Tropikal Sundai – Golden Mango Body Butta

Has your skin got the winter blues? Then at The Amazing Blog we can’t wait to introduce you to some tropical sunshine. What better way to start the New year off right by treating dry skin to this super-hydrating Golden Mango Body Butta from Tropikal Sundai. With this gloomy January #lockdown, we love that this brings a much needed holiday glow to our skin.

Starting at a young age, Tropikal Sundai’s founder Ashlie-Selina Ryan spent her Sundays learning about Bajan plants and their healing properties from her Mother. While on a bike ride in Cherry Hill, Barbados, her skin started to get irritated and inflamed. This was when she learned from her cousin about the benefits of using plants such as Aloe Vera to soothe her skin. This gave her the inspiration to create her own line of products with Tropikal Sundai utilising traditional Bajan ingredients. Although now based in Hackney, Tropikal Sundai is as the name indicates a tropical fruit-infused artisan brand, whose ingredients are entirely vegan, cruelty-free and natural. One of their strong beliefs is ‘that mother nature has the abilities to heal, restore and nourish.’ They currently have a trio of products in the range with Guava & Aloe Hydrating Mist, Peach Papaya Glow Serum and Golden Mango Body Butta (which we are featuring below).

As mentioned, we think this Golden Mango Body Butta will make a great addition to your body care routine. As this Body Butta keeps skin moisturised and glistening with its all-natural ingredients. All products are handmade and in small batches where they only use raw butters and organic or cold press oils. Here in the Golden Mango Body Butta, the mango and cherry kernel oil are the prominent fruity fragrances in this decadently rich whipped body cream. With its key ingredients of aloe vera/coconut butter, mango, cherry kernel and shea oils, together with rosehip and grapeseed oils, which when combined make this a supreme skin food. The aloe vera/coconut butter hydrate and soothes irritated skin. The rosehip and shea oil help to moisturise and reduce any appearance of scarring. Although, the number one ingredient here is the mango (mangifera indica) butter, which rejuvenates and heals the skin, easing skin conditions such as eczema or psoriasis. This is a truly luxurious body cream, where a little goes a long way, when applied in the morning it lasted until bedtime, keeping skin soft supple throughout the day. It’s suitable for dry patches or for those with eczema;  we highly recommend treating skin with this pure and tropical plant magic, Golden Body Butta 250ml for £25, see here to purchase. 

Cannabina – CBD Bath Bomb Trio

Here at The Amazing Blog, we highly recommend soaking away 2020 and welcoming in the New Year with a nice relaxing bath, and a CBD infused Bath Bomb. Today we are featuring the deliciously scented CBD Bath Bomb Trio collection from Cannabina.

From growing up in sunny Jamaica, Cannabina’s founder Gemma McKay already had a knowledge and understanding of cannabis with all its properties and benefits. Which is why she recently launched this British brand with its hemp-based THC-free broad-spectrum CBD ingredients. These products have been created for everyone to enjoy the healing and soothing benefits of CBD. Which is where Cannabina offers a variety of CBD infused items from bath bombs and skincare to tinctures and edibles. McKay’s passion and interest in cannabis are the motivating factors behind the brand’s mission to improve the quality of life for their consumer, through this incredible plant's relieving and healing properties. Cannabina is an all-natural CBD brand where the products are free from harmful chemicals, pesticides, solvent residues, chlorophyll, fats and lipids. There are no preservatives, sulphates, mineral oils, parabens, artificial colouring, flavours or perfumes. The brand’s products are also cruelty-free and are tested and certified by both US and UK laboratories. Cannabina also has a strong sustainability ethos with its recycling and asks customers to return their product empties, for which they are rewarded with a 5% discount on further purchases.

The CBD Bath Bomb Trio is a collection of all three bath bombs. Each contains 100mg of broad-spectrum CBD and Epsom salts and are formulated with a specific combination of essential oils for a specific purpose. Let’s start with our favourite; this was the Purple CBD Bath Bomb we used this bath bomb when we were feeling particularly restless and wanted to soak-out a stressful day. With key ingredients of lavender flowers and oil, we knew we’d get a good night’s sleep. It dispersed slowly into the bath and filled the room with a glorious scent that left us feeling relaxed and aided towards a good solid seven hours sleep. Next, the Red CBD Bath Bomb which they described as ‘sensual’. It’s made of ylang-ylang, patchouli, rose geranium and orange essential oils. Ylang-ylang is known to calm the nervous system and offers a feeling of euphoria. Patchouli helps boost circulation and has a soothing effect on both the body and mind. Orange helps ease muscle pain and is also considered an aphrodisiac. Whereas rose geranium is often used to treat anxiety, depression and insomnia. There were rose petals that floated in the water when this bath bomb dissolved and the four oils when combined offered a sweet slightly fruit/rose floral scent - we’d say that this is mood-enhancing and relaxing. The third Bath Bomb is the Yellow CBD Bath Bomb which comprises of cypress, lavender, chamomile and lemongrass essential oils. Cypress has strong antiseptic qualities, lavender is relaxing, chamomile an anti-inflammatory and lemongrass relieves aches and pains. It has a robust, zesty lemongrass/cypress scent, where we found it more invigorating than relaxing. We think it’s best used after a run or a hard session at the gym with its great anti-inflammatory qualities. 

Quickly added, all three of these Bath Bombs are designed to ease tension in the body.  The Epsom salts found in each Bath Bomb are not ‘salts’ they are comprised of magnesium sulphate and oxygen. Magnesium plays a number of roles in the body, including regulating over 325 enzymes, reducing inflammation, helping muscle and nerve function, and prevents hardening of the arteries. Sulphates improve the absorption of nutrients, flush out toxins and soothes headaches. As a rule, we don’t consume enough magnesium in our diet, and these Bath Bombs release a good ratio of magnesium ion as well as CBD and essentials oils. Which when combined in these Bath Bombs and melted into the bath, are then absorbed into the body helping stimulate its healing process. We highly recommend giving these a try, not only will your bathroom smell amazing, but your body will unwind into a state of blissful tranquillity. The CBD Bath Bomb Trio are each 200mg, and you can buy them here for £20.00.

Dr Ankerstjerne - URBAN PROTECTION & SUPERFOOD

If you tot up the annual cost of your skincare, does it make you draw breath in horror? When we did this at The Amazing Blog it certainly gave us quite a shock!  We are all for economy and multitasking products, so when we heard about a new advanced Nordic skincare Dr Ankerstjerne , that would not only save us time but money – we had to try it. We also think that it’s perfect as a Christmas gift for anyone looking for a simple anti-ageing skincare routine with excellent results.

Dr Ankerstjerne is an advanced skincare brand developed by two Norwegian doctors, who got their inspiration when they couldn’t find skincare that would endure the extremes of the Scandinavian weather. Stine and Andre Ankerstjerne went on to develop an effective cosmeceutical brand based on one particular insight: Why use multiple products when the key actives needed can be condensed into just a few? In 2018, after five years of research, development, and testing, they decided to launch their own skincare brand with advanced skincare that’s easy to use. To answer the need for a simpler skincare regime, all the products are packed with multiple actives that work in synergy to provide long-lasting results without taking so much time or money. These all underwent clinical and laboratory testing with advanced dermatology equipment to measure very precisely the depth and length of wrinkles, skin firmness, skin elasticity and moisture levels. Dr Stine Ankerstjerne said: “Documentation of our skincare range’s effect assures us that our products do what they promise. The anti-age effects have been thoroughly investigated in double-blind, long-term studies, where independent dermatologists have performed advanced 3D scans of the skin of test subjects before and after the test period. The impressive study results showed a reduction of wrinkles, increased moisture content in the skin, as well as improvement of skin elasticity and tightness.” There is a core range of five products, all of which are high in vitamins and antioxidants (see here ) where these target anti-ageing for all skin types. They are also vegan, free from paraben, silicone and microplastics. 

We received two products, both beautifully presented with simple and clean white branding. The first product that we reviewed is the URBAN PROTECTION Anti-pollution/Anti-ageing day cream . As the name suggests,  this cream is to be used in the morning to hydrate and safeguard skin against environmental pollutants and aggressors. This is one of the few creams that we’ve tried that offered SPF 30 UVA and B filtering and quick absorption into the dermis. Best of all,  for us, it doesn’t leave a white residue or clog the pores! It uses CityStem™ an ingredient known to restore the autophagic functions that can be altered by pollution in order to detoxify skin cells (i.e. it reduces the penetration of air pollution into the skin, strengthen the epidermis, and limits DNA damage). To slow ageing signs, this is combined with niacinamide (vitamin B3), well-known for its hydration and skin barrier function, as well as reducing hyperpigmentation. It keeping wrinkles and fine lines at bay, whilst improving skin texture and elasticity by boosting the collagen production. After using, their testers found that in eight weeks the wrinkles were decreased by 24% and noticed an increase in skin elasticity and firmness. We think that if, like us, you live in a city then this URBAN PROTECTION day cream will soon become a must-have addition to your daily skincare routine! 

The second product we tried was their  SUPERFOOD multipurpose vitamin facegel. This is what Dr Ankerstjerne calls an “ultra-hydrating antioxidant vitamin bomb”…And we quickly understood why, looking at the list of ingredients: Niacinamide, vitamin B5, A, E and sea buckthorn extract for vitamin C. All of these ingredients are known for their powerful hydrating and antioxidant properties. It offers the perfect cocktail to help reduce hyperpigmentation and skin irritation while helping with skin moisture and maintaining the skin’s natural elasticity and firmness. Because it is so deliciously rich in vitamins, this cool-to-the-touch gel can either be used alone or under your day or night cream, and as an eye contour cream.  This truly is an all-in-one anti-ageing product and here, after eight weeks the clinical tests with SUPERFOOD it showed 10/10 results for improvement of wrinkles/elasticity and firmness.  We used this alone at night where it felt cooling, fresh and moisturising. When used under URBAN PROTECTION, it gave us the reassurance that we needed, for our skin to be adequately shielded from pollution and chilling winter weather. It is easy to use, timesaving and we think good value for money as a high-performance cosmeceutical. Rest assured these two products will be a good investment and your two great allies for all-year-round protection. You can purchase the 50ml URBAN PROTECTION day cream here for 850.00nok (approximately £70.50), and the 50ml  SUPERFOOD multipurpose vitamin facegel here for the same price.

Kiskanu - CBD Face Oil

As we enter into Tier 3, here in London – the pandemic stress levels of 2020 are taking their toll on our skin. That’s why at The Amazing Blog we’ve been concentrating on find healing and soothing skincare to calm our complexions and help to stop our miserable skin-stressed breakouts. Our latest #amazingfinds is the CBD Face Oil from Kishanu which offers the perfect solution with this curative and multipurpose skincare. 

With over 20 years in the cannabis industry, Gretchen and Jason Miller run their family-owned and operated business, Kiskanu in California where they’re based within the Wiyot Nation ancient and sacred land. This is where they’ve put their knowledge and learnings into their product research and manufacturing. Using only organic ingredients, as well as whole-plant extracts, with virgin and cold-pressed oils as a base - gives their products both purity and simplicity. One of their goals is to be environmentally friendly by using organic farming, sustainability methods, and providing safe lab-tested products. Their paper tubes, cardboard boxes, and glass jars are all recyclable or reusable; they want to avoid as much plastic packaging as possible. This practice is carried through and implemented into their facilities by reducing paper products and usage, as well as no single-use plastic in production. Sourcing their CBD from the United States keeps a low carbon footprint, and their CBD products contain only 0-0.3% THC. Kiskanu said: “Rather than isolates or concentrates, we believe in the effectiveness of whole plant medicine to imbue healing qualities into our products that are palpable.” They currently offer a small range of CBD skincare, an intimacy oil, botanical drops, capsules and even a suppository!

The CBD Face OIl is encased in a sleek pale blue tubular cardboard casing, which when opened, reveals a stylish 30ml frosted glass spritz top bottle. We used this unisex Face Oil as a moisturiser, makeup base and even as a beard oil. Due to the 100mg CBD (cannabidiol) here, this Face Oil is for all skin types including sensitive ones, where it repairs free radical damage. The base is a combination of cold-pressed organic oils with sunflower, argan, coconut, and jojoba. These hydrate, soothe, moisturise and help to minimise ageing. The full-spectrum CBD is derived from hemp and has anti-inflammatory properties that are high in antioxidants that help to calms the skin. Other key ingredients are calendula (extracted from marigold flowers) which is primarily used for healing soothing eczema or irritated skin. Rose geranium and lavender essential oils help to brighten the skin by removing dead skin cells and reducing wrinkles.  Whereas, the wild carrot has carotenes and vitamin A which repair the skin’s tissues and offers protection against harmful radiation. The oil is light in texture, absorbs well and has delicious subtle fragrance notes of lavender and rose geranium. This is one of the best face oils that we’ve used in a long time; it felt both restorative and healing. It’s also so versatile, we used it morning and evening, alone and under makeup (and I even caught my partner sneaking a drop to rub into his whiskers!).  Whether for you or a loved one, you can purchase the Kiskanu Hemp CBD Face Oil here in two sizes 30ml for $40 or a 5 ml for $17.

Evese London: Si'Nekra Mud Mask & Hydra'Moist Daily Moisturiser

We all need a little pampering at the moment, and at The Amazing Blog with Christmas fast approaching. we’ve found a luxury skincare brand that offers just that with Evese London.

After growing up around women and hearing their discussions about their appearance, founder Andreas Samiotis wanted to create a luxury skincare brand of his own. He was curious about the multitude of skincare products that he had witnessed growing up and wondered what made each one special. After much research, he decided to try and find a way to take the very best ingredients from each product, and then put them into one. Thus, Evese was launched in 2019, where Andreas has created a brand of natural skincare that performs, is cruelty-free and has a low carbon footprint. The environmental impact of the ingredients has been a paramount factor when creating the brand and bringing it to market. Today Evese London has six spa-grade products in its premium skincare range, and even offer a short questionnaire here to help the customer find the right product for their individual skin type.

The two product that they kindly sent to were their Si’Nekra Mud Mask and The Hydra’Moist Daily Moisturiser. Let’s start with their hero product Si’Nekra Mud Mask which translates from the Greek as the ‘Dead Sea’ Mud Mask. This mask extracts toxins from the skin, giving it a healthy and glowing appearence. It helps reduce fine lines, minimise pore size and replenish the skin with vital minerals and vitamins. This mask we found is best used as part of a weekly routine applied on face, neck and décolletage area only (avoiding the delicate eye area). In this grey mud mask, the three most active ingredients are dead sea mud, volcanic ash, and kaolinite, which all work together to cleanse and refresh the skin. Dead sea mud works to get rid of impurities, the salt and magnesium here help boost skin elasticity. Volcanic ash has cleansing, purification and exfoliating properties. Kaolinite gets rid of dead skin cells and absorbs impurities from pores. Other key ingredients include tea tree oil, titanium dioxide, shea butter. With slightly more unusual chondrus cripus (Irish moss) which apart from being packed full of vitamins and minerals is also a conditioning agent and often used as a to regulate the viscosity of a product. The allantoin here is extracted from the root of the comfrey plant, it is a gentle, soothing and protects the skin. We found that unlike other liquid face masks, that dry almost instantaneous when it is applied, this stays moist (the shea butter perhaps?) We let it sit on the skin for 10-15 minutes then gently removed it in circular motions with warm water. It left our skin feeling fresh and super-hydrated with the hint of a citrus fragrance. Evese suggests following this step with their Hydra’Moist Daily Moisturiser, which we duly did.

All skin needs to be hydrated; whether you have dry skin or an oily complexion, good hydration is vital. The Hydra’Moist Daily Moisturiser is for all-day full-on hydration. This moisturiser helps protect the skin from pollutants with the three actives, opuntia streptacantha (prickly pear extract), ophiopogon japonicus (snake’s beard root extract), and panthenol (provitamin B5) that all work together in the formula to give maximum hydration. Prickly pear provides soothing properties, ideal for acne-prone, dry and sensitive complexions. It’s also age-defying and can improve overall skin tone. Snake’s beard root boosts the skin’s moisture-retaining ability which in turn protects it from dryness with its enhanced skin barrier function. Whereas provitamin B5 has a calming effect on the skin – again it increases skin hydration and creates a protective barrier. We found that when applied, this Hydra’Moist felt silky and soothing, and offered more than adequate protection against the cold winter elements. Best of all, we think that the Hydra’Moist makes a great primer for makeup allowing foundation or powders the perfect canvas for an even application. So, why not treat yourself (or others) with this luxury skincare duo for good skincare protection for the winter. To purchase the 250g Si'Nekra Mud Mask for £40 see here. Or the 50g Hydra’Moist Daily Moisturiser for £41 see here. There is even an option to purchase them as a bundle here for £72.