Unboxing Papergang - Box No. 44 - October 2019 Edition - Papergang x blurt *

Right after a couple of rubbish weeks,  I've actually had a busy but productive week - on Tuesday we celebrated my Godmothers birthday,  I managed my first trip to the Metro Centre in months and had a meal with Mummy Lou, and I've also managed to do quite a bit of blog prep. I've got a haul post, a super rare outfit post, a kitchen review, and a high end beauty review to come but first I'm going to play catch up and get on with my October unboxing's, minus the furry photo bomber ;)

As well as their usual involvement with Tree Add, Octobers Papergang box was produced in association with The Blurt Foundation. Although charity is a really personal thing, The Blurt Foundation is a charity that's quite close to my heart. I've suffered from depression and anxiety for many years now, and The Blurt Foundation is a charity that's dedicated to spreading awareness and understanding about depression and mental health, and £1 from every October box sold was donated to The Blurt Foundation, you can find out more about the charity and their work here.

The theme of October's box is happiness, and that's reflected in the very Max friendly, colour palette, and the cheerful, brightly coloured, almost doodle style design of the outer box sleeve.

Underneath the jazzy, sleeve you find the usual brown cardboard box, and the contents inside the box is wrapped in a sheet of bright orange tissue paper.

The first item in the box as per usual, is the information booklet. October's booklet focused on the work of The Blurt Foundation, and the work they do in drawing attention to mental health issues, and as per usual it also included a designer profile, of the creator of October's box Melanie Johnsson.

Competition Colouring Poster

Now, normally the outer sleeve of the Papergang box contains either something to cut out and make or something to cut out and use, October's box though, didn't. In this crazy world, that we live, it's really important that we all take some time out, to chill out, to relax and to regroup, and one of the biggest trends in the last few years has been colour or colouring therapy. Adult colouring books are huge at the moment, and a lot of people find it a good way to regain focus.  So instead of the cut outs, October's box contained a poster, that you can colour in and decorate in any way that you wish. 

Not only that but if you share your finished creation with Papergang, either via email, or via social media before 28th November 2019, then one lucky winner, will receive a 6 month subscription to Papergang.

I haven't started mine yet but I've got a few ideas what I'm going to do, i just need to make some time to do it.

Happiness Planner 

Next a gorgeous, fabric backed book featuring the same eye catching doodle style, squiggles, crowns and stars, as the outer box sleeve, only on a off white coloured background, and with the words "HAPPINESS PLANNER" embossed on the front in a metallic, copper orange.

Featuring a ribbon page marker, and a sheet of coordinating stickers, it's a sort of organiser / planner but instead of being a conventional diary it contains space to write down happy things, and to highlight the positives in each day. It also contains pages with motivational / positive statements and phrases.

I know things like this aren't for everybody, but I'm a firm believer in trying to find the positives in life. Last year I did the 365 days of happiness tag on Instagram (I'm @LouLou699 if you fancy a follow), where every day for a whole year I posted a picture of something that made me happy, or of something good that had happened that day. I know it doesn't always seem that way but I do think that there is something good in each, no matter how small, it's just that sometimes it takes a bit of finding, and hopefully writing things down in a planner like this might help us put things into perspective, and help us find the positives. As per usual with Papergang the quality is excellent, it's a well made nice thick book and it contains STICKERS!! Unfortunately I can't find anything similar on Ohh Deer so I can't give a price comparison.

Scratch & Reveal Postcards

The next item is actually 6 items in one, it's a set of 6 scratch and reveal postcards. Using the same colour palette, and doodle style design, they aren't just plain postcards, every one has a scratch off section, like a lottery scratch card, that features a motivational quote or a phrase. The postcards include quotes and phrases on Live, Trust, Dream, Do, Nurture and Listen.

I've only scratched off one, all be it a little too vigorously, but I love the whole concept, either to reinforce self belief, or to let someone else know that you are there for them.

These particular postcards are exclusive to this kit, but plain, non scratch postcards, retail at around 75p each on Ohh Deer.

Dual Tip Art Pens 

Next up a set of pens. Now although you only get 4 pens, they are actually double ended so you actually get 8. You can a yellow, and an almost neon orange, blue, and pink. As I say each pen is double ended, one end is a fine liner pen that's ideal for handwriting, the other end is almost a brush marker style, felt tip.

The colours are lovely, and so cheerful. The pens have a nice angular feel, which makes them easy to hold, and they almost seem to taper slightly towards the fine liner end, which it makes the pen easier to control, and to write with. Again the pens are exclusive to this box, and there is nothing similar on the Ohh Deer website. 

Universal Calendar Card

Finally the ever present Universal Calendar Card, which coordinates perfectly with the rest of the box, and features the same crown, triangle, swirl, and splat type design, only with a slightly blurry finish and in much brighter almost neon tones. 

Although I've had Papergang boxes with more items in them, I still really liked this box, and the whole self care theme, and I can't wait to start filling in my happiness planner, and colouring in my poster. If you fancy trying Papergang for yourself, you've still get time to get your hands on November's winter, Hygge, themed box, so please click my link to find out more x 

*This Post Contains Affiliate And Non Affiliate Links

Primark Haul - April 2016 Edition - A Little Bit Of Everything

Hi Guys x I hope you've had a lovely week so far, in between computer problems and vet visits on Monday I managed a little trip to the Metro Centre x I didn't buy an awful lot but I did pick up a few odds and ends from Primark.

Apart from a couple of bits of underwear I only bought one clothing item. As I said in a previous post I'm not really planning on buying a lot of summer clothes this year, instead I'm trying to just buy odds and ends that I can wear no matter what the season.

That said though this ivory, sleeveless blouse that I picked up would be perfect for a warm, summer day. It's a touch sheer so I would probably wear a toning vest with it but I think it cute and it will look nice with leggings or skinny jeans. I picked up this blouse from a sale rack it was reduced from £8 to just £3 - bargain!

So that was it for clothing - I tried a few pairs of shoes on but even the size 7's were huge (I normally take an 8) so I gave up and headed to the jewellery section.

The first thing that I got was this stunning statement necklace. With a bronze tone base it's covered in purple, grey and blue faux crystals, shiny grey beads and faux turquoise triangles. I am a huge fan of statement necklaces and this one was only £3, it had been reduced from £8 but I swear if you went to another store, you'd pay a lot, lot more for it.

From a chunky, statement necklace to a necklace that's altogether smaller and more delicate.

Last time I was in Primark I bought the Disney Mickey head bracelet (read my post here) I initially thought it was a necklace,so at the first opportunity I had I went back and bought the necklace.

It's very similar to the bracelet, and on the same, fine gold tone chain but this time instead of being embossed with crystals the Mickey head is plain. I think this super cute and a must for any Disney fan. It was just £3 x

So that was it for jewellery, next up beauty. I know I moaned about the state of the beauty section last time but this time it was perfect, the odd thing had still been opened but at least it was clean and I managed to get what I wanted last time.

I'm a huge lover of pencil style lip products and after seeing it in the flesh, the PS Velvet Matte Lipstick Crayon in Nude went straight to the top of my wishlist and thankfully this time I managed to find one that hadn't been opened.

Apologies for the change in background colour but I really wanted to show the colour off as accurately as I could. It's not an out and out, beige, blank your lips out nude, it's probably more of a pink, coral nude. It's not that moisturising but at the same time it doesn't feel as though it's drying your lips out. The coverage is good, and being a matte it wears well, all and all not bad for £2. Thanks to the dull and miserable weather up north today I haven't managed a swatch photograph instead you've got a picture of me wearing it and showing you my best duck face, and I'm also wearing it in the video that you can see at the end of this post x

The next thing that I bought was a set of the PS Volume Full Look False Lashes. Those of you that know me well, probably know that I'm not really a false last wearer, however a lovely brand recently sent me a few sets of their lashes to try out. For that reason I've decided to have a little bit of a practise with some cheaper lashes before I try them out and review them. All of the sets in Primark are just a £1 but I particularly loved these big full ones.

The final two thing that I bought came from the home section. As I've said before the home section in the Primark Intu Metro Centre store doesn't have the largest home wear selection but they still had some nice things. I didn't desperately need anything though so I just got a stationery item and some fairy lights.

Seriously I could probably light my room up with just fairy lights as it is, but I could resist buying these wire lights when I spotted them next to the tills. It's just basically a strand of very on trend rose gold / copper wire with 20 tiny little butterfly lights on it. I have no idea where I'm going to put them yet but at just £2.50 I couldn't leave them behind.

My final buy was something a little bit silly but I love stationery and you can always find a use for a sticky note :) I love Grumpy Cat or Tardar Sauce to give her proper name, I love her so much and I just want to give her a huge cuddle. Alas that will never happen but I can feel closer to her and her less than cheerful expressions with these cute sticky notes. You get three different designs in the pack and whilst they weren't particularly cheap at £2, they were a must have.

If you want to find out more about some of the things that I bought and listen to me ramble for a bit they have a little watch of my latest You Tube video that you can find below or via this link x



If you haven't already subscribed to my You Tube channel I'd love if you did x I'm posting a lot more regularly than I used and I'm posting a lot of content that you won't find on my blog so please click this link to find out more x

So I hope you enjoyed this haul, if you did don't forget to follow my blog so you'll never miss any of my posts x Thanks for reading and hopefully watching and if you've bought anything nice from Primark recently, leave me a comment and tell me all about it xx