Barker & Sloane - Daily Defender Protecting Moisturiser

When it comes to daily skin routine, you’ve often told us that you get more than a little overwhelmed by the large number of skincare brands to choose from… Today at The Amazing Blog we’d like to introduce you to a British newcomer Barker and Sloane with their Daily Defender Protecting Moisturiser. What attracted us to this brand is that they are a natural skincare from the heart of the English countryside using quintessentially British ingredients.

Barker and Sloane was founded by Claire Barker, who is passionate about the rural environment and is also a professional beekeeper. She left the corporate life to launch this successful skincare business which also integrates their honey-based elements into these products. Claire loves nothing better than to spend most of her time outside with nature, be It participating in all the different country pursuits or taking part in her local shoot. Therefore, when it comes to being exposed to the sun on a daily basis or having skin dehydration, no one understands your needs here better than her! With all the above being said, and in case you needed more reasons to try Barker and Sloane, they recently won an award in the 2020 Beauty Shortlist (Editor’s Choice) for their Overnight Recovery Repairing Night Cream. They certainly get our vote for being 100% natural which means no parabens, no mineral oils, no SLS’s, no phthalates, no lanolin, no artificial fragrances.

As mentioned, the product we’re focusing on today is their Daily Defender, Protecting Moisturiser. This perfect skin protector has the key ingredient of marine algae, a seaweed with abundant vitamins, minerals, antioxidants here to help nourish and fight skin issues. There are also plant actives which include fruit, plant, and flower-based ingredients that act like miracle workers. They’re often used to get rid of acne, smooth wrinkles, hydrate, repair and rejuvenate the skin cells.  These plant actives here are the white poppy seed oil, which is an emollient ingredient that contains vitamin E to feed the skin and has a high concentration of linoleic acid (an omega-6 fatty acid) making it an excellent choice as a barrier for damaged and sensitive skin. It also rebalances the sebum production of the skin and helps to relax a tired face. The jojoba oil too is known for helping the skin to produce its natural oil and works as a deep hydrator. Whereas the Raspberry seed and avocado oils serve as great boosters for skin repair. This moisturiser also contains wonderful fatty acids that aid in building a good and healthy skin membrane, the natural skin oil layer that helps keep your skin hydrated and younger-looking. Just like its name says, the Daily Defender has antioxidants that will help your skin fight against the UV rays (however this doesn’t contain any SPF!) As you all know, long term exposure to UV hastens premature ageing, making this little gem a no brainer for those who are in the countryside, or spending most of their time outdoors. It’s so important to shield our skin, after all, who wants wrinkles, sunburns, age spots, and discoloration? This Daily Defender with all its actives will act as a great first layer to your skin’s defensive strategy and will guarantee a much brighter and smoother skin, boosting elasticity and stopping trans-epidermal water loss which causes dehydration of the skin. Charmed by this little Daily Defender? Then you too can purchase their 10ml bottle costs £12 and the 50ml bottle £55 here.  

Terre de Mars - 010 Irrévérence Nourishing Shampoo

The shampoo is an essential part of a good hair care routine to keep beautiful and healthy-looking hair. However, the most crucial step is to choose the right one from the huge array that is available. At The Amazing Blog, we found a shampoo to suit almost every hair type, in fact, it’s so nourishing that you don’t really need a conditioner - making it almost a co-wash. It’s another one of our #amazingfinds, meet the 010 Irreverent Nourishing Shampoo from Terre de Mars. As regular readers may remember, our wonderful reviewer Simon already tried their amazing Resonance Body and Hair Oil.

The French brand was founded by three friends: Alexandre, Poulad and Salem all of whom have parallel careers with the company, one works in fashion design, another in consulting and the last one in new technologies. These three serial entrepreneurs have created a 100% natural, coffee-based, vegan and cruelty-free unisex skin and hair care brand. All their products are made and packaged in France and are COSMOS, COSMEBIO, vegan and cruelty-free certified, and gender fluid. They have designed all their formulas to comply with ECOCERT Standards.

The initial thing that attracted us to this brand is the design. We love their packaging it’s stylish enough to adorn any bathroom. The shampoo is made from coffee extract, aloe vera, almond protein and rosemary leaves and a lemony fragrance, which gives it a delicious and subtle smell. At first, we were a little afraid that the coffee element might be too overpowering and strong, but there’s not even the slightest whiff of coffee here! It only has the mildest touch of citrus. The hydrating elements are the wheat and sweet almond proteins, helping to make hair shiny and supple, and the result after two rinses with this shampoo was very good. Furthermore, it is unisex, which means that everyone can use it. You can now say goodbye to the nightmare of finding the right shampoos for each of the family, because this will make the whole household happy. Best of all it’s organic, vegan, chemical-free and silicone-free; this product is quite simply a must-have. Furthermore, for those who are familiar with the Yuka App, this shampoo is very well rated! To purchase the 500ml 010 Irrévérence Nourishing Shampoo see here for £33.

Beckford’s Rum & Caramel

OK, it’s time for a hands-up, we admit it, everyone here at The Amazing Blog (including my good self) likes nothing better than to indulge in a sweet tipple. As regular readers will know we’re particularly partial to cream liqueurs (see here) which are somewhat calorific, slip down far too quickly and swiftly add extra inches to our waistlines! So, we were delighted to find a delicious rum liqueur (minus cream) as one of our latest #amazingfinds. Let us Introduce you to Beckford’s Rum & Caramel which has made a very welcome appearance as a digestive here in the office.

This range of Beckford’s Rums are named after and in honour of the one Beckford from history that Society can be proud of. Henry Beckford was a freed slave who attended the world's first anti-slavery congress by invitation, it was held in 1840 in London.  An ardent abolitionist he was accepted into polite society and became a beacon of light emerging from a dark past. An impression of Henry features on all our bottles and our premium Rum is also called “ Henry”. The four Beckford Rums offers the drinker a blend of anything from Rum & Caramel (we have that), Black Pearl Spiced, White Pearl Rum & Coconut to the delicious Rum & Spiced Pineapple. All of which sound eminently quaffable!

Let’s talk about our rum – the Rum & Caramel. This bottle had to be prized out of my hands, as the girls got a little greedy and wanted more than their fair quota. It’s become an award-winning rum and earned Beckford’s a 3 Star in the 2019 Great Taste Awards. What makes this rum so special is its carefully pared recipe, as historically in Regency Britain, rum and caramel were two of the nation’s favourite treats. Beckford’s decided to bring these two delicious flavours together again, and brought this forgotten recipe to life. Apart from being gluten, vegan and nut-free it’s made with only the finest premium Caribbean rum, in case you hadn’t clocked-it already, both the caramel and rum originate from the same plant – sugar cane.  Today this Rum comes in two strengths: 25% ABV (ours) and a more recent addition of the powerful cask strength of 40% ABV.  All their Rums have environmentally friendly credentials, as they’re produced in small batches with recyclable packaging and cork stoppers.  Dare we say this, well we will anyway, we think this would be absolutely delicious poured over strawberries and cream too. This drink has inspired me to share a little drinking ditty with you all: “When I want it – I want it awful bad, when I don’t get it – it makes me sad, and when I do get it, it makes me hot to trot and some. Now don’t get me wrong – I mean a shot of rum!” You can purchase your bottle here for only £ 25.00. 

errbshop CBD Infused Massage Oil Candle – rb+ Lavender

Apart from completely changing our daily habits, this current global pandemic has also increased our anxiety and stress levels at The Amazing Blog.  Today we thought we'd feature another great stay-at-home product to enhance all our wellbeing, making quarantining both more enjoyable and peaceful. We're excited to be one of the first to feature the rb+ candles from errbshop.  It's a three-in-one candle to relax, renew and rebalance. These are not just any candles, they are multi-functional massage candles with the addition of THC-free CBD oil. It's almost like having your very own home spa. 

The founder, Maggie Finneran was born into the fashion world and a leader in the luxury goods sector, where she launched a global girl's footwear brand. Ever the entrepreneurial spirit, with her great passion for travel and food, these led her on to launch renowned Californian eateries such as The Beverly Hill Beignet and Charcuterie Boss. With this hectic lifestyle, Finneran was always striving for balance which is when she had the inspired idea of creating the errbshop massage candle range. She explained: "We all search for a balance of lifestyle and wellbeing, I experienced this several years ago while having a candle massage in the Amalfi Coast. There was something to be said of the 400 year old recipe created by Franciscan Monks and the cavernous calmness of the Monastery I was staying in and enjoying this massage. I knew I needed to share this with everyone." Hence the errbshop brand was born, with selected candles in the range containing the blended healing ingredients of THC-free CBD Oil and pure plant oils. All their products are sustainably-sourced and ranked at one on the EWG list. errbshop is an online health and wellness lifestyle brand that aims to ignite balance of mind, body, and spirit through personal health products and education. The company is founded on the belief that wellness is not an indulgence, but a necessity. Their specially curated blend of nourishing botanicals, soothing soy wax, and full-spectrum CBD is designed to deliver plant-powered healing and optimal wellness to every system of the body. Fueled by harmoniously healing ingredients and driven by a passion for wellness, errbshop is dedicated to enhancing your sense of balance and wellbeing, one candle at a time.

The rb+ candle is in a 6oz (170g) tin that features a convenient pouring lip, making it easily portable and extremely travel friendly. The candles are vegan and made out of bio-cellulose with formulas that are so clean that they claim that you can almost eat them! This rb+ range offers five fragrances: Unscented, Eucalyptus, Rose, Grapefruit and Lavender (our candle). As several studies have shown, CBD oil has many potential health benefits; we find it particularly good for reducing anxiety and stress. So, you can imagine how happy we were to try this out.  As regular readers will know we are big fans of CBD (see here) as it also helps to relax soothing our minds and improving our focus. As mentioned earlier, their CBD oil is THC-free and extracted by the CO2 method making it full-spectrum with over 80 naturally occurring phytocannabinoids. In fact, there are 120mg of CBD in this 6oz tin!  The other ingredients are soy wax, apricot oil, coconut oil, aloe vera, vitamin E, shea butter, jojoba oil, all of which have anti-inflammatory properties and aid in deep relaxation of the mind and body. The primary ingredients here are lavender and CBD which are particularly good in helping restore the body's natural biorhythms and relaxing the nervous system. The fragrance here is deliciously subtle and not at all overwhelming, and the oil from the burnt candle is warm to the touch, never hot – making it easy to handle. Firstly, light the candle and enjoy watching the flickering flame and inhaling the fragrance - ideal for creating calm. When it has sufficiently melted, blow out the candle and pour the oil into the palm of your hands to begin your massage. If you have any specific areas of pain (in my case arthritic hips!) then target this area first. Otherwise, concentrate on inner wrists to help you create your own inner calm. The candle is reusable – we relit it about 3 or 4 times. So, to feel energised, more grounded, and most importantly, nourished, you can get yours here at $40 USD Or for more information, contact info@errbshop.com.  Namaste!

Cosmetics of London Chelsie - AHA Exfoliating Mask

At The Amazing Blog as you’ll know, we like to champion new indie brands – particularly with cosmetics and skincare. Today we’d like to introduce a brand that has just launched and is one of our latest #amazingfinds, it’s a British skincare Cosmetics of London Chelsie.

The founder, Chelsie Benjamin, spent nine years as an aesthetician, skin practitioner and acne specialist working with some of the leading skincare companies.  With her passion for skincare, she decided to create her own range which has been over three years in development. Chelsie said: “We have created a solution-based skincare that will not only enhance a client skincare routine at home, but will also be effective in helping them maintain their treatment routine at home.” She went on to say, “although Cosmetics of London Chelsie has only just launched, we believe in giving back to charities and our communities, so we’ve made our prices affordable for everyone and will be seeking to work with different charities throughout this year.” We can’t wait to see more of their products and think that Chelsie’s new skincare is one to keep on our radar! 

We tried their first product the AHA Exfoliating Mask which is unisex, vegan, cruelty-free and comes in a reusable glass jar. As well as being an ethical product, we found it to be both effective and great to use.  The texture is creamy, and the fragrance is a subtle geranium (which is one of the oils used). The mask contains active ingredients from fruit acids that help to treat acne, dehydration and fine lines. It also includes key essential oils grapefruit, geranium flower and cedarwood oils to aid inflammation, redness and damaged skin. Although the mask gently exfoliates, helping to reduce acne and wrinkles it does contain lactic (from the decomposition of citric acid), malic, citric and glycolic acids (the latter being the holy grail for exfoliation). So we’d suggest a patch test first (waiting 24 hours before using on face) and always avoiding the eye area. We found that it did a good deep cleanse and left the skin soft, fragrant and hydrated. Chelsie suggests leaving the product on for 5-10 minutes and then rinsed off with warm water. It can be used 1-3 times a week; however, after using, it’s recommended during the day to wear an SPF 30 or 50 to protect the skin after this exfoliation. It is suitable for normal to oily skin (but not recommended for sensitive complexions) and we found our face looking brighter, pore size reduced and skin tone more even after only two weeks use. You too can purchase the 100g AHA Exfoliating Mask here for £23.99.