babyurbeautiful: Sexy Mummas

, by Unknown

SEXY MUMMAS I New Hair

It's the middle of winter, it's cold, dark and miserable and that pretty much matched me and my mood last week. Seeing my body changing is both a joy and a curse, and being winter my skin is pale and pasty and my long dark hair was looking less than luscious.

Before: long, dark and non descript

We only moved to the area less than two years ago so I'm still finding my bearings for where to go for the beauty essentials of lashes, brows, hair and nails. Until now I've tried two local salons, but wasn't blown away (every pun intended) so decided to try somewhere else.

After trawling Pinterest for inspiration and then scouring salon recommendations I bit the bullet and booked in at Barbarella on St Giles St in Northampton town centre. The salon sounds every bit as glamorous as it's name with huge sparkly mirrors and stripped wooden floors.

It was a filthy Saturday morning so I got Mr J to play chaffeur so I wouldn't have to brace the rain and risk ruining my new do. I was greeted by the team of chirpy staff and was offered a cup of tea (instant tick in the box) before having a consultation with my stylist, Emma. She totally listened to my garbled interpretation of how I wanted my hair which was low maintenance balyage to lift the dark brown. I always find it hard to articulate how I want my hair to look and will admit I'm incredibly fussy.

Emma talked me through what she was doing whilst we made chit-chat and it was bliss to sit and do nothing for a couple of hours but drink tea and flick through OK magazine. Two pregnancy wee breaks and three hours later and I was done.

After: subtle balyage

I now feel slightly less drab than I did before, and my new locks will see me through the remaining dark days until, hopefully, a not too distant spring arrives.

Northampton mummas! Barbarella are offering £35 off with selected stylists during January so give them a call on 01604 601 117 and treat yourselves!

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, by Unknown

boobs

SEXY MUMMAS I Maternity Bra Hell

It's got to that point where my boobs seemed to have developed a mind of their own and suddenly my usual bras no longer fit. Ella asked "why do you have black boobs?" the other day. Before you imagine black and blue bruised boobs, I'll explain that she meant my nipples. She then proceeded to examine her own...

I tried a cup size larger in Primark which seemed to work for a couple of weeks but I decided the best thing would be to get properly measured. Good old M&S I thought, they'll sort me out. WRONG!

Off I headed to my local store in Northampton. I was asked if I had an appointment and the lady then started checking an iPad for available appointments (I'll point out it was 4.30pm and there were 2 of them chatting and unpacking boxes in the changing rooms at the time). She agreed to measure me, but oddly measured me with my bra on? I say measured, she passed a tape measure around my chest, told me I should get a 34 and then just took a guess at cup size without measuring. She tried to tell me I needed an E cup which I knew was rubbish.

I regularly wear M&S bras and find they do some really pretty ones and they're generally a good fit, but 20 minutes later of trying on bras with my 7 year old assistant and I decided on 2 that seemed ok. I wore one the following day and soon found it went loose and didn't do anything for me...I pretty much looked like Mrs Doubtfire. Suffice to say, they're getting returned.

Thankfully Cake Maternity came up trumps! If you haven't heard of them then they're a fab online store (but also sell in some stores like Seraphine) which was set up by a fellow mumma who also felt the pain of trying to find decent maternity and nursing underwear.

I opted for the Maple Mousse range which is nude with little polka dots, and ordered this in a 32D and pleased to say it's a great fit. Considering it's non wired it gives good support and a nice shape. It can also be used for nursing as it has hidden nursing clips.

Maple Mousse range

It can be hard to feel sexy when you're pregnant, but these guys have some lovely bits so have a look! They'd make great gifts too (hint hint Dads). Cake Maternity also do some lovely nursing bras and sleepwear which is perfect when you feel like a milking machine and need something a bit more flattering!