Finds from the Emerald Isle | Waxperts Beautiful Body Oil.

I made a small resolution for my blog in 2015, and that was to feature as many great Irish beauty based brands as I could throughout the year. I had intended on doing one a month, starting with January, but I'm a total disaster and in typical Irish fashion I generally get around to things a little later than I'd like. Regardless, now more-so than ever I see such an importance in supporting more local, Irish brands. I probably sound like a Bord Bia ad, but surely shopping Irish should extend to our makeup bags too! Plus, I'm hoping maybe some of my other readers from abroad can find out about some smaller, but fantastic Irish companies.

First up in my "Finds of the Emerald Isle" series is a Dublin based waxing salon that I had heard so much about; specifically, their own brand of skincare products. Waxperts is the brainchild of Ellen Kavanagh and provides both treatments and Waxperts products in their salon. Their newest thing to launch is the Beautiful Body Oil (€9.99 - 100ml). This was kindly sent to me from their PR to try, and I loved it so much it sparked me to finally start my 'Buy Irish' series!

Essentially, it is a lavender based body oil with plenty of uses. I love oils for lots of different things but find that most of them just smell the same. Nothing wrong with that, but this is such a light, unoffensive lavender scent that I think anyone would find soothing. Lavender is a really nostalgic smell to me and always reminds me of sleeping over in my nanny's house, so I knew I'd love the scent straight away.
In true body oil style it is nourishing and soothing but not at all greasy. It sinks right into the skin without leaving a residue or film on the skin (does that make any sense?). Basically, I don't have to stand like an oiled up scarecrow before waiting to put on a pair of jeans... Oiled up scarecrows? This is all getting a bit GQ meets The Wizard of Oz of me... Scratch the previous mental image, please. I actually use the Lush massage bars as a body lotion replacement (although they can be very oily and slow to absorb into the skin, so I reserve them for the very cold winter months!) and I had a feeling I would enjoy using the Waxperts oil.

Waxperts Beautiful Body Oil.

It gets a big thumbs up for me for the scent, the quality of the product/its hydrating and softening abilities and most of all, its multi-functional properties. I am all about the multi-purpose life. Of course, a little goes a long way and my only real gripe about it is that the pump can sometimes dispense a little too much product. Although, it was by doing that that I got to use the excess in a couple of different ways other than simply as a lotion... mostly because I ain't about the wastin' good product life, either! So, I thought I would share with ye a couple of ways in which you can use this little gem:

• After waxing. Duh, what it was originally intended for! I have recommended this to my best friend who is training in waxing and she has been loving it for that, so it gets big thumbs up from her.
• Post-shower lotion. Super hydrating and skin softening but doesn't feel sticky or uncomfortable on the skin. I've been using it on particularly dry patches on my elbows, knees and knuckles and it works so so nicely.
• Bath oil. Now, I don't actually have a bath but I can imagine pumping a drop or two of this into the bath would be so relaxing! If it's anything like what it does to the skin, it'll make the bath water silky soft. Apologize to mammy about the water charges later.
• One of my favourite ways to use this is as a sleeping aide. This is where nostalgia kicks in - my nanny used to rub drops of lavender oil onto my temples to help me sleep at night. I've found this works really similarly, there is just something SO soothing about lavender.. and eh, soft temples too?
• I used a little bit of this in place of a shaving foam on my legs to give it a go. You'd definitely go through it quickly if you were using the oil for all these purposes, but it is seriously multifunctional and works in a pinch for super silky legs.
• A few recommendations from the girls over at Waxperts were for rubbing into stretch marks and sun damage!
• Finally, if you love the smell of lavender as much as I do, then you want it close to you and all over you at every single hour of the day. Like I said, the smell isn't sickly or too strong of lavender, and I'm not sure this is "okay" to do but I'm such a god damn rebel and no one has been harmed in the process... My favourite use for it so far as been using it has a hair oil to smooth down fly-aways and leave my hair looking so shiny. It smells great too, obviously.

Probably my favourite part - the super cheeky pin up girl on the other side of the label!

So there you go; my top uses for the Waxperts body oil. I'm a big lover of beauty oils in general and this is one of my favourites to date! You can find Waxperts products on http://waxperts.bigcartel.com/products, Mise Beauty and DolledUp.ie. Also, as far as I know Waxperts are now being stocked in England and Poland which is super exciting to hear. They also have ingrown hair pads which are supposed to be great for blemishes or small pimples. I've seen some of my favourite bloggers mention them before, and they are definitely on my next shopping trip list at Mise. If you have any Irish based brands that you think I should try then please let me know below, or tweet me @GraceyOConnell with some recommendations or suggestions :)