The Christmas Tag

source

I thought what better way to kick off  December than with a festive themed post? Here's my Christmas Tag that I spotted on Beth's blog and couldn't resist posting on here!

What's your favourite Christmas movie/s?

My favourite Christmas Movie has definitely got to be National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation! I just find it's cheesiness so hilarious and the fact that it's not about a perfect Christmas, but one that goes disastrously wrong! I also love Jingle All The Way with good ol' Arnie in it. 

Do you open presents on Christmas morning or Christmas evening?

It has to be on Christmas morning unless I'm seeing family later on in the day. I still get waaay too excited about opening presents and I want to use them straight away and to beautify myself for Christmas Day as I'm normally asking for makeup/beauty related things.

Do you have a favourite Christmas memory?

I think it's hard to pin point one but I'd have to say all of the Christmas times where all my grandparents were still alive. It was really nice to see all my family in one day and now that they're all gone, I really wish I could just spend one more Christmas with them all here. It really makes me appreciate the family that I have left and enjoy trying to create new memories with Oscar.

What's your favourite festive food?

Pigs in blankets, without a doubt. Every year I wills stuff my face with as many as I possibly can, they are just.so.good. I'm also partial to stuffing, roast potatoes.... the whole lot really!

What's been your favourite Christmas gift?

My Beatrix Potter Book Set that I got when I was 5, because I got a free Jeremy Fisher cuddly toy with it and he was my all time favourite toy as a child and he's still really precious to me now, I have him sat on my bedside table and he goes on every single holiday with me... Please tell me I'm not the only one? 

What's your favourite Christmas scent?

I'm really loving my Yankee Candle tealights at the minute, Belle got me onto them as they're only £1 at Asda and I've picked up a few festive scents which are amazing. Cranberry Zest, Rainwashed Berry and the name of the third escapes me at the minute but it's a fresh pine scent that fortunately doesn't smell reminiscent of toilet freshener haha. 

Do you have a Christmas Eve tradition?

When I was little, we would always be allowed to stay up really late to watch a Christmas film. I remember staying up to watch The Borrowers one night and it seemed super late, I guess mum & dad were hoping it would make us sleep in past 5am but I don't think it worked too well... Now I just try and have a relaxing evening watching something festive and having a glass or two of wine.

What tops your tree?

A sparkly silver star which we used to have on top of our tree when I was younger. My parents gave it to me as it doesn't go on their tree.

As a child, what was the one (crazy, extravagant) gift you wanted but never got?

I'm gonna be boring and say I don't think there was anything really crazy that I wanted! Normally a barbie, chocolate, books and some stationary and I was one happy chappy.

What do you think is the best part of Christmas?

I love the fact that everybody is off at Christmas time so I get to spend a whole week with my boyfriend being off and it's nice to know he isn't getting up at the crack of dawn every morning so we can just hang out all day together.

What are your favourite Christmas traditions? I tag anyone and everyone!

A Week Away

We've just been away for a week to our favourite little spot in Wales. I've been going there since I was 10 weeks old and I also went when I was pregnant and for our first family holiday too so it holds quite a lot of memories. We rent a lovely house right on the edge of the sea every time we visit and it has such stunning views. Our room has windows facing over the cliff edge and I happened to wake up just as the sun was rising one morning to capture it on camera, but the photo doesn't really do it justice. Last year we went in early spring and early autumn so I missed the opportunity to see all the flowers and trees in bloom so I took advantage of them being out this year and captured a few shots! We had a wonderful week and it was so nice to take Oscar away now that he's that little bit older. Last time he was only 3 months old so he spent most of his time sleeping but this time he loved looking around and playing with the sand on the beach and watching the sun sparkle on the sea. We also got him a bubble machine and he absolutely loved  it. He was trying to capture the bubbles as they flew past him, so cute. It'll be so much fun when he can dig sandcastles and toddle through the waves!

Oscar's 1st Birthday

Oscar turned 1 on 5th June but I thought I'd share a couple of snaps on here anyway. Oscar was actually pretty grumpy on his birthday, he woke up crying at 4:30am which he hasn't done for months and he was tired and out of sorts for most of the day, poor little man.
We just decided to keep the day fairly low key until he's a bit more aware that it's his birthday so we had a little celebration round at my parents with a dinosaur theme and lots of nibbles. We got some cute cupcakes made too which I got some dinosaur picks to decorate with.
Even though I don't want to wish the year away, it'll be really nice when Oscar's a bit more aware and I can plan epic birthday parties for him, I've seen some amazing ideas on Pinterest!

Life Lately: Lacking Enthusiasm

It's been pretty quiet over on my blog & twitter recently. I don't really have a particular reason, I just feel really uninspired at the moment, the weather is completely crap and I cannot get any pictures to look how I want them to! Being a stay at home mum is not kind on the pennies and so I've been looking at finding a job part time. I still want to be around for most of the time for Oscar but it'd be nice to get out and earn a bit of money and feel like I'm doing something in the day too, a bit of variation if you will. My mum has kindly offered to be my babysitter so I'm covered for childcare too making it that bit easier.
 I got an offer of an interview a few weeks ago and the job sounded perfect, I got a call telling me the company was really pleased with me and to go in for a trial morning. This sounded pretty positive to me and so I was excited to go in and try it out, I had to confirm when I could start and all that jazz so I was feeling hopeful. A couple of days later I got a call saying sadly they'd decided to go with someone else so I was pretty bummed out but life goes on! I'm still on the lookout now and have another interview next week but my confidence has been knocked now so I'm feeling a bit wary.
Other than that, I've really not been up to anything interesting, plenty of winter walks in parks nearby to get some fresh air, that is when it's not constantly raining anyway. Oscar is getting more inquisitive every day and he is so fun to play with now, he is constantly making us laugh and surprising us with little things.
So yeah, I just thought I'd pop up a post mainly because I felt like writing something but I'm still lacking in enthusiasm for beauty blogging right now, I want to be able to write more than I currently do and probably shouldn't feel like I need to buy more to do that but that's what I'm struggling with at the moment. I don't know about putting more lifestyle posts up on here as I don't often do anything particularly interesting and I'm also not the best at being open and sharing everything.
Sorry this has been a bit of a negative ramble, if you've actually read this then let me know if you've struggled with some serious lack of inspiration before and what you did to turn things around?

Edit: I woke up today and ended up writing 5 posts, so keep your eyes peeled, new one up tomorrow!

What is Trichotillomania? My Experience

source - edited

Veering slightly off topic today with something a little more serious and pretty personal to me but I thought it might be good to write about as it's something that has been a part of my life for about 10 years now. It is kind of strange, so please try not to judge me here, haha. I don't often hear very much about it and it took me a few years to realise what I was doing actually had a name.

One Year Of Blogging

source

I realised that today is my blogs 1st birthday! I am so happy that I have actually managed to stick at something for so long, I tend to lose interest in things fairly quickly. One year ago I had just had my 20 week scan to see what gender baby we were having. I'd initially planned to document my pregnancy a whole lot more than I did and I'd wanted to wait to start my blog after I'd known that our baby was healthy before getting too excited.

That swiftly took a turn into me stepping into the world of beauty blogging and I've loved it so much although I'm not sure that my bank balance has been so keen! It's been such a great outlet for me to ramble on about my love for makeup and cosmetics and not boring my boyfriend to death about the latest hyped up product - if only he would start a football blog...

I'd just like to say thank you to everyone who reads and comments on my blog, I've met some lovely people and I'm hoping in the next year to be more active on twitter so I can meet more lovely ladies to talk to and hopefully blog more frequently too.

The Christmas Tag

Image Source - edited

I spotted this over on Fee's blog - Makeup Savvy and thought I'd post it on here too as it's now officially the month of festivities! Seriously can't believe the year is almost over.

1.  Do you prefer a real Christmas tree or synthetic?

I've never had a real Christmas tree as far as I can remember, always synthetic! I like both really but the pine needles all over the floor put me off a real one. I think I'll stick with synthetic for home and enjoy looking at the real ones out and about.

2.  You're in a coffee shop, it's December, what do you pick?

I'd probably go for something ginger or cinnamon based! Having said that, I just checked out the Costa Coffee menu and they all sound amazing! Chocolate and Orange Mocha?! Yes, please.

3.  Whats your favourite colour scheme for decorating the tree?

Growing up, we always had gold, silver and white lights on our tree but I always liked my grandparents trees that had multi-coloured lights on. Our tree's pretty basic with red and gold on but I think I'd like to go for purple and silver next year.

4.  Giving or receiving?

Can I pick both? I love picking out presents that I can't wait to give to my friends and family and watching them open them and see their reaction but who doesn't love receiving something they wanted!

5.  To mince pie or not to?

I always used to think they contained minced beef when I was younger and wondered why they tasted so sweet. They're not an essential for me but I won't turn one down if I'm offered. 

6.  What's your traditional Sunday lunch?

Tends to be chicken with roast potatoes, lots of stuffing, pigs in blankets, veg and a lot of gravy! Plus a glass or two of wine.

7.  Christmas day fashion

I like to dress up a little even if I'm just staying in the house and not going out. The outfit needs to be pretty yet practical, a skater dress and some XL tights to leave room for lots of goodies! I like to go the whole hog with my makeup and hair, it's just so fun, I ombred my hair last year on Christmas day which was a bit risky considering it could have turned out terrible.

8.  What's your favourite Christmas song?

It has to be "Last Christmas" by Wham without a doubt. I'm also partial to Britney's offering "My Only Wish (This Year)" haha.

9.  What's your favourite Christmas film?

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, it's awesome. It's the perfect feel good 80's cheese film. They don't make 'em like they used to!

10.  Open presents before or after lunch?

 Always before! Then you can enjoy your new things or use them to get ready with. When I was younger, me and my sister were that excited for Christmas that we were waiting outside our parents bedroom at 5am about a week before Christmas wanting our presents, maybe a little eager...

Feel free to take this tag and pop it on your blog, let me know if you do it too!

My Bad Blog Sale Experience: Advice?

Image Source - Edited

Being a beauty (or fashion) blogger, you often see girls popping up a post titled "Blog Sale" with a selection of products they don't need or want anymore and so are offering the rest of their readers a chance to buy something they like at a bargain price.

I always click on the post to see if there's anything that catches my eye, sometimes there is but it's usually just before pay day (typical) and I can't splurge. A couple of months ago, I spotted a few items advertised on someone's blog sale and one of them was an item I had wanted for ages. For once, I did actually have some money so I eagerly sent an email across asking if the items were still available. I received one back saying that they were and we agreed on a price and after a slight hitch with me sending the payment to the wrong email address, everything was sorted. 

A week went by of me waiting for Mr Post Man to knock and deliver my little selection of goodies but nothing turned up. I checked for a delivery card or if it had been left somewhere else because I hadn't been in but that wasn't the case. I sent another email across asking if she'd had the chance to send it across yet and I was assured that it was in the post and should be with me soon. Another 10 days later and it still hadn't arrived - obviously I was getting a little concerned that it must have gotten lost in the post at this point.

I sent another email across asking if proof of postage had been obtained and was told that it had and she would head to the Post Office to sort it out for me. That's where things started to go down hill, the communication became less frequent and I had to send a couple of emails prompting for an update and I then received an email back that I found a little confusing giving me information about how it had been delivered by a courier and it had been tracked down and had no missed deliveries for the day. 

I wasn't aware that Royal Mail used couriers so I asked my Dad who frequently uses eBay and often sends parcels and he told me that the information given to me didn't sound right, so I decided to head down to my local Post Office to ask for their advice and what would be likely to happen in this situation. I was given the procedure of what happens with a missing parcel and sent an email across explaining my concerns about what I'd been told. I received one back soon after telling me that she was given different information and that she would try and look into it for me and if she could clarify the situation, she'd send across a refund to me a week later as the items were clearly not going to turn up. I chased the situation up again a couple of days ago and was told a refund had been sent back to the account. I was dubious and when the Paypal account was checked, unsurprisingly, there was no money in there.

It's now been over 2 months since I sent across payment and my items still haven't turned up and neither has a refund. I don't know what to make of the situation to be honest, I wanted to think that it was just mis-communication or a mistake on her behalf but it seems I've clearly been given false information and although I don't want to think that someone is lying to me and has stolen my money, it's starting to become the only conclusion I can draw from the whole thing which is so disappointing. I don't expect a refund at this point, after a couple of weeks I pretty much guessed my money was gone and I wasn't going to be getting anything in return but I still don't want to let it go. Annoyingly, as I was told to pay through the "friends/family" option on PayPal, I have no way of putting in a complaint or reclaiming my money.

I just thought I'd post this because I feel I was far too trusting and probably quite unlucky too as I've seen a lot of girls talking about items they've received in a blog sale and thought that it would all go smoothly for me too. It's a real shame as I've met some lovely people through blogging that I will speak to on Twitter now and again and it's sad that as a little community, not everyone treats other people with respect and trust. I couldn't make my mind up as to whether to post the name of the blogger who's done this; they have a significantly larger following than I do and I'm not sure how many people will even read this or if it would cause a hassle. On the one hand, I want people to be wary of buying anything from her in the future but at the same time, I don't really want any drama as I'm not a fan of conflict so perhaps I should just forget about it... What would you do if you were me?

EDIT:  I have now received a full refund this evening, thanks for your advice for everyone who commented/tweeted. 

How have you found blog sales? Have you had any issues either as a buyer or a seller?

Postpartum Hair Loss - What To Expect

I wasn't sure whether to write and publish this or not, it's not the usual type of post from me but I do feel it's important to me and it could help others who are expectant or new mums.

After having a baby, your body goes through so many changes. After being pregnant for 9 months and your body getting adjusted to all the new hormones, you give birth and suddenly everything starts changing again, just after you've finally gotten used to it!

I knew there were quite a lot of changes I was going to experience; I'd experienced them whilst being pregnant so I knew they had to go back at some point - my skin changed from it's normal/combination status to extremely dry in the early months and then glowing and healthy in the later months. Obviously your figure alters drastically and you get cravings and in the later months (if you didn't already) a huge appetite.

Although I didn't really notice it at the time, whilst pregnant my hair was falling out a lot less than normal and it was growing faster and becoming thicker too. After birth, I didn't immediately experience any hair loss, it only started for me at about 3.5 months and wow, did it come out thick and fast. I didn't really think too much of it until one day I pulled my hair back to do my makeup and spotted two bald patches at my temples. I was obviously upset and although I knew it was going to be hormone/postpartum changes I never expected it to be so drastic.

The reason it happens is that your hair normally goes through two phases; growing and resting. Most of your hair is in a growing phase whilst 10-15% is in a resting phase. When it ends the resting phase, that's when your hair falls out. The difference is when you're pregnant the hormone changes trigger many more of your hair follicles to enter the growing phase resulting in having lovely, thick and healthy locks.

After giving birth, the hormones return to normal and your hair now has a lot of catching up to do and a lot of the hair that was in the growing phase now enters the resting phase and begins to shed leading you to finding a lot more hair coming out when styling or washing.

I'm not kidding when I say that my hair now comes out in thick strands when I'm shampooing it, then when I'm towel drying it, brushing it and styling it. My hairbrush is full of hair within a couple of days rather than about a month (is it gross I only empty my brush when it's completely full?) of brushing it and I'm finding hairs shedding all over my clothes. It doesn't help having a curious 5 month old who loves to tug on mummy's hair either! He ends up with handfuls of it and more of it ends up floating around the house.

I'm not entirely sure why the loss is so noticeable at the temples; perhaps because the hair there can be quite fine and wispy anyway because I haven't been able to notice any other bald patches on my head.

Unfortunately, there's very little that can be done to avoid the hair loss, it will happen whether or not you breastfeed and as it's hormonal you pretty much have to go through it. I have really thick hair anyway and so I'm not sure if you lose more/less hair depending on how thick it is or if it makes it more noticeable depending on your hair type.

You can help manage it in a couple of ways though and fortunately, it won't last forever. By the time your baby is celebrating their first birthday you should be back to normal. If you have hair that can be styled easily, you could always try going for a fringe to hide the bald spots at the temples and then you can wear your hair back without worrying people will notice. This isn't an option for me due to having curly hair so I find that as long as I wear it down, you can't tell. I also got a couple of inches lopped off to help make my hair a bit lighter and it seems to have reduced the strain on my hair too.

I hope that this is helpful to anyone going through the same thing as me, you are not alone! And also if you're an expectant mum or haven't yet reached the 3/4 month mark then to give you an idea of what to expect and not feel too shocked or worried - it's completely normal and it will stop and is just one more thing for your body to adapt to and let's face it, that cute little face looking at you is totally worth it.

The main picture doesn't really show off my temples, so here is a side shot. It might not look that drastic to you (or maybe it does?!) but it's noticeable to me.

ORLY & Benefit freebies in Cosmo & Elle UK December 2013

 As usual, I couldn't resist a magazine freebie. I was eagerly awaiting (sad, I know) the December Cosmo issue because they have ORLY polishes in 4 different shades - Star Spangled which is a glittery red shade, Hair Band is a gold glitter (the one I picked) Country Club Khaki looks like a beige nude and Naughty which looks like a very dark burgundy. They're all nice but I have similar shades to the other three but no gold glitters, so I decided on that one, perfect for the upcoming festive season!
 I also spotted Elle giving away mini versions of Benefit's Hoola, Coralista and Dandelion lipglosses so I picked mine up in Dandelion!

Will you be picking any of these up?

DIY Jewellery Holder

This is day 2 of the #bedn challenge - something that you've created. I've been meaning to post about this for SO long, I made it about 6 months ago but kept on forgetting to take pictures. You'll have to forgive my lack of technical terms, I can't remember the correct names for most of the things I used, haha.
I decided I'd like to try and make my own jewellery holder after finding that all the ones online weren't quite what I was looking for. I had a cork board lying around that I got from Ikea and then I decided I might as well go the whole hog and buy some decorative bits and pieces.

You will need:

♥ Cork Board (usually comes with screws etc to hang it)

♥ Material to cover your board

  ♥ Push Pins

♥ Ribbon

♥ Stapler

I started off by laying my sheet of fabric (I chose linen, this was way more expensive than I thought it was going to be - £10 for about 1 metre sq but then again, I rarely do DIY so it might not be all that surprising to some of you!) flat across a table and placing my cork board in the centre of it.

I then wrapped the fabric around my board so it was covering it all with overhang on the back of the board. I pulled this extremely tight to prevent any creases/saggy material and then proceeded to staple the cr*p out of it. I only had a paper stapler, so it took quite a few attempts to pierce the fabric at various points but I got there eventually. I then flipped the board over and attached the length of ribbon along the bottom so I could hang my earrings off it.

And that was literally it, screw in the little metal bits you get with your board and attach the string onto it, pop a nail in your wall and you're done! I used clear pins to hang my jewellery off so it blends in nicely and they hold the weight of my necklaces with no problems. It took me about 15 minutes to do and I really love the result, it matches my bedroom decor perfectly!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! It's my favourite holiday of the year so we did a little bit of celebrating today. Ozzy had a selection of Halloween themed clothing to wear, I went a bit overboard but he looked so cute! I went down to my parents and I did my sister's makeup for work for her (cat themed) and then carved out a mini pumpkin for the dinner table. Annoyingly, it seems my heavy usage of eyeliner for my look the other day did not go down well with my eye as I seem to have an infection or something horrible (gross) and have to use eye drops which meant no makeup for me, no fair! Me and my sister did some Halloween themed baking and we had a little feast by pumpkin light.

Autumn Organising

 

Image from weheartit

*Now Summer finally seems to be dwindling into the distance, it's time to be making space in my wardrobe for more cosy items of clothing and clear out my maternity clothes. Living in a flat with limited wardrobe space (my poor boyfriend has been resigned to a chest of drawers that's overflowing due to my clothes hoarding...) means that I just don't have anywhere left to store my clothes, even our bed is too low to have under-bed storage.

I've got about 3 bin bags full of clothes that are old/too big/small/I'm fed up of and they are taking up valuable space and making it look like I have more clothes than I really do, so coming home with a new purchase (that I really shouldn't have bought due to lack of funds), I get disapproving looks from my boyfriend. As Christmas (yes, I said it) is just around the corner, I really need to be saving some money and getting rid of my clothes would be a great way to earn a bit of extra cash.

I've toyed with the idea of selling my clothes on eBay but by the time you've put them on and waited for the whole process to finish, you have fees and postage to pay and it just doesn't really seem a convenient way to have a quick and easy sort out.

That's when I discovered a great way to sell my used clothes online - Music Magpie. I knew that you could send off electronics and DVD's and what not, but I only just realised you could send your clothes there. All you need to do is enter what brand of clothing you have, what type it is (jacket, dress etc) and then a few details about colour, size and material. You can then send it to them for free by dropping it off at various locations across the country or get their courier service to pick your stuff up and voila, cash in your pocket and no fees or postage to pay. 

L'Occitane Hand Cream Freebie with November Marie Claire

 

Just a quick post to say that there's 4 different L'Occitane Hand Cream's available to grab in this month's (November 2013) Marie Claire. I picked the original Shea Butter one which I've been wanting for ages but they have three LE ones too in Passionate Jasmine, Rose Tenderness and Subtle Violet, which all sound highly tempting! The magazine costs £3.90 which means you can pick up a hand cream worth £8 for less than 1/2 price.

4 Months In... | Baby Update

I thought I'd post a quick update on Oscar, as he's such a massive part of my life but I rarely mention him on here. Today, it is 4 months since he was born. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone and how much he has changed!

He changes literally every day, he has got such a little personality now, he's adorable. He has gone from your typical newborn who sleeps all day and lies placidly and quietly in your arms or in his Moses basket to an active little boy who can now reach and grab for toys on his play mat or on his bouncer. He loves being read to and most importantly being the centre of attention!

He enjoys bath times and now kicks his legs excitedly when you put him in although he's not too pleased when you take him out, haha.

He's definitely found his voice and squeals happily when you talk to him or when he sees something he likes. He enjoys watching cbeebies or Baby Einstein in the morning after having his milk and is now pretty much in a solid routine. From the very beginning we have always put him down to go to sleep on his own, so now he will easily fall asleep by himself, which is really great.

He has 8oz bottles and has a couple of short naps and one long nap during the day before going to bed at about 8.30pm and waking again around 7.30am, which we are very pleased about!

He is generally a very happy little baby who doesn't cry unless he wants feeding or wants his nappy changing. 

He has started teething which is kind of surprising considering neither me or his Daddy started teething early but he is constantly chewing on his hands and rather unfortunately sticking his fingers down his throat occasionally which of course makes him sick, which isn't pleasant to see but he doesn't understand what he's doing.

If you have a baby of your own, you'll know that with all the great things come some of the less so great things. Even though we were pretty lucky that Ozzy has slept at least 4 hours straight every night since we brought him home, I definitely don't miss the 3am feed and I'm glad that he can now sleep through until a reasonable time! 

Having their immunisations is horrible to witness too and I feel so sorry for him when he has them done. We had to take him on Monday and he was smiling and giggling until we got into the nurse's room and he seemed to know that something unpleasant was going to happen, poor little bean!

He can be a little grouchy now that he's teething and burst into tears when you're least expecting it but he is usually consoled by being given a cuddle or shown the dinosaurs decorating his nursery.

Becoming a mummy is definitely one of the most amazing experiences that you can have and although it took me some time to get adjusted to my new lifestyle, he's completely worth it and I'd give birth ten times over to have him here. I feel so lucky to have him as my son, he's such an incredible little person even though he's so tiny.

I can't wait to see all the new things he will learn to do and all the things that he has yet to experience and enjoy!

A New Mum's Guide to Still Feeling Glam

I've been on a quest recently to find a pair of jeans that actually FIT me. At first, I was happy just to be able to see my toes but then I decided I wanted a little more. I've been wearing dresses now for about 2 months and nothing else as my pre-pregnancy jeans have been shoved to the back of the wardrobe in horror, unable now to pull them past my thighs.

I finally found my saviour the other day, surprisingly in Sainsbury's. As I was leaving the house today and walking down the path, I realised I actually felt pretty good about myself despite having to go up two sizes as I'm now the proud owner of child bearing hips, so I thought I'd write a few quick tips down on what's helped me feel more 'me' these past few weeks.

I'm not going to lie, the first two weeks after having Oscar, I felt and looked like poop. I managed to step in the shower every day but that was pretty much where my efforts ceased. I lived in some comfy tracksuit bottoms and my maternity tops to hide my still inflated belly. No straighteners touched my hair nor a slick of makeup on my face. 

Then about 3 weeks in, I finally started to feel like putting a bit of effort back in. I got my boyfriend to be on baby watching duty whilst I took  hair dryer and some straighteners to my hair and applied some make up. I was only sitting about the house but I felt more like myself again. 

I'm fortunate enough to be a stay at home mum whilst my boyfriend goes out to work and even more fortunate enough to have my mum on hand whenever I need her. That's not the case for everyone though, so I'll try and make sure these tips can work for everyone whether you're surrounded by friends and family or doing it all on your own.

Tips

• Take advantage of the time when your baby is sleeping. You can fit in virtually anything you want to during their nap time, especially as newborns sleep most of the day.Whether or not that's getting some sleep, (I find that I can't sleep during the day no matter how tired I am, it's always early evening when I find myself wanting a rest and that usually isn't an option!) getting some cleaning and tidying done around the house, having a shower or keeping up your beauty regime. 

• Skater dresses have been the best thing for me. They skim straight over the top of your belly leaving you feeling slim and feeling feminine. Another bonus was that I managed to fit into quite a few of my pre-pregnancy skater dresses although a couple did become a little shorter due to my hips being wider.

• Floaty blouses have also been brilliant for everyday wear. I initially wore them over a pair of leggings but after wearing leggings for 7 months straight, I really wanted to find an alternative option.

• If you don't fancy floaty all the time, try a peplum top, they also skim nicely over your lower half. 

• Don't feel too bad if you can't fit into your pre pregnancy clothes as quick as you'd hoped. I had purchased a few items whilst pregnant that I thought would be nice to wear once I'd had Oscar but found that they didn't fit me quite as I'd imagined. I was disappointed at first, but then I decided to pick myself up as friends and family reminded me that it takes 9 month for your body to change and at least 9 months for it to go back (unless you're super lucky!)

• Accessories are your friend. If you don't want to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe to accommodate any extra pounds, make the most of what you've got in the clothes department and buy a few floaty scarves and some nice statement jewellery to perk up your outfits and hide any mum-tum you might have. 

• Keep it simple with your makeup. If my boyfriend's at home or my mum's round, I can afford to spend a bit more time on my makeup whilst they keep an eye on him but if I'm on my own or need to be out somewhere and making sure I'm fitting in around Oscar's feeding schedule then I switch up the products I'm using...

• You can simplify your makeup by swapping powder eye shadows for something like Maybelline's Color Tattoo's or my current favourite - Collection's Work The Colour Eyeshadow Pencil's. A quick slick across your eyelids and your good to go. 

• Instead of applying a full face of foundation, apply concealer to any blemishes and under eye circles to keep your face looking fresh.

• So you don't have to spend ages making sure you've applied your lipstick perfectly, grab a tinted balm like Revlon's Lip Butters to apply on the go and mirror free whilst still keeping your pout pretty. 

• I found that I struggled to find a pair of jeans that fit me how I wanted to or flattered my new figure. They all seemed to fit low around my hips and just made my belly pop out over the top. Not a good look. I went for jeggings instead, so I didn't quite manage to fully escape the leggings I now at least look like I've got jeans on, no one else needs to know it's an elasticated waist, right?

• Primark have some good jeggings in at the moment for less than £10 but I got mine from Sainsbury's TU range for £12.50. They do a range of colours and fit exactly how I wanted them to, high on the waist keeping my belly under control and still skinny on the leg without any bunching around the ankle.

• Get a quick drying top coat for your nails so that if your baby needs you suddenly, you can have your nails dried in a fraction of the time. 

• If your hair could do with a wash but you don't have the time, spray in some dry shampoo and try braiding it or tying it up in a cute bun. 

I think that about sums up everything I've managed to do to still find some 'me' time to fit around the hectic life of being a new mum! Let me know if you find any of these tips helpful or if you have any extra ones!

EDIT: I've just noticed that I've reached 100 followers on Bloglovin' and 150 on GFC, thank you to everyone who reads, I never thought I'd get even 20 people interested in my blog so it's great to have people commenting on here!

Money Supermarket - Budget Bucket List

I was tagged by Hannah from B.L.A.B to take part in MoneySupermarket's Budget Bucket List Competition.  The inspiration for the challenge was taken from the film "The Bucket List" in which the characters make a list of things they wish to do before they "kick the bucket."

 The challenge is to pick one "budget" bucket list item and one "extravagant" item. Then you just need to tag 3 other bloggers to see if they'd like to take part in the challenge to.

 So, without further ado... 

  Image from weheartit

My "budget" item would have to be being able to take part in a course to become a Make Up Artist. As you can probably tell based on my blog, I love make up and all things beauty related and after doing many boring, unfulfilling office jobs I really think that this would be a career I'd really enjoy. 

It'd give me so many options and I'd probably look to be self-employed so I could work for whoever, whenever, wherever I wanted. 

I'd looked at doing a course last year with some savings I had but then I fell pregnant and any aspirations had to be put on hold and my money invested elsewhere. The courses available are a little more pricey than any money that I have lying around from month to month and it's pretty hard to manage to save much now that there's only my boyfriend working.

Image from Google Images

 My "extravagant" item would without a doubt be a road trip across America, starting from New York (for the shopping, obviously...) and working my way across from East to West stopping off at as many places as possible along the way. I'd love to be able to take my parents, sister and her boyfriend and of course my boyfriend and Oscar so again, it's money stopping me from doing this one as to really enjoy yourself you'd need a pretty hefty chunk of cash so that you could do everything you wanted to do on the trip. If it's going to be a once in a lifetime experience, you might as well go all out! 

Unfortunately, Hannah was tagged a bit last minute and so the competition closes at midnight TONIGHT so sorry it's such short notice but you've still got enough time to write up a quick post if you want ;-) 

I tag: Holly from Along Came Holly 

         Hannah from Awaken Beauty

         Sam from Tiny Paint Pot

The Charcoal Challenge

With the amazing weather the UK has been having recently (I feel like in every single post I mention the weather...) it seemed like the perfect time to have a barbecue. I was delighted when I discovered that MoneySupermarket were hosting a competition called The Charcoal Challenge in which you are supplied with £50 to spend on having a barbecue for your family/friends.
I decided it was best to have the barbecue at my parents as we don't have much of a garden that's suitable for hosting anything in.

Having not been able to dust off the barbecue in over a year, one of those was purchased on sale hastily for £11.99 as the old one was looking a bit worse for wear. I'd spied a clear plastic drinks dispenser a few weeks ago in Waitrose, I rushed back there to see if I could grab one however much to my disappointment they had gone from the store but I did manage to grab a blue version online for £15. This was one of the most awesome things I've ever bought, we filled it to the brim with sangria and plenty of fruit and ice and it was available to pour on tap, literally! I also managed to snap up the cute little plastic cups for only £1.99 from B&M which were perfect for dining out and the little colours on the bottom just made them extra cute.

We spent the rest of the day enjoying the lovely sun and some delicious food which was where the  majority of the remainder of the £50 went. My sister took the opportunity to whip out her fancy camera and take a few snaps of Ozzy. She's been dying to do some newborn shots but he always seems to be sleeping or in an uncooperative mood, haha!

If you fancy seeing if you can take part in The Charcoal Challenge, it's open until 1st August, so get grilling and enjoy the sunshine whilst it's still here!