The festive season arrives more swiftly with every passing year, the world revolves at the same speed and yet the spin revs higher as each calendar page turns. It’s important not to lose sight of what is important in these winter months, moments of reflection and sentiments of gratitude are significant to share with our friends, our family and also with ourselves, for making it through another 365 days is no mean feat.
And so it becomes once more, the lightest of my yearly tasks, to write my favourite article – The Rules Of The Stocking. In the Lake household, everyone waking under our roof on Christmas Day meets the morning with an intriguingly lumpy velvet-clad parcel. It’s a playful and sentimental way to express your love, each gift carrying meaning, sharing stories of tradition, in-jokes and the setting of intentions for the year ahead, with each tag bearing a riddle to solve before you discover your gift.
The Orange one.
The running joke is I hated oranges as a child, and whilst once I would take a pilgrimatic journey returning it to the fruit bowl from whence I was SO sure Father Christmas had retrieved it, now the orange is presented in scent over its traditional corporeal form. The AKT The Body Wash Concentrate, in Orange Grove is a citrus joy all year round, with rich coconut-based suds, olive squalene, Vitamin E and probiotics to soothe skin, in a waterless 3x concentrated formula with a divinely uplifting aroma of petitgrain, mandarin and neroli.
AKT The Body Wash Concentrate, in Orange Grove
The Personal One.
When it comes to fragrance, the more unusual the house, and the more experimental the notes, you might want to play it safe with a gentle introduction. London-based contemporary luxury fragrance house Electimuss offers their Discovery Set, with twenty of their fragrances to behold, including their five most-loved, woody, warm and gently sweet Imperium, Trajan, Mercurial Cashmere, the citric and floral Spice D’Arno, Gladiator Oud and their newest iteration of fragrance exploration, the fruity and gourmand Caspian Cherry. When your love has chosen their perfect match, the set comes with a £95 redemption against their full-sized bottle.
Electimuss 20-fragrance Discovery Set
The Healthy One.
Looming resolutions should be taken with tenderness; you’re looking after your future self, not chastising yourself for moments passed.
Advanced Nutrition Programme Skintelligent System is their most comprehensive calendar of nourishment, with 28 days covering 55 nutrients, carefully combined and balanced across vitamins, minerals and extracts for optimal skin health and rejuvenation, but most importantly, in the most simple and easy-to-use delivery.
Advanced Nutrition Programme Skintelligent System
Maybe it’s exercise, maybe it’s overexertion, or maybe it’s the candle burning over every surface, but the oh-so-clever Humantra Black Cherry Electrolyte is what we all need to replenish and refresh. This sugar-free dispersible drink covers six essential electrolytes, with all-natural ingredients and extra antioxidants for a balanced way to lift your day, with no gut health harm, and no chalky artificial flavours.
Humantra Black Cherry Electrolyte
The Travel One.
Maybe it’s cheating, but it’s my writing and I can do what I like with this one. Whilst not on my wishlist this year, this present from a year gone by has been my most-used and most loved addition to my day. As someone who travels regularly, my skincare routine basics
sit ready and waiting to be scooped up to make a swift move. Their home, the Mulberry Double Dip Wash Case, is in my mind the ideal container. Perfectly gender-neutral, perfectly sized to carry a very substantial number of products without being too bulky and impeccably finished overall.
Mulberry Double Dip Wash Case
The Luxurious One.
Mystery and allure, for me, will always breed luxury and nothing represents this more than the Nasomatto OMA Perfume Oil Set. Highly concentrated oils are presented in tiny vials, creating a sensual routine when worn. On skin contact, the scent arcs gradually as it warms, to leave a long-lasting presence of its notes, kept a secret so each wearer has their own experience with the scent. However, the heady Narcotic V, with intense Jasmine notes, is said to be the result of an attempt to bottle the addictiveness of feminine sexuality.
Nasomatto OMA Perfume Oil Set
The Socks.
It is quite simply, and categorically, not a stocking without the ever-so-meta inclusion of a smaller pair of socks. The sublimely soft and comforting Pantherella Christmas Cashmere and men’s Christmas Cashmere sets are exactly what I will be carefully placing into my family’s stockings this year.
The Selection of Nuts.
Again, in years gone by the traditional little package of walnuts, brazils and almonds was not my favourite part of the stocking, but has been replaced by rich, warming, resinous and woody scents. The Joe Malone Roasted Chestnut Candle is this year’s tantalizing gourmand treat, with a festive concoction of nutmeg, clove and cinnamon and with sweeter tones of caramel to lighten the heady aroma.
Joe Malone Roasted Chestnut Candle
The Moon and The Stars.
In the season of giving, the moon and the stars may feel just out of reach when trying to find that perfect token of love, and yet Frederique Constant Slimline Ladies Moonphase watch brings them back into grasp. The delicate 30mm case is embellished with a dial of midnight blue and mother of pearl, with gold and diamond indexes scattered like the stars and a delicate inner dial that shares the phases of the moon, making it the box I truly long for in my stocking.
Frederique Constant Slimline Ladies Moonphase
The Chocolates.
Whilst handmade chocolates are always welcome, Evolve Radiant Glow 2-In-1 Mask Scrub Supersize is a much more mindful way to indulge. Gorgeous raw cacao powder meets upcycled coconut and clay to gently exfoliate and purify, and the lingering chocolatey scent meets natural vanilla for a gourmand treat for the senses, and for the skin.
Evolve Radiant Glow 2-In-1 Mask Scrub Supersize
