ThisisYuchan

Something new for my blog and that is a home ware haul, I love looking for new things to put into my room. My plan is to get quite a few home ware items and then eventually when I move out I can have a few things to scatter around my flat.

So I watched a Dodie Clark video and it was specifically her look book video that made me want to buy this item in particular. She had bunting along her wall and it looked really cool. Whilst out shopping I went to BHS and found this really cute bunting, which was only £6.00, and it does stretch quite far it actually goes around the corner of my room. For that price it is reasonably priced, and I look online to have a look at prices of other bunting and this really is a bargain. I love the pretty pattern and it was really easy to put up, I did have to hammer some nails into my walls but apart from that not a single problem. This bunting is perfect for a living room or a bedroom, could be great if you are having a birthday and want to jazz up the room a little. I wanted the bunting prime place for my videos, as that wall is the backdrop for my videos.

I already have two sets of bed sheets, but I love looking for new ones. I did look weeks at other bed sheets in other shops but everything was extremely over priced and not even worth getting. I remember that I got my last set of sheets, which are really floral from BHS. So I popped into there and got these really cute bed sheets. They are really clever as they are reversible and means I get two different styles in one bed sheets so that's a win for me I think. They bright up any room that have blank white walls like mine, perfect for anyone who loves vintage floral patterns. I paid £36 for these and for the price of other bed sheets out there that look like this they are a bargain. They are really good quality and you can expect them to last for years.

I don’t necessarily need these fairy lights but every girl loves to hang at least one set of fairy lights in their room. I found these ones from a shop nearby me called flutterbyes, and they have three stores in the UK but do not fear there is a website. I liked the look of them and thought it was very vintage looking and really unique. I had difficulty deciding where to place them in my room, I hanged them randomly on my wall and that was terrible. I finally decided to put them around my bedside table, but I may save them for when I do find a place of my own. These could be really cute around a bedside table or a small mirror. They cost £10.00 and I thought they were rather reasonably priced, for the quality of them it was rather good.

I really wanted a jar so I could separate my bobby pins from my hair bands, as sometimes fishing for a bobby pin can be a giant pain. I managed to find a really cute jar from my favourite home ware shop called Sass and Belle, over time I have bought a whole line of stuff from them. It has a really cute bunny on top of it and the detail is really cute and the lid is a bit lopsided but it still works and sometimes I like misshapen things. I managed to fit all my hair bands in this jar and it will make it really easy to find one and the jar is clear. It is real glass and when nothing is in it, it is rather light so does not weigh a tonne; also it's a perfect size to put into your bedroom or bathroom cabinet. If you are looking for a really cute jar for your jewellery or maybe your make up then I recommend getting this cute bunny jar.  It cost £11.25 and was worth the price since it is in perfect condition.

At the moment the big trend are those clear glass frames, you have a tiny clasp that holds them together. They are very cute and managed to find one online at Sass and Belle. I was thinking of getting a large one but this one is super cute. I was not sure where the place this frame but it is currently in my bathroom hanging just above my sink. I am thinking of putting a cute quote that I can find on Pinterest and maybe changing it every month. You could put a pressed flower in there or a picture that you took. It cost £4.45 and for the size of it is a really good price, it is really light and perfect to hang anywhere in your room.

I do like key chains and was not really in desperate need for one but this one caught my eye. I love to have key chains accompanying my keys, so this cute heart shaped one is from Sass and Belle. It has that slightly distressed look which looks a lot like my vintage bedside table. If you are after a small add on to your keys then this is perfect. It only cost £2.25 and I was happy when I received it in the post.

I hope you guys enjoyed this Home Ware Haul, expect a lot more of these in the future. Also I will definitely do one in the future when I actually have moved into somewhere. I would love to know if you did end up getting any of these items in the comments below or tell me on Twitter.

Love Akika

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I have been meaning to write this blog post for a long time now and, since attending SITC it has helped me understand a little bit more about YouTube culture. So I am going to talk about my SITC experience and then talk about Fangirls and then give you guys my overall opinion.

I attended SITC (Summer In The City) for all three days of the weekend. I got to attend one scheduled meet up, watch live shows on the main stage and attend a few panels. The scheduled meet up was on the Sunday for DoddleOddle (Dodie Clark) and I was aware that for the first time this year the organisers of SITC made all meet ups have a ticketing system. Some disagreed with it but I thought it was a great idea. It meant that people attending SITC were not just sat in a queue for 5-6 hours and realise they did nothing but wait for people. I only attended one meet up and the rest of the meet ups I attended were all impromptu. These were far better as it gave you a chance to hang around with them for a little longer and talk to them. I was worried that a lot of people who went to SITC had only the intention of going to meet ups, but SITC offers more then just meet ups. Personally I wanted to see a lot of live shows and also attend a couple of panels. I managed to sit down a couple times especially on the Saturday and watch some live shows. I got to see comedy sketches to musical performances and this was something I really enjoyed about the weekend. A lot of people who went did end up sitting or standing for the performances, which for me was amazing. Not everyday do you get to see a comedy sketch, which you would normally watch on a laptop screen, appear in front of you and have a collect feeling of happiness. I only attended two panels at the event and both were really good and very insightful. I attended one of the Friday and then another on the Sunday. A lot of people do attend panels and I think that is fantastic that people have a keen interest in the said subject. The panel on Sunday, which I attended, was for mental health and I went away learning a lot more about the issue.

Fangirling is a thing that happened a lot over the entire weekend of SITC and happens generally anytime anyone meets or sees something about their obsession.  I have to admit I did fangirl a little when I was meeting a few YouTubers at SITC. I think regardless of the subject we all fangirl about something. Mine just happens to be about YouTubers. When I met a few YouTubers I had the quick heartbeat and got shaky but I managed to bottle it and not go too crazy. I have no objection to fangirling what so ever, but I find the concept of people chasing people around a venue just to get a picture completely bizarre. I witnessed it quite a lot over the course of the weekend and you just saw one person with a swarm of fangirls around them. I know that these people on YouTube never expected to get such a massive following and I am sure that at some point they must have fangirled over meeting someone they liked. I respect those YouTubers who say they do not call their viewers fans and hate the idea of having a massive following and just want the interaction between video maker and viewer as normal as possible.  I wanted throughout the weekend just be able to have a one on one conversation with YouTubers. I was lucky enough to talk to them on Friday very briefly and have a great discussion, about content and video making. I wish it could be a lot easier to talk to YouTubers and be able to talk about content. Since being an older viewer of YouTubers I am a lot less interested in the whole gossip side of things. I would rather sit down with a YouTuber and have a civilised chat with them. Then at events like these you put everything into perspective and it is not safe or logistically does not work. So it gets harder now to talk to them one on one, but I sometimes wish that at panels they would extend the questions from viewer to panel members to a lot longer because by the time it gets to that they have to hurry up. With the rise in popularity in social media as way to connect with people it gets harder to talk to a YouTuber. I appreciate when a YouTuber replies to my comment on a video, as it is a great way to start a discussion about a certain topic. I think this is very effective way of talking to YouTubers. I think over the years the divide between YouTuber and viewer has become a load wider then what it used to be. I think of it, as the YouTuber in their own right is a viewer themselves. I make videos so I do call myself a YouTuber but I am equally a viewer as well. I love talking to my viewers and discussing certain things I never treat any of them like I am superior to them.

Overall I found my time at SITC very over whelming and I went away learning a lot more about YouTube then I did before. I am glad I was able to gain better knowledge about YouTubers and YouTube Culture. It would be great to see a change in the ability to talk to YouTubers. I would love to start a discussion about what I wrote in the comment section below. I will happily reply to tweets about this subject as well. Since I think this subject is a great talking point. Thank you so much for reading this and if you got this far then cheers. I really appreciate it.

Thanks

Akika

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This is a new style of blog post to my blog and it is something you will be seeing a lot more of over the next couple of months. I love technology and spend several hours on my phone and use a number of different apps for different uses. So I want to from now on give you my review on particular apps, whether that maybe travel related apps or photo related apps I will give you guys my honest opinion on them.

This blog post is all about Travel related apps. I spend a lot of time on public transport whether that is for work or for pleasure. I have several apps on my phone, which I tend to use for this type of purpose. I travel into London on a train and a lot of the time I need to work out when I need to be somewhere so I use the National Rail app. It is the most useful travel app I have on my phone. I tend to use it to check what time my train gets into my home station, the great function on this app is that you can add your home station so you can constantly check when trains leave that station. If you tend to take the same journey a lot it remembers what stations you visit the most so you can easily check train times. A function on the app which I do not tend to use but will come in handy if you are lost is the Get Me Home button, based on GPS it helps you get back to your home station which you entered into the app. So if you find yourself lost at any point this may come in handy. If you live in the UK and find yourself taking transport and like to be told easily about train times then this app is the best one out there. This is the official National Rail app, so everything on the app is always up to date and accurate.

Even though I live in London I am sometimes really bad with the tube, meaning I need help navigating around London. Most of the time I know where I need to go but need to work out how long it takes so I use the Tube Map app, since there is not an official TFL app available on the app store, this is best replica. They recently updated the app and it works a lot better then it used to, you can tap on the station you want to start from then you tap on the route button to select your destination. It tells you how long it takes, how many stations and the amount of changes you need to make. It clearly tells you which line and station you need to change at. You can see what the lines look like in terms of delays, which can be handy, if you need to check for engineering work. This is great if you go out in London a lot but need to know how to get somewhere fast. I find it super useful every time when I am in London. I recommend this app for those who want to know in advance about your journey or if you are lost in London and need a little bit of help.

I tend to use the bus when I get back from London and do not feel like walking, the only thing I find annoying is that you cannot always know when your bus is coming. So I came across the app whilst waiting for my bus, someone was checking bus times on their phone and had this app, which is called Bus Times. I talked about this app in a video; I have found this app to be a true-life saver in split second decisions. This app works via GPS signal, you turn it on and it searches for the bus stops close by, and gives you a list of buses that leave that stop and real time estimations. You just need to tap the refresh button on the app and it will pick up the local bus stops and it will give you times for the buses that leave that stop. It does give you the facility of checking the times of a bus stop even if you are not at the stop, so if you are on the train and want to check the times you can do that. It is slightly more irritating as you need to know the name of that stop, so if you remember that then it helps, but you can select favourite bus stops so that helps out a lot more rather then searching for it. I do recommend getting this app if you live in London as this only works for London buses I believe. I like the option of checking my Oyster card balance as well, as this is the only app that has the facility. Just to see your balance can be really handy before a journey.

So this is my first travel related app review, I hope you like these kinds of blog posts, as I love technology and sharing my recommendations with you it is a lot of fun for me. Let me know what kind of apps you would like me to review on my Twitter or Tumblr. As I love hearing from you guys. So thank you for reading this blog post and see you on the next one.

Love Akika

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I was after some new shades of lipstick, so I headed to YouTube to watch some make up recommendations and I usually find myself watching a Zoella video. I have noticed I am now more inclined to buy something if someone recommends it. So I went to Boots and got the Kate Moss Lipsticks from Rimmel London in shades 110 and 107, 107 being the darker shade and 110 being the lighter shade. I have always loved the Kate Moss collection from Rimmel London because; they feel so nice and last all day. A while ago I wanted to start wearing lipstick and then gave the Kate Moss collection from Rimmel London a go and have never looked back on it. I really recommend getting them if you are trying out lipstick for the first time. I love the price for them as well; you get a great quality lipstick for £5.49.

In the same Zoella video I saw she recommended a peach coloured lipstick, now my lipstick collection is either pink or different shades of red, so this was a different shade but I was intrigued with how the shade would look. This shade is from Revlon and is called Tutti Frutti, exactly the same smoothness as the Rimmel London ones, it feels super balmy on your lips and is a really subtle colour and lasts all day as well. Only at £7.99 I was very impressed by the price and I am in love with this colour a lot, so if you want to change up your lipstick colour then I recommend it.

I really needed an eyebrow pencil sharpener as I recently have started using an eyebrow pencil. So I was not after a very expensive one so I just got the Boots one for £2.00 and it works really well, sometimes when you get cheap sharpeners they don’t the job at all, but was very happy with this essential purchase.

Now onto hair bits, I usually don’t use many hair care products I just simply shampoo and condition my hair. A while ago I started using the Vo5 Heat Protect Styling Spray, I stopped using it, as I was being far too lazy. Now I have started using it again and have noticed a huge difference with my hair, bare in mind my hair is thick so it takes around 15 minutes to dry my hair. This spray just makes your hair smoother and it has a lovely scent to it, I just apply this to my wet hair after I have a shower and then dry my hair and get a great result. I really recommend this if you are looking for a spray that keeps even the thickest of hair smooth and light. Only paid £3.69 for a 200ml bottle at Boots and it definitely is great value for money.

I don’t usually do much else with my hair, but since my hair is shorter now I want to experiment with different styles with my hair. So I bought some L’oreal Salt Spray, and I am yet to use it as I was sort of clueless on how to use it, but I searched YouTube and found a decent tutorial. I want to try the beach hair style look so next time I curl my hair I will give this spray a go and see where it takes me. You have to work this spray into your hair and just generally go for the messy hair look. I will do a blog post when I actually try out this spray but I got this from Tesco at £3.50 and yes it is a small bottle but I don’t tend to use a lot so it was a perfect size for me.

Moving onto home stuff now and I am always on the look out for new pillows for my bed because I aspire to have a bed with about 20 pillows that make my bed look awesome. So I headed to Cargo Home Shop and had a look around and found this beautiful blue-buttoned cushion, I have a lot of pink cushions in my room but always love a little pop of colour, I only spent £9.60 on it and I was very happy with it. It is super soft and I was not 100% with the material at first but it is very comfy to lean against. I bought another item in Cargo Home Shop and got this gorgeous glass candle holder, it now sits in my en-suite on my window sill and I want to add some pebbles in the bottom and add a small tea light to it, but I only paid £3.74 for it and thought that was a bargain price for it. I am sort of obsessed with candles at the moment and this is on the larger side of my candle holders, this could be great if you wanted to have a BBQ and you could easily put it outside in the garden. 

Lastly onto fashion bits, I really do not have nice summer style cardigans and was after anything colourful and bright that might go with a pair of shorts and a tank top or a cute dress. So I headed to New Look and found these two cardigans, the first one, which I have been wearing a lot lately, is the longer one with the lace style pattern on the bottom. This one is very soft and I like the darker colour on it as it goes with a lot of lighter coloured dresses I have. The other one has a very gorgeous bottom pattern, it is very soft like the other one and the length is shorter and the material is slighter thinner but I love the pattern on this one the most. I paid £24.99 for both of them and I reckon I will be wearing these a lot over the next couple of weeks.

Well I hope you guys enjoyed reading this weeks blog post, let me know if you want to see more of these type of blog posts. I will see you on the next blog post.

Love Akika xxxx