KIERIN NYC – Santal Sky

Although The Amazing Blog loves London and we will likely never leave, New York City is one of our favourite cities in the world. Walking through the streets of Manhattan amidst the American hustle and bustle make you feel alive and young. Yet within the city that never sleeps, there are moments of ultimate peace and serenity. Flights to New York are expensive, but the next best option is to bring the atmosphere of the city to you with KIERIN NYC’s Santal Sky fragrance.

Inspired by the vibrant and metropolitan lifestyle of New Yorkers, KIERIN NYC has also embodied New York’s inclusive nature by creating perfumes that can appeal to all ages, genders, ethnicities, and nationalities. The company invites people ‘to be inspired, not defined or confined, by fragrance’. This ethos produced Santal Sky’s clean and unique scent designed for the modern urban individual. For this perfume, French perfumer Mathieu Nardin combined sandalwood, vetiver plant, and cardamom and saffron spices. The scent has a very strong earth and woodsy aroma from the sandalwood. However, what makes you think twice about Santal Sky are its spicy after notes. This fragrance is completely its own in this regard, and the spiciness leaves you mesmerised by the smell long after you’ve sprayed it. The overall ambience of Santal Sky is a sexy and mature scent that lasts all night while you’re getting fancy cocktails at a bar with the city lights behind you.

Despite this, it doesn’t smell too old to use in your 20’s and comes in a sturdy, stylish matte white bottle that is recyclable. KIERIN NYC has a ‘clean & conscious’ model for its brand, so all of its products are made with sustainable packaging and ethically sourced ingredients to help other communities as well as our own. Santal Sky is also cruelty-free, vegan, paraben and phthalate free, and hypoallergenic. This perfume not only has an eco-friendly mindset but smells exceptional and will bring some of the ‘New York State of Mind’ to London.

You can purchase Santal Sky (50ml) here for £65

Dadima's Panjiri

We might be enticed by a good beauty product (or two) at The Amazing Blog , but we’re also equally interesting in discovering new (and delicious) foods. One thing we’ve concluded through our foodie research is that there is often a focus on new crazes and fads – and while there is no problem with this, the focus on tried, tested and traditional recipes can often be forgotten. We were therefore thrilled to discover Dadima’s, a brand sharing our desire to celebrate the wisdom of generations, providing us with their traditional and high energy Panjiri – a recipe that has well and truly stood the test of time.

Panjiri or Panjeri is a recipe and staple that originates from the Punjab and Hyderbad regions in India. It is treated as a nutritional supplement and has been used for thousands of years, by the ancient Hindus and Sikhs. It is usually eaten in the winter to ward off cold and also given to nursing mothers as it’s considered very nutritional. The story behind this brand is a lovely one. Founder, Anneeka, has taken inspiration from the wisdom and knowledge of her grandmother, creating a version of the Panjiri recipe which is full of tradition and flavour. This inspiration even draws as far as the brand name itself, taken directly from the name she uses to address her grandmother. We don’t mind admitting that we were novices in relation to Panjiri, however we are now huge lovers of this high energy snacking food. With a recipe deep rooted in Ayurvedic medicine. It boasts a plethora of health benefits, boosting energy and fibre levels simultaneously, and thanks to the handmade recipe, both artificial preservatives and added sugars are avoided.

For those wondering what this snack tastes like – we concluded that it is a cardamom and sultana infusion with a kick of almond, fennel, ginger and carom seeds. The texture is soft, making it easy to sprinkle over porridge, fruit or yoghurt. The texture comes from the use of semolina and ghee, while melon seeds, dessicated coconut and Arabic gum are all used to add flavour. We tried the no added sugar version, but for those with a sweeter tooth, the traditional version contains a little extra sweetness. Alternatively, we have added a sprinkling of Panjiri to a traditional British crumble, for a flavour kick, but also to add a little bit of goodness to a perhaps not to good pudding!

To try this family classic for yourself, then both the original and no added sugar Panjiri products can be purchased from the Dadima’s website here for £6.99. Enjoy!

Love Heart Chakra Green Tea - PositiviTea

Here at The Amazing Blog we know how important it is to take care of both body and mind. PositiviTea is a great way to find that balance.

This company believes in the three P’s: living in the PRESENT, believing everything is POSSIBLE and staying POSITIVE. With all these good vibes, we were more than happy to try PositiviTea’s Love tea. Its blend of Jasmine Green Tea, Rose Petals, Hawthorn Leaf, Cardamom, and Gingko Biloba promises to activate and heal heart chakra. Green tea can help boost your metabolism and Gingko Biloba can improve your circulation. The tea also contains delicious Hawthorn, which helps strengthen the heart whilst Cardamom acts as a breath freshener and an aphrodisiac. As with any other tea, all you have to do is brew it in hot water and all the flavours and properties will emerge.

In each recycled package you can find 15 biodegradable tea bags just for £5.50. You can get and choose your favourite PositiviTea tea here. 

Laboratory Perfumes

 

As regular readers of The Amazing Blog will know we love to patronise all things British. So what better find than a ‘Made in England’ perfume. Imagine our joy having searched far and wide to find a new and usual British fragrance only to find that this one was quite literally right under our noses (excuse the pun). Enter Laboratory Perfumes whose aim has been to create a range of perfumes which evoke a strong sense of place. They have produced two fragrances No001 Gorse and No 002 Amber both of which they say are “Inspired by the flora of the countryside, these are both two clean, pure and modern fragrances, evocative of nature”.

My favourite is No001 Gorse – it is a heady fragrance that is quite understated and a little hard to define; even its appearance is minimalist and clean. There’s certainly no generalisations or classification with this Gorse fragrance so forget trying to put it in a generic a box. It is a standalone fragrance – individual to the last, which is why I love it! Floral and fruity but not sweet, it's very mood enhancing and reminds me of a very fresh and breezy sunny day. As we all know every fragrance smells completely different on each person. When I spray it on me it has a complex combination with a hint of coconut, the tiniest trace of cardamom with a large dash of citrus. The elegant clear glass bottles and candle beakers echo the origins of the traditional perfumer’s laboratory together with the packaging in its understated brown cylindrical box.

So why not sit back and spray your Laboratory Perfume of choice and imagine a heathland walk, a stroll along a tidal estuary or summer’s day with friends on a quiet pebble beach. Because if these perfumes were a place, they’d probably be a heritage coast of East Anglia or Pembrokeshire. What better way to cheer yourself up in preparation for the grey skies and forthcoming inclement autumnal weather. Laboratory Perfume are priced at £48 are available online and from nationwide outlets including Liberty’s.

Juiceology

How many times have you tried to experiment with a new type of healthy drink only to come away disappointed? You attempt to be healthy and try fruit and vegetable juices but they end up tasting awful.  Having been through a plethora of allegedly healthy juices, I almost gave up hope on finding a  drink that was good for me as well as delicious. That was until a box of Juiceology arrived at The Amazing Blog  - yes and we all agree that each of the four flavours is everybit as good as the last!

The juices created by Juiceology are all natural and don't contain any artificial sugars or preservatives. The taste of these juices comes from the blend of juice, purees, herbs, natural botanical extracts, and spring water. For additional health benefits, Juiceology has included a multitude of antioxidants as well as milk thistle to all of their drinks.  I tried the apple, lime, and mint which was absolutely delicious. The flavour of apple combined with the citrus taste of the lime blended perfectly with the subtle hint of mint at the end.  Their other flavours are mandarin, ginger, and cardamom, lychee, berry, and basil, and coconut water and white guava and the gang at The Amazing Blog are certainly looking forward to drinking our way through them - in fact we think that with a quick dash of vodka they'd be rather nice too...  So, if you, too, are in need of a healthy thirst-quencher more exciting than water, give Juiceology a try, available online priced at £14.99 for 12 bottles.