[Haul] England: Summer 2012

Hello again,

Today is the day this blog changes FOREVER.....!!!!

Nah, I'm just kidding, but I am going to be doing something a little bit different today. I went to England this summer, not for the Olympics, like most are doing (in fact I avoided all the Olympic shinanigans as much as possible haha) but as a part of my annual trip to visit family and friends!

While we're on this topic something you won't know is I was born in England and lived there until I was 8, then we moved to the US and have been here ever since. To this day I wish we still lived in the jolly old land of brollies and tea but alas, those dreams may have to wait a few years yet! ;) 

Anyway, back to the reason for this post! As with any holiday, annual or spontaneous, one must spend exponentially more money than they would usually spend on any regular shopping trip! Not necessarily by much, but more nonetheless, or else it's just no fun! So yes, I did some shopping, not too much, I did manage to control myself thank goodness. 

Let's get to the pictures then, shall we? I believe this post is rambly enough.

So these are most of the things that I bought while I was on my jolly hols~ everything from clothes and magazines to souvenirs! So let's look at them individually shall we? I'll describe the parts of my trip that they came from as we go along! :)

First we have my Union Jack (technically Union Flag, as it's not on a boat, but let's just skip over the technicalities) mug! :) In the spirit of the Olympics and Team GB I felt it was my duty to buy some UK themed things that would make said team proud, at least that's what I told myself!

As you can see in this picture it has all the major cities of the UK written throughout the Union Jack! I thought it was adorable and couldn't resist. I have now happily added it to my over sized collection of mugs I KNEW it was missing something, I can have peace of mind now... However... I'm running out of shelves, oh dear~ (And if anyone's interested I bought this from Tesco for about £2, yay bargin~)

Next is a Hello Kitty plushie decked out in not only UK garb but a bit of specifically English garb (note the button on her bow, that would be our flag)! She was just so cute and Anglicised that I could not resist, again I'm sure Team GB would approve of my patriotism (not to mention she matched my mug)! (And she is also from Tesco for about £1)

L-R Popteen August 2012(ポップチィーン２０１２年８月), Nail UP! May 2012 (ネイルUP! ２０１２年５月), Seventeen August 2012 (セベンチィーン ２０１２年８月)

These magazines are definitely a bit of a wild card of the bunch as they're not really English in the slightest. I bought them in London on Regent Street in a shop I go to every year. It's called Japan Centre (yes RE not ER for any of my US friends that may be tempted to correct me ;) ) and as I'm currently learning Japanese, what better way to learn how to speak (or write) more colloquially than with magazines? I don't want to sound like a talking text book now do I?

I went with a couple of really close friends (we're all like sisters :3), also fellow Harry Potter fans, to the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Set Tour and it was absolutely incredible; worth every penny! The amount of detail in the sets, props, and costumes was just phenomenal even the amount of computer graphics that you'd almost never know were there is perfectly executed the attention to the little things is what made it a mind blowing experience, for sure~ :)

There was a gift shop at the end of the tour and I restrained myself from buying a school uniform, my childhood dream! I was devastated on my 11th Birthday, as I'm sure many of us were, when there was no owl ready and waiting to slide my Hogwarts acceptance letter through the letter box... sigh, but I suppose Pottermore will have to suffice! Speaking of which I'm a Hufflepuff, which leads me to this....

... I finally bought something to show my House loyalty! :) It just a little felt flag, and for such a thing was mighty expensive, let me tell you... Warner Brothers knows how to hike up their prices, but they also know we'll all be willing to pay whatever they print on their stickers, so both sides are to blame really! Haha

I was actually very, very proud of myself with this next one. I only bought one item of clothing! It was just calling my name when I walked into Next; how could I resist the call of such a darling jumper, hm? .... Regardless of any suggestions on how I could go about doing such a I thing, I obviously didn't succeed, I regret nothing of course! Have I mentioned I have an obsession with clothes that have hearts on them? Welp, now you know~

And last but not least the only beauty item I bought, which I was equally as proud of myself for being so restrained! I had plans to buy this long before we left for the UK as even with the exchange rate this is significantly cheaper ($12 cheaper to be precise) to buy en Angleterre than in the US! (However, I discovered as we went through duty-free at the airport on our way back that it would've been $15.50 cheaper had I thought about duty-free, so next time I'll buy it there and save even more!) I have only tried this once so far (and am truly, madly, deeply, irrevocably in love...) but if anyone would like a review feel free to let me know and I'd be happy to write one! :)

And apart from some Laduree macarons from Harrods and some PuriKura (stickers from a Japanese photobooth) photos from Chinatown that's all I bought! All in all it was a lovely trip even excluding my exciting purchases!

I hope you've all had a good summer so far, and are having fun watching the Olympics!
Also if you read all of this and enjoyed it, I would love to hear what you have to say!
Go Team GB♡

P.S. while I'm here, here's a picture of my current nails inspired by my Nail UP! magazine :) This was a colour that I received in my Birchbox this month :) If you'd like a tutorial on it let me know and I'll do my best! :)