Everything's Peachy

A few weeks ago, I had a very special couple of visitors, my oldest friends, the gorgeous twins Rocsana and Negar. They moved to LA back when we were about 14 years old, and as we've been the best of friends since we were 6, we've managed to stay in touch and remain as close if not even closer over the years. They swung by London town to meet their honorary nephew, Elijah!

They are the most generous girls imaginable, and as well as bringing Eli a whole heap of gorgeous new clothes, I had asked if they would pick up a candle from Bath and Bodyworks, a shop we used to have here, but alas, no more, which I had heard a lot of good things about. Well, being the super generous gals that they are, they bought 4 of the candles for me!! I am a huge scented candle fan, I always have one or two burning in the house and I couldn't wait to add this to my collection.

They smell utterly divine. A beautiful blend of peaches and cream, which makes the whole house smell delectable...kind of like you have a peach pie baking in the oven. People enter the house and immediately start sniffing the air and asking, "what's cooking?"

Now, sadly you can't get this candle in the UK (sniff sniff) but luckily I have 4 to keep me going. All I can say is if you have friends or family in the States, get they to pick one of these up for you. You'll fall in love with the delicious sweet smell and want to have it burning 24/7!

Are you a fan of scented candles? Which ones are your favourites? Enjoy x

The Perfect Natural Glow

After reading so much blog love about Palmer's Cocoa Butter Natural Glow Body Lotion, I decided that I had to try it out for myself.

For just a smidge under £4, you get an awful lot of product for your buck. I've used Palmer's Cocoa Butter for years. It's such an affordable and yummy smelling product, which leaves your skin super soft and well nourished. I used it on my baby bump when I was pregnant and it left it really smooth and soft.

So when I read about the Natural Glow version of the lotion, I wanted to put it to the test against my Snow White skin.

Apart from that slight biscuity smell, which you tend to get with most self tanning products, this lotion is AMAZING! It goes on beautifully and sinks into the skin so well and after just two applications, I had already developed a gorgeous natural looking tan, with lovely soft skin as an added bonus! Result. The instructions say to apply once a day or as required, but I found once a day to be perfect.

Make sure you wash your hands really well after applying though so you don't get those tell tale orange bits between your fingers! 

I would definitely recommend this product, it does exactly what it says on the bottle and with the added benefit of it being cocoa butter, it does wonders to the skin tone.

Have you tried this out before? Would you recommend it? Enjoy x

After one application, the self tan is already starting to take effect

Royal Baby Mania!

capturing the moment they emerged!

Well how could I not do a post about the newest member of the Royal Family?

With all of the press releases I've been receiving, which have all been given a Royal baby twist, I have found myself well and truly swept up with the mania of it all.

I am actually a bit of a Kate and Wills fan. They're just so lovely and normal and Kate is so blooming gorgeous and nice, you can't really help but fall in love with her. I loved the fact that we were preggers at the same time and was so excited when the news broke that she had finally given birth to a baby boy.

With my eyes firmly on the TV, I found myself glued to the screen watching a hospital door for the best part of an hour and a half, awaiting the first glimpse of the future King of England. When the proud parents finally emerged with their little bundle, I was so happy to see Kate looking well and glowing and still sporting a baby bump - showing the world that that belly does NOT go down overnight. They looked so happy and although only a tiny glimpse of the baby was shown, he looked just as gorgeous as his mummy.

And the news has just been announced that Kate and Wills have named their little Prince George (that was my bet) Alexander Louis...yay he shares the same middle name as Elijah! Perfectly fitting for a future King of England.

Congrats again Kate and Wills and welcome to the wonderful world of parenthood...let me know if you need any tips ;o)

What do you make of the Royal baby mania? Have you been swept up in it? Enjoy x

Images from Metro.co.uk and India Today

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