I’m not someone who often feels stressed. A combination of yoga, mindfulness and motherhood has made me a much calmer person. But deciding to uproot my five year old daughter from her new school and move to Spain has put me pretty high up on the stress scale. My skin has of course turned on me, as skin does in times like this. My usual combination skin is now dry as the Sahara, and adding foundation into the mix creates a sad flaky mess. A forehead that says, I tried, and I failed.
I’ve been meaning to write about Neal’s Yard for a while, solely because of their brilliant reputation. In 2008, they were the first high street retailer to reduce their carbon footprint to net zero, they never use microbeads, and they are running a campaign to save the bees, alongside many others that you can read about here. I visited the Bury St Edmunds branch to find out a bit more. The ladies in the shop were absolutely amazing and so knowledgeable and enthusiastic about their products.
I was recommended the Wild Rose Beauty Balm which I will without a doubt be purchasing. The scent is both intoxicating and calming; it contains rosehip oil, geranium and starflower to list a few. The texture was surprisingly thick, so I used a very small amount, which covered my entire face, and the results were incredible. My dry skin vanished instantly and was replaced by pure radiance. It is so rare for me to find a product that exceeds expectations but I am in love with this product. Not superficial love, like my love for Joe Manganiello, but true love.
Next I was keen to try a product from their ‘Bee Lovely’ range, so I went with the Bee Lovely Body Butter. The bee population is declining rapidly due to modern agricultural practices and the pesticides we’re using. Neal’s Yard support the movement to ban neonicotinoids and only use sustainably sourced honey. The body butter itself absorbed very quickly, and had a lovely energising scent, perfect for the morning. It doesn’t have any nasty chemicals either, so I was able to try it out on my daughter, who said it smelt like sunshine. Another firm favourite.
The third product that I got on well with was the White Tea Eye Gel. I very rarely use under eye products as I’m more of a hide-under-a-carpet-of-concealer kind of girl. For me, the eye gel was one of those annoying products that you don’t realise you need until you try it. My eyes looked noticeably brighter and more refreshed. Damn you Neal’s Yard, take my money.
Wild Rose Beauty Balm ·Bee Lovely Body Butter ·White Tea Eye Gel
(Fellow Bee Lovers: ‘The Year Of The Flood’ by Margaret Atwood and ‘The Bees’ by Laline Paull, are brilliant dystopian novels concerning bee extinction, and also ‘The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History’ is a nonfiction novel by Elizabeth Kolbert, which looks at the impact of humans on animal populations.)
verdemadre 