Desavery – STELLAR Daily Serum

At The Amazing Blog, we love when our skin care products have a great scent. It makes us feel better and more ready to conquer the day. What if your skincare products had ingredients that were scientifically proven to boost your mood and improve your focus? The STELLAR Daily Serum from Desavery does just that while leaving your skin looking brighter than before.

Andrea Dinnick founded Desavery in 2017 on four principles: feel good, look good, be good, and do good.These principles encapsulate Dinnick’s mission of creating ‘fantastic skin care that’s as good for your skin as well as your mood and mind’. Desavery uses ingredients that are effective in improving your skin, but also positively affect your biochemistry. Of these ingredients, many are sustainable such as the brand’s staple prickly pear and vetiver, and five per cent of the company’s profits go to supporting the women who pick and process the prized prickly pear.

This serum is part of the Desavery STELLAR collection, which is intended to give you a ‘rise and sparkle’ feeling and after trying it, we can see why. The formula is packed with antioxidants that stimulate collagen production and cell renewal for smoother skin. Prickly pear, rosehip, and camellia oils further brighten and improve skin plumpness. The ingredients are all certified-organic, but the ones that stood out to us were the mood lifters: clary sage and bergamot. Clary sage, a plant used commonly for its medicinal properties, has been found to have anti-depressant effects and balance hormones. Bergamot is a citrus fruit known to improve alertness, cognition, and lower cortisol levels to make you feel calmer. We have to say that some of us here who tried this serum in the morning reportedly felt most clear-headed and uplifted. We found that it absorbs quickly and is best when used on slightly damp skin.

The product is very aromatic, and you are intended to take deep breathes to capture the beneficial elements of the plants while you perform your skin routine. It also comes in a modern reflective dropper bottle, so it’s stylish enough to leave next to your mirror and reach for every day. You can purchase the STELLAR Daily Serum (20ml) here for £65. A little does go a long way.

Les huilettes - Mon huilette night

After a long and tiring day, we at The Amazing Blog can’t think of anything better than taking off our makeup and applying a soothing night serum. What makes  a night serum stand out for us from other skin care products is that they’re jam-packed with ingredients that nourish and brighten your skin while you sleep. We can never get enough of serums, as each one has specific properties to enhance the skin, such as anti-ageing from les huilettes we are referring to, of course, their very special mon huilette night serum. 

The brand was started in France in 2015 by two long-time friends, Pascale Gal and Claire Auzouy. Gal was a pharmacist with a degree in Aromatherapy while Auzouy had a background in luxury gastronomy. Gal desired to ‘return to a simpler beauty, essential and without sacrifice, summed up in a few principles and gestures’. The pair combined their unique experiences to start a cosmetics company that is 100 per cent natural, vegan, and botanical. Les huilettes is also committed to the environment and partnered with Up2green Reforestation, a French nonprofit organisation that helps replant fruit trees in communities affected by deforestation. 

The Mon huilette night serum is made for all skin types to smooth and enhance your skin’s suppleness. Overnight, it leaves your skin looking more radiant overnight and repairs any signs of anti-ageing such as wrinkles and skin dullness. The formula of a ‘plant synergy of essential and vegetable oils to be effective without fluff’makes the night serum stand out. Essential oils like Italian helichrysum have an anti-inflammatory benefit while myrtle and bourbon geranium have therapeutic aromatherapy effects to enhance positive well-being. Argan and avocado oils deeply moisturise and plump your skin while prickly pear cactus prevents the formation of premature wrinkles and lightens dark circles. These elements result in a light-feeling oil serum that melts evenly into your face and neck and doesn’t make you feel greasy. 

A little goes a long way, and you only need 3-5 drops per use. You should purposely but gently massage the serum into your freshly cleansed face for optimal results. However, for extra pampering and an at-home massage, we suggest you watch their serum application video here . On top of it all, rose and white flower leave a tangy and therapeutic scent on your face to relax you before bed. You can join ‘tribe of huilettes’ and amp up your night skin care routine by purchasing the mon huilette night (15ml) here for 45€

Real Kombucha

Have you noticed that increasingly at events or in restaurants, where once there would be a choice of either red or white, or perhaps champagne with the non-alcoholic options of water or maybe juice sitting forlorn alongside? Well things have taken a welcome turn with some very exciting new offerings to tickle our taste buds whilst giving our livers the night off, welcome Real Kombucha.

This company has taken the concept and is firing it up to new heights. Real Kombucha was established in 2016 by David Begg, a self-proclaimed foodie who having given up the sauce, found that he missed the opportunity to pair various foods with something decent to drink. A family holiday to India provided the real impetus for developing a tea which would offer up similar depths of flavour that we enjoy in wine, but without the alcohol, that then could sit alongside different dishes. Working alongside Adrian Hodgson, an expert in nutrition, and Will Battle, a tea expert, this entrepreneurial team came up with three delicious choices: Dry Dragon, Royal Flush and Smoke House all who’s flavours are derived from the fermentation of high-end teas. Our favourite at The Amazing Blog, came in as Royal Flush, but that is probably because we are huge fans of Darjeeling, which is the primary ingredient here. But where this range stands out from the crowd is its versatility, not simply with any type of food, but also in opening up new avenues for cocktails, aperitifs and even desert wines, all alcohol free.

Got your interest? Then click here, if you order by 3pm, you’re promised our Real Kombucha will be with you the next day. The choice of a case of 6 or 12 bottles. As a starter, why not try the half-mixed case at £12.69 (6 bottles) so you can thoroughly enjoy each option? A case of 12 will cost £24.39 with delivery from £4.99. 

Irish Black Butter

Let’s make a short hop, skip and a jump over to Ireland for this post, to highlight a small jar of pure versatility in the form of Irish Black Butter - a new concept using ancient techniques, for us all to enjoy whether we want to go down the sweet or the savoury route. The main ingredients here are the rich bramley apples from Armagh which are then blended with cider, brandy and spices, producing a mouth-watering conserve of dark velvet indulgence.

Now the obvious choice here for us at The Amazing Blog would be to try this on a slice of toast - very yum we can confirm - or perhaps a more decadent scone with some cream perhaps - completely yum - but the versatility of this ‘other black stuff’ comes when we start using in a more experimental manner for the ultimate ‘yum’. How about on our porridge? Or mixed with some thick greek yoghurt? The options for this little pot of black gold are endless, but one recipe, we would urge you to try is to slather it over a ham before cooking it - the delicious flavours from the oven will swirl around the kitchen like a warm Irish hug and tease those taste buds for what is to come. Not forgetting to mention that it is vegan, vegetarian friendly, dairy free, wheat free and comes in cute little jar. 

The Irish Black Butter Company was formed in 2017 by Alastair Bell who has a background in farming and events management. Clearly a well-founded belief in his Irish Black Butter, which has gone on to sweep boards of awards with two stars in the Great Taste Awards 2018 and Chefs Choice Award in the Irish Food Awards 2018; and of course, now securing many stockists throughout Ireland. Of course, in this day and age we don’t have to be local to the Emerald Isle to get our hands on a jar, as we can simply go to here and click on their shop to order - 125g will cost you £3.95, and the 225g jar costs £5.95. If ever there was a condiment which no self-respecting larder should be without, then surely this is it.

Voya Men's Grooming Range

We head over to the glorious the isle that is emerald, for this post, indulging in, without apology, Voya’s dreamy range of men’s skincare- with such a deliciously smelling combination of clove and lime, it certainly wasn’t a hardship - indeed more an exceptionally unrestrained bout of serious pampering. Such a start to the day really sets you up perfectly for what may lie ahead - good or bad (the day we mean!) the skin is certainly going to be in tiptop shape. The girls at The Amazing Blog have already experience the gorgeousness of this organic Irish brand with a few of their goodies including their Hydrating Body Lotion  So now it’s my turn!

The provenance of this range stems from a formidable heritage, rooted in the luxury spa marketwhich originated in the indigenous bathhouse tradition of Co. Sligo. The bathhouses which opened in 1912 may have since closed, but the essential ingredient which continues to provide it’s magic of course remains in bucketfuls … well vat-fulls really. And this essential ingredient which provides such incredibly healing results is of course seaweed. Naturally, the benefits of seaweed have long been known to soothe and heal, but more thorough investigation continues to throw up advantages not simply in deep detoxification, but also in aiding weightloss amongst other things. As nature’s most powerful anti-oxidant from the vegetal world, it’s hydrating and nourishing properties come from it’s plethora of minerals and vitamins, which have proven to effectively treat skin conditions such as psoriasis, eczema, dermatitis and acne, and is particularly good for sensitive skin. It also naturally moisturises, whilst reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles by improving skin’s elasticity and stimulating the renewal of damaged cells.

The Voya Men’s grooming range is totally focused on organic seaweed and the following two scientifically proven and 100% natural active ingredients. Speci’MenTM derived from the Baobab tree, and DEFENSIL®-PLUS: A complex of Blackcurrant Seed Oil and Balloon Vine extract. Here we have a three step routine to savour: An Invigorating Face Wash, (recently awarded Winner in the 2019 Beauty Shortlist Awards) Cooling Shave Gel  and Rejuvenating Moisturiser. These Seaweed-based products use the highest-quality botanical elements and aromatherapy oils in sustainable and historical processes to attain their high level of quality. The organic seaweed itself is harvested by hand to help protect the delicate coastline of West Ireland and no artificial colours or fragrances are used, with all products adhering to the strict COSMOS standard. All this science could easily overshadow the fundamental treat that comes with using this Voya For Men range -  but  we enjoyed, and enjoyment is certainly the route we took! It must also be added that they are perfect for fighting signs of aging, reduce enlarged pores, calm inflammation from shaving and soothe dehydrated skin.

Available here priced at £27.00 for the 125ml Invigorating Face Wash, £23.00 for the same sized Cooling Shaving Gel and £45.00 for the  50ml Rejuvenating Moisturiser … For the level of luxury on offer here, and the chance to bathe in some Irish magic, trust me the cost is well worth it.