It’s that time of year again where the weather turns frigid, the plant life turns brown and fades back into the earth, and the magic within our culture comes alive with lights, gift giving, feast having and general merriment. It’s not the shopping that I love so much as I love experiencing the joy and wonder and surprise on the faces of my loved ones when I nailed it by giving them the right gift to light up their faces.
That’s why internet shopping makes things simpler for gift buying, because you can shop at your leisure, when time allows, and without the headaches of going store to store to store in hopes of finding the right thing. When online, there’s no lines, no screaming children, no shortages of stock, and no blaring Christmas music on repeat. You can call me a grump or a grinch, and I won’t argue with you. Here are my favorite holiday gift finds of the year, which I know will inspire your gift giving, because we all know that person who has everything and is damn near impossible to buy for. But they probably don’t have this…
Maison Lambert’s Ultimate Shaving Kit
Most men in my family are difficult to buy for, but this year, I’ve found the perfect gift in Maison Lambert’s Ultimate Shaving Kit. Maison Lambert is a luxury French craftsman who makes beard, shaving and other manly personal care products. Among their fine product selection, Maison Lambert makes beard balms, beard oils, mustache wax, beard shampoo, beard kits, combs, brushes and beard scissors, as well as soap, pre shave oil, aftershave, shaving soap, razors, lathering brushes, and toiletry kits. Their kits have that immediate effect of instilling confidence and awe in the receiver, because they look so nice and every item is made very well with each shining with a touch of class.
Their Ultimate Shaving Kit includes a beautiful double edge safety razor with 10 aura blade, a matching badger hair lathering brush, a stand for both razor and brush, a pre shave oil, aftershave oil, and an organic shaving soap. Plus, the entire kit comes in a striking vegan leather men’s toiletry bag. The moment you touch the bag or set sights on the pearlescent handles of both the razor and lathering brush, you can feel the quality. The overall aesthetic is dynamite, as are the effectiveness of the products. I worked with this kit for a few months, testing out everything several times and I came away very impressed.
Most men in my family are difficult to buy for, but this year, I’ve found the perfect gift in Maison Lambert’s Ultimate Shaving Kit. Maison Lambert is a luxury French craftsman who makes beard, shaving and other manly personal care products. Among their fine product selection, Maison Lambert makes beard balms, beard oils, mustache wax, beard shampoo, beard kits, combs, brushes and beard scissors, as well as soap, pre shave oil, aftershave, shaving soap, razors, lathering brushes, and toiletry kits. Their kits have that immediate effect of instilling confidence and awe in the receiver, because they look so nice and every item is made very well with each shining with a touch of class.
Their Ultimate Shaving Kit includes a beautiful double edge safety razor with 10 aura blade, a matching badger hair lathering brush, a stand for both razor and brush, a pre shave oil, aftershave oil, and an organic shaving soap. Plus, the entire kit comes in a striking vegan leather men’s toiletry bag. The moment you touch the bag or set sights on the pearlescent handles of both the razor and lathering brush, you can feel the quality. The overall aesthetic is dynamite, as are the effectiveness of the products. I worked with this kit for a few months, testing out everything several times and I came away very impressed.
Maison Lambert doesn’t mess around. They make high quality French-inspired shaving goods that can make any man feel like a king, even if only for a moment in time. The blade works well, sliding over the skin with little chance of cutting deep, thanks to the double edge safety design. The lathering brush looks high end and matches the razor, and the pure black badger hair holds the lathering soap well and works well at covering my face equally. The lathering soap is organic, and made with herbs, plant oils, extracts and essential oils, and feels good going on, and leaves my skin soother and less irritated than any shave I’ve ever had. The addition of pre shave oil and aftershave oil is a fantastic perk, because the pre shave works well to soothe and protect sensitive skin, cutting down on irritation, razor burn and gives my face a better overall appearance unlike harsher shaves. To further bring down the burn, Maison Lambert includes an unscented organic aftershave oil, which is a nice compliment to the set. If you want to give the gift that returns wide eyes and a smile this holiday season, consider giving a shaving or beard kit.
Click here to find out more about Maison Lambert
Click here to find out more about Maison Lambert
 Kyocera’s Fuji Ceramic Chef Knives Kyocera is a brand of unique cutlery from Japan, who specialize in ceramic chef knives, kitchen tools and cookware. I’ve worked with their products for years now and highly recommend them for home kitchens, because they’re very sharp, lightweight, and will never rust. Beyond that, I find these knives cut very well, cutting my prep time in half, and are easy to clean after use. My most recent trial was for their FUJI line of ceramic chef knives, which include a 5” utility knife, a 6” Santoku knife, and a 6.7” chef’s knife with rocker blade. Japan’s Fuji Sanctuary inspired the development of this series, with a harmonious blend of traditional and modern style of cooking. The handle is handmade with pakkawood, which is beautifully balanced, and the blade is made of a proprietary zirconia, which is extremely sharp and is advertised as staying sharper 10x longer than metal knives. The Utility knife blends beautifully into my kitchen process, providing me with a reliable all-purpose blade that I use for most cooking projects. The Santoku knife is my goto now for chopping, slicing, dicing and mincing vegetables. The star of the line is the 6.7” Chef’s knife, because of its size and design, which offers me a versatile rocker style blade that makes it easy to slice with back and forth motions. Ultimately, the rocker blade reduces fatigue in my already carpal tunnel-hindered hands, while giving me a consistency in my cut that I had lacked prior. Click here to find out more about Kyocera Cutlery  Catalyst Case for Apple iPad and iPhone If you’re a long time reader of Eye & Pen, you no doubt have come across my mentions of Catalyst Case, as they’re one of my favorite brands for device protection. For the past few years, I only use Catalyst Case for my phone and tablet case, because they’re pretty damn reliable. Not only can I toss my phone around all haphazard like and it survive, but I don’t have to be overly cautious around water, rain, sand or dust. For my phone, I prefer a case that provides some waterproof and drop proof protection without the obscene bulkiness that some companies design. Catalyst Case provides advanced protection while still remaining slimlined. This year, I decided to invest in another iPad and so I put Catalyst’s Impact Protection case to good use, and found it to be pretty good overall. It’s slim, adding a hugging edge case that assists in drop protection, but doesn’t encase the iPad in a 360-degree case like I have on my phone. Rarely do I venture too far out with my tablet, using it in office mostly, so I don’t need the waterproof capabilities, however, Catalyst does make that sort of case. I wanted something that would protect it from drops, while avoiding a bulky case that became more of a burden than a blessing. Click here to find out more about Catalyst Case (Main photo by sergeyalifanov via Flickr) |  Pelican Case’s R60 Personal Utility Ruck Case Pelican Case is one of the finest hardshell luggage makers in the industry. They are among my favorite travel gear and camera protection producers, because everything they make is heavy duty, built to last, and well thought out in its design. I use one of their cases for my kayaking trips, photography expeditions, and while camping. To have a protected hardshell case that can protect against water, dirt, snow and dust is invaluable when you’re out in the elements and carrying expensive electronic equipment. The R60 is a personal utility case that measures 8.9”x5.4”x3”, making it a perfect case to hold smaller electronics like your phone or digital camera, while keeping them protected from moisture and physical trauma. The R60 has a rigid divider tray built in as well as a flexible snap-in lid organizer. It’s rated waterproof at depths of 2 meters of water for up to 30 minutes. Other features include abrasive and impact proof ABS outer shell with dual pivot hinge latch and MOLLE style loop system with velcro straps. But to top it off, it’s the rubberized protective bumpers and built-in pressure valve that keeps water and dust out while balancing air pressure that I find most useful. It’s small, but powerful in its own right, because I can take my wallet, phone and other goodies along with me anywhere, and I won’t have to worry about much of anything happening to them. Click here to find out more about Pelican Case  HempFusion’s Hemp Extract Products HempFusion is a company that specializes in hemp-based supplements. While some of their products contain CBD (cannabidiol), many of their supplements contain the entire hemp plant, including seed and stalk, among other botanicals. They have products to help promote sleep, support stress relief, sore muscles, and even hemp-based probiotics. I tested some of their products and found them to be a nice addition to my other supplements, though, for serious ailments, pain, anxiety and sleep, I opt for a higher dosage of CBD. Their sleep supplement is indeed relaxing, as is their stress support supplement, which is the one I liked the most, especially due to the addition of ashwagandha, which is a superior natural adaptogen (helps your body adapt to the stress you have to deal with in your life). From there, my wife worked with their women’s health probiotic and found it helped to balance her system a bit. I also tried out their CBD Cream and found that it’s good when used as a massage aid, so long as the muscles are worked with pressure and myofascial release. The cream isn’t like a High CBD salve where you can simply rub it in and move on with your day as the CBD content is only 60mg per 2oz, instead of a higher concentration like 150mg per 1oz where I find true pain relief to be felt. Overall, I find HempFusion’s products to be good starter supplements for assisting in everyday wellness. Click here to find out more about HempFusion |
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