Stocking Filler Fixers...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas fellow mice! The countdown is on and I for one can't bloody wait! 

In the Robbo Mouse household, Christmas starts when the tree is up! Laden with tartan ribbons, wooden carved hearts and stars, decorations we made when we were teeny tiny mice and that all important fairy in pride of place watching over us all. Something a little like this...

Well until that tree goes up, we'll have to start the festivities with a spot of present buying. Our gift traditions on Christmas Day always go the same way ... we all emerge from our childhood bedrooms, blurry eyed at around 10ish in our matching Xmas PJs (new ones purchased every year). We hang our stockings the night before so they're ready and waiting for us to snatch up the next morning. We then pile onto the foot of our dad's bed and take it in turns to open one gift at a time! Although I absolutely adore the tradition of stocking gifts, I do also find them the most difficult presents to buy. We have a strict budget of £20 so the knack of it is to splurge on one or two treats and fill the rest of the stocking with cheap and cheerful goodies like a Malteaser Reindeer or chocolate coins and not forgetting the obligatory clementine in the toe of your stocking along with a few shelled nuts! 

In the spirit of Christmas, I thought i'd share my top picks of the best stockings fillers around this year but before I do ... Hong Kong Mouse and Mini Mouse avert your beady eyes NOW please as Father Christmas might or might not have got you some of the following!!! 

OK so starting with the cheapest first at £3.49 and then accelerating to blow the budget what-the-hell it's Christmas options...

Hope & Greenwood Salt Caramel Fudge - £3.49 - when it comes to sweet treats there's nothing quite like salted caramel laced goodies. When you pair that with crumbling met-in-your-mouth fudge you're onto a winner i'd say! 

Essie nail varnish - £7.99 - everyone needs fancy nails at Christmas and when it comes to colour-popping varnishes Essie fights a good fight. Keep it bright, cheerful and fabulous - that's our Mice motto!  

 

 

Coconut Melt - £10 - lip-smackingly good balm that taste as good as it smells!

The White Company Winter mini candle - £10 - the smell of Christmas ... cinnamon, clove and orange!

Le Couvent des Minimes Set - £10 - a French beauty brand i've recently been introduced to and am now slightly obsessed with! This cute little set boasts four of the brands botanical best sellers - cologne, shower gel, soap bar and hand healer. Each product smells deliciously fresh and quite frankly I can't believe you get so much for such an affordable price tag.

 

 

L'Occitane hand and feet duo - £16 - quite possibly THE best hand and feet shea butter moisturiser a gal can own. This limited edition set is made for

Christmas stockings plus the perfect handbag size!

 

La Montana Winter Oranges candle - £35 - continuing the orange theme, this time a tad snazzier - Valencia oranges with cinnamon, clove and some red apple thrown in for good measure! Divine...

 

 

Melvita shower gel - £14 - and Bio Extraordinary Oil - £27.50 - nutty and luxurious this duo offers the perfect in-shower / after-shower silky soft skin solution...

 

And top of the Christmas pops is L'Occitane's Arlesienne Eau de Toilette - £39 - and the matching shower cream - £14 - maybe a tad expensive for a stocking filler but hey ho ho ho we just had to include because both smell so sensationally good!

Killer Christmas Advent Calendars...

So I promised last week not to speak of Christmas until we at least hit December, that was until we came across these beauties and decided we would forgo a kiss under the mistletoe with Ryan Gosling to get our mitts on one of these! Therefore we felt it was only fair to share such discoveries and break our golden promise...we're referring to fabulous Advent Calendars of course!!! 

Last year we were on the hunt for HK Mouse's calendar a week before December and EVERYTHING was sold out! We could have punted for one of those cardboard numbers with only a seasonal picture behind each window but in all honesty it's the treats we're after isn't it?!?

In the end we bought 24 handmade felt stockings and crammed them full of beauty and chocolate surprises...pictures of bells and candy canes just weren't going to cut it for our Mouse! SO...this year we've being super duper organised and are well ahead of the game! In turn, that means research is complete and we can let you all in on the shortlist of what's out there...get in there quick though, as believe us they won't hang around....!

YOU Beauty Advent Calendar, £49.95 - packed full of £240 worth of beauty products you'll be leaping out of bed each day to discover what's in store for you next...Benefit, Essie, Liz Earle, Glam Glow...the list is endless!!

L'Occitane 13 Pampering Treats from Provence, £62 - celebrating the Provence tradition of 13 desserts on the festive table with 13 pampering treats from the beautiful L'Occtaine! 

The Ginvent Calendar, £114.95, behind each door sits a 3ml bottle of a different type of gin...market leaders, up and coming brands and hard to find gems! Fear not, if gin isn't for you there are all different tipples to choose from...Vodka to Rum to Premium Whisky and even Cognac!! Check out the full range here.

Jo Malone, £250 - every girl's dream of the most perfect pre-Christmas countdown - a Jo Malone perfume or mini body cream for 24 consecutive days!!!! I think we can safely keep on dreaming...!

Liberty Beauty Calendar, £149 - a gorgeous Liberty print advent calendar crammed full of a long list of premium beauty favourites - you'll have nothing left for Christmas list with the likes of NARS, Kiehls, REN and Diptyque all covered! 

I WANT ONE OF EACHHHH, however "I want" never gets as Daddy Mouse has drummed into us, so I'll be happy with whatever I get - even if it's just a picture of a robin in the snow! 

This Week The Mice Have Mostly Been...

Yes, yes it is!!! Friday my dear dear friend - I can say hand on heart that I have never been so glad to greet you! For Mini Mouse and I this week has been somewhat painful AKA f**king diabolical - our first week back to work after a blissful holiday in Barbados. Other than moaning and groaning every waking hour as reality sets in hard and fast, This Week The Mice Have Mostly Been...

Reminiscing about our perfect paradise getaway with two gorgeous friends of ours, V and Kitty...

We literally spent everyday worshipping the sun, relying on Pimms, gin and champagne to keep us suitably hydrated and eating as much delicious food as humanly possible! It really was a rip-roarer of a holiday with ALL of the trimmings...

Views sent from heaven...

Champagne at sunset...

Cricket - we didn't like it, we loved it...

Pimms O'clock for two weeks solid...

Coconuts galore...

Moisturising like a mad woman to keep our tans alive and kicking! Before heading off on holiday I stocked up on L'Occitane's lavish and ultra think body cream and treated myself to Clinique's moisture surge face cream in duty free. In the words on Pretty Woman - Big Mistake, Huge! I'm now in a spot of bother as on the one hand I proudly seem to be retaining a healthy peel-free tan whilst feeling as soft as a newly born pup BUT on the other hand i'm destined to turn into a poor piper trying to fund my newly found expensive moisturiser habits - #thirdworldproblems! 

Rubbing further salt in the post-holiday blues wound by attending an Hawaiian Tropic media event! But what better way to get over an ex holiday than dreaming of the next one waiting to sweep you off your feet! Sold and off we trotted to Shoreditch House on Wednesday for a night of secret garden summer themed fabulousness! We were greeted with scrummy cocktails...

Delectable mini burgers that Mini Mouse saw off in one...

Followed by a twirl in the summer centric photo booth, packed to the rafters with the best props money could buy... beach balls, sunnies, buckets and spades - you name it, they had it...

After we'd whipped around the garden having more than enough fun for a school night it was time to check out the Hawaiian Tropic goods which is why we were invited afterall! In all honestly I didn't expect to be as impressed as I was when I was taken through the new launches. My favourite has to be the Hawaiian Tropic Shimmer Effect sun lotion (RRP £13.99) - it does pretty much what it suggests... suntan lotion with a gorgeous golden shimmer effect. The only thing I could possibly moan about when it comes to a beach holiday is the first few days when you set foot on the beach with your pasty hasn't-seen-sunshine-for-yonks skin! Once the painful whiter than white Vampire-esque stage is over, you're left with the embarrassment of sunburnt patches in the most awkward and prominent of places - for me it's always my nose, upper lip, around my bikini edges and my feet... ouch and not in the least bit attractive! Anyway back to the point I was making, I reckon this is the secret weapon i've been waiting for - i'll be the envy of the whole beach! 

The new Silk Hydration Face SPF (RRP £11.99) was also pretty special. I hate wearing thick, heavy cream on my face in 30 degree heat - it clogs up your pores making you hotter and leaves you looking like a sweaty not-so-hot mess! This product promises to be lightweight, non-greasy and boasts nifty hydrating ribbons to keep your skin fully moisturised and the best part is, it smells of coconut! 

After a view more cocktails, we decided to hang up our buckets and spades and head home but not before being handed a goody bag close to bursting! That's me sorted for my next June holiday to Portugal! I can hardly wait already...

Which neatly brings me onto my parting words... over and out brown trout! Have a super weekend of R&R and see you back here refreshed and raring to go on Monday.

All our love,

The Mice xxx

L'Occitane Love...

You'll all be aware by now that us Mice are suckers for a good beauty product and especially when the brand in question is L'Occitane! It's February, it's cold and all we really need in out lifes right now is a glimmer of sunshine. Well I've only got a few weeks to wait until I'll be on holiday soaking up the real thing BUT until then it's all about looking after my skin and making myself the best version of me possible! Thanks to L'Occitane I've had a weekend full to the brim of pampering and I feel buffed, polished and raring to tackle the week ahead. So what did I indulge in...?  

First up the Ultra Soft Body Cream Duo - £42 for the set or £18 for one

Hot off the body butter shelf this month, we have the Ultra Soft Body Cream Duo. Back in the day (wow I sound ancient), I was a little obsessed with the Body Shop body butters but gone are those days thanks to this set of luxurious gorgeousness! With three scents to choose from - Rose Heart, Vanilla Bouquet and Zesty Lime - there's one for every occasion! My personal fav has to be the rose - rich, subtle and sweet just like me! 

Shea Nail & Cuticle Nourishing Oil - £12

Good things come in small packages, and that saying is certainly true when it comes to this little beauty secret! First thing to note is the nourishing shea oil fragrance - you know that indescribable scent of every baby's head? Well this is what it smells like - clean, sweet and delicate. Simply gorgeous!

It's also easy to apply and control with a brush tip end that allows you to get into every nail nook. The end result feels super nourishing and not in the least bit greasy. When it comes to nails, I'm one of those girls who feels naked without them painted so it's important to invest in a stellar product that keeps your nails continuously moisturised and looked after - this is that product ladies!

La Collection de Grasse - Neroli & Orchidee - £49

I feel very lucky as this beautiful fragrance isn't actually launching until March so I'm one of the first to try it! Boasting neroli essence from Tunisia and white orchid from Madagascar with notes of orange, peach and iris dancing through. Everything about this scent is elegant from the rose pink tint of the perfume itself to the dainty gold rope detailing wrapped around the nape of the bottle.   

Sit back and prepare to be mesmerised by this collection video...

Fabulous Oil - £29

 

Last but by no means least (I actually think this product is my favourite of the lot), I present the Fabulous Oil. The name of this product really tells you all you need to know. I first read about it whilst flicking through a copy of Grazia on my way to New York and I was sold in an instant - apparently all the Fashion Week models are using it as it gives skin that dewy hot to trot look. 

I can report that Grazia is indeed spot on. Additionally, if you're sick and tired of the recent bipolar weather we've been experiencing and your skin is suffering the effects of being battered by the wind and rain then this oil is the answer to all your problems. It really will have your skin smooth and silky soft in no time. It also smells the same as the nail nourishing oil above - just can't get enough of this baby!

This Week The Mice Have Mostly Been...

It's Friday!

And in Hong Kong, it's a sunny Friday, with a promise that we'll get a sunny weekend... the very best kind of Friday!
 

And after a week and a half of getting some serious sunshine, last weekend the London Mice landed back home with dazzling tans that they're now flaunting as much as humanly possible (not particularly easy when its drizzling and you're chained to your desk clearing emails though...poor little Mice).

Over in Hong Kong it's been another whirlwind week which makes for one pretty melty Mouse when it's also a week that the Very Hot Weather Warning is in force... (I love the HK Observatory and their crazed weather warnings).

So when we haven't been fighting the heat or the holiday blues, this week the Mice have mostly been...

Overhauling Our Workout Wear with a mammoth shopping spree on our current online obsession, StyleRunner. This week's return to Bikini Fit has made me take a good long look at my workout wardrobe and I wasn't thrilled with the greying, washed-out kit I found... So I've decided to up my game and am currently trying to edit my shopping basket down to something that won't drain my bank account. Tough when everything's so awesome!

Adidas by Stella McCartney Ultra Bright Shorts
£29

 

Running Bare Ikat Shorts
£20.30

 

Wildfox Dance With Somebody Sweater Top

£69.90

Beyond Yoga Long Racerback Cami
£43.50

Lucas High City Tank
£121.80 

Blissing out at the L'Occitane Spa on Hong Kong's Star Street. Earlier this week I popped over to this little bubble of bliss for a sparty with the Sassy girls! The full run down of our evening will be on Sassy very soon but let's just say there were cupcakes, almond macarons, Champagne and incredible massages all round...
 

 

 

At the end of the night we each left with a goody bag stuffed to the brim with goodies from the L'occitane slimming and toning line - the perfect kit to get me a bit more bikini ready for my holiday next month!

 

 

We're already huge L'Occitane fans. Each of us Mice are obsessed with the Shea Butter Handcream which smells incredible and leaves your hands super smooth. I've also lately fallen in love with the rest of the almond range of bath and body products. They smell good enough to eat and make my morning shower feel like a spa treatment. 

 

Almond Shower Oil

HK$195/ £17.50



 

 

Almond Shower Scrub

HK$165/ £14



 

 

 

Almond Milk Veil

HK$320/ £28

 

Striking a Pose for a little What the Frock?! photoshoot for a very exciting project I've been working with them on to celebrate the launch of their brand new website! All will be revealed soon, but here's a sneaky peek of a couple of the gorgeous pieces I wore for the shoot.

And now it's very, very nearly the weekend - yay! So we'll leave you with a little Friday inspiration...

Have a great weekend!

x

The Mice