Guilt-free self care: Wild Olive

disclaimer: I have not been paid, incentives or gifted anything in exchange for this review. I simply really enjoyed the products.

One thing we can all agree on is the importance of self-care for mums. Whilst we undoubtedly live for the little people we co-created, its vital to have some time to ourselves to calm the noise, regroup and recharge those batteries.

There’s no hard and fast way to achieve self-care, from enjoying a good book to meditating, exercising or even blogging, everyone’s experience of self-care is different. Maybe for you its a combination of all of the above, or maybe its something else completely. One of my favourite, simple ways to practice self-care is through a good bath followed by some body care. Its a quick self-care fix – after all, you need to wash anyway so extending this to a longer, more mindful bath and body session when I can makes all the difference.

A great brand I recently discovered to help with this is Wild Olive. The other half bought me a couple of their pamper gift sets when I was on a particularly low ledge during lockdown. Frazzled didn’t even begin to cover it. You were lucky if I was able to wash every other day (self-sacrificed washing for precious few more minutes sleep) so the gesture was much appreciated.

Bath Tea

Within the gift set was something I’d never come across before – bath tea bags! I was very intrigued as to what that was, though it’s basically exactly as you’d imagine. Rather than say a bath bomb, the ingredients are put into an oversized tea bag which you let brew in your bath for a little while before you hop in. Wild Olive offer a range of them, from calming and relaxing patchouli and lavender to refreshing orange and bergamot, and a variety of scents in between. From just £1.75 per tea bag, they are great value for money too.  Advice from the Wild Olive website also suggests that you can remove the bath tea bag, let the scent envelop your bathroom, then reuse the teabag again once it has dried out. Great value, good for the environment and reusable – what’s not to love? Check out the current range of bath tea bags here.

Gift packs

I was given a set which contained a variety of Wild Olive products, featuring the aforementioned bath tea bags, along with a bath melt, scented candle and face mask. All of the products in the set were based on their marshmallow rose scent, which was dreamily delightful. However, Wild & Olive offer the option to customise gift sets on their website, so you can either choose a set of similar-scented products or switch it up a bit, meaning you can send the ideal gift for that special someone.

Cruelty-free and eco friendly

As I hadn’t heard of the brand Wild Olive before I’d received this gift, I decided to do some research into the brand. I recently shared how I’m trying to become more eco-friendly in lockdown, so I like to research anything I’ve never used before to ensure it has as little environmental impact as possible.

From the packaging, it’s clear that Wild Olive care about their carbon footprint. The gift box is made of card, with most products using recyclable materials, such as paper cups to hold face masks and tin dishes to house candles. Plus, as every product is handmade, there’s a commitment to minimal energy use in manufacturing products.

Upon further investigation, the Wild Olive website makes clear that their ethos is to be kind to both the environment and their customers. Products are all SLS and paraben-free, never tested on animals and use only sustainable ingredients.

With the care and attention of handmade products, a consciousness for the environment and cruelty-free products, it’s clear that Wild Olive offer a range of self-care products you can use without feeling guilty about it. Plus, as a smaller retailer than say, high-street cosmetics chains offering similar products, you may be really making a difference to this brand’s recovery from the impact of coronavirus.