Urban Apothecary London Peony Rose Luxury Candle

Urban Apothecary London is a brand I have heard of, but not used a product from until now. British lifestyle brand Urban Apothecary is the brilliant brainchild of its founder Tajinder Banwait. Tajinder has over 10 years experience within the beauty industry and brings her extensive knowledge and creative flair to this innovative brand. A brand that is about enjoying luxury and indulgence everyday. Tajindr started Urban Apothecary from her kitchen table, something I am sure many of use dream of doing but never actually have given it a go. It is from this kitchen and table that she designed logos, sourced packaging and received hundreds of scent submissions. Everything received the same attention to detail until absolutely perfect. It was the search for just the right glass candle jar that marked the birth of the brand.

I was very kindly sent the Peony Rose Luxury Candle which is just stunning to look at, everything about it from the label, glass jar and lid screams luxury. This candle is from the miniature candle range of which there are eight different scents to choose from. They include Fig, Frangipan, Vanilla Flower, Plum Blossom, Mint Crème, Strawberries and cream, Violet Cassis and my very own Peony Rose.

Described as follows "Experience this full-bodied fragrance of 2 of nature’s most classic and beautiful flowers, synonymous with romance and happiness. Enjoy a sweet seduction of the senses with the heady scent of red roses and pink peonies lifted by an unexpected green apple note. With the addition of powdery white musks and soft, spicy amber, this alluring fragrance is elegant and feminine".

The first thing I noticed about this candle was that before the lid was even removed, the fresh scent of rose was really evident and then as the candle burns you can smell both the Peonies and the Roses, though for me the Roses are more dominant.  

This candle is 65g and has a burn time of around 17 hours, which is actually quite a long time.  Around 15 minutes after it has been lit, the scent lingers throughout the house, which compared to other candles is really quick.  After an hour, the scent is well and truly fragrant and you can extinguish the flame and still smell the fresh rose scent a few hours later.  For me the strength of the scent in this candle is similar to that of a wax tart.

I absolutely love the design of this candle, the glass jar is really solidly put together and it is quite weighty but delicate at the same time.  I have no doubts that when this candle come to the end of its life, I will use the jar for something else, quite what that something else will be I do not know, but it would be such a shame to not use it because it is so stunning.

A candle of this size costs just £13 and if you fancy something a little bigger then there are plenty to choose from right HERE.  As well as candles you can find Reed Diffusers and plenty of other gift offerings.

From Nail Care to Shopping Nirvana

When searching on the Internet for a product or a range of products that you want to check out, there is a way to do this that can save you a lot of money. Let’s say that you want to look at nail care and you want to buy something in this range. Instead of going to Google and typing in the keyword, go to VoucherBin.co.uk and type in “nail care” and you will get a selection of sites that you can visit and save money by using the coupon code provided.

VoucherBin is a site that offers discounts from virtually all of the major UK retail stores. You should really check this out before you buy anything online as you will be amazed at not only the selection that you have, but also the amount of savings that can be made. If you look at this site Feelunique you will end up spending ages just browsing through the selection that is presented to you. They have everything that you could ever wish for from a Beauty store, from fragrances, makeup, nails, skin care etc.

The nail care section is extremely comprehensive and you will be able to get everything that you were looking for from Feelunique and also saved yourself some money into the bargain. The amount of false nails available was mind blowing. The manufacturers included L’Oreal, ncLA, Elegant Touch and a host of others.

By looking at the main menu on these sites you will be pleasantly surprised to see the amount of stores and retailers that are offering discounts. High Street names like Debenhams, Bonmarche, BHS, La Redoute etc. were all there amongst a myriad of others. Your shopping experience will never be the same once you get used to using a voucher site to get all your needs.

The other advantage of this is that you will find a great many retailers that you have not heard of previously. You will have tremendous fun just browsing through the retailers that are new to you and discovering lots of items that will be useful in the future. When looking for gifts, you can return to this site to get lots of ideas.

The advent of voucher codes is not new, and many people search out these codes prior to making a purchase. However, having a site where there are so many stores offering bargains is not only a good way to save money, it will save a tremendous amount of time in looking for individual vouchers and bargains.

In future, make voucher sites your one stop shop when searching online. You will not only have more choice that you could ever need, but you can get some great bargains that would not have been available had you gone directly to the retailers site via Google. When it is time for Christmas to come round again, you will be spoiled for choice. You cannot top this for convenience and enabling you to save money as well.

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Capital Hair and Beauty

 I am all for championing UK grown businesses on my blog and indeed I have featured one or two in my time. Today's honour is bestowed upon Capital Hair and Beauty who began their journey some 60 years ago as a scissor sharpening company based in Brighton, East Sussex.  Today they have gone on to became the UK's largest independent supplier to Hairdressers, Beauty Therapists and Nail Technicians with over 34 cash & carry stores throughout the UK and Ireland.

The company for me has a really fascinating history, back in 1954, the scissor sharpening service used push bikes to deliver their service, not using a courier service as you might use today or indeed a Boris bike for those of you who live in London.  Throughout the 60s and 70s the business grew and self-service trade counters began to appear, then fast forward to the 1980s and there is the very first cash and carry wholesale outlet in Hayes, Middlesex.  Today with stores and distribution warehouses expanding rapidly, we hit the year 2004 to see Capital’s first eCommerce website which was later launched and in 2005.  It was at this point they started providing training courses to encourage customers to pick up new skills and broaden expertise, plus give them a chance to meet new people in the business and share tips!  Now the website has a mobile version of the website and most interestingly of all, a blog and a step into the ever growing and rapidly changing universe of social media.

I know a few of my readers are beauticians in many different forms and this website has everything I can think of for running your own business.  Whether you need a barbers chair, styling units or even a nail station, which look super handy for make-up storage, this site covers it all and at amazing prices, I somehow expected to see chairs costing a lot more than they do, my own office chair is three times the price of one of these and it isn't that comfortable - I wonder if I can trade!

Furniture aside and there is a huge lost of products for sale with every brand you can think of from Tigi, American Crew, Babyliss, Fudge, L'Oreal and Schwarzkopf to name just a few of them.  As this is a wholesale site you can only imagine some of the bargains to be had and if you do run your own company, are just starting out or have been thinking about starting out, then Capital Hair and Beauty is more than worth checking out.


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Merumaya Melting Cleansing Balm

MeruMaya is a brand I have read a lot about and not tried until I selected it as one of my choices in my January You Beauty Discovery Box.  Since then, I have pretty much used it every day, if not every other day, that is how much I love it.  Cleansing Balms are something new to me, I know a lot of people rave about Emma Hardie and it is on my wishlist, but it has to be seriously amazing to replace this product.

The tube I have is 30ml, so it has lasted over a month which is quite impressive and I still have just under half a tube left to use before it runs out.  The claims are at "The Melting Cleansing Balm claims to efficaciously removes all traces of make up and grime and leaves the skin feeling velvety soft".  I am delighted this balm comes in a tube too, makes it much easier to use.

Merumaya recommends that you massage the balm on to dry skin and you really only need a small blob because as sayings go, a little goes a long way. In the tube, the balm looks every bit like you would expect a balm to look, it is thicker than your average Micellar water and thinner in texture than a face mask.  Once you begin to massage the balm onto your face, it immediately begins to melt and as you massage it in, you can see your mascara, foundation and other products on your face simply melt along with dirt and grime from your day.  After massaging, you add water and for a another minute or two, further massage your face and you will notice that the balm now becomes like a cleansing milk, it is at this point that I grab a clean Muslin cloth to wipe my face clean.  Afterwards my skin feels absolutely amazing, soft and smooth to the touch, clean and incredibly moisturised, all in what is effectively less than 5 minutes of my time. 

I absolutely love the scent of this balm which adds to the number of reasons why I love it already. It has three main active ingredients which are:

• RevitElix™ is Echium oil providing Omega 3, 6 & 9 to reduce lines and wrinkles, improve elasticity and participate in barrier repair. It helps rebuild the hydro lipid film as the skins surface and is also anti-irritant.
• Sucragel™ which contains Sweet Almond Oil and acts as a ‘wash on’ moisturiser and leaves a velvety finish while thoroughly cleansing
• Mangosteen Fruit Extract which is rich in vitamins and polyphenols providing anti-oxidant protection

All of those ingredients, plus a few others come together to leave your skin feeling soft, clean, hydrated and as though it can breathe. As you can see, not only is this a great budget friendly cleansing balm that doesn't strip the skin, it feels luxurious and works so effectively at what it is meant to do, what more could you want? I would happily try everything else in the range.

If you are looking for a new Cleansing Balm and haven't yet tried this one, I cannot recommend Merumaya enough, it is a complete bargain at £15.50 for 100ml.