Friday Favourites – Shampoos with a difference

Shampoo is a product nearly everyone uses, but how do you know you’re using the correct shampoo for your hair? I know that here at The Amazing Blog we are very particular about the type of shampoo that we choose to lather up with. Some of us use shampoos that are organic, vegan or to help stimulate hair growth. And with so many options, we find that it can be an overwhelming choice to find the right one for each of our hair types. For this week’s Friday Favourites, we have three new and different shampoos that are our #amazingfinds to share with you.

The first shampoo is the Reseed Ginkgo & Sabal Fortifying Shampoo. Reseed was created to help people achieve stronger, fuller and healthier hair. Reseed understands the impact that both hair loss and thinning can have on self-confidence and created their hair care line to help combat this. The products all use natural actives that work to prolong the hair’s lifecycle. We love that they use essential botanic extracts, pro-vitamins and minerals - all which strengthen the hair follicles.

The Reseed Ginkgo & Sabal Fortifying Shampoo restores the structural fibres of the hair while simultaneously increasing its density and nourishing from within. We liked the fresh, fruity fragrance of the Reseed Shampoo! It’s enriched with vitamins B5, B6, E, F and Zinc to support the scalp’s natural functions.

The Reseed Ginkgo & Sabal Fortifying Shampoo is suitable for all hair types. We’d certainly recommend this for anyone has either hair thinning or loss, or who just wants to prevent it. If you’d like to purchase the Reseed Shampoo it is £18 for 250ml and can be purchased here or it’s also available at Lloyds Pharmacy and Selfridges too.

Our next Friday favourite is the Lavera Neutral Shower Shampoo this is ideal for anyone with fine hair. Lavera has won over 350 awards, proving that natural hair and skincare products can be both sustainable and innovative. In Latin, Lavera means ‘the truth’, and at The Amazing Blog we’re big fans of this brand and know first hand that a brand name like Lavera can be trusted. All their products are 100% natural and have cruelty-free ingredients, we think that Lavera is a brand name that you can really get behind.

The Lavera Neutral Shower Shampoo leaves hair feeling clean with a healthy, natural shine. It’s perfect for anyone with sensitive skin or fine hair because it contains extremely mild cleansing ingredients. It’s also a 2-in-1 product that doubles as body wash, which is perfect for packing in your weekend bag to save on products. We love that it contains organic evening primrose oil, to soothe easily irritated skin and sea salt to stimulate hair growth. Need a break from harsh fragrance or ingredients? Then purchase Lavera Neutral Shower Shampoo here for £8.95 per 200ml.

Finally, we‘ve chosen the Foamie Hibiskiss Damaged Hair Shampoo Bar. This is a completely plastic-free design and also we like how the interesting design of the Foamie Shampoo Bar which is made as an easy-to-hold shampoo bar. Simple to use, just run the bar under water until it lathers up and you get a good amount of foam on your hands to massage through the hair, then rinse out. Simply hang it up on its loop to dry after use.

We love the simplicity of this bar making it ideal to travel with and perfect for holiday hair. The hibiscus and nettle extract combat brittle and tired-looking hair, they also help to strengthen and nourish from root to tip. It adds shine and structure to the hair while leaving an amazing floral fragrance. Think outside the bottle, with this Foamie Hibiskiss Damaged Hair Shampoo Bar available here for £7.00 a bar here. 

Whether you’re looking for plastic-free, multi-tasking or something to just boost your hair, we think we’ve got you covered.

Tiiya Alanoud Alattiya - Rose Oud Epiphany Eau de Parfum

Every so often you smell a perfume that transports you to another time or place. At The Amazing Blog we instantly felt transported to exotic Arabian nights after closing our eyes and a little spritz of Tiiya Alanoud Alattiya’s RoseOud Epiphany Eau De Parfum and we relished every fragrant moment.

The founder Alanoud Alattiya is a graduate from the UCL Museum and Gallery Practice Masters program. By day she is a museum practitioner and by evenings a couturier. She grew up in a household fully immersed in couture, with her mother being one of the first women to wear Christian Dior in the Arabian Gulf. it was just a decade ago, that her career in couture designing amongst members of elite society was frowned upon. However, her first cousin, His Highness The Father Amir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani built a platform of newer social meaning and understanding, allowing her creativity to be celebrated.

Regular reader will remember that we recently wrote about her Concentrated Eye Cream here, but today we wanted to tell you about her Epiphany Rose Oud Eau de Parfum. After applying a spritz of this perfume, we immediately felt the warmth and essence of the luxurious Persian Gulf. The Arabic oud’s woody deep scent mixes with the sweet floral notes of rose oil to create an elegant fragrance. Oud oil is estimated as being worth 1.5 times the amount of gold. This ‘liquid gold’ gives the Rose Oud Epiphany perfume a complex aroma and mythical essence of the East. Trust us when we say that with the Epiphany perfume, a little goes a long way. It lingered on the skin all day and then some. If you too want to smell like luxury, the Tiiya Alanoud Alattiya Rose Oud Epiphany Eau de Parfum 100ml can be your too, if you purchased here for £120.

Viliv - skincare range

We love skincare that helps to keep our complexions looking plumped up and lush. At The Amazing Blog we’ve been hearing lots of great things about a new Swiss brand that recently launched here in the UK.  Step forward centre-stage Viliv with their uber-stylish contemporary branding and science-driven skincare.

Dr. Felix Bertram, founder of Viliv, is a leading Swiss skin specialist who’s noted for his exceptional aesthetic and anti-ageing treatments. From teaching workshops to educating doctors and students in dermatology and laser medicine, he also has global recognition for his award-winning dermatological clinic. There is absolutely no doubt that Viliv has an impeccable pedigree with its extensive scientific research behind all of the products.

Regular readers will remember that we reviewed the Viliv e - Shape Your Eyes Rich Eye Cream and so we couldn’t wait to try four more products from the range: Foam to Face Cleanser, Vi-Lift Your Skin Serum, Brighten Your Eyes Serum, and Get a Rich Restore Ultra-Nourishing Moisturiser.

Let’s start with a morning routine cleanser Viliv Foam to Face cleansing foam, easy to use with just two pumps massaged on our face in circular motions, then quickly rinsed this off. What we particularly liked about this cleanser is its fragrance, it contains chamomile and allantoin which soothes the skin leaving a fresh and subtle floral scent.  As a foam, a little goes a long way and with typical Swiss efficiency, it was also extremely effective at removing all makeup residue leaving our city-skin feeling fresh, hydrated and clean.

Next, we have the Vi-Lift Your Skin Serum which offers 24h urban protection. Here’s a fact that you probably didn’t know, blue light and infrared radiation (i.e. from your phone) affect the skin’s defence mechanisms. These disrupt the exchange of information between cells, leading to cell damage and premature skin ageing. The irony is that modern technology is now ageing us! The Viliv Vi-Lift Serum contains an exclusive active ingredient called +VIDERMACTIVE 7 that is rich in vitamin C and protects the skin from free radicals such as pollution or the blue light and preserves mitochondrial DNA. We also like that it’s quick to apply, not at all sticky, fragrance-free and it sinks easily into the pores for protection.

The Vi-Lift partners well with Viliv Brighten Your Eyes Serum, this is serum is our favourite out of the four we tried. We often forget that the skin around the eyes area is continually moving with active facial expressions and is four times thinner than the rest of our face. Therefore it needs support as we age and Viliv addresses this with their special ingredients of tetrapeptide eyeseryl which improves circulation and firmness, as well as reducing dark circles and puffiness. Plus the liftonin xpress which gives an instant lift with its microalgae extract and natural polymers. We found this Eye Serum gave us visible and instant results, it felt very cooling when applied and really does work wonders on tired eyes.

Lastly, in this skincare routine is Viliv Get a Rich Restore Ultra-Nourishing Moisturiser.  This is a cream that keeps on working, and as they say, it’s a ‘24-hour anti-ageing expert’. Containing PerfectionPeptide P7 which activates the skin’s natural defences by stimulating the responsible enzymes and managing the impact of UV related stress to protect against moisture loss. Other ingredients are silymarin, carosin and vitamin E all to help reduce wrinkles and firm the skin.  We also mustn’t forget to mention that Viliv is 100% vegan, cruelty and gluten-free, with no parabens, mineral oils, colourants, PEG, BHT EDTA or fragrance. See the full Viliv product range here with prices starting from £29. These products get a big 10/10 from us!

Malavara - Ultra Luxuriant Hair Elixir

Who else feels like they’re constantly stripping their hair by colouring it, curling it, straightening it or washing it? At the Amazing Blog we’re constantly looking for that ‘Holy Grail’product to reverse all of our hair damage… and we just may have found it!

Malavara Ultra Luxuriant Hair Elixir is a modern take on a 5,000 year old Ayurvedic ritual of hair oiling. By Inspired by India but made in London, the elixir utilises potent Hairy Basil Root which acts as food for hair follicles and promotes growth. With sleek packaging, easy-to-follow directions and all-natural ingredients, Malavara gives hair oiling a modern twist.

A Gold Winner at The Pure Beauty Awards 2018, Malavara’s Ultra Luxuriant Hair Elixir is meant to be applied at least 30 minutes before washing your hair. Although it’s meant as a pre-shampooing treatment, a little goes a long way and we recommend to only use enough to massage through your scalp without friction. Made with Gooseberry, Almond and Bhringraj Oil, the Hair Elixir conditions the scalp while transforming the health of your hair. We love that the Malavara Hair Elixir doesn’t leave a layer of oil on your hair that is hard to remove with just a normal amount of shampoo. The best part? It’s vegan, naturally-derived and sustainably-sourced.

Want to experience the 5,000 year old ritual of hair oiling for yourself? A 30ml bottle of the Malavara Ultra Luxuriant Hair Elixir can be purchased here for £29.

Mill Creek Botanicals – Keratin Shampoo and Conditioner

Haircare can be a drama; the pollution, the humidity, the dryness, the curls, the frizziness, the split ends… you know the story! At The Amazing Blog we’ve been testing out a few and we interested to hear about the US brand Mill Creek Botanicals who have just launched here in the UK.

Panch Prasad, CEO of Mill Creek Botanicals, is a trained chemist and natural products advocate. When he purchased the brand in 2001, he wanted to give it a fresh new look with a commitment to being beneficial for the planet. All Mill Creek products are sulphate, paraben, gluten free and vegan; they are certified organic by USDA or QAI following the guidelines of PETA and GMP, and all created in a carbon-neutral environment. All of this has made the brand a multiple winner of awards such as Natural Beauty 2019. With nature and people at the core of their values, Mill Creek has been committed to delivering quality products at an affordable price since 1975.

Although Mill Creek Botanicals’ natural product range is very extensive, we wanted to try the Keratin Shampoo and Conditioner as together they repair and renew the hair with their natural and organic ingredients and high concentration of plant-based keratin. The Keratin Shampoo This shampoo boosts the effects of keratin by combining it with panthenol, argan oil and herbs, all of which repair the hair strands, giving it strength and elasticity. You can now say goodbye to your split ends! The fragrance is slightly fruity and fresh, all from the combination of aloe vera, coconut oil, organic wild cherry, chamomile, hops and field horsetail. To use these, simply wet your hair, pump a little bit of shampoo into the palm of your hand and with its light consistency, massage your scalp and rinse. To achieve even better results, follow it with the Keratin Conditioner.

The Conditioner acts like ‘belt and braces’ to the Shampoo and it made even our tangly hair sleek and manageable. Also composed of the same core ingredients as the Shampoo, the hydrolysed keratin (plant-based), panthenol, argan oil in this Conditioner added to the reduction of hair breakage, also adding a natural bounce and shine. We applied it after the Shampoo, focusing on our ends and left it for a couple of minutes. However, you can leave it on your hair for up to 10 minutes if your hair is dry or has sustained damage; it then acts more like a hair mask. We just rinsed and kept going with our regular haircare routine.

Both the Keratin Shampoo and the Conditioner work beautifully in tandem. If you’re looking for an affordable natural shampoo (with organic ingredients) to improve the quality of your hair, then look no further. It’s another one of our #amazingfinds! Get your Mill Creek Botanicals Keratin 414ml Shampoo for £6.99 here and the Mill Creek Botanicals Keratin 414ml Conditioner for £6.99 here and put an end to bad hair days.