Greenwich and Kat's Kalma Love

Tired and totally overdressed for the warm weather, I journeyed to Greenwich to visit the market. I didn't anticipate how packed it would be on the weekend and was quite overwhelmed by the lack of space and the sheer amount of people. I managed to see most of the market but would have liked to stay longer to really investigate everything the market had to offer. One of the stalls I did manage to spend some time at was Kats Kalma, a stall dedicated to natural face and body products.

Kats Kalma Greenwich Stall

I absolutely love the idea of a 'natural' and 'chemical free' free lifestyle. Although of course technically everything is a chemical, I'm talking about avoiding the usual big bad boys - things like parabens, sulphates, silicones in hair products, propylene glycol, drying alcohols, yada yada. This is all well and good in theory, but trying to avoid nasties can be very difficult when the high street is totally populated by mainstream brands. I suppose it's always easier to dodge them by buying from online independent sellers but many of them are abroad (can I smell extortionate shipping costs?). It's partly due to this that I've held off from buying natural products online as well as not being able to experience the products for myself. However, when I spotted Kats Kalma, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to dabble with some totally natural goodies. After taking a good look at everything, I purchased a gift set containing a hand balm and a lip balm.

Kats Kalma Gift Set

In general I adore the packaging on Kats range from the soaps, to the face masks, to the hair oil. The gift set I purchased is too cute though, the open box reminds me of a rabbit's hutch with all the 'hay' bulging from it! To me, it screams sunshine, comfort and nature. I haven't seen anything like it and I love the really home made feel it exudes. I like that it is totally recyclable and I know that once I'm done with the hand balm I will be able to use the tin to house something else and recycle it.

Kats Kalma Vegan Lip Balm

I was on the look out for a lip balm in general and partly chose this set because the balm was hygenically packaged in a tube (which is totally illogical because the hand balm I got is in a tin lol). I was surprised at how creamy it was! Part of me was expecting it to be quite runny or oily feeling but I was really happy that it was creamy instead and not glossy once applied. I usually buy Burt's Bees balms at £3.69 a pop but at £2.50, Kats Kalma will become my new go-to lip balm. It's just as effective and I love that it's totally natural and more simple than Burt's Bees balms. Seeing as we ingest lip products, I know that with this balm weird chemicals won't be ending up in my system. I know I'd much rather be ingesting a Kats Kalma lip balm than a Carmex one! Its smell is subtle and kind of herbal but seeing as there is no fragrance added, this scent is the natural ingredients doing their thing. It's also tasteless and I know I won't be getting any complaints from my boyfriend because he usually hates the taste of lip balm.

Kats Kalma Restorative Hand Balm for Working Hands and Ingredients

The Restorative Hand Balm for Working Hands is lovely. I really like the packaging, the screw tin is great and feels so sturdy. It's not going to pop off in your bag or be near impossible to remove without breaking your nails which is one of the reasons it really appeals to me. The scent is quite woody and like balsam at the same time with small hints of the shea butter it contains. The product itself is solid and melts on contact with your fingers but I prefer to use the back of my nail to scrape some out rather than rubbing the product waiting for it to melt. I scrape out enough product to cover the length of my thumb nail and massage this into my hands and nails. I find its just enough to coat my hands without over doing it and getting greasy skin. At night time though, I totally go overboard and slather this on my hands whilst massaging it into my cuticles for a more intense overnight treatment. Although it doesn't claim to help nails, I'm convinced the oils it contain have to be good for them and I can't wait to see if this has any real effect on my useless, weak nails.

Kats Kalma Balancing Bath Soak

I met Kat herself, who was so nice and friendly. She even gave me free bath salts when I didn't couldn't decide what to get for my mum. My mum has since tried them and thought they were fantastic.

The soaps available (especially Sweet Orange & Ylang Ylang, Peppermint & Lemongrass Sea Salt and Citrus Blast) smelt delicious. There was quite a variety and the packaging was attractive and minimal but charmingly pretty. One thing I did like about the range was that the products I sniffed were not overly scented. We are all aware of the strong LUSH stench that wafts from their stores and probably has the ability to permeate nuclear bunkers and the like. Kats Kalma isn't like that and the scents are much more tasteful and subtle in my opinion.

Kat also makes face mists which I was interested in but I didn't dare pick them up and be enchanted by lovely fragrances when I don't use nor see the need for face mists. I would love to try the hair oil next as well as a soap and one of the tinned lip balms if they are scented or flavoured. Although I'm not very girly in the sense that I don't take long relaxing baths with bath bombs and the like, the bath 'truffles' just sound delicious! If I had any suggestions for improvement, I think that the lip balm could be a bit more waxy. I find that waxy balms last longer on me and I really like the texture of them. I'll definitely return to the stall and pick up more goodies as I love supporting small businesses!

Ruby Tuesday's of London Raspberry Vanilla Cupcake

One of the things I've been interested in for years is veganism and I'd heard about the fuss around Ms. Cupcakes, the vegan cupcake joint in Brixton and Ruby Tuesdays of London (Greenwich). I bought a Raspberry Vanilla cupcake from the Ruby Tuesdays stall for £2.30 and was really surprised. I don't know what I was expecting from a vegan cupcake, but it wasn't that it would be fluffy, soft and full of flavour like this one. The icing was just right and not ridiculously over the top as some other cakes can be. Stop it with the icing, cake decorators! Although heaps of icing may look pretty, to avoid getting diabetes from a single cupcake I have to scrape off 90% of the icing because it can get overwhelming. Ruby's icing was just right! It tasted like authentic raspberry instead of fake flavouring and I would definitely get more cakes from that stall.

Lamb Wrap from Sultan's Delight, Greenwich

Yes, we are detouring from veganism and onto devouring lamb. We got a lamb wrap after walking past Sultan's Delight multiple times and stopping to drool. There weren't many options on the menu but we got a plain wrap because neither the halloumi, yoghurt or hummus looked like it had been refrigerated and I really don't need a second dose of food poisoning. The lamb looked great as it was being cooked but when it came to eating it, it got really boring about halfway through.

Levain Bakery, Greenwich

I bought a sundried tomato loaf of bread from the Levain Bakery stall for £2.60. I don't know why because usually I steer clear of uncovered food just sitting there but the bread just looked amazing! It was so tasty whilst crunchy on the outside and fluffy inside. I'll be getting some of their olive bread next.

Great finds to be found here!

Linking to Poppy Loves!