Mother's Day at The Amazing Blog

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Mother's Day is a celebration honoring motherhood - and also a chance to treat them to the best of the best. At The Amazing Blog we have hand selected a couple of sweet and thoughtful gifts to really show your mum how much you adore her. Every mum can be spoiled this Sunday with some small beauty gift sets or a nice afternoon enjoying some tea on the highest building overlooking London.

LUSHare a brand that we are huges fans of. They have made it easy for everyone to treat their mum with their delicate bubble bars and bath bombs. From the Mumkin Bubble Bar with a fruity, raspberry scent to a Secret Garden Bath Bomb that is infused with roses and wild oranges - there is something for everyone. LUSH Bubble Bars and Bath Bombs are freshly handmade and contains only the finest ingredients and essential oils to add that personal touch for your mother. The Mumkin Bubble Bar can be purchased at any LUSH store or online for £2.75. The Secret Garden Bath Bomb can also be purchase at any LUSH store or online for £2.50.

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Every mum loves their cup of tea to start out their morning so what could be better than treating your mum to Literary Teacup Charm Necklace. Have your mum start every morning with a smile on her face when she puts her Teacup Necklace on. This necklace is inspired by CS Lewis's famous quote, "you can't get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me". Along with the antique bronze tone charm necklace, you will also receive a personalized postcard with CS Lewis's quote to add a special touch behind this gift. You can buy the Literary Teacup Charm Necklace for £12 online.

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Give your mum the perfect gift set that will help her feel rejuvenated and enhance her complexion.Environ makes the perfect Mother's Day gift set that includes a range of products to treat your mum. These gift sets include AVST Vitamin A Antioxidant Facial Moisturiser, C-Quence Eye gel, C-Boost Vitamin C Clarifying Cream, Hydrating Exfoliant Masque, with a travel sized Cleanser, Toner, Hydrating Lotion and Body Oil. This gift set covers a whole range of necessities that your mum will be thrilled to receive. WithEnviron products being used in beauty salons and spas, you know your mum is getting treated well. You can purchase the Environ Mother's Day gift set for £113 online.

ark skincare

With ARK Skincare you can give your mum the gift of glowing youthful skin. After using the ARK Skincare set for a couple weeks now, this surely is the cream de la creme of skincare. The cleanser is light and you only need a drop or two of the serum to get the full effect. The moisturiser makes your skin feel smooth, leaving your skin fully hydrated. This set is the perfect solution that promotes radiance in mature skin. This age-refining set would be the perfect gift for your mum to redefine youth and let her shine with radiance. Surprise your mum with this gift set for only £64 online.

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Start your mum's day off right with something delicious to remind her how sweet she really is with Demarquettes Chocolates. These scrumptious chocolates are the perfect way to say thank you to your mum. Let her take a moment to herself and indulge in these divine pieces of homemade chocolates.  For Mothers Day, Demarquettes Chocolates offers a Cornish Sea Salted Carmel Chocolate box that is absolutely divine. The 12 beautifully hand painted chocolates that come in each box will make your mum feel completely spoiled.   You can purchase the delicious Cornish Sea Salt chocolate boxes on their website for £19.75.

flowers

Women love their flowers and Scilly Island Flowers have several unique bouquets that are sure to make any Mother's Day extra special. Take your mum by surprise with the gorgeous bouquet of flowers that smells as good as they look. These beautiful flowers could make your mum's day a whole lot brighter and keep her smiling for days. The seasonal bouquet of flowers is hand chosen by Scilly Island's farm florist, Steph. This specific bouquet of flowers have a different array of lily's, carnations, alstroemeria, and my personal favourite, chrysanthemums. Scilly Island Flowers has a variety of different bouquets specializing in Narcissi's. To purchase these flowers you can look at their options on-line or call them at 01720 422 169.

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Last month London's brand new tallest building, The Shard, opened up and they are now offering a great Mother's Day special. Treat your mum to a cup of tea and an afternoon with you, while enjoying the spectacular views of the city. Let your mom take a break from all she does 800 ft above the city that overlooks the incredible London skyline. With the staff being well informed, they can provide answers to any of your questions. After looking around on the 360 observation deck in The Shard, they take you to the Brigade Restaurant to enjoy an endless supply of delicious teas, scrumptious sandwiches, and end your day off with an outstanding array of cakes. You can enjoy this relaxing day with your mum and treat her to an afternoon she won't forget for only £99 - not like you can put a price on spending quality time with your mum.

Our Favourite Christmas Beauty Buys

With the holidays right around the corner, we at The Amazing Blog have found some great and unique products that can make the perfect gift ideas for yourself, family members, or even friends. This whole week we will be featuring different beauty, food, fashion, pet and home products that are great buys for this Christmas. Today, we'll show you our favourite beauty picks that we are sure you will love. From day creams to nail polishes, these gift ideas are great to complement any woman’s daily routine.

This Christmas, the fresh and handmade cosmetic brand LUSH, has launched limited edition products that would be the perfect grab bag gifts for any Christmas party. Due to the popularity of LUSH’s Snow Fairy shower gel they are releasing this giftbox where you can find products that smell sweet and girly, just like their signature Snow Fairy shower Gel. The gift includes Snow Fairy Shower Gel, Shimmy Shimmy Glitter Bar, and Angel’s Delight Soap bars. The Snow Fairy Shower Gel can be used in your hair or on your body. The pink colouring and sweet scent is a hit with women worldwide - a true classic. The Glitter Bar not only moisturizes, but also leaves a trace of sparkle wherever you run it over your body. The Angel’s Delight Soaps are bursting with colour and have a sweet, fruity smell. The box is wrapped in paper with silver ribbon and an angel ornament that can be reused on your Christmas tree. The giftboxes sell for £11.95 each or you can buy the products individually from LUSH’s website.

Why not recapture youth, with Lulu’s Time Bomb Glory Days Day Cream this Christmas. This day cream not only combats dull, dry skin, but unlike other day creams, it locks moisture in and transforms skin into a smooth, radiating surface. The blend is a combination of glucose, borage oils, and white flower oils that help re-energize cells and leave your skin looking plump and tight, making it the perfect day cream for the winter months. Skin will instantly look and feel younger. A 45ml container of the Time Bomb Glory Days Day Cream sells for £25.00 and can be purchased at QVC, Amazon, and select department stores including Fenwick and their website.

Whether you like jewelled tones, or darker shades of black, try STRANGEBEAUTIFUL’S array of nail polish colours for the Christmas and New Year. The selection of polishes is great for an elegant gift idea, particularly for someone who likes to display their make-up. After all, what could be better for a fashion concious friend than to have on show these stylish on-trend selection of A/W '12 colours. These colours are a blend of beauty, science, and design and have more pigment than an ordinary nail polish. Not only are the colours elegant, but the packaging is too. Ten polishes come in a pack so you can try every shade of any colour of your choice. The 220 strand brush helps guarantee an effortless and even application. Individually, the colours sell for £18.00, and can be found for purchase in Liberty.

Looking for a new signature scent this season? Amber Perfume from Laboratory Perfumes is one of two new fragrances with a pure and modern scent that is for both men and women. This fragrance is extremely complex and lingers on the skin long after application. The combination of this tree resin, Amber, mixed with other unique ingredients makes for a very special fragrance.  This strong scent was one of our favourites and is definitely distinguishable from all of the rest. The Amber scent consists of natural ingredients that remind us of the outdoors. The perfume can be purchased on Laboratory Perfumes’ website for £48. Laboratory Perfumes believes the home should smell as good as you, so they also have created an Amber 2 candle that sells for £35 on their website. The other fragrance included in this collection is their Gorse  Perfume (we wrote about this here). This perfume evokes a strange sense of place; from the English coast to the surrounding countryside it leaves a rich and warm finish to any surface.This perfume along with its candle can also be purchased on Laboratory Perfumes' website retailing at the same prices. These fragrances are truly exquisite. Their packaging even mocks the laboratory theme as they are packaged in simple brown cylindric tubes, while the candles are encased in beakers. This line of fragrances and candles would make perfect Christmas gifts this festive season.

 

Weleda has launched multiple Christmas Duo ‘Handbag’ Gift Sets. Containing a luxurious Creamy Body Wash, and a new natural Body Lotion, these gifts sets would make the perfect gifts! Each set offers two full (200ml) products that will renew and nourish your skin. They come in four different scents: Citrus, Sea Buckthorn, Wild Rose (our personal favourite!), and Pomegranate. The Citrus gift set retails for £20.90, the Sea Buckthorn set retails for £28.85, and the other two flavours retail for £28.90. Not only will this body wash/lotion make your skin feel amazing, but they are also packaged in adorable ‘handbag’ boxes.

Who can resist these choices?! Come back tomorrow to see our Food and Drinks picks...

Our Spooky Picks for this Halloween

This time of year is always crazy with the holidays quickly approaching and a bitter cold winter around the corner, but today is the one day of the year where you can dress in crazy costumes and acceptably eat as much candy as you desire. A day filled with spooky ghosts and blood-drinking vampires, Halloween is a fun treat for all to kickoff the start of the holiday season. To get into the Halloween spirit, we at The Amazing blog have found some fun themed goodies that will be sure to add some excitement to this unforgettable day of the year.

The American drinks brand, Royal Crown Cola, has launched a limited edition drink for this spooky holiday. The Dracola is a fizzy blood-red drink that is perfect for any Halloween party. Not only is the drink appropriately themed, but the label of the bottle is glow in the dark to give a twilight effect. You can get a 2 litre bottle of this “fang-tastic fizz” for only £1. You can even mix the drink with other delicious ingredients to create a Dracola ice-cream float or even to make a bowl of punch. The drink can be purchased at over 217 Asda stores throughout the UK.

Whether you’re celebrating Halloween or Mexico’s Day of the Dead, why not pick up one of Alhambra’s festive skull cushions. It is believed that the origins of Halloween trace back to the Celtic festival of Samhain. The Celts believed that the spirits of the dead would return at this time of celebration. Today, although the holiday is much more about wearing scary costumes to “ward off ghosts” than it is reflecting about the dead, these cushions are a fun way to decorate your home. Alhambra’s colourful skull cushions are inspired by this holiday as well as Mexico’s Day of the Dead. They have a range of designs to choose from. The cushion covers are £14.50 plus p&p and the stuffed pillows retail from £18.50. The cushions can be found at their website here.

One of our favourite beauty products from LUSH fresh handmade cosmetics is their Twilight shower gel. Having a mysterious lavender scent, this shower gel shimmers like the night sky while hydrating your skin. Packaged in a black bottle, this shower gel is meant to calm, relax, and sooth while taking you from day to night. Add this product to your bathing routine for only £4.25/100g from LUSH’s website.

A big part of Halloween is all of the fun treats sold in stores. We came across this cute bag of chocolates from Hotel Chocolat. The Little Bag of Horrors includes Zingy Zombie Eye Truffles, a chocolate ghost, and a Tiddly vampire. The Little Bag of Horrors retails for £6.50. You can purchase this spooky bag of chocolates from their website here. Hotel Chocolats also offers other Halloween related candy for purchase on their website. There’s nothing like a sweet treat to celebrate this day with.

Ever wanted to break out a pair of funky red pumps to wear on a night out on the town? Fury has launched a new pair of heels that would be the perfect accessory to any outfit including a fierce costume for that Halloween party you have coming up. Fury’s designs combine aggressive studs with a feminine shape for the ultimate trendy shoe. These shoes are scandalous and have a rock n’ roll feel to them. Fury’s red pump combines multiple runway trends from this season onto one shoe. From leather to studs to python print, these heels are guaranteed to turn heads. Fury’s new line starts at £275. They can be purchased at their website.

From head to toe be decked out for Halloween. Paperself eyelashes’ Rocky Punk Collection contains the perfect mix of a mysterious black appearance with real figurines that will spook anyone who takes a look at them. You can choose from the Scorpion: Fatal Attraction or the Spider: Mysterious Power. What a perfect way to accessorize your costume with these funky false eyelashes. They both are on sale now for £10.00 on the Paperself website here.

Why not deck yourselves and even your homes out this Halloween with our spooky picks. Happy Halloween!

LUSH Emotional Brilliance

At The Amazing Blog we love make-up and all things beauty related, of course. I, myself am a lipstick/lip stain junkie - and I'm constantly wanting to change the shade of my lipstick. Women tend to dress and wear their make-up depending on their mood or how they're feeling - and the clever folks at LUSH spotted the emotional ritual-ish side of getting ready for a woman, and they came up with their new collection of make-up "Emotional Brilliance".

The collection is less about wearing make-up that's in-season; it's all about wearing something made exclusively for you. To get your personalised colour reading, spin the Emotional Brilliance Colour Wheel in your nearest LUSH shop and choose the first three colours that come to mind. The colours you've chosen are linked to certain words, for example "confident", "take control" and "glamorous" - and these words are somehow related to your current state of mind thus, they're unique to you. LUSH plays with the power of suggestion - it's enough to believe in something in order to start feeling and behaving that way.

The range consists of Liquid Lips, Liquid Eyeliner and Cream Eyeshadows. We tried the Liquid Eyeliner which makes the perfect addition to an evening outfit -  not only does it catch the light but but the sumptuous gold shade we tried perfectly highlights eyes of all colours. The Emotional Brilliance products come all in clear glass bottles - as per usual, LUSH's packaging is recyclable except the little brush insert that you can re-use if you wish to.

LUSH's Emotional Brilliance launched the 21st July 2012 in all LUSH shops worldwide and online. Liquid Lips, Liquid Eyeliner and the Cream Shadows retail for £14.50 each. For shop details and mail order call 01202 668 545 or order online at LUSH's website.

Be my Valentine...

And so, Valentine’s Day has arrived and people around the world are spending the day celebrating all things love related. Candle-lit tables for two, flowers, chocolates and a multitude of gifts designed to celebrate your coupledom. However, with a large percentage of the population proud 'singletons', here at Amazing PR we’ve decided to give you some fabulous ideas to make the most of Valentine’s Day – whether you’re dressing to impress your significant other or spending a night alone with some indulgent treats.

Firstly, what better way to treat yourself than with a relaxing bath? Our current favourite bath product is the amazing Peace Bath Oil by Beatitude. The deeply relaxing blend contains the pure essential oils of Ylang Ylang, Mandarin, Petitgrain, Lavender and Cedarwood. All the Beatitude products are mixed by aromatherapist Rebecca O’Connor, contain no nasties and are not tested on animals. Unlike most bath oils that leave a greasy residue these luxurious oils disperse in running water to give gentle bubbles leaving your skin feeling silky smooth. Now all you need to do is pour yourself a large glass of Pinot, lie back and relax…

Although most intensive skincare products require overnight application, if you’re in need of a quick pick me up before a night out we’ve found a product you can use as an intense treatment to smooth and firm your skin’s appearance that doesn’t involve plastering your face in thick cream overnight. For the perfect last minute skin perk up we love Aromatherapy Associates Anti-Age Mask. Depending on how much time you have (we recommend putting it on before your bath and leaving it on for a minimum of an hour) the mask’s potent botanical extracts help to restore your skins moisture and give a dewy, healthy finish. The mask also helps protect against environmental damage, perfect for removing London public transport grime! Aromatherapy Associates have a wide range of products rich in essential oils and active botanical extracts formulated to enhance your natural radiance from the inside out.

The Amazing Blog crew are well known for our slight obsession with nails, and a manicure and polish is always an essential part of our pre-date or night out repertoire. This Valentine’s Day we have chosen Little Bu’s fantastic nail polishes. Although strictly designed for children we love the water-based, wash-off collection of nail polishes thanks to their chemical-free formula and candy colours which are perfect for spring. Little Bu are available from Harrods or online here.

Not wanting to forget our favourite type of treat - chocolate has long been associated with romantic gestures and no Valentine’s dinner would be complete without it. For those of you planning dinner at home tonight, why not surprise your guests with the most deliciously decadent dessert chocolates? Squisitezza, La Sagra’s unique chocolates made with seasonal ingredients, will make your evening simply exquisite. Made with high quality authentic ingredients, La Sagra was created over a ten year period living ‘La Dolce Vita’ in Rome. Available to buy in small, medium or large, you can order them from the website here, where you can also find their amazing spring collection. They also make the perfect accompaniment for after dinner coffee.

And finally, make your lips irresistibly kissable with this year’s most fashionable and romantic colour, ruby red. A Million Kisses is a special Valentine’s lip tint from Lush that has a delicious smell of roses thanks to its main ingredient of organic rose hip oil which will leave your lips glossy, hydrated and moisturised. Wearing this deep seductive colour is sure to attract admiring glances whatever your Valentine’s Day plans! Available to buy from the website here.