Today I've got a product I've been meaning to review for ages (hence the backdrop which is different from usual...old photo) but is actually one of my favourites shampoos of all time. The Scottish Fine Soaps Sea Kelp Shampoo. 

I had mentioned before that I tried the Au Lait shampoo and fell in love. However when I transitioned into veganism I didn't want to use a shampoo which was based on milk to moved on to the Sea Kelp shampoo. I wouldn't say it's as good as the Au Lait version but it's certainly still one of my favourite shampoos out there!

This is a very refreshing and gentle shampoo which hits the right balance between being moisturising but still cleansing. It's the shampoo I pick up up when hair is having a fairly 'normal' day and isn't in need of any particular treatment. Good standard shampoo.

Have you tried the Sea Kelp shampoo or anything else from the Scottish Fine Soaps Company?

Credit

It's that time of year again when instead of having a man to buy a Valentine's Day gift for, I write up a guide on the internet of what I would buy instead. So spoken for ladies (or people who just fancy buying themselves something nice) here's the kind of gift my ideal man would like to receive...

1. Bulldog

I recommend this time after time, but this is my favourite cruelty-free male brand. I have bought this regularly over the years for males in my life (romantic or otherwise) and always get good feedback. The brand comes up quite often in the #cfbloggers chat too. 

2. The Spicery (or something similar) 

I actually bought this for a male friend at Christmas who loves spicy foods and he seemed to really enjoy his monthly box. I actually wanted to keep it for myself when it arrived...

3. Joke sex food from Ann Summers

True story: I once bought penis shaped pasta for an ex. He was a bit confused but his friends laughed and made spaghetti bolognese with it. Have a look at this obviously NSFW link. 

4. Ingress pants (or other geeky and fun pants)

I love underwear and a man with a proper underwear collection gets an up-vote from me. Plus points his collection includes funky pants (cause they make me laugh and that's always good). If your guy doesn't play Ingress or you don't have time to order from Etsy then Primark is always a good shout for geeky pants. 

5. A cute but artistic card

I don't like giving or receiving cards (waste of paper) but they are the done thing so if you're going to then buy something like this I love you to be pieces card, this super cheesy card or this one if you're with a ginger. 

What are you planning to buy your sweet this 14th of February? 

First off, election news:

Dundee was once known as a Labour heartland, but after becoming Yes-City it looks as though Labour's days are over (even the Guardian picked up on it).

And a look at why Labour were wrong to assume people would always vote for them.

The New Statesman has launched May2015 - it has a tiny amount of content so far but it's so far good content.

How support for different energy sources differs between age groups. 

This General Election will be the first one where all Glasgow constituencies will see a Scottish Green option on the ballot.

From a utilities magazine at work, why a close-to-call election makes utility prices go up. 

Not technically election stuff, but Business for Scotland argue why a living wage makes business sense.

And other stuff:

Some life advice on not putting up with shit because you think it makes you a better person.

If GamerGate has been confusing you - not hard to believe - then Reddit now has a timeline.

"If you're calling someone out as a fake fan, what's your victory condition? Preventing someone else from liking things you like? When your plan is "prevent people from enjoying Superman," you're a Hostess snack cake villain, and even more irrelevant to the modern world." - From The 7 Most Ridiculous Things About Calling Out Fake Geek Girls.

I'm big on owning your sexual choices, even if you've never had sex and you're in your twenties.

When I re-watched/fully watched Buffy last year there was something that bothered me about Willow and Tara's relationship: surely Willow was actually bisexual?

If you diet, do it for health and not for looks as an appearance-driven diet can be dangerous.

50 shades of grey comes out on Valentine's Day, here's some more realistic movie posters for a film that dresses up abuse up as romance.

9 tips for wearing - and getting the most out of - perfume.

Culturally appropriate female basketball uniforms.

"The main draw of a low-carb diet generally isn’t health anyway, it’s weight loss. These are not one and the same; no matter what the gurus may say. A healthy weight very much depends on the individual and health is not just physical. There is no shame in deriving pleasure from food." - From 5 things low-carb gurus don't want you to know.

Also, if you are looking to loose weight the healthy way here's a directory of nutrition blogs where only registered dieticians are included.

A Girl Called Jack is now doing vegan recipes.

America might be clean eating it's way into a new eating disorder.

As a former waitress I agree with 15 restaurant etiquettes your server wishes you knew.

As much as I wish I didn't related to this I do: do you get weird when one of your friends is complimented all the time?

When it comes to chocolate I'm going to admit what, to some people, might be a bit of a blaspheme: I don't really like to eat a bar of it (crisps are my downfall). All the vegan chocolate I own in my cupboard is specifically regulated for baking and out of all the baked goods it's a brownie I love to bake the most. 

So when new vegan chocolate brand Ethicoco* got in contact asking if I wanted to try some of their bars, I knew what I wanted to do with them.  I combined the Ecuadorian with Oat Milk and the Peruvian Dark Chocolate with a bar of mint chocolate from Plamil Foods I already had in my cupboard to create a mint chocolate vegan brownie. 

The recipe I use as the base for all my brownies is from From Pasta to Pancakes, each time just changing a few things. 

Ingredients:

225g vegan butter (I use Pure Soya Spread)

one bar Ecuadorian Old Milk chocolate

one bar Peruvian Dark Chocolate 

one bar Pamil mint chocolate

egg replacer for four eggs

275g muscovado sugar

200g plain flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4

2. Crease a 30cm/12 inch x 20cm/8 inch baking tin with butter. Line it with greaseproof paper.

3. Melt the chocolate and butter in a saucepan until they make a smooth mixture. Set aside to cool for a few minutes. 

4. Beat the eggs in a bowl and mix in the muscovado sugar. 

5. Add the chocolate mixture and stir well. 

6. Gently add the flour and baking powder, stirring until evenly mixed.

7. Pour the mixture into the lined tin and cook in the hot oven for 25 minutes.

8. Remove from the oven. It should have a wonderful crisp top yet the muscovado sugar will have made it sensationally gooey in the middle.

9. Cut into squares and serve. 

Remember to stop by the Ethicoco website and check out what other chocolate bars are on offer. 

What your favourite brand of vegan chocolate? Have you heard about Ethicoco? 

I've mentioned before that I own a (bizzarly) large shower gel collection. Occasionally I add a soap to the mix but for the most part I prefer a gel to a bar of something (quicker, less likely to drop it). So when I received the Arran Aromatics Seaweed and Oatmeal bath brick in my Santa stocking it was definitely something different to try. (The link isn't this exact product but something similar). 

Because I prefer shower gels for my 7am morning showers - and the name of the product suggests I should - I tried this out in a bath. And it was lovely. It has a very generic 'soapy' smell which is very fresh and clean. If you prefer 'clean' smells like me that this would be up your street. It foamed up beautifully and was very soft on my skin. It was also gently exfoliating - the bar itself is smooth when initially unwrapped but after some water bumps of oatmeal appear on the surface. Also when the company branded this as a bath brick they were onto something - my picture really doesn't show how big a bar this is (it's 300g). 

This is going to be a short review as there is only so much I can say about a bar of soap, but I'll round-up saying I liked it - a lot. All Arran products are suitable for vegetarians with only honey or beeswax to look out for on the labels - but annoyingly I can't find ingredient lists online. I have owned a few Arran Aromatics candles over the years but this was my first beauty product I'm definitely impressed and would consider buying more from the range. 

Have you ever tried any Arran Aromatics products, soap or otherwise? 

  Morag x