This year's birthday was bit of a different one (as touched upon here). The best possible gift would have been to see friends and family, but alas the covid-19 pandemic and lockdown cruelly shut that down. I mostly had cheques and vouchers this year which will come in useful for pending building works (once we can start the build...) I didn't want anyone to risk going to the post office or post box on my behalf, so set up an Amazon wish list this year which friends and family kindly ordered from. Some gifts are delayed due to lockdown snail mail so here's a small selection of what I opened on my birthday...
Can we please talk about how cute this tee is? I love a slogan tee and I love crisp, white t-shirts, so this ticked all my boxes! I have the small which is the smallest size they do, but at a glance, it does look quite big and like it will be more of a relaxed fit. Also available in other colours like black, pink, blue and grey (seriously tempted to order more in other colours!)
Fun fact: I've never tried any Clinique products before, but have always wanted to try products from their moisturizing range, so am pretty excited to try these out! My skin has been extra dry since lockdown (excessive hand washing no doubt the culprit here) so these moisturising products couldn't have come at a better time! I will do a separate review post on these products as Clinique isn't cheap and I don't know about you, but I'm interested to see if they're worth the money!
Aero Bubbles (the originals not the mint ones, blergh) are my absolute favourites. I could easily get through an entire sharing bag to myself so it takes some real restraint ;) I see the mint ones EVERYWHERE - in cinemas and at the shops - but rarely the plain ones. This bumper pack of - I kid you not - EIGHT BAGS will keep me going for a while. Maybe ;)
I have been using these planners for years and they are an absolute godsend when it comes to planning meals for the week ahead. One side has a seven day meal planner, the other, a shopping list. It also comes with cutesy fridge magnets so you can tear off the current week and stick it on the fridge along with your shopping list. This French feel Breton stripe planner is my favourite but they also have in several other designs here.
How cute is this pot plant?! I've always wanted an aloe plant for the kitchen as I watch a lot of cookery shows and I've seen how aloe plants can help with burns. All you do is a snap off a piece of the plant and use the gel to help soothe your burn.
The kit comes with pot, aloe plant, compost discs and googly eyes. All you need to do is re-hydrate the compost discs in water for 2 hours minimum or ideally overnight. These little discs soon expanded and once done, I cut them free of their netting and crumbled them into the pot, introducing the aloe plant. If you're bad with plants, this is a fairly hardy variety and only needs watering once a week (or so the accompanying manual tells me!).
Hotel Chocolat is one of my favourite places in town to go for a hot chocolate (it's just sad that you don't see many of their cafes around!) so I was interested to see if this product compared (especially at a rather pricey £9 price point!). Inside the pack are the most divine smelling chocolate flakes which you stir into hot milk (dairy or dairy-free, the choice is yours!). And yes, I can confirm that the at home version of their hot chocolate is every bit as special! I have the Hotel Chocolat classic hot chocolate but they also have other varieties like chilli chocolate (not my cup of tea!) and salted caramel.
The most hilarious cook book I've ever laid my eyes on! Open the book to a recipe and if you don't like any of the ingredients (or the meal itself), the book repeatedly uses the f word and will refer you to another page later in the book. I tried it out on Mr Curiouser and Curiouser and the book swore at him and referred him away to a basic chicken soup recipe! You can find more excerpts of the book here.
My lockdown gardening endeavours meant lots of things were gardening orientated this year! From catnip to grow for the cats, a garden kneeler to ease my yoga punished knees, and get this - a fig tree! Fresh figs are one of my favourite things. I just love them with mozzarella and prosciutto, either simply on the plate with freshly baked bread, or on pizza.
Fig reed diffuser
I have always loved candles (and still do!) but lately I've been OBSESSED with reed diffusers (which I think I made pretty clear here ha). I love how they can change up the feel of a room when you introduce a new scent. I love citrus fresh scents in the bathroom and kitchen, and something a little spicier and more unisex in the study. Fig is another fresh scent that I love which lends itself well to candles and reed diffusers. I cannot wait to open this up and get this bad boy started!
Links to everything are above in case there's anything you've seen that you would like to add to your own Amazon wishlist!
Which items are your favourites?
Some links in this article are affiliate links. While we earn a small commission for products purchased through these links, it doesn’t change the price you pay in any way, nor will it cost you to click through to view any of these items. Affiliate links help keep Curiouser and Curiouser running so we can continue to bring you free content. Thanks for continuing to support Curiouser and Curiouser! <3
Drink Tea, Read Books, Be Happy tee
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| Slogan tee |
Can we please talk about how cute this tee is? I love a slogan tee and I love crisp, white t-shirts, so this ticked all my boxes! I have the small which is the smallest size they do, but at a glance, it does look quite big and like it will be more of a relaxed fit. Also available in other colours like black, pink, blue and grey (seriously tempted to order more in other colours!)
Clinique products
 |
| Clinique products |
Fun fact: I've never tried any Clinique products before, but have always wanted to try products from their moisturizing range, so am pretty excited to try these out! My skin has been extra dry since lockdown (excessive hand washing no doubt the culprit here) so these moisturising products couldn't have come at a better time! I will do a separate review post on these products as Clinique isn't cheap and I don't know about you, but I'm interested to see if they're worth the money!
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| Clinique redness solutions |
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| Clinique moisture surge overnight mask |
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| Clinique dramatically different moisturizing lotion |
Bumper pack of Aero bubbles
 |
| Aero Bubbles |
Aero Bubbles (the originals not the mint ones, blergh) are my absolute favourites. I could easily get through an entire sharing bag to myself so it takes some real restraint ;) I see the mint ones EVERYWHERE - in cinemas and at the shops - but rarely the plain ones. This bumper pack of - I kid you not - EIGHT BAGS will keep me going for a while. Maybe ;)
Busy B weekly planner
 |
| Busy B meal planner |
I have been using these planners for years and they are an absolute godsend when it comes to planning meals for the week ahead. One side has a seven day meal planner, the other, a shopping list. It also comes with cutesy fridge magnets so you can tear off the current week and stick it on the fridge along with your shopping list. This French feel Breton stripe planner is my favourite but they also have in several other designs here.
Just saying aloe
How cute is this pot plant?! I've always wanted an aloe plant for the kitchen as I watch a lot of cookery shows and I've seen how aloe plants can help with burns. All you do is a snap off a piece of the plant and use the gel to help soothe your burn.
The kit comes with pot, aloe plant, compost discs and googly eyes. All you need to do is re-hydrate the compost discs in water for 2 hours minimum or ideally overnight. These little discs soon expanded and once done, I cut them free of their netting and crumbled them into the pot, introducing the aloe plant. If you're bad with plants, this is a fairly hardy variety and only needs watering once a week (or so the accompanying manual tells me!).
Hotel Chocolat hot chocolate
Hotel Chocolat is one of my favourite places in town to go for a hot chocolate (it's just sad that you don't see many of their cafes around!) so I was interested to see if this product compared (especially at a rather pricey £9 price point!). Inside the pack are the most divine smelling chocolate flakes which you stir into hot milk (dairy or dairy-free, the choice is yours!). And yes, I can confirm that the at home version of their hot chocolate is every bit as special! I have the Hotel Chocolat classic hot chocolate but they also have other varieties like chilli chocolate (not my cup of tea!) and salted caramel.
Sweary cook book
 |
| What the f should I make for dinner? |
The most hilarious cook book I've ever laid my eyes on! Open the book to a recipe and if you don't like any of the ingredients (or the meal itself), the book repeatedly uses the f word and will refer you to another page later in the book. I tried it out on Mr Curiouser and Curiouser and the book swore at him and referred him away to a basic chicken soup recipe! You can find more excerpts of the book here.
 |
| Carbonara recipe |
Gardening treats
My lockdown gardening endeavours meant lots of things were gardening orientated this year! From catnip to grow for the cats, a garden kneeler to ease my yoga punished knees, and get this - a fig tree! Fresh figs are one of my favourite things. I just love them with mozzarella and prosciutto, either simply on the plate with freshly baked bread, or on pizza.
 |
| Grow your own catnip |
Fig reed diffuser
 |
| Wax Lyrical exotic fig reed diffuser |
I have always loved candles (and still do!) but lately I've been OBSESSED with reed diffusers (which I think I made pretty clear here ha). I love how they can change up the feel of a room when you introduce a new scent. I love citrus fresh scents in the bathroom and kitchen, and something a little spicier and more unisex in the study. Fig is another fresh scent that I love which lends itself well to candles and reed diffusers. I cannot wait to open this up and get this bad boy started!
Links to everything are above in case there's anything you've seen that you would like to add to your own Amazon wishlist!
Which items are your favourites?
Some links in this article are affiliate links. While we earn a small commission for products purchased through these links, it doesn’t change the price you pay in any way, nor will it cost you to click through to view any of these items. Affiliate links help keep Curiouser and Curiouser running so we can continue to bring you free content. Thanks for continuing to support Curiouser and Curiouser! <3
