Beauty. Fashion. Lifestyle.
Posts tagged Gift Set
Beauty Stocking Fillers for £5 and Under
4
7 years
This year seems to have gone incredibly fast, and Christmas is almost upon us. I’m sure by now we are all well into our Christmas shopping (I’ve been extremely organised this year and only have a couple of bits left to get!), but I thought I’d put together a few festive themed posts over the next week or two to help with that last-minute rush. I have spent a while lately trawling the shops and internet for stocking filler ideas, so today’s post features my pick of the best beauty stocking fillers for £5 and under.
Clockwise from Top Left:
Orly Nail Polish £3.99 from Fragrance Direct / Lacura Aqua Moisture Cream £1.99 from ALDI / SuperDrama Mascara £5.00 (was £10.00) from Avon / Halo Futuristic Nail Glitter £4.50 from ASOS / Denman Small Styling Brush £4.99 from Fragrance Direct / Ginger Sparkle Hand Cream £4.00 from The Body Shop / Momiji Mini Gift Set £5.00 from M&S / 3 in 1 Nail Art Pearl Gem Pen £4.50 from Claire’s / MUA Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquer £3.00 from MUA / MUA Luxe Glitter Palette £4.00 from MUA / Montagne Jeunesse Strawberry Souffle Face Mask £0.99 from New Look / Snow Fairy Shower Gel £3.50 for 100g from LUSH / Metal Eyelash Curler £3.25 from John Lewis
I hope you all find this edit helpful! If you have any £5 or under stocking filler ideas to add, please comment below as I’d love to see what you’ve come across.
Check back soon for my next Christmas post, featuring Spend and Save Christmas Gift ideas.
Happy Shopping!
Naomi x
Jurlique Rose Essentials
2
8 years
With only a week left to go until Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d share a gift idea with you which puts a luxurious twist on the traditional bunch of red roses – Jurlique’s Rose Essentials. If you have a beauty-obsessed loved one to buy for this year, or even if you want to treat yourself to a pampering session, then Jurlique’s rose scented skin care products are ideal.
The Jurlique Rose Essentials set contains three luxe rose scented products, and they come packaged in a beautiful gift box, which definitely makes this set a pleasure to receive! Once you remove the red and gold cardboard wrap, the box you are met with looks like a gorgeous gold treasure chest, patterned with delicate roses and leaves, which fits the Jurlique tagline perfectly – ‘Your gift of beauty to treasure’. It is even sealed with a sticker that looks like a lock, which makes the set feel that little bit more special, and builds the anticipation as to what you will find inside.
The three products inside the box are wrapped with red tissue paper, and the gold ribbon and embossed brand logo all add an extra touch of luxury. The products are a 100ml bottle of Rosewater Balancing Mist, a 300ml bottle of Rose Shower Gel, and a 150ml tube of Rose Body Cream.
Here is a brief review of each product to give you an idea of what they are like…
Rosewater Balancing Mist
Jurlique’s Rosewater Balancing Mist contains Rose Essential Oil, Marshmallow and Aloe, which combine to form a hydrating mist which improves and balances skin tone. I like to spray this on to my face after a long day, as it refreshes tired skin and, unlike some mists, is delicately moisturising so it doesn’t dry your skin out or leave it feeling greasy. The packaging the mist comes in is very plain in contrast to the gift box, which is slightly disappointing as I like a bit of colour, but the glass bottle makes it look and feel a bit more impressive than if it were plastic.
Rose Shower Gel
This pinky orange coloured shower gel contains a mix of natural essential oils, and like the mist leaves your skin feeling fresh, and extremely clean. I usually use shower creams as normal gels sometimes dehydrate my skin, but Jurlique’s Rose Shower Gel is actually quite moisturising, which is lovely, and can be used all over the body. The lather that one pump of this gel gives is impressive, and a little goes a long way.
Rose Body Cream
The Rose Body Cream is my favourite product in the set. It is enriched with Jojoba Oil, Shea and Cocoa Butter, so as you can imagine it is intensely moisturising, but it is also a lot lighter than some body butters. The cream doesn’t sit on the skin making a greasy mess either, rather, it is easily and quickly absorbed and is very kind to the skin. I suffer from dry hands so have been using this as a hand cream, and so far the results are good, and my hands feel a lot softer!
All three products have a very sweet but authentic scent of roses, which is reminiscent of an English garden on a summer’s day (how corny and romantic!) It’s a very feminine scent, and isn’t at all overpowering, so the products can be layered for a long-lasting, gentle aroma.
This whole set just oozes quality. The products are all generously sized and feel amazing on the skin, and the packaging is incredible. The Jurlique range is a bit of a splurge (products start at £10 each, ranging up to around £30), but sometimes these things are worth it, right? You can view Jurlique’s range of skin care products here, at LookFantastic.com. Or, if Jurlique isn’t for you or your loved one, LookFantastic also stock a wide selection of other Valentine’s Gifts, including Nails Inc Bling It On Leather & Skulls, which I reviewed here.
Naomi x
*This Jurlique Rose Essentials set was sent to me by LookFantastic.com/The Hut Group for review purposes. All opinions expressed are honest and my own.*
Omni Massage Roller & Sports Oil Gift Set
3Every week I end up carrying a lot of heavy things, almost every day… My work bag full of folders, my university bag full of books, my laptop bag, bags full of Avon brochures and products, and sometimes shopping bags. As you can imagine, and I’m sure a lot of you can relate to this, I get quite a lot of pain in my back and shoulders, and my muscles tend to get really tight and knotted. I try my best to balance the weight by using a backpack and suchlike, but it doesn’t always help. Though I’d love a professional sports massage at the end of each week to sort out my back and shoulder problems, that isn’t viable as I just can’t afford it! So, I have been on a mission to find at-home massage products which are easy to use and actually work, and organic and natural beauty boutique, Lucy Rose, kindly offered to send me an Omni Massage Gift Set to try out.
The Omni Massage Gift Set that I received retails for £18.99 on the Lucy Rose website, and contains an original Omni Massage Roller, and a 100ml bottle of Omni Sports Massage Oil. These come packaged in a plastic zip case, which is very handy for safe, clean storage. However, the rollers come in five different colours (grey, green, blue, purple and red) and can be purchased separately for £11.99 each, as can the four blends of massage oil (Original, Sports, Uplifting and Muscle), which cost £9.99 each. This means you can mix and match colours and scents to suit you, but there are also two other Gift Sets available (featuring the Original and Muscle oils, and corresponding colour massage rollers).
I chose the Sports Gift Set for two reasons – 1. I wanted an intense massage which would really do my muscles good, which I figured the Sports massage oil would help with, and 2. I love purple, and the visual appeal of a curvy, purple massage ball was too difficult to ignore. So, here’s what I think of Omni’s massage set…
Omni Massage Rollers are safe to use at home on your own, or with the help of another person. The ball inside the roller rolls in all (“omni”) directions, which makes for an excellent massage as it enables the movement and pressure needed to relax and relieve painful tensions in the muscles. It is apparently also used by professionals in the NHS (as well as in private practice), so it is a trusted therapeutic device.
The first time I used the roller I asked my mum to help me reach the tense areas on my back, and even though she used it over my clothing I was amazed that the roller was sensitive enough to pick out all the knots in my muscles. We could both feel them ‘crunching’, which sounds horrible but it meant she knew which areas to focus on. The shape and movement of the ball means that any focused pressure is distributed outwards slightly, so the knots can be worked out without any pain or discomfort. In fact, it is so painless it almost tickles!
The roller can also be used to ease any tension or stress in smaller areas, such as the fingers, hands or elbows. My job as an Academic Support Worker involves taking a LOT of notes for students who aren’t able to take their own notes, so I tend to get some aching and cramping in my hands and arms. I have been using the roller to gently massage these areas, and it really does help to relax my hands after a long day of hard work. I have also noticed that, due to the shape of the roller and the rubber band around the edge, it is very easy to grip and control.
I haven’t yet tried any hot or cold therapies with the Omni Massage Roller, but according to Lucy Rose’s description of the product, it can be placed in the fridge or in hot water to alter the temperature of the ball, and it can also be used in water without getting damaged. Sounds incredibly relaxing to me!
Omni Sports Massage Oil is very strongly scented of Juniper Berry, Black Pepper and Rosemary, and it really does smell beautiful. When I first opened the bottle I couldn’t put it down and kept smelling the oil! It is well-known that Black Pepper is regularly used in sports massage as it helps to tone muscles, and you can tell this oil has been carefully blended to “aid relaxation” and “promote fast recovery after exercise”.
The oil itself has a pale yellow tinge to it, and it is quite runny. It can be massaged directly into the skin by hand, or you can add a few drops to the roller (there’s a hole in the bottle of the roller to pour it in), and it comes out in a controlled manner as the ball rolls.
When on the skin, the oil helps the Massage Roller move more smoothly over the surface of the skin, and it warms up slightly too which is deeply relaxing. I was slightly worried that the oil would be overly greasy and make a mess of my clothes/bed sheets, but it is actually easily absorbed and intensely moisturising, so it can slot in to your skin care routine nicely without any trouble!
I have been using the Omni Gift Set every other day for a week now, and I have already noticed a big improvement in my muscles. They definitely feel less tense, and whenever it is used on my back I can tell the knots are disappearing. I can now write for a lot longer without getting cramps too, which is a brilliant benefit for my job. Overall, Omni Massage Roller and Sports Massage Oil are the perfect combination for a relaxing, pain-free at-home massage which actually works. I am hugely impressed, and am so, so pleased that I have discovered a genuine alternative to expensive professional massages.
The Omni Massage Roller & Sports Oil Gift Set is available here from Lucy Rose, for just £18.99 – a lot less than what you’d pay for a professional massage, and you can re-use it too! It’d also make a great, affordable Christmas gift for people of all ages, I reckon. Lucy Rose offer free UK postage and free samples with every order, and you can even save loyalty points if you buy from their online boutique regularly, so you can enjoy those perks too if you buy from them!
Do you like the sound of the Omni Massage Roller and Oil?
Naomi x
*The Omni Massage Roller and Sports Oil Gift Set was sent to me by Lucy Rose for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed are honest and my own*.
The Body Shop Chocomania Gift Set
0
I was gifted this ‘Exclusive Edition’ Chocomania Gift Set from The Body Shop for my birthday by my lovely best friend. My birthday is on Valentine’s Day so the heart shaped, chocolate box looking packaging seemed very appropriate, and it definitely appears rather luxurious from the outside!
Inside the Chocomania tin there are four decently sized products:
- Chocomania Body Butter – 50ml
- Chocomania Body Scrub – 50ml
- Chocomania Shower Cream – 60ml
- Chocomania Lip Butter – 10ml
Unlike a lot of chocolate bath and body products, these actually smell quite nice! I usually find that chocolate scented toiletries smell quite sickly, and nothing at all like chocolate, but the Chocomania range has quite a rich sweet scent, a bit like chocolate pudding, and is far more pleasing to the nose than most.
I used each of the Chocomania products from the set this morning, and will now let you know my thoughts about them individually, in the order that I used them.
Shower Cream
The Chocomania shower cream is the most lightly scented product in the set. It is silky smooth and lathers up well – I didn’t need to use much of it at all to wash my whole body. The scent was only very faint on my skin after use, and soon faded, but once it was layered with the other products that didn’t matter too much.
Body Scrub
Others have said this product looks like the chocolate pudding it smells like, but I’m not too convinced. My initial reaction when I opened this was that it looked like something else! (I’m sure you can guess what). Ignoring what I think it looks like, this has the strongest chocolate scent of all the Chocomania products and it really does smell good enough to eat. I used this on my upper arms which tend to get fairly dry. The exfoliation this provides is delicate, but excellent – my arms felt wonderfully soft after using it. Without a doubt, this is my favourite of the Chocomania products.
Body Butter
I have always loved The Body Shop’s body butters and I think this is a nice addition to their range of butters. It has a deep, cocoa scent and, once again, a little goes a very long way. Layered over the shower gel and body scrub, the scent is still lingering on my skin and is absolutely lovely. My skin feels softened without being left greasy. The body butter claims to provide ’48h Feel Good Hydration’ – a very big claim I have to say. Since I have a shower every morning, I doubt I’ll be able to tell whether this lasts for 48 hours, but it is very rich so I guess it could.
Lip Butter
The Chocomania Lip Butter is my least favourite product in the set. It smells a bit like Smarties, which is nice, but the texture isn’t that pleasant. I found the lip butter to be quite greasy on my lips, which didn’t feel very nice. After a while, some of this greasiness was no longer there, but in the end I rubbed it off and replaced it with my usual lip balm.
Overall I am very happy with the Chocomania Gift Set – the products smell gorgeously decadent and most of them do their job, and they do it well. If you want to try the Chocomania range, grab it whilst you can because I don’t think it will be around forever, seeing as it’s an ‘exclusive edition’!
Naomi x
