Hopefully you are all prepared for your holiday celebrations and looking forward to them with anticipation.  While it has been a busy season for me, it has also been a more quiet one.  I never even had time to get my decorations up.  But I do love putting together a gift guide of items I have been loving and using this year.

Most of these items are available via Amazon, so you can still get them in time for Christmas.  I'm a practical and fantastical gift giver, so I have included a wide range of price points from household supplies to luxury gifts.  Enjoy!




Comes in 4 different varieties - $8.99

I LOVE putting practical gifts in people's stockings.  Socks, toiletries, pens, lip balm, a hair brush - you name it.  In my early twenties, I took to putting an eating utensil and a condom in my siblings' stockings.  The more weird, the better.  I still find it helpful to load up stockings with practical items along with the chocolates and more special items.

Patch was kind enough to gift me their varieties to try.  I love switching out my basic home supplies with natural and organic versions of those items.  And I love being able to test them out and let you know how they compare.  Sean even tried them on his arm to see if they ripped out his arm hair. (They did not!)  The strips are made of bamboo, which is a renewable resource, uses less water, produces more oxygen, and requires no pesticides.  The strips are compostable and biodegradable.  They are latex-free, vegan-friendly, cruelty-free, and contain no plastics or toxins.  The organic bamboo fiber and mineral-based adhesive are safe for sensitive skin.  The bandages are also hypoallergenic and free from irritating chemicals.  The four varieties are:

• Activated charcoal - Enriched with activated charcoal gauze helps aid and draw out impurities and infections for minor wounds. Think bites and splinters.
• Aloe Vera - Aloe helps soothe. Think blisters, cuts, and minor abrasions.
• Coconut oil Patch for kids - These feature a cute panda design while the coconut oil helps to repair minor grazes, cuts, and abrasions.
• Natural - for minor cuts and scratches

$24 - Comes in 3 highlight shades, a bronze gold, and 2 blush shades

NABLA is an Italian brand that I have been wanting to try for a while.  Shipping was an issue when I was going to purchase directly from their website, so I was excited to see that Ulta now carries some NABLA products.  The Skin Glazes have gotten excellent reviews, so I decided to go ahead and try them out.  I first bought Ozone (a neutral ivory) and Truth (peachy rose) to try during an Ulta coupon sale.  Oh my gawd, y'all!!  These are amazing!  I have been wearing them every day since I bought them.  I loved them so much, I went ahead and bought the color Amnesia (golden champagne).  They are more subtle than you think they might be.  The finely milled powder is baked into a hard pressed compact.  You may even think you aren't picking up enough, depending on what brush you are using.  But they go on so smoothly, don't settle into lines and pores, and give such an effortless glow.  I'm sorta fair and Ozone works as a typical highlight on me. Amnesia is definitely more golden, but blends into my skin shade.  Truth is a great blush or blush topper.  The finish on these is just beautiful.  I will be buying more!




Glitter gorgeousness and one-swipe shades - $11 to $13

I hadn't heard of Cristine Rotenberg or her YouTube channel, Simply Nailogical, until my friend Joaquin told me about her.  He showed me a few videos and talked about how she was going to have her own nail polish line.  He knows how much I love sparkles, so as an early Christmas gift he gave me her Holo Taco set of three holographic glitter polishes, along with the opaque black and blue shades.  I couldn't wait to try them on!

The holographic glitter is insanely gorgeous!  I layered all three on my nail to see them all together.  They are SO GOOD.  The polish dries fast and has great lasting power, even without a base coat and top coat.  Both the black and blue are literal one-swipe colors in the most opaque finish.  I was so wowed by them.  Cristine also has a holiday collection out now of five glitter-packed shades!  I picked up Party Punch (a bright pinky-red) and Play Rose (a rose gold).  I have also since purchased the super glossy top coat and the peely base coat.  With the peely base, it essentially makes whatever you put on top incredibly easy to remove by peeling off the polish like a sticker.  This is great for glitter polishes especially. (Although, I had NO issue removing the initial glitter-only polishes. They were far easier than any glitter polish I have ever had.  I used the peely base with the colored holiday glitter polish, but Joaquin said the holiday collection is tough to get off.)  The thing with the peely base though is that they pop off once they are soaked in a bit of hot water.  You will lose them if you take a shower or do dishes and the like, so plan accordingly.

Additionally, I will add that they are cruelty-free, vegan, and 5-free!






12-count assorted colors - $13.99; 4-count black ink - $6.99

I love school supplies and I love trying new pens!  I have some other BIC gel pens that I love, but it was also hard to find refills for them and they do smudge a little.  So when I heard about these quick dry ones, I figure they were worth a test.  Naturally, I wanted all the colors along with the black ones!  I have been using them for months now and can say they do dry quickly.  I've put my hand over the ink right after I wrote something and it barely smudged.  I think the colors are a little darker ink-wise than the outer pen color, but they have all looked really great.  I try to color code my weekly to-do list, so these are awesome to add some fun to mundane tasks.




Diffuser - About $25; Essential Oils - About $10

Obviously the diffuser won't fit in a stocking, but the oils will!  I have a diffuser in my bedroom and in my office.  They make the whole room (and sometimes the whole house) smell great, with the added benefit of the aromatherapy.  My favorites of the oils are Clear the Air (a minty herbal scent), Peace & Harmony (a warmer scent with peppermint, orange, lavender, and basil), and Smiles for Miles (citrus goodness).  Oils can also come in sets like this and this.  You can get essential oils at so many places now from all kinds of brands, but I've just linked the ones I really like and use myself.




$29

The Joby is a great little tripod for cameras or smartphones.  It is lightweight and easy to take along for travel.  The legs are movable and can even wrap around railings or tree limbs to mount it.  When I film fitting room videos at a store, I take my Joby along in my purse and mount it on the clothing rail to film.  Lately, we've been getting extra use from ours because we have long distance double-dates with one of my close friends and her husband, in which we use the Marco Polo app to watch and do commentary on a television show we both watch.  It's a fun way to stay connected and spend a little time with them though they are 3,000 miles away.  The Joby is a handy item for filming for a variety of projects, shooting family photos, etc.




Styles include men's and women's watches - $99 to $329

Certainly, the most posh and luxurious items on the list!  It can always be exciting to put something truly surprising and special in your favorite person's stocking.  Jord wood watches are truly high-quality, hand-crafted items that would make a memorable gift.  Based in St. Louis, they use  renewable and reclaimed materials.  Jord also offers eyewear, Apple watch bands, and, coming soon, handbags and wallets!  The handbags are also made of sustainable materials in the form of Jord's own creation - Superhide, a fusion of vegan leather and Portuguese cork. Be on the lookout for those!




$74.99

I've been seeing these blow dry brush tools around for a while.  Since I embraced my curly hair years ago, blowing out my hair at home just isn't something I typically do.  But I am also human and want to change things up now and again.  Over Black Friday, Ulta had this tool on sale for $40, so I decided to go ahead and give it a try.  I have thick, naturally curly/wavy hair that usually takes a while to dry.  This tool dried my hair and straightened it in about 15-20 minutes.  That's huge for me!  I was really impressed with its performance.  Below, you can see my hair styled the second time I used it.  After I dried it, I ran my flat iron through it quickly just to smooth everything a little extra.  I'm so glad I decided to try it out!





Far infrared heating for pain relief - $62 to $189

While technically not stocking stuffer sized, I had to include this badass heating pad. They range in size and price, but most are eligible with FSA and HSA, which is what I used to purchase mine.  I have two now - a smaller one I keep in the living room, and a larger one I have on my office chair.  Not only do they help keep me warm, but they do help in reducing my chronic pain for a bit of relief.  The stones get HOT, which also seems to give a more consistent heat temperature-wise and all over the heating pad surface.  I've only gone up to 140 degrees though.  You can set the temperature from 103 to 159.  I love the timer feature too, so I don't have to worry if I've left it on.




Wooden Wrist Watch