Morris & Co

Morris & Co. - Gardening Gloves Kit

After spending so much time indoors over the winter – we’re happy to be welcoming in the spring here at The Amazing Blog and we have to confess to a small gardening habit. We think that there’s nothing better than reconnecting with the earth and getting ‘down and dirty’ ready to plant our spring vegetables and bulbs.  

In fact, it couldn’t be better timing for us to receive Morris & Co Gardening Gloves Kit sent to us by Heathcote & Ivory from their new range here. Our regular readers may remember that we’re big fans of Heathcote & Ivory products, or if you are new to us, you can find all our posts about them here.

Morris & Co. Gardening Gloves Kit is a perfect gift set for any gardener. It features a pair of lightweight fabric adjustable gloves and Shea Butter Hand Cream. We found the gloves extremely practical for gardening either in or outdoors. They certainly take their gardener’s handcare to the next level, the cream has a dreamy combination for fragrances with honeysuckle, rose and jasmine. All enriched with shea butter, pink clay, vitamin E, jojoba, evening primrose and macadamia oils. This product has a thick and creamy texture and is sure to turn the roughest skin into the soft, smooth and velvety hands. If you or anyone you know would like this Gardening Gloves Kit for only £25.00, see here.

Morris & Co Travel Wallet

Amid all the political hoohaa that we are currently having to wade through on a daily basis, one issue that seems to be taking on an increasing amount of importance is … of course, what colour are our passports going to be post-Brexit? The burgundy red leather will clearly be phased out, and the suggestion is we will have to start co-ordinating our kit with something blue - but what kind of blue? Have these choices been made already? Perhaps the powers that be, have one or two more issues higher on the national interest list, but for those of us wanting to be prepared, it is important.

Which is where we at The Amazing Blog think that this rather glorious wallet from Morris & Co. comes in, which by-passes all the potential shades of blue/red/pink or even purple hues that may in fact be ultimately chosen for our pocket books of identity verification. As with all things Morris, the trademark printed packaging perfectly presents this travelling must-have - we have the ‘Acanthus’ version here which is then replicated in the lining of the wallet allowing the essence of design to flow through this product from beginning to end.

This William and Morris design wallet is just one of many gift sets that are available from Heathcote & Ivory who’s style embraces the world of interior design and the great British outdoors, simply making it part of everyday life. Every product is designed or formulated in London, and their collections are a confident mix of bright colours, floral patterns in both vintage and modern styles; with attention given to every detail - which is the distinctive hallmark of this brand. With spaces for your credit cards as well as the all-important passport, we can edit down those bulky travel companions of days gone by which end up needing extra overhead locker space once we have squeezed all the essentials in. This version is streamlined elegance which can happily nestle in your bag or suit pocket without screaming to the world ‘it’s in here somewhere!’

William Morris of course was one of the greatest figures of the Arts & Craft Movement and, should we choose to, we can be greeted with exceptional examples of his work and design philosophy at every turn, from houses that he designed, to the vast archive of wall coverings and fabrics which went inside them. Synonymous with a game changing time period in Victorian Britain, the work and values, which he pushed forward. All of which can be seen being reinvented and adapted to our modern way of life, thanks to the exciting path the Morris & Company team are following.

This little wallet represents so much more than just a pretty cover for our passport - it is a symbol of some of the best creativity in our design heritage. And whoever said that good design must cost the earth needs to eat their words, as at £24 or thereabouts, this is a steal! Available from here at Heathcote Ivory, or from stockists like John Lewis & Partners.

Christmas Candle Feature

As winter envelops us here in the UK, we all at The Amazing Blog, are looking to create that cosy warm hygge atmosphere. There is always something very special about lighting a heady and atmospheric candle. Not only the flickering light casting shadows but the gorgeous evocative aromas that help to create the right ambience. And we can't wait to share with you some of our  favourites candles to get you in the mood .

Breathing the scent of flowers when arriving home is the ideal way to start the evening. Sloane Home Topiary Garden with its fresh and floral notes help you create the peaceful atmosphere we are all craving for during those cold nights. The Sloane Home candles are all handmade, cooled, labelled and packaged. The Topiary Garden candle is made with mineral wax and beeswax, the top notes include apple and bergamot, the heart notes are juniper berries, patchouli, rose and jasmine and the base notes are vanilla, moss and ambergris. These ingredients make a modern, classic yet wonderfully scented candle. Purchase the Topiary Garden Candle  here for £32.00

When looking for a more luxurious and relaxing ambiance The Wakefulness candle by Aurelia Probiotic Skincare is our favourite. Specially crafted to energise and uplift your spirits this candle instantly install a sense of well-being in your home. The candle is made with a unique blend of oils including rose geranium oil, palmarosa, neroli and ylang-ylang oils. To complement the floral notes, the brand added grapefruit and mandarin to bring a fruity and fresher scent to the candle. The combination of these most relaxing and revitalising oils instantly put you in a peaceful and relaxing mindset. The candle is made from natural wax and is contained in an elegant ceramic vessel that perfectly complements your room décor.

Purchase the Wakefulness candle here for £55.

Strawberry Thief scented candle is a rich, earthy grounding candle made by Morris & Co’s. The candle is a rich and luxurious blend of scents including amber, sandalwood, patchouli, incense and vanilla, the heart notes include rose and violet, and the base notes are red berries, mandarin and bergamot. More than the delightful scent, what make us love this candle is the wintery and festive packaging it sports. The candle is contained in a colourful and printed glass with Morris & Co signature design and it  burns for up to 50 hours. Purchase the Strawberry and Thief candle here for £25.

In our opinion, Skandinavisk makes some of the most beautifully scented candles you can buy. We sampled their SKOG  candle which instantly transported us to a Scandinavian forest – in fact, Skog is Norwegian for forest.The Boreal forests cover half of Scandinavia. Unbroken, the forests stretch right from the far south to the arctic circle. The rich and natural scent of the pine candle is complemented by notes of subtle leather and lily of the valley. SKOG candle is hand-poured and made with 100% cotton wick. This candle is the perfect way to add a sophisticated festive and scandi feel to your home. Welcoming and warm, the mini candle will instantly transport you to somewhere a little more beautiful and peaceful. Purchase the Skandinavisk SKOG candles from Cotswold Trading here £15 for the mini candle (16 hours burning time) or here £29.99 for the regular candle (50 hours burning time) there is also a SPECIAL DISCOUNT of 10% at the time of publishing this feature - enter code CANDLE10 at checkout. 

Is there anything better than having a nice beauty sleep and a peaceful night after a long working day? Scentered candle after a year of research and creation created a therapeutic and most relaxing candle that they named Sleep Well. The name says it all; the candle is specially crafted to help you relax, calm your mind and uplift your spirit, thus helping you to have a good night sleep. Formulated with 100% natural ingredients including lavender, chamomile, palmarosa, Ho Wood, Geranium and Ylang Ylang this sophisticated candle combines all the soothing and therapeutic benefits of its components. Fragrance your room with these calming scent, relax and have a good night.You can purchase the Sleep Well candle here for £32.95.

Last but not least, and probably the most glamorous candle of all is the delicious new ‘Bacca’ scented candle from Ancienne Ambiance . This is a must-have when it comes to Christmas candles. ‘Bacca’ which is Latin for small ‘small round fruit’ perfectly describes the vibrant and fruity scent of redcurrants, blackcurrants and an array of freshly picked bursting berries in the candle. This candle is truly 'berrylicious' and has an excellent burning time or 60-65 hours, which from our experience has a scent lasts throughout. The beautiful and sophisticated scents of bursting berries were loved by the Romans, Etruscans and Greeks as they were thought to have medicinal properties. We just love the added bonus of this feel-good factor.

The candle comes beautifully packaged in hand-crafted luxurious gift boxes made in the UK, making them a perfect gift or a gorgeous mantelpiece. Each candle is hand poured in the UK using a unique slow burning natural wax blend and a lead free wick. We want one of these candles burning on our Christmas Day! Purchase the Ancienne Ambience ‘Bacca’ Candle here for £40.

Whether you are looking for just a gently scented relaxing candle, or a rich and luxurious fragrance to set the party scene; we certainly think you'll that find one of these here. 

Christmas Gift Ideas for Her

Every year during the festive season, we all face the same struggle asking ourselves the same question; what on earth do we give to our mothers, sisters and best girlfriends (yes girlfriends, we're expecting gifts from you too!) So this year at The Amazing Blog we've come up with a great collection of gifts ideas that we think will suit even your fussiest of friends.

The first gift idea we would like to share with you is from one of our favourite brands Heathcote & Ivory, we'd like to suggest their Heathcote and Ivory Sakura Silks Exquisite Spa Set. This set comes in a stunning and colourful hexagonal tin box - which we think will make a glamorous storage box afterwards. When lifting the lid a gorgeous floral and zesty aroma gently pervaded the office - we were in love! This gift set contains three products; a hand cream, bath salts and a body butter.  The hand cream is formulated with shea butter, vitamin E and panthenol, green tea, jasmine and cedarwood. Together these ingredients intensely nourish hands and cuticles leaving them velvety soft and delicously scented. The Sakura Silks bath salts are the perfect way to indulge and pamper your body at home and help create a luxurious and relaxing at home spa experience.  Finally, the body butter is a rich moisturising cream made with a unique blend of essential oils including lemon, lime and sweet orange. Shea butter and vitamin E are known for their hydrating and protecting properties smooth, soften and provide the extra-hydration skin needs during winter.  All of these products are paraben free. You can purchase the Heathcote & Ivory set here for £15.

We think that a fragrance or perfume is a nice treat when it comes to a Christmas gift. With this in mind, we'd like to suggest the newly launched Change perfume created by the actress Lisa Riley.  Inspired by celebrating a new chapter in her life, the Change perfume is a versatile and memorable fragrance which will suit almost everyone with its floral and oriental notes. The top notes are mandarin leaves and mulberry flowers while the middle notes are tuberose, orange flower and jasmine; and the base notes include sandalwood, Tonka bean and patchouli. These luxurious ingredients work to create and rich and sensual perfume that is timeless and transcends all seasons. You can purchase the perfume here for £14.99 + p&p.

 

We think that owning a beautiful silk scarf is an investment as well as  a classic item for every woman's wardrobe. So we've chosen one from Libby by Design, these are all limited edition handmade silk scarves. Each of these designer scarves are made in England, 100% silk, and hand finished with rolled borders. Every piece is unique, some even have themes from Rudyard Kipling, but all take their inspiration from in the style of Indonesian batiks. We have featured our favourite “How the leopard got his spots” which is a versatile 98cm silk square that can be worn in numerous ways. These scarves are the perfect accessory for brightening up either a heavy winter coat or worn as a sarong on a sandy Caribbean beach. Purchase your scarf here for £174 with SPECIAL OFFER of 15% off if you order before Christmas!

 

For another Christmas gift idea, we were rather taken with this Morris and Co design inspired lavish body gift set. One of our favourites of this year, is their Pure Morris The Collection, this includes a travel size shower cream and a body lotion, together with a full size hand cream. The shower cream is a gentle body wash that is formulated with vitamin A and E, kelp, silver birch and thistle extracts. These ingredients deeply cleanse the body while keeping skin balanced and hydrated. The body lotion is also infused with the same extracts, but in addition there is also almond oil and cocoa butter which help to soften and smooth the skin leaving it velvety soft. The hand cream is formulated with natural ingredients including shea butter, jojoba oil and macadamia oil making it a deeply nourishing cream to protect hands during the winter season. The products come in an intricately embossed tin. The Morris and Co Pure Morris gift set can be purchased here for £22.

 

For the glamourpuss in your life, we think that the Rouge Bunny Rouge Surprise Eye Shadow Palette will be an excellent choice. Rouge Bunny Rouge is a favourite here at TheAmazingBlog; this international make up brand always keep us up to speed with their new launches. So we were happy to learn about the Surprise Eye Shadow Palette which contains five long-lasting shimmery shadows including a highlighting shade, three smoky neutral tones and one frosted iridescent shimmer eye shadow. NB: This quintet of colours are a 'surprise' so we cannot show you the exact selection of colours (the image above is just the palette casing).  Lightweight, creamy touch offering an extended 8-hour wear, the eye shadow formula is made to stay put and to look freshly applied all day long. All refill shades are made to fit perfectly into this Limited Edition. The palette also comes with a free decorated presentation box which makes it an even more impressive present. Purchase here for €50.00.

We hope we're provided some good inspiration for gifting your loved ones, as well as yourself of course! 

Candle Feature - Friday Favourites

We at The Amazing Blog love nothing more than relaxing at home surrounded by wonderful aromas. There are all kinds of ways to achieve this, including diffusers, aromatherapy oils, and room sprays, but nothing is more satisfying than lighting a fresh candle. Now that we’re approaching spring, it’s time to switch to some new fresh, rejuvenating scented candles. Here’s a few of our favourites!

 

This Morris & Co. Golden Lily Scented Candle by Heathcote & Ivory is the perfect way to brighten up your home. The beautiful blue bespoke glass is patterned with a traditional floral Morris & Co. design that will look absolutely stunning on your bedside table. This gorgeous candle features notes of Tangerine, Cedarwood, and Bergamot, and will burn for up to 50 hours!

Pick up the delightfully citrusy candle here for £22.

 

Breathing in the scents of the Sperience Aromatherapy Candle Vitality by Germaine de Capuccini is a truly relaxing and soothing experience. Made with 100% pure essential oils, this candle is infused with scents of Mandarin, Nutmeg, Lime, and Lemon to create a full spa experience for up to 40 hours of burn time. The stylish frosted glass and box make it a perfect present for a loved one or a treat for yourself!

Revitalise the mind, body, and spirit with the Sperience Aromatherapy Candle Vitality here for £27.35.

 

The brand-new Cloudburst scented candle by La Montaña is reminiscent of the Spanish mountainside after a summer rainstorm. The dewy, fresh fragrance features notes of from herb gardens mingling with fresh citruses, along with the enticing scent of wild mountain fennel and rockrose. This gorgeous candle will burn for at least 40 hours, leaving your home smelling like mountain mist.

Close your eyes and let the scents of nature envelope you with the Cloudburst scented candle by La Montaña here for £35.

 

Want your home to smell luxurious? Then try Natural Soy Candle by ARK Skincare. British beauty brand ARK Skincare launches a new collection of luxury home fragrance products this month, designed to reflect the elegance and serenity of the ARK London Spa. A sensuous fragrance of sun-drenched Fig balanced with a breeze of sparkling citrus. Softly reveals a delicate heart of soothing Rose and calming Geranium to balance your mood for blissful tranquillity. The cocooning scent is harmonized with soothing base notes of earthy woods and warm Amber. The 100% Soy Wax Candle is hand poured in the UK and it can burn up to 50 hours.

 The heavenly scent of Fig, Geranium and Rose can be enjoyed even when unlit for £37, here.