Sarah's Christmas Wish List

It’s the most wonderful time of the year here at The Amazing Blog and I for one am having a fantastic time putting together Christmas lists for myself and my loved ones. Aside from the mouth watering food, gift giving is my favourite part of the holiday season. I love the feeling that finding the perfect present brings, and the excitement of handing it over to be opened on Christmas Day! With this in mind, here’s my list of the best gifts for friends and family this Christmas.

As soon as I set eyes on Nanshy's beautiful make-up brush collection, they shot straight to the top of my Christmas list. My particular favourite was the Large Shader Brush. Densly packed bristles make it easy to pile on the pigment, giving the power to create effortless shadow looks. I’m a huge fan of a smoky eye, so I praise any tool that will make the job easier. The PETA approved brushes have super soft synthetic bristles that feel like heaven on your skin!  The brushes are available to buy here, along with the rest of the wonderful brush range, with the shader brush costing £5.95. They would make the perfect gift for any make-up lover this Christmas.

If make-up isn’t your cup of tea, then maybe skincare will be at the top of your list. Sensational skincare brand Spiezia Organics has a great range of products, and I think that skincare fanatics would be super pleased to see their Body Softening Oil tucked under the Christmas tree. The beautiful blend of almond oil, Mandarin and Geranium essential oils is certainly a great way to maintain velvety, glowing skin come Christmas Day. Spiezia Organics also recommends this as a massage oil, perfect for relaxing over the holiday break! You can buy the oil here for £23.95.

Less about under the Christmas tree, and more about the beauty buys amongst its branches. I love the recent trend for tree trinkets from well known beauty brands. Decorating your tree with all manner of beauty products seems like a wonderful idea to me, with the added bonus of a few little treats when it’s time for the tree to come down! As fragrance is always a fail-safe gift, one of my favourite decorative presents this year is this adorable selection of perfumes from Ted Baker. The collection of mini fragrances includes 960, W, Woman and K20. All the beautiful scents look delightful on the tree, and are great for popping in your handbag for freshening up on the go once Christmas is over. The Hanging Treats are available to buy here for £23.

Of course, chocolate is always a welcome treat come Christmas time, and The Chicken Shed offer a scrumptious range of raw chocolate treats, the perfect snack to peck at during the season of overindulgence. Organic, and with no added sugar (it’s sweetened with raw forest honey), it’s a healthy alternative to your Cadbury’s morsels, taking away a little of the Christmas guilt! The flavour we really loved was Persian Blue Salt; the perfect blend of sweet and salty, but I’d be delighted if the Double Orange flavour turned up in my Christmas stocking. You can buy the bars here for £3.25, or from their high street stockists here.   

Amisa Organic

We here at The Amazing Blog love to bake. We were a little skeptical about switching out our usual mixes for gluten-free ones, but thanks to Amisa Organic, our worries have disappeared!

Amisa Organic produces only gluten-free food. The company avoids using additives, preservatives and chemical pesticides. It believes everyone’s body is unique and needs the right kind of food to meet a person’s special dietary needs.

Have you ever thought about making your own bread? Amisa Gluten Free Seeded Bread mix makes baking super easy. It’s wheat free and full of crunchy, yummy seeds. 

Fancy pancakes for breakfast? Amisa Gluten Free Pancake mix with buckwheat and wholemeal rice flour tastes just as delicious as regular pancake mix and will be a perfect and healthy addition to your mornings.

If you’re looking for a healthier way to indulge in chocolatey desserts, the Chocolate Cake and Brownie mix both have rich, deep chocolate flavours. As a chocoholic myself, I was quite happy with the results.

With all of these mixes, you can't even tell you're eating something gluten-free. They are that good!

Each mix is easy to prepare with step-by-step recipes on the back of every box, so it’s time to step up your gluten-free game and start baking with these new mixes. You can view Amisa Organic's stockist list here.

Pana Chocolate

Everybody loves a sweet and simple treat every once and awhile, and we here at The Amazing Blog, are no exception. When we received samples from Pana Chocolate, we were enthusiastic to sink our teeth into the variety of unique qualities and flavours that this company has to offer.

Pana Chocolate may look like ordinary chocolate, but the taste and ingredients are far from the norm. When you take a bite, the treat becomes a soft delectable that melts in your mouth and provides an unexpected burst of flavour. Not only is the taste unique, but the ingredients and the way it is made makes Pana Chocolate truly one of a kind.

Pana Chocolate is handmade in Melbourne Australia. The company takes pride in the fact that their chocolate is raw, vegan and gluten free. It also has no dairy or soy, making it truly accessible to everyone. It includes an array of all-natural ingredients such as organic nuts, goji berries, coconut flakes and pure 100% essential oils. Unlike most chocolate, Pana Chocolate isn’t treated at high temperatures, and the organic contents give the chocolate a gooey and soft taste. Overall, this scrumptious treat is tasty, organic, all-natural and delicious. What could be better?

Pana Chocolate comes in a variety of flavours, from plain 80% cocoa bars to cinnamon and rose. The price of each bar varies from £6.50-8.50 and can be purchased at Nature Intended stores in the UK or through their website here.  

Seed and Bean - Sea Salt and Lime Chocolate

As is well known, we love chocolate here at The Amazing Blog so with that factor in mind we were extremely excited to receive a couple of bars from Seed and Bean. The organic, fair-trade company sent us their Cornish Sea Salt and Lime, Tangerine, Sicilian Hazelnut Fine Dark Chocolate, and Raspberry and Vanilla Creamy White Chocolate.

Needless to say the bars were gone from the office almost immediately. Everyone in the office loved each and every bar and we have been wishing for more ever since. Our current favorite is the Cornish Sea Salt and Lime, the flavour of the chocolate was light and refreshing while at the same time smooth and rich. The concept of sea salt and lime mixed with chocolate was not originally at the top of our list, but Seed and Bean changed our minds and our palettes completely. Having a bite of the organic bar can instantly transport you to Cornwall on holiday. The other flavours of the chocolate offered by the 100% Ethically Accredited company have interesting combinations that are sure to wow your taste buds, so if Sea Salt and Lime isn't your scene, Seed and Bean have something else sure to please.

Try out these delicious handmade in England chocolates here for prices ranging from 99p to £45.

A Guilt-Free Chocolate Beauty Routine

Although bathing in actual chocolate does sound quite inviting, it’s probably not great to do that to our skin and waistlines everyday. The Amazing Blog has found the next best thing to satisfy our chocolate needs, and that is Lush cosmetics chocolate range. Yes, all of these products are real skincare products and have actual benefits, whilst looking and smelling like our favourite sweet treat at the same time. Perfect! We tried the Soft Coeur Massage Bar, Cupcake Face Mask, and the Chocolate Whip Stick Lip Balm.

The Soft Coeur Massage Bar smelt heavenly. The shape of the bar makes it look lovely in the bathroom, we all love a good heart shaped gift. The shape also makes it a great present for the other half (hint). The core of the massage bar is soft and melts as you use it. As you get nearer to the centre, a chocolate and honey liquid oozes out and works with the shower or bath water to cleanse and moisturise your skin. It’s ideal if you need to unwind after a long day as I genuinely found my body relaxed and wasn’t too tense from stress after my bath. The cocoa butter, shea butter and almond oil infuse together to create a lovely massage bar with lots of benefits for your skin.

The cocoa powder used in the Cupcake facemask is also a product of the cocoa bean. This is combined with deep cleansing Rhassoul mud to absorb unwanted oil which can cause bad skin such as spot break outs.  I must admit, it was tempting to forget this mask was actually skincare and not a tub of melted chocolate, it smells like it would taste great. It’s probably best to avoid getting this mask in your hair so make sure it’s scraped back before applying. I used a fairly generous amount but didn’t ‘cake’ my face in it. As I was washing it off I could feel my pores were much cleaner so I felt less guilty adding moisturiser to my skin later on as it wasn’t already oily. It’s useful having the mask in a pot because it means less mess in between uses.

The Lush chocolate range has also created the Whip Stick Chocolate Lip Balm to give us a taste of sweetness with fewer calories. This balm contains dark chocolate and as we all know this is the most beneficial chocolate to consume, but it also has many skin improving qualities. To seal in all the natural moisture we have in our lips, Lush have used almond oil, shea butter, and oatmilk. The new formula is also completely free of preservatives, it just gets better… Applying this lip balm is no different from any other, but has many more benefits and fewer chemicals than lots of high street balms. It left my lips feeling soft and hydrated which is exactly what I needed in this weather.

All the products can be bought in store or online here. The Soft Coeur Massage Bar is £4.75 per 30g, the Cupcake Face Mask is £5.95 per 75g, and the Whip Stick is £5.75 per 8g.