Valentine’s Day gift guide for The Sophisticated Gent

After several months of writing the occasional blog post about men’s style, I’m delighted to reveal that I will shortly be launching a second blog dedicated to men’s style. This is not, however, a solo venture.

I have teamed up with the fragrant and elegant James Brooks, a designer, SEO specialist, occasional blogger and all round good guy. The site will be called The Sophisticated Gent and the plan is to bring you the very best of men’s clothing, accessories, stationery plus health and fitness and so on.

We’re still dotting Is and crossing Ts at the moment so a launch date can’t be confirmed just yet. With Valentine’s Day on the horizon, however, James and I teamed up to put together a Valentine’s Day Gift Guide for the sophisticated gent who wishes to get something special for his wife or girlfriend.

It gives you an idea of what you can expect when the blog goes live. With no further ado, here are our suggestions.

Avoid the crowds; Learn to cook at Billingsgate Seafood School

The Sophisticated Gent knows to avoid restaurants on Valentine’s Day! You’ll almost certainly receive poor service from over-stretched staff in a restaurant accommodating twice the usual number of covers. Imagine an alternative that combined a Champagne breakfast, time together having fun as a couple during the day and a romantic meal at the end of it?

If you can make it into London, you and your other half could spend the day learning how to make a three course meal at Billingsgate Seafood School. You both start the day with a Champagne and pastry breakfast, spend time with the team preparing a stunning starter of Rockefeller oysters, or seafood terrine, followed by fresh sea bass in a delicious seafood bisque sauce with seasonal vegetables and dauphinoise potatoes, topped by an assemble at home Eton Mess.

You can then take this home to enjoy together in each other’s company away from the crowds. For prices and to book, go to; www.seafoodtraining.org.

Perfume

Here’s an idea we picked up from some excellent style bloggers. Many perfume houses sell sample kits of perfume in 2ml bottles. You can buy a variety of different scents and your other half can have fun trying them out to see what she likes (I mean come on, wouldn’t you do just the same if given a range of aftershaves to play with?).

Very often they come stylishly packaged so look like presentable gifts. A further advantage is that this can be a very cost effective way of buying your loved one a distinctive gift. You simply need to do a Google search to for “perfume sample kits” to find out what is out there.

We’ve seen numerous sample kits on the market from Lacoste, Nina Ricci and so on. As an idea, however, there is a marvellous French perfume house called Juliette Has A Gun which sells a delightful range of nine samples that you won’t find on the high street. Each perfume comes in its own envelope with a card describing the scent.

At just EU10, decency dictates you would need to buy another gift. Rest assured, however, that this will be very well received.

Artistry luxury lipstick and powder blush compact

The wonderful people at Artistry were kind enough to send us a couple of samples that were quickly snapped up by John’s wife, Gill. One was a signature lipstick in daring red and the other a compact.

Before tearing into the packaging, however, Gill stopped in her tracks. “Do you need to take a photograph before I use it?” she asked, demonstrating that she and has got used to being a blogger’s spouse.

Both items were a huge hit. In the words of John’s wife “it’s not a colour I’d usually wear but it’s great for a special occasion.” Gill loved the shades that came in the compact and was very impressed at the fact it was refillable.

These are higher-end items and the packaging and attention to detail attest to this. Both items are available exclusively from Amway.co.uk. Expect to pay 19.95 for the lipstick and 8.95 for the compact refill.

A memorable aperitif

You’ll no doubt drink wine on Valentine’s Day itself, but how about a memorable aperitif? Based in the Yorkshire Wolds, Raisthorpe Manor produces a range of liqueurs using locally sourced ingredients.

These include; blood orange and toffee caramel vodkas plus damson port and damson gin.

We have tried a few of these drinks out and they are very distinctive. They make a refreshing change from your usual sloe gin etc.

In fact Raisthorpe Manor has a number of different gift packs. In addition to its drinks it produces chocolates and preserves so you may want to visit the website to explore the complete range.

There are a few ideas. We hope they’ve inspired you. If you have other gift ideas, please leave a comment below.

We also hope to see you at The Sophisticated Gent very soon!

Disclosure; some products were provided to us for review purposes. Thoughts and opinions are entirely our own.