Incensum Fragrance – Sanctifino Perfume Oil

These past few months, the COVID 19 pandemic has forced us all to reconsider our place on this earth. During the lock-down, nature began to take back this place that we call home: Plants were able to finally grow freely and animals started coming out fearlessly to live their happy and simple lives. And while each and every one of us at The Amazing Blog has had time to reflect about the endangered state of our planet Earth, a new fragrance that we’ve received from Incensum has helped to uplift our spirits, and reconnect us back with nature.

Sanctifino is a unisex perfume oil from the LA-based brand Incensum Fragrance, which is created by designer and founder of the brand Jeannine Clark. With its completely vegan, synthetic-free, and hand-crafted formulas, the brand celebrates the origins of perfumery by honouring the reverie that the ancestors avowed to nature. Through its all organic perfume oil, the brand aims to calm the senses, helping the wearer find peace and embark on a spiritual journey to commune with nature and the universe. When talking about their alchemy and olfactory process, they told us: “Both human and non-human creatures are known to communicate their emotional states through the scents they emit. A fragrance may complement or intensify one's own natural pheromones which can evoke subconscious effects.” Intriguing! This may only be their debut perfume oil, and if Sanctifino is anything to go by, we feel sure that their next one will be even more alluring! 

This perfume oil Sanctifino is supernatural – in every sense of the word – an elixir trapped in a luxurious hand-crafted bottle, that reflects the mystical and heavenly ambience that emanates from the bottle. It comes in two sizes 50ml and 5ml, we received the 5ml with a roll-on top, making it the perfect size to fit into even the smallest bag.  With strong top notes of incense and a piquant of very intense green scent from the galbanum green resin fighting for dominance, it oozes autumn.  We think it’s reminiscent of the wafting smoke from sweet autumn leaves left to smoulder. It gently caresses and with its oily finish makes for a longer-lasting scent release on the skin, unlike its cousin Eau de Parfum. When the organic jojoba base oil warms up, the middle notes become more apparent as they liberate softer aromatic and more comforting notes of clary sage, silver fir. The sweet orange here also lingers, helping to create a warmth and sense of wellbeing. If describing it as a smoky scent sound surprising for a fragrance, we want to point out that it is nonetheless deliciously original, and works well with the other essential oils, to create a perfect balance of a smoky-sweet-earthy scent. When we close our eyes and inhale, we can almost imagine being transported to an ancient temple, surrounded by wild plants, where the incense burn and the sunlight cast shadows on the gold-carved statues of gods. We recommend anointing the wrists, rub a little to warm the perfume oil, and then taking deep breaths; it helps to soothe the mind giving you your own little piece of calm throughout the day.  Again, they say that it is a: “Multidimensional experience as well as shedding light into the nature of reality by fusing the mind, body and spirit through aromatic essential oils.” And, we couldn’t have said it better! If we’ve managed to intrigue you with this Sanctifino Perfume Oil, you too can purchase their 5ml here for $35. 

Baie Botanique - Rose Renew Regenerating Face Wash and Renew Regenerating Anti-Ageing Serum

The rose has been coined ‘the queen of flowers’ for its natural beauty and properties that protect the skin from ageing, fine lines and wrinkles; it’s also been used in beauty routines for thousands of years from Cleopatra to the Duchess of Cambridge. At The Amazing Blog, it’s no secret that we have a penchant for all things rose. So, we’re excited to share with you another one of our #amazingfinds  Rose Renew Regenerating Anti-Ageing Serum and Rose Renew Regenerating Face Wash by the organic skincare Baie Botanique. We first spotted this brand as one of the award winners at The 2019 Beauty Shortlist Awards and have been itching to try their products ever since!

When launched in 2014, Baie Botanique’s mission was to create a powerful botanical skincare range with pure and natural ingredients and high organic content. The founder, Sophie Oliver has over 20 years of experience in the beauty industry as a makeup artist. During this time she transitioned to a plant-based lifestyle where she fused her twin passions to form this unique skincare range. Now a multi-award-winning brand, this innovative rose-based botanical range contains plant stem cells that combine ‘wisdom of our ancestors with the power of modern skincare technology.’ Impressively, this brand also has all its products certified cruelty-free and vegan by PETA .

We find it’s best to start with a cleanser, so here’s The Rose Renew Regenerating Face Wash. With ingredients such as rose water, rose absolute and rosehip oil combined together with orange flower water, olive oil and green tea, it’s soothing and cleansing. Plus with the vitamin C here, it’s got added protection for the skin against UV sun damage. We like that it’s easy to use, and gently removed our everyday makeup (and city pollution!) Simply apply to wet hands and massage onto the face and neck. Rinse with warm water to leave skin looking clean, healthy, refreshed and of course rose-radiant. The formula boosts being 70% organic and with 98% naturally derived botanicals and can be purchased here at £19 for 125ml.

The Rose Renew Regenerating Anti Ageing Serum has enriched Ingredients which include bio-actives such as 15% Hyaluronic acid (plant-based), MSM and Glycolic Acid (AHA); these aid cellar renewal, firming and improve the appearance of any fine lines and wrinkles. Apart from the bio-actives, the main ingredients in this award-winner serum are rose water, witch hazel and aloe which together with the other selected botanicals leaves the skin with a brighter, softer, and healthier appearance.  It is light in texture, cooling to the touch and truly smells divine! We also liked that this serum has 80% organic and 98% naturally derived botanicals, it’s quick to absorb and versatile enough to be used both morning and evening, at £34 for 30ml it can be purchased here. This light-weight, gel formula is perfect for applying after the use of Baie Botanique’s Rose Renew Face Wash, and you can buy the two in a duo Cleanse & Hydrate Bundle for £47 here. We hear that they’ll be launching lip balms sometime this year - and we can’t wait to try them and more from the range!  

Fi-ne - Body Serums

At The Amazing Blog it’s no secret that we love luxurious body lotions and serums. And probably no surprise that today’s #amazingfinds is on Body Serums. Meet a new German brand called Fi-ne Cosmetics whose rather unique trio of Body Serums are luxurious organic moisturiser-oil-serums specifically created for this area. Their founder had a light bulb moment when she discovered that most people were using luxury skincare on their faces, but completely neglecting their bodies.

Fi-ne Cosmetics was created by Judith Springer in Germany when she couldn’t find a range of natural, healthy and functional deodorants. Since then the brand has evolved to offer body serums, masks, eye serums and perfume oils. Her belief is that she won’t ever bring something to market that either already exists, or doesn’t offer the right solution for the problem. Fi-ne Cosmetics products are handmade, certified organic, 100% vegan and not tested on animals. They are also GMO-free, paraben-free and free from all synthetic preservatives, colours, and fragrances.  Manufactured in a laboratory in Germany, their natural and organic products are made under strict conditions in accordance with the EU Cosmetics Regulation. They avoid plastic materials in their packaging.  Wooden spatulas that come with their cream-based products are created in a workshop for people with special needs in Berlin.

Fi-ne Body Serums are a fusion of a rich nourishing blend of effective oils and a hyaluronic moisturising serum.  These Body Serums primarily feature a distinctive blend of original Australian Bush Flowers. The flower essences contain the individual energy of the specific plants from which they are derived. The second key ingredient is the Mediterranean algae which provide a multitude of protection and healing properties.  There are three different Body Serum in the range which cater to individual needs.

We tried the set of three Body Serums all of which contain the ingredients of cooling and hydrating aloe vera and squalane. Let’s begin with Focus, this uses apricot kernel and safflower seed oils with the wood additions of douglas fir/atlas wood oils, it also has lavender and grapefruit peel oil for a more citrus/woody scent. Focus is for grounding and centring it has helped to boost concentration and clarity. These ingredients also help to restore hydration, leaving skin fresh and radiant. The second we tried was Energy serum as the name suggests it’s empowering and uplifting helping to stimulate collagen and hyaluronic acid synthesis. The key ingredients are sweet almond oil together with hazel and grape seed oils. More unusual here are the palmarosa and manuka branch/leaf oil making the scent ‘warming and comforting’. The final Body Serum in the trio that we tried was Peace serum which helps let go. Since the Peace serum is for use at night time, it features a higher quantity of plant oils,  such as camellia seed and peach kernel oil. It has a delicious and slightly fruity fragrance, where the smell of the dog rose with juniper and lavender oils comes through. This is perfect for city living as its purpose is to repair UVA/UVB and pollution-induced damage, restoring skin while you sleep!

Fi-ne Cosmetics recommends applying the Focus and Energy serums after a shower in the morning and applying the Peace serum before bed in the evenings. Each of the Body Serums scents can be purchased individually in 200 ml or 50 ml sizes. We had the set of three Body Serums in 50 ml which can be purchased here for €50.  We think these make a great gift or for yourself for a little luxurious self-care.

Muk – Hot Muk Thermal Protector & Smoothing Serum

Sometimes in our hurry, we forget how much damage we inflict on our hair with everyday blow-drying, straighteners and styling. At The Amazing Blog we take haircare very seriously, continually searching out new heat protectors and serums. This is where we recommended the haircare brand Muk’s with their latest Hot Muk range.

Muk is an Australian haircare brand that was founded in 2006.  Looking to revolutionise the hair care industry and stand out, this is a plain talk brand and unlike others has no need to communicate their message with scientific and unfathomable jargon. It is a natural brand, and although they do use silicones, they are plant-derived with large molecules that don’t build up on the hair shaft. We particularly like that their products are 100% accredited by PETA, are cruelty-free, vegan (NB: a few products do contain beeswax), and the packaging is made from 100% recycled aluminium.

We started with the first of the two products, the Hot Muk Thermal Protector which has a non-greasy finish and gives a great sheen to the hair. Apart from being natural, it also contains UV filters that help to protect the hair from sun damage and seals it to stop humidity and frizz. We used this spray on towel-dried wet hair before blow-drying for heat protection. It has a delicious orange citrusy fragrance that stays on your hair throughout the day.

The second product we used is their Smoothing Serum that complements the Thermal Protector. A little goes a long way only 1-2 pumps needed, and this serum is brilliant to help eliminate static while boosting shine. As recommended by Muk, we’ve been using this focusing on our ends after blow-drying or before straighteners (make sure your hair is dry). When it came to styling, this serum certainly made life easier. It also has UV protectors which guard against colour fade and has a similar citrus scent as Thermal Protector, which means that they work well in tandem with no conflict of fragrance.

After trying these two Hot Muk range of products, we’d definitely recommend making them part of your hairstyling routine.  You can purchase Hot Muk Thermal Protector 250 ml spray for £11.75  here and Hot Muk  Smoothing Serum 55 ml bottle for £11.75 here. Or for better value, buy them together as gift pack here for only £16.75.

SOS Serum

Alas, skin problems affect everyone at some stage, and at The Amazing Blog we’re definitely not fans of any unexpected inflammation or itchiness. That is why today’s #amazingfinds is a product that has a special formula to cool, heal and repair - meet the all-on-one rescuer, SOS Serum.  

Founder Bruce Green, is a chartered scientist, a chartered chemist, and a fellow of The Royal Society of Chemistry. He is a man with great expertise who understood the need for such a product as one skin issue still dominates – that is sensitivity. After many years of working in the industry, Bruce noted that from children to pensioners, everyone at some stage experiences skin dryness and itchiness. That is why he developed this unique advanced formulation that brings relief to most conditions. It can also be used to help eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis, bites, wind-chapped and sun-damaged skin or allergic flare-ups.

The SOS Serum consists of only 12 active ingredients – rich in wasabi and burdock leaf extracts, these plant extracts are known for their antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. Hyaluronic acid alleviates dry skin and speeds up wound healing, whereas peppermint provides soothing and cooling abilities that freshen and leave that pleasant ‘ice cube’ sensation to the skin. There are also two other products in the SOS range – SOS H2O Day Serum with anti-ageing properties and SOS SPF 50 skin protection. All three products are vegan, cruelty-free, with no parabens, SLS, mineral oil or fragrance and are proudly manufactured here in the UK.

We think the SOS Serum is a must-have it’s so gentle and even suitable for babies over one-month-old. Regular application of a small amount of gel-textured skincare will treat the skin issue swiftly. We found that the recyclable airless pump dispenser is easy to use and perfect in size for keeping in a handbag for regular application. The retail price of the SOS Serum is £15 for 50ml and can be purchased here.