CBDila : POLISH, and NOURISH

More and more, hemp-infused and CBD products are being produced here in the UK, and as CBD fans we have a particular interest in trying new topicals and edibles. Today at The Amazing Blog, we’re excited to share with you CBDila a budding (yes, pun intended) CBD skincare range. As regular readers will know, we think that the benefits of the CBD are numerous, which is we love testing out new products.

CBDila is a skincare brand that comes under the CBD Box umbrella. CBD Box is considered one of the leading online retailers of licensed cannabidiol (CBD) products. It is a premium CBD brand created with the mission to produce and sell the highest quality CBD health and wellness products. Currently, they have two brands the CBD Box itself and CBDila. Both brands were recently established by Damon Booth. This was after 2018 when he set up his Malta-based medical cannabis company Melabis. It is a company that researches the cannabis industry, and recently secured over 3k hectares of agricultural land to grow hemp in Uzbekistan. BTW did you know that growing cannabis and/or hemp uses around 10 -15% times less water than cotton production? Hemp is also considered a valuable carbon-sequestering crop together with other commercial crops, such as soybean rice-wheat and sugarcane. We recently saw a comment here quoting that 1 acre of hemp will sequester the same amount of co2 in a year, as an acre of 100-year-old oak trees. As a CBD aficionado, the driving force for Booth is to find the highest grade CBD to create his edibles and topicals for improving both his and his consumers’ lifestyle. Beyond growing and sourcing natural CBD, the sustainability of the packaging and products is also important to Booth. CBDila currently has five THC-free CBD infused skincare products, which we presume are made with CBD isolate (CBD Box please correct us here if we’re wrong!) They are 97% natural, cruelty-free and vegan; and packaged in recyclable glass jars and bottles. 

Let’s start with the first of these two-body products, the CBDila’s POLISH. This they refer to as a “refining body polish for smoother skin.” The subtle fragrance that greets you is an uplifting subtle zest from the lime essential oil. The base oils are sweet almond, olive and coconut. These have gentle and hydrating qualities but are also excellent for deep cleansing pores from impurities. The olive and coconut oils are both full of antioxidants that moisturise and minimise the signs of skin ageing; they are also notably good cleansers for those with dry skin as they revitalise and strengthen the skin's tonicity. The 300mg of THC-free CBD isolate here, is in a refined crystalline form, which is odourless and is also thought to be the purest and most potent form of CBD. Mainly extracted from hemp, the isolate is produced by removing all other compounds found in the plant, including other cannabinoids isolating the CBD. This isolate is thought to be the best type of CBD for use in skincare, as it doesn't clog pores and is packed with skin-rejuvenating antioxidants properties. However, there are a few other ingredients that make this body POLISH that piqued our interest, with the pumice stone and fruit extracts from strawberry and melon. The pumice stone is crushed into a fine powder and acts as a natural exfoliant, as it gently exfoliants to remove dead skin cells and clean pores. The strawberry and melon extracts are also full of potent antioxidants, which are key players in collagen synthesis, promoting the growth of new and healthier skin cells. The POLISH is easy to use, it’s a creamy consistency and when gently massaged into damp skin, there is an exfoliating feel as the pumice powder does its work. Finally, rinse well and pat dry, and you have soft, hydrated skin, and this is then the moment to apply the CBDila NOURISH (see below). 

NOURISH is a CBD infused body oil. This body oil absorbs into the skin to help target any “problem areas” – think dryness, inflammation, cellulite, or stretch marks. It contains 500mg of THC free CBD (see above about isolate), which provides excellent anti-inflammatory relief. The all-natural ingredients also include grapeseed oil for conditioning, avocado oil for repairing and rosehip oil for regenerating the skin. By also combining evening primrose for its moisturising properties and vitamin E for skin conditioning, these ingredients create a well-balanced body oil. There is also the nut oil tamanu which stimulates collagen production in the skin, helping to slow skin ageing, and also reduce the appearance of scar tissue. The sweet orange scent from the sweet orange oil is packed full of monoterpenes to stimulate your senses, relieve stress and uplift mood. NOURISH is a hydrating body oil, with a powerful blend of natural ingredients. Again, it’s is easy to use. A little goes a long way; simply massage a few drops from the pipette onto clean skin to stimulate circulation and blood flow. This was our favourite out of the two products, and we think best used after a shower in the morning, to make you feel ready to take on the day!

To purchase either of these 100ml CBDila products for £35, see here for POLISH and here for NOURISH.

LUUV : Lip Gloss Balms

Now we’re officially in autumn, it’s time to protect our delicate lips and add a swipe of moisturising colour to complement the vibrant hues. At The Amazing Blog, we’d like to introduce another of our #amazingfinds LUUV, a brand new to the UK, with their vegetable-based natural Lip Gloss Balms.

LUUV is an Estonian cosmetics brand that was officially established in 2017. It all began four years ago with the co-founder Jüri Paltser, who ran a family-owned store in Estonian that stocked a range of over 50 cosmetic brands. Seeing a gap in the market, he decided to develop his own range of skincare and cosmetics, where he could bring all his ideas and innovations into production. Combining his background in marketing and advertising, and his interest in cosmetics, Jüri opened a small cosmetics factory in 2017, which has since grown to become the 6th biggest cosmetics manufacturer in Estonia. The LUUV brand is a big supporter of natural cosmetics, believing that cosmetics should be easy to use, with natural, clean and transparent ingredients. Their products are developed from scratch using only natural and vegan ingredients, all with the help of Estonian based bio-chemists. Products are COSMOS ECOCERT meaning that they’re eco-friendly, in recyclable packaging, and do not contain any GMOs, parabens, perfumes, synthetic colourants, or phenoxyethanol. This certification also means that LUUV uses natural resources responsibly, respects biodiversity through their production processes, and uses only green chemical alternatives. Within the Environmental Investment Centre's Circular Economy Program framework, they have acquired a modern reverse osmosis device, allowing them to use only the purest of water during production! By the end of the year, LUUV will have over 52 different cosmetic products to choose from, which range from skin and body care to cosmetics.

We were excited to be sent LUUV’s Lip Gloss Balms in four shades from their range of seven. They were recently awarded a silver medal for Best Vegan Makeup in The Global Green Beauty Awards 2021. We’d describe these as a hybrid of lip gloss and balm as they deeply moisturise, offer a dazzling shine, as well as a subtle hint of colour. Young LUUV is a pale pink,  Soft LUUV  is a nude, Fun LUUV is a light cherry red, and Perfect LUUV is rich juicy red. All of these colour shades are derived from plants, including beetroot, radishes, and potatoes. Packed with natural actives, they contain botanical ingredients such as plum seed oil, which is full of 13 different kinds of omega fatty acids and vitamins A and E that hydrate and heal. And the candelilla wax which acts as a binding agent for the ingredients, and conditions and protects chapped lips. All formulas are 100% natural and vegan, making these Lip Gloss Balms COSMOS ECOCERT certified. These Lip Gloss Balms are waterless, flavour and fragrance-free and free from synthetic chemicals or preservatives. Perfect for everyday wear as the colder season approaches; and best of all, the finish is lightweight, not too sticky, long-lasting with excellent staying power. Our favourite shade was the Perfect LUUV, it gave our lips a natural glow adding a little colour, without veering too far from the natural lip shade. To purchase the LUUV Lip Gloss Balms, visit here where all seven shades are available at €8.95 for each 10g tube. 

Khali Min: Rescue Oil & Clean Cream Conditioner

As we all have very different hair textures (and hair issues) here at The Amazing Blog, so we set about trying to find the latest natural haircare product to help to bring us stronger, tangle-free and glossy hair. We’d heard lots of good things about these two award-winning products by Khali Min, with The Rescue Oil, and the Clean Cream Conditioner which they very kindly sent to us to try.

Khali Min is a British haircare brand with its heritage roots in Egypt. This independent, women-led company began its journey in the challenging year of 2020 by founders Anda Marei and Vanessa Karlo. Anda grew up in Egypt, where beauty rituals are treated as occasions of social interaction. Anda has fond memories of rummaging through her mother's skincare fridge, reading the labels of her products, and testing them out on herself. Although she started in the editing and publishing industry, Anda has always been fascinated by different beauty ingredients and often found herself playing around with different oils, butters, and essences. Meanwhile, Vanessa's story began in New York, where she grew up. Vanessa felt influenced by her memories of her mother paying close attention to her magnificent head of hair. Vanessa's appreciation for craftsmanship played a significant role in her own interests in entrepreneurship, emerging markets, and sustainability. Both women took a leap of faith into the beauty industry to create an effective, sustainable, certified vegan, and cruelty-free brand. Their inspiration started when they met as magazine editors, then a few years later, Anda and Vanessa met again in London, where they discovered a passion for Egyptian beauty heritage and a fascination with Egyptian oils. They decided to combine British innovation with Egyptian roots to create a nourishing and revitalising haircare range, challenging the idea that haircare products should be categorised by type; as they believe that a hair formula should not be based soley on need, type or texture. The words ‘Khali Min’ mean 'free from' in Arabic, making this brand very appropriately named with their simple, natural, and transparent ingredients all of which are many harvested through renewable energy sources. All of Khali Min's products are sustainably packaged and supplied, this means that these are reusable, recyclable, or compostable. They also use FSC-certified paper stock and vegetable-based inks. Egypt’s limited water resources and arable land serve as a reminder for sustainability and motivates the brand’s ethos. Khali Min is proud to be awarded The Beauty Shortlist’s 2021 Wellbeing Editor’s Choice, Grazia’s Hair Award for Best Softening Oil, and recognised as a sustainable British brand with Selfridge’s Project Earth.

Khali Min’s debut product is the Rescue Oil, it’s a lightweight, multipurpose hair oil that works to repair and strengthen hair naturally. This hair oil can be used to help smooth hairs as a styling tool, revitalise the locks as a leave-in product to keep hair nourished all day, or used as an overnight treatment for the scalp and ends to be washed out in the morning. Any of these methods leave the hair feeling softer without the greasy texture that is sometimes associated with hair oils. The Rescue Oil uses many ingredients indigenous to Egypt to create its achieved results for dry and dull hair. A notable few include jojoba oil, macadamia oil, brocolli oil and avocado oil. Jojoba oil, which is harvested in the western desert of Egypt using solar energy, is rich in vitamins that nourish the hair, such as vitamin C, E, copper, and zinc. These vitamins help to strengthen and moisturise hair while promoting hair thickness and preventing dandruff. Macadamia oil is loaded with fatty acids and oleic acid oil, which are easily absorbable and perfect for dry hair. The macadamia oil is responsible for adding moisture back into dry and damaged hair. The broccoli seed oil here is for maximum hydration and silicone-free slip. Avocado oil has similar properties as macadamia oil, adding another dose of oleic acid, which helps retain hair moisture. However, avocado oil also has monounsaturated fats, which help to strengthen the hair shaft and prevent breakage. The Rescue Oil goes to work immediately to nourish the hair no matter whichever way it is used. We all agreed that our favourite way to use this was by massaging the oil into the scalp and ends, allowing it to be absorbed (they suggest 30 mins), and then washing our hair as usual. Using this as a pre-shampoo treatment left hair feeling glossy and bouncy. Our ends especially felt moisturised and looked remarkably healthy, and the slight scent of citrus was a lovely touch. On a personal note (I’m the one with fine long curl hair) this was brilliant to use with a few drops in the palms to smooth over to tame any stray flyaway hairs.

The second product we tried is their Clean Cream Conditioner. This leave-in conditioner aims to soften, hydrate, detangle, and protect against dryness and breakage without the use of silicone. The conditioner can be used in different ways depending on the condition of the hair. For dry hair, Khali Min recommends applying the cream from roots to tips while damp without rinsing (this is great for curly hair). For dull hair, they advise using a pea-sized amount from mid-lengths to ends without rinsing. For fine hair, they recommend applying from roots to ends, letting it sit to absorb and moisturise (we did this for about 5 mins), and then gently rinsing it out. Again what we loved about this Clean Cream with its unique formulas, is the versatility for all hair types. A few ingredients that assist in creating healthy hair are rosehip oil, aloe vera, and murumuru butter. Rosehip oil helps to nourish the hair through its fatty acid, lycopene, and vitamin C properties. The rosehip oil adds moisture to help strengthen the locks and prevent breakage. Aloe vera, known for centuries as the ‘plant of immortality’ in Egypt, helps to hydrate the hair. Aloe vera is full of fatty acids and amino acids that play a significant role in strengthening hair follicles. Murumuru butter is a unique ingredient that makes a great addition to hair conditioner, as it helps to lock in moisture given by other components and keeps hair looking shiny. Murumuru butter is known for restoring hair and maintaining elasticity, helping keep the hair smooth and bouncy. The leave-in conditioner absorbed in the hair without a trace and immediately left us with soft and shiny hair - we also found it gave weight to fine flyaway hair and offered protection against heated hair tools. We found that using the Rescue Oil as a pre-shampoo treatment and using the Clean Cream Conditioner as a post-shampoo nourishment, they worked beautifully together to revitalise the ends and left the scalp and roots hydrated and soft - plus suitable even on colour-treated hair. Did we have a favourite out of the two? Difficult to choose, but on balance I think it would have to be the Rescue Oil as it left our hair smelling beautifully fresh and fragrant with its zesty ingredients. What we particularly like about Khali Min is that they have a particular focus on scalp health, utilising these natural ingredients to address scalp concerns. If you’re looking for a luxurious, culturally diverse, and sustainable haircare range, that will take your hair care to the next level, then we think that these two Khali Min products will be for you. To purchase the Rescue Oil for £38, click here. To purchase the Clean Cream Conditioner for £25, click here. 

The Soap Loaf Company: Cosmeti-Craft Solid Deodorant Making Kit,

Even in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, at The Amazing Blog, we always try to make time for fun ways to combine our creative and practical skills - showing off our handmade products to friends! This time, we thought we’d try our hand at making a DIY deodorant from one of The Soap Loaf Company’s Cosmetics-Craft enterprising options with their award-winning Solid Deodorant Making Kit.

Founder Natasha Green launched the British Sheffield based brand The Soap Loaf Company  n 2012, offering a wide array of soaps, solid shampoos, bath bombs and bath products. Natasha developed an interest in soap-making and wanted to express her creative side after working for 11 years as a finance broker. She followed her passion and created The Soap Loaf Company to bring to market her own handmade toiletries and cosmetics, which led her to the launch of her workshops. Through The Soap Loaf Company, she began to host soap-making parties for children's groups and organisations. As the parties expanded with new products and ideas, she decided that it was time to attract the adult customer audience. In 2018 Natasha launched a sister brand Cosmeti-Craft, which went on to increase the products and output for workshops and parties for adults. Today, they host regular workshops all over South and West Yorkshire; the participants can follow tutorials to create soaps, bath bombs, moisturisers, shampoo bars, solid perfumes, scrubs, and many more. Cosmeti-Craft also has funded and charity rates for special needs groups, schools, universities, or charities. They tailor each workshop to offer support and resources, allowing each individual to express their creativity and sense of achievement, by creating a unique self-care Cosmetic-Craft product. The positive feedback from these has been overwhelming, Natasha told us that they often have reported how the workshops have helped engage and bring back joy into the participants' lives, boosting both morale and mental health. In addition to helping others, The Soap Loaf Company and its sister brand Cosmeti-Craft are determined to have a positive impact the environment. They focus on offering fully compostable packaging, reusing and recycling all materials from their suppliers, and ordering materials in bulk to reduce shipping frequency and CO2 emissions. They also collect bottle tops for a specialist recycling group, offer paper bags in store for customers, and reward customers with a 20% discount for bringing refillable containers when making further purchases. Recently Cosmetic-Craft has gained the attention of Virgin, Living Social, Uniquely Local, BBC Radio Sheffield, and Channel 5. Natasha herself, can often be found demonstrating the kits on Craft Store Sky Channel 673. All products and kits are organic, vegan and cruelty-free. They recently won a Bronze award in the Global Green Beauty Awards for Most Innovative Green Product with their Solid Deodorant Making Kit (below). We’ve also heard whispers that they’ll be making another announcements about a new award later on in the year…

The Soap Loaf Company kindly sent us their Solid Deodorant Making Kit to try out here; this is where the kit brings the workshop to you! It’s a bit like doing elementary chemistry and such a fun and easy thing to create. This kit gives you one finished solid deodorant, there are four key ingredients, together with two essential oils, and a reusable/ compostable container, and a fool-proof tutorial to follow. We like how they keep it simple; we won’t go into the details of how we made it (rather long-winded). Instead we’ll talk about the ingredients and our finished product.

Interestingly, we thought they’d use beeswax, but no, the kit provides candelilla wax instead, it’s a plant oil that becomes a solid wax once extracted. It's the best out of all alternatives to beeswax as it spreads and absorbs more efficiently and also offers more hydration. The shea butter in the kit also boosts skin moisture and soothes irritated inflamed skin. Did you know that most commercial high street deodorants contain sodium bicarbonate (AKA baking soda)? it’s a cheap surfactant and is used in deodorants to absorbs moisture and destroy odour. However, it can cause irritation and discolouration or staining on the skin. Instead of sodium bicarbonate, The Soap Loaf Company uses kaolin clay and magnesium flakes, as these ingredients are gentle, absorb moisture and control odour without changing the skin tone. Magnesium also has calming effects on the body and promotes cell growth and repair. The last ingredient is the fragrances; there are two different essential oils, we had the peppermint and orange essential oils - but there are many others to chose from. Combining these two (25 drops max is recommended) gives a refreshing aroma plus it offers antibacterial and antifungal properties, with extra bonus that these oils help to elevate the mood! This newly made deodorant does not contain artificial preservatives, palm oil, or chemical foaming agents, and it has a "use by" date of 6 months.

The kit itself also comes with very self-explanatory instructions and advice for creating the deodorant. With the completed mixture you fill the product container up to the top. Then leave it to set for 60 minutes - they suggest putting it in the fridge to speed it up. Any left over can be poured into a tin or heat proof container to use separately. Once set, your deodorant is ready to use - push up from the base and raise the deodorant mixture 1 cm and you’re ready to go! It feels soothing, smells great and best of all it’s been made with your own fair hands! If you fancy creating your own custom deodorant, or perhaps purchasing this kit as a gift. You can purchase the Solid Deodorant Making Kit here for £19.99 (as we did, without the online workshop) or at £29.99 with the online workshop. It’s another of our #amazingfinds and we found making this very relaxing and therapeutic to do. Watch this space as we’ll be trying out another of their kits very soon.

Mix Clean Green: Toilet Mix

At The Amazing Blog, when it comes to cleaning we to love finding eco-friendly and sustainable products. Meet Mix Clean Green, they care about what goes into their products and has super-concentrated waterless formulas. This, in turn, allows for the products to be sold in small containers, reducing the carbon footprint. This is something a little bit different for us to review, and we couldn’t wait to try out this award-winning Toilet Mix - as they’re the only company in the U.K. to produce a water-free, mix at home toilet cleaner!

Mix Clean Green is an innovative company looking to find eco-friendly ways to create sustainable cleaning products. It is a female-run British business, with Kate Deacon at the helm. Kate has children, and they were her inspiration for starting this company. Worried about plastic consumption, climate change and more, Kate wanted to create the most eco-friendly household products that she could. In an interview with MicroBizMag, she noted that “the overwhelming sense of greenwashing that you start to uncover when looking into ingredients in what we think of as eco-products…” This led to her passion for creating a truly eco-friendly and green brand of cleaning products. For those new to the term ‘greenwashing’ it is a concept defined as the “process of conveying a false impression or providing misleading information about how a company’s products are more environmentally sound.” Thus many brands today understand that consumers want green and eco-friendly products, so they create labels that seem like their products are planet-friendly without the ingredients to back them up. Kate found that beyond the ingredients in these greenwashed products, the process in “how they’re made or derived, and the damage they do” is also overlooked. Beyond the plastic-free products, Mix Clean Green has created palm-free, waterless, vegan-friendly, and non-toxic products. Mix’s clean, green and eco-friendly vision has definitely paid off, with the company winning multiple Green Home, Safe Home awards for the Beauty Shortlist Awards in 2021. With their evident passion for the environment and planet, we applaud Mix Clean Green for donating 5% of profits from sales of bottles and jars to Project Seagrass, which is an environmental charity that is devoted to advancing the conservation of seagrass through education, influence, research and action.” 

The Mix Clean Green’s Toilet Mix comes in a reusable tin, which contains the super-concentrate. This brilliant toilet cleaner just needs the addition of water to clean your loo. Mix Clean Green’s Toilet Mix “uses a cutting edge bio-surfactant” to help clean. These bio-surfactants are compounds that are synthesised from plants and microorganisms. These compounds are an excellent alternative to standard cleaning chemicals due to their “high biodegradability, low toxicity, multi-functionality, environmental capability and the availability of resources.” The Toilet Mix contains four simple ingredients of citric acid, bio-surfactant, organic lavender oil and organic lemon oil. This toilet cleaner utilises citric acid, which kills bacteria, mould and mildew while disinfecting and cleaning the surface. It’s also a great addition here because it is a naturally occurring raw material that makes it biodegradable and non-toxic. With these few ingredients, it uses makes it a no-brainer choice to choose over standard house-hold cleaners, like bleach. Bleach has been known to cause health-related problems as well as having negative impacts on the environment. We heard about the Mix Clean Green’s Toilet Mix, as it won the 2021 Beauty Shortlist Award for Best Loo Cleaner! It’s super-easy to use, inside each tin, is a paper funnel (it was a bit crumpled so we did show it in our photo) where we positioned the funnel over our own glass litre bottle filled with lukewarm water, then poured in the entire contents of 50ml tin (BTW you can also dilute it one teaspoon to 100ml). As advised, we left it for 30-60 mins occasionally shaking, before use. We blitzed three loos all in one go - giving them a quick pre-scrub before leaving the Toilet Mix overnight to do its work. The litre bottle of the mix lasted us about two/three weeks with regular use. The result? Well, let’s just say Mrs Hinch would be proud! It’s an impressive cleaner and even smells fragrant to boot. Available in two different container options, the starter tin or the refill zero-waste option. The zero-waste option comes in a “home-compostable pouch with a recyclable paper label.” The starter Toilet Mix in a 50ml tin is available for £6.50 here; or the zero-waste option is available for £3.50 here.