Meet Vincent van Gogh in London - Experience a journey through his life

There is always something new and exciting to do in London, and at The Amazing Blog, we're looking forward to seeing the much talked about Meet Vincent van Gogh, which is an immersive art experience that has just made its debut here in London. The interactive exhibition is open now and will be on display until 21 May on London’s South Bank at 99 Upper Ground, London SE1.

Created by experts from the van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the exhibit will take visitors on an experience where they can get up close and personal with large recreations of some of van Gogh’s most famous works, as his original works are too fragile to travel outside of Amsterdam. Guests are encouraged to touch all the installations to get a feel of Van Gogh’s brush strokes and the details of his artwork. Graphics blend seamlessly with projections with audio and lighting that create a multisensory experience. The exhibit facilitates engagement and interactivity, with video effects and lighting and other multi-sensory effects (such as the smell of hay when entering one of his most famous works). See the video link here.

Often referred to as the 'misunderstood genius,' Meet Vincent van Gogh will educate guests on everything there is to know about the famous painter's life, from his upbringing to his struggles with mental illness and poverty later in his life. The exhibit also features interactive stations and beautiful light projections. Previously on tour in Beijing, Barcelona and Seoul the Meet Vincent van Gogh won a Thea Award from the Themed Entertainment Association for Immersive Touring Exhibit in 2017. It shows how modern tools and techniques can transform the way we view and experience the Post-Impressionism movement.

Tickets to the experience include a free audio guide featuring Van Gogh’s voice as he guides visitors through the inspirations and the despair that influenced his life’s works. Tickets for the experience costs from £16.50 ea. and can be purchased ahead of time here. Be sure to check out this interactive experience before it disappears off to Lisbon later this year! Thank you to Pelham Communications for giving us permission to use these photographs - all images are courtesy of Meet Vincent van Gogh.

Eloise - Get Glowed Illuminating Drops

In gloomy, rainy and grey London, seeing a bit of sunshine is a blessing as well as a surprise. While we at The Amazing Blog may miss the bright and shining sun in the sky, who’s to say your face has to lack the perfect glow as well? We’d like to introduce to you The Get Glowed Illuminating Drops by Eloise. Regular readers may remember that we’ve previously written about the Eloise Queen Eyeshadow Palette as well as her well-reputed glamorous Brushes here.

Eloise Beauty was founded in 2017 and has become a brand known for producing unique and innovative products. Taking social media by storm, the brand quickly grew to be loved by many beauty enthusiasts. All products are exclusively designed and created by Eloise Beauty, which instantly makes them stand-out in a very crowd market place. Cleverly they cater for all skin tones and ages, ensuring that they steer away from the mundane and typical run-of-the-mill products and makeup. Their products are also very aesthetically appealing, and dressing table-worthy as well as delivering impeccable results!

This time, we’re fortunate enough to review the Get Glowed Illuminating Drops (in the shade of Ice Queen) and can say with utmost confidence, that Eloise Beauty has in fact delivered, yet again, another quality product. These drops can be added to any liquid foundation, concealer or primer to customise your make up and give you even more of that radiant goddess-like glow.  We used it not only on our face but also on our décolletage and shoulders, to accentuate and highlight. This multipurpose illuminator can be used to enhance any and every look, be it subtle and dewy or dramatic and bold. The Drops are richly pigmented to give you that long-wearing and luscious finish. Did we mention the fragrance? it has a delicious, subtle and hypnotic powdery scent. BTW our favourite way to use these Drops is straight from the bottle to accentuating our best points!

Available in ten colours and shades such as Ice Queen, Copper Bae, Snowflakes etc., the Get Glowed Illuminating Drops will certainly get you to glisten and glow in front of your mirror. Priced at only £28 for 20g, these drops are a must.  See here to get your very own.

Maiiro - Organic Lip Salve & Organic Soap

It’s now a known fact that seaweed has many wonderful benefits for both the skin and body with its vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. As regular readers of The Amazing Blog will remember we’ ve reviewed beauty brands like Seavite, Voya and Repechage all of which contain this magical ingredient from the sea. Today we’d like to introduce you to our latest discovery from the sea, a new British brand called Maiiro.

Created in Guernsey, Maiiro was inspired by the sea and shoreline, which is an ever-present part of life on this beautiful island. With one of the largest tidal ranges in the world, Guernsey’s pristine clean waters are home to an abundant and rich marine life. The brand was born from a deep desire to help skin look and feel better, naturally. Maiiro’s aim is to become an industry leader in terms of sustainability and recyclability, supporting the environment. They have reduced the use of plastics wherever possible, and are only using natural, organic and ethically sourced ingredients in their products. They’re entirely transparent and their packaging is 100% recyclable where some of the cardboard used is actually made from seaweed!

Maiiro’s key ingredient of seaweed, thus making the brand stand apart from others. Seaweed has long been foraged from their Guernsey shores and is a natural source for a powerful skincare ingredient containing antioxidants like CoQ10 or Vitamin C. Whilst on the journey to create Maiiro, they formulated their signature ingredient, Kelpogen5™ to harness the full power of seaweed. This is a skincare superfood that gives the complexion all the nourishment and protection it needs to look its best and is suitable for all ages and skin types. We at The Amazing Blog had the privilege to try out their Organic Lip Salve and the Organic Soap.

The Organic Lip Salve provides a lot more than just temporary relief to dry, sore and chapped lips. Apart from the Kelpogen5™ it also contains organic tamanu oil for healing and palm fruit extract to help prevent sun damage; all in a base of antioxidant-rich organic cocoa butter and shea butter. This veil of hydration helps the delicate skin on your lips to restore itself from within. We found that it was effective both in this current chilly weather, as well as the scorching heat (it got taken off to sunnier climes too!) We’re sadly only too aware of the temporary relief and increased long term dryness that some other lip balms offer. Which is why we like the Maiiro’s Organic Lip Salve as it doesn’t have this countereffect, priced at an affordable £21.95 here.

We also tried out their Organic Soap it’s a seaweed soap that suits all skin types and ages. With a gentle, low lather, this back-to-nature skin cleanser is rich in essential oils, botanical extracts and Maiiro’s signature five-seaweed formula, Kelpogen5™. With organic ingredients of essential oils tea tree and lemon as well as jojoba and tamanu oils combined with goji berry and fenugreek extracts, this seaweed soap leaves the skin feeling fresh, calm and comfortable - never taut or dry. It’s got a beautiful bright orange colour, which you certainly can’t miss on bleary-eyed morning. What makes this soap extra special is its packaging. We love the charming little blue wooden boxes it comes in. Let’s not forget to mention that it has no SLS, parabens, phthalates or added fragrance and is 100% organic and vegan. For those of you looking for a refreshing boost then look no further, you can purchase the Organic Soap here for an absolute steal at £11.95.

Codex Beauty – Bia Skin Superfood

Here at The Amazing Blog we’re always on the search for new and innovative products, particularly ones that will hopefully live up to our high expectations! One of our recent #amazingfinds is the Irish brand Codex Beauty, which has a collection of organic skincare that combines both science and nature.

Created by Irish herbal scientist, Tracey Ryan, who has combined Irish botanicals free from harmful chemicals with her latest cutting edge scientific technology. With Ireland’s small population and low level of pollution, a little known fact is that it has the highest proportion of natural vegetation in Europe, where plants grow rich and robust ready to use in Codex’s ingredients. What impressed us is that Codex are mindful of sustainability as well as what materials they use with their COSMOS-certified formulas.  So it’s good to know that their tubes made from plant-based polyethylene  (PE) materials; paper is sourced from sustainably managed forests for their cartons, which have renewable fibre certified by the Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC).

Knowing all this, we were excited to try their hero product Bia Skin Superfood. This organic plant-based product that has undergone pharmaceutical grade processing made with their BiaComplex™ and has already been through lots of efficiency trials too. Bia Skin Superfood is recommended for face, hands and body cream targets dry, flakey or any area which has irritation. Key ingredients are calendula and immortelle botanicals which both have incredible anti-inflammatory properties to help firm, soothe and protect the gentle layer of skin. The other ingredients are marshmallow, heart’s ease and comfrey which moisturise, offer protection and help to rejuvenate the dermis.

Unusually fragranced with the herbaceous immortelle (a subtly sweet and honey-like fragrance) what we particularly like is that this cream is gentle enough to be used on skin conditions such as rosacea, eczema psoriasis or sunburn. So, if you’re travelling and only have room for one cream – make it this one,  at 75ml it will fit snuggly into your clear plastic bag for carry-on.  It’s also vegan and cruelty-free cream comes in an elegant green tube at the retail price of £48 here.

Pura Vida Organic - CBD After Shave Moisturiser and the Shaving Gel & Wash

At The Amazing Blog we learned that Pura Vida is a phrase that originates from Costa Rica, and translates as ‘pure life’ or ‘simple life’. Today we’re talking about CBD infused grooming products from the Croatian skincare company Pure Vida Organic. As regular readers will know we are big fans of all things CBD (see here).

According to Pura Vida Organic founder Jennifer Deegan, ‘pure life’ is a philosophy that she encourages us to apply to our own lives, just as she applies it to the products that her company creates.  In a world where we have to address the issues of sustainability alongside those of our own consumption, here is a manufacturer proudly bringing us the purest natural alternatives to mainstream cosmetics, whilst also keeping the environmental impact as low as possible. Now of course as soon as one mentions CBD or Cannabidiol, there are going to be those who inevitably will flinch at the association with anything remotely cannabis-related (which we explain in our CBD feature here). However, it is worth noting that there’s some research now available on the benefits of CBD oil. With reports of good acne management, as well as relief from anxiety, neuroprotection and pain relief it opens up endless healing possibilities for the future.

The two products that we tried from Pura Vida Organics were the Shaving Gel & Wash, and the CBD After Shave Moisturiser. Apart from the obvious convenience of having a Shaving Gel & Wash in one handy bottle, the Budrovic Lavender from Hvar (Croatia) and peppermint water base gives a welcome refreshing boost to the morning ritual. It helps to set the skin up perfectly for an onslaught of a steel blade and includes aloe vera into the mix, which gives a gentle and soothing effect during cleansing. This continues unabated through to the completion of the shave, keeping irritation to a minimum.

However, should there be any stress or redness to the skin, then this is where the Pura Vida Organic’s CBD After Shave Moisturiser steps in with a defined calming sensation that comes through from the essential oils again of peppermint and lavender. These ingredients are also aligned with that of pine needles and the moisturising butter both providing immediate relief from irritation, with the 30ml – 620mg organic cannabis sativa seed extract (CBD) full-spectrum with 0.001% THC. Sustainability is also a priority for this brand, with all its packaging uniquely made from 25% grass. All products are vegan, Cosmos Organic approved, cruelty-free and handmade in Croatia. Pura Vida Organic’s Shaving Gel & Cleanser is 50ml, priced at €15.98 here, and the CBD After Shave Moisturiser is 30ml priced at €17.90 here. This is most certainly a brand to watch, and we can’t wait to try more from their skincare and body butters.