Christmas special: Chocolate Collections.

Let’s be honest, Christmas isn’t really Christmas without a slight overindulgence. Here at The Amazing Blog we are not the type to turn down a piece or two (or three). We’ve searched for the most interesting brands and flavours, including Paxton, Chief Chocolate Officer, Helen’s Hamper , Urban Village and Stateside Treat Emporium. 

Paxton’s Christmas chocolate collection has a mix of 4 delicious and unique festive flavours. These are white chocolate, sage & cranberry, Milk chocolate, orange & Cardamom, Milk chocolate, Orange & Panettone and Dark chocolate, Orange & Ginger. The medium box, which we received, has 12 giant button-like shapes, the sleek metal design alongside the mature flavours makes it extremely sophisticated. These sizes are perfect for a table top to snack on and the interesting flavours means you don’t have too many at one time. They also come in a small size which is 6 pieces and a large version of 24 pieces.

The medium box makes a perfect gift or to keep for yourself, it is £15 available here.

There’s not much better than wine and chocolate, however sometimes it can be hard to find the perfect slice for your favourite glass. Chief Chocolate Officer have got you covered. They have created a selection of chocolates that match specific grapes used to make wine. The individual flavours like Fig, Smoke & Pink Peppermint are matched accordingly, the other flavours included are Liquorice & Rose, Blueberry, Vanilla & Black Peppercorn, Coffee, Cherry & Cacao, Pear and Elderflower and Toffee & Orange. The chocolate is made in England and the box includes all the information for the perfect pairing of the chocolate and wine.

You can purchase these here for £15.95.

If you’re looking for a variety of chocolates for that wow factor, Helen’s Hampers are the place to go. They create amazing hampers from afternoon tea to corporate gifts which can all be personalised to your chocolate taste and with pictures. Our Hamper was the Christmas Chocolate hamper, including chocolate truffles, shards, bars, a lolly and champagne truffles. The different brands within the box made sure the chocolate was very varied, with milk, white and dark chocolate of all varieties included. Our favourites were the rocky road bar and the salted caramel shards! The simple black box is decorated with bright red ribbon elegantly festive and sure to put a giant smile on the lucky receiver’s face.

The Chocolate hamper can be purchased here for £50.

Combining beautiful designs and exciting flavours, Urban Village Chocolates are deliciously simple and yet extremely hard to refuse. We received their single-origin tasting collection, a sweet selection of hearts imprinted with pretty, modern designs, we also received the large (think giant, giant buttons) buttons, all with different patterns and a mixture of dark and milk chocolate. As well as a pack of 4 of the best-selling, award winning champagne chocolates, these luxury gold circle treats are rich and super tasty. All three a packaged in clear plastic with white labels embossed with gold writing.

They are all handcrafted in St Margaret’s, Twickenham, you can buy the single origin collection here for £11.95.

Last but not least we were grateful to receive a variety of chocolate treats from the company Stateside Treat Emporium, when these treats arrived it was a happy day in the office as we were all impressed with how good these chocolates tastes when they touch your lips. What we loved about these chocolates overall and were really impressed by the brand was the variety of flavours, some were unusual flavours that we would of never selected together but they work really well and the team were pleasantly surprised with how delicious they were such as their signature range which  includes  Maple Bacon Pancake Chocolate Bar. Another chocolate treat that really stood out for us and we all loved the design was the Popcorn Lolly, it is mixed with Belgium milk and white chocolate and the popcorn flavour is toffee it tasted like heaven the chocolate melts into your mouth and tastes really delightful and didn’t give you the sickly feeling after indulging to much.

Explore the word of American inspired treats, and you can grab the maple chocolate bar here for £1.60 and the popcorn lolly here for £1.90.

Protein Ice Cream - Wheyhey

At The Amazing Blog we believe the key to leading a fulfilling life is balance. However, what if we told you that you could have the best of both worlds when it comes to satisfying your sweet cravings?

Presenting to you Wheyhey’s Protein Ice Cream, a healthier alternative to traditional ice cream with 20g of protein and less than 1g of sugar in each serving! You can now enjoy the creamy, sweet goodness of ice cream, with less guilt and the benefits of added protein. Available in Vanilla, Banoffee, Strawberry and Chocolate, it is easy to treat yourself no matter what flavour you yearn for. As self-confessed chocoholics, our personal favourite was Chocolate, but we’d be happy to tuck into any of the four flavours. 

You can try a Wheyhey Protein Ice Cream variety pack of three 500mL tubs here for £18. 

The Sweet Club

Do you have a sweet tooth? We at The Amazing Blog sure do, and we aren’t ashamed to admit it. Subscription services like The Sweet Club are perfect for people who can’t get enough of sweets.

The Sweet Box delivers a selection of 8 different packs of sweets to your door on a monthly or fortnightly basis. They have hundreds of sweets for you to choose from, so you can select all of your favourites! And don’t worry, you can change your selection every shipment if you want different sweets in every box. They even offer readymade selections if you want them to pick out your sweets for you. If your friends and family love sweets, this is the perfect way to surprise them with a mouthwatering gift.

For £9.95 every month or £8.25 every fortnight you will receive approximately 800 grams of your favourite sweets. Check out their website here to subscribe!

Brownie Boxes - Bad Brownie

Here at The Amazing Blog we are self-confessed chocoholics. We love anything chocolatey, and we really cannot get enough of it. So you can imagine our delight when a big box from Bad Brownie arrived at our office. Within seconds there was not a single crumb left.

We were sent the chefs selection box. This box included 24 heavenly brownie bites, which should be enough to eat between 5-8 people (although we could have one box each), and has a selection of 6 different mouth-watering flavours. They keep changing their specials and the brownies you may get are usually all different, but no need to worry! they are all delicious and the box will always include the three most popular flavours: Salted Caramel, Triple Chocolate and Peanut butter. Bad Brownie use fairtrade chocolate and free range eggs to make sure everyone benefits from their brownies. They also produce a gluten free ingredient salted caramel brownie which tastes identical to the standard one. This Salted Caramel brownie, apart from being their best seller, it was also our favourite. We loved the crumble and caramel combination, irresistible! 

Satisfy your sweet tooth and treat yourself to these brownies for £25 here.

Friday Favourites - Face Masks

Facials are a great way to relax at the end of a long week; here at The Amazing Blog, we are firm believers in taking the time out to pamper ourselves. Stress and fatigue have a profound effect on the condition of our skin, so we have found the perfect range of masks for every purpose and skin type.

Firstly we have Earth Kiss Face Masks that come in both Mud Mask and Bamboo Sheet form, each catering to a different skin problem. This is perfect for those who want to try out ‘multi-masking’, a new beauty craze that is taking over beauty blogs and vlogs.

The mud masks are ideal for those with oily/acne prone skin, while the sheets are designed for those with dull/dry skin. We mix and match our masks depending on what our skin is craving. Earth Kiss products are 100% natural and energised with Himalayan Shalijit, a rare form of powerful mineralised organic matter that contains 85 different plant micronutrients - plently for keeping your skin in tip top condition. If you want to release your inner beauty naturally, then purchase your own mask here for only £1.99 each.

It isn’t often you can find a mask with anti-ageing technology, but Timeless Truth have created BEE Bio Cellulose Bee Venom and Royal Jelly Miracle Mask.

The combination of the Bee Venom and “elixir of youth” Royal Jelly is nature’s alternative to Botox. These active ingredients work by stimulating collagen production to tighten the skin and reduce the appearance of wrinkles. If that isn’t enough, the bee venom contains Melittin, a compound with anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties, which gives the mask all of the great qualities of an anti-ageing serum. If you want great results in the most relaxing way possible, get your BEE mask here for £7.90 each or £38.50 for 5.

If you are looking for a mask that smells and looks good enough to eat, Christopher Courtney’s Anti-Oxidant Chocolate Facial Therapy mask is a must have.

The mask is packed with anti-oxidant rich Cocoa, Peptides, Vitamins, Plant Cell Extracts, Bio-Botanicals and Pure Essentials. But it has the added indulgence of real chocolate truffles for all the chocolate lovers out there. The treatment is designed to stimulate cell renewal, smooth the skin and boost moisture levels for healthy and radiant skin. It is suitable for all skin types, even sensitive skin, as the product avoids harsh chemicals, synthetic colours/flavours, and mineral oils. We love this mask as it not only feels luxurious but has the most incredible scent of rich melted chocolate. Get your own decadent chocolate mask here for £43.95.

Last, but certainly not least, Beaut Boutique have brought us a Black Clay and Licorice Mask.

Too many clay masks leave our skin feeling dry and sensitive, whereas this one blends natural organic Australian Clay with Licorice Root Extract. These ingredients first detox, then brighten and tone the skin leaving it feeling clean and looking radiant. We loved the rich and creamy consistency of the mask, it glides effortlessly onto the skin like a thick moisturiser. After an evening relaxing with this soothing mask on you feel revitalised and your skin looks radiant, if you want to try it out yourself order it here for £18.