Christmas Gift Guide for Her

Depending on the reader’s gender, buying gifts for women is either easy peasy or the challenge of the year. Arguably stereotypical, but in my experience, chaps do seem to find buying gifts more difficult for the women in their lives. Would you agree?

So here we are again, to make some fabulous suggestions based on what’s caught our eye and we hope that at least some make it to your Christmas list to Santa this year.

Vemel Skin Care 

Prices start at £34 from Vemel

A new brand for me, and has quickly become a firm favourite product is Vemel’s waterless skincare range. As a previously dedicated buyer of the annual M&S beauty advent calendar, it’s fair to say I do like beauty products, so opening the beautifully packaged Vemel box to three of my favourites was a delight.

The range was designed by two parents who needed a solution for their son’s eczema, but they eventually created a whole range of waterless skincare, products that provide an antidote to the chemical overload that we all experience in our daily lives.

First off the packaging is recycled and recyclable, and is 100% plastic free, and a really lovely presentation box to open. But the actual product packaging was more impressive – it was full; none of the deceptive domed bottom bottles that hide the fact there’s very little product. In these Vemel tubs you get a great deal of product, and it’s certified vegan too. There’s no additional chemicals to make them smell pretty, it feels all natural.

I have combination skin with particularly oily and particularly dry skin patches, so finding facial skincare that works for me can be a challenge. As a result I tend to use a simple light moisturiser along with a dry skin cream for the areas of dry, but I’m delighted to report that I found this trio really works well. 

First of all, the organic Active Radiance Serum (30ml –  £38) – I use this daily on the dryer areas, as soon as I’ve cleansed my skin to lock in the moisture . If I don’t do this I can feel my dry skin contracting within seconds. The serum provides long-lasting nourishment and is said to repair, renew and protect the skin, and helps to reduce signs of ageing. That ticks all my boxes right there! It can be used as a topical serum, a daily moisturiser, and as a lip gloss. The bottle is handy, there’s no pump which means no wasted product and no unnecessary packaging. Love that. You just place your finger over the neck of the bottle, tip upside down for a second and dab where you need it.

The Daily Moisturising Face Butter (50ml – £34) is vitamin rich and absorbs quickly on the face. I love that it boosts collagen levels and that it leaves me with healthy looking, glowing skin without any residue or shine. The butter is firm in the tub and you’re given a small wooden spatula to get it out, but I find a firm finger is enough, and even with my dry skin, I don’t need much. In fact I can see this lasting a long long time. The butter soaked in incredibly well over the top of the serum. The combination patchiness that I’m prone to was very much kept in check, with no dryness and no oily feeling. I’m considerably impressed.

The Wonder Balm (60ml – £35) – is a powerful organic blend for skin emergencies such as ultra dry skin and eczema, so wonderful for me and my dry skin areas. It’s not part of my daily routine but it has made it to my handbag as an essential item as it’s handy to have close by, especially being out and about with the children in the cold autumn weather. It’s perfect for protecting little cheeks and lips from the elements. 

It can also calm bites, nettle stings and nappy rash, can be used on minor sun burns, cuts, scars and bruises. Perfect.

Ted Baker Opulent Blossom Vanity Set

£25 from Boots

This is a beautiful gift idea. I’ve always loved vintage style vanity cases, but these days we tend to throw everything in a holdall and then fail to find what we’re looking for. But Ted Baker have brought us this lovely vanity case that can be carried in the hand and make you feel Audrey Hepburn sauntering out of Tiffany’s, or because of its shape and size; not too big nor too small, it can be packed in a case to take globetrotting, or just a weekend away, and it’ll look faaabulous darling in the bathroom.

It comes with full size body wash, body spray, mini body conditioner and an indulgent bath fizzer to ensure you’re always pampered, it’s fashioned with a modern design, yet with a hint of that iconic 1960’s era of impeccable style.

White Glo Accelerator Kit

£30 from Boots

Olverum Luxury Bath Oil

£35 for 125ml from Olverum Also available from Liberty and Fenwick.

Memory Box Frames 

£40.00 but 10% off with code MUMSCLUB from Boom Creations

These are a wonderful idea, from two mums in business who have redesigned the idea of a picture frame into a memory frame; incorporating tangible memories with photos. Think of a beautifully presented, wall mounted scrap book, use it to keep memories of key dates; weddings, birthdays, holidays etc.

You have a range of themes from which to choose a design that best illustrates the occasion. They have an acrylic window pane for safety (as apposed to glass) and a quality, painted pine frame that incorporates a slot along the top edge that allows you to literally drop your memories in. You memories may be birthday or wedding champagne corks, messages from wedding guests, baby shower cards, festival tickets… all those items that we all shove in a draw, not wanting to throw away, can now be kept alive, and safe, in this unique gift.

And don’t worry, at any time you can retrieve them from the back to take a walk down memory lane.

Prices are £40.00 but 10% off with code MUMSCLUB

Beeswax Food Wrap 

£13.50 (with code MUMSCLUB) from Boom Creations

O’Keefes Working Hands Gift Set

£12 from Boots

A tub of O’Keefe’s Working Hands now lives on my bedside cabinet.  Many of my mum friends have dry hands, it seems to be a complaint we all share. It’s likely down to the washing up, cleaning chemicals, and not wearing rubber gloves – it seems that those 10 seconds it takes to put rubber gloves on, it just too long! Some of us have manual jobs and hobbies, we are often outdoors, we might engage in DIY crafts, as well as living in an age of anti-bacterial lotions, which I always find are very drying on the skin. Put all these factors together and we all seem to have permanent dry skin.

I find that if I don’t cream my hands at bedtime, my hands feel tight and uncomfortable. There have been times in my life before O’Keefe’s that I’d have chapped skin on my palms especially during winter, but a layer of this keeps my hands hydrated and permanently soft, and it only takes one application to make a difference, even to very chapped and sore skin.

It’s not a light cream, it is for working hands so it is a substantial cream, and it can leave your skin feeling sticky which is why I like it at bedtime so it has all night to soak in and do its job, which is does magnificently. I also have a tub in the kitchen so after washing up, I rub a tiny bit on.

This gift set it lovely because it covers your feet and lips too. You can massage your feet without having the oil getting on the carpet afterwards and the Lip Repair is hands down the best chapped lips relief available. Perfect for the handbag.

And there’s a 100% Money Back Guarantee if you are not fully satisfied with its performance. But you won’t need that.

WIN A CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE BUNDLE!

A bundle of gifts selected from all of our festive gift guides will be won by one lucky entrant.

For Her: Ted Baker Opulent Blossom Vanity Set worth £25 | White Glow Accelerator Kit worth £30 | For Him: iXpand Wireless Charger & Back Up worth £89.99 | Zippo Hand Warmer & Power Bank worth £39.99 | Dear Barber Shampoo Gift Set £17.95. For Teenagers: Beat That! Board Game worth £24.99 | Interaction Board Game worth £25 | Poké Ball Wireless speaker £24.99 | School Locker Decorating Bundle worth £21. For Pets: Ricochet Electronic Dog Toys worth £34.99.

Gifts for Her | Gifts for Him | Gifts for Teens | Gifts for Pets

Enter below and good luck to you.