HUDA Beauty Winner And A Life Update*

Hey Everyone x I know it's been a little while since I last posted so I thought I'd post a quick update for you x I've had a few rough weeks health wise culminating in an unexpected morning in A&E on Halloween of all days and a barrage of tests since. Thankfully there doesn't appear to be anything too sinister going on just a few new fibromyalgia symptoms, and the exacerbation of a few others - ho hum. Through in another family illness and things have been a bit rough so it goes without saying that my mind has been elsewhere. 

This year really seems to have flown by I can hardly believe we're in December already - I'm so all over the place at the moment I didn't even manage to get my hands on a chocolate advent calendar this year, but thanks to Mummy Lou I did get manage to get my hands on this years Glossybox offering, which if you're interested I'm unboxing everyday on my Instagram Stories, so don't forget to follow me on there.  Everything just seems to be upside down at the moment I've done some Christmas shopping online, and most of the decorations are up but my room needs serious deep clean, and I haven't even thought about wrapping or cards - argh!

Anyways deep breaths, no need to panic, things will work out they always do (fingers crossed anyways) and whilst I won't be posting any huge gift guides or anything like that but providing the creeks don't rise, etc. etc, I do have a few little gift ideas to share with you, as well as a few empties posts to share with you before Santa comes so don't forget to keep following my blog, or checking out my other social media channels for a heads up when new posts go live!

Now though is the moment you've all been waiting for - it's time to announce the winner of my HUDA Beauty giveaway!

I didn't have too many entries so everyone that did enter had a great chance to win, alas there can only be one winner and that winner picked randomly via Rafflecopter is...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

SOPHIE

Congratulations my love and thanks for following my on Tik Tok - I will be sending you an email asap x Thanks to everyone that entered and a big thank you to all of my new followers both on the blog and elsewhere x Thanks you all for following and reading and I will see you soon with another post x 

*This Post Contains An Added Affiliate Link

COVID, Fatigue, Pain, Piercings, Another Christmas That Didn't Quite Go To Plan And Looking Forward To 2023*

Hey, I promised I'd be back this week and here I am, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas if you were celebrating. I did but like so many things this year it didn't quite go to plan. 

My usual Christmas dinner buddies, are my mam and my Godmother, and after last year when my mam was poorly, I wanted this year to be even more special, so we really had gone all out, but our plans were slightly thrown into disarray when a related called early on Christmas morning to say that my Godmother had been taken into A&E after a fall - I admit it a few tears were shed but me and my mam finished opening presents and decided to proceed with our plans anyway and it was just as well we did. After the 9 hour wait in A&E didn't quite come to fruition (probably because of my Godmothers age and history - she's 92 and a multiple cancer survivor), she was home by 10.30, all be it battered and bruised with a broken arm. Whilst she needed a lot of assistance and was still pretty shook up she made it down for dinner, and with me and my mam on cooking, cutting up food, and present unwrapping duty, a nice if slightly truncated Christmas day was had by all. She's quite shook up still, and a little battered and bruised but she's been well looked after by an army of relatives popping in and she has an outpatients appointment sometime this week to check her over again, but I must stress she was very lucky not to do any more damage!

I suppose that one incident kind of summed up how 2022 has gone for me, we started the year with the aftermath of my mam's Christmas hospital dash, before moving on to my 2 month long flu virus, and another diagnosis or two in my never ending list of ailments. By September though things were starting to sort themselves out a bit, apart from the usual stuff I started feeling a bit more normal, I got a few posts and eventually I felt as though I was turning and then wham! 2 steps forward and a zillion back over! 

I was posting well into October and then boom nothing until Christmas Eve, so I guess you deserve an explanation as to where I went. Well I was right it started off with an iffy reaction to my flu jab, before moving on to another iffy nauseous reaction to my COVID vaccine. Despite that though I'm still a huge advocate of vaccinations especially considering what happened next!

About 3 weeks after my vaccine I started to feel a bit unwell, a bit chesty, a bit coughy, a bit snotty and my ears were really hurting, I suffered in silence for about week before I decided to do a COVID test and low and behold it was positive! After getting COVID really early into the pandemic, I'd then managed to avoid for over two years and then bam! I'm not going to lie even fully vaccinated and boosted, it knocked me for six, it was nowhere near as bad as it was first time round but as well as the flu like symptoms, it was the sweats, and the all over body pain and fatigue that finished me off. It took 13 days before I eventually tested negative (unlike Mummy Lou who tested positive and then negative within 4 days and had barely any symptoms!) and even then with December approaching at the rate of knots I still felt like death, so much so in fact the one of my besties even helped me with a little bit of my early Christmas shopping. 

By the time I had pulled myself together Christmas was rapidly approaching and nothing had been done, there was a house to clean, cards to write, presents to buy and wrap, and friends and family to see. My energy was sapped even more quickly than usual, and everything was all a bit of struggle. I only made it to the Metro Centre twice before Christmas and even then for no more than a couple of hours at a time. On the first trip I treat myself to same Bath and Body Works goodies, and on the second I treat myself to another 2 helix piercings at the fabulous Doc Black Ink (the same place where I got my daith done), a sort of Christmas present to myself and a congratulations you survived the last few months gift! By Christmas Eve I was ready to flop and with the added stress and effort of Christmas Day, I've spent the last few days catching up on my sleep, dosing up on painkillers, eating and watching a bit of football.

So where does that leave the blog, well it's fair to say that 2022 has been a bit of a fail! I've achieved nothing that I intended to and I'm so far behind on every regular post that I write so what do I do? Well I have one very belated Glossybox unboxing post that was in the final stage of prep, so that one will go live, and the rest will alas never see the light of day. I have a basket full of Glossybox products that I've received over the last year which I'll hopefully get round to either reviewing at some point or that you might see in future empties posts, so hopefully all my photos won't go to waste. I've actually got so much unused Glossybox stuff floating around that I'm seriously considering whether or not to cancel my subscription - we'll see and I'll keep you posted either way x 

I'm also way behind Trimming My Stash wise but I can assure you that those posts and the accompanying mini reviews will still be going live - I aim to be all up to date with those by the end of January, and it goes without saying that empties posts are going to be continuing in 2023.

So what else have I got to come, well I've got an overview coming up of the products in the 2022 Glossybox advent calendar, no full reviews or anything like that, so if you want to see a product in more depth don't forget to comment on the relevant post and let me know x I've also got a whole load of products to review for you, as well as maybe a few more fashion posts (I enjoy posting outfits on Instagram so maybe I should do more of that on here - let me know your thoughts x) and maybe some more home and lifestyle stuff, as well as a little giveaway just to say thank you for being there.

My aim in 2023 is get back out there and produce the content that I know I can - I hit 1,885,000 all time page views whilst I was AWOL, and I'd love to hit the old 2 million by the end of 2023 but I can only do that by posting regularly again and posting content that I'm happy with and content that you want to read - so I'd love your input on what you would like to see on my blog going forward. My family and my own health will always come first but I've had lots of time to think about what I want my blog to look like, and the content that I want to create so hopefully 2023 can be a more successful year blogging wise x 

So I just want to say a huge thank you for sticking with me in what's been another flaky year. I really appreciate your support, every like, every comment and every follow, be it on here or on my other social media channels (get following me elsewhere if you haven't done so already x - links in the sidebar →). Regular posting will resume asap with a little paid collaborative post this weekend (sorry if they aren't your thing but Christmas is expensive especially at the moment), and then a very late unboxing of the March 2022 edition of Glossybox before moving forward with some reviews and empties catch up x Thanks again for being there and I'll see you soon x

*This Post Contains Both Affiliate And Non Affiliate Links 

A Late Happy New Year And A Little Blogging And Life Update*

Hi Guys x I know it's a little bit late but since this is my first post of 2021, I guess I can still say an albeit snowy,  Happy New Year x Like most people I couldn't wait to see the back of 2020 but with another lockdown in place here in the 2021 hasn't started out the way that most people wanted, but without putting a jinx on it, surely it can only get better from here on in!?

2020 was a fail on so many counts but on a personal level I don't think I've had such an unproductive year. After a viral infection at the start of the year that didn't seem to want to go away, I struggled with my physical health for most of the year, which is bad enough, but the combination of illness, and lockdowns meant that my mental health reached rock bottom. My personal relationships suffered, I felt my self worth diminishing, and my enthusiasm for life pretty much disappeared. I spent a lot of 2020 trying to put on a happy face and pretending that I was coping, after all being at home for the majority of the time wasn't that strange to me, but in truth like so many people I was struggling.

It's no surprise therefore that yet again my blog suffered, my 2020 content when I did manage to post anything was pretty samey. I'm fighting the urge to apologise for that but at least I tried to keep posting and keep a sense of normality, which was a huge plus point, when you consider that deleting the whole thing crossed my mind more than once.

As I've said before my blog has always been my safe place, but at times last year, it made me feel anxious as though I could and should have done more, I became hypercritical of everything that I did manage to write, and I felt as though the whole thing was just a massive disaster, and a complete waste of time.

Looking back with clearer eyes, I don't think anything that I wrote or product was that bad, it was just symptomatic of the negative mindset that seemed to overtake so many of us in 2020.

Despite hitting over 1,500,000 all time page views last year, I still think 2021 is going to be a make or break year for me when it comes to the blog, even before Covid, I've struggled to maintain my niche and fell out of love with blogging, so hopefully this will be the year when I get my mojo back.

So what are my plans for LouLouLand in 2021, will first up I'm going to catch up, I have loads of  backdated Glossybox unboxings, and Glossybox advent calendar reviews for you, that I'm still planning on writing, as well as lots of new beauty reviews, hopefully some more fashion and lifestyle posts, as well as the return of some old favourites like empties posts and maybe the odd foodie Friday post.

I can't promise that I won't disappear again, after all my physical and mental health, and the health and wellbeing of those I love comes first but no matter what 2021 throws at us, I'm still going to be here x So thank you for sticking with me, I hope you're all doing as well as can be expected (don't forget about the helpline numbers in my previous post if you need someone to talk to), and I hope that 2021 is a better year for all of us xx 

*This Post Contains An Added Affiliate Link

Press Samples / Unpaid AD - Sleep With Ease With Pukka Herbs*

It's really hard, especially at the moment to overestimate the importance of sleep. We're all feeling a little bit frazzled, stressed out, and a little bit under the weather at the moment, and more often than not life's upsets are reflected in our quality of sleep.

Good sleep plays a huge role in both our physical and mental wellbeing, it's essential for cell regeneration, to recharge our cardiovascular system, and to support our immune system, as well as improving mental clarity, helping with decision making and helping us to cope with stress.

I probably struggle more than most with my sleep. Thanks to my struggles with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome / CFS / ME and Fibromyalgia, I alternate between utter exhaustion, I can go without sleep for more than 24 hours, or I can sleep for 18 hours solid and still feel exhausted, there really isn't a lot of middle ground. 

Alongside medical advice and intervention, I'm always looking for new ways to improve my sleep health. I've tried a lot of things from acupuncture, to cognitive behavioural therapy, and various other little things that I'll mention later in this post, but I am always on the look out for new ways to help me sleep.

I was recently contacted by the lovely people at Pukka, and I was invited to take part in their "Sleep With Ease" campaign. If you haven't heard of Pukka, they are a substantial, ethical and organic herbal company that produce a wide range of herbal infusions that aim to benefit the health of people, plants and the planet and they very kindly sent three boxes of caffeine free, herbal blends from their range to help me on my quest for better sleep.

Pukka recognise the importance of sleep for our mental and physical health, and in an attempt to help us improve both our sleep health and our wider health, they have introduced their 7 day Sleep With Ease programme, which is specifically designed to help us create a space, pattern and routine to help us sleep better.

Designed to be used alongside their herbal blends, their website contains a whole load of information and downloads to help you eliminate bad sleeping habits, establish routine, and train both your body and brain to help you sleep better.As I say, I'm up for anything that can send me into the land of nod, so I decided to give the 7 day Sleep With Ease programme a try.  

The website features a downloadable sleep diary that you can fill in, as well as a list of changes that you can can make across the course of a the week to help you improve your sleep.

Source

The idea is that you introduce one new element everyday until all of the tips become a part of your daily sleep routine. Some of the tips as you can see are actually quite simple, and in theory they are, it's just about putting them into practise. 

My biggest issue sleep wise has always been with routine, going to bed late, sleeping late, and then wondering why I can't sleep at night. It makes total sense, go to sleep at roughly the same time of night, and wake up at similar team each morning. It takes a little bit of effort and I'm not going to lie dragging myself out of bed when I'm exhausted is difficult but after a few days it begins to feel normal, and now I can pretty much wake up without having to set an alarm.

Another thing that I have an issue with is technology, I have a tv and a dvd player in my bedroom and whilst I don't usually have my MacBook in my bedroom at night, I do have my phone, and my iPad plugged in, in my room, but the key is to have cut off times, plug things into charge by all means but don't check your phone, or start flicking through Instagram when you're trying to get ready for sleep.

We are all guilty of it, if it's not watching one more episode of a tv show, flicking through Facebook, or getting annoyed with someone on twitter, it's watching the late night news and depressing yourself. Sleep is all about de-stressing, and concentrating on something, or getting stressed and upset just sends your brain into overdrive when you really should be preparing for sleep, so switch off the tv, your computer, and phone for an hour or so before you go to bed and you really will notice a difference in your sleep health.

One of the other tips, that the team from Pukka recommend is to cut down on your caffeine consumption. I'm not a huge tea and coffee drinker compared to lot of people, but my nightly cuppa is definitely a thing, and even though tea usually contains less caffeine than coffee, it is still a stimulant and it could be disrupting your sleep without you realising.

The Pukka Sleep With Ease programme advises that you should try to avoid caffeine after 12pm, so instead of caffeine filled soft drinks, the odd latte, and iced coffees, I've switched to some of Pukka's caffeine free herbal blends including their Elderberry & Echinacea, which has lovely some fresh hedgerow berry, ginger, and liquorice flavours, their Lemon, Ginger and Manuka Honey blend, and their chamomile, fennel, and ginger flavoured Relax blend.

As part of their sleep programme Pukka recommend that you drink a mug of their 'Night Time' tea every night. So instead of my caffeine laden cuppa, at around 8pm, I've been drinking this blend of lime flower, chamomile and lavender flowers, oat flower tops, liquorice root and valerian root instead

Designed to help you unwind before bed, this particular tea is caffeine free and contains 28% fair wild ingredients, and 33% fair trade ingredients, the bags themselves are plastic free, are fully recyclable and compostable, and they also feature organic cotton strings.

All you do is pop your bag into a mug of boiling water, and then let it infuse for around 15 minutes before drinking. Given then floral ingredients such as lavender and chamomile I was expecting the Night Time blend to have more of a floral taste but instead it had a surprisingly sweet, pleasant, herbal liquorice / aniseed type flavour.

Drinking the tea at night immediately sent me into wind down mode. After drinking it I switched off my blue screen electronics, and usually had a warm (but not too hot) shower with a calming lavender based shower gel before settling into bed, and reading a non stressful book for an hour before using some pillow spray, and settling down with either a guided meditation (there is a nice short one on the Pukka website) or some nature sounds on a timer until I fall asleep.

These are things that work for me but you could also add other things to help you sleep including ear plugs, eye masks, a fan, a white noise machine, or a story app. Everyone is different, there are basic things that should help most people fall asleep but you just need to find out what works for you. 

I've now actually been doing the Pukka Sleep With Ease campaign for more than 7 days now and I can safely say that following some of the suggestions in the plan, keeping a sleep diary, and drinking in particular the Night Time tea has made a difference.

I've managed to establish a proper sleep / wake routine and I've tried to eradicate some of my bad sleep habits. As I say drinking the Night Time tea became a real signal to me that the day was coming to an end and that I should start winding down and preparing myself for rest and sleep.

Unfortunately due to medical reasons I potentially am always going to have issues with my sleep but thanks to Pukka I've been reminded that making small differences and creating a workable routine can really help me to get a better and more restful nights sleep.

If you're struggling with your sleep at the moment I would thoroughly recommend that you try Pukka's 7 day Sleep With Ease programme. You can find out more on their website and of course I would really recommend that you try some of Pukka's herbal blends to help you improve your own sleep, mental, and physical health at this stressful time. Pukka Relax, Pukka Night Time, and the Pukka Herbal Collection retail at around £2.79 - £3 for a box of 20 teabags from various retailers including Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda, Waitrose and Holland & Barrett.

 *Press Samples / Unpaid Advertisement / Promotion / Non Affiliate Links 

Life Lately, Social Media And Trimming My Stash - June 2017 Edition

Hey Guys? Remember Me? It's safe to say that when it comes to blogging, June was a little bit of a fail. I managed to upload quite a few videos to my You Tube channel but the words on the screen thing just didn't really happen for me last month.

I seemed to spend most of June in a weary, Fibro and ME induced foggy haze, I had the best of intentions to get out there and get things done but for most of the month neither my mind nor my my body would play ball.  As I say I managed to upload a few videos to my channel, and I was pretty active on Instagram, but the thanks to a lot of brain fog the words just wouldn't come, so I took a bit of time out, had lot of me time, and as a result I feel a little bit more refreshed.

I firmly believe that sometimes you do need to take a bit of time out, and spend some time concentrating on yourself and your own well being. Like a lot of bloggers I do feel guilty when I can't and don't post as frequently but I'm really trying to teach myself not to. I love my blog, my followers and the little space that I've created for myself online, but my blog is only part of me and my life, and sometimes as much as I love it, I just need to focus on the bits away from the camera and the screen. I've seen a few people saying that they'll stop following a blogger or a You Tuber if they don't post every single week, and I guess what I'm trying to say is for those people, no matter how "big" (I hate that term!) or small a blogger is they deserve to take time out and have some time away from it, we're are all but mere mortals and sometimes you need to say enough is enough, I need some R & R.

So I've had a mini blogging break, and whilst I can't guarantee that I won't be having another one in the near future, I'm back for now and I'm ready to get my blog on again, and since it's the 1st day of a new month, there is no better place to start than with a empties post x

Primark PS Love Your Skin Oil Balancing Facial Cleansing Wipes x 25 Wipes
Philosophy The Gingerbread Man Exfoliating Shower Gel - 473.1ml
Beauty Bible Face And Body Oil - 60ml
Dove Pure Care Dry Oil Non Greasy Conditioner - 50ml
Dove Pure Care Dry Oil Non Greasy Shampoo - 50ml

Total - 5 Items 

Hmm maybe it wasn't just my blogging mojo that disappeared in June! Again I had the best of intentions when it came to trimming my stash last month but it just didn't really happen. For the second month in a row I only managed to finish 5 items, and 5 very uninteresting items at that. 

1. Primark PS Love Your Skin Oil Balancing Facial Cleansing Wipes x 25 Wipes

Yes, another packet of these, and believe me they only slipped into June's total by the skin of their teeth! There is pretty much nothing else that i can say about these that I haven't already said! They're cheap, they do what they say they do, and they are one of my holy grail products even if I don't really use them for their intended purpose, like most of these wipes that I've used up this packet were used mainly for swatch clean up and freshening up x 

2. Philosophy The Gingerbread Man Exfoliating Shower Gel - 473.1ml

Instead of swapping my Christmas shower products for more Spring and Summer themed ones, this year I've decided just to leave them in the shower and try and use them up. I love Philosophy's Gingerbread Man range, it doesn't smell particularly gingery to me, instead I get sugar, and warm spices from it, and even a little bit of cheap cola but I've used it for years and the scent just makes me think about Christmas. That said this isn't my favourite product in the range, I like a gritty, grainy scrubs, and this one is basically just a whole bunch of fine particles surrounded by a runny, brown shower gel. I love the scent but it doesn't look particular pleasant and it's just not scrubby enough for me.

3. Beauty Bible Face And Body Oil - 60ml

Next up a mystery product, and it's a product that I was sent last year from the team at The Beauty Bible. If you don't know what The Beauty Bible is then where have you been? Basically it's a series of books that are crammed full of beauty product reviews that are written by real women. All you need to do to take part is sign up to be a tester on their website, and if you're selected, you pay a small fee to cover postage, and administration (and to prove that you're committed to taking part), and then you'll receive a huge package of goodies to try out and review. I've done it a couple of times now, and I've discovered some really nice products because of it, the only thing is that you aren''t supposed to share the products that you tried on social media so all I can say is that this was a body and face oil, I loved it on the body, but it was a big thumbs down from me as a facial oil.

4. Dove Pure Care Dry Oil Non Greasy Conditioner - 50ml

5. Dove Pure Care Dry Oil Non Greasy Shampoo - 50ml

Finally two products that came in successive Pink Parcel's and they are hair products from Dove. After a period of relative stability my hair problems returned with a vengeance and the only thing that seems to have helped has been to load it up with as much moisture as possible - I've been layering on the Philip Kingsley Elasticizer, and the hair oils, and I've been trying out a few different moisturising shampoos and conditioners. If you look at the Boots website these two Dove products for dull and dry hair have some amazing reviews, and even though these were just travel sizes I can see why. Not only do they smell great, with a fresh and clean scent, but both of these products left my hair feeling smoother, and more manageable, and thanks to the dry oil ingredients, unlike some other oil rich products that I've tried they didn't leave my hair feeling greasy, heavy or lank. I literally have a drawer full of shampoos, conditioners and hair products to use up, but if I was on the lookout for a new shampoo and conditioner I would definitely consider repurchasing both of these products, and if you have hair that needs a little bit of love then this range is definitely worth a try.

So bar a couple of shopping trips, my ongoing weight loss journey, and an afternoon tea, this post has pretty much summed up June in LouLouLand, My aims for July? lots of self care, lots of blogging, a bit of You Tube (check out my channel if you haven't already), a bit of Instagram and hopefully lots more empties x Whatever I do and whatever you do, I hope that July is a good month for all of us x Thanks for reading x 

A Life Update - Wisdom Teeth Removal, Spoonie Life And Things To Come

Bonjour, mes amis! Did you miss me? It's been a little while since I last posted but there is a good reason I promise.

At silly a clock on Friday morning I was admitted to the day case unit of one of the North East's largest hospitals - the reason? to get the tooth from hell removed. Although it was a long day and there was a lot of waiting around, I really can't praise the hospital and staff highly enough.

 I'd chosen to have it removed with a little bit of IV Sedation, so after I'd gowned up and donned the obligatory surgical stockings, the wait started, and eventually I headed down to theatre - in the run up to the surgery there had been a few issues with my heart and my blood pressure, so everything was rechecked and I was given a bit of oxygen as a precaution. Feeling nice and calm and full of mild sedatives the surgery itself was a breeze, after a few injections of local anaesthetic into my mouth and gums, all I felt was a bit of pressure and a bit of tugging, and the feeling of thread brushing my nose.

After what seemed like only about 5 minutes (it was actually only around 10)  I was wheeled into recovery with a piece of gauze clamped in my mouth for a little bit of observation and a few more tests, and then I was taken back to the ward for yet more tests, and I was eventually given a glass of water! Despite tasting a touch bloody, and having a mouth lacking in feeling, it was amazing - I'd been nil by mouth since midnight and since this was around 1pm I was gasping!

Since I was recovering well, I was allowed to get dressed (after a quick selfie of my puffy face) and preparations were made for my discharge. I was given another drink and a sandwich I couldn't really eat, and then I was given some antibacterial mouth rinse and some painkillers and then I was free to go.

I took my nearly an hour to get home and by this time the pain was starting to kick in, the local anaesthetic was wearing off, and the painkillers were consumed almost as soon as I got through the door, and that's the way it went for the next 3 days - painkillers, painkiller, and more painkillers. My face swelled up, I couldn't open my mouth and I felt as though I'd been hit in the face with a shovel! Liquids and cool drinks we're my friend and solids were a big no no.

Thankfully all seems to have gone well, and the pain, swelling and stiffness has gradually subsided as the weeks gone on, I'm still eating a soft diet, avoiding anything that's too hot and I'm still getting the odd twinge but bar my stitches dissolving, it's over with and that's the main thing.

Like a lot of things though even the most minor surgery can knock a spoonie for 6, and since Friday I've felt utterly exhausted, I've spent 4 days in my PJ's and I feel as though I've slept for Britain. Today though I feel as though I'm starting to turn the corner. So after a mini blogging break I'm back and raring to go.

My face is still a bit swollen and I still think I'm talking a bit oddly, so I won't be making any videos for a little while or showing my face in any blog posts but I still have a few things planned including a recipe which should be live tomorrow, a beauty box unboxing post, and an overview of  some of the products in the OPI Hello Kitty collection. I've also got lots and lots of reviews planned and a little thank you giveaway, so there will be lots to keep you busy. Thanks again for the well wishes and I hope that sharing my experience has been helpful x If you have any more questions though please leave me a comment and I'll try and get back to you as soon as I can x 

Press Sample - Getting Rid Of Those Achy Bits With Gwdihw - A Review For My Pure*

A few weeks ago I reviewed a few products that I'd been sent to help with sore and achy muscles - I loved the products and I really felt that they did the job, but you know me I never rest on my laurels and I always like trying new things so for one this months My Pure reviews I decided to try out another muscle soothing product, this time from Welsh natural beauty brand Gwdihw - Goody Hoo.

I've tried a couple of the Gwdihw balms before and I was pretty impressed with them (read my reviews here and here), so I thought I'd try out one the newer editions to the line, the Muscle Soother. Unlike some of the products that I reviewed recently this product contains no medical or painkilling ingredients, it just contains four naturally occurring extracts - Arnica Oil, Menthol, Camphor and Witch Hazel.

The product comes boxed and is packed in a clear plastic pump action dispenser. I've said it before and I'll say it again I love these dispensers they keep the contents relatively airtight, and it's easy to dispense exactly the right amount. 

The product is a gorgeous ice blue / aqua in colour and it has a cream / gel like texture. Other than the colour the first thing you probably notice when you dispense the product is the smell. It has a really fresh, nose clearing even, smell which comes from the camphor and the menthol. The product immediately feel cooling on the skin and when you gently massage it in, it absorbs really quickly without any greasiness or tackiness.

Over the next 15 or so minutes the skin where you've applied will go through that strange ice cold / burning feeling. Both me and Mummy Lou really liked this product, it really did make a difference to the aches and some of the pains. It wasn't as effective as say the ibuprofen and levomenthol gel, but if your after a more natural product to help ease those aches and pains this could be the product for you. Unfortunately as of 2021 this product appears to have been discontinued. If you have any questions as per usual please leave me a comment xx

* Press Sample