{Flashback Friday} Sun City

Christmas may be very much over and done with, and all this cold weather (it is winter here in South Africa) makes me feel a little nostalgic as I am missing the warmer (and almost unbearable) weather and the Christmas festivities which is why i decided to post my Flashback Friday of Christmas 2015 for Christmas in July. :)

Having Christmas lunch at the Palace in Sun City was a pretty grand experience.  

I'm pretty tempted to put up a Christmas tree & try make one of these ginger bread houses!

{Tried and Tested} Skoon Skincare

As you all know now, I have been searching for a local skin care brand that I can use in the future not just as an attempt to support locally produced product but also to save on costs and lastly to know what ingredients are found in these products. After all, we are putting these products onto and into our skin and bodies daily.

My first attempt at local skin care products started with a post on Skin Creamery. To be honest, I was a little nervous at turning my back on an international brand I had been faithful to for a while, so i started with the everyday cream and although I thoroughly enjoyed it my skin needed more. This is why i turned to Skoon Skincare as my second attempt at Local South African Skincare products. This time around I pretty much ordered the full range in travel sizes so I could decide which products worked for me and which products didn't. 

Skoon Skincare gets major brownie points from me. Why I say this is it is a big deal for me to place an order online and have to wait 7 days before the parcel gets delivered. I wont lie, it sucks! However, I was thrilled to have my parcel arrive 2 days after I placed my order (round of applause) so I got to test these lovely products sooner than I expected. 

I loved the packaging!

Isn't this a lovely sight? 

Since I received my parcel at work I couldn't wait to get home. Part of my winding down routine is to take my make up off  and have a hot bath. I immediately dove right in and went with the lovely creamy cleanser along with the face cloth in my picture below, what an experience! I loved the cleanser and the little travel face cloth will most definitely come in handy on holidays and small getaways. 

 

I am impressed with this moisturiser, it is fast becoming my "the one". I could certainly see the difference before I applied the moisturiser and after I had given my skin time to absorb the cream. I also decided to add a few drops of the glow drops and WOW, when  combined with the Glow drops, i think this combination becomes a force to be reckoned with.  

I am not the type of girl who will easily try a face mask so i took a big risk buying this Ruby Marine Hydrating Mask. Like the Super Moisturiser, when I applied the face mask, I could immediately feel and see the difference. I generally have a dry complexion and even more so this time of the year (winter in South Africa) which was also why I bought this hydrating mask. Although this product's purpose is to hydrate over night, i found i didn't need to keep this ruby marine mask on over night,a few hours was enough for me. 

These glow drops are a gem! This little sample removed all doubts and now i am sorry I didn't buy the actual bottle. With the harsh dry conditions we have had in winter, this Skoon Glow Drops concentrate has been an answer to prayers. I have added drops to my moisturiser (not just my Super Moisturiser from Skoon but also other moisturisers) i have in my make up and even my foundation! 

I chose the travel sizes as my testers. I loved that Skoon Skincare gave me this option, it took away the stress of buying a product I might not like and in doing this it has encouraged me to buy all their products in the future!

 I am so excited to try out their eye creams when they are available for purchase, I'm hoping Skoon Skincare will release these soon!  

Have you tried out this local Skin Care brand and what stood our for you?

♥

{Drakensburg} Weekend in the mountains

I have so much I want to say about my weekend away in the Drakensberg Mountains a few weeks back, but I don’t think anything I will say will do the Drakensberg Mountains justice.

 A few months ago I mentioned that my husband and I were spending our second wedding anniversary away in the Drakensburg with friends (who happened to get married one year after we did on the same day as us) and at the time I hadn’t been to the Drakensburg mountains for a number of years so staying in a small part of this beautiful province last year taught me this year that I have been pretty naïve about the Drakensberg mountains.  In fact I realised that I am very much a tourist in my own country (and here I was  confident about being a born and bred South African) 

I was reminded that the Drakensburg Mountains is a World Heritage Site and I truly felt privileged that this Heritage site is in South Africa. It proves to me time and again what a beautiful country i live in. I say this with total confidence as i have traveled to some beautiful countries, i have seen some incredible sights and South Africa amazes me each and every time. 

The family and I spent this time away at the Champagne Sports Resort. We chose this venue as it was fairly central and the list of activities were endless, this was important for  some of the family and friends we went away with to ensure everyone could do as they pleased.

My plans for the weekend was to do as little as possible. Take In the fresh air and just spend some time with family and once again take in the beautiful scenery. How could we not when Champagne Sports resort made sure we were as comfortable as possible. 

The reception area

This is a view of the lounge area in the resort

This is a panoramic view of the bedrooms

This is the view from the Hotel room's balcony

Other things to do in the area was go for a chocolate tasting at the Chocolate Bar (just across the road from Champagne Sports Resort) There you could pair coffee with chocolate. We opted for the chocolate fondant and coffee -  It was a real treat!  

And last but not least, there was this quaint little village or centre if you will (Thokozisa) on route to Champagne Sports resort. There is a lovely restaurant, deli, bar and stores under one roof. It really is worth ambling through if you have the time. 

Have you been to the Drakensburg area and what were your favourite parts? 

♥

{Tried and Tested} Skin Creamery

I follow a number of local South African blogs which focus solely beauty. I spend a lot of time taking their advice and reading up on the products they have tried and tested. because after all, beauty is something that means the world to a woman. It defines who we are and of course I am no different.

I noticed a few of the wonderful blogs I follow (some linked in my Instagram posts {1} & {2}) have recently mentioned quite a few local beauty brands in South Africa and it definitely made me consider the beauty products I spend my money on. I am finding now more than ever that EVERYTHING is just.so.expensive! There has also been a fair amount of discussions on the positives and negatives of some of these products; are they organic, is it really making your skin look better and are you saving any money? These are the questions I have been asking myself lately and the biggest one is how do I get more out of my product and can I save money at the same time? I have also felt that I just want to try and simplify my life a little more, make healthier decisions for the sake of later on and not for the sake of now.  These questions are also the reasons why I have pushed myself to try something different, to try something natural, more affordable and specifically something local. 

What was my reason for choosing Skin Creamery and what did I hope to get out of the product? There were so many options for me to choose from but I decided to try Skin Creamery as my first local natural skincare test (what a mouthful). 

I loved the minimalistic feel of this brand; the packaging seems quite simple on the outside but has an element of surprise when you open the box with the botanical illustrations on the inside. I also loved the glass bottle which holds this soft beautiful minty feeling cream. 

After using this SC day and night (mainly for my face), I found my skin was softer and smoother and i would even go as far as saying i noticed some of my problem pimples gradually started to fade away. I also loved the beautiful minty like fragrance after applying the SC cream to my face. In some ways I felt I had just ended a long day at the spa. 

Don't you just love the beautiful botanical illustrations in the packaging?

Would I buy Skin Creamery again? Absolutely, no questions asked. Skin Creamery ticked all the boxes I mentioned above. I look forward to adding it into my skin care routine in the future! This time around i bought the Everyday Cream, next time i'll get the Cleansing Facial powder and Facial Hydrating oil  just because I enjoyed the Everyday Cream so much! 

What local products are you investing your time and money into lately? 

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