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.

{A Redhead’s Review} Lily Lolo Natural Mascara & Eye Pencil

As my love of green beauty grows, so too does my love for the natural beauty brand Lily Lolo. I can understand now why, when starting my journey, so many green beauty blogger highly recommended Lily Lolo. Their products are natural, free of any parabens, synthetic perfumes or dyes and are perfect for newbies like me testing the ‘green’ waters for the first time.

Not only that, but all their make-up is very reasonably priced, so ideal when you’re trying to replace item after item in your make-up bag. I have nearly completed my full transformation over to green make-up, I have just my blusher to change now and guess what Lily Lolo have a lovely pressed blusher I’m just dying to try, so I know what next month’s beauty purchase is going to be!

Lily Lolo’s Natural Eye Pencil (RRP £6.99)
As I have mentioned before I have been gradually replacing all my old make up with shiny new ‘green’ makeup and this month it was the turn of my old eye liner pencils to get the big heave-ho.

Of course my first try had to be Lily Lolo’s Natural Eye Pencil in black, and yet again I was highly impressed and not disappointed one bit. The pencil is amazing! The colour glides on so soft and smoothly with minimal effort to my upper eyelids, although I have noticed it smudges slightly when I use it under my lower lashes, so I need to use it very lightly.

The eye pencil is enriched with moisturising and conditioning ingredients, which is the reason for its silky smooth application. I honestly cannot believe how amazing it is and how easy it is to apply; it is almost like applying a liquid eye liner. After years of buying pencil after pencil I have finally found one that I know will always be in my make up bag from now on and at only £6.99 it’s a little bargain!

Lily Lolo’s Natural Mascara (RRP £10.99)
When buying my eye liner I couldn’t resist trying Lily Lolo’s Natural Mascara as well. Again I wasn’t disappointed. The formula is thick and full with voluminsing and lengthening effects, which is a must have for me. It is a bit clumpy and needs a bit of patience to work it through your lashes to get a big and full look, but as I am used to building up my mascara for that doe eyed look, this didn’t bother me one bit.

It is definitely long-lasting, dry’s quickly and also it’s easy to remove, which are all extra bonus points! And again the price is very reasonable. The only slight downside is that it only comes in black; I would love to see it in brown as well.

This is also a new and improved formula. I didn’t try the original formula but I know that I am very happy with this version, so if you tried it before and it wasn’t for you, it might be worth another try.

I highly recommend both the eye pencil and mascara! You may also be interested in my review of Lily Lolo’s Eyebrow Duo.

What’s your favourite Lily Lolo make-up product?

{A Redhead’s Review} Salt of the Earth NEW Pure Aura Natural Deodorant

When I was choosing my goodies for Jen during our recent Green Beauty Swap, I saw that she, like me, was a fan of Salt of the Earth Crystal Deodorant. I knew then that I had to send her Crystal Spring’s NEW natural deodorant Pure Aura – their very first fragranced deodorant. And as you can see I couldn’t help getting one for myself too!

I have been using the crystal deodorant (my first ever natural deodorant) for several months now and I have been loving it so far. There is no smell to the crystal deodorant, and amazingly it keeps you very fresh without the need of a fragrance. The lack of scent was something, to my surprise, I got very used too very quickly! But sometimes you just can’t help wanting that extra little reassurance of a fresh floral scent and Crystal Spring’s new addition to its Salt of the Earth range provides just that.

Pure Aura’s fresh natural fragrance, with its lovely lavender & vanilla scent (two of my favourite fragrances), is created with over 15 natural botanical extracts and oils – and believe me its smells as lovely as it sounds. According to Crystal Spring’s website it “must be sniffed to be believe!” – love this, made me smile when I read it so just had to include it too.

I really do love the smell of it and after using it now for 2 weeks I am very glad to say it’s just an effective as the crystal deodorant. Although it takes a little bit longer than the crystal deodorant to dry, the long lasting protection is still very much the same. And what’s more, as it comes in a spray, it’s very handy to keep in your hand bag for when you want a quick freshen up.

Pure Aura also stays true to the award winning Salt of the Earth range’s great features and ethos; it’s long lasting; leaves no white marks, made from 100% natural ingredients – including soothing aloe vera and antibacterial honeysuckle, suitable for vegetarians and vegans, not tested on animals. It also contains no aluminium chlorohydrate, alcohol, parabens and tricolsan.

The 100ml pump spray costs £5.99 and ingredients include Aqua (water), Potassium Alum, Polyglyceryl-10-Laurate (natural solubilizer), Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Lonicera Caprifolium (Honeysuckle) Flower Extract, Sclerotium gum (natural thickener), Parfum (from botanical extracts and oils), Lonicera Japonica (Honeysuckle) Flower Extract, p-Anisic Acid (from star anise or Indian basil), Citric acid.  *Linalool, *Limonene, *Citronellol.  *From natural botanical extracts and essential oils.

If you haven’t tried it, I would highly recommend because not only is it natural, soothing, effective and made with plant extracts and minerals, but it also so pretty (looking and smelling) – you won’t be disappointed.

Well done Crystal Spring, you have yet another amazing product to be very proud of and I am sure it will be just as award winning and the rest of the range.

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?

The Very Inspiring Blogger Award

After only blogging for 4 months I was extremely proud and very touched to be nominated for the Very Inspiring Blogger award by two very inspiring ladies themselves – Annie from Hello Purple Clouds and Liz from Smells Like Green Spirit. You have both made a wee newbie blogger extremely happy so thank you so much.

So on with the award, the rules are……

1. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.
2. Display the award on your blog sidebar or awards page.
3. Share 7 random facts about yourself.
4. Nominate about 15 other bloggers for the award.
5. Let your chosen bloggers know they have been nominated and link to your post.

7 things about me ……

1. I used to hate being a redhead, now I love it! it’s my most defining feature I think – I really wish I could tell 10-year-old Annie that those girls that are teasing you now are going to be trying to dye their hair your colour when your all older!
2. I LOVE to read – I get through 3 to 5 books a week
3. My favourite book is Pride & Prejudice.  I first read it when I was 13 and have read it over 100 times since
4. My fiancé and I first met when we went to school together.  He asked me out but I was too shy to say yes.  He left school a week later at the end of 4^th year and I never saw him again until 10 years later when we befriended each other on BEBO – the rest as they say is history
5. My idol growing up was Ariel from the Little Mermaid – there was not a lot of redheads around then
6. My favourite food is Bernard Matthews Mini Kievs – I could eat them every night

7. My favourite living thing is the whole world is my dog Cassie, she is a rescue dog I got for my birthday when I was 21.  She is now a very old pampered pooch and lives with my parents and I miss her so much if I don’t see her for a few days.

Thanks again to Annie and Liz for nominating me. The rules state I have now to nominate 15 other inspiring bloggers.  Now most of these bloggers are so inspiring that they probably already have this award, so if you do ladies please just take this as a complement and a thank you for inspiring me so much.  These are the bloggers who inspire me and teach me to live a better, prettier and greener life every day!

My inspiring nominations go to:

Rachel from All Natural Aspirations

Ana from Ana goes green

Sarah from Sugar Puffish

Sandra from Beauty Balm

Liz from Well Meaning Being

Leanne from Lass and Lipstick

Louise from Kinder Health and Beauty

Jenny from Redhead Beauty Diaries

Dana from Hearty Habits

Evelyn from We were raised by wolves

Amber from Ambers Beauty Talk

Charlie from Sophia’s Choice

Jen from Jen’s Green Skin

Laura from Laura K

Gem from Buff Beauty

Thank you

Annmarie x

{A Redhead’s Review} Make Your Own Lip Balm Kit

A few weeks ago I reviewed the amazing products from the lovely Polly at Miss Polly Skincare.  In the post I mentioned a new project which Polly had recently launched – her Make Your Own Lip balm Kit and I was excited to try it.

For Valentines my other half let me choose my own treat and I eagerly picked the kit to try and I’m pleased to say it doesn’t let Polly down and it made me just as ‘glad’ as the rest of her products have.

I’ve never been massively successful before with make your own things, I was always wishing for the ‘here’s one I made earlier moment’ when I attempted anything homemade.  I love reading DIY posts by green bloggers Annie over at Hello Purple Clouds and Rachel over at All Natural Aspirations and always wish I had half of these lovely ladies talent! So I was really keen to try Miss Polly’s lip balm making kit which promised to be simple and easy.  As a fan of Miss Polly’s lip balm I didn’t honestly believe the product I could make would be a patch on the original so I was pleasantly surprised with how good they turned out!

The kit comes in a nice well presented box and contains the jars, ingredients, labels and instructions you need to make 5 smooth and creamy lip balms. You can choose from 6 flavours: Tutti Fruity, Chocolate, Peppermint, Mandarin, Pink Grapefruit or unflavored.

The ingredients including organic shea butter, white beeswax, avocado oil, sweet almond oil, flavouring are the same natural ingredients that Polly herself uses in her Miss Polly skincare products.

The instructions are so easy to follow, even the super simple instructions and the ambitious traditional instructions which Polly says she follows herself can be followed by the likes of me.  The easy microwaveable instructions allow you to make lip balm in only 15 mins, both preparation time, cooking and cooling!  Whilst the other instructions a hob based cooking method, which although a bit more complicated I personally think made the better batch. takes a bit longer and more patience.

I tried both methods with 2 different sets of ingredients – one peppermint and one mandarin.  The peppermint I made in the microwave and was amazed by how fast and very easy it was and how quickly the balm cooled and was ready to use.  The hob method took a little bit longer but as I said I think this was a better method as the balm was extra creamy.

I said I was pleasantly surprised about how good all the lip balms turn out which is actually an understatement I was so pleased and  felt quite proud of myself 🙂 it feels great to use something I have actually made and made well.

This really is an amazing gift to give someone or even yourself, its fun and your lips will thank you for the creamy balm which smooths them nicely without any nasty parabens & petroleum.

Go ahead give it a try you won’t be disappointed!

RRP £16.95 or £15.00 until 28th Feb

Let me know what you thought of my first ever make your own or tell me if you have found any great kits like this?

Thanks for reading,

Annmarie xxx

Going Green Tag

I received the Going Green Tag from two very lovely bloggers today, Annie from Hello Purple Clouds and Liz from Liz the green spirit, both of who have been a great inspiration to me in exploring the world of green living. Thanks ladies it was very nice to feel popular and also for recognising my goal to start making greener, better & healthier choices!  This great tag was created by Rachel, who is another blogger I am learning so much from, at  All Natural Aspirations, well done Rachel, this is a great idea and another amazing way to get to know more green bloggers.

The tag rules are as follows:

1. Link back to the tag creator and the person who tagged you

2. Answer the questions

3. Tag a few other greenbloggers

So let’s get on with The Tag questions ….

What started it all off for you?

I’m only a newbie blogger and even newer to the going green world but I am learning so much from the green blogging community. Discovering great natural beauty products and opening my eyes up to all the crazy chemicals which are polluting my everyday life!  Also started working for A.Vogel UK, the herbal remedy company last year, which has really expanded my knowledge of natural remedies and the power of nature to heal and protect us. Alfred Vogel is my new hero, an inspiration and a legacy I am learning from every day.

What was the first thing to go? (ingredient or product)?

Vaseline!  Got a wake up call a couple of weeks ago and a lesson on why Vaseline wasn’t helping my dry lips from my green blogger friends, I have not touched it since and several full tins have made their way straight into my bin.

What are you/did you struggle to let go of?

I think it will be dry shampoo! Cue the stuck in of  breath as I say the dreaded dry shampoo word!!!! I know it’s so bad and I really need to try to find a natural/green alternative to controlling my oily hair.

What has been your best find or change? (i.e. a green product or a tip that you’re really glad you’ve found/learnt)

Lily Lolo French Flirt Lippie – my first ever natural make up product and now a firm favourite, makes me feel sexy, confident and proud – no other lippie has ever done that before!  Also discovering Miss Polly natural skincare range and my best friend this winter Echinacea tincture, which has so far keep me fighting fight and cold free.

What has been the worst thing about going green?  What has been the hardest to transition or find an adequate green replacement for?

I can’t think of any at the moment as I am a wee newbie so it’s all about new discoveries just now and excited to find out what I am going to learn next.

Anything else to add?  Any tips or tricks to pass on?

Take things slow, explore and discover as much as possible, learn from people who know best. Get involved in the green blogging community on Twitter & Bloglovin, if these truly lovely ladies inspire you half as much as they have inspired me you will be very happy.

So now its my turn to do the tagging so I TAG the following lovely people:

Jenny from Red Fox Diaries

Evelyn from We were Raise by Wolves 

Ria from NatruRia Beauty

{A Redhead’s Review} Miss Polly made my skin ‘glad’

A few years ago I was lucky enough to win a giveaway on Twitter and my prize was, I am very glad to say, a Miss Polly product.  It was the first time I had heard of Miss Polly and her natural skincare range, even though she is a fellow Ayrshire lady! The product I won – her Repairing Foot Treatment, was not only my first ever natural product but the first of several Miss Polly products I would try.

So I may be showing my age here but when I heard of Miss Polly I automatically reminisced about watching one of my favourite films as a kid – Pollyanna, and her glad game!  However now whenever I hear Miss Polly mentioned it isn’t Hayley Mills whimsical charm that has me ‘glad’ but rather its Miss Polly’s amazing natural products!

Miss Polly Natural Skincare is dedicated to making wonderful skincare using the finest natural ingredients possible. Everything is handmade by Polly herself in small batches so you can be sure your skincare is fresh and long-lasting.  And every Miss Polly product is free from parabens, sulphates and artificial fragrances, as well as kind and gentle to sensitive skin – which is perfect for me.

In January Miss Polly had a sale so I decided to snap up her best-selling product and try it for the first time.  And I can say my dry skin is very glad I did!

A lovely blend of essential oils and natural plant oils, Miss Polly promises her Radiant Skin Rosehip Facial Skin (£16.95) will soften, nourish, repair and protect skin and I can gladly say it did just that for me.  If you have been reading my blog you will know that I have been battling a war on dry skin lately.  Since I turned 30 my skin condition seems to have changed dramatically and I have been trying to perfect my cleansing & moisturising routine.  This little moisturising  gem has proved its worth and fitted itself nicely into my new routine.  I now use this every night after I have fully cleansed and I am starting to really see the benefit of it, my face feels softer, more nourished and perhaps not radiant yet but there is a hint of a glow appearing.

A wonderful treatment for normal, dry and sensitive skin types the little 30ml bottle of joy contains some lovely oily goodness including rosehip oil, jojoba oil, meadowfoam oil, apricot oil, vitamin E, lavender, geranium and rosewood essential oils.

This isn’t the first Miss Polly product I have used.  The first I tried, as I mentioned above was her Peppermint Repairing Foot Treatment (£12.00)

I often get dry cracked heels and when I used this for the first time I was amazed at how quickly it helped, even my other half started stealing it.

We both used it nightly and as promised it helped our feet get back into tip-top condition pretty quickly.  The 45g pot lasts for ages as you only need a small amount and ingredients include organic shea butter, cocoa butter, safflower oil and vitamin E.  The peppermint essential oil cools the skin instantly, while the organic shea butter and cocoa butter aids skin repair.

The next product after this that I tried was Miss Polly’s Lip Balm (£4.95) .  I went for peppermint, however you can also choose from Mandarin or Pink Grapefruit.

This paraben & petroleum free lip blam is great for dry and cracked lips.  I recently had problems with dry lips and some of my fellow green beauty bloggers reminded me of why I should be ditching my vaseline and I remembered how much I love Miss Polly’s lip balm.

Talking about lip balms, Miss Polly has just launched an exciting introduction to her skin care range – Make you own lip balm kit,  so instead of a new pot I think I may treat myself to this little kit.

You can choose from the following flavours: Tutti Fruity, Chocolate, Peppermint, or unflavored. The kit makes  5 x 10ml lip balms and includes 5 jars, full instructions and 5 personalise labels.  There is a SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY OFFER at the moment on the Miss Polly website.  You can buy the kit for ONLY £15 UNTIL FEB 28TH (£16.95  thereafter).

In my opinion Miss Polly skincare products are amazing, packaging charming, Polly herself is lovely and her customer service is so friendly, so if you haven’t discovered this great natural skincare collection already then check out her full range, you will be GLAD you did, I know I am!

Please note this is not a sponsored post, the items I mention have all been bought and used by me (except the make your own lip balm kit), photography is from Miss Polly website, because my camera wouldn’t take nice enough pictures.

Thanks for reading,

Annmarie x