CONGRATULATIONS NEALS YARD

WINNER – BEST NATURAL/ORGANIC BRAND 

The Beauty Shortlist Awards 2012

NEALS YARD REMEDIES

31 years of iconic indigo glass bottles (here’s to the next 31!)

CONGRATULATIONS OSKIA!

WINNER – BEST BRITISH SKINCARE BRAND 

The Beauty Shortlist Awards 2012

OSKIA LONDON

 ”Cutting-edge nutrition for skin” - Beauty Shortlist

The fragrance that stole our hearts.  

Best New Fragrance Launch – Beauty Shortlist Awards 2012

Pomelo by JO LOVES

 JO LOVES 

WINNER “Best Hand Cream” White Grapefruit & May Chang 

Also runner-up “Best Shower Gel” White Grapefruit & May Chang

Runner-up “Best New Fragrance Launch” Mandarin & Sicilian Bergamot 

Best Hand Cream

 2012 Beauty Shortlist Awards

Despite the exotic and tricky to spell name, Abahna (A-bah-na) are based in London. In fact their Lilac Rose & Geranium range is quintessentially British and very “English summer garden” and they supply their luxury bath range to some of the world’s best hotels. (You’ll find them at the Four Seasons Spa in London).

But back to the award-winning hand cream…we really rate these “you tubes” a) because they smell divine and b) there’s Artemisia oil in them, which is a natural antibacterial.  And c) It’s probably the fruit, flower and tree essential oils in them that make them smell out of this world.

So you get the luxury of shea butter, cocoa butter, fragrant natural essential oils and sweet almond oil – and the Artemisia – all packed into one colourful tube. They’ve left out petrochemicals, SLES, etc. so you’re buying a veil of scented soothing shea butter and fruit and flower natural actives in each £8 handbag friendly tube.

All Abahna orders come gift-wrapped and delivered in the UK for free, with samples of all 4 of Abahna’s signature scents. You  might also like their White Grapefruit Shower Gel – a great way to extract yourself from under the duvet on those mornings when your body says “nooo”!

Abahna Frangipani & Orange Blossom, White Grapefruit & May Chang, Mandarin & Sicilian Bergamot and Lilac Rose & Geranium Hand Creams – Tube £8/50ml (also in larger sizes)

ABAHNA

Abahna’s products are also available in try-me sizes from £4 upwards – more details on their site.

On Saturday 21st April you’ll be able to swap your squeezed out, past-its-best-date moisturiser (or “cosmetic”) for a complimentary FULL SIZE of either Starting Over with Mimosa (above, £26) or A Perfect World with White Tea SPF25 (£32).  Origins are releasing 5,000 free samples nationwide so if you’re an Origins fan get there at door-opening hour!

Origins will recycle your old moisturiser and they’re working with with Global Releaf (love the name) to plant trees in wildfire-damaged areas to help regenerate the environment. And, if you buy a Perfect World product between today, 15th April and 28th, Origins will plant a tree on your behalf. Given the choice, we’d opt for the Perfect World first, it has a silky, almost serum-like texture and is the more advanced product of the two.

EARTH DAY is SUNDAY 22 APRIL 

Origins.co.uk

Note: If you use only natural/organic brands, Origins is not a 100% natural brand

Update: WINNER, BEST HAIR PRODUCT 2012 in the Beauty Shortlist Awards

Ogario London Restore and Shine Hair Masque

This is a bit of a “cheat” post  - sorry! – as it’s the pre-awards weekend and time is really short, so I’ll just say this Restore & Shine Hair Masque smells so good I”ve been using it as a zesty, sweet lemony/citrus aromatherapy fix!  It’s packed with plant extracts and botanicals including May Chang (lemony), Sage and lavender, with a Protein Protect formula and Pro-vitamin B5, thick and absolutely gorgeous. End result, glossy locks. Worth the “investment” price of £26.50. But I’ll defer to the lovely Sam who co-runs the fabulously stylish blog I AM INTO THIS because she describes it perfectly…here’s what she had to say about Ogario’s super-conditioning hair masque earlier this month.

OGARIOLONDON.COM

UPDATE 24/4 – WINNER BEST NON-TOXIC NAIL POLISH REMOVER, BEAUTY SHORTLIST AWARDS 2012

PRITI NYC SOY NAIL POLISH REMOVER (non-toxic)

£8.50/56ml bottle, or a bag of on-the-go mini 10 wipes, 100% biodegradable  £12.50

Non-toxic? Soy(a)? Incredible though it may sound, they actually work – and they love travelling, too.  These organic lemongrass essential oil-infused wipes are a breeze to use, no rubbing, no “staining” and one wipe removes polish off of both hands.  The non-toxic ingredients are Environmental Protection Agency-approved.  Good for you, good for the planet and best of all, no pungent smell. Nails are left hydrated and clean – not chemically stripped – and we’re never going back to classic (toxic) nail polish remover, never, ever. (Even if it is cheaper.)  Oh, and good for Priti NYC. (Who also do gorgeous nail colours – have a look at the links below).

From Cutecosmetics.co.uk (UK), BeingContent.com (UK), PritiNYC.com (USA)

You might also like?

FRESH THERAPIES EDEN NATURAL NAIL POLISH REMOVER

This clever vegetable-derived nail polish remover is by UK brand Fresh Therapies – again, no toxic ingredients (see them here). Fresh Therapies will be at the London Green Fair in Regent’s Park on 9/10 June, so if you don’t believe this works as well as “normal” nail polish remover, go and say hello!

Freshtherapies.com £12/50ml

Update: 17/4 – WINNER, BEST BREAKTHROUGH BEAUTY PRODUCT, THE BEAUTY SHORTLIST AWARDS

It’s like cornering (properly) around bends…it lasts up to 12 months…and it’s £4.49. It took a man to make a man-icure better, namely Tom Pellereau of The Apprentice and frankly you have to wonder why nobody came up with the idea before – that’s the thing, nobody did! (Remember life before “Post-Its”?)

This firm, curvy, double-sided file felt slightly odd for the first 20 seconds but within a minute we were Stylfiling perfectly curved tips to our heart’s content and loving the novelty value! The shaping side of the file is 250 grit and the smoothing side is 500 and as Tom trained as an engineer, it’s built to last.

The range – which includes the S-Buffer and a mini “emergency” file that attaches to a key ring – is available at selected Sainsbury’s stores now, Amazon in April, Boots from 7^th May and in your local pharmacy soon. Oh, and if you’re Googling it, there’s no extra “e”…as in Styl..not Style.

“File” under “genius”.  Get one, they’re fun.

Check www.stylfile.com for your nearest stockist.  All three sizes £4.49.

SUTI: PURITY ORGANIC BALM FOR SENSITIVE SKIN

We can’t get enough of a good balm and here’s one of the best all rounders we’ve found. British brand Suti’s Purity Balm has lots of healing ingredients in one sleek, botanically-scented pot: Shea Butter – famously good for skin that likes pretending it’s parchment paper –  Apricot kernel oil and Beeswax, plus a calming trio of Calendula, Chamomile and Lavender.

Brilliant for sensitive skins and suitable  post- chemo/radiotherapy, we love its luxurious-yet-quickly-absorbed feel.  Goes on rich, but skin quickly drinks it in, and it’s as happy soothing sensitive skin as it is tackling stubborn dry patches.

The only thing better than a pot of Suti’s Purity Organic Balm would be a jet-set mini pot (to take to the beach this summer!)

£22/50ml Meet the rest of the Suti family here: Suti.co.uk

Ingredients: Vitellaria Niloteca (Shea Butter)*, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil*, Prunus Armeniaca (Apricot) Kernel Oil*, Cera Alba (Beeswax)*, Sesamum Indicum (Sesame) Seed Oil*, Calendula Officinalis Flower Extract*, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil*, Tocopherol, Anthemis Nobilis (Roman Chamomile) Flower Oil*, Linalool**, Geraniol**, Limonene**  /* Certified Organic  ** Naturally occurring in essential oils

1. Ditch the people, things, job, lifestyle that don’t serve you. You may not be able to ditch them overnight, but resolve to get rid of them – soon.  Life’s way too short to be surrounded by negative energy (it’s bad for your health).
2. Stop watching the news (or at least watch it less).  Why waste your time (life hours) soaking up the government’s/world’s problems which – in most cases – you can’t do much about.
3. Want to attract new things (or people)? Create a vacuum. By hanging on to the old (boyfriend/job/lifestyle) you’re blocking the way for better opportunities.
4. Tame the email dragon – try simplicity coach Simon Tyler’s tips.
5. Do what feels right for you and be your true self. Best done from a calm, centred place (not in the midst of a drama).  You are you, they’re “them”. We’re the same…but different. If advice sounds wrong to your intuition, it (probably) is.
6. Don’t fret about the small stuff.  So, the car’s scratched, the bus is late, the shop didn’t have your colour, you’ve put on a pound, the restaurant doesn’t have the wine you like, your lemon souffle turned out like s–t. Get over it.  Because if you have a roof over your head, clothes to wear, food to eat, friends and family who love you, enough money coming in, you’re doing better than most of the world’s population.

 CETUEM

We’ve been on a find-the-perfect-cleanser mission, and found these stars and bars. Oh, and we shouldn’t be strippers (!) because over-cleansing/over-exfoliating can upset skin’s acid mantle/PH balance/good bacteria ratio = potential problems.

COR SILVER SOAP

You know those TV ads where you send them your gold bits in an envelope and they send you cash? Well we predict a better year for silver. Intrigued by a post on  Sam’s excellent Make Up Advice Forum I had to explore those golden globes in their own exhibition cases. Cor says the Silver Soap is “a problem solver…the nano-silver formulation targets stubborn skin issues” and that it can clear acne, even skin tone, fade dark marks, balance oily T-zones, replenish lost collagen, and remove make-up while cleansing, toning and exfoliating and reducing the signs of ageing”. (Why the Nano-Silver with Silica Compound? Silver is a powerful anti-bacterial and is used on burn patients).

Well, the science makes sense. I used this for three weeks and found its slightly creamy/foamy formula remarkably balancing and really gentle – zero “tightness”. It left my skin feeling happy, soft, yes it does remove make-up and the mini-size travels well so it’s already a hit with me. 10ml travel size £15, small ball £35, and if you become addicted, the large one’s £100! Corsilver.co.uk

MAMA MIO’s CLEAN SLATE: HIGH PROTEIN ALOE-RICH CLEANSER

7 powerful ingredients: Cleanse + Balance + Detoxify + Restore

Great for all skin types.  No nasties, a tiny amount of wash-off gel goes a long way. Organic aloe vera leaf juice, ecocertified coconut derived cleansers, Ecoskin™, glycerin, Phylderm Vegetal`C2™, Tritisol™, sweet almond oil, avocado oil, lavender, lavandin, chamomile and mandarin oils. A beauty editor favourite and one of ours now! Full lowdown at MamaMio.com. We could write two pages about why this cleanser is unlike anything we’ve come across before, so find out more and check out the delicious Mama Mio skincare range on the site. £22.50/150ml.

BAREFOOT BOTANICALS SOS SOOTHING FACE & BODY WASH

I’d quite happily shout about Barefoot Botanicals from a rooftop (as long as it’s not raining). Gentle enough for babies, this multi-tasking face/body cleanser features Chickweed (a white star-shaped flower used medicinally for itchy, irritated skin, psoriasis, etc.). There’s also Evening Primrose and Jojoba Oil to condition and soften dry areas (Evening Primrose is fab for eczema), Panthenol (Vitamin B5) and Allantoin maintain moisture levels, Stellaria (Chickweed) and Burdock Botanical Extracts cool and soothe the skin’s surface, and Pure Essential Oils of Geranium and Lemon Tea Tree add “refreshment”.

100% natural, very therapeutic (try a tube of the SOS therapeutic hand cream if you have chronically dry hands, it might be your new skin saviour.) A truly lovely range for all the right reasons – hence the “family photo”! £16/200ml. A great weekend-away all rounder, or just use it as a facial wash and it’ll last for ages. Barefoot-botanicals.com 

ApiVita‘s Lip Balms contain honey, beeswax, walnut oil, rose, geranium, chamomile, blackcurrant, cocoa butter…unlike Vaseline which rhymes with gasoline (it originated from rod wax on oil rigs – petrol-eum jelly, the clue’s in the name). I did use Vaseline one summer about seven years ago, but stopped using it.

I had those cute little Vaseline tins everywhere.. my bag, the car, at home…but the more I put on, the drier my lips got (vicious circle). Eventually it dawned on me, it wasn’t my lips,Vaseline just didn’t agree with them.  Also after Googling the origins of Vaseline I don’t particularly want to put anything on my mouth invented by a man visiting oil wells - it put me off – big time!

My favourite lip balm of the moment is Pai Skincare’s Orange & Bergamot but I love ApiVita’s balm for summer as it provides a bit of colour. The blackcurrant, pomegranate and rose are tinted and taste good, so you get light colour + natural hydration.

Baby range, skincare, fantastic shampoos and lots of natural treats at Apivita.com

The best-selling baby shampoo seen in more bathrooms than probably any other is changing its formula.

Huffington Post: Multiple Carcinogens in Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Shampoo

Update: FORBES.COM (J&J announces it will phase out the potentially carcinogenic chemicals, worldwide, within two years’ time.)