The Best of 2019 - Body, Bath & Hair
I recently chose my favourite skincare products from 2019 which was no mean feat as I've tried a lot of really fantastic products throughout the year.
Now it's time to choose my favourite body and hair care products - and as with the skincare products, the majority of them have been made by some fantastic Indie Natural Beauty brands.
Below are my favourites that I've tried throughout the year and ones that I'll be repurchasing again.
Now it's time to choose my favourite body and hair care products - and as with the skincare products, the majority of them have been made by some fantastic Indie Natural Beauty brands.
Shower & Bath
Most of my bath and shower products actually come from Beauty Subscription boxes. I personally find this a great way to try out products that I previously may not have heard of or wouldn't think about trying.Below are my favourites that I've tried throughout the year and ones that I'll be repurchasing again.
With a sumptuous base of cold-pressed hemp and avocado oil, this body polish is scented with lavender and uses poppy seeds for natural exfoliation.
It's an incredibly rich and nourishing balm type texture which leaves your body cocooned in a protective layer long after you've stepped out of the shower.
I'm loving this as it's non-messy, has just the right level of exfoliation (not too harsh but scrubby enough to get the job done), has a gorgeous scent and most of all because it leaves my skin soft and protected and there's no need for a further body cream or oil after you've left the shower.
Belenos Skin Botanique are one of the best value brands around.
With a comprehensive range of products covering you from head to toe and using a range of top quality and effective natural ingredients in every product, you'll be sure to find something that suits your skin and your purse too!
One of my favourite Belenos products is the Floral Brew Bath Salts. You get a whopping 250g of product, presented in a glass jar. The Floral Brew Bath Salts have a base of pink Himalayan Bath Salts and are packed with dried botanicals such as Calendula, Rose Buds, Hibiscus, Lavender, Chamomile and Cornflower. It's the prettiest presentation in the glass jar and again when released under running water. The Petitgrain infusion tops off this sensory treat with it's stunning and relaxing scent.
I always appreciate, and aim for good value products and this stunning jar of bath salts gives me a decadent bathing experience without a decadent price tag.
It's all about the bubbles and lather for me during bath or shower time. But some of the more natural products that I've tried don't seem to be able to reach the levels of lather that I hope for.
However, the Tranquil Fields Bubble Bath & Shower Gel has such an intensely pleasing creamy lather that it's easily cemented itself as my all-time favourite shower gel.
With a top note of Lavender, a heart note of Frankincense and a base note of Vanilla, Tranquil Fields erupts in an explosion of gorgeous scents as it hits the water (or your skin) which turns a daily shower into a full-on pampering, self-care experience.
I just love it when a product fulfils its primary function as well as soothing all your senses at the same time.
A relatively new discovery for me as I only received these gorgeous handmade soaps last month in November.
But these both became an instant favourite. The cassette tape label is utter genius in itself but more than that, all of the soaps from Nature's Notes are inspired by songs and the soap scents match the mood and theme of each song brilliantly!
'The Pitch Black Soap' is inspired by The Rolling Stones 'Paint it Black' and the blend of Frankincense and Turmeric match the song's nod to the mysterious and exotic Moroccan vibes perfectly. The 'Lambada' soap is as warm, sunny and feel-good as the song which inspired it. Scented with Sweet Orange, Patchouli, Cedarwood and Ginger, this soap is a zesty and uplifting delight in your morning shower - refreshing and revitalising and ensures you start your day with a song and a smile!
Body Care
Another first for me this year was my first experience with using a body candle.
And I loved it!
A body candle looks like a candle, smells like a candle and burns like a candle but instead of hot wax you are left with a glorious pool of warm oil which you then pour either into the palms of your hands or directly on to your skin for an incredibly sensuous, warming oil massage.
I chose the Warming Orange and Ginger Candle as this is one of my favourite scent combinations - particularly during the colder months of the year.
The Beeutiful Body Candle comes into a dinky little ceramic pot with small pouring spout for ease of application.
The most decadent body butter in my collection.
This dense and rich sumptuous butter melts into a velvety oily balm on contact with skin. It has an incredibly good slip meaning that you only need the tiniest amount to cover large areas of skin.
Everything about the Kokum Body Boost Butter screams pure luxury and opulence.
Four different butters (Kokum, Murmuru, Cocoa and Mango) are blended with Olive Squalane, Rosehip and Sea Buckthorn oils to create an intensive nourishing and protective layer suited to all skin types, but particularly age-related dry skin, sun damaged skin and extra dry skin.
The scent is one of the nicest I have ever come across - May Chang and Pink Grapefruit. It's a perfect scent combination of sweet floral and tangy citrus, each scent takes the edges off the other making it a perfectly rounded scent.
With one of my most favourite scent combinations of Neroli, Frankincense and Lavender, the Capri Body Oil's scent alone would be enough for me to choose this as my favourite body oil.
But Capri also has a beautiful silky slip, is quick to absorb and perhaps, most remarkably, is great for helping to heal PIH (post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation) marks on my legs caused by insect bites and cuts. And that wasn't one of the benefits I was expecting!
Using Capri after a shower or bath is a truly luxurious ritual and scores top marks on the Joy Scale rating.
The Grounded Body Butter from Kutis was a surprise hit for me when I received it in a Skin Organics Clean Beauty Box back in April.The first thing I fell in love with was the incredible scent combination of Frankincense, Patchouli and Orange. A beautifully spicy scent that lingers pleasingly on the skin all day, releasing gorgeous little wafts of fragrance as the hours pass by.
And the texture! This was my first experience with a whipped body butter and I fell really hard for the dreamy, mousse-like airy texture.
The texture actually belies the richness of the body butter though. It's airy texture certainly didn't mean that it had airy light moisturising prowess.
This is a seriously sumptuous rich and nourishing butter that left my skin feeling soft, supple and well fed for a good 48 hours until I showered again.
The Enhanced Recovery Body Oil is the second Body Oil that I've tried this year (the other being Lime & Lilac Capri Body Oil) that does a whole lot more than moisturising and softening my skin after a shower.
It not only feels and smells great but is actually also really effective at easing tired, stiff and aching muscles and joints.
I would keep this by my bed and give my legs and lower back a good massage using this before bed and it was very effective at easing joint ache and calming my restless legs down to help me get a better night's sleep.
If you do a lot of physical exercise, this would be ideal to keep in your gym bag to massage into your body after a workout to keep the stiffness from creeping in.
Incredibly effective and a joy to use!
Date Night Body Butter was the first Boho Vegan Cosmetics product that I tried back in September and this experience left me wanting more.
Date Night is a pale dusky lilac whipped body butter topped with gold dust and stars. The scent has a heart of Rose combined with Iris and Italian Plum.
This decadently rich body butter is a joy to behold - not only does it look good enough to eat but it has a scent which you makes you want to keep it in your pocket for surreptitious sniffs of its gorgeousness throughout the day.
This beautiful body butter has perhaps the longest lasting and continuous protection that I've ever tried before. It keeps my skin nourished, hydrated and moisturised for a good 48 hours without feeling sticky or sitting on top of my skin.
Hair Care
2019 was the year when I finally decided to ditch high street branded shampoos and change my hair care products for ones with naturally-derived ingredients.
One of the first brands I tried was Zenon Kition and it was such a brilliant introduction that I haven't looked back since. Since then I have tried quite a few natural hair care products and most of them weren't quite as successful as my experience with Zenon Kition's Essential Bliss Shampoo and Conditioner.
I think it was quite a hard transition after 45 plus years of using standard, chemically-laden shampoos and conditioners because I was so utterly used to the artificial and chemical ingredients that gave me what I had come to expect of a 'proper' hair wash. That is, lots of lather, squeaky clean hair and artificial gloss!
Essential Bliss Shampoo and Conditioner when compared with the High Street brands I was previously using came out with far better results - and all without the use of harsh chemicals. So it can be done - and better!
Read my full review here.
After wanting to make the switch to natural hair care products, the obvious step was to start using zero waste/plastic free solid shampoo bars. Unfortunately, my initial experience was a bit of a disaster and I couldn't even bear to work through the so-called 'transition period'. So, with tail between my legs, I crawled off into a corner and gave up on solid shampoo bars.
That was until one of my favourite brands, Nudge Boutique announced the release of their new Shampoo Tablets.
I'll fully admit, I was very dubious about trying these - how could the experience be that much different from my past attempts? But the main and most important difference is that these are not soap-based shampoo tablets. They work exactly like a liquid shampoo but in solid form. Another worry was lack of lather - I really do like my shampoo to lather and happily, the Nudge shampoo tablets lather in abundance.
This has been such an overwhelmingly positive experience that I haven't used anything but the Nudge Boutique shampoo tablets since my first try with them. I'm now on my second tablet and also keep a tablet in my swimming bag for showering after I've swum my laps.
A fairly recent find through a Naturisimo Discovery Box, this gorgeous Hair Milk has seen me ditch the in-shower conditioner and rely soley on this for all the conditioning my hair needs.
It's a beautiful product to use with a cream texture and a delicious fruity floral scent.
I often need an extra product to help with de-tangling my hair after shampooing and conditioning. Most products have proven to be too much on top of a conditioner, leaving my hair heavy and lank or crispy with residue. But the same products, if used on their own without a conditioner just don't give my hair enough of what it needs. It's certainly been a balancing act trying to find the right combination.
Luckily, I think I've found the perfect solution in the John Masters Organics Hair Milk - rich enough to act as a conditioner and not too dense so that it leaves a residue. This de-tangles my hair and leaves it super soft, smooth and glossy.
Hands & Nails
This was an unexpected hit for me this year after deciding to try some out as one of my Latest in Beauty product choices.
Remove and Chill is an acetone-free nail polish remover in cream form. It smells absolutely delicious and is actually pretty simple to use - and once you get the hang of it, it's not too messy!
The formulation is infused with an oil complex enriched with macadamia, almond, argan and vitamin e which keeps your nails and cuticles nourished and healthy.
And it's incredibly effective at gently removing every last scrap of nail varnish - no stained nail beds, no irritating missed strips at the edges of your nails - just apply, leave for a few minutes and wipe off.
Miscellaneous
Thyme Out undoubtedly wins the title of 'Best All-Rounder' of the year.
Thyme Out is a water-based tincture where the Thyme has been steeped for weeks to draw out all of it's healing properties. The ingredients are all natural and very simple - just organic thyme, purified water, organic grain alcohol, and organic aloe vera.
The list of ailments and aggravations that Thyme Out can soothe is seemingly never ending! Eczema, insect bites, sunburn, acne and rashes are just a few but basically any skin irritation can be instantly soothed by this magic tincture.
If I had to choose just one item to keep in my First Aid kit then it would definitely be Thyme Out.
Disclaimer: Products marked with an asterisk (*) are PR Samples.
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