Tag Archives: gift

Hot on the Highstreet Week 152

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Chocolate has never been my vice, though even I understand too well the pangs of cocoa cravings at the end of a meal. The palate naturally desires a sweet conclusion to a meal. And despite not being an obsessed fan I can appreciate the taste of good chocolate.

In Grenada last year I experienced cocoa farming first hand… Learning about the qualities of the cocoa bean, the unusual process and the miraculously final product. This sustainable and ethically sourced raw ingredient is exactly what chocolatier Amelia Rope preaches… Making a single origin collection that is “all about quality, taste, purity and indulgence.” Alongside her brilliant brand of delicious chocolate she hopes one day to build a Chocolate Education Foundation to teach everyone about the whole story of chocolate and emphasise the importance of the geographical, sociological and cultural aspects of this worldwide indulgent snack.

Amelia Rope has always been interested in food and eventually found her way into confectionary following a course at Valhrona in France at ‘Les Bonbons de Chocolat’. She was immersed completely in cocoa and has never looked back opening up her own luxurious chocolate brand in 2007.

Beautifully wrapped and perfectly packaged these chocolates look as good as they taste. Dark and light varieties are available in bars, slabs and cubes and Amelia even offers the option of personalising your own product for a particular project or special occasion. I can imagine creating an eccentrically pink variety of rose flavoured chocolate to match the Thoroughly Modern Milly website!

I was sent two appropriately pink bars to sample. Aromatic, rich and tasty you only need a mouthful to satisfy your cravings. Fragrant rose flavoured milk and dark chocolate, are girly but grown up.

Chocolate has never tasted, felt and looked so good. Focus your fixes on Amelia Rope chocolates and you’ll never look back.

Visit Amelia’s website and buy her chocolate here: www.ameliarope.com

Hot on the Highstreet Week 146: LUXE BOX

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March is a month of present buying for me… everyone’s birthdays seem to land simultaneously, at least within a few weeks of each other and aside from the obvious bank balance pinch, it is stressful thinking up new and exciting ideas for successful gifts.

And that’s where Luxe Box come in, the beautifully sophisticated, immaculately wrapped, delightful delivered boxes offering a quick but thoughtful way to spoil your loved ones. Innovative thinker and Central St Martins graduate, Lucy Heale thought up the idea to provide busy buyers with a luxurious gift box that offers “something more”. Forget the usual food hampers or bunch of flowers, Luxe Box are wonderfully original with carefully chosen, seldom seen products, intended to wow. Indulgent and special gifts such as Rococo chocolates, Wild Planet scented candles, deliciously soft Tweedmill Textiles throws and vintage collectable editions of the classic love story Sense and Sensibility will satisfy and stun any lucky birthday girl.

I received one of the gorgeous Goddess Boxes in the post last week. Initially I found the whole thing too pretty to touch, ravishingly wrapped in bright paper and ribbon, it is a pleasure just to open. Inside three hand-picked exclusive products aim to “deliver a dose of me time, to relax and re-discover the urban goddess in you”. A Thornback and Peel Pigeon and Jelly Notebook is a hand-screen printed book perfect for jotting down notes and keeping in your handbag, the Bianco Fragole is one of the most delectable choices from Rococo and an elegant Reiko Kaneko lipstick mug is a lovely contemporary cup to keep and cherish.

Luxe Box sources boutique items from burgeoning British designers and compiles them into stylish themed collections. Irresistable items, packed to impress… definitely the most desirable gift boxes around.

Prices range from £32 to £95.

Order at www.luxeboxlondon.com
or email: orders@luxeboxlondon.com