Victorian Garden

A while back I won a competition on African Babies Don't Cry blog where I could choose ANY 4 products from The Victorian Garden website.  It is not often that a person gets to handpick prizes, so I was delighted by the opportunity.  When I saw the product list I couldn't believe my eyes!  The products on offer seemed endless - I was overwhelmed by everything and spoiled for choice.

Before I get into the products I selected, let me quickly give you a summary of the company - The Victorian Garden is a company that creates versions of the popular Victorian skin, body and bath care products using as near as 100% certified organic and natural ingredients.  There are various ranges of product lines using Victorian herbal and floral extracts; ancient African plant oils as well as rare and exotic English 'Heirloom' plant extracts for the Royal Tudor products.

I decided to stick with a range of products and chose The Royal Tudor Collection - Queen Catherine products.

1. Queen Catherine's pomegranate & double rose 'virgin's milk" day moisturiser for Normal/Dry Skin (R88 for 50ml) Regenerates cells & restores antioxidants.  Firstly, I love the scent of this cream.  It's a delight to use first thing in the morning and it's actually became something I look forward to using.  It moisturises my skin incredibly well which is evident by the end of the day when I wash my face in the evening, it can still be felt on my skin when I splash water on my face.  After a week I did start seeing a change in the appearance and texture of my skin which has only improved as the days progress.  I have incredibly fussy skin and often get break outs when changing skin creams but didn't experience that with these products.  I also battle with a slight rash on my forehead and this has helped keep the rash at bay and smoothed out my skin.
2. Queen Catherine's mimosa & sweet violet night cream for Normal/Combination Skin (R88 for 50ml) Nourishing skin conditioner that feeds and balances the skin while you sleep.  As with the day cream, this is incredibly good at hydrating and moisturising the skin.  Using the day and night cream together has enhanced the effectiveness of all the ingredients and I've definitely noticed an improvement in my skin.  The only slightly negative thing I have to say about this cream is that I am not a huge fan of the sweet violet scent of the cream.  At first the smell is very intense and I wasn't too fond of using it, but to my delight it does mellow out and soften as it is absorbed into the skin.  Overall, this is a wonderful night cream.
3. Queen Catherine's pomegranate & lemon facial exfoliating scrub (R88 for 50ml) - Lifts & absorbs dead skin cells leaving a fresh invigorated skin.  This is a creamy facial exfoliant filled with aricot particles that exfoliate the skin beautifully.  I exfoliate my skin at least 3 times a week and have tried many different facial exfoliants but this one has to be my favourite.  It's perfect at getting a smooth finish on your skin.  When exfoliating particle are too big I find that they don't manage to smooth out the skin and you end up with "patchiness", where certain parts of your skin feels smooth and other areas still have a layer of dead skin cells.  This exfoliator is superb at getting a smooth and even exfoliation while moisturising your skin and providing it with nutrients.
4. Queen Catherine's elderflower & eyebright eye & lip cream (R66 for 20ml) - Refreshes & revitalizes the eye area and lips.  As an eye cream this works wonderfully.  I found that after a week of use the lines around my eyes looked filled in.  The little lines I have around my eyes are often due to me working in an air-conditioned building and not drinking enough water.  This eye cream definitely helped moisturise and hydrate the skin around my eye area.  As a lip cream this took getting us to, because I am use to traditional lip balms which are "greasy".  A cream feels very different on your lips and at first it does feel like you aren't getting the moisture that you need - but that's purely due to the fact that mentally I am not use to cream which absorbs very quickly.  When you think about it, a product that absorbs quickly is much better because there is no product wastage and you are assured that your lips are absorbing all of the product.

Overall I am incredibly impressed and happy with the results I have seen from these products.  What is even more remarkable is that you can get such great quality products for cheaper than many supermarket and department store brands, with the peace of mind that you are not putting anything harmful on your skin.  All the products lasts incredibly well as you only need to use a little each day.  You can purchase The Victorian Garden products from their website or from the Greenlove online store (which sometimes runs specials on the products).

Thank you again to African Babies Don't Cry and The Victorian Garden for this amazing prize.  I had such a wonderful experience communicating my prize preferences and the products were delivered via courier.  Victorian Garden offers amazing customer service that is refreshing when dealing with a company.  I'll definitely be purchasing more products soon!

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