Eli Update

Totally a gushy kinda post, which has nada to do with fashion or beauty...

I just wanted to share a few pics of my gorgeous little boy (who is now 4 months old!) and what he has been up to recently.

I know, I know I said I wasn't going to make this a pregnancy or baby related blog, and I'm not - but there have been some fab pictures taken of him recently and I really wanted to share them with all of my lovely readers.

Normal blogging posts will resume tomorrow, in the mean time, let the cooing and oohing and ahhing commence! Enjoy x

Loving that gorgeous smile!

Discovering fingers taste amazing!

Big smiles

Auntie Negar

Auntie Rocsana

Loving Isaac Newton

Hanging out with my two bessies

Contemplating life

With one of his girlfriends, the gorgeous miss Amelia

Yes I bought him a Tigger outfit

Chilling with big cousin Jonah

Grandpa and the boys

Hanging out with Great Grandma

Say whaaaaaaaat?

First trip on the tube...obvs made an impression!

My boys

kisses from mama

Wagamama date

Mini Haul - Beauty and Jewellery

I fancied picking up a couple of beauty essentials the other day, and before I knew what was happening, I ended up picking up a bit more than I expected to! With the country going through a mega heatwave (I am so not a fan, it's enough already!) the glorious oasis of an air conditioned shopping centre called to me (and hot grumpy baby) and I found these fabulous goodies.

Topshop: £8 and £5 (sale)

I vowed not to buy any clothes in the summer sale, as my baby belly battle is ongoing (9lbs lost so far in 4 weeks) but as I passed Topshop, I couldn't help popping in and to my surprise, they had some amazing jewellery on sale, half price or better. I picked up these two statement necklaces. I'm going to wear the large black and gold number to my friend's wedding on Sunday and the gold collar necklace is perfect for adding a touch of edge to a pretty summer dress.

 I saw Becky do a post about this cleanser recently and I decided to try it out for myself. For a smidgen over £3, Skin Perfection by L'Oreal states to be a 3 in 1 purifying solution - dissolves make up, unclogs pores and removes impurities and tones and smoothes the skin. I've been using it for 4 days now and I do really like it. I find it slightly drying on my eyes and I use my Lush toner and moisteriser after, but it is a quick and easy make up removal solution.

Real Techniques Expert Face Brush £9.99 from Boots

After all the blogging love that Real Techniques by Samantha Chapman gets, I thought it was time to try a brush out for myself. I opted for the expert face brush and I really love it! It applies BB cream and foundation so effortlessly and smoothly and for £9.99, I think it's a total bargain. I'll be picking up some more of these for sure!

Topshop Aurora nail polish £6

I spotted this metallic nail polish in Topshop called Aurora when I was choosing my jewellery, and the alluring sheen of the polish made me instantly pick it up and take it to the till. I tried it out last week and I wasn't 100% in love with it. The polish looks like it has more of a greeny tone in the bottle, but when applied to the nails, it's pretty much a bronzy gold. Still very pretty but not what I was expecting.

MAC Mineralize foundation in NW20 £27

So I went to MAC in John Lewis. I know I shouldn't have but I needed, for the first time ever, to buy a foundation, as I want a bit more coverage at the moment (thanks to lack of sleep...cheers Eli!) and MAC never steers me wrong. One of the lovely sale assistants sat me down and we tried a few options. In the end I opted for the Mineralize SPF 15 foundation in shade NW20. It's slightly darker than my natural skin tone and the mineralized effect leaves a lovely glowy sheen while the SPF 15 does it's thing against the sun. I only use a tiny bit over some BB cream so I can imaging this bottle lasting ages...which makes the £27 price tag slightly easier to bear!

Topshop Straight Ace £5 (in sale)

My final Topshop purchase (again, in the sale) is this highly pigmented lipstick. As I mentioned ages ago in this post, I love purple tone lip colours. I find they suit my pale skin and dark features really well and this creamy lipstick was only £5, so I couldn't resist!

MAC Narcissus £17

Yes it's another MAC purchase! This was a total impulse buy, but look at that gorgeous colour! This is a brand new Cremesheen Glass lip gloss called Narcissus and I'm in love with it. It's super creamy, smooth, glossy and stays on for ages, and that colour, a stunning mix of violet, pink and bluey tones looks great for summer or winter.

Finally I decided to try the L'Oreal Sublime Bronze self-tanning spray mists. I have a wedding on Sunday and with the weather as sunny as it is, I wanted to look a bit more sunkissed. I picked up the face mist too (both of which are on special offer at Boots at the moment). I think it cost me £18 for the two together. I haven't tried them yet - waiting for the day before the wedding, so I will give a full review once I have tried them out.

Have you bought anything new recently that you're loving? Enjoy x

All That Glitters...

Another day, another post about my idol Beyonce!

I couldn't NOT share these pictures though from the latest issue of Flaunt magazine, where Beyonce has been styled wearing nothing but a shed load of super sparkly glitter.

The interview is great too and to quote the magazine; "What's not to love about the Great Queen Bee. She's a machine. She's untouchable. And she makes us feel fierce by proximity." Preach!

It hints at Beyonce's highly anticipated 5th solo album, but really, this interview is all about the photo shoot. Check out that amazing body...sigh...if she can look like that post baby, then so shall I dammit!

What do you make of this fabulous shoot? Enjoy x

Images from Flaunt.com

Lush Skin Care

I went to one of my favourite shops last week for a little treat! I spend so much of my time and money buying things for Elijah (who can resist tiny little baby clothes?!) that most of the time I never treat myself to anything. Sometimes a new nail polish, lipstick, necklace or bubble bath is all that is needed to feel like you are a proper human being again instead of just a new mama!

So I paid Lush a little visit last week, as I was in desperate need for a new moisturiser and body lotion and Lush is always the place I head to when new skin care is needed. I feel like my skin is more dry than normal at the moment (bye bye amazing pregnancy hormones) and with the sun and heat, I wanted something that would really hydrate and nourish my skin.

First up is Sympathy For The Skin. First off, the smell of this thick creamy lotion is gorgeous. It's made from cocoa butter and bananas and is super nourishing for the skin. It also has the likes of almond oil, lemon oil, sandalwood oil and glycerine. Although it is a thick cream, the gel like consistency of the mashed up organic bananas makes it very good at sinking into the skin. This leaves my whole body feeling silky soft and I love it!

Next is Imperialis, a delightful face moisturiser. With elderflower, lavender, St. John's wort, sweet violet, organic extra virgin olive oil...to name a few mega ingredients, this moisturiser is a dream to apply to a dehydrated face. This is a really light cream (despite being made of cocoa butter) and is great for combination skin. Again, it's super lightweight which makes it melt into the skin.

Finally I picked up a bottle of Eau Roma Water - a fresh smelling toner. This is great to carry around in your bag and spritz onto your face for an instant refresher, or you can spray it onto cotton wool and use it as a toner to remove any last traces of make up. That's mainly how I use it. It's basically made from lavender water and rose water, which makes it wonderfully simple and ideal for any skin type. I find it helps calm my skin if I've suffered from a break out, but it also makes it feel squeaky clean and very toned.

So those are my new fave picks from Lush. Have you tried any of them out before? Enjoy x

Flowers, Flowers Everywhere

So I wrote about my new obsession with floral crowns a while ago, and as the summer has continued, my love has only grown!

They are the perfect way to create a unique and fun look and, in my opinion, can be worn with your everyday clothes or used to accessorise a pretty dress for a special occasion - I'm going to be rocking one for two of my best friend's wedding in a couple of weeks.

I thought I would treat myself to a crown or two, as I'm not buying clothes just yet...waiting for pre baby figure to be back on track, and these look great no matter if you've lost the baby weight yet or not ;o)

As the popularity of these decorative headbands grow, more and more shops on the high street are doing their own styles. I've picked up three - two from Primark and one from Topshop.

From left to right: Primark, Topshop, Primark

 The first two I found in Primark. I happened to find them by total fluke while looking for a neon necklace, and these two crowns were hidden way at the back behind some weird hair turbans.

Primark £3.50

Primark £3.50

For £3.50 I don't think you can go to far wrong with these really! They are really comfy to wear and the pink and white one in particular is so sweet and is perfect for the summer months.

The third crown I got this week at Topshop. I saw it a while ago and loved it, but at £20 I wanted to wait and see if I still loved it a couple of weeks later. Well, I couldn't stop thinking about it and knew it would be great to wear with the dress I had in mind for my friend's wedding, so I popped back to Toppers this week and treated myself to it.

Topshop £20

The flowers are so beautifully made and really sturdy, plus the rich colour makes it ideal for taking you through summer into autumn - where I can imaging wearing it with a black biker jacket, boots and chunky knitwear.

So there you go. What do you think of the floral crown craze? Have you bought into it? Enjoy x

I'm Still Here!

Hi there,

I'm alive!!

I am so ridiculously sorry that I have not published a blog post in over 3 weeks! My only excuse is that my little man is demanding a lot of attention, I am so tired and am hitting the exercise routine and diet hard (hello weight watchers) to get myself into proper yummy mummy mode so that when the AW13 collections hit the high streets, I'll be able to treat myself to a whole new look :)

I haven't been buying any clothes recently because I want to get back to my pre-baby weight first...well, actually, I'd ideally like to get back to the weight I was on my wedding day (every girl's dream!) and with starting weight watchers and doing zumba and buggy fit twice a week, plus lugging his lordship down, I'm slowly getting there.

I've been treating myself to a lot more beauty products recently, especially face and body products, as I'm finding my skin a lot dryer at the moment, so I will be posting a review of some bits I picked up from LUSH very soon.

In the mean time, please don't give up on me! Normal blogging will resume I promise and I look forward to sharing more of my fashion and beauty thoughts with you soon.

If you fancy some more of my writing, here is a link to my latest fashion feature in Pulse magazine.

Thanks for still following and see you VERY soon! x