Bodhi's beautiful Mint Thé Shower Gel

Bhodi are a small UK based company that produce some of the best smelling Shower Gels on the natural market. There is something in the range to suit everybody, whether you prefer warm dusky smells like their Galangal Spice, or a delicate floral aroma that’s found in the Palmarosa Verde. I like my scents to be fresh and uplifting, which is what originally drew me to Mint Thé.

Packed full of beautiful essential oils such as Spearmint, Frankincense and Lavender this wash feels as luxurious as any high end product on the market. It also lathers beautifully so you really only need a small amount.  The two mint oils (peppermint and spearmint) really give you a boost in a morning, whilst the Marjoram and Frankincense help to relieve muscle tiredness so great for the gym bag after a workout. If you are prone to oily skin then this is ideal as it contains Lavender and Rosemary, both of which are mildly antiseptic and healing.

There are seven 250ml Bodhi Shower Gels to choose from, retailing at £23 each, and if you order direct from them at http://www.bodhi.uk.com/ you also get a free 50ml travel size wash. There are also several gift sets available, ranging from £12 up to £43, and the packaging is stunning – and saves you having to gift wrap.

I've also heard a rumour on the grapevine that there’s a body moisturiser coming soon!! I hope it’s out in time for Christmas as it will be my present to myself. 

Balance Me Body Wash in Red Magazine

I love finding new organic brands, and I was really excited to find a freebie with this months Red Magazine. Balance Me were offering a choice of two 125ml body washes, Rose Otto or Super Moisturising. I opted for the Super Moisturising as my skin is prone to being a touch on the dry side.

This product, which normally retails at £8, is 99% natural in origin and doesn’t contain any nasties, so it sounded great. It contains Yarrow, Patchouli, Shea Butter and Aloe Vera which are known to help to calm and nourish the skin, there are also a quite a few essential oils in it so it’s got a very strong spicy scent that certainly perks you up in the morning. Once it’s been rinsed off the scent does pretty much disappear, which is great if you don’t want it affecting your perfume, but not so great if you want a long lasting fragrance from your shower gel. After using it, my skin did feel nice and soft, but I’m a body cream addict, so I still slapped my cream on.

I’m not sure I’d buy this product again, but that’s mainly because of the smell, the ginger and patchouli are just too over powering, but that’s a personal preference!! However I have now checked out the rest of the Balance Me range and there’s a few products I’d like to try. The skin brightening exfoliating polish at just £15 looks interesting and contains spearmint, which is my ultimate favourite essential oil. I’m sure this will be purchased and reviewed in the near future. 

So called ‘Natural’ brands

One of the things I rant about more than anything else is the brands that print natural or organic on their products when in fact they’re actually full of ingredients that no true organic brand would touch. There are lots of them out there, but I’m going to focus on one product, simply because the other half brought it home when he did the shopping this week (I thought I had him better trained than that!).

I asked him to pick me up a hand wash, and he came home with Palmolive Naturals Milk and Honey, he’d read the packing and thought it would be okay as it contains milk, honey and aloe vera, and has “Extracts of 100% Natural Origin”. That’s true, it does have extracts of milk and honey, but it also has:

Sodium C12-13 Pareth Sulfate and Glycol Distearate: both of which are synthetic derivitaives from petroleum, as well as Tetrasodium EDTA, Polyquaternium-7, Styrene/Acrylates Copolymer and Laureth-4.

It’s products like this that make it so difficult for people to know which brands are truly natural, and which are just jumping on the green washing band wagon!

Bee Lovely to your hands!!

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I’ve had a touch of the sniffles lately (at the time of course I had the flu, but looking back on it, I probably just had a cold!). I’ve spent a couple of lazy evenings chilling on the sofa, and dosing myself up on honey and lemon drinks. I’ve also been making full use of honey in my hand cream after discovering Bee Lovely Hand Cream by Neal's Yard Remedies. I've taken the good advice that doctors give out about colds, “wrap up warm, take it easy and wash your hands regularly”. This has been a great excuse to apply the hand cream several times a day, it’s a good job it’s handbag sized as I’ve not wanted to go anywhere without it.

The Bee Lovely hand cream is made with organic honey and orange essential oils, so it smells divine. The fair-trade brazil nut oil has kept my hands super soft. It manages to be rich, and yet not greasy, so you don’t get left with that tacky feeling you get from some hand creams.

This wonderful cream isn't just great for the hands though, it is also helping the rapidly declining bee population. Bee Lovely Hand Cream is £9.50 for 50ml, with £1 from every tube sold goes to the Neal's Yards chosen Bee friendly initiatives BugLife, LandLife and Pesticide Action Network UK. If you want to do more to help then you can also sign the Neal's Yard Bee Lovely Petition at http://www.nealsyardremedies.com/bee-lovely-petition to campaign for Neonicotinoid pesticides to be banned in Britain, as they are in France, Germany, Italy and Slovenia.

My little miracle pot

I woke up this morning with a stinking cold. Now I’m one of those people that doesn’t cope well when I’m ill, I curl up on the sofa and insist that the other half waits on me hand and foot. I demand hot drinks with lemon and honey, blankets to keep me warm, and sympathy on cue. I don’t get any of this, but I live in hope. 

I have discovered one miracle product that does soothe me though, it helps me come out the other side of my cold looking normal. Take a bow Peppermint Calm Balm from Peachykeen Organics. This little £5.50 wonder pot is great for keeping my lips smooth, year round as well, but when I have a cold a tiny amount rubbed on my red nose stops it from becoming dry and chapped. There are only 6 ingredients in this little pot, all of which are certified organic, all of which work together so well. This 15g pot is also produced in an unscented version, and can also be used to soften cuticles, moisturise dry skin patches and add a touch of shimmer to your cheekbones. 

NEOM Limited Edition Sensuous Candle

My new favourite scent!!

I’ve been a big Neom fan for years with my favourite ever candle being the fresh smelling mint and basil Energise candle. This was discontinued a couple of years back, and since then I’ve alternated between the other fragrances, my most frequent purchases being Refresh and Tranquillity. I love using the uplifting scents of the Sicilian Lemon and Basil in the Refresh candle as a pick me up, or to make the house smell amazing before friends come to visit. In the evenings I light the Tranquillity candle to help me wind down from a stressful day; it’s guaranteed to help me drift off to sleep. As well as the beautiful scents, I love that NEOM candles are made using vegetable wax and pure essential oils, so they don’t give off any nasty toxins!

You can only imagine my excitement when I heard that NEOM have released a limited edition candle in the same black glass as my old favourite.  When my candle arrived I instantly fell in love with the packaging, and I could already detect the gorgeous scent inside. Then I lifted the lid to reveal the beautiful Sensuous Candle, with its calming oils of Ylang Ylang, Frankincense & Patchouli, and instantly this candle became my new favourite. It’s one of those candles that manage to ease all of life’s tensions. The Ylang Ylang keeps the scent sensual, the patchouli spices it up a little, whilst the Frankincense stops it from being too feminine.

I think I’ll follow NEOMs advice now, and lock myself away from the outside world by lighting my Sensuous candling and curling up on the sofa with a book.

Trilogy Red Nail Polish by Orly

The other half and I are off to paint the town red tonight, and what better way to do it than with nails to match. I had a route through my nail varnish collection (all DBP, Formaldehyde and Toluene free, off course!) and decided up on the limited edition Trilogy Red by Orly. This was a free gift when I bought the certified organic Trilogy Rosehip Oil earlier on this year.  I’m a massive Orly fan, as you get salon quality nails, that are virtually chip resistant.

I love the way that the red is vampish yet classic, it has a fantastic shine and the brush makes for easy application. All I need now is a drop of the Rosehip Oil on my cuticles and my hands are ready to go.