Ziaja - Various Products

I was very kindly sent some lovely products from Ziaja. Ziaja has a huge range of face, body, hair and intimate care products - they also have a baby and kids range and they also do gift sets.

Firstly I was sent the Orange Butter Shower Scrub, the smell was divine I loved it! The scrub itself was a lot thinner than most of the scrubs I have used before and the actual grains were very small - they are called microgranuals! This was great as it wasn't rough on my skin and didn't leave me feeling scratched like some do. My skin smelt and felt amazing after use - even after one use my skin felt a lot softer and smoother - very well exfoliated! I was very happy with the results but feel that on very dry skin you may need something more - but for an everyday routine this is perfect. Looking online I can see that the price of this product is around £3.90 - I think this is a very average price for a decent body scrub in fact it is quite cheap compared to some other brands.

Next I tried out the colour change kids bath - again the smell was lovely and it was very delicate on their sensitive skin - this product is for children over the age of 1 year! I used it with my son who is 6 years old and the other night I also let my daughter in the bath with it as she turns one in a few days! There was no irritation even though the scent is quite strong (not overpowering though), some others I have used have caused dryness or irritation on their skin. I did however not see a difference in the water - no colour change! I am hoping to try it out a few more times, maybe use some more of the product and see if that makes a difference at all! I have no complaints about how it worked and how it left my kids skin soft and smooth! My daughter has dry skin by her ankles and after the bath it seemed to be a little smoother which is great. Again looking online I can see the price of this product is around £2.90 which is a good price, most of the products I normally buy for the kids are around the £2 - 3 mark so it is not expensive in comparison.

Then I tried the Hand Cream with Ceramides - I really liked the hand cream it was very moisturising and not sticky at all, however it did take a while to sink into the skin which can be a problem if you are in a rush! It claims to strengthen your nails so I am interested to see if it does - I feel I haven't been using it long enough yet to tell but my nails are so weak and break a lot! Looking online you can pick up the different hand creams for around £1.20 which is a brilliant price, I have paid a lot more for products which feel horrible and sticky when you rub them in and they just sit on the skin! Even better if it does strengthen your nails because that's a bonus when looking for a hand cream!

I saved the best until last - my favourite product out of them all was the Natural olive ointment - I really loved it! I've never really used anything like it! I was very interested as soon as I saw it because it can be used for a lot of things! I used it on my elbows as I get particularly dry skin there and also on my lips - the only thing I can compare it to is Vaseline - however I feel that Vaseline has an unpleasant smell - this has no smell and no taste at all which is great. It was not sticky on my lips like some balms and glosses can be and it sunk in reasonably quickly on my skin. My elbows are still dry but I have been using it for some time and I can see a big improvement! As for my lips, this weather really gets to them, always makes them sore - they have gotten sore this year but nothing that hasn't been sorted by this amazing ointment. I do not have particularly sensitive skin but there were no reactions so I don't think it will be harsh on any skin type! Looking about online it seems that this costs around £1.60 which is great! The one and only complaint I have about this is that the box seemed to be quite a lot bigger than the tube - this seems like a waste of packaging to me (there could be a reason for this but I can not think of one) - but as for the product itself it will now become part of my everyday routine and I will certainly be purchasing it in the future!

For more information and a look at all the products in the range, please visit their website - here.

Thank you for reading

Sophie Jo x

Fruit Bowl - Various Products

So recently I was very kindly send some Fruit Bowl goodies to try out! I have a 6 year old son who I am always trying to find new snacks for. I had heard about Fruit Bowl before but I had never tried any out.

When the package arrived I was so excited, and so was my son! He really wanted to try them out straight away! He is a child who eats little and often so he is always asking for a snack just after school - I thought these would be perfect to try out at that time! I apologise for the lack of pictures - this is just due to most of them being used on the go! All the products were really good and we will definitely be trying out all the others in the range! My daughter is almost 1 so I would like to try out the little fruit bowl range too which is for children ages 12months +

The packaging is brightly coloured and easily recognised on the shelf! I would recognise the brand easily. These snacks are all suitable for putting in a lunch box, they seem great for all ages (including adults I loved the mango flakes!). Getting my son to eat fruit isn't too hard, but I have to say there is always waste, and when it has been in his lunch box there is always mess! Using some of these snacks can give your child 1 of their 5 a day without the mess or waste! You can use them out an about as well - as I previously said I took most of these as after school snacks for my son, they come in individually wrapped packages which are perfectly sized for little ones. I only personally ate the mango flakes which tasted delicious - I almost felt I was eating sweets they were so nice! I think this could be a great way to get your children to eat fruit especially if they are fussy or just do not like many fruits! I have found in the past that some fruit snacks have lots of ingredients in them - therefore they are probably not exactly as healthy for you as they claim to be! Fruit bowl, however, have very little ingredients in them besides the fruit! All of the snacks are Gluten free and suitable for vegetarians and the fruit flakes are also dairy free too. My son can be fussy with what he eats and we really do struggle with him eating enough sometimes so I was really glad when he liked all the snacks that he tried - I know he doesn't like mango and I do which is why I ended up having those.

On their site you can buy some of the snacks in the range, you buy them in packs of 18 for flakes and raisins or 24 for the bars and peelers. All the snacks work out between 30p and 40p each which is a really good deal and nothing compared to the chocolate bars you might buy for them to eat! A lot of the snacks are available from most leading supermarkets - on their site you can see which products are available from which stores.

As an example I took a look at Tesco and saw that you could buy 6 packs of Yoghurt Raisins or 6 packs of Strawberry Yoghurt flakes for £2 making them 30p per pack. You could also buy a pack of 5 school bars for £1.85 making them 37p each. These prices are very good, especially for the quality of ingredients you are getting inside them!

You can check out their site - here.

Their Facebook - here.

Thanks for reading,

Sophie Jo x