Gloh - Beauty Powder

What’s the secret to achieving glowing skin? We think a good place to start is from the inside out and here at The Amazing Blog, we love skincare that is made simple. Meet  Gloh who have a Beauty Powder targeted to bridge the gap between skincare and supplements, and which aims to help maintain a youthful appearance.

Gloh is a new Scottish supplement brand launching with its hero product ‘Beauty Powder’; which in simple terms, is a drinkable skincare product. ‘Gloh’ is an interesting play on words, promising to give a ‘glow’ and to be a real game-changer for anyone wanting to up their skincare regime. It’s a powder that comes individually wrapped in branded paper sachets, all presented in comment-worthy and elegantly styled peachy-pink box, making it very pleasing to the eye. This digestible skincare has key ingredients of hydrolysed marine collagen peptides (therefore not suitable for those who have fish allergies) and hyaluronic acid. The other goodies included are vitamins like B7 (D Biotin), B2 (riboflavin) B12 (cyanocobalamin), B6 (pyridoxine) and A (retinol). These combine with citric acid, natural peach aroma, beta-carotene and steviol glycosides. 

As regular readers will know we’re fans of all things collagen, not only for our skin but also for our joints and bone function; so this product certainly piqued our interest. Gloh claims to have ingredients to support the skin giving it an appearance of being more firm and plump with a collagen boost that hydrates and supports cell health. To start, mix one packet daily into a glass of water, it tastes like sugary peach water and can be drunk alone or added to juices and smoothies. We experimented by adding this packet to a plant-based banana smoothie which gave an added burst of fruit. It doesn’t matter if your skin is oily or dry, the powder is ideal for all skin types. The Gloh box contains 28 sachets for a 28-day supply. Suitable for almost everyone (with the exceptions in FAQ here ) and yes we’d recommend this, although with only a 28 day supply to try, it’s difficult to say if we saw a difference. We think that you probably need three months-worth of the product to see proper results.  Why not treat yourself and get your skin ‘Gloh-ing’, available here for £24.99. If you hurry, as of today they have 20% discount!

Afon Mêl - Heather Mead

Regular readers at The Amazing Blog will know, we can’t resist trying a new tipple! If you like us, you thought that honey was something reserved just for your tea and toast, then think again...  Let us introduce you to a honey-based wine, which we found to be so delicious that it rivalled even our most favourite of dessert wines. We’re talking about Afon Mêl’s Heather Mead, whose outstanding pedigree won a 3-Star Great Taste Award in 2019.  You can also see here the video of the judges sampling their Heather Mead here.

Afon Mêl is a family-run honey farm, founded by the Cooper family in 1995 in Ceredigion, Wales. They produce five types of raw honey all which have a unique flavour from the wildflowers from the cwms (a steep-sided hollow) and hedgerows which surround their rural farm. Their bees particularly love the blossoms from sycamore, hawthorn, willow trees, as well as the heather, rosebay, willowherb, clover, blackberries and many more. From one of their special raw honey comes the distinctive flavours that give their Heather Mead its original and characteristic taste.

Mead is made by fermenting honey and water together, this beverage has long earned heritage brewed by monks through the middle ages, and it’s thought to be the oldest alcoholic beverage in the world. Also known as honey wine, mead has been around for millennia with mead makers, sometimes being called ‘mazers’.  The word honeymoon originates from the early tradition of the drink being given to newlyweds. Mead’s been expertly crafted for generations and is mainly responsible for making the Welsh famous and the process of making mead takes place over two year period in order to perfect. One of the key factors in making this beverage is to ferment it at ambient temperatures during the summer months allowing it to mature

Beautifully designed in a slim and elegant bottle, the Heather Mead elixir is golden in colour and fermented using their heather honey which gives a rich almost sherry-like finish.  It’s not a sweet as you might imagine, and they say that it has a slightly smoky taste from the heather. We found it easy to drink (perhaps a little too easy!) and it paired well with pudding or cheese.  Apart from the Heather Mead, Afon Mêl also produce a variety of other flavoured meads including the rather delicious sounding Welsh Chocolate Mead and  Welsh Raspberry Mead. If you’re interested in trying an exciting new tipple, then Heather Mead is for you. The Afon Mêl- Heather Mead is 13% Vol and available in four sizes; we tried the 37.5cl which retails for £11.50 here. We can’t recommend this enough and are certainly tempted to buy a few more bottles of their other Meads and raw honey too.

BREW//LDN – Beer Festival

With the new year here, it’s time to put yourself out there and part takes in some new activities and perhaps even pick up a skill or two on the way. After all, New Year new you right? Here at The Amazing Blog we researched and found an event to kick start your year in a fun, active and entertaining way! We’d like to introduce to you Brew//LDN.

Brew//LDN is an exciting beer festival on from the 27th – 29th February, 2020 at The Old Truman Brewery, London, showcasing the world’s best brewers, quality street food and a fantastic music programme. It is going to bring together three distinct aspects i.e. Brew//BEER, Brew//MUSIC and Brew//KITCHEN to give you the perfect start to your weekend.

At Brew// BEER is represented by the people who make craft beers, so you can meet and hear their story. With over 150 brewers, cider and spirit producers exhibiting you are sure to see old favourites and discover new ones and enjoy your day as you dance away all your worries while deeply relishing the perfect pint. It supports independents, ethical direction, promBeerotion of diversity in brewing, and we think will be a leading event in the UK beer calendar for years to come.

However, the fun won’t be complete with the sound of your favourite tunes.  Brew//MUSIC is all about the party, and they pride themselves on working with some great talent to create the right backdrop for their festival and giving you melodies to shake your hips and bob your head to.

Lastly, as a part of Brew//KITCHEN, they aim to bring together 8 gourmet street food vendors and 6 carefully selected premium drinks partners to your tummies nice and full as you load up on pint after pint. Brew//KITCHEN collaborates the very best of food and drink for your enjoyment. Missing out on this fun-filled and exciting event will haunt you until the end of time thus, go over to their official website to purchase your tickets online before they all sell out! The prices range from £11.28 to £28. See here.

Sxollie - Cripps Pink Cider

Hustling is not something we would normally advocate here at The Amazing Blog, however when an advertising campaign comes in which is structured around the very essence of a jolly good hustle, we sit up, keyboards poised and channel the inner opportunist. Sxollie is the brand, and their delicious cider is the product which takes no prisoners and proudly promotes a good down to earth hustle.

Now ‘sxollie’ is derived from the english word scallywag, the afrikaans word skorrie-morrie, the dutch word schoelje meaning rascal, and the yiddish word meaning jackal. Quite a heady mix to get our teeth into, but also a highly effective marketing tool to ensure we are sitting up and taking notice, especially since it forms the basis for the philosophy behind Sxollie Cider. ‘In a nutshell’, as they decree, the term Sxollie means ‘hustler’, and its composition is a barrelful of single varietal cider, backed up by the company’s rousing chorus that this is the best cider to come out of Africa.

The interesting part of this approach is that actually the taste of Sxollie is rather refined - elegant almost, which must derive from the Champagne yeasts which are used to ferment their carefully chosen apples from the Elgin orchards of Cape Town. Perhaps the harder edge synopsis of this drink comes from the urban jungle itself which forms an integral ingredient to the finished product? However, that final product is certainly one to take a chance on, as it celebrates with all it’s might it’s African heritage, right down to the pottery design mosaic ‘X’ sprawled across the bottle. We discovered the brand as they were the winners of the International Cider Challenge 2019. There is a trio in the range to try, although we were ONLY sent one bottle Cripps Pink (Pink Lady) - ahem, Sxollie we would have like to have tried more!

Sxollie is available from our high street supermarkets, Waitrose and Sainsburys across the country have them on their shelves, as well as many good independent outlets. Waitrose currently have a 330ml bottle on at £1.85, but if you get your skates on, Sainsbury's have an offer running with bottles priced at £1.60. As the ‘Sxollie philosophy’ tells us - “Pursue that glint in your eye … a little hustle goes a long way”!

Jeffrey’s Tonic

With the party season nearly upon us, we’re always looking for a fresh take on our favourite cocktails in order to impress! At The Amazing Blog we love a good gin and tonic just as much as the next person, however, we’ve found ourselves getting a little jaded with just plain tonic water, which is normally on offer. That’s where our #amazingfinds and discovery of Jeffrey’s Tonic comes in.

Jeffrey’s Tonic started when Mike and Maureen Robinson received a book for Christmas all about gin, tonic waters and syrups. After experimenting with the recipes and getting glowing reviews from family members, it finally clicked to the Robinsons that this might be something they should share. The distinctive ingredients are what make Jeffrey’s Tonic stand out. The syrups are made from cinchona bark straight from Ecuador. While most other syrups use quinine a extract, Jeffrey’s uses bark straight from the tree which gives it a distinct amber colour. Discovered in Peru, cinchona bark is known for its anti-fever properties. Did you know that Robert Talbot used cinchona bark to cure King Louis XIV of France of malaria?

Jeffrey’s Syrups come in 4 varieties and it is recommended that you mix them in a 1:5 ratio with soda water. The Not So Plain Tonic Syrup is simply made with cinchona bark and organic Sicilian lemon juice. We recommend pairing it with complex or fruity gin for an interesting cocktail. The Original Recipe is the first recipe that Mark and Maureen made, with cassia, nutmeg and allspice, The Original is a great addition to any Christmassy drink. We recommend adding a splash to your whisky cocktail for a round, bold flavour. The Lime, Galangal & Orange pairs perfectly with your bubbly prosecco or with soda water for an adult soft drink astThe galangal gives depth to the delicious citrus flavours. Whereas the combination of their Yarrow, Rosehip & Elderflower provides a really delicate flavour, perfect for pairing with a floral gin or dry prosecco!

If you want to add an original twist to your drinks this season, the individual Jeffrey’s Tonic Syrups can be purchased here for £7.00 for 200ml. Apart from being able to purchase them individually, we also like the Gift Set with all four varieties of Tonic Syrups, and think it makes the ideal stocking filler this Christmas, as it’s only £14 for four 50ml samples here.