Emma Hardie Amazing Face Moringa Cleansing Balm | Review

I've tried a lot of cleansers in my time (serious auld one vibes here) and at various times I thought the Eve Lom Balm Cleanser, the Liz Earle Hot Cloth Cleanser, the Pixi Double Cleanse or the Oskia Cleansing Gel were my favourite (they are all winners, in fairness) but for me, the Emma Hardie Cleansing Balm blows them all out of the water. It's been around for years now so this post is fairly late in the general scheme of things but sometimes a product is so good, it's still worth shouting about, years after its first release. 

I tried this initially when I got a mini pot in my Marks & Spencer advent calendar two years ago. I got another one last Christmas. Both pots were used up until there wasn't even a microscopic fragment of balm left and I eventually treated myself to a full size. I say 'treated' because this fella is pricey. I got the 100ml size from Cult Beauty, which set me back £47, or about €53 (I got a deal though, so it's OK!!). 

Eep!

Let me tell you why it's worth it though. 

• Firstly you only need the tiniest amount to clean your whole face, so you'll have your 100ml pot for ages.
• It's super comforting; it's packed with wild sea fennel, rose oil and vitamin E that beautifully cleanse your skin while leaving it soft and radiant. It feels like a treat to use. 
• The smell lads. I can't. I'm not far off standing up in a circle and saying "Hello, my name is Chloe and I'm an addict. I can't stop inhaling Emma Hardie Cleansing Balm". So there's a few essential oils in there and that's apparently what's causing my olfactory overload. Extracts of jasmine, bergamot, orange and sweet almond oil combine together to give the most heavenly home facial, but every night! It's glorious!
• It's easy to use; massage onto dry skin, it turns into an oil that breaks down make-up, dirt and all the other crap that's attached to your face throughout the day, then cleans off easily with a warm, damp muslin cloth. You don't even need to do a double cleanse with this fella, but you can if you want to, of course.
• The brand also suggest using this as a face mask for 10 minutes while you take a relaxing bath, which I hadn't considered doing but am now totally on board with.

And that's your lot. I'm looking forward to using my brand new pot tonight, that's if I can stop myself from eating it all first.

Have you tried Emma Hardie's Cleansing Balm?

If not, why not?!

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The Best of March

Mostly so far this month I've heard a lot of "I can't believe it's April already, where's the year gone?!" and in fairness, it has flown by!

March was a good month. We had our trip away to Galway in the midst of Snowmaggedon, lots more great beauty products tried out and more great food, great books and great podcasts.

Glenlo Abbey & Dinner on the Orient Express (kinda)
We headed off to Galway to celebrate a big anniversary as soon as the roads were drivable during the big snow storm. We try and make a trip to the West once a year as we love it here. Glenlo Abbey is a fantastic hotel; the rooms are beautifully decorated, the staff are helpful and friendly and the food is delicious. Speaking of which, there's a carriage from the original Orient Express on the grounds of the hotel and we had one of our meals here. As Agatha Christie fans, we both loved this!

Clarins Eye Mask & Lip Balm
I've been dealing with undereye bags and very dry lips lately so these couldn't have come at a better time. Review HERE.

Afternoon Tea in The Merrion Hotel
I spent a lovely afternoon here recently with my female in-laws, sipping prosecco and eating dainty sandwiches. Always such a treat.

Cheese & Wine Festival @ Eatyard
Eatyard in Portobello reopened recently and have been running themed festivals at the weekends. I went with friends for the wine and cheese festival, which was excellent. A tenner in gets you €10 worth of tokens (I got myself a full Irish cheese board) and a free glass of wine, although I went back to one of the independent sellers for another glass later. They just did a gin festival, which I missed but I'll be keeping my eyes open for more of the same.

Meeting Louise O'Neill and Marian Keyes (again..I love her) with my book club
Tatler hosts excellent events every so often with authors like the above in conversation with each other. Previously I attended one with Lindy West, which was also brilliant. For your €35 ticket, you get a glass of champagne, nibbles, a goody bag, a chance to meet and chat with the authors and in this case, a signed copy of Louise's new book, Almost Love. I went with some of my book club, and we loved chatting with Marian and Louise (we're all on first name terms now, obviously). A great evening and we read Almost Love for the club this month!

Grief Is The Thing With Feathers
This is the Enda Walsh adapted play, starring the ludicrously talented Cilian Murphy. We managed to get very last minute seats and in spite of not sitting next to each other and me barely being able to breathe with a dose of sinusitis, we enjoyed it in the end! The acting performances were outstanding, as were the set pieces. It's a brilliant play, albeit quite grim and surreal. More of an experience than anything.

The Backlash Against the Result in the Belfast Rape Trial
The only possible good thing that could come out of the absolute horror show that was this very high profile trial was the resulting outcry from women and some men online to the jury's decision of not guilty. I won't go into that further here, but it was somewhat comforting to see so many #IBelieveHer posts on Instagram and Twitter. And I still do believe her. I hope she's recovering with her family and knows how supported she is.

Hush: A Buffy Podcast
I feel like I've mentioned this way too much on my Instagram stories but I started listening to a new Buffy The Vampire Slayer podcast; Hush is created by a married couple living in Ireland. Both are of course big fans of the Buffster (they even named their daughter Willow, which is really cute) and are going through each episode in detail-it's a nice trip down memory lane. I haven't watched the full first series in years so I'm enjoying it.

And those are just some of the highlights form the last month. 

Are any of yours on here?

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