Have a Home Spa Experience with Elemis

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Alpine Lavender, bathroom, Birch, Blue Chamomile, body, botanicals, breathing, bristles, cactus, cellulite, clove, dry skin, dryness, elbows, Elemis, Elemis Aching Muscle Super Soak, Elemis Body Detox Skin Brush, Elemis British Botanical Hand and Nail Butter, Elemis Devils Mint Body Scrub, feet, hand, home, hot tub, invigorate, juniper, knees, massage, mint, nail, natural, oil, Relax, scrub, sea salt, senses, soak, Spa, uplift, visualisations, Warming, Wild Thyme

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Going to a spa is one of our favourite indulgences, but it’s not something we’re able to do do every weekend due to time and money (mores the pity!). There’s no reason, however, that you shouldn’t have that spa experience right from your own home and Elemis have a selection of products which are perfect for giving you that spa-glow without having to step foot outside your house. Read on for our pick the the best ‘home spa’ products from the Elemis ranges:

Elemis Body Detox Skin Brush

We recommend that you begin your spa experience with a gentle brushing with the Elemix Body Detox Skin Brush; its natural cactus bristles help to reduce the appearance of cellulite by improving circulation and softening the skin. It will help you to brush away the top layer of dry, dead skin cells to allow you to treat the new skin beneath with a cocoon of moisture from all the other products you use.

Elemis Aching Muscle Super Soak

The next step is to turn your bath into a hot tub and soak your aching muscles in this Super Soak. It contains a blend of botanicals which not only help to unknot tense muscles but also to relax the mind through the power of aroma. The mixture of birch, juniper, clove, alpine lavender, wild thyme and blue chamomile, combined with sea salt will uplift and invigorate the senses whilst warming the body and recharging your muscles.

Elemis Devils Mint Body Scrub

Once you’ve finished your soak, we highly recommend giving your body another level of exfoliation to ensure that any dead skin is totally removed. This devil’s mint body scrub uses peppermint to give your skin a real “ZING!”, and literally polishes your body using only natural ingredients. We’d recommend focusing on common dry areas, such as your knees, elbows and feet to give them a really good going over.

Elemis De-Stress Massage Oil

Once you’ve awoken your mind and body, we recommend giving yourself a chance to relax once again by smothering yourself in this de-stress massage oil in long, sweeping strokes – or if you’re lucky enough to have someone around to help, get them to do it for you. This oil is intended for use in conjunction with deep breathing and calming visualisations, so try to use it in a quiet, darkened room where you can really allow yourself to relax.

Elemis British Botanical Hand and Nail Butter

For a final touch, we would recommend treating your hands and nails to their own personal coating of moisture from this hand and nail butter. Our hands are often one of the most neglected areas of our body, whilst arguably being one of the most hard-working, so ensuring that they’re properly moisturised and massaged will really add that final touch to your spa experience – you could even give yourself a manicure beforehand!

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Grow your own this summer

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basis, bikes, chillies, chutneys, clean, climbing frames, compotes, Coriander, creating, crush, English, fast-growing, garden, garden centre, grapes, greenhouse, growing, grown, ingredients, jams, jellies, kitchen, labour of your love, lemons, little bit of green, local, mini orchard, mint, mix, parsley, peas, peonies, pick, plethora, potatoes, pots, proud, season, seeds, sills, soil, space, start, sunny ledge, supermarket, take away, tomatoes, trees, urban, ventilation, waiting, weather, window, window sills, work well

There’s nothing more rewarding, or tasty, as eating your own home-grown fruit and vegetables, and the good news is that right now is the best time to start growing your own!

With a plethora of crops that can be grown from seeds, there’s bound to be something you can grow however big or small your garden is, or even if you have no garden at all.

No Garden
If you are an urban dweller and don’t have a garden, we’re pretty sure you have window sills and where better to grow herbs and veg than on a sunny ledge? A quick trip to your local garden centre, or even supermarket, can get you set up with all you need to create a crop whatever you are working with.

Baby salad leaves are perfect for growing in small pots and tin troughs and because they are fast-growing you will soon get foliage and kitchen ingredients. Mint, parsley and coriander all work well as window plants and if the sun shines on you sills, basil is a winner too.

Small Gardens
Small gardens are the perfect place for creating an eclectic mix of flowers, fruit and vegetables. Choose a mix of crops that you actually want to eat, say strawberries, tomatoes and peas and complement these with sunflowers and pansies for impressive results.

If you have a courtyard or patio to work with, look no further than bags, pots and sacks to create a crop of potatoes, peas and peonies to be proud of. Again, you can add herbs into the mix and if you do decide to plant spuds, this reduces the risk of pesky slug invasions.

Large Gardens
If you are the owner of a bigger garden this will give you greater growing space and more opportunities to be creative and work big. Think about the space and the kind of garden you want to create. Are you looking for structure and fine detail or do you have children and therefore need flexibility as climbing frames and bikes come into the equation? Plan out your garden into various areas, look at where you get the most sun, where there are shady areas and consider the soil type as this can influence what you grow. Trees can be a lovely part of any garden and if you have the space, you can look at creating a mini orchard. Apple, pear and plum trees are all pretty easy to grow and maintain and the labour of your love will be compotes, chutney, jellies and jams all year round.

To take away the English weather’s ability to crush your crops, when you have a large space you can incorporate a greenhouse. These are perfect for growing things such as chillies and tomatoes as well as grapes and lemons but always ensure the greenhouse is clean at the start of the season and there is adequate ventilation otherwise things might not go quite to plan.

So, what are you waiting for? Pick your pots, sort your soil and get growing.

Team Pure Beauty

Clean eating recipes

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apple, avocado, bay leaves, bean salad, blender, breakfast, can, carrot, cheese, chicken, chickpeas, chunky, coconut water, cucumber, cumin, dates, dinner, dressing, drizzle, garlic, heart, ice, ice cubes, joints, kale, kidney beans, lunch, mint, new potatoes, oven, pepper, pitta, pumpkin seeds, recipe, salad, sandwich, season, sesame seeds, slump, smoothie, spinach, strawberry, wholemeal

Last week we looked at getting to grips with the concept of clean eating. Today we are following on with some easy to make, delicious recipes so you can put theory into practice.

As we said, clean eating doesn’t have to be a radical departure from the way you eat today but a shift towards enjoying more the good stuff and dropping the less healthy, processed foods that can be so tempting.

Clean eating meals tend to be lower in salt, sugar and calories and because they don’t contain processed ingredients you know exactly what’s in the food you’re cooking.

So here we go with a breakfast, lunch and dinner option.

If you start the day the clean way, you’re more likely to carry on the same. This clean strawberry, avocado and mint smoothie is the perfect way to kick start your system.

You will need:

1 organic banana
2 cups fresh strawberries
3 teaspoons of fresh mint
1 avocado
2 pitted dates
1 cup of coconut water (mineral water if you prefer)
A few ice cubes

Put all the ingredients in your blender, whizz until smooth and enjoy. You can add a handful of organic oats to keep your fuller for longer and of course if you want to go green, blast some spinach or kale into the mix too.

A chunky, bean salad loaded with goodness and nutrients will not only protect your joints and heart but also stop that mid-afternoon slump a cheese and mayo packed sandwich can cause.

This is really simple but really filling and can be made the night before and taken to work.

You will need:

Small can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
Small can of kidney beans, rinsed and drained
Salad leaves of your choice
A large handful of fresh shredded carrot
One chopped apple
½ a red pepper, sliced
¼ cucumber chopped
1 tablespoon of pumpkin and sesame seeds

Mix these ingredients together then create a dressing from half the juice of a lemon, two teaspoons olive oil, a small teaspoon of ground cumin and a pinch of salt. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and enjoy with a wholemeal pitta.

A chicken and potato tray bake is a super-easy, totally tasty dinner that the whole family can enjoy together ad it is perfect when entertaining friends.

You will need:

4 large organic chicken thighs
3 tablespoons of olive oil
500g of organic new potatoes (halved)
1 organic, unwaxed lemon
140g green olives
8 bay leaves – preferably fresh rather than dried
6 cloves of garlic
Watercress and spinach salad to serve

Set your over to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Pour the oil into a roasting tin and add the potatoes, olives, lemon, bay leaves and garlic. Mix everything together and insure all ingredients are equally coated in the oil. Next add the chicken, skin-side up, season and put in the over for an hour. Check the potatoes are softening after one hour, then cook for another twenty minutes to ensure the meat is perfectly cooked. Serve with a salad and iced water with lemon and cucumber.

During the day enjoy healthy clean snacks, drink plenty of water and keep caffeine and alcohol to a minimum.

If you have a clean eating recipe, let us know about it.