Blagging Christmas: Deluxe Golden Tower Hamper

Product Number: 213
Price: £39.99
Where can I buy one: Hamper Gifts

It wouldn’t be Christmas without a hamper, so when this smashing tower arrived I knew I was a step closer to my goal of blagging the holiday. Containing eight layers of goodness the tower is a chocolately delight, as well as including a small dose of festive cheer in the form of a fruit cake and even a small little teddy bear.


The tower comprises of shoe boxes each getting smaller as they work their way up to the top. There’s a golden bow tying it all together and the whole thing is well packaged in a cardboard box with plenty of padding. On arrival there were no dents, or damage to any of the shoe boxes, giving you piece of mind if sending from the Hamper Gifts website, and still looking nice enough out of the box if you want to hand it directly to a loved one.

Working your way down the hamper the first layer contains a solo chocolate which in our case was a hazelnut chocolate in green wrapping. Coming in a nutty dark chocolate shell with a soft filling and a small hazelnut in the centre it was a delight. Shame there was only the one but there’s plenty more layers to enjoy.


The second layer contains three small Lindt chocolates with a dark, milk and white chocolate to sample. As usual for Lindt they have the melt in the mouth sickliness that you’ll be used to. There’s only three so don’t buy the tower expecting Lindt to be a prime component but they still represent a rather small dose of chocolate joy, so lets investigate further down…

As the boxes get bigger you’ll encounter seven chocolate caramels and twelve chocolate cherry truffles. Both are light without been overly sweet, and the caramel is quite hard so it won’t run all over the place, but that’s not to say it is too hard to chew either.

Layer five mixes things up a bit by throwing in Zentis Chocolate Marzipans, twelve in total. As with Lindt it’s nice to see a different brand slipping in to the tower, so you don’t come away with a feeling of eating a non name brand throughout. These long bars will satisfy anyone looking for something a little different and the marzipan has a nice sweet center.


Adding to the festive flavour is layer six complete with a free teddy bear and luxury fruit cake. The bear comes with poseable legs and arms, and a little bow tie. A cute addition really and something someone in the family will be able to enjoy no matter who you give the gift too. As for the cake it’s a good mix of cherries and sultanas, although it’s a little dry so cream or flaming alcohol is advised.

Reaching the bottom we hit a layer of sugar cookies and chocolate liquers. The cookies are a nice bit of padding and go well with a glass of milk whilst the liquers aren’t overly alcoholic and don’t ooze everywhere when you bite in to them so they’re perfect for sharing round the adults in the room.


The Deluxe Golden Tower is a good collection of different brands, tastes and styles. Whilst it doesn’t represent fantastic value, the presentation is well handled and the selection of offer should put you in any chocoholics good books for the next year and beyond.

Blagging Christmas: Cosmetics

Product Number: 210-212

Whether it be looking good or protecting yourself from the harsh cold there’s a need for cosmetics for both men and women in the harsh winter months. So to help aid those looking for some great cosmetics over the festive season here’s a couple I managed to blag.

Skin MD Natural: Shielding Lotion
It’s not very often we get something sent from the United States, in fact it’s never happened before, but when Skin MD got in touch to ask us to review their skin care range they were more than willing to send their goods half way across the Atlantic in to our hands for testing. Which on the one hand is a bit of an endorsement in itself, as they were willing to take the time and money to ship something that far.


So with full marks for effort it was only fair we gave the lotion a full test. Although I love Christmas I’ve never been a fan of the chapped hands that come with it. Especially given the amount I tap away at my keyboard I usually get chapped knuckles and have in the past given Johnson and Johnson and E45 Skin care products a regular lathering to help ease the redness.

By comparison the Skin MD Shielding Lotion isn’t quite as thick, and therefore lacks the same consistency as its peers. A little does however go a long way, and you still need to put on roughly the same amount as with E45 in order to see results. It just means you’ll have to rub it in a little bit more, and that you’ll have to make sure you don’t squeeze the bottle too hard or you’ll wind up with enough to cover your entire face, hands and body.


Whilst testing I found the lotion was quite effective at protecting my hands from the cold. As will all lotions of this type it washes off easily, which is a shame because any time you wash your hands under warm water you’re likely to find your knuckles chapping all over again. Unlike other lotions, the cream is quickly absorbed in to your skin, so at least you won’t feel the need to wash your hands just to remove any excess lotion.

As a side note the lotion also comes in small pocket sized pouches, which offer 3-5 applications each. Great if you want something to leave on your desk and apply throughout the day, bad if you actually want something you can carry in your pocket as once you open it there’s no way to reseal it.

For more on skin MD visit Skin MD Natural.com in the US or SMDN.co.uk in the UK.

Prescriptives Here to Stay
Buying cosmetics for your other half can always be a bit of a dangerous task. Buy the wrong colour and you face giving something she can never wear, or buy something too cheap and you run the risk of turning her face purple. Well maybe not, but at least with Prescriptives she’ll know you spent a fair bit (therefore taking it from impulse stocking filler to full blown present) and even if she hates the colour she’ll probably give it a go regardless. Kudos all around then.


In this case Prescriptives provided their 24 hour mascara which colour wise you can’t really go wrong with. It comes in a strong black colour, complete with the best looking applicator you’re every likely to see. A nice sleek tube it’s sure to earn your other half some kudos herself when she applies it at the Christmas do, or even meeting the inlaws for the first time.

To help her party all night long it’s supposed to last 24 hours, and as Marie found in her test this consisted of about 8 hours of flawless coverage and then 16 hours with the colour fading slightly across the time period. You’ll still look like you have Mascara on but it won’t be quite as good as the first 8 hours its on for. It’s also waterproof, giving you more chance of surviving the night and you can pop it over other mascara to make that waterproof too.

Here to Stay Mascara retails for around £16 and is available from all good cosmetics counters.

Prescriptives Better Off
Continuing the great naming convention is the Better Off makeup remover also from Prescriptives. Again it comes in a great bottle which will add value to your medicine counter even if you decide never to actually open it up. It’s quite a big bottle too and although we can’t predict how long it will last, it’s a similar consistency to other removers so you’re looking at a like for like life span.


Whilst it may seem an odd concept to pay for high end make up remover (after all you care about looking good with the makeup on , who really cares who sees you after?) the main benefit is that it lacks the greasy after feel of other removers so you’ll go to bed with your skin feeling fresh and revived. This isn’t a rule of thumb with all high end removers (Clinique’s remover especially feels greasy on application) but in this case you’ll feel the benefits.

Other than that it’s pretty much what you’d expect, but don’t forget gentlemen of the audience, that this is a prefect gift opportunity to tell your other half that you love what’s behind the makeup as much as what’s in front. And the kudos from that may last you till next Christmas.

Better Off Make Up Remover retails for £14 and is available from the same good cosmetics counters as the mascara.

Blagging Christmas: Food

Product Number: 208-209

As much as I hate the deluge of festive adverts reminding me, there is no doubt that “Christmas is coming” and it will be here before we know it. So to make my life easier I’ve decided this year to blag as much of my festive activity as I can. Whether that be cakes, presents, trees, or festive cheer it’s time to let my inner Blagman lose on the most festive of holidays: Christmas.


First up then comes the food, and in this article I’ll take you through a couple of food items that have found their way in to my home in the last couple of weeks. As any good festive celebration must begin with a nice big roast I decided to first examine the Chicago Professional Metallic Roasting Tray. Coming in large enough to fit what ASDA describe as two “large” chickens/ turkeys or beefs, - or one and a ton of roast potatoes - the tray is more than big enough to fit your festive grub.

What’s more it’s non stick too so you can plop your chicken on to it without worrying about spending hours scraping it off again later. This makes washing down the pan simple as well and you’ll get the whole thing clean in a matter of moments. Even if you do miss a bit of grease it will show up as a white splodge the next morning, which can easily and quickly be washed off.


The roast I used in my test turned out perfectly and although the pan initially seemed a little heavy it was easy enough to put in and out of the oven even when piled to the brim with food. All in all then a good piece of kit, and best of all it’ll save a few minutes of washing up, giving you more time to enjoy the Christmas Doctor Who (or your own TV show of choice!). You can pick one up at Headcook.co.uk.

And for desert you could always try one of these not too festive options from Mrs Beeton’s Rediscovered Cakes range. Well I say Mrs Beeton’s range, but supposedly the advertisers are referring to the same Mrs Beeton who published the “Book of Household Management” in 1861 so I’m going to assume someone picked the cakes out on her behalf.


In any case we received both chocolate orange and carrot cake slices and being natural choc-aholics we first opted for the former. With a gooey orange center and just a dash of dark chocolate the cakes scored top marks in our taste test. As you’d expect from something so sickly the cakes are almost a meal in themselves so be sure to save room for them as a mid afternoon snack.

My only cripe comes from the packaging. Unlike other brands which package the slices in separate plastic tubs, the two slices were lumped together in one long cardboard rectangle with a bit of plastic on top. This means that any shaking around on your way back to the shop, may mush the cakes together. Naturally my cakes arrived by post, and although the cakes themselves were still held together (barely a crumb fell off) the icing suffered on the carrot cakes, and was almost completely to the walls of the box. Which is an absolute dissapointment given that the icing really is the best bit.


Never the less, if you have a steady hand, and a few tastebuds at the ready then you can pick up the Mrs Beeton cake range at Tesco and Sainsburys. There’s also an ice cream range too, although we haven’t quite figured out a way to blag free ice cream through the post without it turning in to ice cream soup. Now that would be a Christmas miracle...

Onion Goggles

Product Number: 207
Where can I buy one: Head Cook.co.uk

I’ve covered a fair few interesting kitchen tools over the years such as the Alligator Onion Chopper, Mango Peeler and the Mini Max Mill. However none of those accessories have come with the added bonus of becoming a small fashion accessory in their own right. Onion Goggles on the other hand are designed not only to aid with a familiar task but also to make a fashion statement.


The reality of course is a pair of sunglasses that make you look like you’d be more in place skiing down the Alps, or playing squash, than you would chopping onions. The goggles are fashioned with a green tint around them, clear lenses and a white plastic frame to offset the whole thing. In addition to this there’s a fair bit of padding on the inside of the goggles, which is designed to keep out vapours from onions.

Because the padding is fairly soft it will squeeze and confine to the contours of various nose sizes so the goggles fit fairly snugly on most face shapes. By comparison the sides of the goggles which go over your ears are rather rigid and only have a little bit of give on either size. This restricts the heads that can wear the goggles and if you find you’ve got a head the shape of an onion then you may find the goggles are a little tight.


If you can fit the goggles over your head, and avoid the fashion faux pas of lime green then you will find yourself tear free whenever you go to chop onions. I’ve tried the goggles out on everything from traditional onions, to red onions to shallots and every time my eyes failed to shed a tear. That’s not to say that you won’t still smell the onion, and sometimes the smell itself may attempt to force a tear out of you, but without the vapour going in to your eyes you’ll be able to keep the tears at bay.

If for some reason you decide to leave the goggles on whilst standing over bubbling, steaming pans the goggles have the added bonus of including anti-fog lenses. This stops the goggles from steaming up and keeps you free to return to your onions.


So if you’re someone that finds chopping onions a nightmare this could be the solution. Give them a go and you never know, another kitchen chore may be made slightly easier.