Simply Beautiful Collection Review

 Do you ever come across a brand and wonder how on earth you're only hearing about them now? Well that's exactly what happened to me with Simply Beautiful Collection. They've been around since 1988 and are the foremost professional skincare and makeup brand in Britain today, producing a range of powerfully active natural skincare and makeup products. If you're all about environmentally-friendly beauty then they'll be just your cup of tea; this company is cruelty free and uses minimal packaging to ensure an eco-friendly status. Over the last month I've been testing out two very unique products that are a lot different to anything I've ever tried before. Here's how I got on with them!

 Being the worrier/ general over thinker that I am I often end up with quite a bit of physical tension- usually in the form of sore and knotted shoulders and a painful stiff neck. So when I heard about Arnica's Skincare Gel (designed to ease everyday aches and muscle tension or strain) I knew it was something that could potentially be a bit of a game changer for me. It's a light textured water-based gel which gently moisturises and conditions the skin without leaving a sticky residue, and can be massaged onto any painful areas as many times as necessary to soothe pain (it can even be kept in the fridge if you need cooling relief!) It boosts circulation, and allows the ingredients to deeply absorb into the areas that need it most. I found that this made my stiff neck and shoulders feel quite a lot better, and think it will work really well combined with hot baths and relaxation techniques. It has a subtle herbal scent and absorbs incredibly fast, I'm sure I can feel a very light tingling sensation when using this but it's not at all painful or uncomfortable. I think this is a really handy thing to have in the house, should I twist my ankle wearing stupid shoes or do something idiotic that ends up with a sore joint (I did fall halfway down my insanely steep stairs a few weeks ago so is probably a good thing I have something like this on hand) I'll have this straight in the fridge ready to apply. SBC's Arnica Gel won QVC's customer beauty award this year too!

SBC's Vitamin Ace Skincare Gel is designed to unveil fresh, vibrant and healthy skin through the use of powerful superfood ingredients and Mediterranean extracts. This is the coolest looking product, within the translucent gel is suspended with hundreds of tiny bubbles and pink capsules. I made the rookie error of mistaking this for a face wash when I first got it, and am a bit embarrassed to say I sat there in the bath for about five minutes trying to get the stuff to foam up on my face. Needless to say it didn't, and so I read the packaging to discover that it is in fact a moisturiser. I know right, what an absolute numpty. SBC’s Vitamin Ace face and body gel contains wonder ingredient 'Oxysomes' which is what the little pink beads actually are; they contain brightening Vitamin C and refining Vitamin E to moisturise and brighten dull skin. I really like this product, as with the Arnica gel its so lightweight and absorbs almost instantly. I've been using it as my morning moisturiser for this reason, the light formula means no fussing around waiting for the product to sink in and it sits well under makeup. If my skin was feeling especially dry I'd follow this up with a more intense moisturiser over the top (in the same way you would with a serum), in fact come winter time and that's probably what I'll do. I love the pump bottle and the fact that it's absolutely massive, this sits on my dressing table and it's so quick and easy to apply in the mornings.

Have you ever heard of SBC?
This month's Platinum advertiser is Laura from Lola and Behold