Be at one with Nature

Ok so rubbing the contents of your garden may not be the best way to get in touch with nature, but with a growing number of natural and eco-friendly beauty products from our favourite brands, there’s now even more opportunities to look great on the outside and feel good on the inside.

Bath and Shower

Natural products can often heighten the senses bringing smells from far flung exotic destinations, so start the day on a high and laver up with some tropical aromas.

Radox’s new Tea Infusions is a range of creamy shower and bath products containing tea, one of nature’s most powerful antioxidants, perfect for helping to revive and replenish both body and mind.  The Green Tea Infusion balances the beautifying qualities of green tea with the delicate fragrance of jasmine, to help calm your mind and soothe your body.  Radox Green and White Tea Infusions are available in both bath and shower options, at a pocket pleasing £1.99.

Inspired by exotic destinations from around the world, interior designer Alan MacKenzie has launched Wild Organics, taking notes from nature’s most exceptional wild flowers, and combining them with Eco Certified formulations.  The Wild Organics Marshmallow Butter Sugar Scrub is an indulging sugar based scrub to exfoliate and buff the skin.  Marshmallows are rich in minerals and vitamin B both renowned to smooth the skin, and combined with avocado oil and shea butter, help renew and condition.  

£28.00 from www.wildorganicsbeauty.com  

Skin

If like me, every morning you reach for a cup of coffee and a pot of skin cream then how about combining the both.   These two unusual pairings have joined forces in a new skin care range – Priori CoffeeBerry® Natureceuticals. Believe it or not, CoffeeBerry® extract is one of nature’s most potent botanical, derived from the whole fruit of the coffee plant and scientists believe it is the most powerful natural antioxidant ever discovered.  Priori Coffeeberry® Natureceuticals is the first, and currently the only, all natural cosmeceutical line with the range including a Revitalising Cleanser, Tightening Serum, Radiance Eye Serum, Daily Complex, Night Complex, Brightening Facial Complex, Body Emulsion and a Professional Botanical Enzyme Masque.

Prices vary, www.outlineskincareco.uk/priori-coffeeberry

Ethically sourced and community traded, Boots Extracts range is ideal for those of us who believe in beauty with a purpose. The ingredients are purchased from suppliers that allow their workers to have a say in how the money they make is used locally. 

All the Extracts products contain the moisturising Organic Cocoa Butter, farmed by a co-operative in Dominican Republic and the nourishing Shea Butter, which comes from a women’s’ co-operative in a village in Ghana near Wa.

Prices vary, www.boots.co.uk

For a bit of added zing, Paul Mitchell’s Lemon, Sage and Tea Tree will definitely leave you invigorated and ready to take on anything.  The new Lemon Sage Energizing Body Lotion™; is a delicious recipe of zesty Lemon, Sage and Tea Tree to deliver the wake-up call your skin needs.

Through Tea Tree sales, Paul Mitchell® helps to fund its Global ReLeaf® programme, an initiative that plants three million trees a year worldwide - so get clean to be green!

£11, Paul Mitchell® Tea Tree is available from selected salons.

Make up

We’ve been firm fans of mineral make up for some time now and last year we looked at some of the best that money could buy.  Since then, it’s a trend that has continued to grow and even more cult beauty brands are adding new lines while new mineral make up brands continue to emerge.

Sweeping the board at the recent Natural Health Awards, make up line Elysambre is a new refillable brand boasting all-natural plant based organic ingredients.  We took a liking to the winning Elysambre Lip Gloss, available in over 20 stunning shades, containing 100% natural ingredients.  This non-sticky gloss is made of 85% plant-based active ingredients to moisturise and protect lips the safe way.

£3.95 (case) £10.99 (refill), www.naturismo.com

With its new fresh ground technology, Elizabeth Arden’s Pure Finish Mineral Powder Foundation SPF 20 takes the mess out of loose powder mineral makeup and gives a pure, non-drying, perfect application.   Infused with minerals, rich with antioxidants and natural skin smoothers, it is also enriched with sea water complex and non-drying ingredients.

£22, www.elizabetharden.co.uk

Hair

There must be something in the old wives tales and myths we used to follow - lemon juice, mud and oils that give your hair that sun bleached look or magic spark.  With hair care becoming even more advanced, there’s a lot more choice and the key ingredients don’t seem that far from where we started with nature itself!

Surya Ucuuba Restructuring Hair Mask is an ultra hydrating mask created in the heart of the Brazilian rainforest and helps to inject moisture and elasticity into curly, fragile hair using carefully selected ingredients native to the Amazon rainforest.  The Ucuuba Seed Oil is a fatty acid similar to that of Shea Butter which provides a rich emollient for fragile hair.

£10 from Liberty and www.liberty.co.uk  (Ecocert & PETA)

Hairdresser Paul Edmonds has created four bespoke hair treatments exclusively available within his salons. The premise for these treatments is for clients to experience a unique and tailored recipe, which is presented in its rawest form and mixed accordingly to individual hair type.   The Nourishing Botanic Clay Treatment hails from the Alborz Mountains in Iran and is a nourishing clay treatment rich in minerals and nutrients that adds lost moisture and condition to hair. (100% natural and suited to most hair types with exception to Afro-Caribbean).

£50, available at Edmonds and Paul Edmonds, London.