My Monthly Beauty Buys - January

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January is always a month where I tend to have a little beauty splurge - something about those dark days and spring still seeming a long way off makes me try to cheer myself up with some beauty treats! Coachella Coral has been my first foray into the world of Charlotte Tilbury and I love it. It's from the K.I.S.S.I.N.G. range which have more of a sheen than the Matte Revolution lipsticks and Coachella Coral is more of a muted coral than many out there, so very wearable on a day to day basis. The formulation of these lipsticks is just incredible. I normally find highly pigmented lipsticks can be drying on my lips, particularly in winter, but this is great - ...

Are you breastfeeding and concerned about low supply?

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Breastfeeding is one of those mysterious things that for me sums up motherhood - you start off with neither you or your baby knowing what to do, you learn together, but it is something that you have only your instinct to rely on that it's actually happening properly; there is no way for you to measure how much milk your baby is actually taking. For me as an insecure first time mum, it was this complete unknown and need to rely on instinct that led me to feel that I may have a low supply issue. It's important to remember that very few mothers actually experience low supply. The best indicators of a healthy supply are wet and dirty nappies, and that ...

The Midas Touch for Home Decor

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Gold accessories have always been my favourite touches for adding that extra oomph to your home decor. When most of the home furnishing ranges went all copper on us last season I was a bit lost, but thankfully it appears that we are now fully embracing the gold home accessories again. Warm metallics like gold are great for adding warmth to a space and giving that little touch of glamour and just a few little trinkets added here and there can have a big impact on your home. How I've used gold accessories in my home I recently restyled the bookcase in my living room - as a big lover of colour our living room is painted white (Little Green Paint Company's Shirting) which allows for ...

Playing the Pregnancy Card

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Did you read the news story last week about the pregnant MP accused of 'playing the pregnancy card' and 'making women look bad'? After being in the House of Commons for two hours and having given her speech, Tulip Siddiq, Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn and also 7 months pregnant, left for a break to get a snack. When she returned, Deputy Speaker Eleanor Laing pulled her up in front of the House, telling her 'Don't play the pregnancy card with me.' As someone who was unlucky enough to have a pretty difficult pregnancy, this struck me as spectacularly unsympathetic and even cruel. When it comes to pregnancy, no two pregnancies are the same. Some women sail through it, looking 'glowing' and ...

5 Happy things #8

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January always tends to feel like such a slog, doesn't it? I'm not a lover of the winter months - as soon as Christmas is over it feels like the dark days can really bring you down, but I have daffs and hyacinths dotted around the house to try to reinforce the spring like feeling. Which does the job until I look out of the window and see all of the snow dotted about! We've had a lovely weekend - we braved the snow to visit Hampton Court Palace (shown in the picture above looking rather grey!), where we managed to beat the maze (I hate mazes, the thought of being lost fills me with horror, but my husband loves them, ...

Separation Anxiety and The Gradual Retreat Method

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The Gradual Retreat Method is a gentle sleep training method which is particularly effective for children experiencing separation anxiety. I'm not sure I can say that Max has ever been a good sleeper - he was a daytime sleep resister who took until 8 months to start sleeping through the night - but when we hit just under 12 months and he started nursery we hit a whole new level of sleep issues as separation anxiety kicked in. He went from a baby who you could put down at night, kiss him goodbye, and leave the room, to a baby who couldn't stand to watch you leave. Scratch that - he couldn't even stand not to have you holding him. As long ...

Thoughts on body image

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‘They’ say that women become most comfortable with their bodies in their 30’s. Over the years I've read this countless times in magazines and online articles and having reached aged 32 and now post pregnancy, I’ve been reflecting on this lately. I’ve given myself a hard time over the years in terms of my body image – at 5ft3 and being naturally curvy (read: a few more wobbly bits than I’d like, and specifically quite a little pot belly) I’ve struggled when comparing my body to the typical ideal. Throughout my teenage years I’d spend time doing sit-up’s on my bedroom floor trying to achieve ‘that perfect flat stomach’ that the latest magazine promised if I just did these few exercises. ...

My Favourite Books of All Time

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I've always been a voracious reader and I think you can tell a lot about a person from their favourite books. With that in mind I thought it would be fun to bare the depths of my soul to you all and list my favourite reads that I go back to time and time again. Behind the Scenes at the Museum - Kate Atkinson Kate Atkinson has long been one of my favourite authors and her debut novel remains my favourite. This is a twist on the family saga novel, giving us a snapshot view into the lives of one family's various different generations of women. The novel is narrated by Ruby Lennox and the story begins with her conception, and follows ...

Five Recommended Products for Eczema Sufferers

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As an eczema sufferer I find winter a particularly difficult time – flare ups are more frequent and seem to be worse, triggered by the cold weather and central heating. I’ve found that a regular skincare routine is essential in the cold months to keep the scaly skin at bay – these are some of my favourite products that I find particularly soothing on eczema prone skin.   Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish The darling of the blogging world, Liz Earle’s Cleanse and Polish is an iconic product now and it’s fabulous for eczema sufferers. Liz herself is an eczema sufferer and developed her range of skincare after seeing the gap in the market for organic, ethically sourced products with a focus on ...

Star Wars, Feminism and Body Image

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Warning: Possible Star Wars Spoilers Ahead! Much has been said about Star Wars: The Force Awakens and it's refreshing attitude to women - it presents us with Rey, who is the central character, not present as a sideline romantic interest but as a legitimate hero in herself. Throughout the film we see women in key roles - Leia no longer a Princess but General of the Resistance, and in Maz Kanata we glimpse a female Yoda, a source of wisdom, but far less irritating. And yet a Twitter spat this week reveals that we still have a long way to go before women are treated as more than an object in the real world. Carrie Fisher responded to Twitter trolls who criticised her ...