🧼 Bangkok Soap Opera 🛀 Natural, Handmade, Eco-Friendly Soap & Skincare ♻️

I have walked past the beautifully smelling Bangkok Soap Opera so many times but sadly never been inside however I happened to notice one day while scrolling through Instagram that they were having a sale so I decided as I was down to my last sliver of soap it was the perfect opportunity to order some of their delicious looking soaps to try out and as it arrived to me so fast and so beautifully wrapped with sustainable packaging and smelt so wonderful I just had to share this amazing find with all of you because who doesn't love pretty soaps that smell amazing?

The most appealing thing to me about Bangkok Soap Opera is not just their amazing soaps but the fact that they do some amazing work in the community. Not only do they teach soap making skills and host workshops on natural skincare and candle making, which I definitely want to take part in one day, they also have a project where they take the used oil from local street stalls and restaurants and which would otherwise go to waste and use that oil to make into soap and then donate that soap to communities and charities in need, so by buying their soaps and supporting them you are also supporting a great cause and a more eco-friendly, sustainable future. 

As someone with quite sensitive skin I'm always cautious about what I put onto my skin and try to source as natural, organic and vegan as possible. Bangkok Soap Opera prides themselves on their natural ingredients and state they don't use any ingredients in their soap you can't eat as only if it's safe for you to consume it's safe for it to be used on your skin. Using only these natural ingredients they have produced a wonderful and wide selection of soaps in many "flavours" to suit all skincare types, I purchased 5 of their many soaps on offer, strawberry and rose, mangosteen and lemongrass, coffee and orange, chocolate pumpkin and cinnamon, lemon and tamarind, and they all smell amazing! So far I have only used the strawberry rose and it's wonderful, not only does my bathroom smell like an amazing rose garden every time I walk in but I've had complements about my "new perfume" and my skin feels so soft, beautiful and cleansed I really can't wait to get back into the shower to use it again.

I think as consumers we should all be making more of an effort to support businesses and brands that make a difference, personally I want the little money I have to go to the right places and businesses that align with my own ideals and beliefs and Bangkok Soap Opera is definitely a business I'm proud to support, not only are their products handmade with completely natural ingredients of the highest quality, they smell amazing, leave my skin feeling beautiful and are very reasonably priced to so worth every single penny and more, they ship worldwide to so please do go check them out and maybe treat yourself to some natural handmade skincare made with love.

Which one of their soaps would you love to try out?

Love & Bubbles

Cate

xoxo

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📚 Bangkok's Oldest and Largest English Library 🍎

In 1869, 13 British and American ladies established the Bangkok Ladies' Library Association with the goal of circulating and sharing English language books which were extremely hard to come by in those days as books from overseas could take at least 6 months or more to arrive in Thailand via boat. The association was run every Sunday in out of the ladies houses but as the association grew and became more popular a dedicated space was needed so in 1914 a plot of land was purchased and so the Neilson Hays Library you see today was born.

For the longest time I have been searching Thailand for a good place to find English language books because although we have some amazing bookshops it can be expensive and most second hand bookshops don't have much of a selection to chose from, so finding this library was like finding treasure and I honestly cant believe I have gone my whole life without knowing of its existence until now.

The library is such a beautiful old European style building which is in vast contrast to the skyscrapers and Bangkok's tallest building, the Mahanakhon building which is just a short walk away from the library. The library may not look big in comparison but it houses over 20,000 books, the largest English collection in Bangkok so there's definitely something to suit all tastes. I was overjoyed to see a plethora of books from my favourite author Haruki Murakami and also all the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin.

The library also hosts other events like storybook reading for children, a literary festival and bi-annual book sale which was one of the reasons for my visit there. I actually only found out about the library via a farmers market I visit every week as the weekend of the book sale they had a special hidden farmers market in the library gardens, so you could enjoy lunch and pick up some groceries after shopping for books at the book sale. I picked up 3 books at the sale for just ฿50 each, then wandered around the library, read a book, had some pizza for lunch in the library gardens and on my way out picked up a few cookies to take home for later.

Once I finish reading these books I will probably donate them back to the library as the library works on donations and volunteers alone and is Thailand's oldest not-for-profit organisation, it's definitely something I want to support being a lady who loves books just like the founders. I really hope the Neilson Hays Library can exist for many more centuries in the city and it's definitely worth a visit if you want to see something different as it's such a unique place to have in the middle of Bangkok.

What is your favourite book?

Love & Books

Cate

xoxo

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🐈 Bangkok's Best Adoptable Cat Café ☕

Have you ever visited a cat café and wanted to bring one of the kitties home? At "Bangkok's Best Adoptable Cat Café" you can do exactly that! Hosted every Sunday at Union Space in Ekkamai, Paws Bangkok brings a bunch of their cutest rescues from their shelter for you to play with and hopefully find their forever homes. 

The café is completely free to enter, although donations are much appreciated to help them rescue more animals in need, all they ask is that you fall in love with these kitties and hopefully give them a home. I rescued my Nora Neko 2 years ago, we found him in the middle of a highway and he was such a tiny dirty thing only a couple months old, if we hadn't have found him then I'm sure he wouldn't have made it. I never planned on getting a cat but now I can't imagine life without him and I would love to rescue another one day which was one of the reasons for my visit. All my pets have been rescues and it's really important to me to adopt as there are so many beautiful animals in need that deserve to live a better life.

This café is such a great idea to get to know the kitties a bit before you adopt and on my visits there to play with the kitties I'm always so happy to see them get adopted, on one visit 4 kittens found new homes and on a another 8 did but there's still many more at their shelter and more coming in everyday that need help to and if you do happen to just be visiting Thailand from abroad and want to bring one of the kittens back with you Paws will provide you will all the help and information to do that, they want all their kitties to have forever homes no matter where in the world you may be from!

On every other Saturday's Paws also host an adoptable puppy café in the same location, so if you're also looking for a new puppy to adopt be sure to go there, my visit there for Halloween was so much fun. Paws do such amazing work helping all the animals in need in Thailand and giving them the best possible life so please do support them if you can, and hopefully I will find a friend for my Nora soon.

Would you adopt one of these cute kitties?

Love & Cats

Cate

xoxo

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🎃 Halloween @ The Adoptable Puppy Café - Bangkok - Thailand 🐶

Halloween was spent in the best way possible surrounded by cute puppies which you can actually bring home with you! Bangkok's Adoptable Puppy Café happens every other Saturday where a whole bunch of adorable rescue pups come out to play and hopefully find their forever homes.

This was my first visit to the puppy café and it was so much fun, the puppies are sooo cute and playful and excited that most my photos came out a blurry mess but I'm happy they had a good time as all of these dogs are rescues and some even have disabilities, there was one that couldn't use his back legs but that didn't stop him from running around and playing with the other puppies.

The café is a great idea to get the dogs out of their kennels and socialise with other dogs and new people and also for people to meet with these dogs, fall in love and take them home, that day 8 puppies went to their forever homes and the others went to foster homes which made my heart so happy.

For Halloween they had special snacks and drinks and there was also a book sale as well as t-shirts and totes so if you couldn't take one of the dogs home you could still help out by buying something as all the proceeds went towards helping them rescue more dogs in need and finding them new homes.

I love visiting dog and cat cafes but I especially love visiting the adoptable cafes as these animal are so sweet and it really is a great feeling when you see them going to their forever homes, adoption is very important to me as all my pets have been rescues and there's so many beautiful creatures that need our help that I'm happy in some little way I can help and who knows maybe one day I will bring home a little friend.

Would you adopt one of these cute puppies?

Love & Dogs

Cate

xoxo

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GOT7 BamBam - Blue Carpet Show for UNICEF Thailand

On December 11th, UNICEF Thailand held a press event at Central World in Bangkok to give details about their upcoming Blue Carpet Show with some of the celebrities that will be in attendance. I went along to support my boy BamBam from GOT7 who has been working with UNICEF Thailand for the past year and will not only be performing at the Blue Carpet Show, which will air on January 11th (Children's Day) on Thai TV, but has also designed a limited edition teddy bear which you can purchase and help support UNICEF's work for children around the world.

I'm very proud of BamBam as he always does his best to support good causes, from his first clothing collection with Represent raising money for Water.org to now being an ambassador for UNICEF Thailand. The bear he designed is really adorable and available to buy now on UNICEF for ฿2990, the bear is limited edition with only 900 available to buy and each customer can only buy a limited quantity of 5, international shipping is also available for those of you who live outside of Thailand who would like to purchase the bear, and further information on how purchase can be found here.

It's always a joy to see the work BamBam does and how much he has grown over the the years, he brings so much joy and happiness to the people around him and is such a great example. I'm so happy he's supporting such a good cause and although I won't be able to purchase the bear he designed myself I hope that I can spread the word so others who may be able to can and help support this cause and I will definitely be tuning into The Blue Carpet Show when it airs in January.

Love & Hugs

Cate

xoxo

Long Live Fashion: Recycle Your Clothes With H&M

H&M is one of my favourite high street stores and I love how over the past few years they've been making a real effort to become more eco-friendly by introducing new collections and just recently their recycling program to customers.

"Every year, tons of textiles end up in landfills. But as much as 95% of these textiles and clothes could be used again. That's why we are now collecting clothes in our stores. Clothes of any brand, in any quality and any condition."

And if you need extra incentive for every bag of clothes you bring to H&M they will give you a £5 voucher in exchange which can be used on your next £30 shop and don't worry if you're not U.K. based like me as this recycling program is global, so be sure to ask in your local store next time you visit.

One of my goals for this year was to be more considerate of my purchases and it's good to know that there is at least one shop on the high street trying to make a difference. I've already taken one bag full of my old clothes to them and I'm ready to take another!

Spring cleaning is the best and it's great to let go of all those old clothes and know that they're not going to waste. I can't wait to start planning out my new wardrobe, I'm definitely going to try and invest in some staple pieces and H&M has some really beautiful pieces in their Conscious Collection which will be perfect for the summer season to.

Be sure to let me know in the comments if you're planning to recycle with H&M

Love & Ice Cream

Cate

xoxo

Donate Your Bras To Charity!

After losing quite a bit of weight and working out daily I've found my usual bra size was starting to feel a bit lose on me so I decided to go get myself re-measured and yes my bra size has changed which means I'm left with a closet full of bras that no longer fit.

Quite a few of my bras have hardly been worn and are were in such good condition that it seemed a shame to just throw them out, so I did a little research and found a charity that you can donate you old unwanted bras to.

Sometimes we throw things out without a second thought and one of my goals is to be a lot less wasteful and to reuse and recycle as much as I can so when I saw the bra recycling campaign by Against Breast Cancer I just had to spread the word

"When you make a deposit at a Bra Bank, your illfitting or unwanted underwear will be whisked away to start a new life on the other side of the world, where traders support their families selling textiles locally. Successful ventures like this keep many families in developing countries out of poverty whilst providing employment for people at home in the UK."

Bra Banks can be found in various locations throughout the U.K. or you can do what I did and send them directly. By donating your unwanted bras you are not only helping the fight against breast cancer but supporting small businesses and families in poorer countries as well as reducing waste which is a win for everyone, so don't just throw those unloved bras away donate them!

Love & Life

Cate

xoxo

Random Acts of Kindness: Operation Christmas Child

I was lucky to have been brought up in a household where I pretty much got everything I wanted for Christmas (although I'm still waiting on that Dinosaur) but I know there are lots of children in this world who aren't as lucky as I was and every Christmas I always try to give back some of that joy I experience to someone who may not be as lucky this Christmas..

Operation Christmas Child is something I've been involved in since my school days when it first started 20 something years ago and even though my school days are long since gone I've continued the tradition and every year made an effort to donate at least one shoebox to the appeal.

It's shoebox donation time again and from the 1st to the 18th of November Operation Christmas Child will be taking in shoeboxes filled with gifts and goodies to send to disadvantaged children all around the world and I totally encourage all of you to get involved as it's such a fun project to be involved in and it brings a lot of hapiness to so many children.

There's two ways you can make up a shoebox the traditional way like I did, by following these guidelines and dropping it off at your local Drop Off Point or you can do it virtually by visiting Shoebox World and selecting the gifts you want to include in your box and make your donation that way. So what are you waiting for spread the joy of the holidays, grab a shoebox and fill it with love

Love & Sparkly Hugs

Cate

xoxo

Something Kinda Beautiful

JOYCE is delighted to announce a truly unique charity programme in aid of UNICEF, a collaboration with critically-acclaimed fashion label Rodarte, luxury brand SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS, and famous actress Maggie Cheung. Rodarte designers, Kate and Laura Mulleavy, have handmade four one-of-a-kind creations specifically for this charitable initiative. Each piece is inspired by Maggie Cheung and references one of her films: In the Mood for Love, Hero, Clean, and Heroic Trio. The four stunning pieces have been captured in a short film by Wing Shya with music by Peter Kam. For every click of the short film on YouTube from now to 31 March 2010, JOYCE will donate HK$1 to UNICEF.