Agave Bun

It is spring already! What a crazy thought. I cannot wait for the days to become longer and warmer, the winter is just too cold for me. Yes, snuggling in with a cup of tea is a comforting idea, however the thought of leaving warm bed in the morning is just unbearable. These are some of products which carried me through this winter.

 During winter even my oily skin needs a little extra TLC. When people talk about dehydrated skin it gives an impression that skin needs extra water. That is not the case, the skin needs oil. Natural skin lubricator, sebum, is an oily substance secreted by sebaceous (oil) glands to keep our skin protected against harmful environmental stress. You may have noticed that moisturiser absorbs faster than face oil however oil is better at nourishing the skin at a much deeper layer. With these principles in mind for over a year I have been mixing my moisturiser and face oil as part of my mourning routine.

Disclaimer first - this was a free sample I have picked up on Naturisimo website. In order to get it, I had to purchase something, for which I had paid with my own money.

I love samples! Mainly because I love trying different things but also because they allow you to try a product without having to splurge out for a full version which you might not like. Unfortunately, there are no shops with extensive green beauty stock and availability of samples where I live hence I rely on online retailers to obtain my samples. Naturisimo is one of my favourites because they have regular '10-15% off' promotions and a good variety of samples. Unfortunately not everything on their website can be sampled which would have been especially useful for makeup when you really do need to try foundation before you pay £30 for a bottle which might be of wrong shade. From time to time some of their samples become free hence I picked up this moisturiser when shopping for something else. RRP is £38 for 50ml.

I have used Madara before and I have generally liked everything I have tried from them. Madara is a Latvian brand which uses natural and organic ingredients in their products. One of the biggest selling points is that they do not use water, instead, they use birch water (or sap) which is native to the Baltic regions. Birch sap is full of nature elements, such as potassium, zinc, magnesium, calcium and phosphorus, as well as amino acids. It is great for drinking but I have not seen another skincare company which uses birch water. Water as the main ingredient is one of my pet peeves - a lot of the natural and 'green' beauty products are pricey hence I feel like they could maximise the benefit of their products if something more nourishing is used instead of water, such as aloe vera. Using birch water to me feels like taking the ingredients game a step higher!

Last summer I came across the small company called Bloom Remedies whose products are handmade in Cornwall. The range includes natural facial and body skincare, as well as aromatherapy. The entire range organic and completely cruelty free (yay!). In addition, the containers are made from recycled material and the packaging usually does not contain plastic. It always rubs me the wrong way when goodies arrive through post packaged in layers of unnecessary plastic so this is definitely a brownie point!