Review: Urtekram – The Danish Skincare Brand

I have an addiction, my addiction is to skincare products, specifically nice moisturisers; but I’m happy to get my fix where I can; soaps, hand creams, haircare products, lip balms, oh the lip balms. Anyway, I digress, I’ve recently stumbled across an interesting and exciting Danish brand called Urtekram. Urtekram produce a really lovely looking range of organic and vegan skincare products which haven’t been tested on animals, what’s more the packaging is really fresh looking and looks great in my bathroom. I was sent a selection of Urtekram products to try out, here’s what I thought.

Aloe Vera Hand Cream
This is a great hand cream for me, thick enough to really moisturise my dry hands, but light enough to be absorbed pretty quickly. It’s got a great scent too, there’s a lovely hint of orange zest which is fresh rather than sickly sweet. I love this.

Rose Body Lotion
It’s only fairly recently I’ve started to really like the smell of rose, this isn’t overpowering and is a lovely light fragrance. The lotion itself is light and absorbs quickly but leaves my skin feeling soft and supple. It’s going to become a favourite of mine I think.

Rose Soap Bar
A normal looking bar of soap, infused with the same delicate rose fragrance as the body lotion, an excellent bathroom staple.

Nordic Birch Shampoo
This is for normal hair, so it was ideal for mine. The bottle says it is infused with the smell of corn flowers, but to me it had a nice, light almost medicinal smell. I liked it a lot. The shampoo contains birch leaf and walnut leaf extracts as well as aloe vera to moisturise your hair. It left my hair feeling really clean and fresh. I’ll be looking out for this again.

Camomile Shampoo
This is for blonde hair and none of us are blonde, it is however the most gorgeous smelling shampoo, it is infused with wild camomile oils and aloe vera. Our hair smelt lovely after using this and it was squeaky clean.

Lime Crystal Roll-On Deodorant
I am naturally very cautious about deodorant as I am sensitive to some deodorants, but I gave the organic one a try. First of all the fragrance is fresh and zingy, if I want my armpits to smell of anything then fresh lime is a good thing to smell of. It’s not sticky on application and I think would be great to use in the summer as it feels instantly cooling.

No Perfume Baby All-Over Wash
Lastly, this unscented, organic body wash is great for babies, young children and sensitive types like myself. A little goes a long way and it has a no more tears formula.

I really enjoyed trying all the different Urtekram products. They feel gentle and caring on my skin which is important to me. They are not expensive either, with the shampoos currently available in a range of online stores for under £5 a bottle and body lotion at around £6.50. I think they’re really good value for certified organic and vegan skincare products of this quality. I will definitely be searching these out in the future.

For more information, visit their website.

Disclaimer: We were sent these Urtekram products for review purposes. All images and opinions are our own.

Review: Braun Face Epilator & Cleansing Brush

My Nan was the most beautiful woman I ever knew, she had great skin which helped her stay looking younger than she was, even into her 80s. She was a fine looking woman but I do not take after her in looks, but thankfully in terms of skin type I do.

I don’t really wear make up and my skincare routine involves a wash with water, or if I’m mucky then I’ll use a really gentle cleanser; about twice a week I use an apricot scrub to exfoliate. I moisturise daily with a mid-range Olay product, at the moment it’s “Complete Care” but whatever I use has an spf. That’s it.

I’ve been looking tired and a bit run down recently and this morning a spot appeared on my chin, probably the result of burning the candle at both ends and not looking after myself. Earlier in the week I’d received a Braun Face Epilator and Facial Cleansing Brush Premium Edition to try out, so I thought today was a good day to give it a whirl.

The Braun Face is a two in one facial epilator and cleaning brush. I was sent the “beauty edition” which comes with –

Two different heads, an epilator and a cleansing brush
A lighted mirror
A storage pouch
A brush to clean it with
A cap to protect it and a AA battery

The Braun Face was easy to put together, a 5p coin slots in the battery casing so you just turn it and insert the battery. The head just pulls off and you can attach either the epilator or the brush. We went for the brush first.

Following the instructions I washed my face and left it wet, I dampened the soft bristled brush and added a squeeze of my regular cleanser and switched it on. The brush oscillates so you just apply a tiny bit of pressure and move it to different parts of your face, you’re advised to avoid the delicate eye area and your hairline.

Once you get over the initial “I’m scrubbing my face with a brush” thing it’s fine. I moved it all over my face, paying particular attention to my chin (and the spot) and to my nose, both of which are “problem” areas. It didn’t hurt me, I thought it felt like a deep clean, my face feels smooth, smoother than after exfoliating and my skin is tingling. I’m hoping that means that the blood is circulating better and rejuvenating me in some way. After I finished I rinsed my face, dried it and moisturised it and it does feel great.

Occasionally with beauty things I like to ~~torture~~ try out things with my husband, I have quite sensitive skin and his is more “normal” so it’s a good indicator of how things work. He works with ink and chemicals so his skin always needs a good scrub, he likes to exfoliate before he shaves as he feels it gives him a closer shave, so this might be a good option for him.

His skin definitely looked brighter and cleaner for using the Braun Face, though it’s not specifically designed for rugged menfolk who work with chemicals. I am tempted to buy an extra brush so he can use it when he needs to. What I like about the Braun Face is you can use it in the shower, which is great, I think the warm steam of the shower opening up your pores and using this would be an effective combination.

I hold my hands up and say I do fear epilators, but in the interests of giving a full and frank review I tested the epilator on my arm. I was expecting to scream the place down but it was fine, it didn’t hurt and was much gentler than the terrifying ladyshave I used on my legs in the 90s. I know that when I need to epilate my face in the future I’ll use this.

The Braun Face will definitely be part of my weekly skincare routine from now on. I’d recommend it if you’re keen on exfoliating like me, it feels like a deeper cleanse and my skin looks fantastic. Beauty is half how you look and half how it makes you feel and I think this ticks both boxes.

Note: I was sent a Braun Face Epilator and Facial Cleansing Brush Premium Edition free of charge for review purposes. All images and opinions are my own.

RawfullyGood Vegan Skincare Review

I am a sensitive soul. As a child I had eczema which I eventually grew out of, but then grew back into. I’ve got psoriasis on my feet and my skin in general is dry and sensitive.

My face when dabbed with the wrong products turns into something dry, red and itchy. I’ve got to be careful. My little monkey does too; he gets dry patches which we have to keep an eye on. It’s safe to say all our beauty products are for dry, sensitive skins.

I was given the opportunity to try a selection of products from local company Rawfully Good. The products are vegan, a lot of the ingredients are fair-trade and Amy who mixes all the products up herself keeps the products as natural as can be.

I was sent these products to try – Super Healing body butter with arnica & calendula, African black soap, lavender & tea-tree deodorant, Green Tea Cleanser and Aqueous Cream. We’ve used them for a couple of weeks now, so here are our honest thoughts.

Super Healing Body Butter with arnica & calendula
This body butter says it is great for sore, inflamed and itchy skin conditions, also for burns, eczema and nappy rash. It can be used to treat thread and spider veins as well as varicose veins.

I’d wholeheartedly agree, this was one of my favourite products. I have various scars, I applied the cream to them twice a day for two weeks and there was a definite improvement in the look of the scars, they have shrunk in size and the redness had reduced. We’ve used it on dry patches, psoriasis, chicken pox scars, bites, anything and everything. If I could butter my toast with it I probably would.

Aqueous Cream
This cream is usually a fairly standard piece of kit in any house with a small child. Generally the over the chemists counter versions contain paraffin oil or jelly, this aqueous cream is made with pure shea butter.

It was very moisturising, easy to apply and I used it on some of his sore botty bits. I also used it on my hands which are starting to suffer in the cold weather. It was a good, general, all purpose cream and we gave it the thumbs up.

African Black Soap
Honestly I opened this tin and thought “what the hell?” it looks like the innards of a fig roll and has a similar consistency. To the conventional eye this just looks plain alien. But I am assured its not, this is an entirely natural soap made in Ghana and is entirely biodegradable and contains no synthetic ingredients, no preservatives, Parabens, SLS, or Detergents.

To use this you take a little scraping from the tin and rub it on a damp flannel or sponge, against all conventional wisdom it lathers up nicely. I used it instead of shower gel and I came out squeaky clean. I noticed that the shower took less cleaning too which is always a bonus. It is gentle and kind and it didn’t dry my skin out like normal soap does.

Green Tea Cleanser
As I’ve already mentioned I have a very sensitive face. I was cautious about trying this but I needn’t have worried, it was fine, no red face, no adverse reaction, just lovely soft, clean skin. It contains natural Vitamin E and Green Tea to help protect skin, restore moisture, and improve the tone and texture of skin. Obviously I didn’t try this on the boy, but I used it morning and night for a couple of weeks, my skin appeared brighter and my skin was softer. If you’re looking for a sensitive cleanser then I’d recommend this.

Lavender & Tea-tree Deodorant
Cards on the table, no one likes talking about their pits; but like my face they’re sensitive. I’ve only found one deodorant that doesn’t bring me out in an awful, itchy, painful rash, so I was understandably worried that this would cause me all kinds of problems.

I tried it on freshly shaven and not quite so freshly shaven pits, not a problem. It comes as a stick which I thought would be sticky but it wasn’t. It doesn’t smell too strongly, is easy to apply and I imagine one stick would last for ages. I know what you’re thinking, did I have stinky pits? Well my lucky husband was forced to sniff them (in the name of science) every night and declared me sweet smelling.

This deodorant gets a massive thumbs up from me and I will definitely by buying it again in the future. I love that it’s natural and the shea butter in it conditions the skin rather than dries it out like my old spray on deodorant.

RawfullyGood products do seem awfully good, there are lots of lotions and potions on the website and I will be buying and trying more products for my family to use on our tricky skin.

I’m really glad I tried these products. I think people who have problem skin are often really cautious about trying new things. I’m glad I got the opportunity to give these products a go and I’ll be adding them to my shopping list in the future.

Disclaimer: I was given these Rawfully Good products free of charge to try for review purposes. If anything when reviewing products I’m more discerning than usual.