NAÏF – Baby Travel Kit

With the arrival of the Royal Baby a couple of weeks ago, it seems like the whole world (us included) has gone a bit baby mad! With an influx of baby friendly products sure to arrive on the UK market hoping to help Kate with her second babe, we here at The Amazing Blog have been on the look out for the crème de la crème of baby skincare. Dutch brand, NAÏF, offer a wonderful range of natural toddler treats fit for a king (or future queen). Their Baby Travel Kit offers miniatures of their most loved products, perfect for looking after your own little prince or princess.

Packaged in a sweet and environmentally friendly paper zip-up bag, the Baby Travel Kit comes with everything you need to comfort your little one whilst out and about. Adorned with cute little doodles, the kit consists of four travel sized baby products; Diaper Cream, Cleansing Wash Gel, Nurturing Cream and Softening Body Lotion, as well as a handy dummy cloth. With all of the products containing Natural Cottonseed Oil, as well as being hypo-allergenic and free from parabens, they’re perfect for nourishing your baby’s skin. Of course we couldn’t resist trying the products on our adult skin too. Our favourite is the Nurturing Cream. Packed with soothing Sweet Almond Oil and conditioning Avocado Oil, it really did make our skin feel baby soft, and left us wondering why we hadn’t tried out baby products on our own skin before.

Help your little cherub to feel like royalty with the NAÏF Baby Travel Kit. Pop over to their website and pick it up for £12.

Hammam Ritual - Luxury Black Soap with Argan Oil

Here at The Amazing Blog, we love learning about international beauty secrets to allow us become more diverse while simultaneously helping our beauty routine. Our latest cultural beauty discovery is the Moroccan black soap from Hammam Ritual. The products and company are based in France, but the products they make are inspired by Moroccan culture and tradition.

Historically, a hammam ritual is a weekly practice where Moroccan people go to a community bathing area in order to cleanse themselves and catch up on local gossip. Black soap in particular was a product commonly used during these ancient cleansing rituals, and its benefits are still praised today. It can be used as a scrub or a cream, and it works to exfoliate, hydrate and soften the skin with ease.

The soap is 100% natural and plant-based, made up of water and crushed black olives and occasionally enhanced with eucalyptus. It works even on sensitive skin, while it eliminates toxins and impurities.

At the office, we tried the Hammam Ritual Black Soap enriched with Argan Oil, which you can purchase here for €19 (it's coming directly from the European website in France, but we hope it will be available in pounds soon). We loved the light scent and ultra-moisturising power of the soap, which left our skin super soft and smooth. 

Acqua di Parma - Italian Resort Collection

Here at The Amazing Blog, we're huge fans of Acqua di Parma. Steeped in Italian-style glamour, we can't get enough of the classy brand. True to their Italian nature, they have unmistakeable sophistication, exquisite craftsmanship and high quality ingredients. Needless to say, we were delighted to receive samples from their new line, The Italian Resort Collection.

Housed in their iconic blue bottles, the new range is every bit as chic as the brand's previous releases, and uses an age-defying Mediterranean Re-Activating Complex from the Sicilian Maritime Pine in its formula to revitalise skin and leave it feeling youthful and radiant. The range provides the perfect tool for prepping our skin for summer, and, true to form, it all smells divine.

The range consists of two sections, a Face and a Body Skincare Routine. Of the Face Skincare Routine, we had the chance to sample the Revitalising Eye Cream. A rich, unscented cream, it's the perfect for perking up your peepers, helping to reduce signs of aging, and brighten up the eye area. Of course, your face isn’t the only thing that feels the effects of ageing, and our favourite product from the Body Skincare Routine is most certainly the Toning Body Oil. A deliciously scented, nourishing oil, it helps to smooth and soften your skin, whilst giving it the most beautiful sheen, worthy of any Mediterranean holiday.

Pick up the Revitalising Eye Cream here, and the Toning Body Oil here for £51 and £45 respectively. You can also head over to Acqua di Parma’s website for more information about the collection and to sign up for their club to make a purchase.

Friday Favourites - Tanning Feature

Here at The Amazing Blog, we love to have a sun kissed glow all year round. We also know it’s important for it not to look like it’s come out of a bottle. Sunless tanning has come a long way over the last few years, but it’s not just about the tanning product. The preparation and maintenance is key to achieving a good look. We’ve selected a few of our favourite tanning products that will give you a sun-kissed glow without the tell-tale signs.

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The perfect pre-tan exfoliator is Cocoa Brown’s Tough Stuff. This award-winning exfoliator is a bit thicker than other brands, making it really effective on the problem areas: elbows, knees and hands. You can even use the formula on dry skin if you need a deeper exfoliation. Skin is left silky smooth and tan ready.  Cocoa Brown has another fabulous product called Chocolate Whip. It's oil free, it smells lovely and leaves skin really soft without stripping your tan. The products just start at £2.50 and you can find them all here.

One of our favourite self-tanning mousses is the Rapid Mousse from Sunkissed Bronzing. This lightweight formula is easy to apply and smells OK too. We recommend applying the product with a tanning mitt for an even finish. Make sure you give the bottle a shake before you apply so it’s mixed properly. It dries almost immediately, while key ingredients such as Aloe Vera and Vitamin E work to moisturise your skin. Your tan will be completely set and ready to rock in 60 minutes. The best part is that it retails for only £4.99 and you can find it here.

A common issue with a DIY tan is its tendency to ruin your clothes and those nice Egyptian cotton sheets.  Fear no more, the clever team at Tan Guard have created The Original Tansie. The bright pink onesie is made with a unique material that allows skin to breathe while your tan sets, so you won’t sweat which prevents streaks and stains. We found it to be lightweight and very comfortable, so we felt safe and free to relax while our tan set. The tansie is a disposable product, so use it once or a few times before purchasing a new one, no washing required.  You can buy it online here for just £5.

Our final favourite is the West Coast Bronzing Face Serum from Madame LA LA.  We are already huge fans of their self-tan, but this latest addition is our new obsession.  It gives you a beautiful, instant glow while a gorgeous tan develops underneath. The formula has plenty of skin-loving ingredients – coconut water, aloe, green tea and Vitamin E – which will keep your skin hydrated. Dewy, fresh-faced skin was all over the SS15 catwalks and West Coast’s finish is absolutely on-trend. It’s so good, I don't even wear foundation on top.  Madame LA LA is sold in Urban Outfitters and Fenwicks across the UK, but you can also pick it up online here.

L'Artisan Perfumer - Rose Privee

We here at The Amazing Blog love a good scent. Our friends at L’Artisan Parfumeur have recently launched a new perfume to feed our fragrance addiction that is simply irresistible. The floral Rose Privée incorporates the rare May Rose for a wonderful smell.

The May Rose is fragile, precious and highly prized. It can only be picked when in bloom during the month of May. With this fragrance, L’Artisan Parfumeur is one of the few brands to blend this flower into their product.

Though May Rose is the star of this fragrance, hints of carnation, magnolia, lilac, basil and violet leaves are also present. This is the perfect scent for spring. It is presented in a luxurious package that we love!

The scent was created by Master perfumer, Bertrand Duchaufour, and  his apprentice, Stéphanie Bakouche. L’Artisan Parfumeur values the tradition of French craftsmanship and this scent was inspired by the South of France.

You can buy Rose Privee L'Artisan Parfumeur here for £77.00