Eloise - The Queen Eye Shadow Palette

As they say, ‘a queen lies in all of us,’ or at least that’s what the make-up brand Eloise believes, and frankly we don’t disagree. Feeling like royalty on the inside is surely a great boost to one’s confidence, but looking the part, well that can be a little time-consuming to achieve! Luckily, we at The Amazing Blog, found The Queen Eyeshadow Palette by Eloise which has a plethora of colours and textures that will certainly aid the look, with lots of shimmers and shine to keep your eyes bold, dazzling and regal.

Eloise Beauty was founded in 2017, and regular readers of The Amazing Blog will remember that we featured more about the brand’s background and a selection of their gorgeous brushes, and Illuminating drops here. Their aim is to produce quality items and introduce a wide range of trend-led products that break away from conventional eye shadow palettes challenging the consumer to experiment with colours and textures. Their products are visually appealing, dressing table worthy and of course, deliver impeccable results. Their ultimate mission is to create state-of-the-art products that are 100% cruelty-free, exceptional in quality but all at an affordable pricepoint.

The Queen Eye Shadow Palette has an energising colour range, with undeniable strength and exquisite femininity. The palette features an extraordinary combination of 20 different highly pigmented shades ranging from pink and peach to violet and turquoise green, ensuring there’s something for everyone. It includes 8 buttery mattes, 6 dazzling shimmers, 1 pressed pearl, 4 metallics and 1 duo-chrome textured pigment all of which allows you to create a new array of looks i.e. festive and dramatic or soft and understated. Best of all this Palette suits each and every eye colour and skin tone, it has the ability to take you on a journey of its own and finally leaving you wanting more.

We had great fun creating our own special looks (with our different ages/skin tones) there were at least three or four different and favourite colours for each of us. Not only that, this palette is an absolute steal at only £35 and a must-have for every make-up aficionado. You can conveniently purchase The Queen Eye Shadow Palette on their official website here.

HuGG - CBD Skincare Products

No weekend is complete without some pampering and indulgence. Here at The Amazing Blog we’ve been lucky enough to discover a new range of CBD skincare products that will enhance your ‘you time’ as well as make your body and skin as smooth as butter. We’d like to introduce to you HuGG.

The HuGG CBD products are a range of cannabis-based products from the research firm CiiTECH; a registered UK cannabis biotech company and collaborative partner with Israel’s Hebrew University of Jerusalem – the epicentre of cannabis research and development. Using their knowledge and expertise of their CiiTECH researchers, the aim of The HuGG CBD is to discover, develop, and commercialise CBD products. Their collaborative efforts with leading Israeli cannabis research institutions – as well as local hemp suppliers here in the UK and EU – has allowed them to deliver market products based on a high level of quality and expertise. As you can discover from our recent feature on CBD (see here ) when it comes to your health, you need to choose CBD oil you can trust — in terms of quality, safety, and purity.  In a period where the fast-emerging CBD industry has been difficult to comprehend, not to mention overwhelmed with low-quality ‘snake oils’, it’s important to feel comfortable and confident with the CBD products you choose. The product development team at The HuGG collaborates and consults with leading researcher’s scientists to identify unique CBD formulas, plus innovative delivery systems, and advanced extraction techniques designed to create premium and leading products for every part of your mind and body. Plus HuGG recently swept the board with wins in the CBD categories for the 2020 Beauty Shortlist Awards.

We tried and tested a number of products. Let’s begin with the HuGG Coffee Body Scrub. It is antioxidant exfoliating facial scrub with 50mg CBD and when used, results in a youthful glow. Infused with essential oils and enriched with 50mg CBD, this ‘wake me up’ caffeine Inspired Scrub exfoliates, tightens pores as well as moisturises all in one. It smells so delicious, almost good enough to eat!  The CBD in this Scrub will aid your skin making it feel more radiant. Priced at £24.99 here we think that his CBD infused coffee scrub is an essential.

Next, we tried the HuGG CBD Massaging Oil.  We were sent a small 25ml bottle to try which sadly all went in one sitting so can’t confirm about the benefits here. Made with essential oils such as lavender, lemon and frankincense, in a base of sunflower seed oil, grapeseed oil and apricot kernel oil as well as 50mg CBD amongst various others, they claim that this body oil will leave you feeling blissful and calm. Not only can it be used as a massage oil but also as a skin indulging moisturiser. This oil smells amazing and absorbs easily into the skin without leaving a greasy residue. Priced at an affordable £17.99 here.

Let’s move onto the HuGG CBD Cuticle Oil ideal for feeding the nail beds. Made with lavender, rosemary, and clary sage essential oils and Infused with 20mg CBD, this cuticle oil creates a skin-soothing remedy for nails, hands and feet. This mani-pedi style of nail care is all-natural to give you the best plant-based care all around. Furthermore, it also leaves no greasy residue, priced at £14.99 here .  

Further adding to their Cuticle Oil, we also tried the Hugg CBD Foot Soak Salts with 30mg CBD. Made with hemp extract, coconut oil, dead sea salts, Himalayan salts and other essential oils. These salts help your feet unwind after a long day or simply indulge in a nourishing pedicure foot soak with the essential oils and salts. The Foot Soak is also infused with eucalyptus for antiseptic and antibacterial properties. Priced at £6.99 here.

Last but not least, we have the HuGG CBD Roll Away with mint, lavender and 50mg CBD. This is our favourite and is a handbag essential that is cooling and relaxing giving you everything you need, just when you need it. It helps you take a small break from your busy lives and just breathe. The lavender and mint essential oils create an invigorating yet calming refresher to support tension throughout the day. Apply In circular motions, roll the gel onto your temples, close your eyes and take a deep breath. Repeat 3 times and continue on. The rollerball can also be used on other pressure points. Priced at £17.99 here this product will help to steal away all your stress and tensions in moments...ah Luxury!

Maiiro - Organic Lip Salve & Organic Soap

It’s now a known fact that seaweed has many wonderful benefits for both the skin and body with its vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. As regular readers of The Amazing Blog will remember we’ ve reviewed beauty brands like Seavite, Voya and Repechage all of which contain this magical ingredient from the sea. Today we’d like to introduce you to our latest discovery from the sea, a new British brand called Maiiro.

Created in Guernsey, Maiiro was inspired by the sea and shoreline, which is an ever-present part of life on this beautiful island. With one of the largest tidal ranges in the world, Guernsey’s pristine clean waters are home to an abundant and rich marine life. The brand was born from a deep desire to help skin look and feel better, naturally. Maiiro’s aim is to become an industry leader in terms of sustainability and recyclability, supporting the environment. They have reduced the use of plastics wherever possible, and are only using natural, organic and ethically sourced ingredients in their products. They’re entirely transparent and their packaging is 100% recyclable where some of the cardboard used is actually made from seaweed!

Maiiro’s key ingredient of seaweed, thus making the brand stand apart from others. Seaweed has long been foraged from their Guernsey shores and is a natural source for a powerful skincare ingredient containing antioxidants like CoQ10 or Vitamin C. Whilst on the journey to create Maiiro, they formulated their signature ingredient, Kelpogen5™ to harness the full power of seaweed. This is a skincare superfood that gives the complexion all the nourishment and protection it needs to look its best and is suitable for all ages and skin types. We at The Amazing Blog had the privilege to try out their Organic Lip Salve and the Organic Soap.

The Organic Lip Salve provides a lot more than just temporary relief to dry, sore and chapped lips. Apart from the Kelpogen5™ it also contains organic tamanu oil for healing and palm fruit extract to help prevent sun damage; all in a base of antioxidant-rich organic cocoa butter and shea butter. This veil of hydration helps the delicate skin on your lips to restore itself from within. We found that it was effective both in this current chilly weather, as well as the scorching heat (it got taken off to sunnier climes too!) We’re sadly only too aware of the temporary relief and increased long term dryness that some other lip balms offer. Which is why we like the Maiiro’s Organic Lip Salve as it doesn’t have this countereffect, priced at an affordable £21.95 here.

We also tried out their Organic Soap it’s a seaweed soap that suits all skin types and ages. With a gentle, low lather, this back-to-nature skin cleanser is rich in essential oils, botanical extracts and Maiiro’s signature five-seaweed formula, Kelpogen5™. With organic ingredients of essential oils tea tree and lemon as well as jojoba and tamanu oils combined with goji berry and fenugreek extracts, this seaweed soap leaves the skin feeling fresh, calm and comfortable - never taut or dry. It’s got a beautiful bright orange colour, which you certainly can’t miss on bleary-eyed morning. What makes this soap extra special is its packaging. We love the charming little blue wooden boxes it comes in. Let’s not forget to mention that it has no SLS, parabens, phthalates or added fragrance and is 100% organic and vegan. For those of you looking for a refreshing boost then look no further, you can purchase the Organic Soap here for an absolute steal at £11.95.

Codex Beauty – Bia Skin Superfood

Here at The Amazing Blog we’re always on the search for new and innovative products, particularly ones that will hopefully live up to our high expectations! One of our recent #amazingfinds is the Irish brand Codex Beauty, which has a collection of organic skincare that combines both science and nature.

Created by Irish herbal scientist, Tracey Ryan, who has combined Irish botanicals free from harmful chemicals with her latest cutting edge scientific technology. With Ireland’s small population and low level of pollution, a little known fact is that it has the highest proportion of natural vegetation in Europe, where plants grow rich and robust ready to use in Codex’s ingredients. What impressed us is that Codex are mindful of sustainability as well as what materials they use with their COSMOS-certified formulas.  So it’s good to know that their tubes made from plant-based polyethylene  (PE) materials; paper is sourced from sustainably managed forests for their cartons, which have renewable fibre certified by the Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC).

Knowing all this, we were excited to try their hero product Bia Skin Superfood. This organic plant-based product that has undergone pharmaceutical grade processing made with their BiaComplex™ and has already been through lots of efficiency trials too. Bia Skin Superfood is recommended for face, hands and body cream targets dry, flakey or any area which has irritation. Key ingredients are calendula and immortelle botanicals which both have incredible anti-inflammatory properties to help firm, soothe and protect the gentle layer of skin. The other ingredients are marshmallow, heart’s ease and comfrey which moisturise, offer protection and help to rejuvenate the dermis.

Unusually fragranced with the herbaceous immortelle (a subtly sweet and honey-like fragrance) what we particularly like is that this cream is gentle enough to be used on skin conditions such as rosacea, eczema psoriasis or sunburn. So, if you’re travelling and only have room for one cream – make it this one,  at 75ml it will fit snuggly into your clear plastic bag for carry-on.  It’s also vegan and cruelty-free cream comes in an elegant green tube at the retail price of £48 here.

Muk – Hot Muk Thermal Protector & Smoothing Serum

Sometimes in our hurry, we forget how much damage we inflict on our hair with everyday blow-drying, straighteners and styling. At The Amazing Blog we take haircare very seriously, continually searching out new heat protectors and serums. This is where we recommended the haircare brand Muk’s with their latest Hot Muk range.

Muk is an Australian haircare brand that was founded in 2006.  Looking to revolutionise the hair care industry and stand out, this is a plain talk brand and unlike others has no need to communicate their message with scientific and unfathomable jargon. It is a natural brand, and although they do use silicones, they are plant-derived with large molecules that don’t build up on the hair shaft. We particularly like that their products are 100% accredited by PETA, are cruelty-free, vegan (NB: a few products do contain beeswax), and the packaging is made from 100% recycled aluminium.

We started with the first of the two products, the Hot Muk Thermal Protector which has a non-greasy finish and gives a great sheen to the hair. Apart from being natural, it also contains UV filters that help to protect the hair from sun damage and seals it to stop humidity and frizz. We used this spray on towel-dried wet hair before blow-drying for heat protection. It has a delicious orange citrusy fragrance that stays on your hair throughout the day.

The second product we used is their Smoothing Serum that complements the Thermal Protector. A little goes a long way only 1-2 pumps needed, and this serum is brilliant to help eliminate static while boosting shine. As recommended by Muk, we’ve been using this focusing on our ends after blow-drying or before straighteners (make sure your hair is dry). When it came to styling, this serum certainly made life easier. It also has UV protectors which guard against colour fade and has a similar citrus scent as Thermal Protector, which means that they work well in tandem with no conflict of fragrance.

After trying these two Hot Muk range of products, we’d definitely recommend making them part of your hairstyling routine.  You can purchase Hot Muk Thermal Protector 250 ml spray for £11.75  here and Hot Muk  Smoothing Serum 55 ml bottle for £11.75 here. Or for better value, buy them together as gift pack here for only £16.75.