Irish Organic Cosmetics - Flourish

Flourish are an Irish company based in Kerry with a committment to producing natural and organic cosmetics. It's fantastic to be able to write about Irish producers as this is one of the things we specifically wanted to do when we set up the blog. So naturally we were delighted to hear about Flourish and to get the chance to try out some of their product range.

And what a range is is! There are Vitamin E face, hand and body creams; Hemp & Macadamia Nut cream; cleanser; lip balms in scrummy flavours; toner; Calendula lotion; Peppermint foot lotion and a Lime & Grapefruit body scrub.

Petrochemicals or artificial fragrances are not used and where possible the option of glass containers is given. All the oils, waxes and butters in the products are organically grown and all the ingredients are ethically traded. Some of the ingredients like the flower petals are even grown organically in the Flourish garden.

I really liked the body scrub - with ingredients like sweet almond oil, olive and peach kernels and essential oils, it smelled frutily delicious and really moisturised as it exfoliated. My skin felt soft and smooth after use. Aphrodite was very taken with the peppermint foot lotion and used it at night before bed, reporting satin smooth piggies in the morning. The lip balms are terrific as well and contain no petroleum. Beeswax is used instead and it makes for a lovely, effective balm - and the flavours are great too - strawberry, peppermint and white chocolate. Nyum Nyum. I also tested the cleanser and it effectively removed a face full of makeup and left my skin feeling soft and cared for.

Best of all, the prices are great - think €9 for a cleanser, €8 for a foot lotion, €12 for a body scrub and €4 for a lipbalm.

And that's not all - for all you folks who live in and around the Killarney area, you can also avail of Flourish's many other services which include Reiki, Diet & Nutrition, Massage, Reflexology Aromatherapy & Meditation.