Saskia’s Flower Essences - My Personal Space / Focus Energise Create

Sadly living the city, we often find ourselves in an urban zone which is truly disconnected from nature. At The Amazing Blog we try to step back, take time out and tap into the energy of nature and the plants around us. However, being time-poor, this is not always as often as we would like. This is where we’d like to introduce you to natures little helpers, plant-inspired healing flower essences from the award-winning Saskia’s Flower Essences.

Saskia Marjoram, founder and creator of Saskia’s Flower Essences, has over 30 years of experience in gardening including working as a florist for the Prince of Wales’. During a complicated time in her journey through motherhood, she discovered flower essences and how powerful they could be. Flower essences are created by capturing the unique vibrational energy of a plant and holding it as a memory in water. When you use the essence, you take in the vibration from the plant which reminds your own personal energy how to be.

Firstly we tried the My Personal Space Spray, which is perfect for those who are easily disrupted by other’s energies. Made with pure rosewater, we recommend a spritz of this essence, just before hopping on the tube for your daily commute. It’ll uplift the senses and help to make your travels feel like a breeze. Also this is very good for warding-off negative energy in offices (not that we have any here!) The My Personal Space Spray was the winner of the gold category of the Green Parent Natural Beauty Awards in 2018, and Editors Choice winner in the 2019 Beauty Shortlist Awards. Not only do we think that this is a daily essential to keep close for protection, but it smells divine and feels so refreshing and replenishing on the face.

Next, we used the Focus Energise Create a flower essence combination. I’ve always been a big fan of flower essence since childhood, my mother was a firm believer and even used them on her nervous pedigree show dogs! So for me to discover an indie brand like this, which is made with such love and care, is a joy. Just put 7 drops under your tongue in the morning to unblock creativity and ward off procrastination. Some of the delicious ingredients include carrot, buttercup and blackberry. These drops are perfect for when you have one of those days where you feel listless, unable to focus and blocked.

The wonderful thing is that Saskia has flower essences for almost any problem that ails you. Whether that be stress, depression, low self-esteem or even fertility. She also offers consultations and custom combination essences for a more specific solution. If you’d like to try Saskia’s Flower Essences, My Personal Space essence spray can be purchased here at 30ml for £10. Or the Focus Energise Create drops at 30ml for £10. If you are a novice to flower essences, THIS is the brand to try!

L’Araboutique® Skincare

Today at the Amazing Blog we’d like to share with you some natural treasures from Arab world. The Middle Eastern cultures have some of the best kept beauty secrets, and we’re going to introduce you to one of them. Meet the natural and organic skincare brand L’Araboutique who have an array of exotic ingredients including: Extra virgin olive oil from Palestine and Syria, mineral-rich Zamzam water from Saudi Arabia, the finest royal green hojari frankincense from Oman, fragrant pink roses from Madina and rich organic sidr honey from Yemen.  And these are just a few of the wonderful pure ingredients found in their products.

L’Araboutique® was created by Dr. Samira Zaidan and Dr. Mona Alyedreessy (a mother and daughter team) and they claim to be the only skincare and haircare brand to make natural products with Zamzam water. These products are handmade in the UK, are organic, chemical-free, cruelty-free, halal, eco-friendly and vegan (apart from those containing camel milk, beeswax and sidr honey) they are also UK and EU tested approved and certified.

They very kindly send us a selection of products to try, and the first products we used were their soaps. The Oat, Sidr Honey & Madina Rose Soap can be used on the skin or hair to soften and hydrate. The combination of oat, sidr honey & Madina roses calm and moisturise the skin. The Arabic Gum & Bay Leaf Soap has a strong anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties while simultaneously stimulating the skin’s collagen production. One of our team even noticed that their skin appeared brighter after using this bar. Next we tried the soap Arabic Coffee, Ginger & Cinnamon. Did you know that coffee is the number one natural product to combat cellulite? No neither did we, but we loved how energising this scrub left us feeling.

Then there is The Madina Rose & Saffron Face Cream which dates all the way back to ancient Egypt when Cleopatra discovered the beauty benefits of rose water. This luxurious face cream has three key ingredients: Iranian saffron flowers blossom, mineral-rich Zamzam water infused with fresh Madina rose water and oil. All of which help to reduce hyperpigmentation. This was our Editor Edwina’s favourite. Staying on a rose theme, we also tried their Madina Rose Deodorant  which is a 24-hour deodorant cream made from organic cold-pressed coconut oil that helps to  fights bacteria. It also has turmeric to lighten dark patches and pigmentation on the underarm area and smells divine.

Finally, we come to The Sutanah Face Lift Mask a recipe apparently only shared between Arabian royalty. Made with pomegranates, Moroccan rhassoul clay and aloe vera juice, this mask instantly tightens and lifts the face – this powder you simply mix with water. Best of all, we like how the brand contribute 50p from every sale to a charity that helps to build wells around the world. The Water Project charity provides essential clean water to families and communities where it’s needed the most. 

L’Araboutique® can be purchased here with skincare prices starting from £15. We think they are a wonderful new discovery, where the ancient and modern worlds meet and we can’t wait to try more for this brand.

ALL TIGERS - Liquid Lipstick & Nail Lacquer

Did you know that the average woman can eat up to 2kg of lipstick in her lifetime? At the Amazing Blog we love our lipstick and probably consume even more than the average woman! However, it’s scary to think what we are consuming if we use lipsticks that are made from chemicals or other unnatural ingredients. That’s where ALL TIGERS steps in.

The founder Alexis Robillard was inspired by this and a simple question was born: What if he could create the perfect lipstick that’s both eco-friendly and stylish? Unique in their approach, ALL TIGERS is a young and fun brand, they even took to their Instagram account to poll with future customers and get approval on each important decision. They support the preservation of the wild tiger and its eco-system in Asia, within the framework of the 1% FOR THE PLANET . ALL TIGERS is a fitting name because of the powerful nature of the brand, made for the queens of the modern jungle!

ALL TIGERS is the culmination of trendy and eco-friendly – the perfect merger. We tried the Natural & Vegan Liquid Lipstick in the shade 888 Pure Red ‘Call me Queen’ . We loved the timeless red shade of this lipstick, which is suitable for women of all skin tones. This shade screams ‘tigress’ as women have long worn red lipstick as a symbol of their power and femininity. The lipstick has an ‘easy-matte’ finish with a blend of botanical oils and waxes. We love that with just one swipe of ‘Call Me Queen’ across your lips and you’ll have a high-coverage red pout that lasts for hours.

Now every girl needs the perfect red nail lacquer to match her signature red lips. The ALL TIGERS Nail Lacquer in Red 298 ‘Hit It Big’ applies a pigmented colour to your claws. We love how it has bamboo, acerola, gotu kola and glycerin to improve nail strength. The generous brush applicator is the perfect size for applying the polish in one swipe. Its long-wear non chip vegan formula was made for queens of the concrete jungle. Free your claws from chemical-based nail lacquers with this vegan polish.

We love this stylish brand and their mission to empower women to be fierce and powerful while also being eco-friendly. If you want to join us in the prowl, you can purchase ALL TIGERS Liquid Lipstick here for £20.50. The Nail Lacquer can be purchased here for £11.50.

PuraVida Bio

As our readers know, at The Amazing Blog we always veer towards good all-natural products. But, even with all the natural products we use, toxins still find a way to get into our skin through polluted air. We know that we’ll never leave the hustle and bustle of the city, but is the city air messing with our skin? Enter PuraVida Bio with their skin detox line. The Detox Serum, Detox Mask and Anti-age Balm all offer a perfect remedy to polluted skin. Anti-pollution skincare is one of the fastest growing areas in beauty and is something we’re all keen to try more of.

PuraVida Bio is an Italian brand of organic skincare that was started after identifying a need for high quality, innovative skincare products for all age ranges that are also completely safe and effective. We particularly like how they break down the ingredients that they use in each product with a purpose for each one. What makes this brand ‘different’ is that all their products are made with certified natural organic ingredients which are transformed into precious plant Lysates. The ingredients are provided by Alce Nero approved Italian farmers who cultivate under strict guidelines for organic farming. These are then go through a method of biotransformation into certified Lysates through an active process of natural fermentation (called ‘elision’), which strengthens all the antioxidants revitalising all the ingredients used. You can read more about this here.

We were sent three of their key products to test. The first of which was their Detox Serum, which is a concentration of anti-pollution active ingredients. It contains extract of Malvasia grapevines which maintain the correct level of skin microflora and speed up natural detoxification. The serum can be applied alone or before a moisturiser or balm, but we saw the best results when using together with their Anti-age Balm.

The Anti-age Balm we enjoyed using, light in texture, easy to absorb and the fragrance has a delicious powdery sweetness (the beetroot extract?) The extract of beetroot helps bind vitamin D on the skin, essential for toning and hydrating the skin. This is a long lasting formula that goes on working for 24 hours as it’s powerful antioxidants, ceramides and fermented angelica oil protect the skin and keep it toned and uniform. The vitamin C stimulates the renewal of collagen and combats the formation of age spots.

Our favourite of the three products is hands down the Detox Mask. It comes in these perfect single-use travel pods that are so easy to throw in a carry-on bag if you’re traveling. The PuraVida mask is the fastest way to detox your skin. Just apply the mask to the face and neck and leave for 15 minutes, once a week. It’s rich in powerful antioxidants and vitamin D, which is necessary for proper skin hydration.

All products are natural, gluten free, nickel tested no parabens or artificial preservatives and are not tested on animal. They are also approved by ICEA, one of the most important institutes for ethical and environmental certification. If you would like to remove some of the effects of pollution from your skin, the PuraVida Bio Detox products  can all be purchased here. The 50 ml Anti-age Balm is €32. You can purchase the 30 ml Detox Serum for €45 and the pack of 4 (8ml) Detox Masks retails for €22.

Friday Favourites – Healing Face Mists

Don’t you love it when you wake up, spray your face with a natural, delicate and fresh face mist, both invigorating and uplifting, all to start your day off right. At The Amazing Blog, we’ve always been keen on facial mists, but in our recent search we’ve found that too many high street facial mists are ineffective, watery or filled with chemicals. Today we’re happy to say that we’ve discovered some new and natural healing mist solutions to share with you.  We hope you enjoy them as much as we have.

The first #Amazingfind healing mist we have is from Max and Me, a company dedicated to making you look better but also feeling better.

The brand was founded by Max and Tanja Gruber, who set out to create skincare that they quote that it “Goes beyond mere product performance. Skincare that suffuses you with a most beautiful, vibrant flow of energy.” Max is the entrepreneurial spirit of the pair, and designed the company’s structure so it is as fully ethical as possible particularly regarding ingredient sourcing and sustainability. His partner, Tanja trained in Energetic Healing, Kinesiology, and Aromatherapy for three years at the Austrian Academy of Kinesiology. The couple’s respective backgrounds fused into a line of unique skin care products with an energy-healing basis.

The Intuitive is a botanical facial mist that has a blend of ingredients to ‘elevate skin, soul, and spirit’. One of the main ingredients, palo santo, is an Ecuadorian-sourced plant that heals and increases positive energy around you, which uplifts your mood. On top of this, wild agonis essential oil regulates your circadian rhythm for better sleeping at night, and blue tansy relaxes and calms your mind. These natural ingredients work to balance the flow of energy around you and reduce any negative ions while smelling like the woods after it rains. They are also gentle yet effective for inflamed, dry, or acne-prone skin.

Besides providing much-needed relief to our dry summer skin, what drew us to this product was its healing effects. When we sprayed it, we instantly felt tranquil - and it’s something that we’ve carried with us throughout the day even as we walked through the busy London streets. You can use this facial mist for many purposes, such as a room and pillow spray or mixed with a balm for a face mask, but we preferred using it on freshly cleansed skin to let our moisturiser soak in better. The spray has very fine particles, which evenly distribute the mist onto your face, and is hand-blended into a sturdy glass bottle. You can purchase The Intuitive (100ml) here for 70 €.

The next product we have for you is made specifically for skin hydration by Alexandra Soveral. As regular readers will know, we recently featured her Sweet Orange & Rosemary Shampoo. Soveral founded the brand with her business partner Jori Aleem to form natural products developed using cutting edge science. Before starting her beauty and perfume line, Soveral spent time understanding skin as an aromatherapist and facialist. She also learned how to curate products organically as a cosmetic designer. The company is also dedicated to sustainability and given the Positive Luxury Butterfly Mark, which ‘identifies the luxury brands that meet the highest standards of verified innovation, social, and environmental performance’. It uses pure and natural ingredients found in its Floral Rain Hydrating Face Mist.

This face mist combines vitamins and antioxidants with essential oils that hydrate and even your skin, making it optimal to use as a toner to prep your face for oils, serums, or moisturiser. Aloe vera nourishes your skin but doesn’t make the product watery so that you can use it over make up for a midday skin pick-me-up. The orange blossom and rose scent is also refreshing to use on your neck and décolletage. We found that it smells good when sprayed around your surroundings as with just a single spritz of the mist, the fragrance holds its aroma. It is hand-blended in London and packaged in a recyclable plastic bottle. You can buy the Hydrating Face Mist (250ml) here for £45.

Finally, to complete this week’s Friday Favourite’s trio of healing mists, we have the Universal Soul Company’s, 3-in-1 Soul Mist in their signature fragrance STILL. The luxury lifestyle brand was founded by well-known British actress Sara Griffiths to value all five of your senses amid all the media and technology that surrounds us and empower others through positive well-being. The company focuses on the idea of ‘profit for purpose’ and donates a portion of its revenue to different causes as another way to enable others. The Universal Soul Company also has the Positive Luxury Butterfly Mark of approval for sustainability.

The name of the Soul Mist comes from its three intended uses: room spray, meditation, and pillow mist. Instead of needing three separate products, only this mist is necessary throughout your day from morning until night. Patchouli and vetiver base notes combine to create a strong musky scent while lavender oil and may chang layered on top of it create a sweet floral fragrance that appears a few moments after spraying the mist. May chang has been proven to relieve fatigue and lethargy, leaving you in a better mood and lavender helps you sleep and relieves body aches. The mist is made with 100 per cent natural essential oils and mineral waters, which break up air molecules and generate negative ions of well-being like being near a waterfall or the ocean. It is alcohol-free, vegan, cruelty-free, and has no artificial fragrances, so it is safe for use on your face and around children, animals, and furniture.

The 3-in-1 Soul Mist is Universal’s first brand product, and it does not disappoint. The smell made us feel instantly relaxed and lasted. We found it was particularly helpful in making us feel less stressed when waking up and getting going in the morning. You can purchase the hand-blended product (100ml) here for £37.

These three healing mists prove that creating a relaxed state of mind is not just reserved for a retreat or an exclusive yoga studio. In fact, they teach you how you can build a tranquil zone of your own with just one spray. Using each of these healing mists helped us to feel like we could conquer the day with both an uplifted mood and more radiant looking skin!