blogmas #4: A Gift Guide for Guys

Buying gifts for the men in your life, be they boyfriends, dads, friends or brothers, is always a struggle. To help with this issue I've compiled a few ideas for what I'll be buying them this Christmas.

1) Jack Wills Duo (£12 - Boots) - This set includes a body wash and a deodorant, and is great for teenage boys that you don't know what to buy. It is a fairly universal gift so is suitable for people you don't know so well.

2) 'Evil Plans and Stuff' Notebook (£6 - Amazon) - This is the perfect gift for an older men as it is funny but also useful. Any funny notebook is a winner, but this is the best one I could find online. I would suggest looking in the department stores if you're looking for any smaller joke presents.

3) Topman Body Spray Trio (£10 - Boots) - A good value set here as you get three well sized ddeodorants. This is great for younger teenagers who are just getting into using products like this, and the brand makes is more attractive to boys just getting into Topman.

4) Whisky Selection Pack (£12 - Boots) - The perfect present for a dad or grandad here, and a great way for them to try out some new brands of alcohol. This is a very sophisticated gift that is reasonably priced too.

5) Remote Control Range Rover (£30 - Debenhams) - What guy doesn't love a nice new toy to play with at Christmas? No matter what their age, the males in your life will still love to receive a remote control car. It doesn't have to be this one, but the fact that it's a Range Rover makes it even better in my opinion.

6) No7 Hydrating Shave Kit (£18 - Boots) - Another good one for teenage boys here as many of them are just starting to shave regularly. This set includes everything they need to ease into this process and the high end packaging will make them feel very grown up too!

7) Blue Woolen Scarf - I love a scarf on a guy, and if you to do, this is the perfect gift for a partner. This particular one is very pricey at £42 but there are much more affordable versions available on the highstreet. I really like giving people clothing as I find that it's much more personal than other presents.

I hope this post helped if you were stuck for ideas, and I'll see you again tomorrow for blogmas #5.

emma x

My Christmas Beauty Wishlist

So November arrived and with it came the excitement of Christmas! I for one am already super excited for all the beautiful decorations, cosy nights in and Christmas movies, not to mention all the new beauty releases! Today I'm going to be sharing some of the beauty items on my wishlist this year. For some of you it may seem ridiculously early to be doing this, but on the other hand I know that some of you will be starting your Christmas shopping already and therefore are in need of some inspiration.

1) Zoeva Makeup Brushes - I found it very hard to pick which ones I wanted the most, but I decided upon ones that I didn't have anything similar to at the moment. I chose the Brow Line Brush (322), Luxe Soft Crease Brush (221) and Concealer Buffer Brush (142). These are all quite high up on my list as I am in urgent need of makeup brushes; I currently only have one for foundation, one for powders, and one eyeshadow brush.

2) Rimmel Brow This Way Powder - I really want a brow powder as I think they are the best way to achieve really defined brows. I currently use a matte shade from the Naked 2 palette, but it isn't very convenient to take the whole palette away with me just for the brow colour. I thought it would be best to try a brow powder from the drugstore before splurging on a more expensive one, and this is the one that caught my eye due to its compact packaing.

3) Tresemme 32mm Curling Wand - Since my hair has started to get longer, my current wand, which has a much thinner barrel, isn't really suitable as I need a wider one. I don't curl my hair all that often so didn't want a curler that was too expensive so I picked out this one which can be found for £15-20. This will be great for creating big bouncy curls will hopefully help to add volume to my hair too.

4) Soap and Glory The Righteous Butter - As I have mentioned many times before, this is my all time favourite body butter! My current tub is running out so I put it on my Christmas list as I don't tend to buy bath products for myself. 

5) Ciate Nail Polish in Snow Globe - I saw a mini bottle of this as part of a set in TK Maxx and fell in love. It's a beautiful 'holographic flitter' top coat and looks stunning over pale coloured polishes for a wintery look. 

6) Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual - I have wanted this for so long but can never bring myself to actually buy it, so hopefully someone else will be kind enough to buy it for me. For some reason I have never been able to justify it when there is so much advice available for free on the internet, but I think this will be great for reading on winter days, when I don't want to be using technology all day. This has so many great reviews so I can't wait to see what all the hype is about.

7) Next Just Pink Perfume - This was my first ever perfume back when I was about 10 and it still remains my perfume of choice even now. It is the perfect mix of fruity and floral and basically just smells amazing! I'm very proud of myself that my favourite perfume is actually really cheap (£14), rather than a super expensive designer brand haha. My bottle has tragically just run out but I'm hoping I can survive until Christmas without it, although I do have a travel sized bottle stashed away for emergencies.

8) Zoe Sugg Girl Online - Not strictly a beauty item, but let's be honest, it's what Zoella's known for isn't it! I'm sure this will be on many people's wishlists this Christmas, if they haven't already bought it, and I am no different! I absolutely adore Zoe and have watched every single one of her videos so I can't wait to read this. 

9) The Body Shop Instablur Primer - My Benefit Porefessional Primer sample has finally run out after lasting a good 3 months, so before purchasing the full size bottle I wanted to try out a cheaper alternative. This one is quite reasonably priced, especially with The Body Shop's regular 40% off codes, and has some real rave reviews so I thought it would be a good one to try.

And there we have it. Let me know in the comments what's on your wishlist and if you'd like to see another, non-beauty, related wishlist.

emma x