Things I Tried in December

It’s a bit later into January than I normally write this, but I’m still using illness and holidays as an excuse for my complete failure to start 2018 in an organised fashion.

Besides, it’s not like these things are any less useful or relevant by the middle of the month so they’re still worth sharing, especially as there are some things in here which might be perfect for a little mid January pick me up and dose of motivation while this constant grey weather just goes on, and on, and on. FOREVER!

Ubersonic toothbrush

Ok, so you wouldn’t THINK a toothbrush would be that exciting, but actually this is one of the things I’ve tried that’s cheered me up the most. Which gives you an insight into sad I really am. Brushing my teeth has never felt so sleek and stylish!

Essentially this is an electric toothbrush. You buy it on a subscription service which is £19 for the toothbrush and then £9 for 2 replacement heads every 2 months thereafter. You can cancel at any time, but it’s a great reminder to actually change your toothbrush.

I’ve used electric toothbrushes before and always given up. Either the batteries run out and I never replace them, or they’ve been bulky and annoying. The Ubersonic, however, is not much bigger than a regular toothbrush, but a lot prettier, I love the sleek stainless steel. It’s rechargeable, but so far the battery has lasted for at least 3 weeks, so it doesn’t need doing too often.

My favourite feature, however, is the 30-second alert which means I’m reminded to brush my teeth for a little longer than the cursory sweep I often give them when I’m tired.

It also comes with a tooth-whitening kit, but I’ve been too scared to use it so far!

Look how happy I am brushing my teeth! (Yeah, ok there’s no toothpaste on that and it’s totally posed. Whatevs.)

You can check out the Ubersonic here.

Tastea

I love a good tea blend. My kitchen cupboards have an astonishing amount of tea bags in them and my old bio when I first started my blog contained the line “there aren’t many things that can’t be made better by a nice cup of tea”.

This month I got a chance to try a blend from Tastea. They have a huge number of exciting blends to do anything from calm you down to improve your skin and nails.

I opted for the Hocus Pocus Focus tea, for 3 reasons. I’ll let you decide what you think the order of importance was. It claims to taste of chocolate, it has a really cool name, and it’s supposed to help you focus, something I could certainly do with help with.

This blend is basically black tea, with added Cacao for a slight chocolatey aftertaste. I don’t know if I noticed any particular increased focus, but it was a nice tea. In fact, now I’m writing this I’m about to get up and make myself another cup!

I also loved the infuser mug which meant that as it’s loose tea I didn’t have to faff around with strainers, I could just drink straight from the mug, and have nice tea on the go! The only downside was that the double walled construction was so good at keeping the outside cool and the heat in that I took a huge swig thinking it had cooled down and gave myself a blister on the roof of my mouth. Woe is me.

Tastea have kindly given me a 10% off discount code for you all, use the code GEMMA and check out the Tastea collection here.

Natural Spa Factory Party Animal Rescue Kit

I have fallen totally in love with every product I have tried from Natural Spa Factory, and this kit was no different.

They sent it to me to help me recover from all those Christmas parties I would invariably be going to. Except I didn’t, so I can tell you it is equally good for helping you recover from a tough and draining time at work!

The eye serum I have been using every day and I think makes my eyes look fresher and brighter. You use the tinest amount, if you use too much it kind of forms a film that peels off, so there’s no benefit to using more! I think this is going to basically last me forever.

The biocelluar eye patches are excitingly hi-tech and perfect for a treat to brighten up your eyes on a day when you are super tired (or hungover) and need to not look it! They are decongestant and moisturising and feel really lovely to put on and lounge in a bath.

Check out the Party Animal kit here.

Martini Riserva Speciale Rubino

Shortly before Christmas a bottle of this arrived in the post in a rather snazzy wooden engraved box.

I often have vermouth in the house as I use it in Manhattans, but had never considered drinking it on its own before. This looked so fancy that I followed the recipe they sent and tried it with tonic and it was amazing.

I’m not a huge fan of sweet drinks, but gin and tonic is too dry for me, this fell in the middle and was the perfect aperitif for me.

I do hate it when I develop expensive tastes, but at £18 a bottle this isn’t even as expensive as a fancy bottle of gin and is really good.

You can buy this online here.

And thus ends my little round up of things I’ve got to try last month. Not so much in the way of health and fitness goodies, but I’m sure January will bring more my way!