Dappa - Grape Marc Spirit

Does your coffee need a little kick? Here at The Amazing Blog we agree that a little digestif never hurt anyone. DAPPA, a new luxury grape-marc-spirit made in the UK’s only micro-distillery of its kind, is the perfect addition to your designer kitchen and delicious drinks.

Distilled by hand in Devon Distellery, using an authentic Italian copper still, DAPPA contains selected Rondo grape skins from English vineyards, Pinot Noir and is complimented with small quantities of Dornfielder and Regent.

DAPPA is ideally drunk as a digestif, often with espresso coffee, but it can be used in cocktail recipes. It has clean, crisp and grassy flavours, with hints of berries and earthy tones.

Produced by DevonDistillery, it is not for the faint hearted. The sleek bottle contains 43% abv, which means a shot of DAPPA will have you buzzing from the experience.

DAPPA has been shortlisted for the 2014 Food & Drink Devon ‘Best Packaging’ and ‘Best Product’ Awards, so it’s time to purchase the product here for £9.50 at 5 cl or £50 at 35 cl and add some fun to your drinks.

Friday Favourites - Hand Cream Feature

Working in an office, the team here at The Amazing Blog often struggle with dry hands. Air conditioning and constantly juggling papers parches our mitts to no end, so we’re always keeping an eye out for nourishing and soothing hand care products. Being the beauty junkies that we are, there are a number of hand creams that pass through the office, but we’ve decided to pick out a few of our favourites to share with you.

The most notable thing about Odylique’s new Lemon Butter Hand Smoothie is its sweet and distinctive smell. Needless to say, if you aren’t a lemon lover, this probably isn’t the lotion for you. However, if you are a common user of zingy scents, the lemon and vanilla fusion will keep your senses indulging in lemony bliss. Don’t worry, the smell of the product is strong, but it is effective as well. The combination of cocoa and coconut butter, along with virgin avocado oil, is sure to fully moisturise your hands and keep them from cracking. It is also 100% natural and 93% organic. This product is available online for £12.99.

We usually moisturise our hands with a cream rather than a balm. However, when we heard about the drive behind the company Kahina Giving Beauty, we decided to try their Fez Hand And Body Balm. The founder Katharine L’Heureux uses Organic Argan Oil to protect, nourish and enhance the quality of skin in each product her company produces. Kahina donates a percentage of its profits to support programs that improve the lives of Berber women who extract the Argan Oil used in the products. If that wasn’t enough, she personally ventures to Morocco to pick up the oil to ensure that the women who are extracting it are being treated as they should. To read more about her story and the drive behind this charitable company, visit their website. You can pick up the hand balm for £35 here.

We have featured Touche By Flavien on our blog before, but that’s because we just can’t get enough of the products! Luckily, along with its other great skincare products, the company provides a hand cream as well. The Rosa Rubiginosa & Prickly Pear Regeneration Hand Cream is full of skin conditioning botanics which are sure to help tackle the pesky signs of ageing on your beloved hands. The Rosa Rubiginosa scent is unique in a sense that is has traditionally been referred to as “the fountain of youth.” In our opinion, this fact speaks for itself in the wondrous results it provides. Purchase the product for £38 here.

Here in the office, we find British heritage a fascinating subject, and admire the work of organisations like the National Trust, who work to preserve our national treasures. We were delighted when we discovered that Tisserand Aromatherapy had collaborated with the company, bringing a range of bath oils and lotions carefully created with the National Trust’s ethical and environmental ethos in mind. Their Rose Garden Hand & Body Lotion combines a beautiful blend of Rose Essential Oil and Sandalwood, which evokes scenes from our favourite Jane Austen novels. The floral cream also contains Shea Butter and Jojoba Oil, ideal for nourishing skin, and is perfect for preserving our delicate hands. You can pick up the Hand & Body Lotion here for £8.

101 Naked Confessions of a Gay Hairdresser

Here at The Amazing Blog, we have a plethora of wonderful friends from all walks of the beauty industry. One hairdresser who is particularly close to our heart is Hair Organics’ own Terry Wilson, one of the very few talented top stylists and hair colourists that I trust to tame my tresses to perfection. Of course, when we got wind of his new book, we were absolutely thrilled for him, and couldn’t wait to lift the lid on all the juicy gossip that only someone like Terry can give.

101 Naked Confessions of a Gay Hairdresser is a compendium of hilarious anecdotes, entertaining stories and, of course, a hair tip or two. With an impressive 30 years of industry experience under his belt, Terry has worked with everyone, from suburban housewives, celebrities and models, to Her Majesty The Queen, and as a result, he’s managed to compile a tome full of scandals, gossip and invaluable advice that’s sure to keep you intrigued. Although we were enthralled and read from cover to cover, we love that the book is packed with mini chapters, so you don’t have to read it front to back; you can just flick through for a bit of what you fancy. It’s the recipe for a perfect book in our humble opinion.

We love his selection of hot tips about things that you wouldn’t normally think about such as using an all-natural bristle brush which will give you much more shine, or the fact that we are programmed to ‘scrub’ our scalps, whereas we actually need to treat it with the utmost respect and be extremely gentle and ‘condition’ it! My favourite tip is to dissolve some vitamin C in a jug of water rinsing over the hair in order to neutralise and get that post-swim chorine smell out. As a hairdresser, Terry is particularly empathetic with his customers and is a wise and worldly guru on all things hair. As a person, it is safe to say that he can truly brighten the moment and make you smile no matter how your day has been. Bravo for producing this book and we love you Terry! 101 Naked Confessions of A Gay Hairdresser is available for purchase for £9.97 online here.

Ina Crystals - Bath Crystals

Now that we’re winding down from Christmas and New Year, and the hectic months are behind us, it’s time to finally take a breath and relax. We here at The Amazing Blog love nothing more than a pampering evening in, soaking in a nice hot bath with a few candles burning and a good book in our hands. Mercifully, we’ve found the perfect aid to a stress free evening in Ina White Gold Detox Bath Crystals.

The indulgent grains are a perfect combination of carefully mined white gold crystal salts, and the essential oils of Basil, Fennel and Juniper which help to detoxify, cleanse and heal the body, exactly what we need after a season of over indulgence and partying! Not only this, but the pure salts can also be used for aches and pains, and even to treat mild cases of eczema and psoriasis, so you don’t have to reserve them for your major post-Christmas detox. The brand do recommend that you use the entire 1kg container in a single bath, which may seem a little pricey for one soak, but we must admit, it was totally worth it for a one off treat. When we emerged, we really felt like we were walking on air, and drifted off to bed without a care in the world.

We can't think of a better way to soak your troubles away. Immerse yourself in a little bit of heaven, and buy the Crystals here for £46.50.

MICRO Nail

Here at The Amazing Blog we love treating ourselves to a manicure every once in a while, but let’s be honest, who can afford to keep their nails looking professionally done all of the time? Thanks to MICRO Nail, we can have salon perfect nails in a matter of seconds without spending too much money.

MICRO Nail is an electric nail polisher that buffs, smoothes and shines nails in seconds so you can have great, natural looking nails every day without having to head on over to the salon or use those time consuming manual nail buffers.

The MICRO Nail kit includes 2 MICRO Smooth Rollers that smooth away the top layer of ridges and 2 MICRO Shine Rollers that buff your nails. These rollers come in a handy-dandy drawstring pouch along with 2 AA batteries and an instruction booklet. The electric buffer even has pressure resistance control to ensure that if you do press too hard, the roller will simply stop rotating. That was my main worry with the gadget, so I'm pleased to discover that I will never damage my nails with it.

Although your original purchase will be £39.99, you only need to use the smoothing rollers once every two weeks, if that, and you can use the shine rollers whenever you please. After you've worn out the original attachments, which we're sure will take a while, replacement rollers are available to buy for £9.99 here.  We think it’s worth the initial investment, so head on over to the website and get started making your nails look sensational.