Isle of Wight Natural Candle Company - plus reader offer!

Autumn here and the candles are burning quicker than they do all year round and I always seem to run my selection right down during the autumn months, even though I burn candles all year round.

Anyway, today I want to introduce you to some new candles called Isle of Wight Natural candle company and each candle is lovingly hand poured in the Garden Workshop.  Each candle has the highest quality soy wax to ensure they deliver a perfect, cool, even burn, with no toxic chemicals in sight such as petrochemicals! One of the aims of the IWNC.Co is to make paraffin wax a thing of the past, and introduce the clean, tunnel free burn that all candle fans deserve!

I was very kindly sent a Lavender and Lavender & Bergamot scented candles and as soon as I opened the box, the scent was absolutely amazing. If like me you are a big fan of Lavender, then you will love this, it is just as though you have been walking through the Lavender fields, the scent is that fresh.  As soon as you place the candles in a room or within two different rooms as I have done, even after a few minutes the scent is really noticeable and that is before they are alight.

The Lavender and Beragmot candle is described as being one that will "instantly restores a sense of calm and balance. The cleansing fragrance of Lavender has been celebrated for centuries, and is said to relieve tension and headaches; paired with the fresh and uplifting notes of Bergamot it provides the perfect indulgence for any time of day".

The Lavender candle is describe as being one that will "melt away the tension and strains of the day melt away as you drift off to a deeply relaxing place. The aromatherapeutic benefits of Lavender have stood the test of time, restoring a sense of wellbeing for many".

These candles come in three different sizes and three different prices and I was quite surprised at how good value they are.  A small candle which will burn for approximately 19 hours costs just £5.50.  A medium sized candle which will burn for around 36 hours is only £10.50 and the biggest candle which burns for around 45 hours is an absolute bargain at £13.50, details of which you can find on the homepage linked above.

All I can say about these candles is that they smell every bit as wonderful as you can imagine from their description.  Both are extremely relaxing, both leave a lovely scent to flow throughout the hour and if burned together, really compliment one another well. 

If you would like to try one of these candles, I have a discount code just for you, simply type in BEAUTYQUEEN15** at the checkout for a lovely little discount and it covers all sized candles, but do it quick because it expires on 7th November!

Do these sound like the type of candles you would enjoy?

***Enter promo code at the check out. Discount code not to be used in conjunction with any other offers or discounts. Offer expires 31/10/14

WOW Facemask

Now I love a good face mask and I have tried quite a few in my time. I try to make it a weekly ritual that I will spend at least 2 hours of me time to pamper myself from head to foot. When I was asked if I would like to try the new WOW mask, I hadn't finished reading the introductory blurb before i quickly responded 'Yes please'.

That blurb reads as follows:

"WOW mask is a brand NEW Bio-­peptide Aqua Gel mask that contains innovative natural ingredients to restore the skin’s tone, elasticity and hydration to reduce the appearance of fine wrinkles. It releases the essence of nature’s most potent skin-loving plants at exactly the right speed for your skin to get the maximum benefit".

The packaging of the mask is quite something and there are little anecdotes which really made me chuckle such as "WOW are dedicated to the caused of perfect looking skin without the intervention of needles or a pact with the devil" an important yet light hearted statement.

Clinicians in Switzerland and beauty fanatics in California came together to develop this mask using ingredients that help to restore the skin’s tone, elasticity and hydration as well as to reduce the appearance of fine wrinkles. The mask isn't a cream, lotion, potion, powder or watery substance, instrad it is a Bio-peptide Aqua Gel Mask, which comes in two pieces to cover your face.

When it comes to using the mask, you need to ensure that your face is as clean as it can be and then dried. Then placing both sheets on your face, allow it at least five minutes to settle onto your skin, the reason for this is because it does feel a little slippery when first applied, but given those five minutes, all you need to do is sit back and relax for between 20-40 minutes as per the description on the packaging. After those allotted minutes, of which I chose 40, you simply remove the sheets from your face.

Institute Hyalual Switzerland, a scientific research centre dedicated to skin rejuvenation, created the mask as the simplest and most effective way to combine the moisturising effect of Hyaluronic Acid (HA), Argireline (famed for its skin firming properties) and RMCP-complex (a combination of ingredients that include fruit and leaf cell culture and flower extract). It’s the interaction between HA, Argireline and RMCP-complex which results in such a complete anti-ageing effect. The mask also uses newly developed Transdermal Cosmetics Delivery technology which is activated by skin temperature to allow the ingredients to reach the deeper layers of skin. This means that WOW mask provides 200% more hydration than other collagen-based moisturising treatments.

So after all that sciencey bit, what you are getting is a fantastic sounding face mask, which is very unlike any other that I have tried and when I did get round to using it, my skin had been a real nightmare all week. I don't suffer from breakouts as such, but my roseacea had flared up on both cheeks, it tends to do so when I am stressed, then it goes again within a week to ten days. So I decided to put this mask to the test and this is the result!

As you can see my cheeks beforehand were quite red, not as bad as they usually are, but it is obvious that I am not just flushing!  Then you can see the mask on my face after I first applied it, then as it begins to settle down on my face and form a sort of second skin, it is quite hard to describe, but it does feel really cooling on the skin and it does smell amazing, not at all chemical and really natural.  Then after I had removed it, wiped my face clean, the redness is a whole lot less than it was, infact amazingly so, I took a lot of photos of my face just to ensure it wasn't the light or the darkness, it was just the effect of the mask and one which remained for two weeks after using it.

The phrase "It’s not magic but WOW mask offers the best that nature and science can provide in terms of beautiful and youthful looking skin". I think is one that certainly speaks for itself.  Soft, smooth, moisturised and hydrated is exactly how my skin felt for days after using and the experience was incredible.  This mask isn't cheap, infact they come in a box of five and are priced at £99.99 which means every mask is valued at around £20 and I actually think it is well worth the money spent.  If my skin ever had a really bad Roseacea break out I am reaching for these as it is the only thing to date that I have found which works.

Do these sound like the type of mask you would love to try?