babyurbeautiful

As a busy Mum, I don't have the time that I used to invest in skincare. Therefore, an effective yet natural face cream which can be shared between myself and baby is a great time saver and shelf space limiter.

I have recently been slapping on Weleda Baby Face Cream with Calendula, both on myself and my baby, and actually really like it. It is quite rich yet easily absorbed and leaves skin feeling quenched yet non - greasy. It contains soothing Calendula which is great at the end of a hot busy day. Also a little goes a surprisingly long way! It contains almond oil and beeswax as well as lanolin (this is an animal product so non vegan though which is a shame).

Grab it at a great price from www.feelunique.com

£7.95 for 50ml

I thought i'd let you mummies all over the UK know about BOOTS forthcoming exciting event from TOMORROW.

On Friday 27 June to Sunday 29th June they will be celebrating their new Boots beauty halls.

In over 200 stores around the country, this payday weekend customers will benefit from a whopping £5 worth of Boots Advantage Card points when they buy two or more premium beauty products.

During the event, there are oodles of free samples, skin consultations, demos - everything beauty, beautiful and erm....Boots!

The perfect excuse to try a new look, and some great high street products.

Enjoy! xx

I've got a 6-month old teething baby, yet no sign of teeth.

According to today's national papers:

A shopper at Primark's Swansea store found a hand-sewn label inside her £10 dress that read 'Forced to work exhausting hours'.

We all know that in order to make clothes so cheaply they must be made in sweatshops, but let's be honest- this is probably the case with most high street shops. After all, who can afford to shop ethically these days, with salaries not matching inflation and maternity pay not even covering a weekly shop, let alone the mortgage payments.

Even everyday essentials such as nappies and wipes are three times the price for the eco version.

If the government really wanted to help us to shop ethically they would ban unethical and non eco friendly products instead of putting the onus on shoppers themselves. We just can't afford it.

Hey that tickles. No, wait, it tingles. Or is it burning? Well, at least that means it's working, right?

I am sitting here trying out a Fresh Start face mask by Skyn, an Icelandic skincare company. This product promises to reveal my skin's luminous, youthful (ahem) translucence with just a 10 minute weekly treatment.













Sounds great in theory, so I am testing it out with high hopes. But right now, it's kind of burning my face, so it may be time to wash it off!

The instructions say to wipe off the mask with a soft cloth but I don't have one to hand so I'm just using water and my fingers like a pro.

I'm not going to post a photo of the result as every pic I've taken so far makes me look terrible (not because my face burned off fortunately). But actually in person my skin does have a nice glow. And after moisturising, the 'tingling' has stopped.

At £25 for 6 masks this isn't the cheapest product, however it does feel good quality and is worth an occasional treat if you don't have the cash to spend £25 every 6 weeks on just a face mask.

Find out more about this and other Skyn products on their website, and buy it at Marks & Spencer.

RL x

This time of year my bonce suffers from a massive attack of the frizz.
The humidity, heat, sweat - just about anything sends my straightened-to-within-an-inch-of-its-life bonce into overdrive.

And as I recently stopped breastfeeding, clumps of hair had been falling out faster than Jenson Button in his McLaren (car, not pram).

My bathroom was barren of any conditioner. Motherhood has left my brain in a permanent state of disarray. To remember to buy anything for me and beautifying that doesn't fall into the nappies, baby milk, nappy cream, baby food category, believe me - it's not easy. I'm suffering of a serious case of 'baby first, mummy never'.



After rifling through the bathroom cabinets, I found a deep conditioning Palmers coconut oil protein pack  - given to me in a goodie bag. Aside from anything but Kerastase hitting these parched locks, I was a little dubious, I'll admit.
Hailed as a 'protein pack' and 'deep conditioning', I presumed it'd be a lot heavier than conditioner, but at the end of the day - beggars can't be choosers.

It comes in a 60g pack for £1.99, you'll easily get 3-4 uses. It's an excellent travel size to take on hols and great as a monthly treat.
You wont need to use this with every hair wash, maybe once a week for an extra boost, it's targeted for over-processed or damaged locks.

The scent is incredible, evoking memories of summer & recognisable holiday smells - a bit like a Pina Colada, or Hawaiian Tropic sun cream. It's definitely up there with one of my favourite scents.
The same consistency as normal conditioner and using a hazelnut sized blob, I leave it on for 10 minutes sink back and unwind (NB: if possible) and let it do its magic.

With the main contender Coconut oil, a dollop of Vitamin E, hair hero Keratin and Silk Protein, my locks were in hair heaven.
Many do not realise the benefits of natural coconut oil in cooking and on skin and hair.
Her of magnificent hair, Victoria's Secret model Miranda Kerr, swears by coconut oil to keep her locks super smooth. However, the natural version is often a far messier option when using as a hair treatment, so this handy little pack helps give you the little hair boost whenever you need it, with minimum fuss.

I rinse out the product out as I would a normal conditioner, and immediately my hair feels softer, healthier and frizz-free. The brush goes through it easily like knife a into butter, and blow-drying is a treat, rather than a chore. I can't believe a product this affordable has managed to make such a difference to my unmanageable locks.

At a mere £1.99, its an absolute beauty bargain, I want to tell the world about this fantastic beauty discovery (I am).
My bleached, parched hair absolutely loves this powerful product.
The results last a good few days (mainly as I don't WASH my hair for 2-3 days).
Embarrassingly prior to this discovery, I used to leave my hair for much longer *coughs* - more like five, roots are in, ok?
But truthfully the main reason was because it was such a ball-ache to blow-dry.

This is my summer hair hero, without a doubt, and a snip at £1.99 a pack.
I'd stock up ladies - you wont want to miss out.

Palmers Protein Pack

Whilst fantastic for the calf muscles and tanning of the forearms, all this recent pram walking in the sunshine has left m once kissable lips feeling a little weathered.

My smackers have cracked and dried up – feeling super sore and uncomfortable, as a slight aside, this led me to thinking – why is it you can’t stop licking them when they feel like that, making it 100 times worse?

Anyway, disappointingly, having turned to all my old faithfuls to try to regain some moisture nothing was working. 

As if a gift sent by God, my mother-in-law, Bunnie, drops by with a treat - a bag full of goodies from SpaceNK (I’d recently done her a good turn).

Ripping the beautiful black bag open in excitement, amongst other items, I was greeted with a lip conditioner I had not come across before-Caudalie Lip Conditioner (from www.feelunique.com)

Well, what can I say? Goodbye chaffed chops and 'hello plumped pout!'

This anti-aging and nourishing lip conditioner by Caudalie Paris is absolutely amazing.  I immediately felt relieved and this feeling continued for quite some time - unlike some other lip balms etc that seem to slide off instantly.  

Derived from 99.5% natural products and paraben free this product left my lips feeling soft and smooth 

It has a sweet light vanilla aroma and flavour which is super soothing. AND in my opinion, a snip at £5.50 in comparison to some of the other high end lip conditioning products.

In summary, this little lovely lip moisturiser definitely gets my vote, and will be a make-up bag essential for many years to come – thank you Caudalie (and Bunnie of course for the discovery and gift).

(Incidentally this product has a consistent 5 star review on the Caudalie website so I am not alone in my thinking).

SK xx

Go to www.feelunique.com now to buy.

I am very annoyed at myself. And at my GP. But more-so with myself because I have now been talked into getting contraceptive pills I don't want TWICE previously, and today I let myself be led once again, despite going into my appointment knowing what I want. Apparently I am powerless to put my foot down when it comes to doctors.

The same sort of thing happens with hairdressers. I go in and say what I want, and then when I can see it start to go wrong I don't say anything and just suck it up. I doubt I'm the only one who gets in this situation.  But when things go wrong at the hairdresser I know I can get it fixed easily. Reversing the effects of a contraceptive pill takes a lot more waiting and patience.

So, the first time I was suckered by the GP was just after Lucy was born. I wanted to get back on the pill but I was breastfeeding, so the doctor gave me this pill that was safe to take. But they failed to tell me that I would pretty much have my period all the time - indeed a sure fire way of avoiding another baby but not the type of contraception I was after!

Then when I stopped breastfeeding I thought right, enough of this crap, I'm getting myself on the real deal. But somehow the GP talked me into getting Cileste, even though when I took this as a youth it made my skin really bad. I did explain this but he basically just dismissed it so I told myself that my 35 year old hormones would make things different. But oh no, 3 months in and I am getting major pizza face.

There's no way I'm waiting around for the full pizza topping though, so the other day I went to the doctor again to change back to my old pill, Marvelon. My skin is never perfect but this one was ok.  But somehow I left the surgery with a prescription for Microgynon which is a complete unknown for me and I'm a bit nervous to read the little leaflet listing the possible side effects.

I think the problem is largely that my GP is a man. I don't feel 100% comfortable talking through all the different options and how they might affect me. I don't really feel I can stand up for myself. Also, men don't really understand why a woman might want or not want a certain type of pill. They will never have to worry about it so why should they care? Who knows, maybe they just try to push whichever medicine comes from their favourite pharma company?

So if any readers take or have taken Microgynon and can tell me what your experiences are that would be awesome. And when I move house I'm definitely getting myself a lady doctor - and a pair of balls!

RL x

These sunny days are great, aren't they? It's so nice to spend time outdoors and soak up some sunshine, and hopefully get a bit of colour into my pasty skin in the process.

But as much as I love it, my problem with sun is that over the last couple of years I've noticed some weird pigmentation in my skin that comes out when I've been exposed for an hour or two. Small patches appear with my freckles which have always frustrated me anyway and it even happens when I use protection.

So this year I'm trying to be extra good and use Lucy's factor 50 sun screen on my face. But I don't really like using it instead of my regular moisturiser, and it's just too much to use it over the top, especially if I'm then putting on foundation.

I've tried a lot of different moisturisers recently, mostly ones to combat wrinkles and aging, and it makes no sense to me that very few of them include any kind of spf protection.

Due to the discolouration on my forehead, and uneven skin tone in general, I'm currently trying Olay Regenerist Luminous Skin Tone Perfecting Moisturiser and Dark Circle Correcting Eye Swirl.



















It seems to work quite well but the first time I used it I discovered that rather than sinking into the skin it works kind of like a very fine face mask. So I couldn't use it like a normal moisturiser and put foundation on top or wear it on a hot day. And since it doesn't include spf protection I can't use it during the day even without makeup because it's not ideal for layering with sunscreen.  So, I've been using it at night, hoping that it has some lasting effect rather than being just a daily cover-up.

But none of my other moisturisers seem to have built in sun protection either, and I can't decide whether to try some new ones or just put up with having to wear double. My favoured factor 50 is Nivea Sun Kids - the type that sprays blue until it's rubbed in. It's pretty light and doesn't leave your skin looking an odd shade of purple like some others. And there's a great deal on it at Superdrug - nearly half price!

















I guess I could just use it on it's own but I'm afraid that my face will age and crumble without anti-wrinkle cream like that Nazi soldier in the Indiana Jones movie who 'chose poorly'!

RL x

Tooth decay is the most common disease with 84 per cent of UK adults having had at least one filling.

*Doesn't smile for rest of the day on the realisation she has TEN*

Colgate has launched Maximum Cavity Protection plus Sugar Acid Neutraliser, the first toothpaste with the latter part.
In my mind, it's perfect for those mums who have a sweet tooth, then forget to clean their teeth in the throws of tiredness (not out of laziness, honest).


This toothpaste took eight years of development, including studies of 14,000 people - the true test of the war against cavities.

Combining fluoride and the sugar acid neutraliser it will not only help stop, but reverse the early onset of tooth decay.

It left my breath minty fresh (other mums may not agree!) without that horrible overpowering fluoride taste.

Thankfully our two year maternity exemption will cover any nasty filling and root canal etc, but ladies, brushing twice a day is easy to fit in. Especially when you know your toothpaste is doing the work of the dentist.

Available now visit www.colgate.co.uk for more info.

LN

With a toddler and young baby I barely have time to brush my hair, let alone style it. I recently had it cut and it had been 8 months since the last cut- and before that about a year!