stocking filler – Page 4 – The Review Studio

Connetix 120 Piece Creative Pack

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

This would have been my 5-year-old me dream toy! We had something similar in school that wasn’t magnetic but had creative pieces of coloured Perspex that fitted together and you can build endless imagination items. Connetix is aimed at children, but like all good toys, has taken on a life of its own and managed to infiltrate adult lifestyle. If you’re a fan of Lego, then you’ll love reading about Connetix, the 21^st Century version of the building blocks.

Connetix is aimed at children aged 3 and up. We were sent a 120 piece pastel pack that includes 7 different shapes, with at least 2 shapes of each colour. The food grade, non toxic pieces have strong magnets along each edge which allow the pieces to ‘stick’ to each other and build structures or shapes. The riveted corners make them extra safe for toddlers and children and the bevel design gives extra strength. That’s all great information for budding engineers, but what is it like to play with?

The enormous box arrived at my house by courier as it’s so heavy! Inside, the pieces are stacked carefully and kept together by their magnets. Thankfully there’s an Inspiration Book included in the pack so that you can make a start on what to build. Beyond the Inspiration Book, no other instructions are needed as it’s self-explanatory even for little hands and minds. Working out how the pieces snap together with the magnets, finding the matching colours and working out the lengths of the triangle edges adds to the cognitive fun. In fact, there are so many ways in which children can learn from this game that depending on their age, they can glean a lot of learning.

The packaging boasts of encouraging hand-eye coordination, fine and gross motor skills spatial awareness as well as cognitive development. Along with personal development, children of different ages can work together to make creations which encourages teamwork, cooperation, language and lateral thinking. The versatility of this game, which is also considered a craft or art supply item, lends itself to developing a lot of skills as well as bridging ages. Much like Lego or any of the other free-play games and toys, you don’t’ stop playing with Connetix just because you’re past a certain age.

For example, I found myself flicking through the Inspiration Book, trying to find something which I could build as an example. Eventually, I found this turtle which is in the book and looked simple enough. Well, even as an adult, this had its challenges! The pieces snap together but trying to decide which triangle and which edge to use to make the pieces stand up properly was difficult enough. You definitely need more than one pair of hands to keep things steady as you build and rummage for another piece, so as I was on my own at home, I had to find ingenious ways of propping up the pieces whilst I balanced the next piece to make it stable. Using my initiative to build a 3-D structure which looked like the photo as well as colours that matched was also quite the task. Looking through the Inspiration Book, I realised that there is a whole Connetix community out there who use the pieces to inspire, build art, teach and keep children and adults of all ages occupied!

The Connetix family of magnetic pieces isn’t confined to just children nor to building 3-D models although it is ideally suited to both. The Inspiration Book opened my eyes to how the pieces can create patterns, pictures, types of transport (wheels etc can be bought separately) and clever structures. What about a table cloth made out entirely of Connetix pieces? Or a light shade to put in front of a bright light and shine through all the colours? Making a bridge or a house for other toys to use and decorations such as Halloween lanterns, or a centre piece for Christmas?

My favourite idea though was the ball run inspirations. If you’ve never seen it before, the ball runs (sometimes they’re marble runs) are structures built so that a ball can run down a course which is typically fraught with little trials that the ball has to overcome. Bridges, drops, tunnels and balances provide endless sources of amusement for children especially as they build it themselves and create their own experiments. Endless fun, and full of satisfaction too. The ball run packs are available online.

Connetix is a toy which the whole family can play with and have endless imagination fun but also challenges everyone on different levels. The Inspiration Book gives you examples of what you build next, or combine packs to create mega structures. Look online at the different social media accounts to see what else everyone around the world is creating too!

Available from £115.00: https://connetixtiles.com/product/120-piece-pastel-creative-pack-uk/

Kikkerland Make Your Own Tea Kit

Birthday Gifts, Christmas, eco friendly, Family Life, Food & Drink, Gifts for children, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, Gifts for teachers, Home, secret santa, Stocking Fillers, Sustainable, Winter

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

For the tea lover who has everything, they will always need more tea! Kikkerland have this gorgeous Make Your Own Tea Kit tin which has everything you need to brew your own.

Whether you’re a loose tea lover who wants to make your own blend or simply take loose tea with you out and about, or if you love making whole new blends of herbal teas, perhaps from your own dried flowers and fruits from the garden, this is for you. The tin contains a bamboo tea spoon, 5 reusable teabags, 2 mesh envelopes and a booklet on how to make and blend tea.

The mesh envelopes are for collecting your herbs, flowers or berries from the garden and helping them dry so that you can make your infusion later. The mesh bags are sewn on three sides to make it easier to collect and store natural items easily and allow the air to dry them naturally. Each of the teabags is drawstring and can be washed in a normal washing machine cycle after use. The bags have ample room for brewing tea, and not just herbal teas but loose tea works well too. There’s a lovely bamboo spoon which allows you to dolly-up the mixture into each bag, or even stir the infusion once the teabag is in your cup. The handy green tin also doubles up as an air-tight container to keep your teabags in once you’ve made them up but not yet used them!

The Kikkerland Make Your Own Tea Kit is a lovely kit for Secret Santa or a friend who loves making their own tea. Teenagers who are learning to make their own infusions will love the practicality of this make-your-own craft kit.

Available online for £13.00 at: https://kikkerlandeu.com/products/make-your-own-tea-kit?_pos=1&_sid=b07c6d0a5&_ss=r

Kidoki Teeter Totter Shapes Wooden Balance Game

Birthday Gifts, Children, Christmas, Family Life, Games, Gifts for children, Home, secret santa

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

Amidst all the techie toys out there, multiple screens and the commercial money-makers, Christmas toys is a minefield for getting the balance between educational and wholesome. Kidoki have a range of toys which are suitable for children but without the screen time, or the added expense of having to buy an app, batteries, additional converters etc. Harping back to a time of simpler toys, this Teeter Totter Shapes Wooden Balance Game looks like it’s come straight from the Elf Factory!

The Kikkerland box contains 11 wooden shapes, all brightly coloured and some with faces and patterns painted on them. They’re all completely different shapes too. The main piece is a blue ‘boat’ shape with a convex base. The idea of the game is to balance all 10 other pieces on top of the boat without it toppling over. There isn’t one way in which they all fit, so it’s a game of balance for little hands to try and build a structure that will not only balance but stay stable long enough for all the pieces to fit on top. There’s also the added difficulty of not all the pieces having straight edges – so how do you fit them all together?

For fine motor skills, problem solving and general fun, the Teeter Totter Shapes Wooden Balance Game has a lot to offer. As an adult, I found it difficult at first to work out how the pieces are meant to stack. Once you realise they aren’t meant to, and there are multiple ways in which they can stack, it becomes a race against time to get them into an order where they will all stay in once place! Yes, the boat rocks and you have to work out how to distribute the weight of each piece so that it doesn’t topple over. The shapes are all different heights as well, and different weights so it’s not obvious how you complete the tasks.

For children, this is a great game to challenge them, and it doesn’t involve screens or modern technology. The painted faces and patterns also mean that children can use the blocks in a manner of different ways, including creating new games, or using along with other shapes from other games. They might also find them useful for learning the names of shapes and colours and using them in their imagination games.

We found that the Teeter Totter game was not just for children though! The size and robustness of the blocks meant it was great fun for adults to have a go in the evening, sitting around the coffee table with a drink and the TV on, each trying to work out how to fit everything together without it falling over! Make a game of it by timing how long it takes someone to balance all 11 blocks – the winner is the quickest!

Available online for £25 at: https://kikkerlandeu.com/products/teetertottershape-wood-balance-game?_pos=2&_sid=ac6edaecd&_ss=r

Joe & Seph’s Popcorn Bites – Chocolate Orange

Children, Family Life, Food & Drink, Gifts for children, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, Lunchbox Fillers, Stocking Fillers, Vegetarian

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

Just in time for Christmas, Joe & Seph have launched their delicious Chocolate Orange Popcorn Bites. That’s right, not just popcorn, not just chocolate but Chocolate Orange flavoured chocolate!

If you’ve never had Popcorn Bites from Joe & Seph’s before, I’ll try and explain what they are. Perfectly popped pieced of popcorn are encased in cups of rich chocolate. They look like popcorn pieces set in thimbles of chocolate and turned out to create each little bite which you can pop into your mouth easily. The popcorn and chocolate melt at different rates so as you chew, you get a hit of chocolate, then the texture of popcorn and then the richness of the chocolate again.

Joe & Seph’s are famous for their gourmet popcorn with over 80 flavours and more being added all the time. The popcorn is cooked to the highest standard with no ‘crunchy bits’ at the bottom of the bag and no unpopped kernels. The milk chocolate meets the same exacting qualities as the popcorn, with it’s melt-in-the-mouth smoothness and no fake sugary taste. You can taste both the chocolate and the orange in each Popcorn Bite, and the popcorn itself is velvety caramel, but not too sweet.

The Popcorn Bite grab bag is 63 grams, vegetarian friendly and gluten free. There’s no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives either. It’s the perfect size for sharing or an afternoon snack and a great treat for children to share after school. You can see that it’s great for the cinema, or would be perfect as a stocking filler too!

Available at £3.50: https://www.joeandsephs.co.uk/gifts/chocolate-orange-popcorn-bites

Retreev SMART Tags

Birthday Gifts, Days Out, Family Life, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, Home, REUSABLE, secret santa, Stocking Fillers, Tech

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

I have thankfully never lost luggage on a flight. I’ve had most of my luggage damaged and even ended up with an empty holdall because the airline company ripped a hole in the side and everything fell out, but so far, not lost anything. It’s one of my fears though; going on holiday and not being able to relax because I have nothing to wear but also that my belongings aren’t personal any longer and could be anywhere in the world. Maybe, never to be seen again?

There are a lot of items on the market for tracking down your luggage, but most of then are very expensive and difficult to set up. The Retreev SMART Tag is a credit card sized tag which you affix to your luggage in case your bags get lost. On the back there is a QR code and it has a chip inside too for any of the airlines who can read them. If your bag is lost, anyone can scan he QR code or chip to register it as lost and you receive a message via text and email to say it’s been found. Retreev SMART Tag is recognised by 3000 airports and 400 airlines and is available in multiple languages.

To set it up, tap or scan the card which you are going to attach to your luggage. Complete all your contact details online and activate your tag. There’s no subscription fee, your card is covered for life. If your bag is found, the finder either taps the card or scans the QR code to bring up the ‘found’ form. They fill in the details of where your bag is and how to retrieve it and you as the owner receive a text and email with the finder’s details. There’s no need for them to know your personal information and the tag doesn’t display anything to show that the bag belongs to you.

We were sent a Union Jack and a Lion tag, but there are many to find online at the www.retreev.com website. They have solid metal tags to them too so that it’s difficult to break them off of your luggage and the plastic cards are made of 100% recyclable packaging. Not only are there no subscription fees, but they have a lifetime guarantee and there’s no batteries to have to replace!

Setting up the cards was easy. I just scanned the QR code and filled in a simple form with my name, email and mobile number. The form is set up to be accessible from anywhere in the world so it doesn’t matter where you call home. Retreev send you a login and you activate the card on a dashboard. That’s it! Adding the second tag was easy because you just scan the QR code again and open your account to activate it.

So far I’ve not had any lost luggage to be able to test how it works, but from what I can see it’s a really good idea and keeps your identity safe too. Here’s hoping I won’t ever need to use it but if I do lose any luggage, I’ll be much happier knowing I have the Retreev SMART Tags on them!

Available online from £14.99 at:

Great Britain / United Kingdom – retreev SMART Tag

Brewing Up a Storm – Trooper Gift Set

Birthday Gifts, Christmas, Father's Day, Gifts for Him, secret santa, Stocking Fillers

Disclaimer: We received this product free of charge for the purpose of this review and all thoughts and opinions are our own.

Do you know a Star Wars fan? Whether they’re a fan of the recent films or a die-hard fan then they’ll love the Original Stormtrooper “Brewing up a Storm -Trooper” gift set from Well Pharmacy. Containing an exclusive Stormtrooper dishwasher safe mug along with a 100ml Shower Wash it is a great choice for a stocking filler or Secret Santa gift.

RRP £8 available here

Well Pharmacy are the third largest pharmacy chain in the UK and have a great selection of Christmas gifts available. If you aren’t able to get to one of their branches then you can buy online with postage starting at £3.95. These are some of our favourites that will make great stocking fillers or Secret Santa gifts.

The Kind Edit Co. Spa Botanique Garden Glove Set

Chit Chat Nail Varnish Colour Wheel

Warmies Giraffe

Spot the Intro

Birthday Gifts, Christmas, Family Life, Games, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, secret santa, Stocking Fillers

Disclaimer: We received this product free of charge for the purpose of this review and all thoughts and opinions are our own.

Christmas is a time when the whole family gets together and sitting down to play a board game after lunch is now a favourite family tradition. Music games are great to play when you have a mix of ages and Spot the Intro from Cheatwell Games is bound to get everyone reminiscing about the music of their youth and all those long forgotten top ten hits that we all know and love.

The game features music from the last six decades with the aim being to guess songs from a 10 second intro and be the first to reach the finish. There are 480 double sided cards in the box giving you 960 tracks to play and we found it quite addictive so it will certainly keep everyone occupied over the Christmas period. Unlike older music quiz games that used a CD or DVD to play the music, this game has QR codes on the cards to scan with your phone, taking you to a Spot the Intro page where you can play the songs via Amazon, Apple, Spotify or YouTube.

After listening to the intro, the team have to name the song correctly to get one point with an additional point given for naming the artist. With any correct answer there is a bonus question with another point available for a correct answer. Once the questions have been answered the team then moves their counter by the number of correct answers.

The game is great fun although it’s a bit fiddly scanning the codes so that’s definitely a job for the teenagers rather than Granny!

Spot The Intro is a great game for music lovers and works really well as a team game, especially with mixed ages. It’s a great game to play with family and friends and with Christmas round the corner, it would make a great gift that also doubles up as the afternoon or evening’s entertainment.

RRP £25.83 available from Amazon

The Kind Edit Co. Spa Botanique Garden Glove Set

beauty, Birthday Gifts, Christmas, Family Life, Gifts for Her, Gifts for teachers, Home, Mother's Day, secret santa, Stocking Fillers, Women

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

Calling all of you who need a Secret Santa this year… or who are struggling to find that little gift for Mum or Gran! The Kind Edit Co. have this beautiful Luxury Garden Glove Set and Hand Cream in a gift set, which any garden enthusiast will both love and need.

The set includes a pair of green and pink gardening gloves with elastic fit and finger grips and 125ml hand cream of bergamot, ylang-ylang, lily and sandalwood. The hand cream formula is 95% natural, hence the Kind Edit Co endorsement. You can either put the hand cream on before the gloves when you work in the garden, or apply the cream after working in the garden although you could use it at any time. The hand cream has a lovely floral aroma which is not lost on the fact that this is part of a gardening set!

I like the gloves especially because they’re very heavy duty but made of cotton, so they’re not waterproof but they are softer on the skin. They’re hand wash, which is easier when you’re working outdoors and can just leave them to soak. The hand cream is nice and rich and has a lovely fragrance so if you do put it on under your gardening gloves, it leaves them smelling so sweet!

This is a great gift for the price of £4.99 for anyone who enjoys gardening, and I especially like it as a Secret Santa gift for someone at work.

Available from £4.99: https://well.co.uk/the-kind-edit-co-spa-botanique-garden-glove-set/

Chit Chat Nail Varnish Colour Wheel

beauty, Birthday Gifts, Children, Christmas, Family Life, Gifts for children, Gifts for Her, Stocking Fillers, Toys, Vegan, Women

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

This lovely gift set is aimed at girls but with the ten different colours, including pinks and red, it could be a lovely gift for anyone!

Chit Chat’s Nail Varnish Colour Wheel is also vegan, which is not something you find very often in beauty products especially nail varnishes. There are 10 colours (including pink and red but also blue, green and yellow) which are 3.5ml in size each. In the centre of the wheel there’s 12 different glitter colours to add to your nail colour. Whether you use the corresponding glitter and varnish colours or do something outlandish and mix up the complimentary colours, the combinations of glitter gems and nail varnish are endless, and so much fun!

The gift set doesn’t say what age range it’s aimed at, but I would guess children aged 6-10 years old, and not much younger due to the smaller parts. The wacky colours are great to experiment with but also teach children fine motor skills with the application of the brush and then the tiny gems which go over the nail varnish and stock to the surface. To make them really secure, you can use a top coat nail varnish over the top, although that isn’t provided with this set.

Even if you don’t have children in the house, this is a great kit for the colours and nail art, especially as the varnish pots are a smaller size and you can take them on holiday with you. The quality of the varnish is good too. This kit is great as a bonding exercise with an adult and child.

Available from £ 7.50 at: https://well.co.uk/chit-chat-nail-varnish-colour-wheel/

Top It Board Game

Birthday Gifts, Children, Christmas, Family Life, Games, Gifts for children, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, Learning, secret santa, Stocking Fillers, Toys, Winter

Disclaimer: We received this product free of charge for the purpose of this review and all thoughts and opinions are our own.

If you are looking for a fun game to play after Christmas lunch that the whole family will enjoy then look no further than Top It from Cheatwell Games. This fast thinking game is great to play with family and friends either individually or in teams. It is recommended for ages 10+ but we played it with an 8 year old and he was able to come up with plenty of answers – but it does depend on the child.

Inside the box are

75 double sided Top It Topics Cards
60 Top It Cones
18 Letter Discs
Sand timer
Score Pad
Pencil

The game is really easy to set up, there are 60 coloured cones, 10 of each colour so the players/team decide on a colour and take their cones. You then place 9 of the letter discs on the table in 3 rows of 3 and place the topic cards next to the letter cards. The top card is turned over, followed by the timer and then the fun begins! Everyone shouts out an answer that fits the topic and begins with one of the 9 letters on the table. As they shout out their answer they place a cone on that letter, if there is already a cone they “Top It” which means they place theirs on top and at the end of the 60 seconds the person who owns the top cone on each of the letters wins the points – scoring is easy if there are 3 cones they win 3 points or 6 cones wins 6 points etc.

There are also bonus points to be had if you get 3 of your coloured cones in a row (horizontally, vertically or diagonally) adding a strategic angle to the game as getting correct answers in a row can really boost your points and earn you more points than being the top of a stack of cones.

We found the game can get quite loud and competitive as the cones stack up, especially when my family were playing! We thought it was better played as a team game as everyone can join in, both young and old. There is a good mix of topics and it was quite surprising hearing some of the answers – I’m not sure I fancy either chocolate or potatoes as a pizza topping!

Top It is a great game for the festive season particularly for groups of friends and family and whether brought as a gift for Christmas or just as an addition to your festive games’ cupboard Top It will provide lots of fun and laughter.

RRP £26.99 available from Amazon

Marshall Minor iii Wireless Headphones

Birthday Gifts, Christmas, Family Life, Father's Day, Gifts for children, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, Home, Home & Garden, Tech, Valentine's Day Gifts

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

Marshall are at it again with their state-of-the art, high end speakers and headphones, this time with the Minor iii wireless, Bluetooth earbuds.

With 25 hours of wireless playtime, these are the classy headphones you would expect from Marshall and I was VERY excited to be testing them. I don’t usually use wireless earbuds but having tested the Marshall speaker a few months ago, I knew what the quality would be like for these headphones and how I would likely learn to use them.

The first aspect you notice for the headphones are how sturdy they are and how famously Marshall they look. With the snakeskin-esque charging case and raised ‘Marshall’ white lettering, it’s instantly recognisable as the iconic brand. The case opens and closes with robustness, revealing the headphones inside. The charging case is powered with a USB C charging lead which comes with the set. You don’t need anything else to begin using them and thankfully, there was a little bit of charge in the headphones when I took them out the box to set them up!

Inside the box packaging there is a Quick Start Guide which gives you an easy reference of how to set them up. There’s no downloading of any apps or software and no need to use any website. Instead, connect them to your device (in this case it was my Apple MacBook Pro) by turning on the Bluetooth and opening the Apple Settings. To make the headphones discoverable, you just press and hold the button underneath the case, with the headphones still in it. There’s a tiny LED light on the front of the case just above the Marshall logo. When it flashes blue, you know that the headphones are pairing with your device. That’s all you need to do for them to work and link to your device!

The headphones snap into the charging case magnetically so you don’t have to make sure the connections are in the right place for charging. Lifting them out, there’s R/L on them and that’s pretty much all you need. As soon as I take them out of the casing, Music (the jukebox app on my Apple laptop) opens and recognised that I have switched on the headphones. It’s only when I put the second headphone in my ear that I can use the touch controls to start playing music directly from the laptop. One tap to play or pause, or receive or end a call… two taps to skip forward or reject a call… three taps to skip backwards. Now, I found this quite difficult to master for several reasons. When you tap, you are assuming where the stem of the earbud is (and the same tapping applies on both earbuds so you can use either hand) and therefore miss quite often. So when I wanted to tap twice, I would often miss and therefore only hit the stem once, thereby only pausing the music and not skip forward. I would suggest practicing with music before you use the Minor iiis for calls – otherwise you run the risk of accepting a call with just one tap rather than rejecting with two taps!

The quality of the Marshall Minor iii headphones is excellent, as you would expect. I was able to pick up the background static on older songs originally recorded onto LPs. The balance between both headphones is also true to the original recordings and there’s a formidable bass there too. From another person’s perspective, when you have the headphones in you can hardly hear the sound. These headphones are great for commuting or for when you don’t want someone else to know what you’re listening to! I also liked that they don’t vibrate when they’re in your ears. That’s important to protect your ears, and your balance and shows a high quality of workmanship on headphones that don’t have loose working parts. Rattling will get annoying very quickly, and end up damaging the structure of your ears.

The only gripe I have with them is that you can’t change the volume through just the headphones. You have to go back to the device to change how loud they are which makes it slightly annoying when you are either out and about and have to fix your phone, or when you need to keep going back to a laptop and changing the volume. It’s the same with other settings like the balance of sound, bass or treble. There is no control for them either on the headphones or on a device so you take these headphones as they come.

The price of £119.99 is very reasonable for the quality of these headphones. They’re not extortionately expensive and can be used for either music or phone calls so they’re versatile, and both for work and home. The ease of setting them up makes them all the more appealing compared to cheaper brands, and I love that they’re so sturdy and in the charging case they can be put in any pocket, handbag or hand luggage. Strong enough casing and manufacturing that they won’t get squashed easily, although I wouldn’t try it, they are probably stamp proof too!

The Marshall Minor iii is the next generation of high quality headphones, with superb sound, easy usability and flexibility for a long time to come.

Available from £119.99 at: https://www.marshallheadphones.com/gb/en/minor-iii.html

Malena USB Light from Paulmann

Birthday Gifts, Children, Christmas, Family Life, Gifts for children, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, Gifts for teachers, Home, Home & Garden, Tech, Women

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

Treat yourself or your teen to one of the Paulmann Malena lights from their interior lighting range this Christmas. Their selection of luminaires add a style to your room which is not like anything you can buy from a certain Swedish home store, giving a unique flair that’s timeless too.

We were sent the Malena USB wall mounted light from Paulmann to review. Available in black and this matt white, it goes with any décor. Measuring 35 centimetres high and 22 centimetres wide, the light comes with fittings to attach it to the wall, but even without attachment, the light can sit on a side table quite easily thanks to the tray shelf underneath. There’s a USB C port too, which allows you to cleverly charge your phone on the tray shelf, but you can easily charge anything else there or use the shelf for medicines, water etc.

The unit plugs into the wall with a 1.2 metre cable rather than being wired in, and it should be noted that the plug is a European style so you will need a converter plug as well – never, ever plug this type of electrical plug into a UK socket. The light doesn’t come with a bulb either, but you can buy these on the Paulmann website when you purchase the light. The Malena isn’t dimmable either, it’s an on/off switch to put the light on.

The brackets are included for installation but the instructions are not that easy to follow. This is an item for a European market so there are no language instructions at all, they’re all in illustrations. You will need to have a screwdriver and simple tools available if you are going to fix it to the wall. Without fixing it, it does sit against a wall but it’s not secure and the back of light unit looks unsightly if you turn it.

We were sent a GU10 Warm White 3.5 watt light bulb from Paulmann that fixes into the Malena light easily with a twist. Once plugged in, all you have to do is press the switch on the body of the light, and swivel the head to position it where you want. It’s ideal for reading or as a direct light in the middle of the night, right next to the bed.

The Malena is a great space saving device, with ample uses and the USB C is an added extra to its usefulness. This is a great gift to a family member who loves reading in bed, or who needs a permanent reading chair light that’s easy to access and perhaps wants to charge a phone at the same time. I personally think it’s great for a guest bedroom where you want to save space but make sure guests feel comfortable and not have to keep looking for somewhere to charge their phone or a light that won’t disturb anyone in the house. In fact, the Malena light is a great practical gift for anyone.

Available from £94.95 at: https://uk.paulmann.com/p/wall-luminaire-malena-usb-c-gu10-230v-max.-5w-matt-white/71098

Rubik’s Phantom Rubik’s Cube

Birthday Gifts, Children, Christmas, Family Life, Games, Gifts for children, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, Gifts for teachers, secret santa, Stocking Fillers, Toys

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

The Rubik’s Phantom is a mind-boggling, challenging puzzle related to the famous 80s Rubik’s Cube that many of us grew up with. This one is different though because it has a major difference. You can’t see the colours on the stickers unless you heat them up with the warmth of your hand. Without the warmth of your touch, all the sides are black!

Once you solve the first puzzle (ie getting into the intricate packaging) then the Cube itself looks harmful enough. It has the same black squares all the way around until you put light pressure on each one to reveal the colour. Quickly you realise that you can’t just sit and hold your finger over one sticker at a time, so you have to find ways of warming up the whole face of the Cube at the same time in order to reveal the different colours. The photo shows what the Cube looked like before touch, then after. This however, was only after I worked out how to hold the Rubik’s Cube in my hand long enough to get the full colour through.

The sides are in 6 colours (white, green, orange, blue, red and yellow) and each sticker seems to have a different ‘warm up’ time to it. Some of the stickers kept their colour for longer too, whilst others seemed to fade quickly. The trick is to get as many of the sides warmed up (and it took a good 30 seconds to get a true colour to come through) then work on solving the puzzle with one hand at least constantly on one face to keep from going cold.

The Rubik’s Phantom is one of the more challenging hand puzzles available with a 5/6 scoring for difficulty. The added pressure of remembering which colour each tile is or indeed remembering to keep the faces warm, adds to players’ cognitive memory, as well as using fine motor skills and general problem solving skills – vital if you’re to work out how to get the tiles warm enough! Incidentally, the heat sensitive faces need a temperature of 26C (79F) or above to change colour. How long it will take to complete the puzzle in anyone’s guess.

Available from £19.69 at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Rubik’s+Phantom&ref=nb_sb_noss

Taco Vs Burrito The Card Game

Birthday Gifts, Children, Christmas, Family Life, Games, Gifts for children, Home, Learning, secret santa, Stocking Fillers, Toys

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

If you’re looking for a different card game to play this Christmas or to give as a gift, Taco vs Burrito ticks all those boxes. A game for 2-4 players, it can be played by any age (although it’s recommended from age 7 years upwards), this strategy game is for all the family. It only takes a few minutes to learn how to play and each round is only about 15 minutes long.

Invented by 7 year old Alex, the game has causes a storm with its whacky but fun cards. The game has won numerous awards including Best Family Fun Tilillywig Award, Winner of Hot Diggity Award 2021, and winner of National Parenting Product Award 2021. There’s been over 500,000 units sold worldwide already and 17,500+ 5-star awards from users. All from the imagination of a small boy whose parents started a Kickstarter appeal for funding for him, to make his dreams come true.

How to play: each player is given either a Taco or a Burrito (hence the name) as a basis of the game. Using the 5 cards dealt to you, each player either adds a weird ingredient card from their hand (such as fresh brains or chocolate covered shrimp) or an action card. The aim of the game is to build up a disgusting meal with ingredients cards that have different point values, then use the action cards to either increase the points value of your meal, or smash the value of your opponent’s meal. There’s also the Hot Sauce Card which doubles the value or your meal or that of other players when you play it against them.

As the game progresses, there’s other action cards such as the Tummy Ache card, No Bueno card (to stop the action of another player at any time), or the Health Inspector. If you get the Health Inspector card, you have to play it immediately in the game, sending all the ingredients cards in your meal to the discarded pile on the table, never to be used again. That is unless, you have the Trash Panda card, which allows you to take any of the cards from the discarded pile and add it back to your hand.

The different variation of action cards to use against the ingredients cards are what make the game fun for everyone. The cards are colourful and easy to read and for little ones, it helps develop their reading skills as well as taking turns in play. The different type of action cards take a little while to get used to so I would have an adult sit and play until they all get hang of the game rules. It’s great fun though, and everyone understood how to play with each consecutive game, so this is perfect for Christmas time board games!

Available on Amazon from £24.99: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Taco-Burrito-Popular-Surprisingly-Strategic/dp/B07JZTBV9C/ref=sr_1_5?crid=2CBW8R4GRTDFZ&keywords=taco+vs+burrito+card+game&qid=1694957554&sprefix=taco+vs%2Caps%2C80&sr=8-5

Cadbury Heroes Advent Calendar

advent calendar, Children, Christmas, Family Life, Food & Drink, Gifts for children, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, Home, Stocking Fillers, Winter

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

Are you the type of family who open advent calendars in the morning before school? When coming in after school? Or do you wait until after dinner to indulge in the daily Christmas chocolate? In our house, we always had chocolate after dinner but now that I’m an adult I have to remind myself that I can have chocolate any time of the day, even when it’s not Christmas!

Cadbury make a whole range of different chocolates and this Cadbury Heroes Share Good Times is an ideal adult or teenage gift. The Heroes range of chocolates include Eclairs, Fudge, Wispa, Dairy Milk, Crunchie, Twirl, Dairy Milk Caramel, Double Decker and Crème Egg Twist. These are all the miniature varieties of the bigger bars but just as delicious and probably better for your health overall! They’re individually wrapped behind 24 windows and make up 230 grams in total of chocolate inside.

Probably aimed at older children, teenagers and adults, the variety of chocolate bars appeals to anyone who loves chocolate. Even if there’s one or two you don’t like, there are 9 different bars to choose from so you can guarantee there’ll be another one the next day that you will. If like me you don’t usually buy chocolate bars throughout the year, you’ll be surprised what’s on the market now. I’d never seen Crème Egg Twisted before, and it’s been a long time since I had a Double Decker so these brought back memories!

I really like the idea of having so many different bars in one calendar, and yes, they are much smaller than the full sized bars but they’re just the same taste, and give the same chocolate hit I’m always looking for mid afternoon. It’s reminded me how much I love a Fudge bar or Twirl and made me look forward to opening the next window in the Cadbury Heroes Advent Calendar throughout Christmas.

Available from £7.19 at: https://www.cadburygiftsdirect.co.uk/cadbury-heroes-advent-calendar.html

Cadbury Snowballs Chocolate and Chocolate Coins

Children, Christmas, Family Life, Food & Drink, Gifts for children, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, Gifts for teachers, secret santa, Stocking Fillers

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

Who here DIDN’T have chocolate coins for Christmas as a child? Were they part of your stocking? Perhaps Gran gave you some chocolate as part of your Christmas present along with a few notes when you were a teenager? I know I used to get a bar of chocolate at Christmas with something monetary sellotaped to it because that’s all I wanted by the time I was that age!

Cadbury have a range of chocolate gifts for every occasion and you’ll be pleased to know that their famous chocolate coins are still going strong. Available everywhere for the festive season, there’s something nostalgic about getting the coins, then trying to prise open that plastic netting that I swear is stronger than steel… only to have to spend the next half hour delicately peeling off the foil from each of the coins before devour them. I’m not sure they were ever meant to be an exercise in dexterity, but the satisfaction of getting the foil off of a chocolate coin on one go without bending or tearing it is something every child should experience.

The Cadbury Snowballs Chocolate bar and grab bag are relatively new to the range. Slightly crunchy shells are covered in a light dusting of sugar and filled with milk chocolate to give a contradictory crunch and smooth chocolate sensation. Deliciously more-ish, they’re perfect for stockings, Secret Santa or as a part present for either adults or children. Whichever Cadbury chocolates you choose, don’t forget they won’t be around for the rest of the year, so snap them up when you can!

https://www.cadburygiftsdirect.co.uk/cadbury-mini-snow-balls-bar-110g.html

https://www.cadburygiftsdirect.co.uk/cadbury-mini-snow-balls-chocolate-family-sharing-bag-296g.html

https://www.cadburygiftsdirect.co.uk/cadbury-dairy-milk-chocolate-christmas-coins-bag-70g.html

IMO Q2 Pro Mobile Phone

Birthday Gifts, Children, Christmas, Family Life, Gifts for children, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, Mobile Phone, Stocking Fillers, Tech

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

There is so much choice on the markets for phones nowadays, and with choice comes complicated tech words, specifications and all sorts of apps which just adds to the confusion.

The IMO Q2 Pro Smartphone is an Android model, with all the features you’d want on a modern phone but without the pricetag, or the complications. For as little as £34.99 and available at High Street shops, it saves so much money compared to the bigger players on the phone market without the worry of breaking it or losing it.

As for the specifications, it has what you would want to keep a phone safe. There’s facial recognition to unlock it, so you don’t have to worry about passwords or pin codes. The phone is a standard 16GB of memory which is enough to hold the random photos we all take as well as video but also has an extra Micro SD slot so that you can add 32GB of memory if you need to. I personally find it easier to have a remote hard disk that backs up all your photos and videos so that there isn’t the worry but depending on what you need the phone for, you might prefer just using the memory on the phone.

Speaking of photos, there’s a 5MP rear camera and 2MP front camera (for taking selfies) which isn’t the most powerful phone camera on the market but it is a good quality to be able to take photos to upload to social media. As with all apps too, you can add filters to whichever social media you are uploading to, even if the photo isn’t perfect when you take it.

One of the universal problems with smartphones is the life of the battery when on full charge. The IMO Q2 Pro Smartphone has a battery life of approximately 15 days when on standby and not being used. I found that I didn’t have to charge it for several days with light use and taking some photos, which is much better than most smartphones. The speed when connecting to the internet was excellent too. The IMO Q2 Pro Smartphone is 4G, which is the standard frequency in the UK. The new 5G is rolling out now but doesn’t cover the majority of the country yet and if you have a phone that is only 5G, it won’t convert to 4G when there’s no 5G frequency. The most common frequency is 4G still.

The phone also connects to Wifi and Bluetooth for downloading information or if you want to connect another device (such as a speaker) to play any of the MP3s stored on the phone.

Usability wise, it’s very easy to navigate with just 3 simple buttons and a simple Android 11 userface. It only measures just over 12 centimetres long and 6 centimetres wide so it can fit in your pocket or a handbag, or even in the glove compartment of the car. It’s great for taking on holiday and using with a spare SIM card in case it gets lost or you don’t want to use your expensive phone on adventure days out.

Lastly, this phone is great as a first phone for children that isn’t complicated or expensive if it gets lost or broken or for older people who aren’t familiar with smartphones. It’s easy to use so it doesn’t need much explanation. The long battery life means you can charge it less frequently and it’s still usable.

Available from £34.99 for the phone at: https://www.argos.co.uk/product/1131992?clickSR=slp:term:imo%20q2%20pro:1:3:1

Call plans and SIM card are extra.

Shaffay Women’s Luxury London Slippers

Birthday Gifts, Christmas, Family Life, Fashion, Gifts for Her, Gifts for teachers, Home, Home & Garden, Women

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

The go-to present for my family to buy me each Christmas is the novelty slipper. I wear slippers throughout the autumn and winter and probably a long way into summer too so they get good wear but they don’t normally last that long.

Anna Elshafei, the founder of Shaffay is a similar slipper lover. A former London lawyer, Anna changed careers mid-life when she wanted to create an elegant luxury slipper that women could wear all year round, were comfortable and stylish too. Now based in Canterbury, Anna has worked with her designers to create a range of Signature slippers in different colours to appeal to all slipper wearers with names such as Cairo, Paris, Shanghai and London. Although Anna was brought up in London (hence the name) she also lived in Shanghai with her husband. So the names of the slippers are born out of Anna’s love of cities and it was a pair of London Shaffay luxury slippers that were sent to us to try.

If you’re buying Shaffay as a luxurious gift for someone this Christmas, then you won’t be disappointed. The box opens to each shoe being individually wrapped, and there’s a shoe bag to keep them clean – or perhaps it’s to prevent losing one? The slippers come in UK sizes 4-9 and each of the 4 designs has a different colour upper as well as insole. These house shoes have grey upper leather with comfy furry insides and are more or less backless so you don’t need to horn your foot into them. Easily slipped on, they’re hands free but provide support to the whole foot. In order for them not to fall off, Anna and designer Jess realised that the front of the slipper had to come up high on the foot. There’s a small wedge in the heel too, which gives a bit more overall support and I found it made it easier to transition from soft carpeted floor to a tiled floor without changing my posture to correct the friction difference.

As for the design, this has been carefully thought about. Luxury slippers don’t create themselves so there’s a lot of research been taken in order to get the Shaffay slippers just right. Firstly, you’ll notice the memory foam inner sole. This is to create a comfier walk but it also provides a little more insulation. On top of the inner sole is a contrasting insole, also in lamb leather. The sole is made of rubber to give a genuine grip and is non-slip. You’ll notice the difference when you walk on a tiled or stone floor because the grip is much stronger than other slippers.

Comfort wise, they’re very snug, warm with the pile lining and the toe is squared off to give it a contemporary look but also hugs your toes more. I love that they’re leather (this is not a gift for a vegetarian or vegan!) but then most outdoor shoes, especially hard-wearing shoes are leather and the alternative material, plastic, is far more harmful to the environment and doesn’t last as long. I know it’s not fashionable but I’m a fan of leather shoes and slippers. I have only just started wearing these so I have no idea how long they are going to last, I hope it’s longer than the 6-8 months most of my slippers last but the indications are that they will thanks to the materials used, the design and how well they’re made.

We need to talk about the price too. £95 is a lot of money for a pair of slippers. My slippers usually cost around £10-£15 for the novelty range and as I said, last about one cold season. So at £95 a pair, that means these slippers would have to last around 6-10 years for them to be cost effective. It’s not unusual for a pair of leather shoes, worn outdoors all the time and in all weather would last 5+ years. I know I have well made leather shoes and boots that are over 10 years old and need little maintenance and that’s with commuting in all terrains. Shaffay the company has not been in operation that long for us to be able to ask them, but I will say that there is no reason why someone who loves slippers wouldn’t make these last.

But then there’s people who have bad circulation who would benefit from having much warmer shoes. Those who are older or disabled and can’t put on slippers easily so the design of the Shaffay London slipper makes it easier to put on without bending down. The memory foam sole is also more comfortable for them and the design won’t fall off your feet, thereby not causing a trip hazard. The rubber soles are a better grip than most slippers too, reducing the risk of slipping on a hard floor, or worse, falling up the stairs when climbing. So although they are expensive, for some people, these could be the slippers that make life much easier, and safer for a very long time.

Aside from the practicalities, they’re most certainly a luxury to anyone who is hard to buy for and one that will be appreciated!

Available online from £95 at:

https://shaffay.com/shop/signature-collection/the-london-luxury-slipper/

Protein Formula For Nails Nail Strengthener

beauty, Birthday Gifts, Christmas, Fashion, Gifts for Her, Gifts for teachers, Mother's Day, Stocking Fillers, Women

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

Anyone who knows me knows that my nails are always painted – fingers and toes! Since my teens I have always had colour on my nails and it’s very rare that I’m seen without it. I think this is why my nails are usually very strong and hardly ever break. However, if you’ve been in and out of the pool in the summer, or doing housework, gardening or anything else that puts a strain on your nails or gets them wet, it’s a different story.

Thanks to each of the above, I have had particularly weak nails for several weeks. Being in the pool doesn’t help, but I’ve also been on long term medication which has slowed the growth of my nails therefore making them difficult to condition and grow stronger. I had no idea how to go about getting advice on them or how to improve how they look.

Protein Formula For Nails works on the protein aspect of nails called Keratin. Keratin gives nails their strength and resilience and the proteins help cell turnover to provide room for newer, healthier cells. Protein Formula For Nails offer a Nail Analysis online which tells you which formula is best for you. I came out with formulae 2 and 4; (2) I Grow for thin, peeling nails and (4) I Strengthen for weak, damaged nails.

Each 15ml formulae are clear nail varnishes which are worn on clean, bare nails. You paint on the solution and reapply every other day to allow the proteins to work and build up strength over time. Every 7 days, remove all traces of the formula with non-acetone remover and repeat. Your nails should start to improve fairly quickly and just one coating leaves them with an even, nourished texture. Once you’ve worked on one formula, move onto Protein Formula 1, which maintains nourishment of nails.

It’s really easy to apply the treatments, it’s just like putting on nail varnish and the bottles are handy enough that you can take them with you on holiday and apply before you go in the pool and protect them from the chlorine or sea water. I started with the I Grow Formula 2, which built up over the week so that my nails were rock hard. The solution is clear so you can’t really see it and it doesn’t look like a varnish but it did protect my nails, nourishing the nail bed underneath. You can continue to use any of the Protein Formula For Nails until your nail condition improves enough that you can paint them again but I found a week was enough to see a difference. I will continue to keep using the formulae to see how strong I can get them especially as we go into winter and I want my nails in the best condition possible for Christmas!

Each nail solution available from £14.95 at: https://protein-formula.com/collections/shop-all-protein-formulas

LensPen Smarty Smartphone Camera Cleaner

Birthday Gifts, Family Life, Father's Day, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, Home & Garden, Mobile Phone, Stocking Fillers, Tech

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

If you’ve received a new smartphone for Christmas, or take a lot of photos on your camera you’ll know that the smudge factor is real when it comes to the camera lens. I hate it when I take what I think is the perfect photo, only to find that when I view it, there is that misty blur on all the photos because the lens isn’t clean. It’s the price we pay for handling our phones all day, but there are ways of reducing the smudges.

LensPen Smarty Cleaner for Smartphones is a tiny yet useful gadget for cleaning your camera lens on smartphones. Suitable for all makes of camera phone, the pen is only 4cms long and can fit in your pocket, or in the bottom of your handbag without even noticing it’s there! The cap screws loose to reveal the head of the pen which is a carbon cleaner. There’s no detergent or alcohol involved, just a pad which is small enough to fit through any camera phone casing and erases away all the grime.

I tried this on my iPhone, especially as I frequently get blurry smudges and I can’t clean them away easily with just a tissue or corner of my shirt. The LensPen is small enough to fit, comfortable to use and with minimal effort, it dissolved away the greasy fingerprint on my camera lens. To prove it works, I used it on the front of my camera phone on the touchscreen. The pen does indeed eradicate fingerprints anywhere!

Available online from $5.99 at: https://www.manfrotto.com/us-en/lenspen-smarty-smartphone-cleaner-black-ln-smarty/

Oclean Flow Rechargeable Electric Toothbrush

Birthday Gifts, Children, Christmas, eco friendly, Family Life, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, health, REUSABLE, Tech

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

If you’re looking for an electric toothbrush, you will be astounded at both the range available and the price of them! Oclean have launched a reasonably priced toothbrush at less than £25 which is both rechargeable by USB and sonic. They sent us one this week to try out.

The Oclean Flow toothbrush has everything you would expect but at that surprising price. It has Sonic Technology, so that’s sonic speed to the brush oscillation which is 38,000 strokes per minute. It has 5 easy to use brush modes (Morning, Night, Standard, Whitening and General) with a 2-minute smart timer. Flicking through each of the modes is just at the touch of the one on/off button so there isn’t anything complicated to learn or read up about in order to get your routine. You can even do two of the modes back-to-back if you want to go the extra mile.

The toothbrush comes with one brush head which is made of DuPont bristles. I liked the bright orange bristles, which make it much easier to see in the dark mornings! They also act as an indicator to let you know when the brush head needs replacing.

Charging is easy with the USB Type-C lead which comes with the toothbrush. The Type-C port is at the base of the toothbrush which is accessible from a lid which flips open. You know when there is 10% or less charge left in the toothbrush because the round button flashes red to indicate it needs charging. One single charge can last up to 25 weeks though with morning and evening brushing.

When using it, the instructions give you a warning that it may make your gums tingle if you haven’t used an electric toothbrush before, but as I usually do, it wasn’t a problem for me. I liked the firmness of the bristles and how easy it is to use especially with just one control button and nothing too complicated for late at night or early in the morning. The same goes with the 2-minute timer so you don’t have to think much. My teeth were left clean and fresh afterwards, as you would expect!

It is surprising that this brush is so cheap and that it’s aimed at adults and teenagers because it’s rather sophisticated for what it can do, but easy to use. I think most children would be able to use it easily, and the white look and packaging makes it universal for everyone. Perhaps good for taking on holiday, especially with such a long charge amount and the ability to charge from a USB outlet? It’s a fabulous present for anyone and looks like it’s a lot more expensive than it is!

Available for £21.10 at:

Edifier TWS1 Pro True Wireless Earbuds

Birthday Gifts, Christmas, Family Life, Fitness, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, Gifts for teachers, Tech

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

I have never had wireless headphones before, and with all the commuting I do and going to the gym, I really should have done before now! Opening these pink Edifier ear buds, it was nice to have them in their own case, which also doubles up as a charging unit. The buds fit snugly in the magnetic case where they snap into place and fit the connectors to charge.

Placing them straight into my ears was obviously the first thing I did, but like any good reviewer, I tried to connect them to my iPhone X without reading the instructions. It turns out that these TWS1 Pro headphones are super easy to set up. From my phone, all I had to do is go to the Bluetooth settings and the headphones were already there. I just clicked on ‘connect’ and the headphones were working, playing the songs from my phone straight away. They turn themselves on when you take them out of the case and turn themselves off again when put back in place.

Using the headphones was easy too. It was just a matter of tapping once (on either ear) to play or pause, twice on the left ear for the previous track and twice on the right for the next track. Volume up and down is a hold on either ear bud. It’s one tap to accept a call and 2-3 taps to disconnect a call on your phone too.

The ear phones stayed in for the whole of my cycle and weights workout which I was surprised about. The sound is balanced between both ear buds but there’s not the best bass on them and I can’t find a way of changing the settings. There’s a long battery life on them and they’re very sharp when listening to audio books etc.

For the price, these are great stocking fillers or for teenager who already have a smart phone. It’s difficult to go wrong with how easy they are and compact but well designed in the case and they come with not one but two sets of spare ear pieces. I am converted to using these headphones now instead of my wire ones for everyday use and I’m not going back!

Available for £59.99 at: