Christmas Gift-spiration for her | Under £10

Hello,
Hope you're well. Been turned into a big festivity-induced stress ball yet? My plan this year is to ignore that I have my own body weight in shopping yet to do and just enjoy the Christmas lights and the mulled wine!

I've put together another little gift guide for the "her"s in your life. Being a massive cheapskate £10 is usually my starting price for everyone at Christmas time, unless they've been extra good that year! I've got a lot of step/half relatives in my family who I don't actually know that well so I don't really like to be an extravagant spender. I'd rather save some of my pennies to spend on my mumma and papa!

£10 is a good starting price, you can often get a lot for your money and end up looking super generous. I think this "Be Mine Boxset" from The Gobstopper is a perfect example of that! You're getting a good deal for your money and give this to one of the kids in your family and you'll be popular all year round (although maybe not with their parents).

I thought this Owl purse/bag from Accesorize was a great steal for £10 too. Defnitely looks more important and really versatile so whoever you buy it for would definitely be able to find a use for it.

Again, I've had a little hunt for some independent creatives this Christmas. I absolutely love this camera lens necklace from The Pendant Garden. It's got a totally cute vintage feel to it which would go down well with your "too cool for their own good" friends!

Hope you find this useful. How are you getting on with your Xmas shopping? 

Be Mine Box, The Gob Stopper, £9.49 // "Shhh..." Coffee Mug, ChantillyStay, £6.27 // "I Like Big Books" Tote Bag, ExLibrisJournals, £9.39 // Camera Pendant, The Pendant Garden, £9.05 // Tartan Scarf, £10, Boohoo.com // Glitter Mini Set, Models Own, £8 // Owl Purse, Accesorize, £9

On my bookshelf - The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Helloooo,
I am notoriously crap at finishing books. Honestly, name any classic book ever written and my reply will always be "I read the first half...". I don't know what it is, maybe I just have a really short attention span. Whatever the reason, working in a book shop for two years sure was embarrassing when you haven't read any of the 'must-reads...'

Anyway, for my birthday a lovely friend bought me a copy of "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" by Mohsin Hamid. He claimed it was his favourite book and so he wanted me to read it (also I think my indignant 'I never finish books' stance was getting a bit annoying.) Well I finished this one! So here's a lil ol' review like thing

The Reluctant Fundamentalist - buy it online here (not reluctantly at all...)

The Plot
This was one of those nice wishy washy books that doesn't really have a plot - which I quite like. The story revolves around a Pakistani man named Changez. He moves to America for college and ends up working for a huge corporation. Whilst still in his youth, he falls in love with a girl called Erica who's battling her own demons. The book culminates at the 9/11 attacks, at which time Changez feels increasingly isolated from everyone especially Erica. All the big things he used to love about America seem stale and he becomes really disenchanted.

What I liked
The book is written as one half of a conversation. I'd never read a book like this before and it was a cool style to read in - made it feel like the author was guessing all the questions you might have. It also raised loads of really interesting questions for me about how we treat outsiders...

What I didn't like
Sometimes I felt like Changez was bit wallowy and it almost made it difficult to like him...but he does go through some tough stuff so it's justified!

Recommended? 
By me - Absolutely, espesh to anyone interested in politics and America...
By Waterstone's - 3.9/5
By Amazon - 4/5

Have you read this book? Or any others recently? Recommend me something below...

Review | Planet Spa Indulgence Mini Kit

Hiyaaaa,

So a little package arrived through my door a few days ago. It was a birthday present from my Auntie over in Portugal. Presents from her are often from Avon because she's one of their representatives. I'm more than happy about this because I lurrrrve Avon products - especially their make up range. I hadn't used many of their bath products or moisturisers before but I was pretty sure I was going to like it...

The kit included; Dead Sea Mineral & Caviar Refining Facial Treatment, African Shea Butter & Chocolate Truffle Silky Body Soufflé, Thailand Lotus Flower & Champagne Velvety Smooth Bath Elixir and Mediterranean Olive Oil Reviving Facial Gold Glow Gel. Very la di dah!

So by far my favourite product in the kit is the Refining Facial Treatment. It's a really thick and creamy moisturiser. I've been using it at night just before I go to bed because it's a bit to heavy to use as a day cream. I've been using it for about a week now and when I wake up my skin does feel really soft.

The next product in the box definitely fulfils my chocolate addiction. It smells just so amazing I can't even! I have to actually stop myself from eating it. I'm not 100% sure what a 'Body Soufflé' is but I've put some on my arms and legs and it made my skin really silky. Also the smell stays really well so you smell like chocolatey goodness all day.

When I first opened the kit I wasn't so sure about this 'Bath Elixir'. I'm not really a bath kind of person so I didn't think I'd really use it. But recently I've been a bit under the weather so suddenly a bath sounded like a lovely idea...Anyway ramble over, I poured a load of this in it and it smelled delicious! I thought this was going to be like a bubble bath but it only made a few bubbles which didn't last very long so I think it's more of an in-bath moisturiser. I used it with a SexBomb Bath Bomb from Lush for a lovely bathey combination!

The final little bottle in the box had 'Reviving Facial Gold Glow Gel'. I'm always soooo skeptical of facial glowing things because I always find they're just glittery and I end up looking like a fairy. This stuff is basically the same and is really glittery. It's nice and moisturising again but I don't really like the glittery-ness of it. Also, I'm not sure if it's meant to go on top of my make up or under it which confuses me too.

Overall, I really like the kit! It smells lovely (especially the chocolate one) and each of the products leaves your skin so soft and so refreshed. Really nice and definitely a good gift set idea!