My Monthly Beauty Buys - February

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After a hugely successful January in the beauty department, February has been a bit of a hit and miss month for me with trying out new beauty products - some have been complete gems which will definitely be re-purchased, while others have been a massive disappointment and a waste of money. Let's start with the pick of the bunch, shall we? Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment in Berry This was a very generous gift from a friend who visited the US recently - I've been after one of these to try for ages as I seem to be on the perpetual hunt for a tinted lip balm that actually gives a long lasting tint. And finally I've found it! Lip balm is essential for the winter ...

Marks and Spencer Mother’s Day Beauty Gift Box

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Don't you love a good freebie? I was delighted when I got to the till at M&S yesterday and was informed that because I'd spent over £25 on beauty items, I qualified for a free beauty gift box. I expected it to be fairly uninspiring, but reading down the list of items my eyes began to widen - it was a list full of luxury brands, not just bog standard M&S bath gel like I'd expected! I love how M&S have broadened their beauty range to include so many high-end brands, and there are so many included here: Ren, Nuxe, Rodial, Philip Kingsley. The box is worth £90 according to M&S, so is a really generous free gift.   Inside, you'll find: Nuxe Reve de ...

Max’s Nursery - A Room Tour

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One of the things that every parent rushes to get ready for their first child is the nursery decor and despite having a whole house to renovate while I was pregnant, we of course were no exception. This room had the added bonus that underneath 4 layers of wallpaper that was standard for the house, the wall had been covered with a PVA adhesive layer which we (or rather, my very patient husband) painstakingly scraped off. I wanted the nursery to be gender neutral, and to be a calm, bright, but relaxing place to be. It's a small room with boxy dimensions, so needed some consideration to keep an airy feel. I chose a grey colour scheme, choosing Farrow & Ball's classic Cornforth ...

Butterflies in the Glasshouse at RHS Wisley

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Butterflies in the Glasshouse is an annual event hosted at RHS Wisley and if you've not visited before, it's well worth a visit. The glasshouse is filled with hundreds of huge butterflies which flutter around you as you walk through - it's a really magical experience. We visit Wisley often as we are lucky enough to live close by and our most recent visit was this week at half term. It was our first time seeing the butterflies this year as the queue had looked too long on our other visits. This time we got there early in time for the park opening when there was no queue at all! If you don't like to queue you can pre-book your slot ...

Stick Man Trail at Alice Holt

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Last weekend we braved the cold to visit the Stick Man Trail at Alice Holt Woods. All across the country the Forestry Commission have teamed up with Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler to create various trails based on some of their most loved children's books. Our nearest trail is at Alice Holt, and is home to the Stick Man trail, as well as a Gruffalo and Gruffalo's Child sculpture. The Stick Man trail is set up around Alice Holt's accessible easy access route, so is suitable for pushchairs and wheelchair users. For older children, you can purchase an Activity Pack at the Visitors' Centre for £3, but we opted just to follow the trail since Max is a little young for this. Although ...

5 Happy Things #9

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Happy Valentine's Day! Do you celebrate it? We don't normally but little bit of tat appeals to me so I bought these two cute biscuits on a recent supermarket trip! It really feels like spring is in the air this week which gives me a massive smile on my face! Not to say that it's not flipping freezing too, but the fact that the sun is out, the evenings are lighter, and the flowers are starting to blossom makes it so much easier to see the good things in life! I've rediscovered the joy of a lovely hot bath! We didn't have a bath in our last house so I got out of the habit and only really took baths in hotels ...

Rose and Cedrat Limited Edition Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish

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I love all the little signs that spring is on it's way; the bulbs pushing up through the grass, the sun shining more often, and a new Liz Earle Limited Edition Cleanse and Polish to try - Rose and Cedrat! Rose & Cedrat Limited Edition Cleanse and Polish has been my skincare staple for many years now, since I developed eczema, and I'm a sucker for their Limited Editions which they've been bringing out for a few years now. The latest in the line is Rose and Cedrat - a very spring like fragrance, combining damask rose oil with citrussy cedrat oil. I love how the team at Liz Earle really understand plants and the seasons; the fragrance is beautifully delicate, but ...

22 Months

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Here we are, rapidly careering towards the onset of the Terrible Twos. Well, scratch that, I think we may already be there, given the level of tantrums going on in our house lately, but hey! You've reached the grand old age of 22 months - so old now that soon we'll stop counting in months and just go for the years. You are very much a little boy now, rather than the baby it feels like you were only a short time ago. You had your first haircut, and suddenly look so much older. Your speech has finally started to come, and it's coming thick and fast, in leaps and bounds, making me wonder why I wasted so much energy worrying ...

Facebook Motherhood Challenge and the Motherhood Backlash

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You must have seen the Facebook ‘Motherhood Challenge’ doing the rounds over the last week or so – a mother shares 5 pictures that make her proud to be a mum, and then tags some friends who she thinks are also great mums and might like to take part as well.   It wasn’t long before the inevitable backlash started – Flic Everett posted this article on The Guardian, slating the smugness of these participants and their rose-tinted view of motherhood that apparently makes her 'want to punch her computer screen', and Daisy Buchanan wrote this slightly more sympathetic article for The Pool, although still criticising the challenge for it's pressure on mothers to present themselves in a perfect light.   There appear to be two ...

The Garden in February

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I’m really enjoying the season edging ever closer towards spring at the moment – as I wander around our garden the signs of it’s promise are everywhere; allium and tulip bulbs pushing through the cold earth, muscari and hyacinths popping up to add some colour, and the buds on the camellia just about ready to pop. I thought I would start doing a monthly post on my plans for the garden, sharing what’s looking good each month, and including a list of to-do’s for that month. Last year was the first year that I really managed to get out in the garden since we moved in over two years ago (the first summer being far too preoccupied with a newborn!) and ...