Papaw Ointment

When I went on my travels, I wanted to make sure I kept up blogging by trying different beauty products from around the world. From shampoos made from plants, to moisturisers made from coco beans, I still hadn't found the product that I would want to import and use for the rest of time. That is until now.

Australia being a very western country has a plethora of beauty products. I wish I could have tried more but my backpacker budget didn't allow me too! One affordable item I could purchase was this Lucas Papaw ointment. This $6 cult product that all Aussies have in their handbag, is this little multipurpose wonder balm.

Made from papaya extract, this natural balm is great for everything, and I have used it for a multitude of issues.

Number one mainly being for cracked lips. I always find muti purpose items like this are a great alternative to lip balm. This one isn't tacky and doesn't really taste of much which means it stays on for a long time! I can put it on before bed and still feel it on there by morning time.

Secondly, it is great for any little cuts. Although I think its meant to be pronounced pa-paw, my boyfriend and I have lovingly called it 'paw paw which is great for sore sores'. That's a bit gross and cutesy sorry.

But in all seriousness, this balm keeps moisture and bacteria out, and allows any wound to dry up and heal itself.

And one thing that I think papaw really excelled at curing? Bites!

One thing that you never see on the #wonderlust instagram posts is bright red bites all over your body which are sadly a hard reality of travelling. Not only have I been bitten by mosquitos, I had the horrible experience of being bitten by bed buds in one particular hostel (not at all glamorous!)

I went to the shops to buy a multitude of anti itch creams to sooth my crazily itchy bed bug bites, however the thing that worked best was my paw paw! hurrah!

I understand that we have Pawpaw in the UK now which is great, although I would fly to Aus again for more of this miracle cream!

Australia Red Center Inspired Nails

Hi everyone, if you follow me on Instagram then you may have seen a picture of myself at Uluru (or Ayers Rock), as I did a long road trip to get there the other week.

The Red Centre was a beautiful place, and the colours and aboriginal influences really got my creative juices flowing for some nail art!

As I'm travelling, I do find it really hard to juggle regular blog posts, especially in the outback as there is absolutely nothing, so wifi is a laughable ask to most people. Hopefully, I can reflect my trip to you though, as well as telling you a little bit about my journey along the way.

So lets get started

Coober Pedi

So to start my journey into the centre, we started in Adelaide and drove North. It took us 4 days to get to the middle, but we stopped at a little town called Coober Pedy for 2 nights to break things up. This is honestly one of the weirdest places I have ever been in my life, but I am so glad I went just for the stories to tell people. Coober Pedy is a mining town, and what you mine at Coober Pedy, is opals.

Opals are a precious stone that vary from clear to a gorgeous blue green colour, so I chose this polish called 'waves' by Sally Hansen, to give myself a Coober 'Pedi'.

 I wish I could take credit for the pun but it was all my boyfriend, however how someone hasn't set up a business in this place called that I do not know!

(Can I also just say that never did I ever think I would post a picture of my toes on the internet but alas, here we are. Be kind, I know they are not pretty feet but can anyone honestly say they have seen pretty feet?)

In Coober Pedy I also had the amazing experience of going to a kangaroo orphanage, where I met little baby Mona who lives in a handbag!

Aboriginal Art Nails

So another really cool thing I got to do at Uluru was take a dot painting workshop, where an aboriginal artist taught us a few basic symbols for us to create some work ourselves. It was so interesting to learn the symbols, as they can mean so many different things.

Whilst at the workshop, the lady taking the class did some art as well, and in the same space of time as us, she created the most beautiful blue water hole themed picture.

Just on this bit of nail art alone, I have done a little story about my trip here.

See if you can guess what I painted about!

Uluru Ombre

Now if you are anything like me and travel crazy, then you will have seen the mystical Uluru in real life or at least in pictures. I once saw a picture of it at different stages where it looked so different in colour, I knew I had to see it myself to believe it.

Although some say it is just a rock, (which yes, yes it is), it is a really spiritual place for the indigenous people of Australia, and you are actually not allowed to take pictures in some places as a sign of respect. Another thing the indigenous people ask, is that tourists DO NOT climb the rock, as they find it disrespectful, and also quite stupid. It is dangerous and it is causing environmental damage to the waterhole and rock itself.

There is currently a petition to try and get it stopped, so if you head that way, make sure you sign it!

One thing that we and the aboriginals can agree on though, is that the rock is really beautiful.

I saw the rock in the middle of the day, sunrise and also sunset, because it truly does look a different colour all the time. Sometimes it can be a really burnt orange colour, and others, it looks a beautiful purple.

Sunrise

Sunset

My favourite time was just at sunset though, as the sun ducked behind the clouds and gave the rock a pinky red hue, so I used this as the influence for my mani.

Obviously my travels take up a lot of my time currently, but I already have a few more nail art ideas in the works so hope to do a few more posts soon! 

Thanks for reading!

New Zealand Forest and Bird Hair Care

Whilst in my travels in New Zealand, I saw these little travel shampoo and conditioners in a posh hotel. I noticed they were made from natural ingredients,  which im a real sucker for when it comes to cosmetics, so I snapped them up to use at a later date. 

As you may know, one of New Zealand's biggest produce is Manuka honey. The bees go to the Manuka plants to feed and it makes then produce this incredibly Rich honey which is great for the body and has healing properties. These Forest and Bird hair washes contain Manuka honey oil, and the smell is very floral, but also has a hint of the honey which is really sweet and pretty.

As I'm a poor traveller, I have been using really cheap hair care, and I've noticed a difference dramatically from my higher end shampoos I was using before. My scalp is really dry and was suffering from a severe case of dandruff a few weeks ago, but since using these, the oil in my hair has balanced out, and just after two uses I could see a difference in my scalp.

The conditioner has been equally as good to smooth out my ends.

What I absolutely love the most about these products, is that Forest and Bird aren't a cosmetics company at all, they are a conservation group who focus on conserving the New Zealand wildlife, such as the rare kiwi which is pictured on the bottle. A percentage of the money goes straight to helping New Zealand's animals, land and oceans

I think at the moment you can only find them in hotels, but if you go to healthpak.com you can see the procure there. This was a really exciting find for me, and I hope you are just as inspired and liked reading about it!

Coco Butter Moisturiser

Hi everyone, I've been meaning to do this post for a while but still haven't got round to doing so! Anyway, whilst in the beautiful Peru, we went to a chocolate museum that taught us all about how chocolate was made. If you want to read more about that day, you can read my other blog that describes myself and my boyfriends trip away, and the Coco museum features here.

At the end of the tour, my eyes were instantly drawn to the little skin care shelf, which had many different products using the cocoa butter that is part of the chocolate making process. I took far too long deciding which one product I wanted to buy. As I'm travelling, I couldn't buy lots even though I wanted too! I tried the testers of the body lotions and lip balms, I contemplated getting the shampoo and conditioner, but in the end, I thought I couldn't go wrong with a day cream. This was only cheap as it was Peruvian prices, and the little tub is perfect travel size.

Cocoa butter, as your probably know is quite thick, so it has been perfect for the colder parts of New Zealand I've been travelling, as it gives a thicker finish meaning less damage is caused to the skin. It is really soothing, and actually absorbs really well into the skin despite its thickness. The main benefit though is the smell! Everyone in the room can tell when I put it on, as it has such a milky chocolate smell to it. This may turn some people off, but it doesn't last and isn't overpowering, but more comforting! It may not be a moisturiser I use in the day now I'm in Australia, as I'll probably want something lighter, but it's great for dry patches of skin or even as a night cream when some TLC is needed.

I love finding products that are hand made and that you can't find on the shelves of regular shops. Finding skincare in a chocolate museum was certainly the last place I expected to find my next moisturiser!

Virgin Coconut Oil

Sorry it's been a long time since a post! I've finally finished the South America leg to my trip, and have been having a nice relax in Fiji before I start another hectic trip around New Zealand.

Whilst in Fiji, I was wandering an island where I came across a local lady selling handmade necklaces and bracelets. Along with this, she was selling bottles of pure coconut oil which she had prepared herself. Obviously in Fiji, coconuts are very easy to come by so preparing the oil is very easy. 

Pure Virgin coconut oil can be fairly expensive in the UK, so when she said it was 50 Fijian dollars, which is about £16 I was tempted to buy some. When I realised I'd misheard and she was selling it for 15 Fijian dollars, I could have kissed her and bought 12. I decided one was enough though, and walked of very smug that I got it for just £5.

She explained that some oil is for cooking with and then the rest is left in the sun for 8 hours so it can be at its best, and then that's that! No chemicals or preservatives, just pure natural coconut oil.

 

The benefits of coconut oil are endless. After spilling a majority of it on the floor (which I knew I'd do) I put it in my hair and all over my body. It's great for skin that's been in the sun all day, and also for hair that's been frazzled and gone crispy  by the sea like mine has been. Leaving it in your hair can make it look greasy, so I find putting it in for 20 minutes before washing your hair will give it an intense condition, without the greasy look afterwards. I've used it as a body moisturiser which absorbs quickly, and even used some for cooking when Cooking oil hasn't been available

 I love this stuff and am so happy I picked some up! If you can get a hold of it then do because the smell is incredible, and you can use it for pretty much anything! Will check in again soon! Thank you for your patience 

Botanical Gardens: Rio de Janerio

As you probably know by now, I am in Rio De Janerio at the moment, on the first leg of my travels. Yesterday we went to Rio's large botanical gardens in the centre of the city. I love Rio because the city was built AROUND the forest, and has hardly been developed on. Carioca people are very respectful and thankful for the rainforest ,as it means minimal pollution. As a great lover of natural skincare, I took great delight at stumbling across the Botanical Gardens 'Medicinal Plant Collection' where they store and harvest plants. 

Having worked with natural skincare for nearly two and a half years, I instantly recognised a lot of the plants they were harvesting, and found it really interesting!

I have never seen a natural Aloe Vera plant grow this big, and as the soothing sap that comes from the plant is in a majority of our skincare, it was really good to see one thriving.

Patchouli again, is in a lot of skincare products I use, and I have never actually seen it in its natural form, like a lot of the other plants I saw. The names under each plant were all written in Portugese, but I could vaguely translate some into the ingredients I used to see every day at work.

This little hut had more information about the way they use the plants and transform the ingredients into medicines and skin care. It was really interesting to see, I wish I could have read the Portugese to get a better insight.

I didn't intentionally go in a flowery dress

Whilst we were there, the staff were actually harvesting some of the crops to be used! 

There was also a Rose garden which is another plant that is great for skincare, however it was looking a little worse for wear so I didn't take any pictures. The park was stunning though, and was a really interesting insight into the Brazilian wild life and natural world!

If you want to read more about my travels, my boyfriend and I are writing a travel blog. 

you will find it at

blogrigado.blogspot.com.

Rio

Hello my lovely followers! As you may know from my New Years post, this year is going to be a year of travel for me. At midday today, I finally landed in Rio de Janerio after a long 14 hour journey. Having only been here a few short hours, we drove to our hostel and saw the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue en route which was so amazing, as that has been on my bucket list to see for a long time now. I'll be going to see in on closer inspection on Monday.

As for the hostel, the 'Mango Tree' -which is situated right on Ipaneama beach-, is bright colourful and welcoming. My boyfriend and I spend a few hours swinging in the welcoming hammocks and swing chairs placed everywhere.

our cosy room

Looking so pale compared to my orange room

I will keep updating on my travel journey, but of course I will keep on reviewing products as per usual. I have a fair few to tell you about which have been real saviours on my trip so far, so I will keep you updated with those!