FAMILY: Adventures around Copenhagen with Blunts Shoes

*Advertorial Content - Gifted Items

Exploring new places and going on adventures as a family is how we would choose to spend every weekend if we could. The excitement of stumbling across somewhere beautiful, with plenty of space for the children to run around, is a big part of our quality family time together. Ensuring we all have appropriate footwear is really important, especially for Isabella and Poppy as they need that extra support for growing feet. Blunts Shoes was established in 1865 and have been selling footwear ever since, so it's fair to say they are experts in the area. They have 17 stores across the Midlands, but also have an impressive range of shoes, boots and sandals on their website too. As a parent it is very convenient to have the option to either buy online or in-store, as shopping with children in tow isn't always the easiest task.

TODDLER STYLE: A week of outfits #57

Happy September everyone! That's summer over with for another year and we're into my favourite season, autumn. I can't wait for hot chocolates, playing in leaves, crisp mornings and chunky knits. I also need to get a new coat this year, so if you have any recommendations or places that are good for coats let me know :) I can't wait to dig out Isabella's autumn clothes, but she needs to do some growing because 18-24 months is far too big on her still!

Day 1

BABY: Boxing Day Online Sale Shopping #1

Though I do love a bargain I'm not willing to always battle the crowds with a pushchair in tow, so this year a lot of my sale shopping was done online on Christmas Eve. It's so much easier and with free click and collect you often don't even have to pay anymore. Also, if you buy online you have the right to return the items but you don't as easily if you buy instore. Basically, there are a lot of advantages to shopping online! As I mentioned in my 'instore sale shopping' post (see here) I've mostly bought Isabella clothes in 18-24 months, so that they're ready for next autumn/winter. I also picked up some really cheap clothes for when she starts nursery, as I don't want her nice outfits ruined there. I've worked at a nursery and know the messy play that goes on!

Polar bear t-shirt - Marks and Spencers - £4

BABY: Next Summer Sale Haul 2015

This is a completely unplanned blog post, but after receiving an email about the Next sale starting yesterday I couldn't not go! Any excuse for a bargain and very much like the JoJo Maman Bebe sale I picked up clothes for next summer. There are a couple of 6-9 month pieces that I thought would be perfect for autumn/winter too. I picked all of this up at two different Next stores, neither of which I visited particularly early. We left the last store at about 3.30pm yesterday and there was still lots of stock, so I'd imagine there would be a fair amount to pick up today (Sunday 19th July 2015). There are also a couple of items from F&F Clothing, Boots and Mothercare that I thought I'd share with you too.

 

BEAUTY: Drugstore haul with my first impressions

You know when everything in your make up bag and skincare routine all seem to run out at the same time? Well that happened to me recently, so it was the perfect excuse to mix things up and try new products. Cue a trip to Boots to update/transform both my make up bag and skincare routine. I thought I'd combine this drugstore haul with my first impressions of the products, as it's always helpful to know if a product is worth buying or not. 

 
L'Oreal Infallible Foundation in Porcelain (£9.99). I have tried the matte version of this foundation (read my full review here) and after initially not really liking it I ended up really liking it's medium-full coverage. It's not the easiest foundation to blend into my skin but with a lot of buffing I got a pretty flawless finish. So I was intrigued to try the more satin/glowy version of the Infallible foundation. This one is aimed at people with drier skin, which is certainly me at the moment (since giving birth my skin has become the driest ever!)

L'Oreal 4D Mascara in Black (£10.99). My trusty Maybelline Cat Eyes mascara was running out, so I needed a new one that did everything that mascara did and more! This L'Oreal mascara had some pretty impressive claims about making your lashes longer and with more volume. However on first impressions I don't like this mascara, it's a pretty dry formula which I don't like. It didn't seem to coat my lashes with anything, so I certainly didn't get the volume or length I was looking for. After three coats my lashes still looked like I hadn't applied anything, not the best first impressions for a relatively expensive drugstore mascara. I'm not giving up on it just yet, I will continue to try it out and I'll keep you updated.


 
L'Oreal True Match Foundation in Rose Ivory (£9.99). Boots had a 3 for 2 offer so I thought I'd restock on one of my favourite drugstore foundations. They don't currently have 3 for 2, it's 2 L'Oreal products for £12. I love this foundation, it has a medium coverage, blends well and covers almost everything I want it to. Personally, I like quite a full coverage foundation, like Estee Lauder Double Wear. True Match has a lighter coverage but still covers dark circles, blemishes and  uneven skin tone.

Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer in Light (on offer for £4.49). This is another repurchase - this concealer is just perfect for the summer months. I don't tend to use it much during the winter, just because I like to use something with a better coverage (like Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer or Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer). We are now entering the summer months and I love to 'wake up' my skin with products that have a more dewy finish. This concealer is perfect for lightening up the under eye area and using as a kind of highlighter. I apply it in a triangle shape under my eye, blend with a duo fibre brush from Real Techniques and set in place with Rimmel Stay Matte powder in Translucent.

Dior Nude Foundation in Ivory (reduced to £10). This was the absolute beauty bargain of the year so far, in my local boots they had a basket of reduced make up. If you go to Boots I'm sure you know the one, it usually has broken eyeshadows, lipsticks that have been opened and generally not great things. However every once in a while there will be a gem, a bargain that cannot be resisted and the day I went in it was this Dior Nude foundation IN MY SHADE! I couldn't believe it, despite only just buying two L'Oreal foundations the day before, I couldn't turn down this bargain. Dior Nude usually retails for £32, so with a price tag of £10 you can probably see why I couldn't walk away without purchasing it. It was unopened, never been used and even in the box - complete winner. This is probably the lightest coverage foundation I've tried in a long time, yet it somehow gives a good amount of coverage. The kind of coverage that is perfect for a summer day when heavy make up would probably just melt off your face. I actually really like the light texture of this foundation, which is such a contrast to my usually pretty heavy textured foundations. I think this is going to become my new favourite foundation for the summer.

L'Oreal Elnett Satin Hairspray (travel size). I'm currently using the Fudge Urban Iced Raspberry & Vanilla hairspray, which has a pretty strong hold and you can tell when I have it on. I wanted something a bit lighter on the hair but with the same hold. As this is such a popular hairspray and I had never tried it I thought I'd give it a go. First impressions of the hold and feel on the hair are really good, however I don't like the smell of it. The Fudge hairspray smells really nice, so it might be that I'm used to that scent but either way I don't like it.

Ogx Argan Oil of Morocco Shampoo and Conditioner (travel size). I was watching someones (I forget who) YouTube video recently and they mentioned this shampoo and conditioner as being amazing for your hair. I've been in such a hair rut for about a year now, always using the same products but not really liking how they make my hair feel. So I thought it was about time I tried something different. Instead of buying full size products straightaway I like to try them in a travel size first, to see if I like it without wasting lots of money. I've washed my hair a couple of times with this duo and I'm seriously impressed! After the first wash my hair felt so soft and smooth, a real improvement. It didn't give my hair the shine I wanted it to, but it did make my hair feel amazing.

Nivea 2 in 1 Eye Make Up Remover (£3.89). Another repurchase - if you need a good eye make up remover that does actually remove waterproof mascara then this is a great budget alternative to something like the Clarins Instant Eye Make Up Remover.

Nivea Cleansing Wash for sensitive to dry skin (£3.15). I currently use the Liz Earle Hot Cloth Cleanse and Polish to take off my make up at night but wanted something to use in the mornings that will help to rehydrate my dry skin. So far I like this as a cleanser, it's creamy, moisturising and doesn't leave you with that tight feeling so many cleanser give you. 

Garnier Softening Toner for normal to dry skin (£3.29). Although I don't have sensitive skin I thought that this isn't going to be too drying on the skin due to it's gentle formula. I've liked using this after cleansing to make sure all of my make up is removed and it leaves my skin feel refreshed. 

What have you been enjoying from the drugstore recently?

Feel free to comment :) 

Helen x 

SALE SHOPPING: Baby Girl feat. Mothercare, Marks and Spencers, TK Maxx

This year sale shopping was taken to a whole level, I was on a mission to buy as many cute baby clothes as I could possibly justify. Finding out the gender of our baby has meant that clothes shopping is easier, as I know what I'm looking for, and therefore needed some level of control. Baby clothes just pull on my heart strings. I had tried to restrain myself until the sales, which wasn't a complete success but I tried nonetheless! I have fallen in love with so many pieces I picked up in the sale this year and for the first time they aren't even for me! I did most of this sale shopping online on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day - I knew what I wanted so it wasn't a matter of browsing for a long time. A lot lf these close are for next autumn/winter, as that's the style of clothes that were mostly in the sale. I bought 6-9 months, hoping they will fit her, it's all a bit of a guessing game really.

Mothercare

£16 reduced to £8

£14 reduced to £7

£10 reduced to £5 

£9 reduced to £4

£8 2 pack reduced to £4

£8 2 pack reduced to £4

£7 reduced to £3.50

£6 reduced to £4

Tesco F&F Clothing 

£4 reduced to £2

£3 reduced to £1.50

Marks and Spencer's 

£14 reduced to £7

£14 reduced to £6

£6 reduced to £4

£6 reduced to £4

£14 reduced to £9

£9 reduced to £6

£10 reduced to £8

£12 reduced to £6

Sainsburys TU Clothing 

£6 reduced to £4

TK Maxx

£19.99 reduced to £10

£14.99 reduced to £8

JoJo Maman Bebe 

£24 reduced to £12

£24 reduced to £12

Next 

£10 reduced to £5

£10 reduced to £5 

£2.50 reduced to £1

Boots

£6 reduced to £3

£6 reduced to £3

£10 reduced to £5

Did you pick up any good bargains in the sales?

Feel free to leave me a comment - I love reading every single one :) 

Helen x

BEAUTY: A very disappointing eye make up remover...

Unfortunately I've got a negative review today of a product that really hasn't worked for me. Obviously with skincare it's different for each person but I've really disliked using the Boots Bontanics Soothing Eye Make Up Remover All Bright (£3.99) over the past month. In fact I've disliked it so much I have thrown it away and had to buy another eye make up remover and I never, ever do that normally.

There are a couple of things that resulted me in disliking this eye make up remover:


1) The way you dispense the product out of the bottle, it just pours out. There isn't a little hole to stop too much product coming out, so too often I'd end up with a greasy mess as the cotton pad I was using became completely saturated.


2) The greasy/oil nature of this product made it very unenjoyable to use. Prior to this eye make up remover I had been using the Nivea Daily Essentials Eye Make Up Remover (£3.59 from Boots), which had two layers of product, one of which was oily. However this didn't leave any oily residue at all, so was nice to use and didn't leave my skin feeling like it needed to be deeply cleansed. The Bontanics Soothing Eye Make Up Remover is so oily that it would sometimes blur my vision, as the oily residue stuck to my eyelashes. No pleasant in the slightest.


3) It didn't remove my eye make up. The one job it has to do and it fails. Not even non-waterproof mascara and eyeliner!


Overall I'm really disappointed with this product, as I'm sure you can tell. I won't be repurchasing it, neither would I recommend it.


Have you experienced any disappointing products recently?


Feel free to leave me a comment :)


Helen x