Christmas Shopping On A Budget - Baylis and Harding Skin Spa

I came to a horrible realisation this week that it's less than 3 month till Christmas argh! - It seems to come around quicker and quicker every year. Thankfully I've already made a start on this years gift list thanks to some great online sales and deals but if you haven't don't worry over the next few months I'm going to be doing some posts on some budget friendly Christmas gifts and stocking filler ideas to get you started :)

I thought we'd start with a new range of smellies from English company Baylis & Harding. I was first reacquainted with this brand in the middle of last year when I reviewed their Lemon and Mandarin Hand Wash - I loved it . I also received a few other bits as gifts last Christmas including a grapefruit and mandarin bath and shower foam which I also loved so when I was offered the chance to try a few products from their new Skin Spa range I jumped at the chance..

The range contains 10 products to help you achieve that relaxing spa experience in your own bathroom The line comprises of a bath milk, a shower cleanser, a body butter, and a body polish, as well as a range of beauty tools to aid the spa experience. All the products contain an exotic fragrance blend of rose, ylang ylang, and patchouli, giving them that spa type aroma. I was kindly sent a couple of products from the range to try out.

The Baylis and Harding Skin Spa Body Smoothing Polish is in it's simplest terms a body scrub. You know me I love my body scrubs so I was really excited when I received this.

It comes in a squeezy tube, with a black leaf design, on a white background, with black and metallic red text, and metallic red branding. The packaging does remind a little bit of Cowshed if I'm honest, but it's modern yet classic and would look good in any style of bathroom.

The scrub itself  has a gel like base, and it's filled with tiny white exfoliating particles, which unfortunately you can't really see here. I used this product mainly in the shower, it massaged easily into the limbs and surprisingly for the size of the particles it give a pretty substantial scrub, it rinsed away easily and left the skin soft and smelling gorgeous. As you know I'm very particular about my scrubs and I'm normally not a fan of scrubs that aren't sugar or salt based but I have to say I really like this, it gave a nice scrub, and the smell was pleasant but not too much, it really smelled like fresh slightly old fashioned roses- it isn't the most modern of smells which might put some of you off but if your mum or gran likes florals I would definitely get something from this range from them - Mummy Lou loved the smell of this and the best thing is this retails at around £3.00 for 200ml

As well as the bath and body product the Baylis and Harding Skin Spa range also offers a range of beauty tools such as loofahs, foot files, exfoliating sponges and these.

The official Bayliss and Harding title for these is a Luxury Body Polisher, but I've heard them called everything from shower scrunchies to dougals - whatever their called I bet you have at least one of these in your bathroom - I know I do :) These mesh balls are amazing for using in the shower and lathering up either with a shower gel or a humble bar of soap. I've acquired loads from various gift sets over the years and I have to say that the quality is variable, some of them just don't have enough mesh or it just isn't tied together tight enough. I have to say this one from Bayliss and Harding is brilliant it's nice and full and it appears to be pretty well made, and do you know what you can even chuck it in the washing machine and give it a spin when it gets a bit smelly or grubby, how do I know that ? well mine came a bit of a cropper and fell into an all be it empty toilet bowl but still lol These babies make a great stocking filler for anybody that bathes or showers and they are only £2.00.

I have to say I loved both of these products and I can definitely see me getting the shower cleanser for Mummy Lou sssshhhh. The best thing about the Bayliss and Harding Skin Spa range is that all the products are under £4.00 making all the products it really affordable for a small gift or for a stocking filler. You can pick all the products from selected Tesco stores, and earlier this week I noticed that the newly established Christmas aisle in my local store had some Skin Spa gift sets ranging from £3.50 - £15.00. I know a lot of people think smellies are a bit of a naff gift but I personally love receiving products that give me a bit of me time. What do you think of giving bath products for pressies? and have you started your Christmas shopping yet? Let me know in the comments x

P.S. As of 2016 I believe this scrub and the Skin Spa line have now been discontinued :(

*Samples.