Circaroma – Organic Skincare At Its Best

I feel very blessed that where I live I have an array of small organic and natural brands on my doorstep and Circaroma is one of those. I recently read a post from Hephzibar from the blog Good For Me, Good For You called “In My Back Yard” and I think I may join in.

We forget that many of us have some amazing natural brands literally a stone’s throw away from where we live, yet we don’t often know they are there until we look. I think I can count 4 within about a 30 minute drive from here; 3 of them are within about 10 minutes ! 

Circaroma is one of those. I first happened upon them whilst browsing the Victoria Health website and tracked them to just down the road from me. I was very excited and popped in to say “hi”.

Barbara and Steven who run Circaroma are such lovely people. I’m not sure if it just goes with the territory or whether it’s more to do with the fact that many natural brands have begun life from an Holistic Therapy standpoint, particularly Aromatherapy, but I’m always warmed by the connections I’ve been able to make with the many people I’ve met in natural skincare. It’s a great place to be and I love the feeling of like-minded souls coming together for a greater cause. Yes, I know, I’m getting all deep and meaningful on you again, but that’s me by nature. I love true, meaningful connections with people. Those that develop into something very special, and last. What’s the point otherwise?

Anyway, I digress ! I do that a lot don’t I ?

Barbara Scott developed the Circaroma range from an Aromatherapy background and uses high quality essential oils in her organic formulations. In their ‘About’ section of their website they explain:

“Circaroma organic skincare has always been about the sensation of pure aromas linking mind and body, and was founded as a result of my work as a classical aromatherapist.

When running my private practice it made complete sense to me to use only the best quality ingredients available on my clients. At that time organic oils were not widely available but fortunately I managed to find a few suppliers who stocked exceptional quality organic oils, some of which we still use today.

Alongside the therapists who work at Circaroma I have created a complete range of face and body care from some of the finest ingredients available, because I believe that you can care for your skin in a genuinely natural way, whilst achieving effective results and experiencing beautiful aromas.”

Circaroma insist that they only use the finest natural and organic skincare ingredients available, such as essential oils, floral waters, tinctures, butters, waxes, sugars, sea salts and infused oils, many of which they source from small farms and organic suppliers. They choose not to use synthetic ingredients such as mineral oils, parabens, sulphates, artificial fragrance and colour in their organic skincare products. They blend, refine and test their products to create a synergy-rich range of sensuous skincare that will make a difference to how your skin looks and feels.

Circaroma are a multi-award winning brand including this year’s addition in the Ultimate Natural Beauty Bible. Their range includes skincare, bodycare, haircare, and aromatherapy natural wax candles.

Barbara kindly gave me 3 of their balancing range for oily / combination skin to try out and I also bought a couple of their candles (one for a friend for Christmas), a couple of their lip balms, a hand and foot balm, and some trial sizes of their bodywash. Armed with my goodies I’ve been able to get a good idea of the range and I’ve enjoyed what I’ve experienced so far.

Balancing Facial Cream – Geranium Flower and Apricot, 35g - £22.00

I really like this face cream a lot. It is light and sinks in well to the skin. It leaves a lovely matt finish producing an ideal canvas for applying make-up. It has a light, subtle natural fragrance which I like a lot. For my face I much prefer creams and lotions that use essential oils to fragrance their products. I find them earthy, and they appeal far more to my sense of smell. I find a lot of synthetic fragrance false and overpowering. I think my love of essential oils comes from my background as a holistic therapist. One of my disciplines is massage so the use of oils is key to this. I don’t think that love will ever go.

Ingredients:

Aqua, water helianthus annuus, sunflower oil cetyl alcohol, emulsifier cetearyl alcohol, emulsifier pelargonium graveolens, geranium water glycerol stearate, moisturiser sodium steroyl lactylate, emulsifier cocos nucifera, coconut oil prunus dulcis, almond oil simmondsia sinensis, jojoba oil theobroma cacao, cocoa butter prunus armeniaca, apricot oil pelargonium graveolens, geranium dehydroacetic acid, preservative benzyl alcohol, preservative phenoxyethanol, preservative anthemis nobilis, chamomile lavandula angustifolia, lavender citrus limonum, lemon pogostemon cablin, patchouli tocopherol, vit E, geraniol, linalool, limonene, citronellol.

Toning Facial Mist – Rosewater and Witchhazel, 95ml - £12.00

This toning facial mist is easily applied using the facial mister. I far prefer spray toners; less faff and better application. This one is quite strong on the witchhazel which I did find a touch strong at times. I find that although my skin is oily / combination that strong toners actually overpower my skin and tingle. I’m going to test this theory next time I get a toner and just get one purely with Rosewater in it to see if I notice a difference. This toner is effective and great at preparing my skin for the balancing cream. I wasn’t able to try out the cleanser so I do not know how all three products perform as a team. However, if the other 2 are anything to go by I’m sure it is an excellent product.

Ingredients:

Rosa damascene (rose water), hammamelis virginiana (witchhazel), gluconolactone, sodium benzoate

Purifying Facial Polish – Patchouli Leaf & JoJoba Berry, 35g - £14.00

I really enjoyed using this facial polish. Gentle yet effective, it removed dead skin cells easily and left my skin feeling clean with a matt finish. This made sure my skin was in the best condition to absorb the balance cream. This facial polish is gentle enough to use several times a week. It has a lovely fragrance, stronger than the balance cream with patchouli and palmarosa, yet not overpowering.

Ingredients:

aqua water cetearyl alcohol, emulsifier cetyl alcohol, emulsifier betaine, emulsifier simmondsia sinensis, jojoba oil glycerol stearate, moisturiser sodium steroyl lactylate, emulsifier juglans regia, walnut shell glycerine cymbopogon martinii, palmarosa pogostemon cablin(, patchouli dehydroacetic acid, preservative benzyl alcohol, preservative phenoxyethanol, preservative, anthemis nobilis chamomile, citrus limoum lemon, tocopher ol vit E, geraniol, linalool, limonene.

In addition to the above products I have loved using their balms. They are soft and buttery and lovely to apply to dry lips, hands and feet. I bought the citrus zest and mint lip balm and the softening hand and foot balm with wild frankincense and geranium flower. I also tried their Awakening Body Wash with Ginger and Pink Grapefruit. This was lovely and fresh to use in the shower in the morning. I’d like to try out a full size bottle of this and also their Green Mint and Lemongrass one. Sounds yummy.

The aromatherapy candles I bought were Cinnamon Spice and Orange which was a Christmas pressie for a friend and then the Pink Grapefruit and Lemongrass for myself. They smell amazing but my only grouch would be that mine didn’t seem to burn particularly evenly. I wasn’t sure if this was due to the jar pot rather than a glass voile. Despite this, the fragrance throw when lit is lovely.

So there you have it, my thoughts on Circaroma’s organic skincare range.

You can visit their website here and they are also on Facebook and Twitter.

Have you experienced Circaroma’s award winning organic skincare range? If so, do leave me a comment below. I always love to hear from you.

Until next time xx

********

Disclaimer: In addition to what I bought myself, I was given a 35g pot of the Circaroma’s Balance Facial Cream, Purifying Facial Polish and a 95ml toning Facial Mist to try out. All opinions are my own honest thoughts and feelings on the products I tried out.