternoon tea and dinners out and the Friday with my family setting everything up at the venue was just great fun. On the day itself we had such a relaxed morning getting ready and then walked to the church to try and stay calm!

I don’t remember any finer points of the ceremony, only that we probably laughed too much and that atmosphere carried on for the rest of the day.

If I was really pushed then one of the best bits for me was walking down the driveway to the church. The sun was shining, the mist had lifted over the mountains and I could hear the choir singing as we got closer. It was beautiful and I had no nerves going in to marry Rob after that!

Tell us about your Wedding Dress

With me living in Essex, my Mum in Wales, one bridesmaid in Kent doing a PhD and the other working it Hertfordshire it was always going to be a bit of a mission to organise dress shopping.

In the end we managed to get everyone free for a run of 3 days and we crammed 5 dress shops in. I was really worried about how finding a dress would go, I’m tall and have curves and had no real idea of what would work on me. By the end of it all though I was beginning to think I was in the wrong job with all the consultants going nuts over getting to dress someone of my height and shape.

They put so many extra dresses on me that they wanted to see that I was so confused with what one to get! We found my actual dress in our second shop. Anna, the owner, was so brilliant and we’d been there for about 3 hours going through all her stunning dresses. Again it was a dress I hadn’t picked but towards the end of the appointment she said it was my dress and I had to try it on. We realised we were on to winner as all of us spent the first few moments in silence and Mum teared up (given we mostly giggle and mess around this was a huge difference).

We still did all the other dress shops and came close to falling for another dress which was virtually the complete opposite (another you must try this one for me from the consultant) but after a week of thinking about it, it was the same one that kept coming back into my head. Turned out Anna had been right from the start!

Who did you pick as your bridesmaids &/or best man and why?

I had no choice on my bridesmaids! About a week after my cousins met Rob I was being nagged into marrying him so they could be bridesmaids as they’d not been before! I don’t think I even officially asked them, unless you count letting them know we were engaged by sending them a picture of an awful 80’s style dress and threatening to put them in it! They were great though and put up with me texting random wedding things virtually weekly.

Robs best man was his boss Paul. He may be his boss but he’s also his best friend, cricket captain and sort of big brother figure I suppose. Robs known him since he was a teenager and I swear they spend more time talking to each other than they do to me and Pauls partner Ann!

Him and the ushers were also brilliant, especially as I left them all a huge list of things they needed to do on the day and they got on it with no complaint taking away any niggling stresses from us.

Why did you choose your venue?

In my head I had another venue that was perfect so only booked to look at some others for comparison. I’m so glad I did though as I had such a clash with the owner of where I wanted that I came away vowing never to set foot there ever again!

Peterstone Court on the other hand was just brilliant from start to finish. Not only is the house beautiful and the views just stunning, the staff really made it.

Nothing felt like too much trouble for them, phone calls and emails were answered quickly and they always knew who you were on the phone to have a chat with. Absolutely everyone from the managers to the waiting staff were just lovely. Plus if I could kidnap the chef I would, we’ve never had a bad meal there and we’ve had a few now! Having taken over the place for the whole weekend we really did feel like the place was ours, I would so recommend it for anyone looking for a venue.

Tell us about your photographer

I got slightly obsessed with David our photographer, in a good way though, not a creepy one!

I don’t remember how I stumbled across his website but I’m so glad I did! Not only are his pictures beautiful, he really understood what we wanted with regards to the photos. I was slightly worried that him and his colleague Catherine wouldn’t come back after we all spent the church rehearsal in fits of laughter but they just went with it and joined in!

On the day itself David was great up with us whilst we were getting ready while Catherine got some lovely shots of all the stuff I was missing out on. For the rest of the afternoon I can honestly say I felt like I didn’t see them, in the nicest way possible of course! The pictures we got back I felt really captured the fun and relaxed vibe of the day, there’s some truly stunning ones of all our guests just enjoying themselves and I just love them all!

How did the proposal happen? 

I knew we’d get married as we’d spoken about it a lot and half my family had bets on when a proposal would happen yet he still managed to surprise us all by proposing on a random Saturday night. In a wonderfully romantic setting (ha!) of him in pyjamas after a bath, me in a blanket freezing cold and our collie in a panic after one of his episodes where he’d bashed his head on a radiator and was bleeding, he said he’d got me a gift. Sitting down I was given a Tiffany bag and did the obvious thing which was to start giggling! In my head I was thinking “oh my god he’s gonna propose, but then he said a gift so maybe it’s a bracelet, but who gets a bracelet from Tiffany after talking marriage” etc etc. I’m not even 100% sure if he got down on one knee or if I actually said the word yes, I just kept laughing!

Luckily he knows me well enough to not get hurt by that reaction!! I think he’d been planning on being slightly more extravagant in his proposal but he’d text my Dad to sort of ask permission (think the gist of it was I’d like to ask Vicky to marry me, thought I’d see if that’s ok but I’m doing it even if you say no. I think Dad was pleased with that!) and after getting a nice text back from my Dad, who is a man of few words, he just decided to do it there and then!

Any DIY stories/tutorials you’d like to share?

Rob is great at making things, he’s transformed our garage into a full on man cave complete with bar! Me on the other hand, I have zero patience and if it’s not done to a perfect standard within 30 minutes then I’m just done with it, so we didn’t do a vast amount of DIY!

I am quite proud of our scrabble name places though, again, mostly made by Rob. Trying to keep the cost down we just bought some scrabble letter tiles from craft stores online and then made the rest. Rob made the holders from 2 different types of wood and then I did all the gluing.

Rob also did a fair bit of printing, he made the table plan, order of service booklets and created personalised menu and information cards! My only other contribution to the DIY side of things was asking/forcing my family into making up the confetti cones and favour bags! They looked like they didn’t mind though!!

What was your first dance & why?

Our first dance was Home by Michael Bublé as the lyrics mean a huge amount to us. Having spent 15 months living in Paris with Rob still in the UK and the constant feeling of wanting to be somewhere I wasn’t, the song kind of became our anthemn.

I could never play it right through to the end until the day I left France! To lighten everything up we had Shut Up And Dance by Walk The Moon straight afterwards.

I love that song and figured jumping around surrounded by people was a good antidote to the fear of dancing on our own getting emotional!

In hindsight, was there anything you would have done differently?

The only thing that we felt really let us down was our band. I thought I’d been clear enough with the list of songs that we definitely wanted played in the live sets and the sort of music for the DJ sets. However they seemed to think differently and it did ruin our evening slightly. They were so talented and having seen them before we thought would be perfect for our guests so my only advice to couples having a band is really reiterate to them your choices. Given that we’d been talking about Metallica, Foo Fighters etc, to have Mike Posner played instead really got me wound up!

Do you have any advice for future couples?

Probably the same advice that everyone else gives! It’s your day so do things your way, don’t try and please everyone else as it’ll never work, you really can’t do it. The day does just go so try and take a moment to be just the 2 of you to have a breather, whether that’s with a photographer tailing you for some shots or just in another room having a quick sit down for 5 minutes!

What’s the best piece of marriage advice you received?

I don’t think we had any specific marriage advice. Both of our parents have been together a long time, as has most of our families so we’ve had plenty of examples of marriages over the years. Plus we’d been together a while, dealt with a long distance relationship, house buying and loss of a parent before we got to the wedding so we’d weathered a lot of storms! We knew what worked for us and always make sure we communicate, especially as with our jobs we can go days without seeing each other awake to have a proper conversation!

What was your favourite thing about planning a wedding?

Now I love planning but planning a wedding over 18 months even took it out of me! Attempting that, work and life in general is hard! I suppose though my favourite bit was getting to see people more. We’d normally only get to Wales once or twice a year yet I was going virtually every month and my parents were having to come to Essex more often, same with getting to see my cousins more frequently. I’m sure they were all bored beyond belief having to listen to me going on and on but I enjoyed it! Also I loved dress shopping, I really wish I could do it again but then we’d probably end up having to renew our vows yearly as I’d keep buying them

The Suppliers

Photographer: David Wickham  Ceremony Venue: Llanhamlach Church Reception Venue: Peterstone Court  Bride’s Dress: Essense of Australia  Bride’s Shoes: Harriet Wilde  Christian Louboutin Bride’s Jewellery: Ivory & Co  Tiffany  Groom’s Outfit: Anthony Formal Wear  Bridesmaid’s Dresses: Monsoon uk  Bridesmaid’s Accessories: Wanderlust Life  Cake: Family friend Flowers: Wendy Scotford  Friend of Faux Hair: Lisa Bidwell  Make Up: Alex Gallop  Band: The Hot Shots  Stationery: On the day – Rob, invites etc by Pretty Lane Weddings  Caterers: Petersone Court  Any Reception Decor/Props: Own various Personalised cake topper: Feats Of Clay Wedding favours: Blaenavon Cheddar Co  Wilkin & Sons Tiptree Chutney Ushers ties: Mrs Bow Tie Choir: Brecon Male Voice Choir Confetti: Adamapple Honeymoon: Destinology 

The Wedding Album

Liked this? You might also like these! :)

Wedding Film: Amie & Andrew by Aurora Wedding Films

Bride To Be Diaries: Graceful Bride’s Love Of Shoes

Bride To Be Diaries: Graceful Bride’s Love/Hate Of Photos

The Graceful Bride: The Wedding Weekend

Real Weddings: Hannah and Jack’s Country Vintage Wedding

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