This year is the third year I’ve done a Valentine’s Day gift guide (you can see 2019 and 2020 gift guides right here). I really enjoy sharing lovely gift ideas, and they don’t have to be for your significant other. They’d all make great gifts all year round, regardless of the occasion, or even a treat for yourself. We could all do with a nice treat right now, and I hope my Valentine’s Day Gift Guide 2021 gives you some gift inspiration on products and brands you perhaps haven’t come across before.
Valentine’s Day Gift Guide 2021
I am the biggest stationery fan, and would happily receive new pens or pencils for every occasion throughout the year. I’ve loved Stabilo since my teens, and they have such a massive range to choose from. I have just three of their offerings to show you today, but they quite frankly have something for everyone, and for any medium you’re using. These three picks are all about colour, and I’m very happy to have them in my life.
First up is the Stabilo Pen 68 Metallic Fibre Tip Pens come in a slimline black tin, with six metallic felt tip pens which are so metallic, they can even be seen on coloured and black paper. They’re so bold, and versatile, meaning you can use them for absolutely everything.
Then we have the Stabilo Swing Cool Pastel Textmarker Highlighter Pens, in a pack of eight beautiful pastel hues. I like the conventional neon highlighters, but pastel highlighters are the way forward. They highlight, without masking the text you’re highlighting, and they look so much softer. Plus you can use them for colouring in too, and this particular set contains lemon, teal, coral, pink, lilac, mint, periwinkle and lime, in a nice slimline design.
My last Stabilo pick is the Stabilo Pen 68 Brush Set, which is a set of 15 felt tip pens with a flexible ‘brush’ nib. Their brush tip means you can vary the line width just by varying the pressure, offering a blendable water-based ink. I use adult colouring books almost daily, so these pens are ideal for that as you truly can blend the shades like you would with pencils, or watercolours. If you know someone that loves stationery, you’ll never go wrong with Stabilo, and these are just a tiny selection of what they have to offer.
My next suggestion in my Valentine’s Day Gift Guide 2021, is an alcohol based gift idea from a brand I’ve featured numerous times on Gemma Etc, and that’s the Isle of Wight Distillery. My gift suggestion is the Isle of Wight Distillery Mermaid Miniature Gift Pack, which is £16.50 and includes three of their popular, small batch drinks.
Within the set you get a miniature sized bottle of the original Mermaid Gin, the Mermaid Salt Vodka, and also the Mermaid Pink Gin. I’ve featured all three of these drinks on my blog previously (here, here & here) and they’re truly beautiful spirits, and they have the most beautiful presentation too.
What I love the most about this miniature set, is that the three bottles have the same stunning design as their full sized versions. They each feature a raised, mermaid scale effect on the glass, with an ombre colour blend towards the base of the bottles. I really appreciate that the same attention to detail has been honoured in their miniature sizes, and this set gives you an introduction into the lovely Isle of Wight flavours, so you can decide which you prefer to purchase in the full size.
I have a couple of grooming gift suggestions for my Valentine’s Day Gift Guide 2021, and the first up is The Clear Confidence Company Plastic Free Safety Razor. I’d never heard up of The Clear Confidence Company before, but they offer vegan personal care products, with a fantastic collection of plastic free products. When it comes to hair removal, there’s a lot of plastics and products in the world, that you end up having to throw away which is obviously terrible for the environment.
The Clear Company Plastic Free Safety Razor is, like the name suggests, a plastic free razor with a beautiful, smooth bamboo handle, and is said to be authentic, effective and sustainably manufactured using natural materials. The brand’s re-usable plastic-free razor provides the perfect shave without sacrificing durability or sustainability.
It’s completely plastic-free, and the safety razor can be refilled with standard high-quality double-edged razor blades that cost some 10p per blade instead of £2 or more, which is the cost of conventional razor blade cartridges. This beautiful bamboo handle razor comes in a sleek presentation gift, and would be a great gift for any man or woman this Valentine’s Day.
Next up in my Valentine’s Day Gift Guide 2021, is one for the guys and is a gift that’d always be greatfully received; Nike Boxers. Nike have recently relaunched their underwear collection, and this particular set is the Nike Multi 3 Pack Boxers which are available from JD Sports, both instore and on their website.
The stylish range is fronted by Marcus Rashford, and delivers options that seamlessly mould to any lifestyle, meaning you can’t go wrong with gifting them to those impossible-to-shop-for boyfriends. This set is their Everyday Cotton Stretch Trunk Shorty style, and you get three pairs of their trunks.
One of which is sky blue with a monochrome waistband, one is grey with a monochrome waistband and the third is black with a printed white Nike print and the same monochrome waistband. They feel super soft, and the waistbands feel almost silky, so it moves nicely against the skin. If your other half or yourself prefer a plainer design, there’s lots of colourways to choose from, including plain black with coloured waistbands too, all of which are available on the JD Sports website.
I have a tech gift suggestion for you next, and it’s the EZVIZ C1C 1080p Indoor Camera, which is available on Amazon. This is an indoor security camera, which is designed for simple and quick installation. The camera features super night vision to safeguard even corner, even places without illumination, and boasts a 1080p resolution.
“Get better night vision at increased distances with the C1C and enjoy round-the-clock protection. The advanced infrared LED lights along with an upgraded optical configuration means that even in dim light, you can still see up to 12 meters.“
I have really terrible anxiety, so this indoor camera has been invaluable for extra peace of mind. You can link it up to your smartphone, and thanks to the motion detection, the C1C watches over your property and immediately alerts you with a captured image whenever anything unusual happens.
Using the EZVIZ app, you can even communicate with your loved ones or use it to deter unwelcome strangers by using the C1C’s two-way communication feature. I was worried the camera would take some long winded installation, but it couldn’t be simpler. It has a magnetic base, and you can clamp it to the wall or ceiling, and the camera has an adjustable head, so you can have it exactly how and where you need it to give you extra peace of mind.
The next gift idea in my Valentine’s Day Gift Guide 2021 is an amazing pampering gift, which anyone would be thrilled to receive. It’s the beautiful Alterna Love Is In The Hair Gift Set, which is a beautifully luxurious haircare gift set and contains three full sized Alterna haircare heroes, as well as a super pretty set of three Corinne Pearl Hair Elastics. The pearl and gold hair ties are worth £22 alone, and are the perfect way to glamorously fix your hair in place this Valentine’s Day.
This set comes packaged within a beautiful navy gift box, wrapped together with an Alterna branded satin bow which makes the gift set look even more special. Once you open the gift box, you receive three Alterna products;
- Alterna Smoothing Anti-Frizz Shampoo
- Alterna Restructuring Bond Repair Conditioner
- Alterna Smoothing Anti-Frizz Blowout Butter
The shampoo and conditioner are £34.95 to purchase individually, and the Blowout Butter is also £34.95, so to get all three products and the luxury hair ties for £104 is fantastic. If you’ve never tried Alterna before, I feel like this set is the perfect introduction, and your hair will definitely thank you for it!
My next gift idea comes from Simplehuman, and I reviewed the amazing Simplehuman Sensor Mirror Compact back in December on my second beauty blog. To be honest, any Simplehuman mirror would be the most incredible gift, but if your loved one already own the Simplehuman Sensor Mirror Compact, Simplehuman have a range of fabulous cases to keep their precious mirror protected.
My absolute favourite Simplehuman mirror is their super luxe Simplehuman Sensor Mirror Round, which I am testing at the moment, and will be publishing a full review on Makeup Muddle very soon, so stay tuned. It’s the full size mirror for your vanity / dressing table, and it will transform your makeup application, as the adjustable light allows you to see your makeup in a way you’ll never have seen before. You’ll never get into the car and shock yourself with the tide lines from where you perhaps haven’t fully blended your foundation – we’ve all been there.
The Simplehuman Compact Round Mirror is a handheld, mini compact mirror with an adjustable light-up function. It’s perhaps the most luxurious handheld compact mirror you’ll ever use, and it does come with a drawstring pouch inside the box.
I have noticed that the drawstring can come undone in my bag, so a zip-up luxury mirror case is the perfect solution. There are multiple colours to choose from, and I have the bright red and iridescent cases, and both of them are lovely. They have the sensor function, so your mirror will automatically switch off once inserted into the case, and they look so chic too.
The Bluebeards Revenge is a brand I’ve featured a few times in past gift guides, and for the Valentine’s Day Gift Guide 2021, my gift suggestion is The Bluebeards Revenge Shaving Cream & Cutlass Razor Kit. I have featured their Shaving Cream in a previous post, and whilst the brand is targeting men, it’s the best shaving cream I’ve ever used, and it leaves my legs feeling extremely soft, and I’ve never had any knicks or cuts when using the Bluebeards Revenge Shaving Cream.
This set contains their award-winning Shaving Cream in a full size, as well as the Cutlass Double-Edge Razor. I’m a safety razor convert right now, and this version is an edgy gunmetal design, and it feels nice and weighty in the hand. It’s the perfect accompaniment to the Shaving Cream, for the smoothest, most precise shave possible. Plus, it’s so much kinder on the environment as there’s no disposable plastic involved when changing its blade, but it’ll last forever as you only have to change the blades.
I have a gift suggestion for the coffee fans, and it’s the Lost Sheep Coffee Nespresso Capsule Coffee Pod Tower. It’s £14.95, and contains three individual boxes of coffee pods, which are suitable for Nespresso coffee machines, or machines which are compatible with Nespresso pods.
Lost Sheep Coffee has a great mix of different coffee blends to choose from, and this particular set gives you three boxes of their bestselling blends with 10 coffee pods in each box, and 30 pods in total. What’s more, the Lost Sheep Coffee pods are compostable which is fantastic. It’s so hard to find eco-friendly coffee machine pods, so it’s fantastic Lost Sheep Coffee has an environmentally friendly coffee option for those that want to use pods.
Inside this gift box tower you get the following blends;
- Lost Sheep Coffee Loving The Decaf – This decaf is a superb single origin Colombian taken from a program dedicated to bringing the highest-quality, non-chemical-processed decaf coffees to market.
- Lost Sheep Coffee Smooth Journey – An amazing coffee that you can enjoy anytime of the day, wether your working from home or just simply relaxing with family & friends. This coffee will delivery great body with tones of caramel chocolate sweetness, making it great to drink as a Latte or as a black coffee for that morning pick me up.
- Lost Sheep Coffee Funky Camper – A fantastic morning coffee for you to enjoy whilst at home or work, we feel it is the best way to start your day. A rich creamy body with a sweet white vanilla chocolate finish. This is defiantly a capsule unlike any you have had before!
My next gift suggestion within my Valentine’s Day Gift Guide 2021 are the Send Them Cupcakes Sweetheart Cupcakes, which are hands down the best cupcakes I’ve ever tried. I love cupcakes, so that’s not a statement I make lightly. I loved them so much, I’ve bought and ordered another set of these same cupcakes which hopefully shows how amazing they truly are.
Send Them Cupcakes are a website dedicated to mail-order cupcakes, which you can order via their website and get them delivered directly to your loved one. They do all sorts of themed cupcakes, for any occasion, but the ones I have are the Sweetheart Cupcakes which is part of their Valentine’s Day cupcake collection.
This Sweetheart Cupcakes design includes six large cupcakes, three of which have vanilla sponge, and three have chocolate sponge. The vanilla sponge cupcakes have cream coloured icing, whereas the chocolate sponge cakes have chocolate icing, and they’re all hand decorated with sugar icing decorations. They’re so beautifully presented, and who wouldn’t want to receive these cupcakes for Valentine’s Day?
I have three beauty products from Aldi to show you as part of my Valentine’s Day Gift Guide 2021. I’m the biggest fan of Aldi’s beauty range, and I’ve reviewed lots of their products previously. Firstly I have the Aldi Lacura Hot Cloth Cleanser Set which includes four x 75ml tubes of their different Hot Cloth Cleansers and a muslin cloth.
Priced at £5.99, it’s such a bargain and gives you the opportunity to try their four different formulas to see which you prefer. The four Hot Cloth Cleansers are; Original, Rose, Pink Clay and Vitamin C. My favourite is the Vitamin C cleanser, but they all do a great job at cleansing away impurities, whilst leaving the skin soft, smooth and hydrated.
Next is the deliciously scented Aldi Lacura Berry Blast Bath Brick, which is a tablet that you can break into individual chunks to throw into the bath. It’s £1.99 for a two pack, and each tablet can be broken into twelve cubes, or you can use double cubes for extra bubbles. This brick smells amazing, but there are other scents available instore too.
Lastly, something a little more special and fantastic for the price, and is the Aldi Lacura Silicone Facial Cleanser, which is £7.99, and I can’t quite believe it. It looks like a very credible dupe for the Foreo Luna, which is £139, so it’s an amazing dupe. It’s USB charged cleansing device with 14 intensity levels, and the high frequency pulses allow the removal of dirt, oils and make-up residue, whilst low frequency pulses boost blood circulation in wrinkle-prone areas. If you ever head to Aldi, make a beeline for their beauty section, as there’s so many gems to be discovered, and they’re all super affordable.
Next in my Valentine’s Day Gift Guide 2021 is one for bourbon fans; Four Roses Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. This is an American whiskey which is handcrafted from four select barrells, making it truly special compared to the average whisky/whiskey.
This particular blend of whiskey is perfect for Valentine’s Day, as the bottle features an intricate, raised rose cut glass detailing in the centre of the bottle, and if you hold the bottle upside down, the shape resembles a rose bud, which hopefully I’ve shown above. In terms of tasting notes, the producer describes them as being spicy, rich, mellow, fruity, hints of sweet oak and caramel.
Small Batch has been one of British bartenders’ favourite bourbons and, with online sales having tripled in the past year, it’s a ‘go-to’ spirit as people have sought to replicate bourbon-based cocktails – such as the Old Fashioned or Manhattan – that they used to enjoy out on the town. It’s such a luxurious spirit, and the bottle design is so perfect for Valentine’s Day, and it’s nice to know it’s come from a small batch to make it even more special.
I love Guylian chocolate, so I had to include them within my Valentine’s Day Gift Guide 2021. These are the Guylian Praline Heart Chocolates which come in a bright red and gold, heart shaped gift box. You wouldn’t even need to necessarily wrap them, as the packaging is already very sweet and fitting for Valentine’s Day. You can’t ever go wrong with chocolates for any occasion, but for Valentine’s Day, they’re always going to please whomever you’re gifting them too.
The Guylian Praline Heart Chocolates contain ten heart shaped praline chocolates, which have the same colour scheme as their Seashells, with a white and brown effect which alternates. Some of the chocolates are finished in white chocolate, and some are finished in brown chocolate, and they taste identical to their iconic Seashells, so if you or your loved one adores the Guylian Seashells, this romantic Guylian Praline Heart Chocolates box is going to be perfect.
Do you have a gin addict in your life? If the answer is yes, I’d like to introduce the MOM Love Gin, which has a fun royal theme. This would be a particularly good gift for your wife/girlfriend if she’s also a mother, but anyone would appreciate the gin as it’s been carefully crafted for strawberry gin lovers.
“MOM Love a pink gin made with strawberries and exotic botanical ingredients that distils a young, sophisticated and contemporary universe. Freshness and youth define the exotic personality of MOM Love, the result of infusing it with strawberries and for distillations. The blend takes the form of a premium pink gin with a vibrant strawberry taste and a soft finish that ends in a sea of unrepeatable sensations.“
Mom Love gives you all the sweetness and flavour that the most delicate and exquisite strawberries can deliver. The gin has a pretty pink hue, thanks to the the infusion of strawberries, and a few other botanicals. I think the ‘god save the gin’ theme is really sweet, and would be great to be gifted alongside a selection of tonics so you can really the strawberry flavour.
If you have a chocoholic to buy for, the amazing Sweet Tree By Browns Mini Valentine’s Day Smash Cake would be the perfect gift. Not to name drop, but I ordered a smash cup from the Prezzybox website last year as a gift, and the quality of the chocolate was really poor, and it cost £30. This version by Sweet Tree By Browns is absolutely delicious, with high quality chocolate.
“Made from deliciously smooth Belgian milk chocolate, this hollow cake shell is adorned with an array of dreamy confectioneries: A solid Belgian milk chocolate geometric heart finished with gold lustre, creamy milk, white and strawberries and cream Lindt Lindor®, Ferrero Rocher®, truffle-filled hearts wrapped in red foil, Terry’s Chocolate Orange® segments finished with a gold lustre, and handmade sugar roses.“
It tastes divine, and it’s so much fun smashing it up, as the inside is filled with chocolate buttons, Maltesers and Smarties which roll out once you’ve smashed the cake. You get a lot of chocolate for your money, and it tastes so good. This is the mini size, but they do a large size too, depending on how much your loved one loves chocolate! You can even personalise the message on the top of the cake too, for an extra personal touch.
Next up in my Valentine’s Day Gift Guide 2021 is something from Cocktail Hour, and it’s The Cocktail Hour Sweet Tasting Pack which is £19.95, and is a nice gift idea for those that are missing cocktail bars and going out. In addition to this sweet themed pack, they also have a savoury option too which contains some savoury popcorn, whereas this option contains chocolate.
This Tasting Pack gives you two miniature bottles of Buveur cocktails in your choice of cocktail, and two x 90g Winter Spice dark chocolate. There’s four cocktails to choose, and you’ll get the same cocktail twice; Espresso Martini, Negroni, White Russian and Old Fashioned.
In each bottle you get 92.5ml, and I chose the Old Fashioned cocktail for my taster pack, but you can choose your loved one’s favourite cocktail and give them either savoury popcorn, or winter spice flavoured dark chocolate. It’s a gift you could enjoy as a couple, seeing as you get two cocktails, and two chocolate bars which you can enjoy for a date night-in this Valentine’s Day.
If you’re looking for beauty themed gifts, for my Valentine’s Day Gift Guide 2021, I chose k-beauty favourite COSRX as a brand. I discovered COSRX back in February last year when I first tried their One Step Original Clear Pads, and wow they’re amazing. I have repurchased them three times since I first tried them, and they’re my absolute favourite acid toning pad, so I had to recommend them within my gift guide.
The COSRX One Step Original Clear Pads are pre-soaked essence pads which you can sweep over your skin to break down impurities and refresh the skin in seconds. They stay damp the whole time you use them, and they leave the skin so smooth, and really help to reduce textural issues too.
I’ve also been trying the COSRX Ultimate Moisturising Honey Overnight Mask, which is described as being 3-in-1 face mask. The formula is enriched with propolis extract, a natural antibacterial and anti-inflammatory ingredient that helps to soothe stressed out skin, as well as natural beeswax. You can use it overnight as a sleep mask, as a wash off conventional face mask, or used as a moisturiser when applied in a light layer.
Lastly in my Valentine’s Day Gift Guide 2021, I have the Tequila Rose Strawberries & Cream Liqueur Set. This set includes a full 500ml size of the Tequila Rose Strawberries & Cream Liquer as well as two branded glasses, to use with the liqueur, which is a really nice gift idea.
Tequila Rose is the world’s number one strawberry creamm liquer, and contains a splash of tequila. Described as offering a silky smooth pairing of rich strawberry cream, with the thrilling bite of tequila. It’s a versatile drink too. It can be used chilled as a shot, but you can use it in cocktails, in alcoholic milkshakes, or even used for a strawberry kick when baking or even in coffee too.
I think this liqueur sounds really unique, and would be another nice gift for those that are missing going to cocktail bars, as they can have fun experimenting with Tequila rose adding it to different cocktails. I bet it would taste lovely when poured over ice-cream too, but the possibilities are endless, and this set is currently on offer in supermarkets for£10 for a limited time.
I really hope you’ve enjoyed reading my Valentine’s Day Gift Guide 2021, and it’s given you lots of great gift ideas for the special person in your life.
All products featured on Gemma Etc. are PR samples or gifted items, unless otherwise indicated. This post may contain affiliate links. If you wish to find out more, please see my Disclaimer within my navigation bar.