Ashley Juhl - Anti-Ageing Range

We’re always on the lookout for the latest and greatest in woman’s skincare, especially when it comes to anti-ageing techniques. The Amazing Blog came across Ashley Juhl Skincare, a luxury American skincare range formulated by medical aesthetician, Ashley Juhl. Ashley opened her first skincare clinic at 24 years old and has devoted her career to helping people attain beautiful skin. Her dermatologist-formulated and tested skincare range is designed to have clinical results. Each product includes medical and botanical ingredients and is intended to correct, restore, and protect the skin. We we fortunate to have the opportunity to try four of their products.

Firstly, we gave the Ultra Benefits Firming and Brightening Moisturiser a go. This is an antioxidant-full moisturiser that helps to prevent and reduce visible ageing changes. As well as its hydrating and evening skin tone abilities, this moisturiser contains Chromabright, which decreases the appearance of age spots and uneven pigment. It also contains peptides that help to strengthen the skin’s collagen and reduce the appearance of fine lines. The added bonus? It has a lovely floral-scent.

Next, we tried the Advanced Retinol Wrinkle and Skin Tone Corrector. This serum is packed full of retinol, phospholipids, and glycolipids, ingredients which help to firm skin and reduce the look of wrinkles and pores. What makes this serum unique is the use of lipids, which do wonders to decrease dryness and repair the skin’s moisture barrier, preventing dry and irritated skin. This serum also contains advanced retinol, a combination of retinol, bioidentical phospholipids and glycolipids. Hello, younger-looking skin!

Ashley Juhl’s Vita Soothe Protective Replenishing Serum effectively smoothed our skin, giving it the extra plumping that it sometimes needed. This serum contains vitamins E and F which provide the skin with a beautiful glow. It can be used on all skin types, including acne-prone skin. One of its most important ingredients is the lipochroman antioxidant which protects the skin from ageing caused by UV rays, toxins, and pollutants. We loved the silky feel of this serum on our skin.

Lastly, we tried the C-Stem Concentrated Anti-Ageing Serum. The lilac stem cells help to lessen inflammation and give the serum a light floral scent. The vitamin C and marine extracts help to brighten the skin, as well as diminishing deep lines and pores by decreasing the skin’s ageing protein. If you’re looking for an all-in-one solution to slow down ageing, then this is the serum. What caught our attention, is the ability for this product to reactive genes, once again helping with the production of collagen, hyaluronic acid, and elastin.

If these products sound like they could help you, then they can be purchased here. You can also use the code AmazingB15 for 15% off when you purchase a skin system, or 3 or more products. Happy shopping!

Dogs' Dinners Cookbook

Times, they are a-changin’…when once the saying “I’ve made a right dog’s dinner of that” would mean a less than appealing result, along comes Debora Robertson to firmly turn all such notions inside out. Even if you don’t have a pet pooch, we urge you to pick up her glorious book ‘Dogs’ Dinners’ and indulge yourself in some seriously compelling page turning. Not only has Debora brought a whole host of delicious recipes for our canine friends together, but she also gives us the option of how to tailor these taste bud tinglers to suit our humanoid palate too.

First and foremost though, her book is written very much with our four-legged family members in mind - which is why our favourite fluffy English Show Cocker Spaniel Tilly was so happy to sit lapping up every page while we made our more leaden way through the Sunday papers over the weekend! And why not …? With recipes like ‘Turkey and Quinoa Meatballs’, ‘Liver Brownies’, and ‘Summer Pupsicles’ to ponder, there is much for Tilly to salivate over - as you can see, she has been thoroughly engrossed! 

Included are tips on how to deal with specific food intolerances; what to serve up should there be signs of a sensitive mouth or gums, and of course, like us, doggies can suffer from the occasional off day, but guess what - chicken broth works wonders for them too! It appears that when all is said and done, apart from some levels of seasoning, nosh-wise there isn’t much to divide us.

To view this only as a collection of recipes, however, would be a mistake - there is a great deal more information contained within it’s covers, as to the healthiest way to feed your dog from their earliest puphood, through to the various stages of growing up. With advice on the ingredients which will keep teeth as healthy as possible, the ways to encourage fresh breath, and the more basic functions at the other end, Debora Robertson covers it all. She especially explore the essential knowledge of what NOT to offer up - we all know that chocolate and cooked bones are a total no-no, but avocados, unripe tomatoes and caffeine of any kind are also on the hazardous list. Fortunately for Tilly and her pals, there is a larder full of delicious goodies to make extensive use of, and Ms Robertson expertly shows us the way.

‘Dog’s Dinners’ is a fascinating mix of informed nutritional advice, intriguing anecdotes - check out “the bone about which we do not speak” on page 26 - and beautifully observed illustrations by Cinzia Zenocchini, which will sit perfectly alongside Delia and Nigella’s finest on the kitchen shelf.

‘Dogs’ Dinners’ by Debora Robertson is priced at £9.99 and is available here.

Willow Basketmaking Course with Jenny Pearce

We don’t know about you, but every so often we get the urge to flee the smoke and head to the country to get down and dirty. And if we can find a recreation that uplifts our spirts and occupies our hands - that’s even better! The Amazing Blog learned of a Willow Basket-making Course run by Jenny Pearce out in Herefordshire. Jenny, a Dublin native, has been a basket-maker since the early ‘90s. She honed her skills in the West of Ireland, England, and France. Nature primarily influences Jenny’s work, of which is based on Celtic and English regional designs.

The course is run out of Canon Frome Court, a farming community. There, they host a number of different classes like basket-making; working with unstripped willow in a variety of colours and textures. The weekend will give you enough time to make a basket, and possibly a handle. This could be a basket to hold fruit and veg from farmer’s markets or perhaps to fit a potted plant. The airy look of baskets are darling inside and out. However, you’ll probably want to keep your basket out of the rain. We think that it’s very special to make something so versatile for yourself.

This course is a weekend-long affair, running from 10:00-17:00 on November 3rd and 4th. The total cost is £155, which includes tuition, materials, refreshments, and a lovely lunch on both days. Accommodation is not included. See Jenny’s list of places to stay here. If you would like to spend a relaxing weekend in the countryside learning to make a basket with Jenny, book here.

LOLA - Ultra Shine Nail Varnish

Nail polish is the quickest (and chicest) way to change up your look from day to night, and from season to season. As we at The Amazing Blog make our way through these colourful autumnal days, we have handpicked a select few nail polish shades from LOLA Make Up by Perse to share with you. This isn’t the first time we have come across this Luxembourg cosmetics brand, we previously tried a range of their face and lip products (see here). We were therefore excited to try their nail polishes, which like their other products, are both professional and cruelty free. With numerous shades and an incredible formula, their nail polishes are affordable, and we found that they delivered a great manicured look.

The go-to classic shades we chose were: Plum Pudding and Nude. Both are from the #10 Free Formula range (a range free from chemicals like Formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, DBP, toulene, camphor, ethyl tosylamide, xylene and TPHP). The Plum Pudding is a stunning medium berry shade that is perfect for a classic pop of colour, especially complementing our autumnal wardrobe. Nude is a light and delicate ballet-slipper pink shade. It leaves a subtle colour on the nails that is incredibly chic and with a couple of coats make a opaque base for the ever-so classic French tip.

We also received the Infinite Nail Gloss; a multipurpose base and top coat that helps to nourish and add a high gloss, ensuring that your LOLA colour will last. We used it on its own for a simple clear glossy look. However, it is specifically formulated to be applied with the LOLA nail polishes to help give a perfect home manicure.

These nail polishes apply with ease and the colours apply as a block and not streaky. We particularly liked that you only need apply one coat of polish (the Nude is an exception) as it gives a higher luminosity and intensity. Due to their special formula, with Gloss Seal’R, a patented technology - LOLA nail polish is an economical choice. The formula gives instant gloss from the moment of application, concealing it and preserving it up to 11 days as a glossy manicure. It also has a permeable film - a formula with a porous film that allows water and air permeability for your nails, engineered for a fluid and high gloss look that lasts. We mustn’t forget to mention that their entire nail polish range is 100% vegan. The LOLA Make Up by Perse #10 Free Formula Polishes in Plum Pudding is available here and the Nude is available here, both for £6.95, while the Infinite Nail Gloss is available here for £7.95.

Summerdown Mint Teas - Peppermint Tea and Spearmint & Camomile Tea

As the weather cools, there is nothing nicer than hugging a comforting cuppa. Besides the warming effect, tea can do so much for our systems. Dandelion tea helps with bloating and promotes liver health, green tea is full of antioxidants, ginger tea helps with nausea associated with motion sickness, and peppermint tea is known to aid digestion. The Amazing Blog was thrilled to receive a selection of teas from Summerdown Mint, a specialist British peppermint company.

Summerdown Mint was founded by Sir Michael Colman over twenty years ago, in green and leafy Hampshire. He decided to cultivate a unique variety of Black Mitcham peppermint, a type of mint that was grown in England over 100 years ago. Summerdown Mint also produce a variety of other mint infused products, such as chocolates and sweets, and products for the bath, body, and home. We wrote about their fragrant Lemongrass & Mint Body Wash here. Many of their products have already achieved great accolades, being winners in The 2018 Beauty Shortlist Awards and the Great Taste Awards. Best of all, with Summerdown Mint, you know you’re getting an authentic home-grown English peppermint oil. An added bonus is that all of the products are 98% natural, and are free of sulfates, parabens, PEGs, petrochemicals and artificial colourings.

The English Peppermint tea consists of Black Mitcham mint leaves and oil. It comes either in regular tea bags or their rather charming pyramid shaped bags, which not only give the loose-leaf tea more room to steep, but they are biodegradable too. The dried leaves are infused with their oil from the distillery, which is where you get a wonderful, authentic English Peppermint tea taste. This packs a bit of punch, with a crisp, bright and full fresh mint flavour, and apparently it does wonders to calm the nerves! We also tried the English Spearmint & Camomile tea and found that this had a gently sweet and refreshing taste, while the ingredients help to aid digestion and reduce tension. First, the camomile flowers are harvested and dried, and then they are brewed with spearmint oil. We’d definitely recommend trying these teas, as they make a terrific break from our regular black tea.

If you would like to try Summerdown Mint’s English Peppermint tea (either the pyramid tea bags with 15 sachets, or regular tea bags containing 20 tea envelopes) or the English Spearmint & Camomile tea (20 tea envelopes), they can be all be purchased here from £3.40 per box. There is free delivery when you spent £25 or more within the UK.