Birthday Boxes on a Budget

Well the holidays are well and truly over and it’s getting into birthday season once more. This year I decided that since two of the most important birthdays come around in February (Sam, aka my best friend and my mum) that I would try something a little different.

I am on a major budget this year as I am not currently working and am also moving house in the next few weeks so I decided I would show I care by giving them each a few small presents. This idea quickly evolved into making up a basket hamper for each of them but when I saw the cutest gift boxes in a local card shop I decided a gift box hamper was the way to go.

I wanted it to feel a little like Christmas for them when opening their gift boxes so I layered the presents with some nice shredded tissue paper interspersed with birthday confetti.

This is what I got them both in the end.

Neil Gaiman - American Gods

My mum is a big reader so for the bottom layer of her box I got her a book which I have heard a lot of good things about. She is also a science fiction lover so this seemed perfect for her.

In the top layer to her box is Thornton’s chocolates, Assorted Fruit Soaps, Pink grapefruit shower gel, Pink grapefruit soap and Sweet lemon soap all from The Body Shop. My mum has very sensitive skin so I made an effort to get her very gentle products.

This is the finished product. I love the glittery box because it is so pretty and she will be able to keep it to store things in which is always a plus!

On to the second box!

The bottom layer of Sam’s box has a mini bottle of her favourite wine, and some sweets from back when we were young.

Every girl loves a nice bar of Galaxy.

For the third layer of this box there is a cute sparkly shoe key ring and a manicure kit both from Claires. There is also a Lipgloss from MUA in shade 4 and a Nail polish from MUA in shade 8. .

On the final layer of this box there is a Beauty UK Palette in the shade pastels, two Beauty UK Pearl Liquid Eyeliners in number 4 blue lagoon and number 6 purple haze.  

This is the finished product for Sam. Again a lovely box which can be reused.

I really hope they both like their gifts.

Soap and Glory Review

I have always been quite keen to try out some of the products from Soap and Glory as I seem to have heard nothing but good things about them from friends and family, so I was delighted when a got a bundle of products for Christmas this year. I have now been using them for a few weeks and I now feel I have been using then long enough to give a fair review. So here goes.

Hand Food from Soap and Glory

This smells so nice and feels very luxurious when using it. It is creamy and smooth going on to the hands and feels so moisturising. After a day or two of using this product I had no dry skin and even my nails felt stronger. For me this is one of the best hand creams out at the moment and I am definitely going to buy more when this one runs out.

Shower Puff from Soap and Glory

I desperately needed a new shower puff as my old one had gotten a bit loose and just old. This was a perfect replacement. As I unwrapped this at Christmas I remember smelling it and thinking it smelled amazing! I’m not sure if it was because it was amongst the rest of the Soap and Glory products but it was still nice none the less.

Flake Away Body Polish from Soap and Glory

I’m not a big user of body scrubs at all but I gave this one a go. As always it had that gorgeous pink smell and unlike some scrubs the grains were very tiny and not too harsh on my skin. If you like body scrubs this is a particularly good one but personally I would not buy it again just because I know I wouldn’t use it.

The Righteous Butter from Soap and Glory

This product is very nice, it is everything it claims to be. After a shower it feels amazing to cover myself in such a nice smelling body butter. It also mousturises skin without leaving it feeling oily. If I have one negative to say about this it’s that it does seem to take forever to massage into the skin.

Clean On Me Shower Gel from Soap and Glory

This is the last and also my favourite product in this review. This stuff is AMAZING! It smells sublime, it moisturises skin as it cleans and it feels like I’m being pampered as I use it. I love this shower gel and will be picking it up many times in the near future.