Organic Beauty Week

Hello everyone!

If you didn't know, September is Organic Month. This basically means I have given myself every justification for buying the lovely expensive organic produce from my local Tesco....but also has been refreshing my memory of all of the wonderful organic beauty products that I have tried previously and that are still on offer.

In particular there is an Organic Beauty Week which is next week, the 19th to the 25th of September.

I think it is great to bring organic produce to more people's attention, especially beauty products. They are a lot more available than they ever used to be before, and I have tried a few in the past that were really good.

So in light of this I thought I would talk about two of my favourite organic beauty products that I have tried, and hopefully you can give me some recommendations too!

My first favourite product is the Antipodes Divine Face Oil*. 

Antipodes is a brand I came across a few years, remember that exclusive Selfridge's beauty box that was released when they opened up their Beauty Department? (there's a post here if you need a reminder but the giveaway is obviously over now!)

This was my first organic product and also the first oil I put on my face, and in true blogger style I have not forgotten it. I have in fact repurchased it a number of times but due to buying a house last year my budget has been restricted....Antipodes were kind enough to send me another recently to refresh my memory. 

It is still absolutely my favourite facial oil that I have ever tried. I remember this was when the realisation of 'I can put oil onto my oily skin and it won't break me out?!' days. This was a revolutionary product for me and I'm so happy to have it back in my life, so is my skin as it has definitely shown in the last few days of usage.

I'd recommend it for any skin type as wen my skin was oily it never broke out when I used this, plus now that my skin is drier it works like a charm at hydrating it so I think it works for all skin types.

Why should you try it?

The Divine Oil contains premium avocado oil as the main ingredient along with rosehip oil, jojoba oil, jasmine oil plus pure plant fragrances such as Sandalwood and Ylang Ylang.

The organic avocado oil however is the star of the show, it is high in essential fatty acids (EFAs) including Omega 3 and 9 to help with regeneration, restructuring, moisturising and film forming. It also has lutein which helps to protect against the sun with its natural UVA sun-screening properties and antioxidants to help against the damage that free radicals can cause to the skin resulting in ageing.

So the promise is there...and the science backs it up. After some studies Antipodes have found the it stimulates collagen in human skin cells by up to 51%.,,,, Can we bathe in it?!

The Divine Face Oil costs £19.99 for 30ml and can be purchased directly from the Antipodes website but also Look Fantastic, Beauty Expert, Naturisimo and Feel Unique.

My second favourite organic product that I've tried is from Neal's Yard Remedies.

We attended an event from them two years ago now when they released their infamous Wild Rose Beauty Balm* in the beautiful new packaging to celebrate 10 years of the product.

Isn't it beautiful???

This is a wonder product, and my original post on this product (click here) lists the ideas other users have come up with but my favourite use is as a deep cleansing mask, hydrating mask, lip balm and general salve for any burns, sun burn etc that my skin has. 

It comes with a muslin cloth that I use to remove the product and this also helps with exfoliation. 

This balm also contains rosehip oil along with starflower, patchouli and geranium so it smells wonderful as well as providing a whole host of benefits for hydration, smoothing and soothing.

This one even has the Soil Association rating of 99% organic which is obviously really hard to achieve and hard to prove. It's impressive that this rating can be achieved but proves it is possible, i think more brands should aim to achieve these badges of honour!

The Wild rose Beauty  Balm can be purchased for £38 for 50g, and can be purchased from the many individual stores and their website, as well as John Lewis and Waitrose.

As the Soil Association is a UK registered charity this is probably why Antipodes don't have the same rating (they come from New Zealand). It would be great if they were more easily compared in terms of organic ratings but to be perfectly honest this isn't something that would stop me from buying a product from either reputable brand.

Have you tried either of my favourites? Do you think Organic Beauty Week is a good idea?

What's your favourite organic beauty product or brand?

L xxx

*Both products in this post were given to me for review by the respective brands directly, however this has not affected my opinion of either product. This post is not sponsored by the Soil Association either, I just think it's a great idea :)

Antipodes Saviour Skin Balm

Hey All

Lack of posts from me the last week as I'm totally swamped in work atm and doing extra hours to fit everything in. Organic Beauty Week is coming up soon so a few weeks ago Antipodes got in touch to see if we fancied trying any bits from the range! L and I are massive fans so of course we said Yes. L will be sharing her's soon.

I'm off on holiday next month so the Saviour skin balm stood out to me straight away. This is an amazing multi use product that I couldn't wait to try it out. I'm naturally really pale and will inevitably burn on holiday so thought this would be great to put on my sun burn. It's also great for the skin post flight and seen as I'll be on planes for over 14 hours I'm going to need a treat for my skin.

The Saviour skin balm is also antibacterial, antifungal and antimicrobial and is great for cuts, bruises and rashes as well as many more. I've been putting this on spots to help calm them down and it's been amazing at softening the skin on my feel.

The balm has an amazing texture and is super soft. It melts on the touch and soaks into the skin easily. I've been recently putting it on stretch marks too and can't wait to see the difference it makes. Due to the echinacea and grape seeds it really helps cell and skin repair. I can't wait to see the improvement this makes to my skin!

I really love all purpose balms that are a one pot does all. This is perfect for holidays as I don't have to take as much with me. It's perfect for chapped lips and dry skin so will definitely be a saviour on holiday!

Are you testing out any new products for Organic Beauty week? I think I need to order myself the SPF from antipodes ready for holiday!

Love M

xxx

Street Food Circus

Hey there!

This weekend has been about catching up with things, I've caught up on the boring house things like cleaning and washing and also blog photos and painting my nails.

I caught up with some friends on Friday night at the Street Food Circus, luckily I went to the gym straight from work so not only was I super hungry but felt like I was justified in my huge binge of food....right?

We shared a few different meals to maximise our feast, we shared a burger from Got Beef (already a huge fan of theirs and this was a great burger!) and then we went straight to Meat and Greek. I haven't ever had any food from them before but I've heard amazing things and it did not disappoint. We shared the chicken souvlaki with halloumi and it was bloody good!

Next up we shared the cod bites from Big Fish Little Fish, the fish was amazing and the chips were covered in salt and rosemary....yum! The peas and tartare sauce were also great but I did think that this was overall a bit too salty for my liking - still great though!





I finished off my feast the only way i know how. Science Cream!

It has long been a favourite of mine, and the flavours were still the same as those from when I went the week before. With the gym as a justification I ordered the big guns - the Freakshake containing peanut butter ice cream, 'jelly' sauce, marshmallow and caramel brownie.

I made the mistake in assuming it was a milkshake with some marshmallows, berry sauce and bits of brownie sprinkled on top.....it wasn't. It was a beasty milkshake with a huge amount of berry sauce at the bottom, a brownie the size of a normal dessert and where you would normally have whipped cream on a frappe, homemade veggie marshmallow!



I was really impressed with the marshmallow, I've never had anything like it and tucked into it without hesitation. The shake itself was also great and I love PB so it was a favourite, but the berry sauce and the brownie was too much overkill for me. The berry overpowered the PB flavour and the brownie was quite stodgy. In my opinion, peanut butter goes with berries, salted caramel, brownie and marshmallow....but not all at the same time!



This was all from this weeks offering, but I have also been a few weeks ago and had the ribs from Hangfire Smokehouse - utterly wonderful but definitely worth sharing unless you don't fancy eating much else! The two ribs I had were both a similar size, and that was similar to the size of my forearm. My arms aren't huge, but imagine them as ribs and that's the amount of meat I had to get through!

After this I managed to share half a pizza covered with chorizo and honey - yes that's right HONEY! It was really good and now I might just put a swirl of honey on any meat pizza I eat in future, it was yum!

The Street Food Circus is definitely worth visiting though it does make me sad that it wasn't on for longer. There are only two more weekends left for eating your body weight in delicious food so I'd recommend going asap!


L xxx

Review: Barry M Sunset Daylight Curing Nail Paint in Peach for the Stars

Hello there!

Today's post is a review of a nail polish, which is something that I rarely buy nowadays. Over the years I have built up quite a collection and have pretty much all of the nudes, corals and glitters that I could possibly want - and I rarely wear many other colours!

However every now and then I cannot resist picking up something that's a different colour or effect and this was the case with the Daylight Curing range from Barry M.

My nail varnish rarely lasts more than a few days because of work and although I tend to do them once a week it would be great if they could last the whole week without too much chipping, so the long lasting effects of the UV type polish sounded worthy of trying, and of course they had a coral colour that was right up my street!

So I picked up the Peach for the Stars and also the Do it Like a Nude as well as the very important top coat.

Basically these are to act as an at home kit to give salon quality high shine nails that would normally be created with a UV lamp but instead uses daylight and the topcoat for the same effect, also requiring no base coat.

I have been wearing this shade for the last few weeks and really like it, I've had so many compliments too. I've worn it to work, the gym and wedding celebrations and it has been an all round winner.

I've been impressed at how super shiny it is too, I always love shiny nails and wasn't really a fan of the matte trend. Aside from a few times when I dabbled I always find myself straight back to super shiny topcoat.

There are 16 shades in total plus the top coat, all costing £4.99 which is great value anyway but likely they are on offer as they so regularly are in Boots and Superdrug. There are some reds and darker shades which will be great for the winter months that I will probably look into getting soon too.

What do you think of the Daylight Curing range? Are you a fan of Barry M too?

I have many polishes from their collection and plan on adding many more too! I really don't see why you would pay any more than this price when Barry M have such great colours and finishes.

L xxx