A Guilt-Free Chocolate Beauty Routine

Although bathing in actual chocolate does sound quite inviting, it’s probably not great to do that to our skin and waistlines everyday. The Amazing Blog has found the next best thing to satisfy our chocolate needs, and that is Lush cosmetics chocolate range. Yes, all of these products are real skincare products and have actual benefits, whilst looking and smelling like our favourite sweet treat at the same time. Perfect! We tried the Soft Coeur Massage Bar, Cupcake Face Mask, and the Chocolate Whip Stick Lip Balm.

The Soft Coeur Massage Bar smelt heavenly. The shape of the bar makes it look lovely in the bathroom, we all love a good heart shaped gift. The shape also makes it a great present for the other half (hint). The core of the massage bar is soft and melts as you use it. As you get nearer to the centre, a chocolate and honey liquid oozes out and works with the shower or bath water to cleanse and moisturise your skin. It’s ideal if you need to unwind after a long day as I genuinely found my body relaxed and wasn’t too tense from stress after my bath. The cocoa butter, shea butter and almond oil infuse together to create a lovely massage bar with lots of benefits for your skin.

The cocoa powder used in the Cupcake facemask is also a product of the cocoa bean. This is combined with deep cleansing Rhassoul mud to absorb unwanted oil which can cause bad skin such as spot break outs.  I must admit, it was tempting to forget this mask was actually skincare and not a tub of melted chocolate, it smells like it would taste great. It’s probably best to avoid getting this mask in your hair so make sure it’s scraped back before applying. I used a fairly generous amount but didn’t ‘cake’ my face in it. As I was washing it off I could feel my pores were much cleaner so I felt less guilty adding moisturiser to my skin later on as it wasn’t already oily. It’s useful having the mask in a pot because it means less mess in between uses.

The Lush chocolate range has also created the Whip Stick Chocolate Lip Balm to give us a taste of sweetness with fewer calories. This balm contains dark chocolate and as we all know this is the most beneficial chocolate to consume, but it also has many skin improving qualities. To seal in all the natural moisture we have in our lips, Lush have used almond oil, shea butter, and oatmilk. The new formula is also completely free of preservatives, it just gets better… Applying this lip balm is no different from any other, but has many more benefits and fewer chemicals than lots of high street balms. It left my lips feeling soft and hydrated which is exactly what I needed in this weather.

All the products can be bought in store or online here. The Soft Coeur Massage Bar is £4.75 per 30g, the Cupcake Face Mask is £5.95 per 75g, and the Whip Stick is £5.75 per 8g.

Affordable Festive Finds

We are almost done with the first week of December, so if you haven’t already started helping Santa out with filling stockings then you best get cracking. Our day five of Festive Finds is inspired by the most exciting part of Christmas for a lot of children…opening stockings at 4am and leaving all the wrapping paper for Mum and Dad to clear up. The Amazing Blog knows how tricky it can be to get that stocking (or pillowcase) filled to the brim with lots of little goodies, so here are some suggestions that will go down a treat with the kids.

Fickle Tattoos are perfect for adding even more entertainment into Christmas morning and will keep the young ones quiet for a while. There are hundreds of designs of temporary tattoos, ranging in colours, size and theme so that you can choose something tailored to the personality and interests of your child. Something I find more special about these temporary tattoos than others is how they are designed by a handful of unique and creative illustrators who regularly create new drawings. You can read about each of them on the webpage, it makes the tattoo gift a little more personal and sweet. It’s a great little stocking filler to keep the kids happy whilst breakfast is being prepared, so have a browse here and discover their variety of quirky designs.

Another low-priced, petite stocking filler which also has the benefit of engaging kids for hours is the In a Matchbox White Christmas. Every year there is anticipation over whether there will be snow or not. There are kids lining up at the door or peering out the window with hats and gloves on ready to enjoy the snow. However, recently nature hasn’t been so reliable and snow either melts right away or doesn’t fall at all. White Christmas in a match box will help avoid disappointment in case we are left snowless this year because…it’s fake snow! All you need to do is freeze the snow for a few hours and then you’re ready to decorate your house and garden with snow that is guaranteed to stay put. I’ll be covering plants indoors and window stills to add a little festivity into my home this month. Maybe you have teenagers and need to fill their stockings with more grown-up gifts which can sometimes be a bit trickier as a sparkly pencil or toy car just won’t cut it this year. We suggest the Save the Blow Dry Cap for young ladies to enjoy. Did you know we spend over two hours a week blow-drying our hair? Save the Blow Dry has come up with a solution to do just that, save your blow dry! The cap is waterproof and made with absorbent micro-weave towelling so that it leaves your hair fabulously soft and bouncy. It’s a smart gift for girls as I’m sure lots of Christmas and New Year parties have been planned. We all want to say goodbye to 2013 looking our best. This gift is guaranteed to please your teen and leave them without reason to moan or complain on the special festive day. It’s only £14.95 and can be found here.

This gift is the epitome of ‘best of both worlds’ in terms of presents. Which two gifts are always a safe choice for everyone and will never be a let down? Chocolate and Flowers... However, flowers don’t make the best stocking filler as they are fragile and demand a lot of attention, and well, we guess you’ve probably bought a fair bit of chocolate already. So, these Chocolate Scented Grow Your Own Flowers found on Prezzybox and in Tesco, combine both the two to make charming stocking fillers. The flowers are for you to grow, so no squashing goes on in the stocking. Everybody loves growing flowers, and there is always a huge excitement when they completely develop, especially as these are daisies which are always lovely. You are given chocolate daisy seeds and lovely looking coconut husk starter pots to begin with, so move aside Alan Titchmarsh, because we have chocolate scented flowers.

All stockings need something edible amongst the wrapping paper, be it chocolate coins or tangerines, it’s a crucial part because there is no better guilty pleasure than stuffing your face in the early hours of the day when you should really be sleeping. If your children are messy with chocolate and leave wrapper trails as if they are re-enacting Hansel and Gretel, then worry no more... Pots & Co has a tasty selection of desserts in wonderfully designed pots to make things a little less untidy. Some of our favourite flavours are the Chocolate & Orange Pot, Caramelised Apple Crumble and the Sticky Toffee Pudding but there are also lots more to choose from. We do realise that this may not be the classic stocking filler food, but we also know lots of families like to do something a little different to surprise their children. These gorgeously creamy puddings will do just that. Even the photographs of them look edible, so that must be a good thing!  Have a look here at the delicious collection of puds for your nearest stockist.

A more familiar brand at Christmas is Lush as they always have beautiful bath and shower gifts to give away. Some items come out every year and we get to look forward to seeing them on the shelves. However, other products are new and exciting and never disappoint those loyal Lush users because they always put the same passion into all the products. The Lush Christmas Fun is made up of Red Fun, Green Fun and Gold Fun, too much ‘fun’ in one sentence? These are a lovely blend of four products in one which you can use as a soap, bubble bath, shampoo and play. There is a refreshing citrus included in the ingredients for the Red Fun and Green Fun and a comforting honey in the Gold Fun. I know I would definitely be happy to receive this for Christmas! Lush are a great brand that have a huge amount of reliable and wonderful products for everyone to enjoy.This little multipurpose trio is £6.50 and found here.

Tweezers are always a good shout if you’re stuck on present ideas. It’s the kind of thing everyone needs, male or female, so is a safe idea to fill that stocking a bit more. The Vintage Cosmetic Company have a sweet selection of tweezers which includes their festive pair, the Limited Edition Christmas Tweezers. These £8 tweezers are very cute and inspired by the 1950’s. The colour makes them look a bit more attractive than your every day tweezers, so definitely something you will find yourself keeping for a long time. Usually we want to keep our tweezers tucked away in our wash bag but with these they will be out on display for all to see. The colour is lovely and you can have a look here.

Last but not least, the most colourful and practical present for The Amazing Blog stocking suggestions, the Happy Jackson Lovely Things Wash Bag. It’s so simple and endearing, and the sort of present you can’t wait to start filling with all the cosmetics you accumulate over Christmas. It’s the perfect material to prevent stains and water damage and is also sized just right for travel. Depending on the age of your children though it could be anything, maybe even a pencil case? There is no use specification so would suit any age and gender as a stocking filler. I would have loved to get one of these in my stocking when I was younger, especially because you gather a lot of extra wash stuff across the season so end up buying a new one anyway. It’s bought for £11.66 here, there are lots of other stunning gifts from Happy Jackson worth taking a look at too.

 

Pamper Festive Finds

Day three of our Festive Finds and its time for the all important beauty choices. When it comes to Christmas presents, beauty products  are always welcomed with the The Amazing Blog girls. However, sometimes it can be hard to find the perfect present for a loved one, so we have been doing the hard work for you and want to share with you some of our favourite beauty and grooming gift sets to help you out with your Christmas shopping.

After trying out Pevonia’s Lumafirm Eye Contour Lift and Glow back in September we couldn’t wait to see what their Christmas Gift Sets had to offer us. We settled on the Essential Salvation Gift Set, designed to provide your loved one (or you!) with the Pevonia’s essential care range. The Essential Salvation set includes Face Cream, Cleanser, Lotion and Aromatherapy Face Oil. The kits can be specialised for dry, sensitive or combination skin types. These natural products are designed to revitalise, desensitise and normalise the skin by nourishing and energising it to help it look healthier and fresher. All the products smell lovely and really work to replenish your skin, which I have needed recently in this cold weather. You can get your hands on the Essential Salvation Gift Set from the Pevonia website for £66.

We all know that the winter weather is harmful to our skin, and the Christmas party season does not do our skin any favours either. This means, that at this time of year we should make an extra effort with our skin and use products to rectify any damage done. Thankfully, Aurelia Probiotic Skincare have a wonderful skincare Christmas gift set: The Relax and Repair Night Time Kit. The gift set includes Aurelia’s Cell Repair Night Oil to intensively repair the skin cells overnight which works in conjunction with the body’s nightly repair function. The oil works by hydrating and soothing dehydrated skin and by morning your skin will be left radiant and healthier looking. This gift set also includes a gorgeous vintage looking pink and gold teacup and saucer along with a signature blend of night time tea to drink with your nightly oil ritual. You can get the Relax and Repair Night Time Kit from The Aurelia Probiotic Skincare website for £65.

Here at The Amazing Blog, we love Lush products as they all seem to smell good enough to eat. This Christmassy Lush gift set, Fab Christmas, has become one of our favourite beauty sets this year, and for good reason too! We love everything about this gift set, from the beautiful pink and purple hat box style packaging, to the wide array of products waiting inside. Some of our favourite products inside have to be the Snow Fairy Shower Gel and Sparkle Bar. The fragrance is a rich candy floss scent infused with pear drops, it is very girly and sweet but there is just something about it that reminds us so much of Christmas, so it is no wonder that it is always a Christmas bestseller. The set also includes a mixture of bath bombs, soaps, shower gel and lotions that is sure to thrill this gift’s recipient. You can get hold of the Fab Christmas set from Lush stores or online from their website for £49.95.

The Bluebeard’s Revenge Aftershave was a big hit with Jose, our resident male here at The Amazing Blog, so when we discovered the huge range of gift sets on offer from The Bluebeard’s Revenge, we just knew that they would be a fantastic gift for a man. We love the Deluxe Kit as it contains all the essential shaving products that the modern man could possibly need, including Pre-shave Oil, Beard Reducing Shaving Cream, Post Shave Balm, the “Doubloon” Shaving Brush and Silver Technology Anti-perspirant Deodorant. These premium products are the ultimate products in luxury shaving and are formulated to help men get the best out of their shaving experience. We think that this set would be an ideal gift for men who are very interested in grooming or teenagers who are just starting to shave and would benefit from an all-inclusive kit. The Deluxe Kit is available on The Bluebeard’s Revenge website and costs £35.

The Bulldog Expert Skincare Set is the perfect Christmas gift for the man in your life who takes an interest in personal grooming and skincare. The wonderful set is packaged in a metal tin featuring a bulldog on the front which is great to store these Bulldog goodies inside. The set includes a range of Bulldog products, including the Original Face Wash, Original Moisturiser, Original Aftershave Balm and the Original Face Scrub, so is full of all the essentials to build up a good skincare routine. We love that Bulldog’s products do not contain artificial colours, synthetic ingredients or animal products. They do however contain a range of eight essential oils that work to cleanse and moisturise the skin. The Bulldog Expert Skincare Set is available exclusively in Boots stores and online where it is retailing at £20.

Our final hamper is by A Beautiful World. It’s a limited edition hamper priced at £100, and filled with every fabulous natural beauty product you could want. A Beautiful World stocks a variety of beauty products that many people don’t know about but need to. This hamper would be ideal to give to your mum or someone else very special this Christmas to spoil them a little. Nothing wrong with dropping a few hints to your partner if you want it yourself… Inside you will find the Dahliana Overnight Fruit Lift, Lumiere d'Opale, 5 x Collagen Face Mask, MuLondon White Chocolate Elbow, Knee & Heel Cream, Yarok Feed Your Youth, S.W Basics Shea Butter Cream, Know-it-oil, Marble & Milkweed Body Oil and Konjac Sponge. All these organic products are incredibly beneficial for the skin and perfect for all seasons and the different effects the weather will have on your face and body. The MuLondon White Chocolate Elbow smells incredible, obviously it would, it’s chocolate! This hand whipped moisturiser replenishes the skin well without leaving a heavy layer to clog your pores. There are also great oils in the set, which we all love to use during the winter because they are quite calming as well as giving you balanced skin.  The Marble & Milkweed body oil is packaged beautifully and would sit perfectly amongst some girly skincare products in the bathroom. Everything in the hamper is unique and has individuality which sets it aside from other products on the market. This may be the ingredients or the way the products are produced but you can be sure to get a selection of lovely, organic products to treat your skin to.  £100 is a great deal for the amount you receive in the hamper and the quality they all are. You can buy the hamper here.

Tomorrow we have some Festive Finds for your home this Christmas and New Year.

Pucker up with Lush for International Kissing Day July 6th!

 

Many of you may have heard about or even use and love products from the brand Lush. They specialise in creating fresh, handmade cosmetics that are cruelty free and offer an extensive range. Some products we adore here at The Amazing Blog? The Bath Bombs are absolutely Lush-ious, as well as the Face Masks and of course the Lip Scrubs and Balms.

So get your pout ready readers, because International Kissing Day is this Saturday July 6! Want a way to really enjoy the day? Pop over to your local Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics store and help set a record. Lush is attempting to break the current Guinness World Record of 22,174 lipstick prints collected in 12 hours, and we can all help them do it!  From 11:00 am this Saturday you can get your lips ready for the perfect print in store. You will begin by using a Lip Scrub that includes castor sugar and Jojoba oil. A lip balm will be applied next, and you can choose from amazing flavours of Whipstick or Honey Trap as well as the original Lip Service and None of Your Beeswax, a vegan option.  Last, but certainly not least, you will plant your kiss while wearing a long lasting colour from the 'Emotional Brilliance Liquid Lips' collection. This range includes six 100% vegan colours:  Believe, Passionate, Ambition, Drive, Strong, and Confident.

Not only can you help set a record by giving Lush your kiss ‘print of approval’, but you will be supporting ‘Cruelty Free Kisses’. Lush Cosmetics is a big supporter of the ‘Be-Cruelty Free’ campaign that is run by Humane Society International. It is a campaign to end animal testing worldwide, something Lush is very passionate about. We want to help them become the ‘Cruelty Free Kisses’ record holder here at The Amazing Blog, and you should too! So get ready and head over to a Lush store on Saturday July 6^th starting at 11am. Plus, you can get your hands on lots of wonderful products while you’re there! Can’t get to a store? You can also participate online by posting a picture of your lip print on Instagram. Make sure to also post your pictures to the Lush Cosmetics Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. Don’t forget to tag #crueltyfreekisses in all posts!

Look what the Easter Bunny found!

With Easter fast approaching, I’m sure we are all looking for something to treat our friends and family to. We, here at The Amazing Blog, like to surprise our loved ones with little festive trinkets to help get them in the Easter spirit. Whether it’s a bag of decadent egg shaped chocolates or something to help make our home feel more festive, in this post there is sure to be something for you.

This little bunny is full of bath time fun. The Hoppy Easter Bunny from Lush is full of 7 baths worth of limited edition, Easter themed goodies. Inside the adorable bunny packaging you can find a bright pink Fluffy Egg and the re-usable Carrot bubble bar. Each Lush treat smells amazing and sure to make you, or anyone else, instantly think of Spring. You can purchase this Hoppy Easter Bunny from their website for £11.95.

These candy coloured Nordic House Glass Easter Eggs look good enough to eat. These pretty baubles can be hung from a spring inspired twiggy display or piled high in a glass bowl as a center piece on your dining room table. These eggs are available in several different colours such as white, silver, grey, ochre, green, turquoise, purple and pink, and they can come in either a frost or shiny silvery finish. These eggs are sure to give your home the perfect amount of Easter cheer in the most sophisticated way. You can purchase a set of 3 fro £5.95 off of their website.

Can you think of a better way to serve an Easter Salad? These festive Rabbit Ears Salad Servers are the perfect compliment to any big Easter dinner. Using these salad servers will put you in the Easter mood and are sure to amuse your family and friends as well. You purchase these salad servers from their website for £5.95.

Treat your loved ones, or yourself, to these gorgeous Half Dozen Chocolate Harlequin Eggs by Demarquettes Chocolate. Each pink box contains 6 brightly hand painted Harlequin inspired chocolate eggs, 3 are milk chocolate and 3 are dark chocolate. The use only the finest British ingredients to create a unique and mouth watering chocolate so that each eggs tastes absoltely delicious.  You can purchase these eggs from their website for £12.50.

Looking for the perfect after Easter dinner dessert? Look no further than Farhi’s impressive one kilogram gift box of mini speckled candy-coated praline Easter eggs. These beautifully packaged and presented mini eggs are perfect for sharing and make for the ideal after dinner dessert. There will be enough for everyone, trust us. Go all out and purchase your own box from their website for £19.99.

Finally, we have something that the adults can enjoy. After work on Thursday, March 28th, follow the white rabbit down to Bart's Speakeasy for the Easter event Bart's Mad Hatter's Tea Party. There, you can take advantage of the specialty cocktails, champagne and of course, cupcakes. Then, at 6pm join them for their Easter egg hunt with a twist, the prizes are sharing cocktails as well as Veuve Cliquot. So grab your top hats and tea pots and enter the Wonderland that is Bart's Mad Hatter's Tea Party. You can RSVP at 020 7581 3355 or email them at ariana@barts-london.com.