Friday Favourites - Easter Holidays

With Easter weekend finally upon us, most of us excited for the celebrations ahead! However, for those who have left things a little late, or even those who just want to try something a bit different this year, there’s still time to go out and grab some more Easter treats! We here at The Amazing Blog have found some Easter-themed gifts to help you impress your friends and loved ones during this Spring holiday.Lush never fails to deliver quirky gift ideas for the holidays, and they certainly haven’t let us down this year with their creative selection of Easter cosmetics. This season, they are offering an array of ‘Egg-ceptional’ Easter themed handmade products, including bath melts and bubble bars in the shape of eggs and carrots! Made from fair trade and organic ingredients, Lush’s Easter cosmetics include a Golden Egg Bath Bomb, Bunny Bubble Bar, Carrot Soap, and Brightside Bubble Bar just to name a few. If, like us, you are struggling to choose from the wonderful selection of products on offer, Lush are also offering the Funny Bunny Rabitty Wrap – an organic cotton knot-wrap containing four of the most popular limited edition Easter cosmetics. Because the Easter Bunny is packaged by hand, the selection of goodies inside each wrap is different!  However, if a gift you are planning is one item short of complete, the holiday products are available to buy individually for very reasonable prices! Find the Egg-cellent collection here. To add some chocolate with a twist to your Easter celebration, Demijohn has created a Chocolate Orange Cream Liqueur.  This alcoholic chocolate is the adult version of a creamy dark Easter Egg, and the addition of Devonshire Cream, Apple Brandy and Orange Zest make this the perfect springtime tipple.  The thick and creamy liqueur would be a great option for those Easter family gatherings; something for adults to enjoy as the children tuck into their Easter treats.  Demijohn recommends serving the Chocolate Orange Cream Liqueur directly from the refrigerator and over ice for the best taste. Be the life of the party this Easter and present your family and friends with a 500ml bottle of Demijohn Chocolate Orange Cream Liqueur, available here for £24.60 (500ml). You may have noticed our attempt to stray from the typical Easter gift, but who are we to keep your loved ones from indulging in chocolate this Easter?  Charbonnel et Walker offer a new twist to the traditional chocolate egg with their Pink Marc de Champagne Truffle Easter Egg.  Combining their finest milk chocolate with their best selling Pink Marc de Champagne Truffles, this treat is so much more luxurious than your typical Easter Egg.  Housed in a pastel coloured window box with a pink ribbon tied around it, this delicious Easter Egg would make the perfect gift any loved one. It can be purchased here for £35, along with a selection of other delicious chocolate creations, including a Dark Chocolate and English Rose Easter Egg.

Feel like doing something different this Easter? Horniman Museum and Gardens, with their Easter Fair, could be the perfect option if you are looking for activities that are fun, yet educational. Take part in the Easter Egg Hunt, learn more about the rabbits that live in the Animal Walk and enjoy some live country music. If you fancy a bite, you can head towards the food stalls, where you will find a selection of tasty treats; whether you fancy pizza or some Austrian specialities, you will definitely find the perfect nibble to satisfy your taste buds. The Easter Fair takes place on Saturday and Sunday, from 10.30 am until 4.30 pm, and you can find the detailed program here . Finally, what would Easter be without an Easter Bunny? Demarquette offers beautifully hand painted Easter Rabbits in dark chocolate and milk chocolate to complete your traditional Easter gifts. The dark chocolate bunny is made from Demarquette’s award winning CacaoLux blend of chocolates from The Dominican Republic and Ecuador, while the milk chocolate bunny features chocolates from Venezuela and Madagascar. Each bunny is hand painted with bright spring colours, making it unique with it’s own colourful pattern. Demarquette Easter Rabbits are available here for only £5.50. Demarquette also has a lovely selection of chocolate bars and truffles if you are still craving sweets after the holiday is over!

Friday Favourites - Mother's Day

Guess who? She often deprives herself, yet makes certain you have the best of everything.  That’s right, it’s Mum! Our mum’s really are the best and deserve more than one day during the year to be celebrated and appreciated.  All of us here at The Amazing Blog want to help make your mum’s special day perfect, so we have a few original ideas up our sleeves. Ranging from candles to cocktails, there’s something for every mum!

A burning candle is a great way to set the tone for a relaxing afternoon or evening.  Wick & Tallow candles offer the luxury of a home accessory with a touch of British individuality.  Constructed from scratch by product and interior designers, as well as a biology graduate with an interest in botany, Wick & Tallow Waxsmiths intrigue candle-lovers with their contemporary twist on both the candle's packaging and scent.  The original black matte colour of Wick & Tallow packaging (with a vibrant highlight colour) coordinates flawlessly with the unique scent of the candles, which last up to 50 hours!  The Patchouli & Grapefruit Candle, for example, is a calming yellow (perfect for mum!) which flawlessly matches the notes of garden floral and tart grapefruit in the burning candle.  Find the Patchouli & Grapefruit Candle here for £35.00. And as a Mother's Day treat, Wick & Tallow are offering a 20% discount on this candle when you use the code, MUMSTHEWORD. Make mum feel young and modern while relaxing to the scent and design of Wick & Tallow candles.  A variety of candle colours and scents can be found here.

On her special day, mum deserves to sit back, relax and pamper herself with a fun cocktail in hand!  To make her job a bit easier, Pontoon Cocktails have designed pre-mixed, frozen and unpasteurized cocktails which guarantee the same freshness as the day they were made!  Offer your mum the fun and frilly Angelica mixed drink from Pontoon Cocktails!  With a mix of contemporary and traditional ingredients like Ketel One Vodka, Cocchi Americano and Regan’s No.6 orange bitters, Angelica is a hand-crafted pink plunge of citrus and flowers.  Perfectly packaged with a ribbon tied around its top, the Angelica mixed drink from Pontoon Cocktails is a perfect gift for mum!  A 500ml of Angelica is £34.99 and can be found here.

If drinks aren't your mum's style, maybe she'd prefer a chocolate treat. Like most women, mum certainly loves clothing and shoes, but gifting clothing or shoes to mum can be a challenge.  Why not combine her love for shoes with the sweet temptation of chocolate with a La Signorina Chocolate Stiletto! La Signorina specialise in fair-trade, hand-made chocolate delicacies in the shape of shoes, bouquets and chess sets.  These Italian style dark chocolates give personality to each piece with their fair-trade chocolate beans, and La Signorina kindly sent The Amazing Blog the Fortuna Chocolate Stiletto!  Fortuna was the Roman goddess of fortune, promising mum good luck in the months to follow. Not only is the shoe the size of a wearable stiletto (UK size 3), but the inside of the slipper is detailed with the La Signorina insignia and is finished with a chocolate flower on the toe.  Specializing in chocolate gifts, La Signorina lets mum have her shoes and eat them too!  Select the perfect chocolate stiletto for mum for only £40 here.

If your mum grew up during the 60s or 70s she is probably familiar with Aqua Manda, after smelling the perfume on her own mother!  This nostalgic perfume is the ultimate memory jogger, taking mum back to her flower power days. Aqua Manda uses the psychedelic colour orange to reflect the era in both colour and scent!

Made with essential oils of mandarin, ginger, lavender, patchouli, cinnamon, and other aromatic herbs, Aqua Manda consists of an abundance of fruity scents.   The refreshing and light smell is a great pick me up and works perfectly as a summer fragrance. The oriental and spicy base notes give a kick to the perfume which can help in the mornings if you get up early and need something to wake you up. Once applied, the perfume sits on your skin all day and only fades slightly. Take mum back to childhood with this happy, fruity and fun scent!  A bottle of Aqua Manda is £39.99 and can be purchased  here.

The Apothecary Room – Lavender Room Spray

During busy seasons here at The Amazing Blog, we crave uplifting refreshment for our bodies and spirits, and The Apothecary Room Lavender Room Spray offers just that!  In a single spritz, the Lavender Room Spray engulfs our office, filling the room with health and beauty benefits.

Specialising in hand blended products for both the home and body, The Apothecary Room specifically uses essential oils from sustainable and organic sources to revive the body, mind and spirit from the stresses of modern life.  The Lavender Room Spray is free from preservatives (like all other Apothecary Room products) and includes impressive ingredients like Lavender, Bergamot, Patchouli and Juniper Essential Oils.  This combination of natural and paraben free oils has left our office with a fresh, clean, floral yet woody scent in the air.  We really appreciate that The Apothecary Room applies their passion for nature and the environment to every aspect of their products, even the creation of the bottle.  All Apothecary Room containers are made of PET plastic which is 100% recyclable. Other home and lifestyle products by The Apothecary Room include diffusers and linen sprays.  The Apothecary Room Lavender Spray can be found here for £12.

The Apothecary Room also specialises in products directly for the body including facial oils, cleansers, toners, body oils, bath salts, hand and nail oils.  These additional products can be found here.

The Ultimate Natural Beauty Bible - Sarah Stacey & Josephine Fairley

If you’re like me, you may often find yourself lost in the array of make-up at the cosmetic counter, uncertain of what beauty products are best for you or the difference between all of the products.  Thankfully we here at The Amazing Blog  have been introduced to The Ultimate Natural Beauty Bible.  This beauty encyclopaedia by Sarah Stacey and Josephine Fairly makes ‘a shortcut through the beauty jungle’ just an easy read away!

The Ultimate Natural Beauty Bible includes highlights across the beauty spectrum and features sections devoted to makeup, skin, eyes, body, hands, feet, sun, hair, perfume, bed and bath.  Every section contains award-winning products from various beauty and lifestyle brands.  My favourite chapter focuses on makeup, but more specifically features award-winning lip glosses.  I often want to try a new brand or shade of lip gloss, but worry I may dislike the colour or texture of the gloss after blindly purchasing it.  Reading the product information presented by the authors, as well as reviewing the personal remarks on the products, has encouraged me to be more adventurous in my cosmetic selection.  I have especially felt compelled to explore the beauty jungle since The Ultimate Natural Beauty Bible suggest that ‘lip glosses are like shoes: you can never have too many’.  Another reason I find The Ultimate Natural Beauty Bible particularly innovative, versus other beauty related texts, is that the award winning products and brand suggestions are based on the opinions and experiences of real women.  Each advised product in The Ultimate Natural Beauty Bible has been tested by both beauty experts and avid beauty consumers.  This certainly reassures me I will be using a quality and gorgeous beauty product! 

Though quick tips and tricks from The Ultimate Beauty Bible can be found online here, I definitely suggest purchasing a copy of this all encompassing beauty and lifestyle guide here for only £14.95, normally £19.99.

Kneads Must - The Kneader

We at The Amazing Blog are strong believers in the importance of taking time to pamper yourself. What better way to treat yourself and loved ones than with The Kneader massage tool. I willingly admit that I do not have the best posture, so I carry a lot of tension in my shoulders and neck. We had fun testing this product out in the office, and my shoulders and neck were certainly thankful!

The Kneader was designed by professional massage therapist, Una Tucker. She could not find any massage tools to recommend to her clients to use between sessions, so she created her own! The Kneader is easy to use and comfortable to hold. I have smaller hands, so I like to use the holes to get a better grip. However, you can also grasp the outside of the tool if you have larger hands. The upper arch is thicker and great for stroking movements or slow rubs. The curved sides are good for deeper movements in smaller areas. The lower arch is more defined and works really well around the shoulder blade area. When practicing Kneader techniques on eachother in the office, we did discover one must be certain to not apply too much pressure!  I am personally no massage pro, so I found the instructional DVD and booklet especially helpful.

The Kneader is unique because you can use it over clothes. This is a great solution for those longing for a massage but feel uncomfortable with bare skin. This Mother’s Day give the gift of a good rub! Mums everywhere will love taking some time to relax with the Kneader massage tool. You can purchase The Kneader here for £20.00. Through the month of March, enjoy 20% off in honour of Mother’s Day.