LAST MINUTE PRESENT IDEAS- GUYS!

Okay, I'll admit it! My personal organisation has completely gone to pot and I haven't managed to upload the whole of the 6 part series I'd put together on Christmas Gift Guides. Woops.. But it doesn't matter!!... I'm still buying presents and I know there is definitely going to be a few of you rushing out to grab them last minute bits and pieces. I have squashed all 5 posts into two mega posts all about last minute ideas!!!... Most of the ideas are available online and the majority of shops are still accepting orders to make it in time for the big day.

To start this monster off... Is the GUYS!!!.... Here I've put together some goodies that are under the £10 mark, some that are a bit more expensive, but won't break the bank in the 'Under £50' category and then the truly luxury gifts for the most importance people in your life with the 'Over £50' selection. Guys are incredibly hard to buy for!! You can't just grab a new piece of makeup or splash out on clothes- In order to get some nice pieces for the men... you need to think out the box!
 

It's without a doubt hard to find decent presents for Under £10, but, they are there- you just need to do a bit more digging. After searching the internet  I found these 4 cute, funny and yummy presents perfect for stocking fillers and secret Santa. 

• To start it off is my favourite out of the 4 (top left), and it’s perfect for the slightly older men in your life. The‘Imperial War Museum Duo Gift Set’ is classically packaged and the set contains a flannel and a bottle of relaxing bath foam. You can get it from  Marks and Spencers for only £4 after being reduced down from £8.

• Next up on the top right is a stationary piece from John Lewis. Stockings are the perfect place to hide the novelty gift- so this would be spot on!!.. This ‘pipe pen’ has the appearance of a pipe yet when you take the end off a pen is revealed. Now you can really play the pompous writer role.  Plus, it’s only £5- Cheap at chips!

• On the bottom left is a classic… The Anti-bullshit spray!! You can get these sprays absolutely everywhere and they’re perfect for those tight budgeted secret Santa’s.  If you pick out the works joker or if you know someone who talks a load of nonsense, then this is a funny little joke to get everyone laughing. Amazon does it for only £4.35!

• And finally on the right is Debenhams giant retro sweets. We all loved to stuff our faces with gummy snakes, cola bottle and gummy bears when we were younger…. And Debenhams have taken this childhood favourite and blown it up to about 20 times the size. This is great for all ages, because everyone loves sweets! You can get your hands on these in stores or online for £6.50.

So the next category is the Under £50. This mid range set of presents are perfect for your Brother, Dad, Grandad, Cousin- Anyone! They're not too expensive and they'll be brilliant as an add on to a bigger present, or by themselves for a lovely gift.

• On the top left is a must have for Xmas- underwear! This lovely 3 pack is the Chelsea Peers Cotton Boxers. I picked these ones because boxers can get so boring.. The lads don't have nearly as much choice as women when it comes to underwear. So if you're going to get someone some as a present, you may as well get nice ones. These are only £12.99 from TK Maxx. They're way under the £50 mark- yet they look designer!

• The top right shows the Big Red Beard Kit. This gorgeous beard grooming kit is sold by a little Etsy shop called BigRedBeardCombs. The kit includes 2 beard combs (different styles) and a signature beard oil. The main thing that caught my eye about this present, is the packaging- It's smart, quirky and just really crisp. You can pick this up on their Etsy website for just £29.11).

• The bottom left pick isn't just for the blokes! The Thug Kitchen Cookbook has a range of manly, hearty recipes with non of the fancy nonsense of gourmet food. This is  brilliant for any food lover- and I wouldn't mind getting it myself! (Available from Firebox for £14.99)

• And the last of the collection is Audiology's Portable Phone Charger in Black. This is sold by Urban Outfitters for only £20- Which is peanuts for the convenience of constantly having a charged phone. If you have an Iphone like myself, you'll understand the struggles of it always dying on you in the most inconvenient of places- This little gift will stop that ever happening again!

 And last but not least in this humongous collection of last minute guys present is the Over £50 collection. When it comes to my boyfriend, I find it very difficult to reign myself in on the present buying front..and I could easily buy all of these for him! But, we have to have a little bit of restrain when it comes to Christmas- So I'll pass these ones on to you lot!!

 These 3 gifts are smart, stylish and just all round cool!

• On the left is the Sony SmartWatch 2 SW2, Android Wear, Black Silicon Wristband. Although this watch may not be for everyone, I personally however think it is smart enough to be worn like a proper watch and the technology of it is just down right fancy. If you have someone techy, and geeky that you need to buy a last minute present for- this could be the perfect gift. You can get it from PC World for £129- A very reasonable price for such a cool piece of kit!

• I'm a massive fan of mens leather bags- I think they're understated yet incredibly smart and they just look amazing on. In the middle is one of my favourite finds- John Lewis' Made in Italy Messenger Bag. It's priced at £89 which is very reasonable with it being Italian Leather. Its simple design is timeless and this is a good crack at a man bag!

• Finally, is a present for everyone. Whether you're into photography or not.. Everyone would like to have a whirl on this toy. On the right is the Impossible Refurbished '80's Style Polaroid 600 Camera and Film Set. This gift looks really cool, it takes classic Polaroids and is the perfect companion to capture all of the best memories of the new year! It's available from Urban Outfitters for £160. 

 I hope this quick run through of the best last minute presents will deem useful when you're stuck for that perfect present! I've shown you the cheap presents that are out there as well as the ones that you can really splash out on!

Check out the post that started all this gift guide madness off!! The Girls- Under £10! and keep you're eyes peeled for the rest of the last minute gift ideas for girls!- It'll be up tomorrow- I promise.

Have a festive weekend.

-Ioana x

Christmas Gift Guide- The Girls! (Under £10)

So, the festive season is in full swing and it's prime Christmas shopping time: the shops are getting busier, the alcohol is flowing more freely and it's getting very nippy outside. I've decided to bring you a 6 part blog series on Christmas Gift Guides for all you people who just want some ideas before you end up running around like headless chickens at 9pm on Christmas Eve.

To start off it the Under £10 category- This is perfect for stocking fillers, for your friends that you don't want to spend that much on or for an add-on to someones main presents.

On the top left is: Santa Bauble Ankle Socks- These cute little socks are festive and are only £5 from John Lewis. They come in other designs but the Santa ones are my favourite!
On the top right is: Burt's Bees Honey Pot Collection. This special little gift set is an absolute bargain at £8 from Marks and Spencers. Burt's Bees as a brand is amazing and very luxurious. In this set you get two different smells of lip balm and a hand cream. A cute little gift, and it's presented lovely.
On the bottom left is: Candy Cane Nail Polish from Urban Outfitters and this little beauty will only set you back £6. What's more festive than having candy cane nails?!
And finally on the bottom right is: Topshops lip bullet pyramid in the shade 'Get Me Bodied'. Dark berry lips are all in at the moment and this matte shade is extremely flattering paired with minimal makeup and it doesn't dry you lips out- Perfect! Plus, its only £5!

I love these few cheap bits, and I hope you do too

Keep and eye out for Under £50, Over £50 and all this for the guys too!!!

-Ioana x

Black Friday Madness

 Hello!

One question that perfectly sums up this post: Is Black Friday really worth it?!. So after all the hype from adverts, shops and companies about big black Friday discounts me and my boyfriend decided we'd stick it out till midnight- despite it being a school night and us both being shattered. Don't get me wrong we're not materialistic or any of lables that're placed upon you if you remotely hint at the idea of a 'BFB' (Black Friday Bargain) but we have a pretty extensive list of some of the more expensive home items and if we could get them any cheaper- Why not!

However, when we finally got to the sites we wanted to check out at 12:01 we were met with broken pages, timed out pages and pages that just weren't working. Even worse, for Curry's we ended up queueing for 1 hour!! before we even got to mooch on the website. We has stupidly miss-read the Argos website and mistaken a midnight launch for a 1am launch. Eventually we got onto Curry's and had lasted till 1am to see the Argos sales and for both we were largely dissapointed! All that was available was everything we didn't need and even though the big lables said 'SAVING £200' we still found that the figures didnt seem much better.

All this, paired with watching the news this morning to see the extend that people go to in order to get a cheap TV was shocking and did in fact make me question why the hell are we even taking part in Black Friday?! 1. It's an America event (do we really need to follow their footsteps in anymore stupid traditions- no!) and 2. How materialistic is it to be fighting, hair pulling and pushing for discounted electricals when people are starving and dying in third world countries- it made me feel bad thinking about it.

Depsite this however you can't help but quench your curiosity and when we in fact went back on it at a much more sensible time and in a more engaged metal state we found a lovely "discounted" fridge/ freezer (even if it wasn't actually discounted it's still lovely and would still be willing to pay the price).

I think we should think before depriving ourselves of sleep and putting ourselves and others in harms way for such a consumerist event, because it's madness and there are far more important matters in the world than if we didnt get a cheap TV.

What are your thoughts on Black Friday?!

-Ioana x

My Christmas Jumper Wishlist

Hi!
So, in the words of Bing Crosby (and many others) 'it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas' and that means we can put our trees up, the days are bitterly cold and we can eat until we pop (my favourite). This post however is going to be on Christmas jumpers and the best around this year- for guys and gals! As shocking as this is, I have never had a Christmas jumper (that I can remember) I was thankfully never forced to wear an itchy, handknitted jumper that got dragged out every year- I escaped that torture. But now that the likes of Marks and Sparks and Next have jumped on the bangwagon I can't walk through a shop without wanting to buy them all. So here is a list of my favourites! if I hint enough, and a certain important person sees this, I might get treated to one this year.

Grab yourself a hot drink, put your favourite Christmas jumper and snuggle down to watch a good old Christmas movie!

Enjoy.

-Ioana x

• Top Left: Man DIY Knitted Christmas Jumper Red- £22.99 (Missguided) This jumper is not only cute and fashionable you can also have fun dressing up your own gingerbread man. 

• Top Right: Urban Renewal Vintage Surplus Christmas Deer Sweatshirt in White- £38 (Urban Outfitters).
• Bottom Left: Snowman Christmas Jumper- £28 (Marks and Spencers)
• Bottom Right: BDG Penguin Jumper- £42 (Urban Outfitters)

• Top Left: Cream Holly Print Christmas Jumper- £19.99 (New Look)
• Top Right: Premier Man Christmas Jumper- £20 (Jacamo)
• Bottom Left: Navy Snowman Scene Christmas Jumper- £30 (Topman)
  
• Bottom Right: Goodsouls Mens Stag Christmas Jumper (K & Co)

-       

My Tea Obsession!

Hey Everyone! 

So...This is my second post in what I hope will be a collection of many- considering I don't get bogged down with work and forgot to write (but fingers crossed that doesn't happen!). Anyways,  I come today with a new post all about how I am completely and utterly obsessed with all types of tea!

•  Twinings Pomegranate Green Tea- £1.69 (Tesco)
• Higher Living Cinnamon Tea- £1.99 (Holland and Barretts)
• Clippers Organic Indian Chai Tea- £1.90 (Clippers)
• Twinings Mango & Strawberry Tea- £1.49 (Tesco)
• Clippers Green tea with Lemon- £1.29 (Tesco)
• Yogi Tea Christmas Collection- £3.99 (Holland and Barretts)

Every time I go into a supermarket or even better some snobby, health food shop I find myself instantly going to the tea isle. There's nothing better than a good brew to snuggle down with, when you're reading your favourite book (mine being Marge Piercy's 'Woman on the Edge of Time' at the moment!) Not only this but tea has so many amazing properties that are great for your health- for example- Green Tea is one of the best drinks you can choose to drink as it has been proven that it can help burn fat, quicken up your metabolism and even reduce the chance of getting alzheimer's when you're a little old granny/ grandad- amazing right?! And if you don't like the herby taste that green tea has why not try one of Twinings twists on the original flavour with exciting hints of mango or lemon. (they're super yummy- especially with a bit of honey!) One I've recently discovered is Healthy Living's Cinnamon Tea... Its worth a buy for the smell of the tea bag alone.  So why not broaden your tea horizons and try something new and exciting!- Perhaps chocolate tea?! 

  Enjoy!

 

-Ioana  x 

 <a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/13233883/?claim=53yq2sb9g9d">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Happiness is writing

 

Whether it's writing a birthday card to someone or settling down to tackle a few thousand word essay, there's something extremely comforting about writing- letting the words flow from your mind in a continuous babble of nonsense. So because of my frankly pretentious attraction to sitting with a mug of green tea and writing about my most frequent DIY projects, new fashion trends, books I've been reading and lot's more; I've decided to start up this blog! I want this to be a place to vent, to tell you what makes me happy, and what things make me sad. 

My little pot of nonsense. 

- Ioana  x