babyurbeautiful

Getting a salon gel manicure is a treat I reserve for holidays and weddings; I love the thick luscious gel shine look and the fact that they can last 2 weeks or more with no unsightly chipping! If only I could have gorgeous looking nails all the time, it's such a confidence booster!

We've teamed up with a blogger friend, who happens to have amazing nails!

She's agreed to test exclusive mummy-friendly nail collections in the quest to find the ultimate stay-put, and on-trend polishes.

Welcome Tracy, aka
Insta: @fifty_shades_of_nails
Twitter: @fiftyshadenails

If you want to send her bits to rate and test, please contact her above.

So this month she tested ESSIE The Hide & Go Chic Spring 14 Collection for BUBs.

Here's Tracy sporting the beauts...

This beige polish is called Spin the Bottle

We asked ESSIE where she got her inspiration for the names of her polishes and she exclaimed: 'darlings, it's from personal experiences', then launched into a story about Charles' Camilla.

Each and every polish is given so much thought & as she radiates so much warmth therefore I've always had a soft spot and I think her polishes are just fab.

A lovely mummy friend recently admitted that the one thing that really made her feel pampered and special for hols was getting her talons tended to. So we've endeavoured to source the best for you.

All are stocked in ESSIE at Boots at £7.99 each and available now.

Tracy says: 'My favourite of the collection is 'romper room' pink as it's a very wearable pink for both daytime and evening. It's not too garish so god forbids if it chips, you can hide any scuffs. All the polishes are good in the chip stakes and one coat will suffice, but two helps cover any opacity.

What's your ultimate mummy treat?

Xx

It's a new mum curse: trying to make sure our hands are constantly germ free when touching our newborn, yet changing nappies and washing bottles every 2 seconds with no time to don the gloves! When my daughter was first born, my hands were almost raw and I could find nothing to soothe them, not even E45 (not a fave due to its lanolin content anyway- sheep wax, yuk!)

 My daughter is now 21 months old so my hands are just starting to recover a bit, but even now with potty training, cooking, cleaning etc they feel pretty rough and in serious need of some TLC!

I decided to test out loads of hand creams to see if any of them could heal my chapped hands. Here are the top results:

Help at Hand, Hand Cream 
£7.95 for 50ml
from Green People at www.greenpeople.co.uk



Help at Hand is a rich cream aimed at people with normal, dry or irritated hands. As usual, Green people have not disappointed. This was one of my very favourite creams.

It is rich but not greasy and sinks in easily. It has a light, pleasant scent but that doesn't linger too long. It feels really moisturising even a few hours after application. It comes in a small 50ml pump format with lid, so it is easy to throw into your handbag and doesn't leak or get messy.

This is a certified organic hand cream containing 91% certified organic ingredients and 100% fairly traded ingredients. It contains organic olive, hemp, beeswax, lavender and rose geranium oil.

It is a 'rescue remedy' for ‘hard-working’ hands and sensitive skin which both protects against moisture loss and acts as a light, non-greasy barrier cream, with a fragrant, calming scent and without nasties such as parabens, alcohol, phthalates, petrochemicals.

It states that it is vegetarian not vegan due to the beeswax content. Personally I eat vegan, but I still eat honey and use beeswax. A personal choice.


Seams Hand Cream
£9.50 for 50ml
Available from www.seamsbeauty.co.uk 



Originally designed for seamstresses at fashion shows to ensure smooth skin on the fabrics, this hand treatment is designed to be intense and restorative and deliver long lasting hydration. The light non greasy formula absorbs fast and will leave no residue on baby. Fragonia Oil gives anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial protection, shea Butter protects and nourishes, Macadamia Nut Oil improves suppleness and softens, Garden Cress evens skin tone and fades and prevents age spots, Keratin strengthens nails, and Glycerin heals burns, bites and cuts.

This cream smells lovely and does the job it claims to. Nice consistency, medium thick but not greasy. Really moisturising on chapped hands.Small, handbag friendly tube.

Bronnley Honey Blossom Hand and Nail Cream
£8.75 for 100ml
Available at www.bronnley.co.uk



This is a lovely smelling Honey Blossom fragranced hand and nail cream. Ingredients include extracts of Honey and Royal Jelly, Shea Butter, Evening Primrose Oil, Sweet Almond Protein, Vitamin E and Keratin to strengthen nails.

This is quite thick and really moisturising for dry hands, without being greasy. Really smells of honey, but in a good way!

Again not strictly vegan due to the honey content. However, personally I eat vegan, but I still eat honey. As stated above, personal choice.


DrOrganic Coconut Hand Cream

£5.99 for 100ml from www.hollandandbarrett.com




DrOrganic products contain bioactive, natural and organic ingredients. This hand cream is made from lots of scrummy smelling tropical organic oils, triglycerides and fruit extracts such as Organic Virgin Coconut Oil and Coconut Extract (the predominant scent), Aloe Vera Leaf Juice, Cocoa butter, Papaya Fruit Extract, Mango Fruit Extract, Cocoa Seed Extract, Mangosteen Fruit Extract, Fig Fruit Extract, Orange Fruit Extract, Bergamot Fruit Oil, Lemon Peel Oil, Lime Oil, Vanilla Extract, Vitamin C and Vitamin E.

Good slim bag size tube but I keep this by the wash basin, as this cream is best if used every time you wash your hands to keep the moisture levels up. It's not as thick as the other creams mentioned here so perhaps not as good for repair but rather for prevention of further chapping. The natural ingredients and wonderful texture/smell make it a favourite for me, as well as the reasonable price.

Eau Thermale Avène Hand Cream with Cold Cream 
£7.50 for 75ml
Available from www.boots.com


Cold cream is a traditional cream which mixes water and fats (such as beeswax) to soothe the skin.

This rich cold cream contains beeswax and paraffinum liquidum mineral oil (used to lock in moisture) mixed with Avène Thermal Spring Water (a very low mineralised water, rich in silica and trace elements, which has been clinically proven to be naturally soothing, anti-irritating and anti-free radical). It also contains sucralfate, a powerful healing agent used in medical products which allows for rapid tissue regeneration.

I don't usually like to use products with mineral oils such as paraffinum liquidum, which is a petrochemical, a derivative of crude oil. However, when hands are severely chapped and sore then it calls for something stronger than many of the more natural formulas can provide, and this is just the job. This really helps to restore sore mummy hands to normality, making them feel immediately soft and silky, and it smells nice too. Another good handbag size.

CB