Its that time of year again....early Christmas shopping!

I'm one of those annoying people that loves thinking about and planning for Christmas...as early as September! I know, I should be ashamed but I'm not! ;-)

I absolutely detest the queues in stores nearer the festive period. The majority of people shopping for Christmas seem to be on a military style mission, all stressed out and annoyed. At that time I just want to wander around the shops, grab a coffee, enjoy the Christmas music playing in town etc.

A few years ago I started trying to do as much Christmas shopping as possible online. No queues, no stress and instead I can get on with all the enjoyable Christmas parts of preparing for Christmas.
 

MyPure is the perfect place to pick up a variety of gifts. Normally I just get beauty products from them but last month I noticed that they sell candles. Anyone that knows me knows that I am a candle addict. Between candles and oil burners I have every room in the house covered. Can anyone say obsessed? ;-) 

MyPure sells a whole variety of Munio Candela, natural soya wax scented candles. I ordered the marigold flower gift pack and at £15.30 I think it was an absolute bargain! It comes in a beautifully simple cardboard box. In the box there's a candle and wax tarts of various sizes, I love that small detail, because I have oil burners with different sized bowls. You can put the wax tarts in drawers, luggage etc. if you wish but I much prefer to melt the tarts and make the house smell lovely. I intend to pick up some of the cinnamon and clove gift packs for stocking fillers and as thank you gifts for a few people.
 

I also ordered the Eco Tools six piece starter set. I'm a big fan of Eco Tools. They're quite a recent find for me and so I'm building up my collection of them. I tend to have sensitive skin and where other brushes irritate my skin, the Eco Tools brushes are incredibly soft. When I was putting my makeup on this morning using the brushes it dawned on me that this set, at £13.49 would be the perfect gift to pop into each of my friend's Christmas gift bags.
While browsing through the MyPure website I have came up with so many more ideas for friends and family ~ shaving products for my dad, baby products to make up a little gift pack for my friend's soon-to-be-born baby, facial kits for my gran and mum. Have a look for yourself!

Have you started your Christmas shopping yet?
Did you see anything you liked on the MyPure site?
 

Be good to yourself with MyPure

Every so often I go through a week where I feel very unkempt. Its not that I'm doing anything different, its just that everything is the same. Does that make sense? This is normally when I take the opportunity to treat myself to a few pamper products and that solves it!

This time I decided that I needed a new perfume. It didn't need to be fancy, expensive, a well known brand name - it just needed to smell nice. It needed to be something different to what I normally wear. I decided to order Acorelle's White Orchid from MyPure. It actually calls itself an anti-stress spray. This made me laugh - I work with kids for a living, I'm mum to one very active little boy and so a bit of "anti-stress" is exactly what I need in my life sometimes! It didn't do anything for my stress levels unfortunately but it smells lovely. Quite a sweet fragrance but very fresh too. Unfortunately I didn't find that it had very long staying power. To solve this I layered up the fragrance by using the body lotion beforehand and that did the job. It was originally £19.99 but its selling for £9.99 at the moment so grab yourself a wee bargain. It would make a lovely stocking filler for those that like to start their Christmas shopping early.
 

When I think of pampering I always think of a face mask so that was my next purchase. I opted for the Trilogy Mineral Radiance Mask. At £19.99 I was thinking that it was a bit pricey but I'll be buying it again. A lot of clay face masks dry my skin out but this one surprisingly seemed to nourish it. I'm putting that down to the rosehip and evening primrose.
 

Remember, MyPure pride themselves on selling natural, organic products, so this isn't scented with nasties. I don't mind the scent at all (I quite liked it!) but my mum wasn't a fan when I tried it on her. Oh, and a big bonus for me was that I didn't have to scrub my skin to remove it. It came off really easily, I've been able to use it before starting work and I don't have to worry about people seeing me with a bright red face.

Have you tried either of these products?
What did you think of them?

Its all about the slime!

I've worked in childcare and early childhood education for years. Discovery/messy play has always been one of my favourite areas. Every activity you do with a child is an opportunity for learning but I find that a messy child is ultimately a very happy child.
One of my favourite things to make is slime. My son was introduced to it recently and he absolutely loved it. He sat for an hour and a half squishing it, pulling it, rolling it, dropping it and giggling at the plop it made.
Anyway, enough waffling from me. I just thought I'd pop the "recipe" up here for anyone that would like to give it a go with their little ones. :-)

There are no precise measurements in this. Its just always worked.

What you will need:
2 separate cups of water
Borax powder
White PVA glue
Food colouring
A bowl
Spoon

1. Put a spoonful of Borax into one of the cups of water and stir (no specific measurement, I just chuck a teaspoon of the stuff in).
2. Pour an inch of PVA glue into the bowl and add 3 tablespoons of plain water and stir.
3. Add a few drops of food colouring to your glue mix and stir until combined.
4. Add a teaspoonful of the Borax mixture to the glue mix and stir it until it starts to come together.
5. It will reach a point where it will look like its not going to work but keep going! At this point I like to get my hands in and mix.
Note: If you really do think "there's no way this is working" then go ahead and add another spoonful of the Borax solution.

That's it folks! Let me know if any of you try it.

What's your favourite messy activity to do with the kids?

Trilogy Refresh and Shine - Shampoo and Conditioner

I recently received Trilogy Refresh and Shine shampoo and conditioner from MyPure. They’re a store online that sell organic skincare and their range of products go from one end of the spectrum to the other. If you want organic, natural beauty products you’ll find them all here. 

The Trilogy Refresh And Shine shampoo claims to do a few things but the one thing I was most interested in is that it claims to rinse away product build up. Yes please! I use a lot of products: leave in conditioner, dry hair shampoo, hair spray, the list goes on! I try to be but I’m not very kind to my hair.

I’m sad to say that I didn’t particularly love this shampoo. It cleaned my hair but I had to wash it twice before it felt as clean as it normally would with other shampoo brands. It also didn’t lather that much. I know the lather isn’t important but once I rubbed the shampoo in I felt like I was just massaging wet hair. I guess the lather makes me feel like I’m actually working with something and I felt that missing. It sells for £12.50.

The Trilogy Refresh And Shine conditioner was a big hit though! A very well invested £12.50! It smells absolutely amazing, like sherbet almost. Really nice. My detangling comb just slid through my hair after using it which is a big plus in my book! It also gave my hair an amazing shine that I can normally only achieve after just getting my hair dyed. Strange, I know! The conditioner is also very light, it doesn’t weigh down my hair. It is so great that it makes me even more frustrated that the shampoo isn’t quite on the same level. It’s a shame really.

Have you tried any of the Trilogy hair products?
What did you think?

The Blogger's Snail Mail

The lovely Gemma over at Lipsticks And Lashes regularly organises a blogger's snail mail exchange. Its a lovely way to meet someone new and its nice to receive something in the post that isn't advertising spam or bills.

This is my second time taking part in the exchange and this time I got paired with the lovely Steph from Stephanie Jayne. She's a mum-to-be so getting to know her brought back a lot of memories of my pregnancy and the anticipation of the new arrival.

There are just a few "rules" for the exchange:
- You send a gift to the value of £5, no more.
- You write a letter telling your person everything that you've learned about them.
- You send some positive, uplifting words.

Simple! :-)

Steph had mentioned that she was starting to get a wee collection of clothes together for her little lady. I immediately decided that the best thing I could send her would be an outfit for her little one. It was lovely to go shopping for it because I'm so used to shopping for my little boy. I can't wait to see her wee lassie wearing the outfit when she finally joins us. :-)

Steph was very thoughtful when it came to putting my gift together. She popped in chocolate (which my and my wee lad broke into straight away as you can see in the photo), a bath bomb, a wee candle and some face masks.

Last night I put O to bed and I ran myself a gorgeous bath, put one of the face masks on, lit the candle, grabbed a glass of wine and soaked for a good hour. Its the first time in ages that I set some time aside for me so it was very much appreciated. I of course have the evenings to relax when O goes to bed but I normally use that time to clean the house for the following day, complete some paperwork etc. It was lovely to just switch off and do absolutely nothing.

Thanks again Steph and thank you to Gemma for organising it all.

I look forward to the next swap.

A bit of appreciation for some of you lovely folk. :-)

The title says it all really! The people mentioned below have blogs that I enjoy reading but I think the people behind them are pretty great too. :-)

Bex at I Always Believed In Futures and Crystal at Crystal Says
When I first started my blog I hadn't a clue what I was doing! I had been reading blogs on and off for a few years and felt like I wanted a "go". I reached out to Bex and Crystal on Twitter and both were so friendly and generous with their time. I occasionally catch up with Crystal still and she's one of my favourite Twitter people. She just has this generous nature and wants to help however she can. Plus, she lives in NYC so I get jealous regularly! ;-)

Carol at Flitty Chick Fancies
I met Carol through a beauty swap a few months ago. They couldn't have paired me with a nicer lassie and her blog is always one of the first I catch up with when I get a spare 5 minutes. I'm really enjoying getting to know her and hope to catch a coffee with her one day if I ever find myself in/near Cork.

Michelle at Thou Shalt Not Covet
Michelle's blog is choc full of so many beauty products that I lust after, plus her Twitter feed regularly makes me laugh. Big thumbs up. :-)

Amanda at Amanda Niescior
I got to know Amanda a wee bit when she did my blog design (which I still love, months later). She's a young'un but has such a mature head on her shoulders. Super friendly, super happy and a funny wee lass. :-)

Leighanne at Bump And Beyond
I first "met" Leighanne when her wee baby Darcy was still cooking. :-) Now I love hearing how Darcy is doing and I especially love reading Leighanne's fashion posts. They give me plenty of ideas for my next shopping spree, too many ideas!

Shay at Two Tiny Terrors
Shay is just the sweetest. I love her Growing Your Own and Kids Crafts And Activities posts. I've worked in daycare for more years than I care to mention but its always good to check in with others for new ideas or ways to refresh old ideas.

Lindsay at Newcastle Family Life
I love reading her blog but I'm currently enjoying all the bumpy pics. I miss my bump! Also, on a personal level I feel like that she gets where I currently am to an extent as she was a single mum herself at one point. At some point I'd love to sit down and have a chat with her about it.

Keeley at Dragging Online
Keeley is an online only drag queen. She describes her blog as an outlet for her creativity. I love her fashion/celebrity posts and she has a certain wit that makes me chuckle as I read them. Definitely what you need at the end of a long day.

Tanya at Polka Dots And Cups Of Tea
Tanya has a beauty/parenting blog like myself so I get a good "fix" when I catch up on her posts. She'll often write a post about her children whatever the topic might be and it always strikes a chord with me, I "get" it. Don't tell her but I secretly read to see if Emma has written any more posts. ;-)

There are lots of you but these are the people that come to mind as I'm writing this post. Thanks for the blog posts, the inspiration, your time, your kind words, ta for all of it.

Empties No.4

Another empties post! I enjoy these when I'm having a bit of a mental block. :-)

Avon Tahitian Holiday Body Mist (£3.60 from the Avon site)
I know its Avon and you either love or hate their products. I love this body mist. I have an obsession with all things coconut scented and this smells just like summer to me. Love it! Sometimes I just spritz it around the house when its one of those dreary rainy days. :-)

Neutrogena Spot Stress Control Daily Cleansing Lotion (£2.66 in Superdrug)
I can sometimes have a few blemishes around my period. A friend suggested that I give this a go and its really worked. Sometimes I get no blemishes and if some do appear then they tend disappear just as quickly.

Superdrug's Naturally Radiant Brightening Micro Polish (£4.99 in Superdrug)
It brightens my skin up of a morning. It isn't too harsh or too abrasive - something that I used to actually look for in an exfoliator! I have since learned that its really bad. Shame on me!

Ginger And Co.'s Double Up Creamy Body Wash
These guys are the perfect dupe for Soap and Glory and they just have a more purse pleasing price tag! ;-) It leaves my skin nice and soft and it smells great too.

Have you tried any of these products?
What were your thoughts?