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Wednesday 7 March 2012

Mothers Day Gift Guide...

With Mothers Day just around the corner, I have a few gift ideas that I think are perfect for the day or any day to be honest, if you want to treat your mum :-). These gift ideas aren't going to be the traditional flowers, chocolates, perfume or taking your mum out for lunch. So, if you are looking for something a little different that your mum will definitely appreciate, I think you have come to the right place :-).

Lets start with gift ideas for homely mums:

   
Pictures courtesy of Dot Com Gift Shop.

  Picture courtesy of Find Me A Gift.

Here we have two lovely Mothers Day items from the Pantry Design collection online at 'Dot Com Gift Shop' (top two pictures). First we have a girly rolling pin, perfect for any woman who likes to bake/cook in her home. The rolling pin is made from wood and the handles from plastic, making the product really sturdy and solid. Perfect for rolling out pastry or dough to perfection! It's also an absolute steal at just £8.95. The second item from this collection is a set of 3 cake tins. They are described as cake tins but are labelled as cake, biscuit and sweet tins. I suppose you could store anything (that doesn't need to be chilled or frozen) from the kitchen in these. These are so pretty, in pastel colours, they are well made and would look gorgeous shown off on any work surface! They almost have a vintage feel to them and have a cute little bird on the top of each tin. Be aware that if you look at the picture on the website, they appear to be quite large, so if you don't read the size/measurements of these they might not be what you expect when you receive them. Don't get me wrong they are perfect for storing treats, but I just thought I would mention this as it was the first thing I noticed when looking at the picture and then looking at them in real life (as I didn't read the measurements properly, naughty me!). They are still perfect though! They are only £12.95, so again won't break the bank and I am sure any mum would love these for her kitchen.

The third item is a recipe journal called 'Cooking Up Memories From You To Me'. It is from an online company called 'Find Me A Gift'. This journal is no ordinary recipe book. It includes a number of questions, designed to capture anecdotes and stories about someone's love of food. There is also plenty of space for someone to record recipes so that they are never forgotten :-). This is perfect for anyone that loves food and cooking but I think it will be a gift that will add and be a special touch for a mum. It is designed as a gift you give...and then get returned to you with an amazing collection of recipes and stories. Even though I am not a mum yet, this is something I would love to fill in for my future children and keep it until they are old enough to be interested in food/cooking and know what the journal is about. It is definitely a special gift and once it has been filled in, will be something you will want to keep and treasure forever. Some of the questions include: 'what are some of the most unusual foods or drinks you have ever tasted?' and ' what were some of your favourite childhood foods?' For such a sentimental item (once filled in), this only costs £11.99.

Lets move onto gift ideas for mums who love fashion:

  
Pictures courtesy of Not On The High Street.

Here we have some lovely Mothers Day Gifts from an online company called 'Not On The High Street'. First is a Bailey shoulder bag by a brand called Hive & Co Accessories, priced at just £15. That's the thing about this website, they have products from all types of different brands! The bag is quilted with stud detailing, has a zip top closure and a feature side padlock fastening. The handles are a perfect length to fit comfortably on your shoulder and not be rubbing right underneath your arm. There is also a zipped pocket inside on the side of the bag and a section to hold your mobile phone or other bits and bobs. The bag is a really good size without being massive for day to day use! There is definitely a lot of room for everything you would need day to day, without it being too much. It is a really sleek bag and I can't imagine many mums not liking this :-).

Secondly from 'Not On The High Street' we have a vintage postcard purse, priced at £14. This is by a brand called Grace and Favour Home. For mums that love anything vintage this is going to be perfect and something that's a little bit different. You can choose from 5 different designs, so if your mum has a favourite colour for example you could base your choice on that. It is made from cotton and lined with a blue spotty design. This purse is perfect for carrying loose change in your handbag or bits of paper and receipts. It can also be used as a coin purse if your mum goes out of an evening, instead of carrying a large purse with everything in, she can just take her evening bag and then slip this purse inside with any money or cards that she might need. I love this purse and think any woman would love it, whether you're a mum or not :-).

Lastly from 'Not On The High Street' is something that I absolutely love and something that I can honestly say I have never seen before. So the brand that sells this (Not a Jewellery Box), in my eyes are genius! The item is called the little books of earrings, priced at £26. It's such an innovative little item and is available in four gorgeous colours. The book is designed to hold any earrings that you may own. There are four pages in total and each page holds 12 pairs of earrings. I think this is a lovely item to keep all of your earrings together in one place and with it being able to hold 48 pairs of earrings, it is going to serve a purpose rather than just being a showy little item that just holds a few pairs. I love this! As it looks like a book, it is easily disguised amongst other books in a bookcase or on a shelf, if you have valuable/expensive earrings that you want to keep safe. It is also perfect if you are going away, whether for a weekend or longer you can keep all your earrings safe and they won't get mixed up or tangled up with each other. All types of earrings are suitable for this book, which is also a bonus as you may be able to hold your entire earrings collection in here. The book is covered in soft faux leather and has a sturdy clasp to keep everything enclosed. Each page is also padded to protect your earrings. Such a quirky little gift, I'm sure any mum would love!

Lastly, lets move onto gift ideas for mums who love a bit of pampering:

  
Pictures courtesy of Treat Her.

  
Picture courtesy of Find Me A Gift.

Firstly, we have some lovely gifts for mums from an online company called 'Treat Her' (top two pictures). To start with is a happy feet gift box, priced at £16.99 (originally £19.99). This gift set is described as being perfect for a lady that is on her feet all day and is from the Grace Cole Lavender Apothecary collection. Inside the gift box (which would make a great keep-sake box) is a polishing foot scrub, a smoothing foot cream (scented with lavender, which is great for relaxing) and some gorgeous fluffy white slippers (which are really soft!). I love how this set includes the slippers, which are one size. Many sets include lots of foot products but don't think about after you have applied them all. These slippers are perfect to care for your feet, even after all the products have been applied.

Secondly from 'Treat Her', we have another vintage style item: a shower me with love wash bag, priced at £26.99. I love anything vintage, so if you have a mum that's the same, she is going to love this! The wash bag has a distinctive postcard design with a pretty vintage style stamp design all over the back. You may have heard of the brand 'Disaster Designs', well known for their quirky postcard/travel style items. Well, this is one of their designs and the bag is so stylish it definitely won't blend into a crowd of other wash bags. I also think this could double up as a make-up bag and is perfect for at home or to use whilst travelling. The postcard section at the front is a large pocket that closes with a press stud and the lining within this pocket and the main compartment is a black and white dotted design. I love this brand as they always think of everything down to the last tiny detail. Even the zip is a comb charm!

We also have another mothers day gift from 'Find Me A Gift'. These are called mooncandles and they are 3 flame less LED candles (made with real wax) with a remote control! They are priced at £19.99 (they were £29.99). I have some of these and I think they are fab. Don't get me wrong I love scented candles and how they can fill a whole room with fragrance, but these are convenient if you are relaxing in bed and just want a nice subtle candle (or a light as you can set it to stay still instead of flicker) flickering in the background that won't be dangerous even if you fall asleep. The same with a relaxing bath, the candles won't be dangerous and your mum can just totally chill out! The remote control that comes with the candles (complete with 2 AAA batteries) are my favourite bit ha ha! It's a bit lazy but there's nothing worse than being totally comfortable in bed and then having to get up to blow a candle out :-/. With these, there is no need to get up ( the remote control has a range of 20ft so they can even be put on high shelves or chandeliers) as the remote allows you to turn the LED candles on and off, adjust the brightness, set a timer of 4 or 8 hours and choose between them looking like candles or just lights, all from the comfort of your bed, the bath, the sofa or anywhere you choose to use them! For mums with younger children these are going to be a lot safer than normal candles, so that of course is an added bonus! The three candles also come complete with 2 AAA batteries in each. They look so realistic and I think they would make a perfect gift! I already have some of these but if someone were to have bought me these, I would love them, as I know I would get a lot of use out of them and they have so many benefits.

Lastly, Soap and Glory have recently launched a new collection called 'Fruitigo'. The collection consists of three new products which all have a lovely fruity scent and have notes of frozen yuku, orange oil, green fig and jungle pomelo essence in them. I think this collection would make a perfect mothers day gift, ideal for pampering!


Pictures courtesy of Soap and Glory.

First up in the collection we have 'Foam Call', which is a super moisture-suds body wash. It is infused with grapeseed and peppermint oils, essential fatty acids, fruit liquid fig and orange waterjuice. Not only is this going to provide your skin with a lot of moisture and gorgeous oils, but it also doubles up as a bubble bath and smells divine! This is priced at £6 for a 500ml bottle and trust me (I have used Soap and Glory products before) it will last for ages. Secondly is 'Pulp Friction', priced at £8 for a 250ml tube. This is a fruity, fresh clay based foamy skin-smoothing body scrub, formulated with polished pumice, fig seed powder, vitamin balls A, C and E and peppermint essential oil, to give you dewy, smooth skin and perk you up! This is so invigorating and fresh and feels really cool on the skin. Lastly in the collection is 'Butter Yourself', priced at £10.21 for 300ml (going to last agessss!). The base of this cream consists of their famous ORIGINAL 'problem dry skin' body butter, with resurfacing skin-perfecting five fruit A HAs, super nourishing shea butter and fruit liquid fig. This reminds me of Soap and Glory's 'The Righteous Butter', but with a slightly different smell. The consistency is still the same and it still provides so much moisture, with the scent staying on the skin for a while after use. A great set for any mum who likes quality bath, body and skin care products :-). These products are available in bigger Boots stores in the UK and Ireland (or online at Boots.com) and Harvey Nichols in Beyond Beauty.

So there we have it, a few unique, quirky and special gifts for the lovely mother in your life! I hope you like my ideas and maybe find something that you would like to buy for your mum or even yourself hehe.

Let me know if you have any of these items or have bought them as gifts, I would love to know your opinions :-).

Happy (nearly) Mothers Day to all the mums out there!

Much Love,
Gem XxOo

Disclaimer: I received a couple of the above items as samples/to consider for a review and decided to put such items into my gift guide. All items are ones I have picked/chosen myself to include within this gift guide and my opinions are and always will be 100% honest. See my disclaimer tab for more information.

New Beauty Brand...Urbanista!

Picture courtesy of Paul Murray PLC.

Paul Murray PLC have recently started distributing a new beauty brand called Urbanista! Great for every street smart fashionista, their collection has launched with a selection of beauty tools with a vibrant twist. Products within the range include: make-up brushes, hair brushes, nail foils, clippers, nail files, tweezers and more! The products have been specially designed for comfort and precision and are eye-catching with their bright colours. The company claims that their products will revitalise and refresh any ones make-up bag and having seen some of their range I can assure you this is true.

The nail foils range from block colours to glamorous patterns, so there is sure to be a style for everyone. Each pack includes 16 pieces of adhesive so you could do a full set of finger or toe nails and then keep the rest for signature nails :-). A bonus with these is that they require no drying time and mean no smudging! They are £2.99 each. Here are some examples:

Pictures courtesy of Paul Murray PLC.

The hairbrushes in the range consist of a small and large ionic barrel hairbrush, an ionic vent hairbrush and an ionic paddle hairbrush. I love the hairbrushes in the range! Why? Well these are a little different. They let you know when they are at the right temperature to use in your hair, by changing colour. They transform from pink to white. So, blast your hairdryer on any of their brushes and the colour will change before your eyes. Genius! The hairbrushes range from £7.99-£12.99. Here is an example of the colour change:


Small barrel hairbrush before heat has been applied.


Small barrel hairbrush after heat has been applied.

The heat doesn't stay within the brush for long once you take the heat directly away. However, if you are using the brush at the same time as you are blow drying your hair, then you'll find it will create extra volume and dry/style your hair much quicker/easier. As you are drying with the hair dryer from the outside, the heated brush underneath your hair will dry that area quicker, hence speedy results!

The range also consists of make-up brushes; a foundation brush, a powder brush, a blush brush and an eye-shadow brush. They are a gorgeous hot pink colour, so sure to stand out in your make-up collection/bag. They range from £3.99-£5.99. Here are some examples:

                           Powder Brush.                                        Eye-Shadow Brush.

Pictures courtesy of Paul Murray PLC.

They also have other bits and bobs like foot files (£4.99), nail clippers (small £3.99 and large £4.99), nail files (£3.99) and tweezers (£3.99), all in vibrant, stand out colours! Here are a few examples:

                          Metal Nail File.                                                   Foot File.

                         Toe Nail Clipper.                                                Tweezers.

Pictures courtesy of Paul Murray PLC.

I am loving the pink! I think they have everything in pink apart from the foot files, but still the colours are so attractive and just looking at them is sure to perk you up!

You can purchase items from the range at Click Health and Beauty or Murrays Health and Beauty. You may also be lucky to spot some of these items in specialist chemists!

What do you think of this new brand and their range?

Much Love,
Gem XxOo

Disclaimer: I received some samples from this range to introduce me to the brand. All opinions are and always will be 100% honest. See my disclaimer tab for more information.

Saturday 3 March 2012

Cherry...Cherry Baby!


Picture courtesy of Batiste.

Batiste never cease to amaze me with their never ending line of scents! There is always a new one before you know it and the new Batiste Cherry is definitely my all time favourite Batiste scent. As soon as I smelt it, I knew it was for me and from the existing scents, if I buy a new Batiste, this is the one I will pick! I adore it!

It has a lovely fruity fragrance (so me!) that lingers and the packaging design screams vintage glamour - love it! This is one that I'm not going to take too lightly to other people using in my household :-).

It is available for £2.99 from the usual stockists; Superdrug, Boots, Sainsbury's, Tesco, Asda, Waitrose, Wilkinsons, Savers, Lloyd chemists and many more places that you can see here.

Batiste have a competition on their website at the moment, inspired by the release of Batiste Cherry. You can win a £600 pair of Louboutins in classic Cherry Red! You can see the shoes on the banner below, aren't they gorgeous?! I have entered myself and although I hope I win, I thought I would tell you all about the competition too! So kind of me, I know. You can enter by clicking on the banner below and filling in a few details :-). You have to enter before the 15th April 2012. Good luck everyone! Oh and let me know if any of you happen to be the lucky winner :-) - I might be on the lend, he, he only joking.

Picture courtesy of Batiste.

Much Love,
Gem XxOo

Disclaimer: I received this as a sample to introduce me to the new scent. All my opinions are and always will be 100% honest. See my disclaimer tab for more information.
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