Natural, Irish beauty in a pot
Beauty
Maggie Gibbons
Your skin absorbs about 60 percent of what you put on it, so it’s small wonder we are becoming more concerned with the ingredients in face and body products. As the largest organ in the body, your skin is also a true reflection of overall health.
Wouldn’t you love to have all the benefits of great products minus all the nasty ingredients? It’s never too early to start using ‘natural’, and now it’s possible with some wonderful home-produced products. Green Angel and Bia Beauty are just two of the wonderful Irish success stories in this arena.
Green Angel is an independent, award-winning Irish company owned by Chris and Mary Mitchell, and they have been developing a superior range of skincare products for over ten years. They include both seaweed and essential oils, all sourced and hand-made in Ireland. The seaweed is harvested off the west coast.
The range contains natural ingredients like juniper, lavender and frankincense, and it is available in pharmacies nationwide (see www.greenangel.com for a list of Mayo stockists, or contact 01 4124900 or shop@greenangel.com).
Green Angel products include Seaweed Daily Moisture Face Cream (€25), a moisturiser that is nourishing and hydrating as well as reasonably priced. It combines seaweed extracts with jasmine and neroli oils to create a luxury feel.
The award-winning Green Angel Seaweed and Aloe Eye Gel (30ml, €20) is brilliant for puffy eyes, while Green Angel Seaweed Hand Cream (50ml, €20) leaves hands soft and glowing without any stickiness. A friend of mine who is a self-confessed hand-cream addict says it’s among the best she has ever used.
The company’s Sunrise Body Smoother (580g, €29.95), containing grapeseed, lemon and argan oil has already won two beauty-industry awards. Gently exfoliating, it will leave your skin smooth and velvety – a real skin treat.
Another Irish company, Bia Beauty, was created by Tracey Ryan, who studied herbal science at Cork Institute of Technology. She began by making a 100 percent natural moisturiser, which she sold locally at farmers’ markets. The response was so positive that she continued to make it, and she expanded her range. It is now stocked in selected pharmacies, health-food stores and beauty salons nationwide, and is also available online at www.biabeauty.com.
All Ryan’s products are completely natural and handmade in Cork. They contain top-class natural oils that penetrate the skin without leaving a greasy feeling and are made with nut and seed oils, rich butters, herbs and spices to nourish.
Bia Beauty’s Natural Skin Repair Cream – Skin’s Superfood (50ml, €12.95) is gentle and soothing but powerful, and very reasonable. Their award-winning Detox Body Scrub (250ml, €19.95) and Orange and Grapefruit Facial Exfoliant and Cleanser (60ml, €16.95) are also great products.
One of the best ideas I’ve come across is Bia’s Bite Size Natural Skincare Gift Set, which contains small 10ml sample pots for you to try. Wouldn’t it be great if other companies followed suit? The Bite Size Set contains Mellow Mandarin Moisturiser, Orange and Grapefruit Exfoliant and Cleanser, Skin’s Superfood and Stop The Clock Eye Gel. Perfect for those of you who like to see if a product suits you before buying the big jar. It would also make a lovely gift.
Fans of natural Irish products should also check out Voya, Seavite and Pixy – all widely available.
Maggie Gibbons is an Image/Style Consultant based in Louisburgh. She can be contacted at living@mayonews.ie.
