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.

Nay Luxury CBD Skincare: Moonlight Massage Candle & Wanderlust Face Serum

As we’re rounding the corner on this unusual year, here at The Amazing Blog we’ve been collating gift ideas for friends and family. As CBD is one of our favourite things, it’s great to be able to give them a gentle introduction with some of the new products from Nay Luxury CBD Skincare.

After finding out that the soothing properties of CBD, Sophie Taylor and Nicole Levy Wogman teamed up to launch Nay Luxury CBD Skincare. Their journey began when they started to use CBD products to treat both stretch marks and acne after pregnancy. Thrilled with the results, they decided to combine their two passions of skincare and CBD and launch the brand earlier this year. They have sourced the highest quality of CBD isolate, which is typically used in food and skincare due to it having no smell or flavour. The products are formulated by CBD specialist Taylor Mammon, where the CBD has been infused into four botanical-based products for a natural plant-based range of skincare.

We received two products from Nay Skincare the first was the Wanderlust Face Serum which they call a ‘CBD Facial Gel Serum’ it nourishes the skin and has anti-ageing properties. The packaging is sleek, with the white opaque glass bottle and gold twist dropper.  The key ingredients are simple, 300mg of CBD isolate in 30ml, which is infused with hyaluronic acid, vitamin C and retinol, all of which give excellent results and keep dark circles and wrinkles at bay. It is suitable for all skin types and we found it easy to apply, cooling on the skin and super-quick to absorb. We wonder if Nay Skincare has a further range of skincare in the wings to launch with this…? You can purchase your Wanderlust Face Serum here for £24.99.

Next to we tried the Moonlight Massage Candle which we think makes a fantastic gift. This candle is infused with 300mg of CBD isolate in a 30cl white ceramic pot with pouring lip and lid. We think this takes relaxation to another level as a three-in-one; candle, massage oil and body moisturiser. You can even drizzle the candle’s warm fragrant oil into the bath while it’s filling up, all for a more relaxing soak. The base is soya wax with coconut, Argan, avocado and peach kernel oils, which all help rejuvenate and repair damaged skin. At the same time, the essential oils soothing the mind with three of the calming oils lavender, jasmine and sandalwood. We love that by lighting the wick, you can have a scented candle, and a hydrating oil as the wax melts. What better gift to give a loved one who needs a little bit of TLC, after the year we’ve all had. To purchase the Moonlight Massage Candle see here for £29.99.

A.T. Antao: Beautifying BB Cushion (Pearl)

With everyone getting into the mood for the Christmas season, we at The Amazing Blog knows how important it is to keep up appearances.  Remember when we were all applying our makeup daily? I know that for many of us, it may seem like a distant memory (except for the odd zoom call!) but it’s time to brush up (excuse the pun) and put our face back on! Today we’re reviewing Beautifying BB Cushion (Pearl) from A.T. Antao which has been a welcome addition to our makeup bag. It’s a foundation type that has proved popular our friends in the Far East for a quite while now, as it offers a light, flawless and super long-lasting coverage.

After living in London and working in the beauty industry for more than a decade, the brand founder Teniya Tao decided to develop skincare and makeup with A.T. Antao in 2014. A.T. Antao is considered a luxury brand with a loyal following throughout Asia and is now here in Europe. With their partnerships with top European labs, they provide the brand with premium quality ingredients. The brand has a range of twenty-five products from skincare to cosmetics, and Tao and A.T. want to empower women by helping them realise their potential. We like the brand motto which translates as: “Be your own queen”.

The Beautifying BB Cushion (Pearl) is in a sleek, elegant gold and black casing. We found it quick and convenient to use and a compact to feel proud of when pulling out of our bag for touch-ups.  The definition of a cushion foundation is a liquid formula in a sponge-like cushion housed in a compact. The cushion is sealed with a lid and on top is the black puff for easy application.  It’s a light formulation that offers an even semi-matte coverage, which is buildable depending on the desired effect wanted. A.T. Antao has two different types, Natural (which launched in 2018 and comes with a free refill) and  Pearl which we found to be slightly more hydrating and longer-lasting than Natural. Plus Pearl also offered more of a flawless finish on the skin. Both are suitable for all skin types; however, they only come in one shade which is good for most skin tones except for darker complexions, where the user may find these too pale. A.T Antao site YSL Fusion Cushion as a benchmark to their BB Cushion products, with its similar formula and compact. Although the YSL’s version comes with an SPF 18, eleven different shades and costs twice the price! We applied the BB Cushion onto moisturised skin pressing the black puff into the moist foundation sponge, then gently patting it directly onto the face and neck. We noticed a good even coverage minimising the pores and giving us a more radiant and brighter glow. This is our favourite product so far from the brand (and we’ve reviewed a few, see here) this BB Cushion couldn’t be more timely with winter now fast approaching, where our complexions are in need of further protection and hydration. To purchase your Beautifying BB Cushion (Pearl) visit the A.T. here for the 12g  for only £22.90.

Setunea – Dead Sea Mud Body Wash & Honey Infusion Soap

Finding natural, clean and simple artisan soaps has been our recent mission at The Amazing Blog trying to declutter the bathroom and find good multitaskers. Today we’d like to introduce you to Setunea who use ingredients and methods dating back to the biblical times with their olive oil-based soaps and body washes. 

Founder of Setunea, Waleed Kamhieh was curious about how the market would receive sustainable, all-natural, and organic soaps. “Setunea was born out of an idea of introducing a centuries-old olive oil soap recipe to the modern consumer and try to meet the growing global demand for chemical-free organic products.” He decided to launch the brand at a Natural Products Global Exhibition in London during 2018. Seeing that their 100% chemical-free products were a hit, especially with people looking for sensitive skin-friendly products, they decided to carry on sharing the wonders of olive oil from Nablus, a city located between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal near the Dead Sea. This is where olive farming and manufacturing has been part of the local heritage for almost a millennium. All of Setunea’s products are sustainably farmed and manufactured, as the olive oil is directly sourced from family-run farms where products are handcrafted by a family business that has continuously produced olive oil soap since 1611. The pure extra-virgin, cold-pressed olive oil constitutes 80% of the soaps. This olive oil is packed with nutrients and super-antioxidants and the skin will never feel tight or dry after using a Setunea soap no matter how sensitive it is. And if it does, Setunea promises to refund you under 30 days. Best of all their products are vegan, cruelty-free and formulated without any other chemicals, and their packaging is made from recyclable paper-based materials.

Let’s start with the initial product that caught our eye their Dead Sea Mud Body Wash. A rare blend of Dead Sea mud and olive oil, this unique two-in-one cleanses and heals the skin. Dead Sea mud has been used for healing the skin since biblical times; it has an extraordinary calming result on highly sensitive and problem skin with conditions like psoriasis, eczema, or keratitis. This minimalist formula has only four ingredients: Olive oil, food-grade lye (soda), water, and Dead Sea mud. The salt minerals work together here with the purest olive oil to gently cleanse the body restoring the skin’s PH balance and effectively hydrating and fortifying the dermis. If you have trouble coping with one of the skin conditions (mentioned above), we recommend this as your next go-to gentle body wash. This formula comes in a recyclable plastic 250ml bottle. It has slightly vanilla/nutty fragrance and is a translucent pale brown-olive greenish and lathers up well. To use, put a small amount on damp skin and massage in, then rinse off. We found that our skin felt cleansed and incredibly soft after use - its another one of our #amazingfinds. This gentle 2-in-1 is available for purchase at 250ml with a price of £9.00 here.

The next product that we tried is from their traditionally hand-crafted collection of Natural Olive Oil Soap. The Honey Infusion Soap bar is also clean in composition with simple ingredients of olive oil, honey, coconut oil, glycerin, food-grade lye (soda), and water.  The making these soaps are by a century’s old method, where the saponification process takes place in a large heated vat where the olive oil, lye and water are carefully combined for several hours before the mixture is laid out on a horizontal surface in a flat layer. Once the soap is hard enough, individual squares are marked out, hand-cut by an artisan who then expertly carves out each bar of soap. Finally, the soap bars are stacked in drying towers. Because this manufacturing process includes drying the soaps for five months, the bars do not reduce or turn to mush like industrial soap bars – so well worth the extra price point! This lightly honey-scented soap lathers nicely on the skin, leaving it smooth and thoroughly hydrated, even several hours after drying. Like the Dead Sea Mud Body wash, this Honey Infusion soap bar is excellent for dry, damaged, and sensitive skins. Note that being a soap with a clean formula, it can be used for the whole body: hair, hands, and body wash, just like the full range of Setunea’s Natural Olive Oil Soap bars. It is 100g wrapped in recyclable packaging, where you can purchase this highly nourishing soap for £5.00 here or a choice of their two full collections of six bars for £25 here.

Vedic Botanicals – Alk-Align Toning Mists

During these colder months, skin hydration is more important than ever. Going between the extremes of the chilly outside world and central heating plays havoc with our skin. This is where for us at The Amazing Blog we’ve been regularly ‘spritzing’ our faces with these Alk-Align Toning Mists from Vedic Botanicals, best of all, we’ve found that they’re stopped our skin from feeling tight and dehydrated. 

The Vedic Botanical’s founder Rachel Warnock has always had a desire to do what’s right by the environment and the people around her. After gaining a master’s in Vedic Science and Ayurvedic Medicine, the global 2008 economic crisis happened… Unsure of what to do, or where to go, she started working mediocre jobs to get by. However, dissatisfied with what she was doing, she decided to follow her passion by making her own products and thus started the brand with the motto of: “From soil to skin, only goodness goes in!”. Vedic Botanicals has created a variety of organic Ayurvedic body and skin care, hair serums and mists. Warnock is committed to using environmentally friendly practices where her products are certified organic and cruelty-free. Their packaging is reusable and is made from compostable plant-based plastic. They use eco-friendly practices wherever possible and compost any products past their sell-by date and have a workshop which is 100% solar powered. One of the more unique aspects of this company is their ‘empty jar guarantee’. If at the end of using one of their products you’re unhappy, you can simply return the empty to them and receive a full refund! We applaud Vedic Botanicals for their ethos and have quoted here from an interview with Warnock and Conversations with Kim: “We believe that profit made at the expense of the Mother Earth is not worth making. It only robs future generations along with the other species sharing this planet with us.  We vet the companies we source our herbs, oils, and packaging materials from choosing companies with eco-friendly practices to maintain sustainability top to bottom.” 

These are now some of our go-to winter products, the Alk-Align Toning Mists which come in two different blends has alkaline water and are one of the first toning mists to have a pH level of 9 (see the recent feature here where we talk about pH levels in the skin) There is the Ourika or the Kamogawa blend, both of these mists are created as multi-taskers they can hydrate, balance, cleanse, or tone the skin. We’ve been using these by spritzing onto our face and letting it absorb on makeup-free skin (at home in lockdown!) or as a cleanser/toner using these either end of the day.  Both mists contain oxygenated water which promotes hydration, detoxification and blood circulation. The Ourika mist, which is named after the Ourika river in Morocco, is created to help with your dry or oily skin with a spring-like floral scent. The key ingredient here is the frankincense which is known to help hydrate dry skin and reduce the appearance of wrinkles. Whereas the Kamogawa mist, which is named after Duck River in Kyoto, it addresses uneven skin tone and has a more autumnal earthy scent. The white rose hydrosol here is a popular toner often formulated for dry skin. The helichrysum hydrosol is good for calming and correcting redness or dryness helping to balance the skin. We like how both these are pocket-sized at 30ml – making them easy to keep with you to spritz on the skin throughout the day.  Keep your skin nice and hydrated throughout these cold weeks and purchase your Alk-Align Toning Mists for the Vedic Botanicals here for $18.47 each.