Escentual have put together some rather splendid gift guides in preparation for Christmas, categorising each one as a particular personality type, such as ‘the suited sophisticate’ and ‘the fashionista’. I wanted to get in on the gift guide action, so I have put together a series of delightful gifts for the perfume lovers in your life. They range from the budget to the blow-out, and cater for newbies and obsessives alike. Click here to head on over to Escentual to check out the gift guide for perfumistas.
Gift guide, gift guide, we all love a gift guide! Dear readers, I’m definitely working my way into this Christmas spirit quite heavily this year and I have been scouring the wondrous expanse that is the world wide web to identify some delightfully scented gifts that can; a) make excellent presents for your loved ones; or b) sit quite happily on your Christmas lists for aforementioned love ones to review, and hopefully take note. So far, we’ve had a look at some pretty awesome scented candles but we haven’t finished traversing the world of perfume gifts just yet, and we have more gift guides to go.
In this instalment I’m taking a look at some brilliant perfume gifts ranging from the cheerily affordable to the distinctly expensive, or as I like to call them the ‘Stocking Stuffers’ and the ‘Wallet Wreckers’. Hopefully there is something for every person and every budget here, whether you be tempted by an inexpensive novelty, a mid-range marvel or even if you intend to blow your budget completely to treat that special loved one to something out of this world. Failing all of that, you may just want to treat yourself. Why not, eh?
[Oh and P.S., do swing by for another gift guide in this week’s Escentual column in a few days time and again next week for our final guide, which will be focusing on quirky perfume gifts…]
That’s right, I’m about to drop a whole heap of Yuletide realness in your browsers. I apologise in advance, but at this time of year it’s simply jolly good fun to do a gift guide, and that’s exactly what I intend to do. Over the coming weeks you will be treated to four gift guides, starting with this one and ending with an installment in my Escentual column. I want to point you to a veritable cornucopia of scented awesomeness this Christmas with guides that look at affordable, wallet-destroying and quirky yuletide fragrances for the body and home.
We start today with scented candles and a confession: I blinking well love a fragranced candle. To me, there are few joys more pleasant than walking through the front door at home and being greeted by an intense wave of delightful fragrance, all of which emanates from one simple flame. In this guide you will find five scented candles, some from well-known brands and others from more subversive outfits, but all with The Candy Perfume Boy’s seal of approval. Each has excellent project and longevity, and will make a wonderful treat this Christmas.
So it’s finally Christmas eve and all across the world everyone is finishing their shopping and wrapping, and starting to enjoy the seasonal festivities. I know I certainly am! In the spirit of the season, I would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and an extremely joyful new year. 2014 has been such a whirlwind of a year and I wish you and your families the best of health for the new year.
The Candy Perfume Boy will be signing off until 29 December, when I shall return for ‘The Candies’ – my annual awards/year-end review that takes a look back at the very best, and the very worst in perfume over the year. Normal service will then resume again on 05 January 2015. In the meantime, do feel free to head on over to Escentual to read my latest post, which highlights some of the best bits in their sale. Escentual are currently offering 20.15% off everything on site (including Amouage!) with the code ESCENTUAL2015, so it’s worth a look!
Once again, from Nigel, Rupert, Paddington and I, here’s to the merriest of Christmases and the best of new years. See you soon…
In life, I take a ‘leave it all to the last minute and hope for the best’ approach. Organisation is not my strong suit, and it is most definitely true that I work best under pressure. It will serve as no surprise then, that I haven’t quite completed my Christmas shopping yet, and yes, I’m well aware that it is exactly one week until Santa pays his annual visit. What can I say? I’ve just been busy with other things.
To help myself, and those around me who are also last-minute sort-of-folk, I’ve prepped a ‘Last Minute Gift Guide’ for my Escentual column this week. In this guide you will find; handy stocking stuffers for him and her, mid-range marvels and even big ticket splurges that will wow your recipient, even if they do depress your bank balance slightly. So, if you’re still looking for that one last gift, or just fancy a treat for yourself after being so wonderfully generous to everyone else, click here to check out my last-minute Christmas gift guide.
In the hit song ‘Who Do You Think you Are?’, the wise prophet, Gerri Halliwell, once said “giving is good, as long as you’re getting”, and whilst this may not be entirely true, as it is always lovely to give gifts too (Christmas is all about giving, apparently), it would be a lie to say that receiving presents isn’t pretty awesome. In fact, I’m happy to admit that I’m a bit of a monster at Christmas and have been known to supply lists to my family, of things I would, much to their dismay, even though I have eased off over the last few years, in a vain attempt to be less of a brat. But still, one must think of themselves every now and then and it doesn’t hurt to have a strong idea of what it is that you want in life.
Anyway, I digress. Everyone is doing gift guides at the moment and I find them difficult because there is just so much out there to choose, and so many people to choose for, that putting together a comprehensive selection of what to buy for whom, is pretty much mind boggling for me. So, in lieu of an actual gift guide, and seeing as my favourite subject is myself (I kid, of course, kinda…), I present to you my personal wish list of fragrant treats for Christmas. Perhaps this will serve as inspiration for gifts you’re buying, or maybe it’ll just be an insight into just how much of a demanding little sod I am. Either way, I hope you enjoy my joyful gathering of scented gifts.
I’m finishing this week as I started with another Christmas post. For my Escentual column this week I thought about the colours of the festive season (red, green and gold) and perfumes that captured these hues in unique ways that were in keeping with the spirit of the yuletide season. These 6 perfumes represent all that is Christmas from the rouge of winter spices to the golden gleam of bejeweled gifts. Please click on the image above to read.
I’ll be back next week with one or two more reviews and the 2013 edition of ‘The Candies’ – my annual perfume awards.
Christmas is just round the corner. I mean it people, the 25th of December is just up the street, lurking down a dark alley with criminal intent and an evil glint in its eye. By now one should have completed the super-fun/awful task of Christmas shopping (I have and yes I’m smug about it) and will now be putting the final touches to the Christmas plans that one is so looking forward to.
With all of the traditions and festivities it is unsurprising that Christmas is an incredibly fragrant time of year. The abundance of yuletide food, church masses and changes in the season make for an incredible wealth of smells associated solely with the one celebration, and each year one looks forward to reliving those odours that make the season so darn ‘Christmassy’.
As I’m a lover of both scent and Christmas I thought it would be fun to put together some of my favourite yuletide smells alongside perfumes that manage to capture the essence of these odours. Here you’ll find smells of the season and fragrances that are evocative of such wonderful treats as gingerbread and mulled wine. Christmas smells (really good in fact) and on The Candy Perfume Boy this winter, it has never smelled better!
It’s that time of year where we all start to put together our Christmas wish lists for Santa, or as I like to call him – ‘Nigel’. Being the perfume nuts that we are means that beloved family and friends can sometimes struggle to pick fragrances out as gifts for us, after all we’re a selective (read: ‘picky’) bunch by nature and nobody would want us to open up a gift that we would deem as unsuitable on the big day.
To mitigate the chances of a botched perfume purchase at Christmas I supply a perfume wish list to my partner and my father every year. The other members of my family family flatly refuses to buy me any perfume, stating that I have “too much” and it’s “bordering on an obsession”. Who knows what they’re smoking, but I can always rely on my dad and Nigel (if he’s in a good mood) to pick something from my carefully selected list.
Christmas is round the corner, lurking dangerously in the shadows, poised to jump out and catch you unprepared at the very last minute. OK that may be somewhat of an over dramatisation (drama queen? Moi? Never!) but it is true that the number of shopping days before Christmas are rapidly depleting!
This week’s Escentual post is a Christmas Fragrance Gift Guide to help you make the most of the remaining shopping days and pick a wonderfully scented gift for your loved ones, whether they be party girls or boys, rebels or lovely parents. Please click on the image above to head on over to Escentual to read the guide, and don’t forget to leave me a comment saying what some of your favourite fragrant gifts are.
I have also contributed three items on my personal wish list for Escentual’s #EscentualWish campaign. Tweet @escentual with the link of the Escentual product you most want for Christmas with the hash tag #EscentualWish and you could be in with a chance of having your wish granted. Escentual will be granting one wish per day and you can read the full info (including my wishes) and T&Cs here.
The Candy Perfume Boy 