Health & Beauty: Mineral Makeup for Mother’s Day

Mineral makeup is the new revolutionary trend within the cosmetics world, made entirely from the natural ingredients of the earth’s surface, with no harmful chemicals, fillers or parabens.

Purity Cosmetics are leading the way with their luxurious range of mineral makeup; from mineral foundations, blushers and bronzers, to eyeshadows and natural nail polish, all coming in a fabulous range of colours and shades to suit your skin tone.

I have been using their Mineral Foundation which is easy to apply and offers good blemish coverage without the feeling of heaviness like other powder foundations. The foundation looks and feels natural and gives your skin a glowing complexion that lasts all day.

Why not treat your Mum to some gorgeous makeup gifts for Mother’s Day? The Mineral Eyeshadows cost just £3.50 so there’s no excuse not to embrace mineral makeup!

Carly Gordon

Health & Beauty: Great Elm Physick Garden – Organic Herbal Skincare

At this time of year your skin needs a little help to look and feel restored and revived. Great Elm Physick Garden, producers of organic herbal skincare from the country gardens of Somerset are here to help!  

Over the past few weeks I have been trying out their Mallow and Immortelle Nourishing Face Mask, and their Lemon Balm and Blackcurrant Intensive Face Care.

The face mask comes in two parts; the fragrant liquid and the gentle oats, petals and clay mix. When blended together they create a nourishing, chemical-free mask made from traditional skin-calming ingredients; including soothing violet leaf, nourishing almond oil and the detoxing ingredient Immortelle which is known for its reputation as a pain-reducing anti-inflammatory and an effective cell-regenerator.    

I loved this face mask, not only was it fun to make (rather like mixing up a potion), it left my skin feeling nourished, soft and smooth.

The Lemon Balm and Blackcurrant Intensive Face Care did not disappoint either. The roll-on oil is packed full of natural ingredients including blackcurrant seed oil, health-giving vitamins borage and high levels of fatty acids, essential for cell-growth. After using this every night for the last few weeks I really have seen a difference in my skin’s tone and appearance, and even by the morning my skin still feels hydrated and moisturised.  

The Great Elm Physick Garden products are a joy to use and beautifully packaged. Check out the full range here for some fabulous gift ideas for Mother’s Day!

Carly Gordon

Health & Beauty: ALGOVITAL – CANNES THERAPY

A trip to the beauty salon is a truly wonderful experience; putting yourself into the hands of a skilled professional who can scrub, knead, treat and tend, dedicating time and care to you.  However, for most of us a trip to the salon is just an occasional indulgent sojourn into a magical world of white toweling and new age music.

So, if you can't make it to the spa, why not bring a little bit of the spa into your bathroom, and enjoy the same products that the professionals use. Algovital from Cannes, France, make beauty therapy products using only natural, certified organic ingredients, and 29 years of scientific research into natural skincare.

I liked the Algoderma body cream, the almond oil and vitamins have anti-ageing properties that leave your skin smooth and protected, with a lingering summery scent of magnolia and tiaré flowers. And 14 euros for a 100ml pot seems pretty reasonable for a luxurious daily cream.

I was intrigued by the Gel draining body scrub, for use in the shower; lavendar, ylang ylang, thyme and crushed apricot pits for friction sounds like a heady combination of scents and texture!

There are a whole range of interesting products which cater for different skin types, all of which not too expensive and are recommended by spa therapists.

Algovital products are available to buy online from their website (delivery from Cannes takes around three to five days) – click on the British flag for English translations.

Sophy Colbert

Health & Beauty: A LUSH TREAT FOR YOUR LIPS

Cold weather can be tough on your skin and your soul, so anything that is exfoliating, and also a bit fun, is a very good thing. My lips are prone to getting chapped in the cold and the wind, so I was very happy to try out the new Sweet Lips and Bubblegum lip scrubs from Lush.

I found the Sweet Lips scrub delicious, the chocolate and vanilla flavours are moreish, and the feeling of the sugar on my lips was very satisfying. Afterwards my lips felt smooth and refreshed, and the after-taste is lovely and uplifting. I didn't get on quite so well with the Bubblegum flavour, but I still enjoyed the rough texture of the sugar and how smooth and soft my lips felt afterwards.

I like Lush's philosophy.  Their cosmetics and toiletries are made from fresh, organic, high quality ingredients. Lush are firmly against animal testing, and have an ethical and a sustainable approach to their business. They also manage to continually come up with funky, original ideas for products, which they sell for a reasonable price. Pampering and peace of mind – a winning combination!

Sophy Colbert

Health & Beauty: BNATURAL ORGANIC SKINCARE – NATURAL AND AFFORDABLE

Tesco's bnatural organic range of skincare has been given Soil Association accreditation, which means at least 95% of the ingredients are certified organic. I tried out some of the items from their range: organic eye cream, organic replenishing day cream, and organic soothing night cream.

The eye cream feels very light and is very faintly scented. It settles onto the skin nicely and is quickly absorbed. The day cream is also very light with a silky texture, and a gentle lavender scent. It contains pomegranate oil, and cocoa and shea butter, which make it very smooth to apply and leaves skin feeling soft. The night cream is more substantial, but not too heavy, and also has a mild scent of lavender, which is particularly pleasant at bedtime.

Tesco is synonymous with value for money, and the bnatural organic range is no exception, with many items under ten pounds - great value for organic skincare. I think this range would suit someone with fairly undemanding skincare needs. If you have sensitive or ageing skin, then it might not be for you. However, its great to see a big supermarket going in this direction, and making organic products a realistic and affordable choice.

Sophy Colbert

Health & Beauty: SAY IT WITH ROSES – LUSH TURKISH DELIGHT BODY POLISH

Over 20, 000 rose petals goes into each pot of Lush Turkish Delight Body Polish, a luxurious soap which can be used in the bath, the shower or even in a sauna, as a soothing, escapist treat for tired and irritated skin. Almond oil and cocoa butter provide the moisture, whilst the rose and jasmine reduces redness and leaves you with a fresh and wholesome scent.

Lush buy their rose oil to make this and other products from Sabat, a company based in Senir, Turkey, who employ many local people and Romany Gypsies in harvesting the roses. Sabat have opened a free primary school in the area for local and Gypsy children – the first of its kind in Turkey. Lush support this work by paying an extra twenty five euros per kilo of rose oil.

Applying the soap to dry skin was strange at first, but as soon as the fragrance hits you, it is very relaxing and feels extremely indulgent. Once the soap starts to dissolve in hot water, the scent floats around the room, and clings to your skin even when you are out of the bath and drying off. I'd recommend using Turkish Delight body polish followed by a long soak in the bath with a good book (taking care not to get the pages wet), slipping between clean organic cotton sheets and drifting off to a rose-scented dreamland of lazy summer afternoons.

Sophy Colbert

Health & Beauty: GREEN PARADISE SKINCARE

I've been using a range of Green Paradise products from Méthode Jeanne Piabert for the last two weeks, and have been very pleased with the effect that it has had on my skin. After a fortnight of cleansing milk, facial cream and bi-weekly facial masks, my skin feels soft and clear. The best thing I can say about this product however, is that I don't feel as though I need to wear nearly so much make-up, and have been happy with just a small blob of tinted moisturiser, which has done wonders for speeding up my morning routine!

Green Paradise use only natural ingredients, including white lotus, rice and water lily, and their products are good for us sensitive types as they are also fragrance-free and hypoallergenic. Reassuringly they are also free of the carcinogenic parabens which are present in a worryingly high number of everyday beauty products.

The cleanser feels refreshing going on, and removes a satisfying amount of grime, which is especially pleasing at the end of a long day. The facial cream is robust, and left my skin feeling protected and soft. The facial mask is very creamy and soothing, but unlike a lot of other masks, it is also very light which adds to the pampering, spa-treatment effect.

The whole range of products have a very simple, straightforward feel, with the added benefits of being anti-ageing and also offering protection against pollution. After a couple of weeks I feel a lot more confident about the way my skin looks and feels, and it's good to know that this effect can be achieved with all natural ingredients and no harmful chemicals.

Sophy Colbert