Berrichi - Day Age Defence & Night Power Defence

We think it’s important to use different types of skincare for day and night and at The Amazing Blog, we’ve discovered a great natural skincare brand Berrichi with their Day Age Defence and Night Power Age Defence, both of which contain very special extracts from green and red microalgae. Berrichi firmly believes in the philosophy that clean and natural is best for the skin, which is a philosophy that we can certainly get behind!

Berrichi is a brand that hails all the way from Estonia, it was founded by Berit Joosep, whose struggle with dry skin and inflammation prompted her to look for natural alternatives. Thus Berrichi was born where it started life made small batches in Joosep’s kitchen, where she drew inspiration from books on herbal culture and ancient beauty techniques. Today Berrichi is a multi-award-winning skincare brand, exporting globally and recognised for leading the way with ‘clean beauty’ and its unique botanicals.

The two products that we reviewed were their Day Age and Night Power Defence creams, both which are recommended to be used together. They feature some of nature’s strongest antioxidants, with their unique microalgae-based astaxanthine an extract derived from the green algae haematococcus pluvialis, the carotenoids contained in the astaxanthin protects the cells from free radicals (a natural antioxidant 500 x more powerful than vitamin E. and 800 x more effective than CoQ10). The red algae furcellaria which is found in the Baltic sea is a strong neutraliser of free radicals, anti-pollution and removes toxins. These are blended with other ingredients of cacay, avocado, apricot, jojoba and kukui oils, all of which help the skin to bloom. You may be questioning the ingredient of algae; well we learned that it has long been a hero ingredient for centuries in Asian beauty with its moisturising, calming and anti-ageing properties. This powerful combination of botanical ingredients penetrates the dermis to give the skin an even texture, aiding skin tone and supporting elasticity and immunity.

Let’s begin with The Day Age Difference, which won Editor’s Choice at The Beauty Shortlist Awards in 2018. It offers 24-hour hydration for a soft, youthful glow while calming irritated, inflamed or hypoallergic skin. The Day Cream is light and absorbs quickly, making it ideal to use alone or as a makeup base. It retails for 36€ for 50 ml here.  Then there is The Night Power Defence, which has a thicker formulation for slower, deeper overnight absorption. The Night Power Defence cream provides deep nourishment, hydration and regeneration, leaving the skin firm and balanced. It helps to slow down the signs of ageing while improving collagen production and the removal of toxins. It can be purchased for 39€ for 50ml here.  

Both products are free from parabens, sulphates and vegan, organic and cruelty-free. We think that they make a perfect combination for city living protecting us from pollution, whilst also delivering long-lasting hydration. Keep an eye out for Simon’s review of their Smoothing Age Defence which will appear shortly. We can’t wait to try more from Berrichi and they certainly get the thumbs up from us!

Friday Favourites – Healing Face Mists

Don’t you love it when you wake up, spray your face with a natural, delicate and fresh face mist, both invigorating and uplifting, all to start your day off right. At The Amazing Blog, we’ve always been keen on facial mists, but in our recent search we’ve found that too many high street facial mists are ineffective, watery or filled with chemicals. Today we’re happy to say that we’ve discovered some new and natural healing mist solutions to share with you.  We hope you enjoy them as much as we have.

The first #Amazingfind healing mist we have is from Max and Me, a company dedicated to making you look better but also feeling better.

The brand was founded by Max and Tanja Gruber, who set out to create skincare that they quote that it “Goes beyond mere product performance. Skincare that suffuses you with a most beautiful, vibrant flow of energy.” Max is the entrepreneurial spirit of the pair, and designed the company’s structure so it is as fully ethical as possible particularly regarding ingredient sourcing and sustainability. His partner, Tanja trained in Energetic Healing, Kinesiology, and Aromatherapy for three years at the Austrian Academy of Kinesiology. The couple’s respective backgrounds fused into a line of unique skin care products with an energy-healing basis.

The Intuitive is a botanical facial mist that has a blend of ingredients to ‘elevate skin, soul, and spirit’. One of the main ingredients, palo santo, is an Ecuadorian-sourced plant that heals and increases positive energy around you, which uplifts your mood. On top of this, wild agonis essential oil regulates your circadian rhythm for better sleeping at night, and blue tansy relaxes and calms your mind. These natural ingredients work to balance the flow of energy around you and reduce any negative ions while smelling like the woods after it rains. They are also gentle yet effective for inflamed, dry, or acne-prone skin.

Besides providing much-needed relief to our dry summer skin, what drew us to this product was its healing effects. When we sprayed it, we instantly felt tranquil - and it’s something that we’ve carried with us throughout the day even as we walked through the busy London streets. You can use this facial mist for many purposes, such as a room and pillow spray or mixed with a balm for a face mask, but we preferred using it on freshly cleansed skin to let our moisturiser soak in better. The spray has very fine particles, which evenly distribute the mist onto your face, and is hand-blended into a sturdy glass bottle. You can purchase The Intuitive (100ml) here for 70 €.

The next product we have for you is made specifically for skin hydration by Alexandra Soveral. As regular readers will know, we recently featured her Sweet Orange & Rosemary Shampoo. Soveral founded the brand with her business partner Jori Aleem to form natural products developed using cutting edge science. Before starting her beauty and perfume line, Soveral spent time understanding skin as an aromatherapist and facialist. She also learned how to curate products organically as a cosmetic designer. The company is also dedicated to sustainability and given the Positive Luxury Butterfly Mark, which ‘identifies the luxury brands that meet the highest standards of verified innovation, social, and environmental performance’. It uses pure and natural ingredients found in its Floral Rain Hydrating Face Mist.

This face mist combines vitamins and antioxidants with essential oils that hydrate and even your skin, making it optimal to use as a toner to prep your face for oils, serums, or moisturiser. Aloe vera nourishes your skin but doesn’t make the product watery so that you can use it over make up for a midday skin pick-me-up. The orange blossom and rose scent is also refreshing to use on your neck and décolletage. We found that it smells good when sprayed around your surroundings as with just a single spritz of the mist, the fragrance holds its aroma. It is hand-blended in London and packaged in a recyclable plastic bottle. You can buy the Hydrating Face Mist (250ml) here for £45.

Finally, to complete this week’s Friday Favourite’s trio of healing mists, we have the Universal Soul Company’s, 3-in-1 Soul Mist in their signature fragrance STILL. The luxury lifestyle brand was founded by well-known British actress Sara Griffiths to value all five of your senses amid all the media and technology that surrounds us and empower others through positive well-being. The company focuses on the idea of ‘profit for purpose’ and donates a portion of its revenue to different causes as another way to enable others. The Universal Soul Company also has the Positive Luxury Butterfly Mark of approval for sustainability.

The name of the Soul Mist comes from its three intended uses: room spray, meditation, and pillow mist. Instead of needing three separate products, only this mist is necessary throughout your day from morning until night. Patchouli and vetiver base notes combine to create a strong musky scent while lavender oil and may chang layered on top of it create a sweet floral fragrance that appears a few moments after spraying the mist. May chang has been proven to relieve fatigue and lethargy, leaving you in a better mood and lavender helps you sleep and relieves body aches. The mist is made with 100 per cent natural essential oils and mineral waters, which break up air molecules and generate negative ions of well-being like being near a waterfall or the ocean. It is alcohol-free, vegan, cruelty-free, and has no artificial fragrances, so it is safe for use on your face and around children, animals, and furniture.

The 3-in-1 Soul Mist is Universal’s first brand product, and it does not disappoint. The smell made us feel instantly relaxed and lasted. We found it was particularly helpful in making us feel less stressed when waking up and getting going in the morning. You can purchase the hand-blended product (100ml) here for £37.

These three healing mists prove that creating a relaxed state of mind is not just reserved for a retreat or an exclusive yoga studio. In fact, they teach you how you can build a tranquil zone of your own with just one spray. Using each of these healing mists helped us to feel like we could conquer the day with both an uplifted mood and more radiant looking skin!

Alexandra Soveral - Sweet Orange & Rosemary Shampoo

We’re always wistfully wishing for thick and more luscious looks here at The Amazing Blog but the goal of achieving this is easier said than done! While many haircare products claim to nourish and strengthen hair, the reality is that many contain harsh chemical cleansers that actually strip the hair and scalp from all its natural oils, making it brittle and dry. That’s why we were thrilled to discover Alexandra Soveral’s Sweet Orange & Rosemary Shampoo’s with its nourishing natural and organic formula, which is why it is one of this week’s #amazingfinds.

Cult facialist Alexandra Soveral’s beauty and fragrance brand launched over than 10 years ago, all with the ethos of delivering natural artisanal products produced with cutting edge science. All Soveral‘s products contain natural raw ingredients that are hand-blended in small batches here in London. They strive to ensure sustainability, and have been awarded the Positive Luxury Butterfly mark for its clean formulas.

Their balancing Sweet Orange & Rosemary Shampoo have no parabens, animal products, harmful chemicals or fragrances and most importantly no sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS). This shampoo is enriched with organic essential oils like sweet orange to vitalise the hair and rosemary to leave hair shiny and bouncy. An added bonus is that these oils give the shampoo a zesty, rosemary scent for a reviving smell every use. It doesn’t dry the scalp and is enriched with anti-inflammatory properties making it perfect for those who have an itchy or sensitive scalp. Since it doesn’t contain this drying foaming agent, the shampoo doesn’t lather as much (no SLS’s) as others might. With all these organic ingredients ensure hair is left shiny and luscious.

As the products are hand-blended and comprised of organic ingredients, the consistency and fragrance of the shampoo can vary depending on the season it’s produced. However, the ‘organic, antioxidant and multi-vitamin formula’ still remains the same.  We used the Sweet Orange & Rosemary Shampoo, as a frequent wash shampoo. We’re very happy to report that it not only helped to balance the pH of our hair and scalp, but is also suitable for coloured hair too – a big bonus in our eyes! To purchase a 250 ml bottle of the Sweet Orange & Rosemary Shampoo for £30 see here.

Antonym – Quattro Eyeshadow, Eye Pencil, and Lipstick Pencil

It’s a given for regular readers of The Amazing Blog that we love natural and organic makeup and skin care products. Although, many people also associate organic products with lighter pigments and less staying power than conventional products that may use synthetic ingredients. That’s why we were thrilled to try makeup range from Antonym, an organic brand certified natural and organic by Ecocert Greenlife loved by makeup artists.

 As a well-known Miami based makeup artist herself, Valerie “Val” Giraud set out in 2010 to create makeup products and brushes that have organic and natural ingredients and are cruelty-free and gentle enough for sensitive skin. In keeping with creating a clean makeup line, Giraud wanted to ensure the products had high performance—something she thought organic makeup products at the time were lacking. She believes that ‘natural makeup doesn’t have to mean a natural look’ and we can attest to this statement after using these three glam products.

The first two items we tested were the Quattro Eyeshadow in Croisette and the Certified Natural Eye Pencil Noir. The eyeshadows come in four shades (Moon, Salmon, Bark and Black) to use separately or together to create a sultry smoky eye. These colours are not only intense and long-lasting but have a smooth and velvety finish to brighten any eye colour. One of the key ingredients of the Quattro Eyeshadow is the natural mineral mica, making this product ideal for sensitive eyes because it will not irritate them. To pair with the eyeshadow palette is their Certified Natural Eye Pencil Noir. It is preservative-free and dermatologically tested, so it is safe to use on your delicate waterline. Organic ingredients like marula and jojoba oil additionally moisturise and nourish eyes. However, what we love about this liner is that it applies rich colour so smoothly and is water resistant while containing ingredients that won’t have you rubbing at your eyes all night. We loved smudging this liner into our lash line and waterline on top of the Quattro palette for an evening look.

Of course, the last product to complete any makeup look is lipstick. We found that the Certified Natural Lipstick Pencil Koral is the ideal product to keep in your handbag for the summer. It comes in a convenient pencil and is easy to apply without a mirror, perfect for on-the-go touch ups before lunch in Hyde Park. Koral is a bright orange colour that looks gorgeous with a tan and has a glossy finish for a dewy but not sweaty look this summer. What also makes this lipstick perfect for the hot and humid weather is that it will also keep your lips hydrated with sunflower oil and shea butter. The formula also includes vitamin C and E to nourish lips while leaving a long-lasting and waterproof colour. We recommend using this lipstick with the two eye products to really tie your look together or build up the colour for a bold statement.

You can purchase the Natural Lipstick Pencil here only on the USA website (for now) for $17 and the Quattro Eyeshadow, which comes in a sturdy bamboo case with a dual-sided brush, here for £37. The Natural Eye Pencil includes a conveniently detachable sharpener on one end and you can purchase it here for £18.

Pevonia - Rapid Restore Lip Balm

While we’ve loved all the innovative beauty products we have reviewed from the brand Pevonia  on The Amazing Blog, we’d like to step back and rave on one of the brand’s simpler products: the Rapid Restore Lip Balm. Even with their lip balm, we think that Pevonia has gone above and beyond the average lip salve, by formulating a product (that is also clinically proven) to combat anti-ageing signs that affect your lips with only 100% natural ingredients.

Since the brands launchin the 1990s, Pevonia aims to bring spa-like results with products that contain simple plant extracts and natural green ingredients. Pevonia’s Rapid Restore Lip Balm has been formulated with the same ethos and contains no parabens, artificial fragrances or colours, mineral oil, lanolin and alcohol. The Lip Balm  also contains a compelling blend of vitamin C and E, shea butter, vegetable oil and a soothing rose extract to rejuvenate, repair, moisturise and increase lip volume for a plump and soft pout. Unlike many lip balms in the market, Rapid Restore Lip Balm also works to combat the first sign of anti-ageing that targets your lip contour.  The exfoliating texture of the balm provides an extra step to deeply polish away any rough skin and toxins that might also be affecting the softness of your pout.

When we used Rapid Restore Lip Balm, we exfoliated our lips before for optimal results. Then applied this balm as one would any other lip balm, by massaging it in gently. If you’ve noticed your lips are a little dry after applying lipstick, don’t worry the Rapid Restore Lip Balm is safe to be used over lipstick to add moisture back in. Since it is free from any irritating chemicals, its perfect for re-applying as and when needed on a daily basis. The balm also comes in a handy and compact 35 oz tube. To get your own moisturised, plump pout for the summer, you can purchase the Rapid Restore Lip Balm for £24 here.