Keep these dates in your diary...we would love to see you there!
Saturday 7th June - Taste of Grampian, Thainstone Centre, Inverurie
Sunday 8th June - Strathmore Highland Games, Glamis Castle, Angus
Sunday 8th June - Cairngorms Farmers Market, Grantown-on-Spey
Saturday 21st June - Moray Farmers Market, Plainstones, Elgin
Saturday 21st June - Turra Farmers Market, Balmellie Street, Turriff
Saturday & Sunday 28th-29th June - Bannockburn Live, Stirling
Saturday 28th June - Piping Hot Forres
Sunday 29th June - Vintage Fete for the Aila Coull Foundation, Mosstodloch
We welcome you to come along, we can easily answer any questions you have about any of our products, and we also have samples of them for you to try too!
Hazelnut oil is an amazing oil and we love using this as it's full of essential vitamins and minerals.
Like a lot of the carrier oils we use, hazelnut oil is rich in vitamin E...which helps in solving some of the problems that occur with aging, but it's also high in B vitamins too. With high levels of essential fatty acids, it's an excellent emollient and moisturiser. A very light oil that's easily absorbed in your skin, apart from that it's anti-bacterial and astringent so will help prevent too much secretion of skin oil that causes acne.
This oil is good for any skin type especially sensitive skin and is very good for oily skin. We chose this oil for our vitamin cream because of all they propoerties and because it doesn't leave an oily, greasy feeling on the skin.
Through time we will be using this oil more in our products. Please feel free to leave your comments or any questions you have below.
I will be spending most of today in my polytunnel and garden tending to my home grown fruit and vegetables... I find that it's very theraputic and satisfying growing them myself with the knowledge of them being much better for me and my family too! I have also found that when I grow my own they taste a lot better than commercially grown ones.
In my polytunnel I have tomatoes, cucumbers, corgettes, chillies and some lettuce, which are coming along quite well. In the garden I have some peas (planted just outside the polytunnel so they can grow up outside the walls!), I also planted some blueberry, blackcurrant, raspberry bushes and lots and lots of strawberry plants. Fingers crossed Chloe and Jack don't get to them first...
We have apple trees in the front garden and cherry trees out back, last year I did plant a new plum tree but sadly it died and I haven't really had the time to replace it, maybe next year.
Like all gardeners it's fine having a nice garden, but it does take a lot of work and keeping it weed free is just one of the drawbacks of gardening, particularly when not using chemicals to do it for you...but all that said there is nothing to beat relaxing in the garden on a warm summers' night!
I would love to hear what you've been up to in your garden too, just leave your comments below...
Read what Slummy Mummies think about our baby range...zinc free baby cream, soothing baby soap and moisturising mum & baby lotion!
Our soothing baby soap has mild Olive Oil, Chamomile, Lavender & Aloe...perfect for little hands to play with!
A moisturising lotion to leave your skin silky soft with its Camellia Oil, Shea Butter & Aloe...your skin will love you for it!
We'd love you to tell us what you think of these for your family...leave comments below
Our Apricot Kernel Oil comes from the seeds of the apricot tree, its a light nourishing oil high in Vitamins A and E. It is especially soothing for sensitive skin and a good thing about this oil is it's easily absorbed into the skin making this a non-greasy oil.
We use Apricot Kernel Oil in a lot of our products, from our soaps, body butters and our creams - it helps to replenish the skin keeping a healthy moisture balance so you have problem free skin...
We would like to hear your feedback, so feel free to leave your comment below!
I'm not one for eating a lot of Lamb, but here is a great way to eat it whilst it is in season...a slow cooked meal that's delicious!
Serves a family of 4 - Cooking time 3 hours
Ingredient List:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, peeled & finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled & minced
2 or 3 chilli peppers, deseeded & finely chopped (green for mild, red for heat)
3 large carrots, peeled & diced
2 sticks celery, cleaned & finely diced
1 or 2 sweet pepper(s), deseeded & roughly diced
1/2 small swede/turnip, peeled & diced
125g peas, frozen if not grown in your garden
400g lamb fillet, diced into 2cm cubes
600ml lamb stock
300ml vegetable stock
2 tbsp parsley, fresh, roughly chopped
2 tsp mint, fresh, roughly chopped
Seasoning, to taste
1 tbsp cornflour
Method:
- Heat the oil in a large pan. Lightly fry the onion, chilli peppers and garlic over a low to medium heat (to 'sweat' them), put off to one side after 5 minutes. Turn the heat up to brown the lamb for 4-5 minutes until golden.
- Turn the heat down again and add the cooked onion, peppers and garlic to the lamb, then add the celery and cook until they start to soften.
- Pour in the stock and stir. Add the carrots, peas, sweet pepper(s), swede, herbs and seasoning. Cover with a lid and gently simmer for 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Take the lid away after 2 hours to reduce the stock.
- Just before serving, put 2 tbsp of the stock into a dish and gentle stir in the cornflour to make a paste. Add the paste back into the pot and gently boil for 5 minutes to thicken the stock.
To get the best out of this dish, only buy fresh organic lamb and veg (preferably from your local famers market or butcher). You can easily grow fresh herbs in little pots in your kitchen or a window box, just harvest what you need for a great tasty dish!
This has become a firm favourite in our house, and it's very easy to change to suit different tastes too! I would love to hear about any of your favourites...
We finally worked out a non-greasy body scrub, it's different from the normal scrubs which have a higher oil content.
I decided to use organic Olive Oil, its high content of Omega-3 making it very moisturising, gentle for your skin, kind to the environment and easy to wash off, especially when we only use just enough for the scrub to work at its best!
To help the Olive Oil work to rejuvenate your skin (to promote new skin to grow), we have added Sugar (we only use organic, raw cane sugar) and fine Sea Salt. Both of these are gentle for even the most sensitive skin, easy to wash off and kind to the environment too!
The light scent of Vanilla and Orange is a delight (a little like those Terry's Chocolate Oranges) for your senses and using this in your weekly routine will give your skin a treatment it will adore!
To find out more about our new Vanilla & Orange Body Scrub, have a look online...please leave any comments you have below, we'd love to hear from you.
This is the definition of what is classed as "natural", the dictionary defines it as existing in/or formed by nature. Many commercial skincare companies consider natural to mean any ingredient derived from a natural substance and natural is a word they often use on their labels.
When it actual fact their products can contain synthetic ingredients. Consider Coconut for example, this has a lot of 'derived' ingredients which are used by commercial companies, these ingredients are often extracted from the raw ingredient using chemicals that are harmful to us (Cocoamide-DEA being one). Although not all synthetic ingredients are bad for you, in fact some natural ingredients can be quite harmful, i.e. Monkshood - you wouldn't like that on your skin.
We have always used the dictionary version to determine what ingredients we will be using in our products. We only us extra virgin, organic Coconut Oil that's a wonderful and truly natural ingredient pressed from fresh coconut meat. We place an emphasis on natural, organic ingredients that have a history of being good for your skin...
Find out more about our ingredients next Monday, please leave your comments below with any questions you have.
One of the frequently asked questions we have from our customers is:
"What do you have to make me look younger?"
I do not beleive that there is such thing as an anti-aging product, however, there is a well known but not often used remedy for getting that younger looking skin without resorting to expensive treatments and products...
To get younger looking skin, you need to cleanse natural soap is best for this and kinder to your skin, then moisturise with body butters, creams and lotions every day. You also have to detox using natural face masks and exfoliate using good quality bath salts or body scrubs to encourage new skin to grow (you only need to do this once a week).
Remember to leave your comments and feedback below, we would love to hear what you think!
Here are some tips on how to make the most of your skincare products...from soaps and face masks to body butters. ...
- All our soap bars, will last longer if you use a soap dish to keep them dry - this will stop you ending up with a soggy soap bar and save you some money.
- Whilst in the bath/shower why not rub the soap onto a scrunchy or brush to give you more long lasting suds.
- The best time to use our body butters is when your skin is still damp after a bath/shower to moisturise your skin, letting it soak in all the goodness and leave you with skin that is silky soft.
- To have clear and healthy skin, treat your face to our natural clay mask (tailored to skin type)...apply just before bathing twice a week, just add water!
- Don't forget to moisturise your lips with lip balm, they need nourishment too all year round...
We would love to hear about your skincare tips...or if you have any feedback of your own, please leave comments below!
We have often been asked if we have soap that has clay added to it as this is quite a popular ingredient for soap. Rather than dissapoint our customers, we got our thinking caps on and this is what we came up with...a soap that has gentle Kaolin and complementary Bentonite.
The combination of scents we have in our new clay soap is something I thought both men and women would like (though they aren't often put together)...not too floral despite the Geranium and Ylang Ylang because of the refreshing aroma of May Chang!
To help soothe but moisturise we have added Olive Oil for mildness, Cocoa and Mango Butters to soften skin, though to create those lovely bubble we added Castor Oil and Coconut Oil.
As with all our soaps, they require a 4-6 week curing time, so they will be on sale soon, watch this space for more information. We would like to hear your thoughts on this and any other products, so feel free to leave comments below.
Before we started making our creams, we had a rough idea of what we wanted it to be like...it had to be non-greasy, light texture and most importantly - it had to be an excellent moisturiser. Making the cream was easy, but choosing the ingredients was something different and we were very careful about what we put into it.
This cream has a high vitamin content that'll not only moisturise your skin, but it also has great healing properties too! Here are just some of the benefits of using our Vitamin Rich Body Cream and what it can do for your skin...
- Increased skin flexibility and improved moisture retention to keep your skin hydrated.
- Helps heal dry, chapped skin, improves skin regeneration and barrier function. It also helps soothe and nourish your skin.
- Has anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-oxidant properties to improve overall skin condition.
- Easily absorbed, used sparingly this cream will last a very long time.
The essential oils we have chosen are Palmarosa (which helps to balance hydration levels keeping skin supple and elastic), and Niaouli (a natural disinfectant, ideal to help clear up blemishes, burns, cuts and insect bites).
Vitamins: A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, C, E, and K
Minerals: Calcium, Copper, Iron, Magnesium, Manganese, Phosphorus, Zinc (naturally present in the ingredients)
I hope you have enjoyed reading this post, please leave a comment with your thoughts.
Here are some dates to keep in your diary...
Saturday 3rd May ~ Scottish Theme Day in Elgin with Elgin BID & Moray Farmers Market
Monday 5th May ~ Turra Market in Turriff
Saturday 10th May ~ Family Fun Day in Banff
Sunday 11th May ~ Cairngorms Farmers Market in Grantown-on-Spey
Saturday 17th May ~ Turra Market in Turriff
Sunday 18th May ~ Gordon Castle Highland Games in Fochabers
Saturday & Sunday 25-26th May ~ Clan Donald Spring Fair on Skye
Saturday 31st May ~ Moray Farmers Market
We asked our friends on Facebook to suggest what they would like in our next soap, and one suggestion was Goat's Milk, Lavender and Oatmeal.
A we already have these in our soap range, we thought we would try something a little different... With this thought in mind, we wanted a lasting soap, but one that was still caring for skin. For this we combined Coconut Oil with Seabuckthorn Oil, giving the soap a vibrant orange colour.
When we first made our soap, we were a little shocked at how quickly we had to take it out of the mould to cut it into bars...the usual 48 hours turned into just 18! We found out after the first batch that if we left it even for 24 hours, it was that hard that it crumbled when cut!
This unusual combination also changed the effects of the oatmeal, instead of soft as in our Honey & Oatmeal Soap, it turned into hard and scrubby, whilst still leaving skin nice and soft.
We weren't sure what to name this soap, as it has so much unusual as well as usual ingredients...it's not only ideal for working in the kitchen, but it's also a great soap for those who love the garden, tinkering with engines...anyone who has very dirty/oily hands really...
With all our soaps, they require a 4-6 week curing time, so it won't be too long till they are ready...you can find it online here. We would also love to hear what you think of our new soap, so please leave your comments...
