bloggers diaries

3/4 Oz Tonic Maison - Syrups

As much as we enjoy cocktails, making our own at home is never quite the same as when done by a mixologist. At The Amazing Blog we always like to impress our guests by making cocktails. So, the idea of creating our own tonics with syrups, playing with the flavours and strength to suit, certainly intrigued us. Which is where we discovered the drinks brand ¾oz Tonic a clever concept for customising our favourite drinks.

The names came from ¾ of an ounce (approx 25g in metric), which is the amount of syrup needed for each glass to make your perfect tipple! ¾ oz Tonic was born in Montreal, Canada where these syrups are handmade with only 100% natural ingredients, they are non-alcoholic and offer a delicious array of tastes and aromas.

There are five flavours in the range, but we only tried just three: Ginger Ale, Spritz and Tonic syrups. Ginger Ale Syrups is one we’ll never tire of. Made with fresh ginger juice, hops, sugar cane and citric acid, this syrup is so refreshing to drink just mixed with sparkling water.  Or to create an ‘Irish Buck’ prepared with a glass full of ice, poured with ¾ of Ginger Ale Syrup, 1 ¼oz of your favourite spirit (Irish whiskey in our case), finished with 2-3oz of sparkling water, stir well and enjoy. We found that unlike shop-bought mixers, this bursts into life tasting zesty and fresh with its sweet warming ginger. This was our favourite of the three.

Next, we have The Spritz Syrup is a non-alcoholic version of the classic Italian-style bitters aperitif. Key ingredients are with cinchona bark infused water, cranberries, grapefruit and orange zest, cane sugar and natural quinine. Your palate will experience some pleasant sourness at the beginning, ending with a dry finish. We also tried Spritz with sparkling wine which were an ideal match. If that’s not your drink, try mixing it as suggested for a Negroni or top it up a notch as a Manhattan! For the classic Spritzer add 1 part of Spritz, 2-3 parts of sparkling wine, 1 part sparkling water and an orange slice (for Instagram purposes obviously!) with lots of ice to finish.

Last but not least, is the signature Tonic Syrup. Unlike other tonics, Tonic Syrup has an attractive amber colour that caught everyone’s eyes. It is similar in its ingredients as The Spritz Syrup; however, with this we noticed had a slightly more distinctive bitterness, which is probably due to the more undiluted Cinchona bark ingredient.  There is also sugar, lemongrass and orange zest too making that quite a dominant taste; NB it’s not for mixing with your more subtle flavoured gins. It tastes raw and punchy with a feeling of apothecary goodness. They suggest adding ¾ oz of the Tonic Syrup, 1 ¼ oz of gin (or vodka) and 2-3 oz of sparkling water on a glass full of ice. Whether you want cocktails or mocktails, these delicious and handy bottle syrups make great drinking partners. We recommend getting your ¾ Tonic syrups  240ml bottle at £7.99 from Waitrose here

 

Friday Favourites - Hair Masks

Well, it’s finally Friday and time for another of our Friday Favourites! Have any fun weekend plans that require you to look radiant? Maybe a date night? Or just finally having some time for a bit of self-care? At the Amazing Blog, we like to take time out to apply a weekly hair mask. Whether it’s lying in the bath relaxing with a glass of something chilled, or feet up on the sofa watching Netflix - all are ideal moments for allowing a hair mask to work its magic. Today we have three of our favourite hair masks to introduce, they are hair mask and treatments that will not only leave your hair shiner and more nourished but also help to moisturise your much-neglected scalp too.

Let’s start with the 72 Hair Intense Replenishing Mask. 72 Hair was started by the Greens, a family of hairdressers with over 40 years of combined experience. With three generations of hairdressers, Gary has salons in Miami and London, while Matt is one of London’s go-to colourists. Johnny is 72’s ingredients expert, hand-selecting the finest ingredients to make up the formulas; while Nick is passionate about communicating 72 Hair’s philosophy to clients. As a joint effort, they decided to come together with their experience and knowledge and create an exclusive range product for both their salons and clients.

Winner of the 2018 Hair Awards the 72 Hair Mask is an ideal way to show your hair some love. We recommend using this alone or with the full range for 72 hair. We used it once a week, waiting 10-15 minutes before rinsing for best results, although it can be used more often on damaged hair. Infused with avocado and wheatgerm oil, your hair will be shinier, stronger and more nourished as It penetrates to de-frizz and is suitable for all hair types. It certainly left our hair smooth and tangle-free. To buy your 72 Intensive Replenish Mask for 250ml at £25, see here.

Lore Originals was started with the mission to create a simplified, unisex haircare range that provides integrity and health no matter your gender. A joint-effort between acclaimed stylists, clients, British chemists and perfumers, Lore Originals is suitable for all hair types. With Lore Originals, ‘his and hers’ products are a thing of the past. They are meant to be minimal and the products are all multi-use and versatile.

Packed with natural oils, essential acids, advanced scientific compounds and marine plant cultures the Legend Dry Mask provides complex levels of conditioning and strengthening. The Legend Dry Mask is pre-shampoo mask, and unique because it must be applied to dry hair for concentrated absorption. Volcanic marine bio cultures assist in prevention of heat-induced environmental stress and scalp dehydration, something that most people have. Not to mention, the scientific actives target the core elasticity of the hair which helps to speed up the drying time, great for those of us on the go! As mentioned, it works best on dry hair leaving where you leave mask ‘to set’ for a minimum of 15 minutes in surrounding temperatures of 25 to 40 degrees, which gave us the perfect excuse to have a bath or sauna (make sure to keep the hair dry). Free from parabens, sulphates, triclosan and MIT; with key ingredients including cystine co-polymer, green tea extract, kaolin, shea butter, sunflower and grapeseed oils. This was the best smelling hair mask, we loved the subtle green tea fragrance, that left our hair smelling simply divine. If you would like to purchase the Lore Legend Dry Hair Mask, it can be purchased here in a pack of 6 individual packets of 30ml each for £38. Ideal for travelling or taking on holiday.

Zenz Organics is a Nordic professional beauty and hair care company founded by Anne-Sophie Skjødt Villumsen who also founded the first green hair salon in Denmark back in 1999. After developing allergies towards chemical-based hair products during her apprenticeship as a hairdresser, Anne-Sophie was inspired to create her own line of organic and vegan hair care products. That’s where Zenz Organics was born.

The Zenz Organic Treatment Pure No. 03 Hair Mask is perfect for every member of the family. Made from only organic ingredients and without synthetic perfumes, it leaves the hair silky and soft without weighing it down. We love how it uses organic cold-pressed avocado oil and purified aloe vera to strengthen the hair from scalp to end. It coats each strand with a protective film to maintain the intensity of salon coloured hair, making it ideal for those who use dye. It is meant to be applied on freshly washed hair once a week but can also be used as both a rinse-out and a leave-in treatment. One of us here, has a very sensitive scalp and she said that this is the first EVER hair mask that hasn’t irritated her scalp. So it gets a big thumbs up from us. We’re very excited to have made the discovery of this brand and look forward to trying more from their range. The Zenz Organic Treatment Pure No. 3 Hair Mask 250ml can be purchased here for £28.27.

Which one will you choose?

FiiLit – Parfum du Voyage

As we were discussing here at The Amazing Blog, perfumes are an expression of ourselves, they tell a story and reveal a few of our personality traits. We all love to smell enticing, wafting into a room with some delicious fragrance or other. In fact, some of us can’t leave home without a spritz of our favourite fragrance! We find particularly when flying, security can present a bit of a problem as we’re not able to take 100ml+ bottles in hand luggage. FiiLit has the answer, with their travel-friendly ‘Perfume Sample Set’. These are ideal for slipping into a pocket or small bag and can literally be taken everywhere. FiiLit perfumes are not only perfect for travelling but they will also take you on an olfactory journey around the world. Each fragrance is inspired by the country from where the natural ingredients are sourced.

FiiLiT, from the Anglicism ‘Feel It’ was founded by Regis and Eloi, who are two scent enthusiasts who have created a range of perfumes that remind them of their nomadic worldwide travels. Apart from creating fragrant memories from different cultures and communities, they also wanted these elixirs to be good for the skin and the planet. FiiLit perfumes are vegan and made with a range between 87% to 100% of only natural ingredients. They have partnered with Stéphane Piquart's company BeHave to source their base ingredients and essential oils. BeHave works with multiple NGOs to get the ideal balance between quality ingredients and giving back to the communities.

The FiiLiT’s ‘Perfume Sample Set has 9 different eco-friendly Eau de Parfum fragrances, each represents a country or region. So why not indulge your senses and take off on your travels with some of our favourites: TUMBAO - CUBA a zesty touch with lime, blue ginger, cardamom, tobacco and rum perfume; or dip your feet in Polynesian waters with TEHANI - POLYNESIE the aroma of santal tanzani, tiare, citrus cocoa, ylang-ylang and patchouli. Perhaps immerse yourself in the Amazonian jungle with SAUDADE - AMAZONIA while smelling passionflower and fruit, guaiac wood, cabreuva tonka and balsam of Peru. Or take the opportunity to relax with the aphrodisiac scent of ylang-ylang, marigold, ravintsara, geranium, vanilla, and cinnamon from the land of Madagascar with WAKA - MADAGASCAR.

Have we piqued your interest? Then do try the others in the Sample Set which are inspired by Bali, Japan, Cyclades, Provence or Babylonia. To get your FiiLiT ‘Perfume Sample Set’ see here for £8.10. Once you’ve found your fragrance, why not upgrade to the 50 or 100ml bottle starting from £53.10 here. Then once you have run out, simply buy your refills here. Perfect!

Scence Natural Skincare - Natural & Nourishing Body Moisturiser Balm

At The Amazing Blog we’ve certainly tried our fair share of beauty and skincare products (in fact, it’s near 4k featured product post!) Week after week we find ourselves still impressed by the new products that arrive for us to try. Most of the time we are just amazed by how cutting-edge and innovative the products really are. However, today we’d like to go back to basics with an organic, eco-friendly packaged and simple to use brand Scence Natural Skincare Products.  For those of you less familiar with the brand, we recently featured their natural deodorants here.

Handcrafted in Cornwall, Scence offers products for people who care about what they put on their skin, and how they impact in the world around them. The founder, Krista Taylor, knew she wasn’t alone in her feelings towards the single-use plastic conflict and created her range of vegan-friendly, all-natural products in fully compostable and recyclable packaging. Sence was born.

We put the Scence Natural & Nourishing Body Moisturiser Balms to the test. Made with coconut oil and mango butter, the moisturiser balm comes in 8 different fragrances, we tried 5 of these each is curated using different natural essential oils. The first two that we had to try were Clary Sage and Earth Spice. They both had quite earthy scents that we felt were perfect for the nights as they draw in and as we gravitate towards the winter equinox.  The stand-out amongst the balms was the Summer Citrus scent with hints of orange and bergamot - this was our hot favourite. Best of all none of these scent combinations are overpowering, instead, they are subtle and light. We love the stick format of this body balm, it simply glide it over your skin after showering and it melts right in. It also creates a soft barrier to the skin without feeling greasy or thick. For those who have sensitive skin, why not try the body balm which is Jojoba Balm and unscented. And finally the After Sun Balm which makes the perfect addition to your travel bag, this has the lavender, peppermint and roman chamomile essentials oils, this healing combination also smells divine.

The fully compostable and recyclable packaging beautifully complements the all-natural ingredients. It’s important to care just as much about what goes into the ingredients as what the product is packaged in, and we love that Scence noticed that. If you would like to purchase a Natural & Nourishing Moisturiser Balm from Scence, they are available here for £12.

CluedUpp

 Do you love a good murder mystery novel or movie? At The Amazing Blog we often place ourselves into the story and try to solve it. Now, we can put our mystery solving skills to the test with CluedUpp, a city-wide crime-solving adventure game.

CluedUpp is a new type of gaming experience that allows you to walk around your city with a group of friends and solve murder mysteries! It’s basically a giant, outdoor version of the game Cluedo but with a fun new twist. They have games all over the UK, but one will be happening in Westminster on November 2nd 2019. You don’t want to miss out; over 100 detective teams are expected to take part.

Set in 1960s London, you and your fellow team of detectives will be solving the double murder of the notorious “Kray Brothers”. Download the CluedUpp app & follow the clues around the city to collect information and interview witnesses! Will you be able to solve the case in time?  CluedUpp’s founder, Tref Griffiths said “We’ve held events in London several times before and always have a fantastic turnout. We can’t wait to see if our detectives are up to the challenge of solving our hardest case yet!”

Taking place entirely via CluedUpp’s award-winning phone app, the game will see teams of up to 6 players competing to unveil the mysterious murderer. The game is fully self-guided, you can start the case anytime you want between 10:00 and 13:00 on November 2nd, but you must be able to finish by 17:00. Make sure to grab five of your best mates dressed in fancy 1960s dress! There are prizes awarded to the fastest team, best dressed team, the best team name & many more.

Grab your magnifying glass and start cracking the case! An Earlybird Ticket can be bought for £36 per team of up to 6 adults (little detectives and dogs play for free!) And can be purchased here. If you miss Earlybird prices, don’t worry! Standard Team Tickets can be purchased for £46 per team of 6. If you can’t make it on the 2nd, check out the schedule here to take part in other days .