Valentine's Day Gift Guide For Men

With Valentine's Day just around the corner and Christmas just passed, I thought I would share with you with some gift ideas in case your ideas may have dried up after the Christmas period!

Aftershave is always a hit and if your bae has been particularly good to you, Clive Christian has beautiful gift sets for men which includes three of their classic masculine fragrances. Clive Christian's rich heritage stems back to as late as Queen Victoria. The company only uses the best and precious ingredients, such as ylang-ylang and clary sage. The bottles are absolutely beautiful, very intricate and would look lovely in any fragrance collection. I particularly love the gold crown stopper, which the design of which was granted by Queen Victoria herself because she loved the fragrances herself.

Speaking of fragrances, who doesn't love the smell of coffee in the morning? I recently bought bae a Tassimo machine and he loves it! There are many different coffee gifts that you can get, such as an mocha pot, mugs, speciality coffees or even biscuit tins to go with your coffee! Evidently, if you're other half is a tea drinker then there are plenty of tea products to chose from!

Music and books are always a really great present, and often quite personal but also purse friendly. You can look at their spotify or their bookshelf for inspiration if you're not quite sure on what their tastes are in. If your other half has a record player, you're in for a winner! I always think records are a really lovely gift. 

Clothes, especially comfy clothes are always a win. I've seen some lovely Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and Hugo Boss jogging bottoms but you obviously don't have to spend that much money! Department stores like Debenhams and John Lewis always have lovely pieces and even Tesco has a good collection. 

And if you don't want to break the bank but want to buy something small but still nice - you just cannot go wrong with chocolate. There are a thousand different chocolate selections that you can choose from, and I can bet you that they will be right at the front of the supermarket for the next few weeks! 

I hope that helps a little when looking for big or small Valentine's day presents this year! I would love to hear what your ideas are for your other half or yourself this year! Thank you for reading.

Love, Gweni xxx

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This post is sponsored but all opinions are my own.

Favourite Beauty Tools

Aside from makeup brushes, I wanted to share with you some of my other makeup tools that I wouldn't be able to live without!  

False Lash Applicator Tweezers

I honestly have not got a clue how I was putting on false lashes before I started using these! My fingers feel so clumsy and fat in comparison and you cant really see where you're putting the falsies when your fingers are in the way. These tweezers from Nouveau Lashes are hands down my favourite tool. The fine point of the tweezers means that it's really easy to pick up the lashes and you can be very specific with where you're putting the lashes. They're very lightweight and easy to use. Could not recommend them enough!

Lash Curlers

This isn't one I use often (#trichotillomaniaproblems) but when I do have lashes I love using lash curlers! I usually use them before mascara and after the second layer. I find it helps hold the curl and makes your lashes look longer and your eyes look bigger. Definitely a staple in any collection.

Scissors

This is a bit of a weird one, but they come in handy so often! They're great for cutting your nails/toenails (grim, but still) but I also find them really good for trimming my eyebrows. Since growing them all back, they've decided to be ridiculously bushy but also grow in a couple of awkward directions. So my scissors really are a life saver, I usually end up trimming them once a week!

Pencil Sharpener

Probably an obvious one, but probably one of the most tools to have. Clearly, to get the most use out of your pencil products - you need to sharpen them. But I also like to sharpen my lip pencils pretty much every time I use them, I find it is much easier to use a sharpened pencil and looks cleaner on the lip!

Brush Cleaners

This is not technically anything anyone needs, you can definitely wash your brushes just as well without one. But as I have probably around 100 brushes now (don't judge), washing brushes can be a pretty long and tedious experience that dries out your hands. Having a brush cleaner really helps my hands not prune up! They're also pretty satisfying to use.

Dry Brush Cleaner

This is something that I have written about previously, and I am still very much in love with it. I love being able to wipe excess eye shadow off my brushes whilst transitioning between colours. I cannot begin to explain to you how clean my dressing gown is now! As someone who really enjoys doing eye shadow, this tool really is such a great addition to my makeup stash.

Thank you for reading! What are your favourite beauty tools?

Love, Gweni xxx 

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This post contains PR products but all opinions are my own. 

Should I quit blogging?

Since starting full time work in September, I have found it quite difficult to keep up my blogging game. Between working 50 hour weeks, fitting in exercise, washing, cleaning, cooking, social life, family life and seeing my boyfriend (who lives two hours away) - I don't seem to have much time left in the week. And even if I do have time left, the last thing I want to is sit at my laptop and write out a blogpost. 

I am also one of those people who needs a couple of hours to sit down with my laptop to write. I am not really one to just bash out a blogpost when I have 10 minutes spare. Perhaps if I did commute to work every day, I would find it a little easier to keep up the blogging, because I know I would want to use that dead time wisely. But unfortunately I spend an hour-ish a day walking to work instead! (No complaints from me though, it is definitely helping me keep off the desk weight). And even if I did find time to write in the day, I still have to put aside whole evenings to take photos. 

I really love blogging when I have time, but when I don't - it just feels like a chore. It stresses me out, I feel as though I should be blogging in any spare minute that I have - even though I know that's not possible. The fact that I haven't been posting regularly really grates on me and it's always in the back of my mind. It is a little exhausting to be honest. Obviously I know that I don't *have* to blog, but it's my baby! I've been blogging for three years now, why would I want that hard work to go to waste? 

So what am I going to do? Should I quit?

It's quite obvious that I can't keep up getting one to two posts out a week, it is just not sustainable. But I just can't give up blogging yet. I do genuinely enjoy blogging when I have time. I love going to events and meeting likeminded people, trying out products and writing my opinions and of course spreading awareness about trichotillomania. So no, I am not going to quit. 

Although it irritates the living hell out of me, I think I am going to have to accept that I am just going to post as and when I can. It kills me knowing that I won't have a regular routine and it's going to look really messy on the website, but I just don't think I have much of a choice. I want to keep it up and I guess this is the only way!

Secondly, I am not going to offer any more blogposts up in sole exchange for PR products. If a brand is willing to pay and the content fits, then I am up for doing that - otherwise it is just a waste of time. Most of the time the brand doesn't retweet or regram me and I just can't be bothered for that in my life anymore. So moving forward, I will continue to accept products in exchange for a photo on Instagram - if I actually want it - but there will be no more of that on the actual blog. 

Thirdly, I am just going to try and put less pressure on myself. I am going to change my mindset back to when I just blogged for fun. No more of feeling like I "need" to get a blogpost out for a brand, or for the sake of keeping the blog updated. There will be much more genuine excitement for writing and sharing my opinions with the interwebs. I no longer want blogging to feel like a chore. 

Moving forward, there will probably be less posts on the blog and they will be a little sporadic. But I will aim to keep up my Instagram, as it is a little less time consuming. Thanks for bearing with me and sorry for the clickbait name!

Love, Gweni xxx 

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