It’s Chrrriiiissstttttmmmmassssss! Oh when the snowman brings the snow…

I’m sat in front of a fan as I write this because I live in London, so get that horrible stuffy heat. Ah, I remember ‘breeze’.

Anyway, you’re probably aware that it’s Christmas in July for brands and journalists.

They show off what they’ll have in the shops in December, and hope ‘we’ write about it. I’ve already visited and posted a blog about the major supermarkets, and I have House of Fraser, Liberty and Amazon to visit this week.

However, this blog post is all about some smaller brands. Ok, so this is how your Christmas in July day works. All around London, brands hire out venues, decorate them and the journalists spend the day travelling. However, as you know, it takes forever to get to anywhere in London and sure, first world problems, but you tend to get a bag with a thick book of products and samples you have to carry around. By the end of the day, you’ve walked 25,000 steps and am carrying 10 bags filled with prosecco.

Ok, so this is how your Christmas in July day works. All around London, brands hire out venues, decorate them and the journalists spend the day travelling around. However, as you probably know, it takes forever to get to anywhere in London (taxi or not) and sure, first world problems, but you tend to get a bag with a thick book of products and samples you have to carry around. By the end of the day, you’ve walked 25,000 steps and are carrying 10 bags filled with prosecco in the heat.

SO (I do have a point), this year a load of smaller brands got together and filled up this giant building in Bloomsbury.

These are my favourite.

Crabtree and Evelyn

I love Crabtree and Evelyn. I’ve always been a big fan of its hand creams. Because they’re a bit more expensive than your standard Body Shop ones for example, and because they’re never too sweet – they’ve always felt like something grown up rich ladies use. I like to pretend I’m grown up and rich – so its a perfect fit! haha.

I didn’t realise that they did candles (pricey but good candles are) and also food too.

 

 

Pleasecakes

Oh hello Pleasecakes. Just look at them. I don’t have the words do them justice.

I got to pick one to eat. For me, it was a toss-up between salted caramel (a safe choice!) or the Ferrero Roche.

I’ll never not choose Ferrero Roche! haha.

Rassin & Shen

If you’ve ever seen me in real life, you will know I like gigantic jewellery. I’m not really into subtleties in any aspect of my life – especially when it comes to what’s around my neck.

I spotted Rassin & Shen and instantly fell in love.

Ok, not only is it a long chain necklace (I have a thousand of those, but not as nice), but you can also rest your sunglasses on them to display them nicely, as well as have them on hand. I haven’t seen anything like it before – and they are achingly cool.

Espensen Spirit

It’s tempting sometimes to just go to your local supermarket to pick up your generic booze brands, but I do think supporting small businesses is not only better (for everyone), but makes a product gift-worthy.

A brand I really liked at the show was Epensen Spirit (and not just because they let me drink some of their vodkas!). You know how with flavoured spirits they can taste a bit ‘artificial’, well these were out of this world.

Also, the bottles were beautiful and something you’d want to keep and reuse long after you’ve drunk it all.

Niederegger

This is a ‘marmite’ one I know, but I ADORE marzipan – and especially Niederegger. See that three tiered serving tray filled with them? The lovely lady was like ‘take what you like!’.

But you know, because of decency – took two and now I’m kicking myself because they didn’t even last longer than the journey home.

 

Emma Bridgewater

My dream is to have an Emma Bridgewater collection – Christmas or otherwise. Something that makes her pieces a little more affordable is there is always some sort of sale on where you can get items up to 60% off (like, nice ones too). So keep an eye out for that.

 

Prezzy Box

I’m going to put my hands up here, I don’t get this unicorn malarky. Everyone seems to be obsessed and Prezzybox has very much taken advantage of that with some seriously cute items.

 

I don’t exactly know what you do with this light up coat hanger, but I know I want it.

Zooki

So you know how I’m desperately trying to be healthy, without dieting these days. Well, part of that has included supplements, but for me in particular, flax seed.

I have a giant bag of it I need to get through, and you know – it’s fine, but I struggle to eat it because it makes all my food taste worse.

Anyway… discovered a cool brand called Your Zooki at the show. You get all of your vitamins in a spoonful of smoothie.

You know when salespeople are like ‘trust me, this fish oil is going to taste like mango’ and you think, ‘It’s bloody not is it? And I’m going to have to smile while trying not to gag’. WELL – this DOES taste of peach and mango. There is no fish flavour.

Anyway, it seemed pretty magical to me and I have a bottle of the flax seed oil in my fridge. Check them out, as they’re perfect for kids too.

 

Tropika

If a product smells of coconut, is made with coconut, comes in a coconut – is coconut in any shape or form – I’m going to like it. So when I spotted Tropika, I got quite excited – naturally.

It makes skincare for the whole family and is produced sustainably in Malaysian village communities. I’ve got a bottle to try out which smells incredible and will let you know how I get on.

 

nspa and Andrew Barton

And finally, I visited the nspa and Andrew Barton (who is the loveliest man by the way) hair show that are new luxury products that are going to be in Asda soon. The skin-care is very clinique-esque and everything looked and smelled beautiful. I was told everything would be under a tenner.

 

 

 

 

So there you go. If you’re still reading this, give yourself a pat on the back, because there were a million pictures. I’ll post my next Christmas in July post next week and it will include Aldi – which has been my favourite show so far. See you then!