Mix Clean Green: Toilet Mix

At The Amazing Blog, when it comes to cleaning we to love finding eco-friendly and sustainable products. Meet Mix Clean Green, they care about what goes into their products and has super-concentrated waterless formulas. This, in turn, allows for the products to be sold in small containers, reducing the carbon footprint. This is something a little bit different for us to review, and we couldn’t wait to try out this award-winning Toilet Mix - as they’re the only company in the U.K. to produce a water-free, mix at home toilet cleaner!

Mix Clean Green is an innovative company looking to find eco-friendly ways to create sustainable cleaning products. It is a female-run British business, with Kate Deacon at the helm. Kate has children, and they were her inspiration for starting this company. Worried about plastic consumption, climate change and more, Kate wanted to create the most eco-friendly household products that she could. In an interview with MicroBizMag, she noted that “the overwhelming sense of greenwashing that you start to uncover when looking into ingredients in what we think of as eco-products…” This led to her passion for creating a truly eco-friendly and green brand of cleaning products. For those new to the term ‘greenwashing’ it is a concept defined as the “process of conveying a false impression or providing misleading information about how a company’s products are more environmentally sound.” Thus many brands today understand that consumers want green and eco-friendly products, so they create labels that seem like their products are planet-friendly without the ingredients to back them up. Kate found that beyond the ingredients in these greenwashed products, the process in “how they’re made or derived, and the damage they do” is also overlooked. Beyond the plastic-free products, Mix Clean Green has created palm-free, waterless, vegan-friendly, and non-toxic products. Mix’s clean, green and eco-friendly vision has definitely paid off, with the company winning multiple Green Home, Safe Home awards for the Beauty Shortlist Awards in 2021. With their evident passion for the environment and planet, we applaud Mix Clean Green for donating 5% of profits from sales of bottles and jars to Project Seagrass, which is an environmental charity that is devoted to advancing the conservation of seagrass through education, influence, research and action.” 

The Mix Clean Green’s Toilet Mix comes in a reusable tin, which contains the super-concentrate. This brilliant toilet cleaner just needs the addition of water to clean your loo. Mix Clean Green’s Toilet Mix “uses a cutting edge bio-surfactant” to help clean. These bio-surfactants are compounds that are synthesised from plants and microorganisms. These compounds are an excellent alternative to standard cleaning chemicals due to their “high biodegradability, low toxicity, multi-functionality, environmental capability and the availability of resources.” The Toilet Mix contains four simple ingredients of citric acid, bio-surfactant, organic lavender oil and organic lemon oil. This toilet cleaner utilises citric acid, which kills bacteria, mould and mildew while disinfecting and cleaning the surface. It’s also a great addition here because it is a naturally occurring raw material that makes it biodegradable and non-toxic. With these few ingredients, it uses makes it a no-brainer choice to choose over standard house-hold cleaners, like bleach. Bleach has been known to cause health-related problems as well as having negative impacts on the environment. We heard about the Mix Clean Green’s Toilet Mix, as it won the 2021 Beauty Shortlist Award for Best Loo Cleaner! It’s super-easy to use, inside each tin, is a paper funnel (it was a bit crumpled so we did show it in our photo) where we positioned the funnel over our own glass litre bottle filled with lukewarm water, then poured in the entire contents of 50ml tin (BTW you can also dilute it one teaspoon to 100ml). As advised, we left it for 30-60 mins occasionally shaking, before use. We blitzed three loos all in one go - giving them a quick pre-scrub before leaving the Toilet Mix overnight to do its work. The litre bottle of the mix lasted us about two/three weeks with regular use. The result? Well, let’s just say Mrs Hinch would be proud! It’s an impressive cleaner and even smells fragrant to boot. Available in two different container options, the starter tin or the refill zero-waste option. The zero-waste option comes in a “home-compostable pouch with a recyclable paper label.” The starter Toilet Mix in a 50ml tin is available for £6.50 here; or the zero-waste option is available for £3.50 here.  

Sakrid: Superfood Frenzy Organic Face Wash

At The Amazing Blog, we always try to feature skincare products with honest and straightforward ingredients - the ones that we know and trust. Today, we're introducing the clean beauty brand Sakrid, whose mission is “to lovingly remove harmful and questionable ingredients from everyday life” with their award-winning Superfood Frenzy Organic Face Wash.

A fierce supporter of clean beauty, Natalie Elliott is co-founder of Sakrid together with Nick Carlile. It’s a British beauty brand specialising in simple and natural ingredients for skin, body and hair care. As Natalie's mother fought breast cancer, she became aware of the toxic ingredients used within self-care brands. To her amazement, she realised that many harmful chemicals are approved for use in everyday products, so she began on her journey to reduce these ingredients in her, and her family's lives. Subsequently, Natalie went on to launched her own brand Sakrid, creating a skincare with naturally derived alternatives that she describes as ‘clean beauty’. For those not in the know, the clean beauty movement seeks to use ONLY naturally derived ingredients, which are deemed safe and cause no harm to health or wellbeing. This is where Sakrid skincare doesn’t compromise on quality and prides themselves on their handmade, organic, natural, vegan, halal, and cruelty-free products produced in the UK. Along the way, they’ve also learned a lot about packaging, recycling, ingredient sourcing, and supply chains; which is why Sakrid only partners with suppliers that share their philosophy by using only recycled plastics, chemical-free print materials, local providers, and sustainable supply chains. Not ones to settle, they're continually searching for ways to improve what they do for the environment and their communities. 

Sakrid kindly sent us their Superfood Frenzy Organic Face Wash, which recently won a Gold Award in the 2021 Global Green BeautyAwards for Best Vegan Skincare Product. They believe that the most important thing about a facewash is its "ability to deeply cleanse and also to enrich cell renewal to promote a natural, healthy glow," and Sakrid expresses this belief through the potent ingredients that they've added to this cleanser. The organic camellia sinensis (green tea) leaf extract is the first essential ingredient here (see our photo above). Full of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory benefits, it also helps soothe and calm the skin while protecting against collagen degradation and skin discolouration. anti-ageing, plus camellia sinensis aids in skin hydration. Other key ingredients include organic aloe vera for moisturising and calming; it has anti-inflammatory properties and can lighten up scarring because it contains a compound called aloesin. Next, there is kojic acid, which is sourced from different types of fungi. It inhibits the formation of an amino acid that is needed to produce melanin, the protein that creates pigment in our hair, skin, and eyes. Because of this function, kojic acid can also lighten the skin, minimising sun damage, age spots, and scars caused by injuries or acne. It also has antimicrobial and antifungal properties, which can help to prevent bacteria in the skin. That's not all, kojic acid acts as an antioxidant too, counteracting skin-damaging free radicals and helping prevent the ageing of the skin. The last of these key ingredients is vitamin C, which promotes collagen growth and reduces the appearance of ageing. Since it contains antioxidants, vitamin C helps fight against UV light damage, and it can lighten up hyperpigmentation like kojic acid and aloe vera. The stabilisers and preservatives in the face wash are naturally derived (but not organic), allowing the skin to reap the benefits of the ingredients without having its normal function disturbed. To use the face wash, simply dampen the face, massage onto the skin, and then rinse with warm water. We used this morning and night, the gel face wash gently lathers up as it mixes with the water and feels very soothing on the skin. There is a mild zesty scent (probably the neroli plus the grapefruit and orange peel) which leaves the skin feeling fresh and clean. We also like that the tube is made of recycled plastic, which of course can be recycled again. It’s certainly well-named as ‘Superfood’ with the plethora of organic ingredients, not something we often see in a cleanser, plus it’s very well priced at £17.00 for the 150ml tube - we’d recommend this cleanser and it’s another of our #amazingfinds. To purchase the Sakrid Superfood Frenzy Organic Face Wash, see here.

Vemel: Intense Age Repair Eye & Lip Cream

Did you know that the human body consists of over 60% water? And at The Amazing Blog, we understand the importance of staying hydrated. Although drinking water is essential for our functioning, did you know that taking the water out of our skincare routines can benefit both us and the environment? Today we'd like to introduce Vemel, a brand who have developed waterless skincare, in their quest to create natural, sustainable and eco-friendly products.

Vemel is a British brand founded by wife and husband Agi and James Miel. After years of struggling with various medications and skincare products to treat their children's eczema and allergies, the couple sought a natural "antidote to the chemical overload" in which they found themselves immersed. They took a holistic approach in a search to reduce the number of chemicals and toxins in their children's lives. This journey led them to launch Vemel, where co-founder Agi Miel said, "The whole ethos of Vemel brand is based around honesty. Our labels are simple, clear and transparent, our ingredients are listed in common English names." All products are waterless and made from organic, natural, vegan, and food-grade ingredients that are free from skin irritants, such as perfumes, essential oils, and alcohols. In addition, the brand offers packaging that is 100% plastic-free, even providing reusable pipettes with orders to increase their sustainability. The jars, bottles, and boxes that Vemel uses for packaging are also completely recyclable. As Vemel formulates their products with natural ingredients, they're suitable for all ages, genders, and skin types, meaning that entire family can share the same products, reducing waste. Vemel does more than just focus on sustainability: cutting out all essential oils also means that Vemel products are kinder to aquatic life and ecosystems, which are negatively affected by some these oils. 

Vemel's approach to creating natural skincare lies in their commitment to developing waterless products. Did you know that when water is added to skincare products, emulsifiers are required so that the water can thoroughly mix with the rest of the product. However, emulsifiers promote the growth of bacteria, so preservatives are necessary to limit their growth. These preservative can cause skin irritation, disrupt the skin's barrier, and even accelerate ageing. In addition, most beauty products are 80-90% water, so eliminating the water in the products means that you're using a more potent and efficient version that offers more substantial effects and lasts longer too. Water can also dry out the skin as it evaporates and takes its natural and necessary oils along with it. Removing the water from skincare increases hydration, prevents irritation, and reduces breakouts, especially in sensitive skin. Along with benefits to your skin, waterless beauty offers significant benefits to the environment. By 2025, an estimated 5 billion people - two-thirds of the world's population - will be affected by water shortage, and today, about 1.1 billion people lack reliable and adequate access to water. With most skincare products on the market consisting of such a high volume of water, waterless brands like Vemel are doing their part to help with water conservation. Going waterless also impacts the packaging of products: products with water require more complicated packaging to prevent evaporation, so eliminating water means that we can skip this extra packaging and reduce our waste. That said, Formula Botanica (an accredited formulation school), do make a good point, saying that “it’s impossible to avoid the water footprint and for any beauty formulation to be truly waterless. The water required to grow raw ingredients and process, ship, use and dispose of any of your cleansers and scrubs will far outweigh any water savings gained from excluding water in the formulation itself.”⁣ 

We received Vemel's best-selling Intense Age Repair Eye & Lip Cream, which was recently announced as a Gold Winner of the "Best Vegan Eye Product" in the 2021 Global Green Beauty Awards and the "Best Healing & Soothing Lip Treatment" in the 2021 Beauty Shortlist Awards. The Intense Age Repair Eye & Lip Cream is a certified organic, vegan, and cruelty-free cream that targets the sensitive parts of our skin that we usually neglect. It encourages collagen, elastin, and lipid production to soften the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. The main ingredient is organic murumuru Butter, made from extracting the fat from the Strocaryum Murumuru palm tree native to the Amazon Rainforest. This butter is rich in vitamin C and A, as well as fatty acids like oleic acid that keep skin hydrated, restore elasticity, and provide rich moisture to help with dry and cracked skin. The cream also contains organic aloe vera oil. Aloe oil is obtained through a macerating process, where the aloe vera is infused into a carrier oil. It has very different properties to that of aloe gel as it contains the oil-based components of the plant instead of the water-based components found in the gel. This ingredient is rich in phytochemicals and compounds that stimulate growth and produce collagen in the skin that encourages repair and rejuvenation. One of the other key ingredients in the Intense Age Repair Eye & Lip Cream is organic kiwi seed oil. Kiwi fruits are full of nutrients like vitamins C, E, and K, and these nutrients help to plump up and reduce the appearance of fine lines. The oil also contains a good balance of omega-6 and 3 making it a gentle ingredient that reduces any skin inflammation. The last superstar of this cream is organic Argan wax. Rich in vitamin E, phenols, carotenes, and fatty acids, this Argan moisturises skin, reduces the visibility of wrinkles, repairs skin damage, and soothes irritated skin Finally, there is microalgae extract (obviously not organic) which are a potent neutraliser of free radicals, anti-pollution and help to removes toxins. This Intense Age Repair Eye & Lip Cream contains no added fragrances or essential oils, meaning that it's suitable for all skin types and won't expose your skin to any irritants. To apply the cream, you can use the reusable bamboo spatula provided, to apply a pea-sized amount to the contours around your eyes and lips. We used this morning and evening, alone, to ensure we're got its full potency! It felt like a combination of balm x cream, on application it’s smooth and transparent; and we think that this protective and healing Intensive Age Repair & Lip Cream will soon become your new best friend, as we fast approach a chilly autumn.

If you're looking to help out the environment and reap the potent skin benefits, Vemel can help you jumpstart your waterless skincare journey. To try out their award-winning Intense Age Repair Eye & Lip Cream, you can purchase it here at £45.00 for 30g. 

2022 Beauty Shortlist & Wellbeing Awards - Are Now Open for Entry!

Good to grow: 2022 Beauty Shortlist & Wellbeing Awards open for entries with new blue beauty and plantable beauty categories and fresh faces on the judging panel.

Entries have opened for the upcoming Beauty Shortlist Awards which will celebrate the highest-scoring brands and products that celebrate NATURE on Wednesday 2 March 2022.

Honouring the most-loved earth-safe and ocean-safe beauty and wellness products – all tested by experts – the ethical, natural and organic showcase returns with over 40 new categories embracing blue and green beauty, more age-specific skincare and self-care categories, eco-packaging, holistic health, eco innovation, nutrition, aromatherapy, CBD and more.

2022 BEAUTY SHORTLIST & WELLBEING AWARDS ENTRY FORM (ENTRIES CLOSE 29 OCTOBER)

ENTRY FORM

If you had to pick the most stellar month of the year for beauty and the planet, September would be up there: Organic September, a new season with lots of new launches, the Great British Beach Clean, World Car Free Day - and it’s FSC week soon, celebrating & raising awareness of responsible forestry 🌳

Never have we lived through a time when comforts and joys have been more important to our wellbeing - and it’s exactly those that are celebrated every year at the Beauty Shortlist Awards:

You are warmly invited to celebrate the top-scoring beauty, grooming and wellness of the year with the 2022 Beauty Shortlist Awards on Wednesday 2 March.

These independent and 100% sponsor-free global Awards celebrate the highest-scoring ethical brands and products of the year, evaluated by beauty and wellness industry experts:

• natural + organic beauty, personal care

• nutrition, wellness, health supplements, CBD & eco cleaning

• men’s hair, skincare, self-care, body & shower products

Happy September!

Elan Skincare: Dream Hyaluronic Acid Booster, Dream Overnight Renewal Face Serum & Whisper Skin Saviour

If you are familiar with us at  The Amazing Blog, then you’ll know that we love to introduce natural skincare, and Elan Skincare is one of our favourite featured brands (see here). Very kindly, they sent us three more of their products to try the Dream Hyaluronic Acid Booster,  Dream Overnight Renewal Face Serum, and the Whisper Skin Saviour.

As we mentioned previously, Elan Skincare, is a natural British skincare brand founded by Joanna Silva in 2017.She has almost a decade of experience in the medical industry — in wound care, infection prevention, and specifically skincare. Elan Skincare’s mission is to be honest and transparent, and to have a strong foundation in science, nature, and art. Joanna hopes that Elan Skincare’s products will make people feel beautiful and confident and, thus, go for their dreams. The brand values integrity, kindness, and respect — integrity in the brand’s work, kindness to others and oneself, and respect for each other, and our natural environment. Elan Skincare cares about what you put on your skin. Their products contain an exquisite blend of botanicals that are carefully selected. In their formulations the brand uses cold-pressed unrefined oils and butters, Eco-cert or Soil Association certified organic botanicals, with the purest CO2 organic plant extracts, and natural active ingredients (coenzyme Q10, vitamins C & E, hyaluronic acid). Elan Skincare is women-led, and women’s health and wellbeing are at the heart of the company. The brand’s whole range of products are expertly formulated, dermatologically tested, is vegan, and cruelty-free. Their bottles and product labels are recyclable and sustainability is important to Elan Skincare. Their products have won multiple awards — the Dream Hyaluronic Acid Booster won the Beauty Shortlist Awards 2019 Editor’s Choice, the Dream Overnight Renewal Face Serum also won the Beauty Shortlist Awards 2019 Editor’s Choice, and these as a Duo Pack won a Beauty Bible Awards 2020. Silva said, “Elan Skincare is a truly feminine brand, made by women for women. At the end of the day, we face the same challenges of balancing work, family, love and finding a little bit of space for our dreams and pursuits. I strongly believe that the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. I wish all of us women the confidence and belief in our dreams and ourselves.”

Elan Skincare’s Dream Hyaluronic Acid Booster restores moisture balance and leaves your skin softer, smoother, and more radiant. The Booster water-based serum is fragrance-free and suitable for all skin types, and they call it their “Pure Hyaluronic Acid Hydrating Serum.” The key benefits of this serum include reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, improving skin texture and rejuvenating the tired-looking complexion. It also deeply hydrates and supports the skin’s renewal at the cellular level and promotes firmer, smoother, healthier, and more elastic skin. The ingredients in this serum are few and simple. They only include water, sodium hyaluronate, benzyl alcohol, and dehydroacetic acid. The key one is the potent eco-certified 3% of hyaluronic acid. The type of hyaluronic acid is sodium hyaluronate, this has a lower molecular weight than HA and hydrolysed HA, so it’s more easily absorbed into pores. It also penetrates the deeper layers of the dermis and prevents trans-epidermal water loss. The dehydroacetic acid is derived from the solandra plant, and works together with the benzyl alcohol as a broad-spectrum organic preservative system, and conforms to requirements of COSMOS and ECOCERT. This is super-fast at being absorbed by the skin and it’s fragrance-free. We used morning and evening with only a couple of drops from the pipette, directly onto cleansed face and neck, leaving it about 2 minutes before applying moisturiser. It performed well and made a good canvas for other skincare to follow. It’s wonderful to find a serum tha trulyt hydrates the skin and plumps up fine lines and wrinkles. By the way, Elan also recommends using this with one of their oil-based serum (like below), to seal in the Dream Hyaluronic Acid Booster; and there is a duo pack with their Dream Overnight Renewal Face Serum.  

We also used the Dream Hyaluronic Acid Booster with Elan Skincare’s Dream Overnight Renewal Face Serum,They also call this ‘ Night Serum Vitamin C + E + Pomegranate’. It helps to improve skin tone and texture, stimulates skin regeneration, and give a more youthful look. We love how this oil-based serum is an amber coloured nectar with an uplifting citrus fragrance. It’s also ideal for uneven or dull skin (like ours). The key benefits of this serum include improving the overall skin tone, protecting skin from free radicals (which cause premature skin ageing), and creating ultra-smooth and glowing skin. The ingredients in this serum include: Organic pomegranate seed oil, vitamin C, organic carrot root extract, organic rosehip seed extract, abyssinian seed oil, oat kernel oil, hydrogenated farnesene, sea buckthorn oil, squalane, hazelnut oil, organic jojoba oil, vitamin E, and bisabolol. It’s not often we come across organic pomegranate seed oil as an ingredient. It has lots of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. As the brand says, it’s to ‘fight free radicals, and protect against UVB-induced sun damage’. The vitamin C boosts and regenerates skin cells and collagen stability; the organic carrot root extract reduces sun damage and helps maintain the elasticity of the skin; the organic rosehip seed extract offers cell renewal capabilities; the abyssinian seed oil is deeply nourishing, smoothing, and softening to your skin; and the oat kernel oil strengthens the skin’s barrier function. The hydrogenated farnesene creates a light texture with a silky finish; the sea buckthorn oil is anti-inflammatory, hydrating, soothing, toning, and again skin regenerating. The squalane acts as a barrier to keep moisture locked in improves tone and texture, and helps prevent water loss. The hazelnut oil tones and tightens skin and can help reduce pores' appearance; the organic jojoba oil calms, balances, and helps skin retain moisture; the vitamin E rejuvenates, restores, and helps protect skin from environmental aggression. The bisabolol derived from German chamomile and barks from the candeia tree, enhances the appearance of dehydrated or damaged skin and helps other active ingredients penetrate deeper into the skin. As mentioned earlier, we used this together with Dream Hyaluronic Acid Booster first. We put two drops on your fingertips and gently massage into our skin, it didn't feel greasy and left skin glowing. We woke to radiant and hydrated skin - ready to take on the day! 

Finally, we tried Elan Skincare’s latest addition to the range, the Whisper Skin Saviour. it’s a multi-purpose balm that promises to soothe, and condition dehydrated, dry, or sensitive skin. This balm is a brilliant natural alternative to petrolatum or paraffin oil-based products. It is recommended for stretch marks, scars, redness, dry/cracked hands, scaly skin, dry skin on legs and elbows, chapped lips, and cuticles. If you, like us, have been washing your hands and applying hand sanitiser like crazy, then a thin layer of this balm will calm and protect sore skin. The main ingredients include shea butter, sunflower seed oil, coconut oil, green tea extract, zinc oxide aloe leaf, vitamin E and bisabolol (discussed above). The aloe vera has anti-inflammatory properties and contains vitamins and minerals; the green tea calms irritations, soothes redness and swelling, evens out discolouration, and helps the skin retain moisture. The zinc here helps the body produce collagen, is an anti-inflammatory, treats burns, minimises scar tissue, heals the skin. The coconut oil has a calming effect, can help reduce redness and alleviate any discomfort associated with sore skin. We used this specifically on lips and cuticles, as these are two areas we suffer from dry and flakey skin. It has a rather moreish shea butter and coconut oil fragrance. As a multitasker, it works exceptionally well, and we highly recommend keeping this handy in a bag or by your desk. Although we regularly use hand cream, we’re guilty of never paying enough attention to our cuticles, and this balm helps to sort that out. Elan recommends for optimal results to apply the balm on slightly damp skin and to use a tiny amount, as a little goes a long way!

To purchase, you can find the 20ml Dream Hyaluronic Acid Booster here for £36, the 20ml Dream Overnight Renewal Face Serum here for £55. Or both together as the duo pack here for £80; and the 20ml Whisper Skin Saviour here for £12.75.