Directions Bright Daffodil// Review and before and after

So one of my new years resolutions was to dye my hair a different colour, and as I can't really get many of them done recently, I thought I'd at least have some fun with my hair. I've wanted to try yellow for a while (inspired by the gorgeous Viivi @kisumaikuchuuru on instagram) and while my hair didn't really look like hers and didn't really suit me... it was fun! And here's my review on the hair dye- TLDR it was perfect for what I wanted- a no commitment bright yellow.

Empties// Directions, Lush and the Body Shop

Nothing is happening but beauty products still get used up innit

The Body Shop grapefruit body butter// this smelt great and it's a really nice product 

Lush Rose Lollipop lip balm//  The product itself is lovely, but I can't help but think that good old vaseline does the job just as well. 

Simple hydrating gel cream// I get through this stuff like water and I really like it but they've made the tube smaller I swear.



M and S floral collection// I finished up these three shower gels from M and S- another present. They came in a set and all of them are lovely quite strong scents.

Directions Bright Daffodil// Those of you who follow my instagram (@candyflossoverkill) will have seen I dyed my hair yellow the other day! I'm going to do a proper review post on this so stay tuned!

Directions Carnation Pink// a classic favourite of mine <3 Check out my review post of Bleach London Rosé vs Directions Carnation Pink if you're interested in my thoughts!

Tabaibaloe hand cream// another random present from my mum haha :) It was a really nice hand cream and obvs with all the hand washing we've been getting through a lot of hand cream. I think it's from abroad and everything is written in Spanish so it doesn't look like I'll be able to get this again in a hurry.

Lush Snow Fairy// Not my favourite scent from Lush, but it's still such a treat.

And that's it for now- pretty short and sweet....
Take care guys and thanks for reading!
-Amy xoxo

Empties #22 inc Simple, Batiste, Muji // Packing for a year in Japan part 2: Work edition // All 41 hair dye posts I've written in 7 years of blogging // 

How to keep up language learning after living abroad (Japanese)

Hey gang! Today is another post about languages and how to keep them up if you're no longer immersed. It's so easy to let a language disappear on you! I've just come back from Japan again, and I thought I'd share what I've been doing to keep my language up.

V. Important book recommendations for when life kicks you in the teeth// What a Time to be Alone and How to Get Over a Boy by Chidera Eggerue and Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur

Hi gang, so the world has gone mad lately and we in the UK are in lockdown along with a lot of the rest of you, so it's a perfect time to crack on with projects and being creative and basically anything other than refreshing the BBC news app every 2 minutes...

You've probably heard of Chidera Eggerue a.k.a. The Slumflower- she's been in the media a lot recently promoting her books, presenting a documentary about pubic hair, she started the campaign #saggyboobsmatter and generally is amazing and gorgeous and insightful.
I genuinely think everyone regardless of gender, sexuality or relationship status could learn a lot from these (although they are centred on straight cis girls so obvs I am very much the target audience) so here's my little book review.

What a time to be alone// 

This book is Chidera's first, and is full of general wisdom. I also love that she's put loads of Igbo Nigerian proverbs in there. It's never been more relevant than now when we're all socially distancing. Personally I've always absolutely hated my own company, and always have some music or podcast on trying to drown my thoughts out. I'd got a little better living on my own last year, but I'm still a definite extrovert and need to work on enjoying my own company more. I've been reading and re reading this book and recommending it to everyone I know.

How to get over a boy// 

This book came out recently and honestly it came into my life right when I needed it- I bought it post breakup. It's got more text than what a time to be alone, talking about attachment styles, emotionally unavailable people, you name it.

It also makes you examine some hard things about yourself- how you may letting people take advantage or have a saviour complex. She talks about how women feeling pressure to be strong and feminist often leads to them putting more work in the relationship, and that it's ok to want to be taken care of sometimes. And that actually you deserve to be taken care of and not to accept someone in your life that doesn't bring anything good to your life. In both books Chidera stresses how important it is to have standards.

I honestly have re-read both of these, took copious notes, and also cried A LOT when I realised how I'd never put myself first, even though I really intended to. And my low self worth and desperation to please and be as *convenient* as possible probably lead people to subconsciously take me for granted, even if they didn't mean to.

Also very relevant to me was Chidera's 30 day detox plan to get yourself back on your feet after a breakup. Obviously lots of the things like taking yourself to a restaurant aren't feasible atm but for now

 #blockhimparty

I know it's hard, but blocking you ex's social media will (hopefully) make you feel so. much. better.  No need for them to be top of mind (or top of feed!) any more. Even if you want an amicable breakup and you might be able to be friends one day, you can't heal unless you give yourselves some space from each other I think.

milk and honey by Rupi Kaur//

I'm not normally really one for poetry to be honest, but these poems are so raw and real and beautiful. There are a few about heartbreak and moving on which I really needed. I read the sun and her flowers last year which is also so gorgeous. I remember these poems were all over tumblr back in the day because of how beautiful the books are, and It's funny because I'd ordered this and what a time to be alone from the library before we broke up, not realising how much things would change and how much I'd need them.


I'm going to use the social isolation time to get as many creative projects done as possible, read lots of hard books and study Japanese more. And post- corona (fingers crossed....) I'm gonna leap on tinder, work on myself, have fun with my friends, go to gigs and take photos and wear lairy clothes and have myself a hot girl summer!!

For now I'm still crying and listening to my (excellent) breakup playlist (I might share that here if anyone's interested haha) , but I'll pick myself up in the end. If you can't get your hands on the books atm, Chidera's insta is @theslumflower and she's been on several podcasts and youtube channels sharing her wisdom. She was on the amazing Cheap Chat podcast recently and Emma Gannon's ctrl alt delete to name a couple.

I know it's really hard for everyone at the moment with coronavirus and the associated panic, so please let's all look after each other and ourselves ok?? <3 <3

(And if you have any banging breakup songs please let me know)

Thanks for reading!
-Amy xoxo

Room tour of my Shizuoka apartment and my tips for renting in Japan// How I passed the JLPT N1//  Bleach outlet sale haul: What I bought myself for xmas

More Tokyo pictures from 2019 // Shimokitazawa and Shibuya

This is from when I went to Tokyo to meet with Galfy's designer Rin san about modelling for them!

After the meeting, I decided to chill around Harajuku and then go to Shimokita! I'd never been to Shimokitazawa before but I absolutely fell in love- it's full of teeny side streets and vintage shops and cafes and is waaay less touristy than Harajuku (although I still do love Harajuku especially the cute backstreets). Would definitely recommend sneaking a trip to shimokita in when you visit Tokyo as it's pretty easy to get to from Shibuya.

After wandering around shimokita for a bit, I found a cute book cafe, got myself a curry and a coffee and chilled because I was knackered to be honest.

Tokyo for the first time in 3 years aaaah// Shibuya, Harajuku and the bus

So in January 2019 (a long time ago now but whatever we're doing this) I went to Tokyo to meet with Galfy's designer about modelling for them!! I was super excited to visit Tokyo so I got on the early bus from Shizuoka and arrived in Shibuya in the morning- I headed to Galfy's office via Meiji Jingu and Yoyogi Park and here are the snaps I took on my DSLR while I was walking- I'm going to do my phone snaps and my film ones another time.