Eleni and Chris Bio-Cellulose Age Renewal Face and Eye Mask

As regular readers of The Amazing Blog will know, we're big advocates of Scandinavian skincare. Today we're featuring the latest #amazingfind from one of our favourite the beauty brand Eleni and Chris. They were kind enough to send us their brand new revolutionary Bio-Cellulose Age Renewal Face and Eye Masks to try. Which of course, contain the purest Scandinavian ingredients to help give our skin the extra love and care it deserves. In the past, we've enjoyed using their other masks: Glow, Hydrate and Detox Sincell Face Masks. So it's safe to say we had high expectations for these new Age Renewal Masks. 

The first key skin-loving ingredient found in both the Face and Eye Mask is the Cloudberry extract. This powerhouse ingredient increases cell production by 22% within 24 hours, which in turn encourages the skin to be noticeably smoother, plumping up any wrinkles or fine lines. The Scandinavian Glacier Water used in these masks is carefully sourced from remote mountainous regions for its purity. This ingredient helps to maintain osmotic balance for more refreshed and invigorated skin. The Caviar extract here is essential to improving the elasticity of skin, which significantly helps to reduce the signs of ageing. These luxurious masks are perfect for every skin type; what we particularly like is that they don’t use any perfumes, preservatives or mineral oils which typically irritate the skin. We used these masks 1-2 times a week before bed for around 15-20 minutes, making sure to massage all the pampering liquid ingredients into our skin afterwards. The effect resulted in a firmer (NB: Not tighter!) more moisturised complexion, we really liked the way it made our skin look and feel.

The Bio-Cellulose Age Renewal Face Masks are available here for €19 each, or you can purchase a 6-pack here for €95. The Eye Masks are available here for €8 each or you can purchase a 6-pack here for €44.

Strictly Come Dancing Dazzle Shimmering Mist by Norvell

While summer is not quite here yet, all winter we've been diligently keeping up with our self-tanning routine. Here at The Amazing Blog, being 'pale and interesting' is not our thing! When the sun shines, we like to have a bit of a tan as it makes all the difference to how we feel. So we were happy to discover a product that helps to boost our skin tone and give us even more of a summer glow: Norvell’s Strictly Come Dancing Dazzle Shimmering Mist. This product is just perfect for adding that little bit extra glitz to our skin. If you are new to Norvell, they are a professional tanning brand from the US that has also created a selection of high-quality retail tanning products.

For those of you who don't know, Strictly Come Dancing is a television dance competition on BBC Worldwide and Norvell is appointed as their official tanning brand. Norvell provides professional tanning for all the dancers and celebrities on the show. In June 2017, Norvell released their Strictly Come Dancing Sunless Collection licensed by BBC Worldwide. This retail range helps to create the same bronzed look as the dancers on the show, all in the comfort of your own home. This award-winning tanning line includes four products, all of which are appropriately named; Show Stopper, Perfect 10, Dazzle and Perfection. These help you to look dance floor ready with glowing tanned skin and the additon of an incredibly fine sparkle. 

After testing out the Dazzle Shimmering Mist we really liked how it gave us a great glistening finish that when the light caught our limbs, they looked luminous and absolutely flawless! This Shimmering Mist has a light consistency and comes in a handy 59ml spray bottle which delivers a fast drying and even cover.  It has a wonderful coconut and pina colada fragrance and is infused with water and aloe vera leave juice. Like us you can apply the mist to your body to upgrade your tan or just spray it on to give a bit of extra every day glamour. We also suggest lightly spraying Dazzle Shimmering Mist on your hair to help create more sheen and brilliance giving a really head turning look.  We applaud Dazzle Shimmering Mist for also being paraben, sulphate, gluten free and 100% vegan. You can purchase the Strictly Come Dancing Dazzle Shimmering Mist by Norvell here for £9.99.

Winky Lux Mini Lip Pill Kit

We here at The Amazing Blog don’t know why, but we adore something much more when it’s mini. So if you’re anything like us, you’ll absolutely love the Mini Lip Pill Kit from Winky Lux. This New York City-based brand is all about creating luxurious, on-trend makeup at an affordable price, so we can all feel like the 'Queens' that we are; their motto which we can surely get behind. 

Winky Lux has put together their best-selling Demi-Matte Lip Velours, so with 5 shades, you are bound to find your signature shade. From the essential nude shades and a classic red to the more adventurous bright and dark purple shades, this kit gives you a perfect matte colour for any and every occasion. The mini size also makes these lipsticks easy to travel with or it can make the perfect gift for any makeup lover in your life.

The shades come in Meow, Pippy, City, Royal, and Heart and are incredibly creamy and long-lasting. Of course, we love that they are cruelty, paraben, and gluten-free. Our favourite shade that we often sport has to be Meow because it suits so many skin tones and is really the perfect everyday shade. Though we do love to rock the shade City, a beautiful dark purple, on those nights out when we want a pop of something just a little bit different and totally glamorous.

The Mini Lip Pill Kit from Winky Lux is available here for £11.39, but we’re sure you’ll be going back for a full size of at least one shade soon after. Winky Lux is also available from Asos, Feelunique and Harvey Nichols.

Ancienne Ambiance Colonia VIII

Everyone needs a signature scent— period. Finding a personal fragrance that can transition from day to night or season to season can be quite a mission, but we at The Amazing Blog think we have got you covered. And as much as we love discovering new brands to fall in love with, there are some things, like a signature scent, that have us reaching back to brands we already know and trust. We keep returning to Ancienne Ambiance because we adore how luxurious their products are, like the Goddess Argan Hand and Body Wash and Beauty Oil. They are an artisan brand inspired by the ancient world and winner of the Beauty Shortlist Awards 2017, and we know that the unisex sweet fig blend of the Colonia VIII Perfume EDP will hit every note on your must-have list. 

The fig tree has a long, sacred past. With roots in Greek and Roman mythology to a symbol of enlightenment in Buddhism, this little fruit has made its mark on history. Ancienne Ambiance specialises in crafting niche fragrances inspired by the ancient cultures that started it all. The Colonia VIII scent honours the art of perfumery, as each perfume is bottled with the finest ingredients in limited quantities in France, all in a stunning 100ml glass column bottle that is sure to make you feel as lavish as Cleopatra. The fragrance has its base notes rooted in the warmth of sandalwood, its heart notes rounded in coconut, and the top notes have light, natural green notes that will follow you around throughout your busy day. Everyone will stop you just to ask what you're wearing: trust us, we know from experience. 

Want to make sure your scent lasts all day? Apply it to your pulse points or the inner wrist and elbow, behind your ears and knees, and at the base of the neck. Mist it on your clothes and hair as well and avoid rubbing the scent into your skin, as it makes the fragrance fade faster.
You can purchase the Colonia VIII Perfume here for £60.

AQ Skin Solutions

Here at The Amazing Blog, we know how over time our skin can suffer, so we are always looking for new products that help bring back that youthful glow. So when we received the  Eye Serum and Active Serum from the award-winning Californian skincare brand AQ Skin Solutions, we couldn’t wait to try them out. AQ Skin Solutions was created by Dr Ahmed Al-Qahtani who formulated this range by using cutting-edge technology (detailed here). He was inspired to start AQ Skin Solutions from conducting extensive work in medical applications of Growth Factors (GF) for healing wounded tissue and creating artificial skin grafts.

We first tried out the Eye Serum, the benefits of this product include smoothing the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines, brighten the appearance of dark circles and reduce signs of puffiness around the eye area. What we particularly like about this moisturising formula, is that it feels gentle on the skin, they say that it also won't irritate even the most sensitive eyes. The concentrated GF technology blend stimulates collagen production for increased firmness, while several smoothing peptides help tighten and lift the skin. Through activation of the skin’s own damage repair processes, fine lines and wrinkles are smoothed. It increases micro-circulation and lightens the under-eye area and helps to clear up eye bags and dark circles. The product is non-greasy, which means it won't clog the pores. We also like the handy 15ml bottle and the sleek packaging.

We were also lucky enough to receive the Active Serum. The serum also contains stem-cell derived growth factors to renew and accelerate skin cell regeneration. This helps erase the signs of ageing and environmental damage for a firmer, smoother complexion. Daily use of the serum helps minimise the look of fine lines and wrinkles. We used it not only on our face but also on the neck and decolletage areas too. The GF technology contained in both of these products is also being used successfully for encouraging healthy hair growth, reducing the appearance of scars and shortening the healing time of burn wounds. They say about using this serum: "Optimal improvement to your skin is generally not reached until six weeks of daily use." We only managed three weeks, but were pleased with the results.

We're happy to say, that by using both these products our skin felt softer, eyes looked brighter and it helped to give us back a more glowing complexion. All AQ Skin Solutions products are paraben, sulfate and phthalate free as well as cruelty free. You can purchase the Eye Serum here for £99 and the Active Serum here for £157.