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?

Naturisimo: Vegan Discovery Box

You'll know how I love Naturisimo's Discovery boxes so couldn't resist their latest one - Vegan Discovery Box (worth £50) and costing £17.95 including p&p.

It's absolutely jam packed!

And for a closer look..

Inside is 11 travel and sample sizes:

From Pacifica, a brand I've been liking quite a lot recently is 29ml of their Tuscan Blood Orange Body Butter which smells glorious, almost mouthwatering. I'm looking forward to trying this.

From old favourite Bamford (used to get this a lot in Latest in Beauty boxes) is 100ml of their Geranium, Lavender & Peppermint Body Lotion.

New to me from A'kin is Hydrating Mist Toner 30ml which is a great travel size, I'll be packing this for my next trip.

I'm a huge fan of Briogeo Hair Care and am looking forward to trying Don't Despair Repair Deep Conditioning Mask 29ml.

From Juice Beauty we have a trial size (5ml) of their Stem Cellular CC Cream in Desert Glow. It's a broad spectrum SPF30 sunscreen which melts onto the skin and has a delicious citrus scent. Desert Glow is for fair-medium skin tones.

I've loved all the meow meow tweet products I've tried so far and this Coconut Cacao Vegan Lip Balm 7g has an almost edible scent and feels really nourishing on the lips (you can also use it on hands and body).

From Green People we have a 10ml size of their Vita Min Fix 24hr Cream which I'm sure I've used before and my skin loved.

From COOLA there is a SPF30 unscented Matte Tinted Moisturiser in Natural Beige 5ml which I'll pack in my holiday bag also.

There's a 5g pot of natural deo balm from the Natural Deodorant Co in Lemon Geranium which smells lush. Looking forward to testing this out.

From Nourish there's a 5ml sachet of their Probiotic Multi-Mineral Repair Mask with Damask Rose & Lavender which is a perfect pamper treat.

The final item is a sachet (0.17oz) of GLOW Inner Beauty Powder from The Beauty Chef which can be blended into water or a smoothie.

It's a great box. Did you pick one up?

Naturismo: Hair Food Discovery Box

As you'll know I can never resist a Naturisimo Discovery Box. I snapped up their latest one Hair Food Discovery Box (£17.95) which is worth £47.

Inside are 12 hair treats - travel and sample size - which are great for try-me or holidays.

I've used Yarok's Feed Your Ends (59ml) before and found it really suited my hair. It detangles, lightly conditions and protects the hair from blow drying and straightening. It's a great summer must-have.

From John Masters Organics is one of my summer must-haves Sea Mist (60ml) which gives the hair body and beachy waves. Love!

I was excited to see a new to me product from Meow Meow Tweet, a sample size (32g) of their Rosemary Avocado Shampoo Bar which nourishes, conditions and softens the hair. I'm looking forward to trying this out!

I just love Tabitha James Kraan's Scented Organic Hair Oil 3ml which leaves the hair shiny, glossy and silky smooth. See my review HERE. I'm really happy to have this little beauty back in my stash!

From Rahua there are two very generous trial sizes (22ml each) of their Voluminous Shampoo & Conditioner. These will add volume and shine. I've tried these before and my hair seems to like them!

From Briogeo is their Rosarco Milk Reparative Leave-In Conditioning Spray (22ml) which is currently in my stash (love). It lightly conditions and provides long lasting hydration.

From Madara there are two 10ml sachets - Colour & Shine Shampoo and Conditioner and sachets from Green People (both 5ml) of their Intensive Repair Shampoo & Conditioner.

The final item is geared more towards curls Boucleme Intensive Moisture Treatment 50ml which deeply nourishes and enhances beautiful glossy curls.

It's a great box - what are your thoughts? Did you pick one up?

Olio E Osso Samples

Naturisimo is one of my favourite online stores as they have a wide selection of hard to find and new brands. I recently came across Olio E Osso, a US brand founded by makeup artist and stylist Paola LaMorticella who created a natural balm to soothe her son's skin (this became Balm No.1). May Albano who has a design and global business background joined forces with Paola in 2014 when they launched the Olio E Osso brand.

I picked up a sample set and an individual sample with my order - the Face Oil Sample Kit (£9.50) and contains try me sizes of of Oil Cleanse (5ml), a beautiful cleansing oil which makes cleansing into a real ritual. Make up and daily grime are swept away and the skin is left feeling comfortable and clean. The second item in the duo is the fabulous Finishing Oil (2ml) which deeply nourishes and leaves the skin looking glowy and healthy.

I also picked up a sample size (15ml - £4.80) of their lush Lustero Body Oil which smells glorious - slightly fruity with a hint of spice. The shimmer is perfect for enhancing a suntan and deeply nourishes the skin too. 

I've now got my eye on their Tinted Balm (£27) which adds a pop of colour to lips and cheeks and comes in a variety of covetable shades.

Have you tried anything from Olio E Osso?

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