Relax

CBME : CBD infused dried fruit packs

We always try to find that unique little CBD 'something’; be it edible, topical or more recently, home fragrance. Well, today at The Amazing Blog, we’ve found these CBD infused dried fruits - which, as you can imagine, really piqued our interest! Created by CBMEa CBD wellness company, they’ve recently launched this range of three CBD infused dried fruits with Uplift, Relax, and Relieve.

CBME came to life thanks to Bhavin Morjaria, the founder and chief product creator. As a registered pharmacist with over ten years of health and wellness experience, Bhavin created CBME to provide his customers with everyday food products, for a ‘personalised CBD experience’. The primary mission of the brand is to try to redefine CBD to make it more adaptable. The CBME idea started when Bhavin noticed that he and his mother were using the same CBD products, but to relieve different issues. He was using the CBD to help reduce stress and improve his wellbeing, whereas his mother, Mina, was using the CBD to relieve her joint pain. Although Mina still takes other prescription medications, she has since taken a lower dose of her prescribed painkillers by using CBD.. This inspired him to develop products that are tailored to tackle specific issues more effectively. Bhavin said, “We saw that the same CBD products were being recommended no matter who you were. We are all not the same, so why should our wellness product be the same? So we went on our mission to create and personalise our CBD products.” He further harnesses this with a more holistic approach using CBD as the key ingredient. However, by adding other minerals and botanicals to enhance further the positive effects of the CBD, it offers more amplified effects of wellbeing. Using his pharmaceutical knowledge, he has combined CBD and Ayurvedic medicine to make these first CBD coated dried fruit packs. The three blends, Uplift, Relax and Relieve  (see our review below) are all made with organic broad-spectrum CBD distillate, CBG, and natural terpenes, to optimise the full plant energy. The dried fruit packs are vegan, have no allergens, and are THC-free. These Uplift and Relax dried fruit packs have added sugar or sweetener whereas the Relieve dried fruit pack is sugar and sweetener free. CBME want to offer consumers a natural and healthier alternative to the other high-calorie CBD infused edibles available. Apart from selling CBD edibles, they are also committed to educating people about the benefits of hemp and CBD through short informative videos, which can be found here, and have a CBD dosage calculator here to help the consumer determine how much they should take. All the hemp used is grown and sourced from Columbia, and 3rd party lab-tested in California.

We received all three CBD dried fruit packs, Uplift (pineapple), Relax (papaya), and Relieve (apricot). These CBD snacks are unique, where each pack contains a blend of different ingredients designed to target a variety of needs. These dried fruits are enhanced with other ingredients; so let’s start with the ones they all share. There is CBD broad spectrum distillate in each fruit, meaning it is THC-free and the whole plant is used to retain full-plant synergy. All the combined terpenes encourage the ‘entourage effect’, which allows the consumer to get the maximum benefits from the CBD. All the dried fruit are coated with CBD, which they claim will enable it to be absorbed faster, promoting its effectiveness. While they all include this kind of CBD, the fruits are also fortified with CBG, another cannabinoid found in hemp plants. This natural CBG cannabigerol has several extra enhanced health benefits known for reducing pain and inflammation and also acting as an anti-depressant. Many CBD products contain only a tiny quantity of CBG, so we were pleased to see a more substantial presence in all these dried fruits. Each pack has a different mix of natural flower derived terpenes, minerals and botanical elements, that when added with CBD, enhance overall wellbeing. 

In Uplift, there’s a combination of dried pineapple and ashwagandha root. Each piece has 35mg CBD and is designed to help regulate stress hormones and relieve anxiety. Ashwagandha is a revitalising herb that’s known to ease anxiety and promote calmness. It is an adaptogen, a substance known to help your body adapt to everyday physical and emotional stressors. This product is also infused with what they call ‘happy terpenes’, which are derived from a flower strain rich in limonene and myrcene. Limonene is a very energising terpene, and myrcene has antibiotic and anti-inflammatory properties. The organic stevia found in Uplift contributes to its sweetness giving this triangular pineapple slice an almost candied-like appearance. Another very important ingredient are the probiotics, which are here to help improve gut health and balance the natural microbiota. CBME recommends eating one of these rejuvenating pineapple slices to help get your day off to a good start!

Next, we tried the Relax pack, which also has 35mg of CBD, infused into each papaya piece. These are aimed to help inspire calm, with the infusion of botanicals and relaxing plant terpenes working together to recharge and aid sleep. The other addition is magnesium, an essential mineral that is crucial for keeping balanced levels of GABA, a neurotransmitter that relaxes the brain and encourages restorative sleep. There are also hops that are closely related to cannabis sativa, and include xanthohumol, an antioxidant that helps induce a deep sleep.  Finally, the griffonia seeds, with natural 5-htp an element that increases serotonin which is known to improve mood and increase levels of calmness. And also raises melatonin production levels, the hormone that is connected to our sleep-cycle.  They also add back any of the natural terpenes that are lost during the extraction process, so in this pack they’ve put back the ‘relaxing terpenes’ high in linalool and terpinolene. Linalool has soothing and sedative properties, and terpinolene, can help treat insomnia. Again, like the pineapple pieces, these papaya slices look like candied fruits, although these have cane sugar instead of sweetener. The brand explained to use why they have the addition of either sweetener or sugar in both ‘Relax’ and ‘Uplift,’ “The sweetness in the pineapple and papaya is because without the added sugar they would become super sour when dried. So need a bit of sugar at curing, the ashwagandha and the other ingredients are very bitter so the added sweetness keeps them palatable.”. We like the idea of eating a piece or two to relax at the end of a busy day - but if taking before going to sleep, be sure you brush your teeth!

Lastly, Relieve, where each dried apricot has 50mg of CBD, and been infused to help ease aches and pains, or sore joints. To meet its purpose of naturally reducing inflammation or pain, the dried apricots are infused with turmeric, black pepper and soothing terpenes from ‘pain-relieving flower strains.’ Turmeric is a potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant. The compound, curcumin, found within turmeric are known to aid conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and support anti-inflammatory issues. As for the black pepper, it increases the body’s absorption level of curcumin by up to 2000%.  The anti-inflammatory terpenes that the apricots contain are rich in beta-caryophyllene. Beta-caryophyllene has several health-benefits like decreasing cholesterol levels, reducing anxiety and pain, and bringing down inflammation. These are great for combatting the sore muscles after a workout, or for relieving any arthritic or joint pain, and were our favourite of the three. Mainly because they’re the only the natural fruit with no added sugar or sweetener, and also in this cold damp weather, we notice more joint pain and these have the more relevant benefits for us.

We think these dried fruit packs are perfect for each of their intended purposes. We know what you’re all dying to ask; how do they taste? Like dried fruit (or candied fruit) with a slight hemp tang as an after taste, which is probably why some have been sweetened. For us, as CBD aficionados they tasted delicious, but for the uninitiated, they might take a little bit of getting used to. If you are looking for a day with reduced stress, take an Uplift piece in the morning to kick off the day. And if you want to give your body a break and unwind for a good night's sleep, then the Relax papaya piece might do the trick. Or for those days when muscles are sore, or you’re suffering from the after-effects of a big gym workout, then try a Relieve dried fruit piece before sleep. NB: The FSA recommended dosage of CBD is 70mg per day - so bear that in mind if you are tempted to eat the whole packet in one go! We were sent the ‘Try Me’ packs which you can buy here which contain 5 pieces for £13 for the Uplift and Relax, and for £15 for the Relieve.

CBME are also happy to offer 30% off your first purchase exclusively to our readers, all you have to do is enter discount code AMAZING at the checkout. - valid until 31/02/22.

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!

Flower and Spice - Rose & Coriander Travel/Discovery Set

 At The Amazing Blog, we all can relate to the need to pamper ourselves after a hectic week at the office. Therefore, we like to treat ourselves with natural skincare products that are both soothing and calming. So when someone suggested we try the newly launched skincare brand Flower and Spice with their range of natural and organic products, we did just that!

After deciding to stop working in the marketing industry, Flower and Spice founder Karmen Novak  went on to studying organic skincare science at UK-based Formula Botanica before launching the brand last year. Her mission is to ‘...bring nature back to your daily life.’ After experiencing great results on her own skin from the selection of natural oils she chose, Karmen decided to share her propriety blend of essential oils with the world, all in the form of her first launched product the much haled Midnight Beauty Rich Revitalising Serum. Since then, she has gone on to release two other equally successful products. While we only got to try two out of their three products, in the Rose & Coriander Travel/Discovery Set we were extremely pleased with the results. The set is comprises of two of Flower and Spice’s, products the Soothe and Repair Daily Moisturiser and the Midnight Beauty Rich Revitalising Serum. Both of these contain rose absolute and coriander seed oil and other botanical ingredients ensuring the efficacy while also exuding a gentle and relaxing aroma during use

The first product in the set is the Midnight Beauty Rich Revitalising Serum. This contains ten essential oils and is void of any parabens and fillers. In addition to the rose and coriander oils, the serums are antioxidant rich with other oils like prickly pear, plum seed, jojoba, apricot seed, argan, evening primrose and macadamia. Together these work to regulate your skin’s oil production and the texture of your skin by hydrating and preventing signs of ageing.  Flower & Spice recommend using this alone at night-time by simply gently press about three pumps of the serum onto cleansed skin. However, If like one of our team, you have particularly dry skin we suggest using this Serum in tandem with the Soothe and Repair Daily moisturiser during the day.  Let the Serum sink into your skin before applying the moisturiser to lock-in the effects.  

Next we tried was the Soothe and Repair Daily Moisturiser. While the rose absolute in the moisturiser provides an aromatherapy feel, other plant-based ingredients such as the anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory coriander seed oil, grape seed oil, the rare prickly pear seed oil, aloe vera, rosewater and arctic oat extract all soothe, smooth and moisturise giving the skin a dewy, supple complexion. After cleansing skin, apply a generous amount of the moisturiser for day or night. This Rose & Coriander Travel/Discovery Set is perfect to use either individually or together with a layer effect depending on your skin type. Start your journey towards giving your skin a special relaxing treat by purchasing the duo set which contains a 30ml bottle of the Moisturiser and an 10ml bottle of the Serum here for £61.43 and if you purchase now you get 2 gifts offered!

Nathalie Bond - Bloom Body Oil

London is starting to be a crimson and fiery orange dream, thanks to the autumn leaves. However, the crisp air can start to affect our skin’s moisture levels, especially when you have sensitive skin. As our regular readers will know, we’re more than just a tad fussy about what we use on our bodies, and are always eager to know what the ingredients are. Today The Amazing Blog is reviewing a product by the certified COSMOS Organic & Natural and cruelty-free skincare brand, Nathalie Bond. Their products are made in small batches, so we know we’re getting the quality that we deserve. We’re fans of this organic skincare brand and have recently reviewed their Bloom Lip Balm, here.

Nathalie Bond uses cold pressed and sustainably sourced oils. This family-run business has a range of products with handmade soap, lip salves, balms, body/face oils, scrubs, bath salts candles, and mists.

We gave their Bloom Body Oil a whirl. This oil is certified organic and 100% natural, 99% of the natural ingredients are organic. The Bloom Body Oil contains safflower seed oil, jojoba seed oil, rose geranium flower oil, palmarosa oil, patchouli oil, and vitamin E. Safflower oil is known to rejuvenate and moisturise damaged skin. Jojoba oil is found in most natural skincare products, due to its quick absorbing properties. We found the Bloom Body Oil wasn’t greasy, it absorbed well and did wonders to hydrate our skin. Nathalie Bond recommends this oil for all skin types and we couldn’t get enough of the beautiful rose geranium and patchouli fragrance, it left our skin gently scented. You can purchase Nathalie Bond’s  Bloom Body Oil 30ml for £10.00 or the 100ml bottle for £24.00 here. There is free shipping on orders over £40 in the UK.

Pure Massage

I signed up on something of a whim to run a 10k Race For Life in aid of Cancer Research, slightly unprepared for the challenge that lay ahead. I hadn't run since the days of cross country club at school, and the treadmill was always the one machine in the gym I avoided like the plague. However, following my aunt's diagnosis with breast cancer, and never one to turn down a challenge I began running again, determined to complete the 10k  without stopping to walk.

What followed was a very sweaty 10 weeks, in which my co-workers at The Amazing Blog witnessed my hobbling into work, my aching limbs, and a rather dodgy knee. And having completed the race with Eleanor and Sarah cheering me along, suffice to say that the following day my body was ravaged. Thankfully, I was booked in for a relaxing massage at Pure Massage in Fulham, a haven of tranquility tucked away from the lively Fulham Broadway.

I was taken into one of the treatment rooms by my friendly massuese and after leaving the room to allow me to undress she swiftly returned to work her magic. She begun the massage by placing a warm towel on my ankles and feet, which had an immediately soothing effect. With calming music playing in the background I slipped into a blissful state as warm oil was expertly worked into my throbbing muscles, with special attention being paid to my shoulders and calves which were, unsurprisingly particularly tight. After having massaged my back, neck and calves I was then turned over so the masseuse could concentrate on my legs and feet, and it seemed that the hour had passed in the blink of an eye.

Following the massage we briefly touched upon my exercise regime and the importance of regular massages in order to recover from strain and injury was emphasised upon. I was also told to ensure that I stay hydrated at all times - particularly when training. Given that after my Race For Life I swiftly signed up for a half marathon, I'll certainly be going back for a post run massage!

And so, whether, like me you're after a massage to help the condition and recovery of your body in relation to exercise, or whether you simply fancy indulging in a bit of me-time away from the hustle and bustle of London (particularly during the all-encompassing Olympics) visit Pure Massage in either Fulham or Bond Street - and with 15% off for all new clients, what's not to love?!