Christmas Stocking Gift Ideas

Here's some Christmas gift ideas (there's just so many amazing gifts out there this year!) These ones are ideal for stocking fillers or Secret Santa gifts and are £15 or under.

Kure Bazaar Nail Polish in Glitter Pigalle (isn't it beautiful!) 10ml (£15). The polish is clear with flecks of red glitter making it perfect for Christmas parties! This Limited Edition polish is formulated with 85% natural ingredients making it the eco-friendly polish of choice.

I had the pleasure of trying beatitude's gorgeous Christmas Crackers last year which are £10 each and include a 10ml size of one of the three bath oils - Joy (my fav), Patience or Peace. See my review HERE.

I love all the Christmassy crackers and this Hand Care Cracker from Cowshed (£12) contains Cowshed Cow Herb Restoring Hand Cream 50ml and Cowshed Apricot Nourishing Cuticle Oil 11ml which will help restore and groom the hands and nails.

AA Skincare Vitamin Boost Face Kit (£12.60) contains 100ml Sandalwood & Palmarosa Cleansing Face Gel and 100ml Sandalwood & Palmarosa Moisturising Face Lotion. This is such a great value set! (and would make an excellent Christmas gift as well as a stocking filler!)

This is a great value Apricot & Elderflower Gift Set from Benecos (£10.95) which contains mini sizes of Apricot & Elderflower Shower Gel, Body Lotion and Hand Cream.

Content Beauty & Wellbeing have some lovely small gifts including this cutely packaged Therapi Honey Lip Nectar (£9.50 - 5ml). I'd love to find this in my Christmas stocking!

Yellow Gorse have some beautiful products which would make excellent stocking fillers. I reviewed a few of their items recently - see HERE (the ones I chose were in the £3.50 - £6.80 price range and are perfect).

Do any of these make it onto your Christmas wishlist?

October Empties

I'm not going to use anything else up this month - I think this must be my smallest amount of empties...ever!

Omorovicza Refining Facial Polish 30ml - I'm a huge fan of this exfoliator. I think I've got another in my stash. Would buy full size. 

Butter Bar Soapery Soothe Bath Salts 40g - which I received in my October Skin Organics Clean Beauty Box (link) which was beautiful. It made for a relaxing soak and had little lavender flowers combined within the salts. Full size is on the wishlist!

Organic House Clean & Bright Morning Cleanser 30ml* - which I liked to use for my morning shower. See my review HERE. I was sad to finish this and will add to my buy-again list.

Sisley Hair Rituel Revitalising Straightening Shampoo 8ml - which came in my October Beauty Subscription. I really liked this (it worked) and is one to save up for!

This duo from Rahua Voluminous shampoo 22ml and Voluminous conditioner 22ml are my favourites from the brand (I first received them as samples in various beauty boxes). It was nice to revisit and I may buy full sizes at some point.

Odacite Black Mint Cleanser 30ml - I absolutely adore this charcoal based cleanser (I've got a activated charcoal obsession just now). See my review HERE. I've got another of this size to use up but will buy full size soon.

Beatitude Joy Bath Oil 10ml* - I adore the scent Joy by Beatitude. It's just such a happy and uplifting scent. See my mini review HERE. 

What have you been using up this month?

*complimentary

Time for Me: AA Skincare, Lucidlure, Beatitude & Dr Hauschka

Sometimes it's good to take some time out and relax with a few favourite treats.  I've been enjoying a pampering face mask with AA Skincare's delicious Vanilla & Honey Skin Polishing Face Mask (£7.98 for 100ml)* which as well as being excellent value for money is very effective. This clay based mask nourishes and exfoliates the skin leaving it brightened, smooth and glowy - it's a keeper!

My hair has been enjoying Lucidlure's Allava Conditioning Hair Treatment which deeply nourishes and cares for the hair. See my review HERE.

I received the Dr Hauschka Regenerating Hand Cream 15ml via the Jan de Vries Goody Bag* which featured in my June Loves. This hand cream is fantastic and a proper review of it will be on the blog soon!

Rounding up my pampering treatment are two products from East Lothian based beatitude in Joy - an uplifting and gloriously happy scent. See my review of the body oil* (which is now in new easier to use packaging - a pump action bottle) HERE and the bath oil* HERE.

What are your favourite pamper treats?

*complimentary

July: Lately I've been Loving

So many July loves..

We dined at recently opened The Little Chartroom in Leith and had a delicious meal (ask for a seat at the "bar" and you can see all that's going on!) It's where they prepare the starters and desserts.

The food's gorgeous and below are my choices:

Heritage Tomatoes - Feta - Watermelon - White Balsamic

riccotta and parmesan gnudi - charred corn - greens

Elderflower Ice Cream Sandwich - Strawberries - Granola

The food was incredible. Can't wait to go back!

Jill (@OnTheShelfBooks), Joanne (@portybelle), Kelly (@LoveBookGroups) & Sandra (@Bookloverworm1)

Had a great meet up with these book blogger pals! Great chit-chat and book swapping! Roll on next time!

My eco-friendly coffee cup which I bought at our local gift shop COVE.

I think Naturisimo's Sensitive Soul Discovery Box was one of the best yet! See my review HERE.

A trip to North Berwick always makes me happy! We stayed at a cute Airbnb which was a little studio with it's own kitchen, seating area and shower room (oh and on street parking too!) - really lovely - can't wait to go back. And of course cocktails at Herringbone are a must!

East Lothian based Beatitude have repackaged their wonderful body oils* into glass pump bottles which makes it much more user friendly. Joy is my favourite scent - see my review HERE. 

We had dinner last week at Forage & Chatter and my dessert (sorry the photo's not great!) was one of my favourites this year. Yoghurt parfait with rose and rhubarb. Divine!

What have you been loving in July?

*complimentary