Brenda Anvari Products

As a rather unknown brand, Brenda Anvari products are probably something I would never have discovered if it weren't for my easy persuasion when reading other blogs. One of my favourite sites,  A Model Recommends (see link below) reviewed the lovely hand made range of skincare by Brenda Anvari and here I am using the Pomegranate Raspberry and Patchouli shower gel and feeling pretty happy about it too.

Before I launch into a flurry of adjectives, I'll tell you about the brand.

The range includes skincare, bodycare, bath products and candles too. The packaging is both simple, almost humble in its handmade charm and yet sophisticated and chic. Created by Brenda Anvari who, after a long career with Elizabeth Arden, opened her own treatment salon, Visage House in Exeter.

Now then, the important bit, what is it like? Well, it lathers like velvety mousse made from the sweet clouds of heaven and the first dawn dew. It's lovely and leaves skin feeling soft and fresh. But the smell is what intrigues me the most, a rather fascinating blend both fruity and musky. It's quite unisex, almost quite a man-type smell, but also floral. Actually it's very masculine, but with a delicate finish. A challenge to describe, what do you think Jilly Goolden?

Jilly? I said, what do you think? 

Intermission while I fetch it from the bathroom and sit here sniffing it...

Nevermind, Jilly...

Curious as to what made this dream-foam, I have researched what is quite a (reassuringly) short ingredients list. The main foaming agent, thankfully, isn't SLS (otherwise I wouldn't go near it with a barge pole! Nor any kind of pole for that matter and certainly not in a shower/bath situation). It is in fact cocoamidylpropyl betaine. This is a common replacement for SLS but isn't quite on the good side of natural. It is derived from coconut oil but is the result of that oil being mixed with another chemical far too long for me to try and type here! It is still a detergent but a much gentler one. That said, those with extreme sensitivity could still see irritation.

On the other hand, it also contains quilaja saponaria which is Soapbark. As you can guess, this is a natural soap (hoorah!) and so I won't let cocoamidylpropyl betaine take all the credit for that lovely lather!

Brenda Anvari say all products are paraben free and many have Soil Association preservatives and organic aromatherapy oils. And none are tested on animals.

All in all I am very satisfied with taking a little leap of faith and testing out something I can't see, smell or touch until it arrives on my doorstep. And I may just do so again!

Brenda Anvari Pomegranate Raspberry and Patchouli Shower Gel £7.95 for 250ml
Available from www.visagehouse.co.uk

My favourite beauty site:
http://www.amodelrecommends.com/

Green and Spring

I just managed to delete a whole post on Green and Spring and now I have to re-write the damn thing. So I will try to write in a calm manner but you will understand if my enthusiasm is blighted by anger and my sentences are short with a general sense of annoyance and impatience for the whole tedious task of repeating myself.

So here goes... 

Ohh, look at the lovely little birds (this isn't how the original went, it was less sarcastic) Aren't they pretty sitting on the lovely packaging... (there was more of this, less flippant)

What a lovely range of natural products. No they really are and I'm not being fair to Green and Spring because they are a lovely company. Let's hear more... 

Green and Spring are a British company where only native plants and herbs are used in the chemical-free, natural formulations. The range is all hand-made and includes your usual bathroom products, skincare, hand and nail care and natural wax candles too. They also only use 100% natural plant material, without parabens, SLS, SLES, petrochemicals, PEGs, glycols, synthetic colours and fragrances. 

Most of the products are available in three fragrance blends, Relaxing with lavender, comfrey and rosemary, Indulging with rose, jasmine, elderflower and red clover, or Revitalising with peppermint, dandelion and fennel.

I have been using the Indulging Shower and Bath Foam which is just gorgeous. A great product, lathers very well, smells incredible, doesn't leave skin tight or dry after showering. 

Along with this I have been enjoying the Relaxing Body Lotion, another amazing fragrance, it's difficult to choose between them all. The lotion is light, easily absorbed and the fresh fragrance lingers a little which is nice so you feel like you've been rolling around in a fresh springtime meadow full of flowers and butterflies. (That wasn't in the original.)

I also have a teeny tiny travel candle also in Relaxing, its burning very happily (it was, I put it out days ago shortly after beginning this post) and although the fragrance isn't immediate I have on very firm recommendation that Green and Spring candles do deliver a good strong aroma. Some natural candles burn more fragrantly as they get lower because the essential oils sink down through the wax during the cooling process. Interesting.

There are also quite a variety of gift sets, including the bumper deluxe wooden birdhouse (nice) complete with 12 fullsize bestsellers nestling inside. All for £275! If you can't quite stretch to that!? there are loads of beautiful little sets that make really lovely gifts which won't require a remortgage or the selling of any organs. On the whole, the range is perhaps a little more than your average brand but it has by no means a super-luxe price tag for the quality and the ethos and the delightful packaging! It all makes a wonderful present or a well deserved treat for yourself in this dull, dreary winter. Roll on (Green and...) Spring! 

Clever.

Green and Spring Indulging Shower and Bath Foam £18 300ml (more in the bottle than your average brand too)

Green and Spring Relaxing Body Lotion £22 300ml

Green and Spring Home Candle £29 Travel Candle sets £18 for 3

All available at www.greenandspring.com and Liberty's