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Inspiral Artisan Raw Chocolate Box Review

Rating: 4/5. Available from Raw Living for £7.95 (+p&p)

After Amy Levin's class, I decided to investigate the world of raw chocolate a little more. Sure, I've had conscious chocolate and bars from the raw chocolate company, chocolate from raw living and (unfortunately) shazzie's chocolate. That one was a dissapointment. I'd heard people say how bad it was, but I really wasn't prepared for just how bad it was. I was tempted to drink a pint of bovril just to get rid of the nastiness.

With this in mind, I apprehensively purchased Inspiral's small chocolate box. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised. There was no ganache filling, which was sad but it was a nice selection & it was easy to share.

Flavours & reviews:

• Goji Nut Lived up to it's name, if you're not a lover of goji you might not want to go near it, but if you're on the fence about goji then it's mild enough to pleasantly surprise you.
• Plain White Chocolate and Dark Chocolates tasted a bit biscuity, I don't know how this happened but it messed with our heads a little. Em Loved it, but L and I were too confused to make our minds up.
• Barleygrass mint was packed full of flavour. But the barleygrass topping didn't add anything to the chocolate but colour.
• White raspberry had a pleasant flavour, which didn't linger. It would be great if you were going to eat the entire box in one sitting, but it doesn't leave much to savour.
• Raspberry and rose was the overall winner. So flavoursome and smooth. The only niggly downpoint is that the aftertaste is of essential oil. But that's only a tiny negative!

All in all it would make a cute gift or a nice treat for yourself. But we're not sure that it would be a guilty pleasure or qualify for repeat purchase.
Allergy alert: Contains nuts!

Have you tried Inspiral's raw chocolates? What did you think?
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Sheabutter Cottage Akuaba Belly Butter 70g review

Image borrowed from http://www.akuawood.co.uk/

Rating: 6/5, available from Sheabutter Cottage for £8.85 (+p&p).

Oh yes; your eyes do not deceive you we have given this 6 out of 5. A TBT first.

One of my closest friends, Angela, has decided that it's time to get fit, and at 19 stone she has a lot of work to do and a lot of emotional issues to overcome. So far she has lost 2 stone and we are immensely proud of her.

But Angela has hit a roadblock; she had no way to get rid of her stretch marks and, sometimes, the sight of them alone can really affect her mindset. So, we got researching; a couple of people swore by cacao butter, some shea butter, and others relied solely on olive oil. But Angela had tried all off these nourishing ingredients with no effect. Only when Em went for lunch with her recently pregnant sister, J, did we find out about this product. J had no stretch marks from her pregnancy and swears by this body butter. Before now we'd never bought anything but shampoo from the Cioccolatina range at Sheabutter cottage.

With haste we purchased a tub of this miracle body butter. After the first day of use, Angela's stretch marks had visibly reduced. We're talking centimetres of reduction here. The most reduction was seen in the first week, but she has been using it regularly and it has made such a difference to her stomach, legs and arms.

It's great for nourishing the skin and hair. There's nothing more to say really. We love it!
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If you'd like to check out our reviews on other Sheabutter cottage products, you might like:
Sheabutter Cottage Store Review
Argan & Cocoa Butter Shampoo Review
Murumuru For Your Hair and Skin Review
Tropical Isle Living Jamaican Black Castor Oil Red Pimento Hair Growth Oil
Authentic African Soap Review
Olive Squalane Review

Ingredients: Unrefined Cocoa Butter, Unrefined Shea Butter, Papaya Oil, Marula Oil, Organic Rosehip Oil, Monoi de Tahiti Oil, Vitamin E.

Liz Earle Sheer Skin Tint 40ml Review

Image borrowed from uk.lizearle.com

Available from Liz Earle for £21.00 (+p&p), & QVC for £29.24 as part of a set (+ £3.95 p&p).

Liz Earle's brand new tinted moisturiser has been getting a lot of publicity lately.  QVC seems to have had it on rotation and we've had 3 sets of samples through the door. My sister was so impressed by the QVC presentation that she ordered her very own sheer skin tint last week.

The available colours are:

• Bare - suited to fair, alabaster skin types.
• Medium - suited to most caucasian skin types.
• Beach - suited to suntanned or olive skin tones and most asian skin tones.

I find it a bit odd that nothing has been developed for darker skin tones. But I guess that that's another post, for another time.

One thing that you need to know about this product is that the 3 available colours are not standard; "bare", is definitely for people who are naturally very pale on the site they describe it as "best suited to alabaster skin". My sister usually wears a very light coloured foundation and even she found that it was far too pale for her.

Medium was perfect for her and Beach suited me. But I can't say I was very impressed, the texture was quite thick. The light reflecting particles seems to have missed the batch of samples that came through and the "dewy glow" that is continually referred to by marketing when referring to this product is hiding. Instead of moisturising it seemed to dry my skin out and give a matte finish.
My sister, on the other hand, loved it. She's been trying to wean herself off using foundation and this seems to be the perfect replacement.

One thing you've got to remember is that this is a tinted moisturiser; it won't cover up blemishes, thread veins, broken capillaries, redness or blotches.

Funnily enough there are no mediochre or bad reviews on the Liz Earle site which I think is a shame. QVC on the other hand has mixed reviews; some people say it's too heavy and that you can feel it on your skin all day long, others say that it left their skin too greasy, or sticky, or dry, some have said that the coverage is poor given the pricetag, and others have loved it.

For that reason, we can't give it a proper rating. Would I buy or use it on a regular basis? No. If you're trying to wean yourself off foundation then this could be perfect, then again, it might just dry your skin out. I'm not impressed by the limited colour selection, we really should be beyond that by now. Maybe their demographic is predominantly caucasian or of a light olive skin tone, but they should have done a shade for people with darker skin. Judging by the reviews on QVC, however, it doesn't look like anyone with darker skin is missing out on much.

Have you tried Sheer Skin Tint? What did you think?
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Ingredients: Water, Cyclopentasiloxane, C12-15 Alkyl benzoate, Zinc oxide, Titanium dioxide, Sorbitol, Cetyl PEG/PPG-10/1 dimethicone, Isononyl isononanoate, Polyglyceryl-4 isostearate, Talc, Disteardimonium hectorite, Sodium chloride, Squalane, Borage seed oil, Polyhydroxystearic acid, Propylene glycol, Alumina, Aluminum stearate, Silica, Isostearic acid, Stearic acid, Aluminum hydroxide, Triethoxycaprylylsilane, Sodium dehydroacetate, Methicone, Vitamin E, Avocado oil, Disodium EDTA, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylparaben, Propylparaben, Methylparaben, Titanium dioxide, CI 77491 (iron oxides), CI77492 (iron oxides), CI77499 (iron oxides).

Ooosha Raw, Amy Levin's Raw Chocolate Class

Raw chocolate folk and the hand of Amy Levin.

Price: £200
Time: 11am - 4pm
Location: East Sussex

A few weeks back I was looking through vivapure's monthly e-mail, tucked away at the bottom of the page was an advertisement for a raw chocolate class with Amy Levin. The woman who is at the forefront of raw chocolate and patisserie.

Having classicaly trained as a chef and training at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, Amy has worked (and consulted) for a number of the UK's best raw food and chocolate companies, not to mention Saf. Amy is a veritable supernova in the raw universe (of course, I mean that as a compliment).

The first thing that I have to say is that this lady is stunning - I don't know whether it's the chocolate, the rawness or just good genes, but this lady got it going on. Some might say that this alone is advertisement for her courses, which is fair but those people would miss out on all of the photographs of chocolate deliciousness.

Raw white chocolate enrobed mango & dark chocolate truffles

I've been making raw chocolate and cooked chocolate at home for what seems like years now, but I love learning and was desperate to find a course that give me some inspiration and cover chocolate making in detail.

I packed a water bottle (as advised), an apron, snacks, a notepad, a pen and bundled myself into the car at 6am. We arrived 4 hours later and the only item that I ended up using from my bag of tricks was....the pen. Some people took lots of notes, but I found it easier to observe and make notes in the hefty booklet provided. (If you do go on the course, Amy will likely tell you that the booklet has everything you need to know but that you are welcome to bring a notepad. She is right, unless you need to take lots of notes you'd probably be better off with a set of pens).

Raw chocolate windfall

We started by covering tempering which, if done correctly, sets your chocolate with a glass and a satisfying 'snap' when broken or bitten into. If done incorrectly,your chocolate will be dull and have white streaks, spots or a white film over the top. This does nothing to the flavour of the chocolate but the texture will be slightly grainy and there won't be any satisfying 'snap'. To do so, the raw ingredients were brought up to temperature in the vitamix or a bain marie, and swiftly popped into a bowl and whisked until brought down to, approximately, 31 degrees. At which point it is ready to use.

We made raw, vegan white chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate and gianduja (similar to a hazelnut fudge). Learned how to coat chocolates without getting covered in chocolate (use a fork- this had never occurred to me before) and make coloured white chocolates using natural colourings like raspberry powder, turmeric, spinach powder and red pepper powder. Magic. One of the most interesting tips with regards to using  fruit in chocolate was to use freezedried fruits. But I've found that dehydrating raspberries for a few days (until it becomes a small crunchy treat) gives a similar result. After each creation, a little quality control was required...so obviously we had to taste the chocolates. The result? Sooo delicious and 'snappy'.

Raw peppermint crunch

Amy mentioned that she doesn't like using coconut oil when making chocolate, and that if you are to add more than 10% of an additional fat to your chocolate mix it can negatively affect tempering. One of the things I enjoyed most about the course was seeing how someone else works through the creative process. I suppose that coconut oil reduces the melting temperature, chocolate melts at body temperature whereas coconut oil melts at a much lower temperature so it must affect the texture of the chocolate.

As a word of warning; water is disastrous to tempering. If you do plan to temper your chocolate at home make sure that all of your equipment is dry. This week, while experimenting with a new recipe, one solitary drop of water trickled from my fingertip into the chocolate. "What, in the name of Horatio, have I done?!"* I thought to myself, praying that the chocolate would ignore the water and proceed to shiny snappable glory. And you know what? It didn't. The chocolate itself came out beautifully, but it had teeny streaks running through it. Dag nabbit! Thankfully, it didn't affect the flavour too much.

Amy told us that, when chocolate making, you need to be in a happy place. Things can go wrong fast and you need to be able to jump all over it, figuratively speaking. To help this along, I can recommend playing some Jackie Wilson, Yerba Buena or, if you want muchos personality when in the kitchen, Gogol Bordello in the background. The latter, however, might take a bit of getting used to.

Raw Orange Gianduja dipped in chocolate.

The class had a great atmosphere, Amy explained everything thoroughly and was more than happy to break it down for us if we got confused. Another bonus was that the group was small, so everyone got a chance to ask questions and get a good grasp of everything that was being taught.

Previous reviews have mentioned that the course is better suited to commercial purposes, but I'd tend to disagree. It's informative without being overwhelming and is so very inspirational. If you love chocolate, raw or cooked, or just love to create then this is the course for you.

If you'd like to know more about the lovely Amy and her classes click here to be taken to her blog, Ooosha...Raw Culinary Artistry and click here to be taken to the Ooosha site (complete with accompaniment from one Joshua Bell) where you can buy her chocolates and check out some of her recipes. If you get the chance, have a go at making one, they are a real treat!

* For the record, I don't adopt the name "Horatio" when I'm cooking (Although thinking about it now, it could be pretty cool...I could adopt a persona and wear a character based hat. Or a T-shirt that says "what would Horatio do?"), I had just finished watching CSI Miami. Is it just me, or does it look like Horatio really wishes that he had been a swimwear/underwear model at some point in his life?

.   .   .  Ahem

Intelligent Nutrients Spray-On Detangler 60ml Review

Image borrowed from Lovelula

Rated: 4/5, available at lovelula for £8.00 (+p&p).

Update: This has become our go to spray on detangler, we judged it way too quickly and can't apologise enough! It leaves her beautifully conditioned and gives hair colour extra vibrance!
 
Just launched at Lovelula, Intelligent Nutrients are tipped to be the next big thing. Founded by Horst M. Rechelbacher, Intelligent Nutrients is a health and beauty brand that has developed 100% food based, non-toxic, eco friendly, organic, fair trade, sustainably created products.

Sounds like Magic.
I had high hopes for this; an all natural leave in detangler. It does do the job, but it can leave hair heavy and dull. So I decided to test it out on my friends, the results were so mixed. People with the same hair type had completely different results across age groups, some people had spectacular results and others swore never to touch the product again. The smell isn't overpowering and soon dissipates, but it could be better.

The ingredients are alone are fantastic, and for that reason I couldn't bring myself to give it less than 50%. It's an admirable attempt. And it might be beneficial to someone with thicker hair, maybe.

Have you tried any Intelligent Nutrients products? What did you think?
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Ingredients: Certified Organic Apple Fruit Water, Certified Organic Glycerin, Certified Organic Lecithin, Certified Organic Pineapple Fruit Extract, Certified Organic Grain Alcohol with Certified Organic Bergamot Oil, Certified Organic Glucose and Maltodextrin, Certified Organic Intellimune® Seed Oil Complex of Black Cumin, Pumpkin, Red Grape, Red Raspberry and Cranberry Seed Oils, Certified Organic Essential Oils and Flavors: Intelligent Nutrients Restore™

John Masters Bourbon Vanilla and Tangerine Hair Texturizer Review

Image borrowed from lovelula.com

Rating: 4/5, available from Feel Unique for £21 (incl p&p); Naturisimo for £21 (incl p&p); & Lovelula for £21 (excl p&p).

I have a love hate relationship with this product; on the one hand I would most definitely buy it again, on the other I think it could be done better with the addition of one or two ingredients. But we'll get to that later.

Up until recently I didn't really use products in my hair, my friends would say that the occasional use of 3 products hardly counts, but it's something that I find quite hard to incorporate into my day-to-day 'beauty' regime.  I've also noticed that so many styling products look great to begin with and gradually weigh the hair down , so it's safe to say that I'm a little apprehensive about  hair products outside the shampoo/conditioner spectrum.

And then my hairdresser introduced me to hair clay; it tamed my hair, boosted volume and gave the whole look definition. From what I could tell it was easy to use, cost effective (a little went a long way) and the effects lasted  for approximately 3 hours. Not bad, I thought. All I'd have to do is run my fingers through my hair and pull it at for a few seconds and....voila! boosted hair.

My hair is naturally curly and I've had great results with the John masters Citrus and Neroli detangler, Em and L are also big fans of it's detangling skills. It was the awesomeness of the detangler that persuaded me to part with £21 for this small pot of (what I hoped would be) magic.

First off; this product smells DELICIOUS without being overpowering. I'm serious, if I could shmear this over a cracker I would have finished it by now. But it's for my hair, not my tummy. Although it's quite small (you only get 57g per jar) you really only need a little bit. So far I've used it by tapping my finger into the jar, rubbing it between my hands and running my fingers through my hair  (or scrunching it) to boost volume, and also to tame flyaways (albeit for a few hours).

You only need a very small amount for effect, it also leaves the hair incredibly soft and well conditioned without veering off into greasy territory. The most positive points are that; it doesn't leave your hair stiff, if you need to "reactivate" it then you just need to scrunch up your hair, and it doesn't weigh your hair down.

Now to the potential improvements, one of the most popular hair clays on the market is Sebastian Craft Clay (formally Crude Clay). This is the hair clay my hairdresser used, and it was fab (apart from the smell). But we wanted to see whether we could find something better, so we hit the drawing board and opted for John Masters hair texturiser. The thing is there is no powder in this product, Sebastian craft clay has kaolin clay and a variaton of bentonite clay in. Which got me thinking; what would the addition of kaolin clay give this product? I added 10g of kaolin clay which not only made the mixture thicker (if you do this you'll need to use a mini blender/food processor or brute strength to whisk it up into a smooth consistency.) but gives me longer lasting results. Pretty fab! If you'd like to buy some kaolin clay for yourself click here.

What are your favourite hair products? Let us know in the comments!
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Ingredients: Castor seed oil, Glycerin, Shea butter,* Sorbitol, Panthenol, Bourbon vanilla oil,* Orange flower oil,* Tangerine peel oil,* Grapefruit peel oil,* Vitamin E, Vitamin C, Ascorbic acid, Phytic acid.
* organic ingredients