Excellent Exfoliators - Friday Favourites

Exfoliation is a necessity in any facial skincare routine, but with so many options to choose from it can be slightly daunting. We at The Amazing Blog are here to share some of our favourite methods. No doubt you'll be left with a glowing, baby-soft, smooth face; the perfect canvas for makeup to glide over.

We started off with the first of our handy helpers, The Konjac Facial Puff Sponge. Made with 100% natural products this palm-sized sponge is the answer to all of your exfoliation prayers. The Konjac Sponge Co. graciously sent us two of their signature sponges: the Bamboo Charcoal Konjac Facial Puff Sponge and the Chamomile Konjac Facial Puff Sponge. Each with specific healing properties, both of these sponges will balance your skin’s pH levels while gently exfoliating and deeply cleansing your skin. They stimulate blood circulation and cell turnover, so you'll be left with supple and vibrant skin. The best part is it is safe to use on your eye area and is entirely suitable for sensitive skin.

The Bamboo Charcoal Sponge is specifically designed for oily and spot prone skin. The activated charcoal in this sponge works to eliminate excess oils, clear blackheads and kill acne-causing bacteria. This sponge even removes water-based make-up. The Chamomile Sponge is ideal for those with hypersensitive skin. The Chamomile is hypoallergenic and calms the skin while purifying, soothing, and plumping the skin.  All of their sponges are vegan, animal cruelty-free and made with 100% natural materials.

These sponges are the original Konjac Sponges and are multi award winning. Purchase The Konjac Bamboo Charcoal Facial Puff Sponge here for £8.99 and the Konjac Camomile Facial Puff Sponge here for £8.99.  

Our next little wonder product is the Exfolia Microexfoliation Beauty Cloth. This cloth is safe to use for all ages and on all skin types and will, in a few minutes,  leave your skin feeling smoother and looking radiant. Made without any chemicals or additives, the hypoallergenic cloth removes the dead skin cells from the skin’s surface. This allows following serums and moisturisers to soak deeper into the skin and work more efficiently. 

This cloth is very soft to the touch and is gentle enough to use on baby skin. The Exfolia Beauty Cloth aids in repairing sun damage through skin regeneration and increases the elasticity of the skin for younger looking and healthier skin. This beauty cloth is washable and reusable and can be used 60-80 times before it needs to be replaced. To use just run under warm water and use with your facial cleanser for softer, cleaner and more radiant looking skin. It is our ideal product for a quick face wash in the morning.

Purchase your own Exfolia Microexfoliation Beauty Cloth here for £10.35. 

Next up, we have one of our favourite exfoliation cleansers, Caudalie Deep Cleansing Exfoliator. This creamy cleanser is perfect for all skin types but works particularly well for oily and combination skin. This cleanser is formulated with 97% all natural products and is filled with micro-grains, derived from corn, to gently scrub away dead skin cells without being too abrasive or irritating. Infused with grapefruit, mint and sweet orange to give the skin a burst of freshness and clarity while exfoliating, you will feel rejuvenated and refreshed.

Caudalie recommends only using this cleanser 1-2 times a week for a truly deep clean. When using the product, wet your face and neck with water before gently working the cleanser into your skin. As it scrubs away the skin’s impurities, the fresh scent of citrus and mint awaken your senses, transporting you to your own little spa in the comfort of your home.

Purchase the Caudalie Deep Cleansing Exfoliator here for £20.00. 

Our final exfoliator is a chemical exfoliant, but don't let the word 'chemical' scare you. Chemical exfoliants are a staple in any skincare guru's stash, and we never skip this in our routine. Murad's AHA/BHA Exfoliating Cleanser contains Salicylic, Lactic and Glycolic acids which work to dissolve dead skin cells that are just sitting on the skin's surface. The result is skin clarity, brightness and improved cell turnover, unveiling a radiant complexion. This cleanser also incorporates physical exfoliants, and the Jojoba Beads gently polish, exfoliate and nourish the skin. A weekly beauty rendezvous with Murad’s exfoliating cleanser will result in unblemished smooth skin, making common issues like pores and uneven skin tone history. Murad is a pioneer in chemical exfoliants and was actually the first brand to use Alpha Hydroxy Acids (AHAs) in topical skincare, and this little gem is still one of the best.

Purchase Murad’s award winning exfoliating cleanser is here for £34 with free UK delivery.

We hope we've inspired you to get on the exfoliating bandwagon, or perhaps inspired you exfoliating experts for your next venture. If you haven't been able to tell, we are very into exfoliating and this concoction of methods keeps our complexions smooth and radiant.

Invisiblur Perfecting Shield – Murad

Here at The Amazing Blog, we’re always looking for the newest miracle working products. So after we heard the hype over Murad’s Invisiblur Perfecting Shield, we had to give it a try.

This brilliant multi-tasker serves as a sunblock with SPF 30 whilst delivering anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, hydrating, and anti-aging ingredients to boost the skin. It features Shitake Mushroom and Mucor Miehei Peptides that stimulate collagen production to help reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. It also acts as a mattifying primer under makeup blurs out imperfections.  What’s most amazing to us is the texture of this formulation—it’s got a gel consistency but a rich and creamy texture that glides across the skin. After application we can tell that our pores are less noticeable and our skin is silky soft to the touch. The effect it has is almost like we’ve been edited with a soft focus filter!

Add this multipurpose product to your morning routine for £55 here.

Friday Favourites - Sun Products with SPF

With yet another unpredictable English summer upon us, here at The Amazing Blog we were anxious to find something to protect our skin from the sun, should it choose to come out! So, we decided to give some of the newest and most exciting products with SPF on the market a test run.

First off was the Green People Sun Lotion. A Beauty Bible award winner for ultimate natural product, Green People never use no harsh chemicals (82% of ingredients are organic) and 10 per cent of profit is donated to the Marine Conservation Society charity, making them an ethical role model.  Although it only has a 25 SPF factor and a medium coverage rating, it is designed to be kind to sensitive skin, so could be perfect for olive skin individuals who still suffer from sensitivity from time to time, like myself. This product is an environmental triumph, as well as being good to skin. At only £18.95 from the Green People website, it’s a reasonable price compared to some alternatives and does a whole lot of good at the same time.

Another unique product we tried was The Sun Mousse. A unique brand, they have products for both adults and children. We sampled the 30 SPF, 6 hour protection, water resistant product and were amazed. I was originally apprehensive about how much to use but the mousse comes out moderately slowly so don’t panic about explosions of fast foaming mousse! It rubs in quickly and feels so light on the skin; the oily thick feel that most creams have is a thing of the past.  So the fact that The Sun Mousse, goes on quickly, easily and without fuss or frills, helps to remove all moaning from small people  desperate to get into the pool or sea. The six hour protection also means children (and adults) can run, jump and play in the sun without worry. If maximum protection is your biggest worry then this mousse is perfect. Easy application, maximum protection. It’s available here, from the Sun Mousse website for £19.99.

For some variation, we also tried the Resultime CC Cream from Collin Paris. CC creams or colour corrector creams are a relatively new concept to the make-up world. They are designed to even out skin pigmentation and leave a flawless finish. Unlike the other products we tried, this CC cream also has anti-aging elements. The vitamin E also helps to improve skin moisture and the SPF 30 rating ensures you’re protected from the sun all day long. The product is light and goes onto the skin beautifully. It comes in two skin shades, natural and golden they blend so well that they are suitable for almost any skin tone. If you’re searching for something lighter than foundation for the summer months this CC cream could be the perfect product. The Resultime CC creams are available here £35.50 each.

We also tried one of the hero products from Murad, Essential C Sun Balm is a stick application sun cream with an SPF of 35. Although this isn’t the maximum protection it still offers adequate cover, as well as hydrating the skin. The roll-on stick nature of the product is definitely its unique selling point. The quality and versatility is demonstrated by its 2013 Shape Sun Award. It makes it super easy to apply, especially to the face, with no worries of using too much or staining clothes like some liquid creams. With extracts of broccoli for UV protection and tangerine butter for moisture as well as being anti-animal testing, Murad’s Essential C Sun Balm ticks all the boxes for the perfect face and neck sun cream. The cream is available here for £19.50.

The final product in our sun feature is the Peter Thomas Roth Instant Mineral SPF 45. This unique product comes in the form of a brush on sun protector for immediate, any time UVA/UVB sun-protection. This product is so versatile, acting as a bronzer/powder concealer as it creates the illusion of smooth radiant skin, whilst also offering a level of sun cream protection. So, if you still keep up your make-up routine on holiday, this touch up powder is perfect. It also helps prevent sunburn, skin damage, freckling and uneven discoloration, leaving you flawless but protected. The Peter Thomas Roth Instant Mineral SPF 45 is available through Salon Skincare here in the UK for £17.60

Murad - Resurgence Age-Diffusing Firming Mask

I have wanted to try the Murad products for quite some time. I first spied them lurking behind a sea of make-up, in a friends bathroom shelves. And as you do…. I found myself having a sneaky sniff and sample. What intrigued me most was the fact that my lovely friend (who is a very mild mannered person) is a total devotee and obsessed by Dr Murad and his products and ‘The Science of Cellular Water™’,  So when the Murad Resurgence Age-Diffusing Firming Mask finally arrived at The Amazing Blog I pounced on the bottle…

For those of you who don’t know this brand Dr Murad is the founder of scientifically proven skincare, a true pioneer and a leading dermatologist. Based in the Murad Inclusive Health Spa in LA, Dr Murad's experience of his patient's skincare conditions inspired him to create skincare. These range from acne and redness to pigmentation and anti-ageing.  He’s an author of a number of dermatology books including The Cellulite Solution, which was serialised in the Sunday Times. Murad celebrity fans include Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl), Fearne Cotton, Nicole Sherzinger, Holly Willoughby, Kimberley Walsh, Lily Cole and Emily Blunt

I’m not a big fan of putting water my face or for that matter face masks, however I persevered with the Murad Resurgence Age-Diffusing Firming Mask (Step 2). This formula promised to enhance skin elasticity, promote instant firming and to diminish the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. The key ingredients include golden seaweed to restore resilience and the FirmQ2 complex to firm and lift. I found it almost fragrance free with only the most subtle bouquet of something that reminded me of a fresh bunch of grapes, I massaged on evenly over my face and neck. Left on as instructed for about 10 mins what I noticed was that it had a very ‘cooling’ effect both to the touch and on my skin. I then diligently rinsed it off. My skin definitely looked brighter, felt smoother and thankfully not tighter (something I hate).  I don’t have the other recommended Step 1 (cleanse) or Step 3 (moisturiser) to try,  butI did follow it with one of my current fav serums and  moisturisers (you’ll have to wait to learn about those in my next posts!)

This was definitely like bringing the spa experience home and  for a retail price of £59.50 for 50ml it is good value for money especially if you compare it what a series of say 5 facials would cost. Available from leading spas, salons and selected House of Fraser, Debenhams and M&S Your Beauty stores nationwide. To buy online and find your nearest stockist please visit here.