Spring/Summer Green Beauty Swap 2015

I love taking part in Ria from NatuRia Beauty Green Beauty Swaps, not only do they introduce you to lots of fab green beauty brands, but they also help you get to know fellow green beauty bloggers better.

For this swap I was paired with the lovely Tamara from Rainbow Feet. It has been such a pleasure getting to know Tamara and shopping for her. I love to shop, but it still surprises me how much I love to shop from someone else – another reason why I love these swaps.

Tamara sent me some very lovely items and introduced me to several brands I have not come across before, including body care, hair care and makeup products.

The main items which Tamara sent me were a selection of natural and organic skincare products from Akamuti. I received African Red Palm Oil – a beautiful red oil widely used as a moisturising butter for dry skin. I am prone to dry skin so I am keen to see how this oil will help. It can also be used on hair, so good news for my dry ends.

The next Akamuti product was a tub of Rose Beauty Mask – a softening clay face mask to cleanse and freshen the skin. It contains Marshmaollow Root Powder, which according to Akamuti, is a fantastic cooling skin tonic to assist upset, aging or problem skin. I have been having some trouble with my face lately. I have just been diagnosed with Rosacea so this face mask really interests me. Hopefully it helps calm my skin problems.

Tamara also sent me Akamuti Cocoa & Almond Body Butter. This smells amazing, so amazing that it was the first product I tried. It leaves the skin feeling silky and smooth. According to Akamuti the body butter is rich in nutrients essential for skin health and will rehydrate & feed dry, hungry skin.

Next Tamara sent me a lovely travel kit from John Masters Organics. I have used some samples before and loved them so I was excited to recieve more products from this brand to try. In the pack is a blood orange and vanilla body milk and body wash, as well as a lavender rosemary shampoo and a citrus and neroli detangler, all of which smell amazing.

I took these on holiday with me to the Lake District last week. It really is an excellent travel pack and I especially loved the body milk, it came in very handy for soothing my sunburn.

The next item, and my favourite from this swap is the W3LL People luminous taupe mineral eye shadow (Elitist 87). I love the colour and the shimmer, Tamara really has picked so well for me. I really like a mineral eye shadow and I have been collecting a few lately.

I am a huge of natural lip balms so I was glad Tamara sent me a few more to try and add to my collections. She sent me Hurraw! black cherry tinted lip balm, which I already have but it’s nearly finished so I am very glad to receive another. This is one of my favourite lip balms as it leaves a lovely tint to my lips. The Amazingy balm is a lip friendly and earth friendly balm. This is a lovely lip balm with a sweet scent of coconut.

Tamara also sent me Marble & Milkweed Rose and Chamomile Cleansing Nectar – a cleanser for dry, sensitive or mature skin.

And lastly a collection of samples to try including Pai Geranium & Thistle Rebalancing Day Cream, Vapour Organic Beauty Siren Lipstick, Kjaer Weis Cream Blush in ‘embrace’ and ‘lovely’ tint, a soap and some Pukka tea. So far I have tried the cream blushes and I love them. I have never tried a cream blush before so I am definitely going to try a few more now. If anyone has any cream blush recommendations, please let me know.

I think Tamara choose so well for me, I just hope she likes the items I have sent her as much as I like what she has sent me. As an extra special treat the very talented Tamara also sent me a painted postcard. This lovely image, painted by Tamara herself, now has pride of place in my office. I put it up just below a picture of Alfred Vogel, which I think is rather fitting since Echinacea was and still is one of his best and most popular remedies.

I would like to say a big thank you to Ria for organising another fab swap and to Tamara, it has been a pleasure getting to know you better and thank you so much for these lovely treats.

You can check out what I sent Tamara and what she thought of her green goodies over at her blog post “Spring Summer Green Beauty Swap 2015“.

Have you tried any of these products? Or is there any which you would like to try?

Christmas Green Beauty Swap

I took part in my first beauty swap in spring/summer and loved it, so when the lovely Ria from NatuRia Beauty started arranging this year’s Christmas Green Beauty Swap I couldn’t wait to take part again. This time I got paired with Ailsa from Pretty Beauty Dreams, who is a newbie to green beauty, having started her green journey this year too like me. I loved shopping for Ailsa, and I really hope she liked the goodies I bought her.

We decided to wait until Christmas morning to opening our boxes, so after I had opened my pressies from Paul, I got stuck into opening all of Ailsa’s gifts and wow there was so many goodies and most of them new to me.

The first things I opened and am really looking forward to trying is the Intelligent Nutrients Harmonic Shampoo & Conditioner. I am really looking forward to trying the conditioner which is volumising, non-frizzy, nourishing and has colour protection. This year I am on a mission to grow my hair for my wedding so anything that helps its condition really appeals to me just now.

Next up was some green beauty makeup goodies, including Sante lipstick No.10 which is a brown red shade. I love it on, looks very bold and I think suits my hair and skin colouring. Also in the make up goodies was a Green People anti-age eyeliner pencil in black. I recently won some Green People goodies which included this pencil in brown so I was very excited to get it in black as well.

I also got another lip balm to add to my growing collection (I really love lip balms). This one was Gwdihw Cherry Smoochy Lip Balm, which smells amazing and makes my lips feel lovely and smooth. I actually bought Ailsa some Gwdihw goodies, so I was really excited to get one from her.

Alisa also put in Sparitual green nail polish. I have this nail polish in blue but Alisa knew I really wanted the green one so I was super happy to get this wee treat.

I opened Ailsa favourite product next, the Suki exfoliate foaming cleanser. I haven’t tried this yet but I really like the sound of it. I also got another Green People product – the Vita Min Fix 24-Hour Cream and since I turn 33 tomorrow this anti ageing cream will start coming in very handy now.

I also received one of my favourite products I discovered last year – Bodhi & Birch Siam Ginger Vitalising shower gel. I really love the smell of this shower gel and always feel so refreshed when I use it, so I couldn’t have been happier to have received this item. I even sent Ailsa some Bodhi & Birch goodies. I also got Ritual Detox Himalaya scrub salt which I cannot wait to try.

Next was a great product – the Bently Organic Moisturising Hand Sanitizer. I use hand sanitizer very day so I was really pleased to receive this item to replace my current one. To remove my green beauty makeup, Alisa also sent me Kiss and Make-up Cleansing Wipes, which remove make-up, refreshes and moisturises in one sweep. I was so intrigued by the green balm from Moa which is a 100% healing balm. I often get dry patches and redness on my face so I am keen to see if this helps.

No present would be complete without a wee sweet treat so Ailsa also very kindly included a packet of Nakd Berry Delight Fruit & Nut Bits – which the packet states to be simply yummy and I can confirm to be very true. Yum Yum Yum. I love Nakd products so I was excited to try one I have never had before.

Lastly was a bundle of samples which included John Masters Organics, Funny Bee, Barefoot SOS, Egyptian Magic, Juice Beauty and Pai.

Have you tried any of these products? Let me know what you thought of them.

1st Blog Birthday Giveaway – Lily Lolo Goodies

 

I can’t believe its been 1 year since I started blogging! Since then I have ranted, raved and reviewed about lots of different things, including my green beauty journey, my wedding plans and general lifestyle things.

On my green beauty journey the first thing I really looked at was my make-up. As I wear make-up everyday and I was experiencing many skin problems (dry skin & spots), I decided to focus on my face first. On asking for recommendation on good green beauty make up products, the one brand that was recommended to me the most was Lily Lolo.

The first Lily Lolo product I bought was French Flirt Lipstick and since then I have reviewed a few of Lily Lolo’s products, including the Eye Brow Duo and Angled Spoolie brush, which I use every day. I still have many more of their wonderful products to try, including their pressed eye shadow, so I am sure there will be more reviews to come…

WIN Lily Lolo Makeup Goodies

To celebrate my 1st blog birthday I am giving 1 lucky person the chance to win my favourite Lily Lolo goodies (Lily Lolo French Flirt Lipstick, Eye Brow Duo – Medium & Spoolie brush – prize value £23.47). The giveaway is open to UK & Ireland only (sorry this is due to postage reasons) and ends 4th January (my actual birthday) at 12noon. The winner will be notified by email or by DM on Twitter.

Good luck…

To enter click the rafflecopter link below and complete the actions:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

***I have bought these items with my own money, this giveaway is not sponsored by Lily Lolo. I choose to giveaway these product based soley on my own experience of how good they are***

Spring/Summer Green Beauty Swap with Jen

When I started my blog and journey to discover more about green beauty in December I was immediately drawn to several bloggers and especially their blog posts about a Green Beauty Swap they had just taken part in.  I was so envious of these lovely bloggers as they were receiving some amazing products, but I was also very grateful as it help introduce me a whole heap of new products and brands.

The Green Beauty Swap was organised by Ria from NatuRia Beauty and when she announced she would be organising another swap for Spring/Summer, I immediately jumped at the chance to get involved.  This time it was open to international bloggers as well, but since I’m still a wee newbie I decided to stay within the UK and I got paired with the truly lovely Jen from Jen’s Green Skincare.  I’ve been a fan of Jen’s blog for a while, so it was really nice to get to know her better during the swap.  After agreeing our budget (a budget Jen obviously did not keep too, not that I am complaining one bit lol), as well as exchanging details about our likes and dislikes and skin conditions etc we were ready to begin shopping.

I have to say I didn’t realise how much fun it would be to shop for someone else. I really tried to think about what Jen might like and re-read a lot of her blog posts to understand her likes and more. I really wanted to send her products and a brand she hadn’t heard of before or tried, so I picked a few things from a company I have just recently came across – Moogoo Skincare.  I even bought myself the products as well, I just couldn’t resist, so  look out for a review on them coming soon.  I also knew that she had tried Salt of the Earth natural deodorant, so was really keen to send her the new Pure Aura fragranced natural spray deodorant. I hope she likes these and everything else I sent.

But now onto my amazing box from Jen, which I have to say totally took my breath away. I couldn’t believe the amazing products and the amount of items she sent, so to say she is very kind and extremely generous is an understatement.

Opening my box and ripping open the beautifully wrapped products was like my birthday and Christmas all rolled into one.  I was so excited all morning, waiting for the post cart in my work to come round and when I got my box and thrashed through it, I was not disappointed one bit.

The first thing that I unwrapped and instantly loved was a parcel curiously labelled – My Favourite! Inside was a jar of biona Organic Virgin Coconut Oil (200g). The serendipity of it is that I was just speaking about trying Coconut oil last night, so I am super excited to give this a go. I think I will use it as a skin moisturiser and I’m sure it will become a firm favourite of mine too.

The next item I unwrapped was Bodhi & Birch Desert Rose Rejuvenating Face Oil  (5ml), which I cannot wait to try.  I have heard amazing things about Bodhi, and I know it’s a favourite brand of a few of my lovely blogger friends, so I am excited to try my first ever Bodhi product – I am sure it wont be my last.

Next up was a Collagen Face Pack from Naisture. I love a face mask, so cant wait to have a pamper night and use this. The mask promises to improve your skin’s elasticity and firmness and provide an intense, immediate and continuous moisturising feeling and smooth, sensitive skin – yes please I will take some of that!

I am a such a fan of lip balms, especially tinted lip balms, so I was really happy that Jen  also included Hurraw Black Cherry Tinted Lip Balm and Balm Balm’s Rose Geranium Lip Balm. The ironic thing is I also got her Balm Balm Lip Balm and when wrapping it up actually thought I should have bought one for myself – so thanks for predicting that one Jen 🙂

I’m growing my hair just now. I want long enough hair to put up for my wedding, so I am wearing it down and full a lot just now.  Therefore Jen’s next wee treat will come in very handy – Yarok’s Feed Your Roots Volume Enhancer Mousse.  This will be my first green hair product, so I’m looking forward to seeing how it works for me.

Another two brands I have heard a lot about and not tried yet are Dr.Bronner and Neals Yard Remedies, so glad that Jen included Pure Castile Magic Soap from Dr.Bronner and  Geranium & Orange Foaming Bath, both of which smell divine.

As well as all of this, Jen treated me to lots of samples and wee goodies including One Love Organics Olo Skin Care Routine, John Masters Organics Shampoo, Conditioner and Body Milk, Fresh Therapies Natural Nail Polish Remover, Rahua Conditioner, Aurelia Miracle Cleanser, Le Soin Repulpant Masque, Neo Organic Bath Oil, Pai Cleanser, Reu Morocan Rose Bath Oil, Everything Balm and the Raw Chocolate Co Organic Raw Chocolate Goji Berries (which look very very yummy) – phew now that’s a lot of amazing products to get through!

I just want to say a huge, massive, enormous, gigantic thank you to Jen for all these amazing treats and I have loved getting to know you better through this swap.  I hope you love your box as much as I have loved mine.

This experience has been so much fun and I cannot wait to read about everyone else’s swaps.  I would highly recommend this to everyone, I have loved getting involved and I will definitely join in again for the next swap. Thank you so much to Ria for organising all of this and another BIG thank you to my swap partner Jen – cant wait to read your blog post.

UPDATE: You can check out what Jen got from me in her Green Beauty Swap post here and find out if she liked her box as much as I liked mine!

Annmarie x

My First Ever Beauty Box – Souk Souk May Box

I took AGES to decide which green beauty box to try and after looking at all the past boxes I finally decided to go with Soux Soux Little Green Box.  After reviewing the past products featured, deciding the price was really good value and finally purchasing my first box I eagerly awaited its arrival.  Unfortunately living in a flat means that I get greeted with a little annoying red slip from Royal Mail more times that I care to mention, which means I am a regular at the collection office rescuing my undelivered parcels.

How does this matter you ask, well it meant that I saw several blog posts from my other lovely fellow green beauty bloggers about the May box, before I actually got it. Obviously I could have ignored their posts, but I was too eager to see what was inside, so I had to peek.  What greeted me was a box which didn’t seem to inspire many and on reading the list of products I felt the same. So instead to running happily to the post office to get my FIRST box, I decided to wait till the weekend, as I didn’t feel like I needed to rush.

Don’t get me wrong there are still some great items in the box, but I feel the Mistral products really lets it down. They  remind me of a giftset your granny would get a Christmas! And even though they smell great, the 2 products have a kind of old feel to them.  What really concerned me as well was the disappointment in ingredients that other more experienced green bloggers highlighted. This really disappointed me and worried me as well, especially since I am depending on this box to expand my knowledge of green beauty – not a great start!

I think the two saving graces of this box is the Essential Care Replenishing Cream and the SpaRitual nail varnish (although I do wish I got the bright green shade which another lovely blogger got!). This was my first time trying a natural nail varnish and I have heard horror stories of how bad they are to use, but this one seems to have a great coverage.

All in all it was a good box, but not a great box and for my first box I was really hoping to be blown away – here’s hoping next months is back to its best!  I have faith that it will, especially after seeing previous boxes and reading about how much my fellow green bloggers love SouxSoux.

What’s in the May Box:

Mintral Verbena Petit French Soap 50g (RRP £3.50)

Minstral Verbena Extra Rich Body Lotion 60ml (RRP £4.75)

SpaRitual Nail Lacquer 15ml (£9.75)

SpaRitual Handprint Hand Serum 7.4ml (£2.00)

Essential Care Organic Avocado Replenishing Cream 15ml (£7.50)

Have you received this box too? What did you think of it this month?