The Christmas Present Buying Guide: The smellies

In the vein of time saving, this post will be picture heavy and ramble light as the last thing you want to do is read through lines of stuff when you just need to buy something and be done with it..

I've left this post late (says she as if it was done on purpose!) as there's a wide range of scents and products which would be suitable for the whole age spectrum..

Cast your eye over these wares, I  doubt anybody receiving these would be unhappy..

These babies smell gorgeous, I have the Rum and Blackcurrant and Champagne and Spice variants.  My favourite is the rum one (no surprise there) but they both smell gorgeous and the smell actually lasts on me which is a plus as my body seems to reject nice smells.  The Champage and Spice one smells a bit more earthy than the Rum and Blackcurrant one but then I suppose that's the spice in it.  If you love the way Molton Brown smells, you will love this.  The smell isn't similar but it's of the same "class" if that makes sense? I think what I'm trying to say is that it smells sophisticated without being in your face.  The Rum and Blackcurrant one just smells handsome.  All the creams are free from nasties and are a godsend for dry skin.  My favourite way to use them was to slather my feet in them, pop some socks on and go to sleep...perfect moisturised feet in the morning.

You know sometimes you can smell someone's body moisturiser and it smells really sickly and is way too overpowering? I found these to be gentle enough to not be vomit inducing but a lot of people did ask me what they were when I had them on..

They retail for £14.99 each and can be bought on the Bettyhula website.  They also do sample sizes which, at any other time of the year, you could use as a taster but at this time, you can use a crafty stocking filler.

These would be perfect stocking fillers..

1. Fruit Works Cherry and Rosehip body butter: £2.49.
2. Fruit Works Nectarine and Orange Blossom body scrub: £1.79.
3. Fruit Works Apple and Ginger shower gel: £1.79.

Click here to buy all three of them..they have different scents available to the ones I've featured.  They also do lip balms and handwashes.

1.  Miss Cole Gym'll Fix it: £11.99, click here to buy.
2. Miss Cole The Bold and the Beautiful: £17.50, click here to buy.

1.  Fruit Works Paradise Punch: £11.00, click here to buy.
2. Fruit Works Energiser: £9.99, click here to buy.

1.  Signature Handcare Duo: £10.90, click here to buy.
2. Signature Vanity Fair: £10.79, click here to buy.
3. Lavender Apothecary Peace and Quiet: £15.00, click here to buy.
4. Lavender Apothecary Contagious Smile: £5.99, click here to buy.

1.  The Haynes Guide to Grooming Strip Bare Facial Fuel Injection: £8.99, click here to buy.
2. The Haynes Guide to Grooming Fully Loaded: £9.99, click here to buy.

The Christmas Present Buying Guide: Nail buffs

See what I did there?

I bought some Models Own gear back when they had their 50% off sale on.  A sale which I find they dealt with very well, there were minimal complaints and everybody was able to order what they wanted AND they updated their stock properly..unlike another brand who ballsed theirs right up.

When I first saw these on their website I knew I would want them all, namely because Models Own are very good at seeing a trend and making a polish to answer it..I bought their set of glittery polishes and my mum has stolen them so I'm going to buy her a set of these and hope to get mine back..Or I could just keep the new ones.  You know sometimes when companies make sets of polish and all the shades are similar? You don't have that problem here as all the shades are very different from each other so nobody would ever know.  Models Own is one of my favourite nail polish brands (the other being Jessica Nails) as they're very easy to apply, they dry quickly and they don't chip for ages. Each set contains 6 nail polishes and will set you back £20.00 and you can pick them up here.

The next products bring a joy to my heart as I have enquired as to why this company stopped making nail varnish in the first place as they had their formula spot on!  These two are more like stocking fillers but you could buy other items and group them together as a present..

I have bought both of these for myself from The Body Shop and I'm glad to report that the formula from the old polishes hasn't changed..the black one is a joy to apply, the glitter is the perfect size for attracting attention.  I wore it when I was driving at night and my nails really sparkled.  I wore it over a white nail polish on my toes and my 8 year old cousin told me it looked as if I'd dipped my toes in the sky at night time..I also used the Barry M nail polish over the top of the glittery shade and my cousin was amazed as to how I managed to do such intricate nail art on my toes..

I gave the pink one to my mum and she really likes it, they stay chip free for a fair old while.

Each of these retail for £5.00 which is a bargain! My mum has used the pink one so much that I've bought her two backups incase these are seasonal products..  You can buy them from The Body Shop stores or online.

The Christmas Present Buying Guide: On a budget/Stocking fillers from Tesco

Whenever it comes to Christmas time you can bet your bottom dollar that you always need a present to fill a gap, be it a secret Santa at work or a distant relative.  You want to give them something nice but on a budget.  Thankfully, long gone are the days when all you could take them were a bunch of smellies that you were given last year..long gone are the days when the recipient would know this and give you a dignified look of disgust and make a mental note to give you the same sort of "present" next year.

By the time this post is published I will be in Russia, Moscow to be precise.  I'm stupidely excited by it as I have always wanted to go and we are off for a work thingy..anywho, I'll be Russian to my hotel room as fast as my porky legs can carry me as I plan on buying my hat, scarf etc..once I arrive..

Tesco have a massive range of affordable presents which can be doled out in the situations mentioned above. 

The Nivea Beautiful Christmas Gift set is exclusive to Tesco and contains a Nivea shower gel, body moisturiser and a lip balm.  Just what you need when you're getting ready for the many Xmas parties you have over the festive period.

I'm all for practical presents like this, they always get used in my house. I have been working on a backlog of Molton Brown shower gels and I've finally come to the last of them..it beats getting something you will never use and having it sit in your cupboards until it goes all leaky and funny and you decide to chuck it out whilst cussing the person who bought you something so ridiculous.

This retails for £4.00..not often you can buy three products like this and get change from a fiver.

This is a perfect present for teens or those who have to be surgically removed from their lipbalms.  I have a cousin who is 16 and this would be perfect for her.

A very well known balm maker (it comes in a blue tin *ahem*) seems to strive to make all their balms smell the same so you can't help but feel you're always using the same but with this set you get Mango and Papaya, Pomegranate and Fig and Cocoa Butter and Almond so you're actually getting three different balms.  You know what they say..variation is the spice of life.

There is a corresponding body butter set to go with the lipbalms which is perfect for those who always want to smell that extra bit fragrant and you get the variation of having three different butters to choose from.

These babies are the perfect post Xmas treat for anyone.  They'd be great for those who have had copious amounts of overtime, those who have cooked and cleaned for their entire family and those who have behaved well all year and want a break over the festive period.  There are designs to suit all different demographics, they have classic designs and contemporary ones.

You can buy everything for a good old pamper in the same place which is brilliant because you're not rushing around trying to get smells to match, they all compliment each other.

There's something for the makeup lovers too..This set is jam packed full of lipglosses, eyeshadows and nail polishes so you're never rushing around to find what you need.  As you can tell, I'm a big fan of everything being all in one place.  Plus, once you've taken the makeup out, you can use the box to store your nail polishes in.

All their Christmas presents are on a "3 for the price of 2" dealy so you can keep a little treat back for yourself..you know you do it!  What more could you ask for?

The Christmas Present Buying Guide: Haircare lovers

Every family has one, a person who is nuts about having really nice hair and making sure it's always hot to trot.  The sheer notion of buying them anything hair related fills them with glee.  This was me before a job and other menial things got in the way of me being able to spend hours and hours washing my hair and lavishing the attention on it that I thought it deserved.

One thing I have always made sure of is having a decent brush for my hair.  I personally think you can't go wrong with Denman brushes.

I remember I was working at TfL in Victoria and the Boots inside the station (downstairs) was selling Denman brushes for about £2 when their full retail price was £7 or something.  I got a bit excited with myself and bought five.  That was two years ago and four of them are still wrapped up in the spares drawer.  Denman have expanded their product range and any of these brushes would make a fine present/stocking filler.  I thought the scented brushes would be a bit of a gimmick but I have two and they have retained their smell for quite some time.  You can pick them up from Denman directly (click here).

Fear not as it's not all about post washing.  There are some really nice haircare sets out on the market at this time of year..

As I said in the post which explained these guides, I'm not suggesting you go buy something that I haven't used and I have used TIGI and Pantene items before, with very good results.

The TIGI products featured are free of SLS but the Pantene ones contain them.  I know a lot of people are making the transition over to SLS free but I have no problems with SLS ones, they don't make my scalp itch or anything so I'm happy to carry on using them.  You can buy the TIGI sets from Supercuts, ask them before you sit down to get your hair cut and they'll sort your set out whilst you're getting glammed up..ta da!  The Pantene Colour Protect range is fairly new and is something I know members of my family who dye their hair would find very useful..

The items on the left are a great budget buy and I've trialled them and my experience with them was very good.  They are available individually and will set you back £8.37.  They have a full range of products including an alternative shampoo and conditioner set (to protect your colour and give you some volume), a deep conditioning damage rescue treatment and a nourishing shine spray.  The whole range will set you back £16.35.

The Christmas Present Buying Guide: For men

I buy more presents for men than I do for women so I am somwhat of an expert in this field as the men I buy them for are all very different..

For the man who says he doesn't want anything.
This is my dad, he always comes out with the same lines so I always try to find him something that either he doesn't have or something that he uses. 

All images courtesy of http://www.aquarterof.co.uk/

 He has a mean sweet tooth when it comes to liquorice (yuck!).  For Christmas a few years ago we bought him the biggest box of liquorice we could find..he'd polished it off come New Year's Day..apparently, it soaks up alcohol really well (the liquorice, not the father..though he does too).  I ordered it about two weeks before the big day and it came surprisingly fast.  They do all sorts of old school sweets on there and their prices are really reasonable.  Click here and you can see everything that A Quarter Of have to offer.

He also appreciates a fine drink, he's quite easy to please in that respect so a bottle of any of the bottles featured here always go down well..

And if you want to be extra nice to your dad, get him something that little bit better..when my dad recieved a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue Label, it shocked him into silence..this is amazing considering it's usually quite hard to shut him up (yep, that's where I get it from!)  It's quite pricey but it was more than worth the look on his face come Christmas morning.

And if after all that, he still wants nothing..give him nothing..

For the men you will always call boys.
This is the category where my brothers fall.  Despite both of them being upwards of 6 ft, I still see little boys when I look at them.  There was a time when I was their evil overlord, a day when I was taller than both of them and the saying "I'm older" actually held some weight.  These days, I have to look up to talk to them..something they always insist is admiration whereas I'm adamant it's just practicality.   These are some of the things I'd consider buying them..

All images courtesy of http://www.chargrilled.co.uk/

This is just a selection of the shirts they have on there, they have tonnes.  You can get them for women, made as a hoody etc..  You can buy them from Chargrilled directly by clicking here.  I have ordered from them before and their service is very speedy though you shouldn't really hang around to order Xmas presents.

Both are die hard Man U fans and these personalised products always get a good reception.  Getting Personal have these for most of the major teams in the Premier League.   The Stig poster is something I actually got my brother, as is the ball scratcher..

All images courtesy of http://www.gettingpersonal.co.uk

For the man who is your consigliere.
I tell him all the time that if I was Don Corleone, he'd be my Hagen which is odd because I'm the legal eagle.  You know you have a friend who you can speak to for hours about absolutely nothing? This is him.  I don't get to see him as often as I'd like but that's what happens when you live at opposite ends of the City.  When I was at law school he was always asking when he could mooch off me so I gave him a million dollars from my own private reserve..

You make everything personal on this which I thought was brilliant, e.g where it says "The United Bank of Crowther", you can change Crowther to your surname and the signatory on the left can also be changed to be your name and also the "Reserve" bit on the top gets the same treatment.  It comes pre-framed so that's another job done for you, just give it and they can display it on their shelves right out of the box.  It retails for £12.95 and can be bought on Getting Personal, yet again.

For the man who puts up with you 365 days a year.
A shag...and maybe even a blowie.  Come on now, it is Christmas.  The presents I've bought Mon over the years have varied so greatly but this is what I got him last year:

I think this set me back about £900 but he hasn't taken it off since he had it.  He didn't get this on Christmas Day because it wasn't available to buy so I got him another present to tide him over.  I finally bought it for him in April/May time.  I got it from the Tag shop in Westfields and guarded that bag with my life on the drive home.  It's the single most expensive thing I've bought which you can't easily lose (unless you could easily lose a fridge or a cooker).  I made sure it did everything he wanted in a watch, I researched this present more than I researced anything in my entire life.  Back when I was 16, I promised him that I'd buy him a decent watch because his Casio one at the time used to really annoy me.  This was the watch.  He has the metally strap but you can get it changed for rubber and for me, the best part about it is that the numbers glow in the dark but simple things please simple minds.  PS, I do hope we are noticing how long that nail was..RIP.

I know the people mentioned here read this blog and are hoping I will slip up and post what I'm buying them this year.  Well, dream on because I'm not that stupid!

I hope this was of some use to someone, took me an age to write!

The Christmas Present Buying Guide: What it's all about

This year I'm doing a series of posts re. Christmas presents which will either help you find that special something for a certain person or will give you more items to whack on your Christmas wishlist. 

This is the premis of the Christmas Present Buying Guide.

I won't be recommending anything I haven't used myself before as I'd feel pretty shitty if you went out and bought something which was a total dud.

And now for something completely different..a massive Hula Hoop.