Skincare is something I have always had a love hate battle with when it comes to having a proper routine, often making the quick and lazy choice over something that was actually good for my skin.
These are the bits I keep in my bedroom on my dressing table. Normally I start the day with Clinique face wash. Then I use the nip + fab pads as kind of a second cleanse. I’ve recently started using the sanctuary spa glow radiance toner since my Clinique 3 step one ran out. This has 5% glycolic acid in which I have noticed is making a huge difference to my skin. I then use the oils of life essence lotion. I picked this and also the eye cream up when we went to this morning live back in May after having a chat with the lady on the body shop stand. Adding this step in helps to lock in any other moisture I pop onto my skin after and I have noticed a huge difference since using it. I’m yet to find a nice serum that I like and have noticed a huge difference in, I’ve been eyeing up the one from Beauty Pie but at the moment I’m using this vitamin C one from generation, it’s nice but I’m not sure it’s as nice I would like a serum to be. My moisturiser of choice at the moment is the L’Oréal Hydra Genius. I’ve been really enjoying this and is a massive change from a normal cream and is more of a silky gel. I think this would be something I would repurchase.
I’ve always been quite lucky really when it came to my skin type and have never really suffered with excess dryness, oiliness or breakouts and just had what skincare experts would call “normal” skin.
After having Erin, it seems like I fell victim to what lots of women do, and a crazy rush of hormones made my skin go wahhhhh! And suddenly I went from having a normal skin type to it being very dry! As I was also on the approach to turning 30 I decided it was time to start having a proper look at my skin and trying to figure out actually what the best things to start using were.
I’ll be honest, after bobbing up and down in that bubble of trying to find a proper routine with a small baby and not knowing what to use, I didn’t actually get into properly sorting out where I was until after my 30th birthday. As a treat to myself during the week I had off at the end of March, just before I went back to work full time after maternity leave, I booked myself a facial with the girl who does my brows.
I’ve never really had a proper facial before, Anneli had been doing my brows a while so we started with a good chat about my skin. She told me my skin was dehydrated and explained some type of products which would benefit them, however she said the main thing that would benefit it was a proper routine! So as soon as I got home I started looking at some of the things she said and doing my own research on blogs and websites from such gurus as Caroline Hirons.
I’ve been using a proper routine for a few months now and have been making a special effort to make sure I take my make up off which is something I always fall down on!
These are the bits I keep in my bedroom on my dressing table. Normally I start the day with Clinique face wash. Then I use the nip + fab pads as kind of a second cleanse. I’ve recently started using the sanctuary spa glow radiance toner since my Clinique 3 step one ran out. This has 5% glycolic acid in which I have noticed is making a huge difference to my skin. I then use the oils of life essence lotion. I picked this and also the eye cream up when we went to this morning live back in May after having a chat with the lady on the body shop stand. Adding this step in helps to lock in any other moisture I pop onto my skin after and I have noticed a huge difference since using it. I’m yet to find a nice serum that I like and have noticed a huge difference in, I’ve been eyeing up the one from Beauty Pie but at the moment I’m using this vitamin C one from generation, it’s nice but I’m not sure it’s as nice I would like a serum to be. My moisturiser of choice at the moment is the L’Oréal Hydra Genius. I’ve been really enjoying this and is a massive change from a normal cream and is more of a silky gel. I think this would be something I would repurchase.
Other additions to my skincare routine come in the way of things I tend to use in the bathroom... face wash, make up removers, masks and exfoliators.
In terms of make up removers, I’ve tried my fair share over time. I have decided more recently I love a nice balm cleanser and my 2 go to ones would be the Body shop camomile and the No7 radiant results.
I’m yet to discover a decent mask or exfoliator which I love... I recently purchased the ordinary “vampire mask” although yet to try it but if you have any firm faves in either catagory girl me a shout!
I think that as with anything, there’s so much room for change. I often can’t resist a new product launch but I think I’m finally starting to get into some sort of routine with knowing what works well for my skin and what doesn’t! Fingers crossed anyway!
The say that time flies when your having fun and let me tell you there’s nothing like having a baby to throw this statement into your face! One minute your on the delivery suite waiting to meet your previous baby for the first time and the next she’s turning 18 months old!
As someone with an incredibly close relationship to my own mum, having children of my own, especially the prospect of having a daughter is something I have been excited for, for a long time.
Being a mum is one of the best and most challenging things I have ever done. No matter how many people you chat to beforehand, no one can prepare you for the real highs and lows that being a parent truly brings. The joy of a new word or new thing learnt or hearing them shout mummy at you far outweighs the anguish of not sleeping, feeding dramas and the general bad days that come with raising a tiny human determined to make their own mind up about the world.
At 18 months old, Erin has now developed her own proper cheeky personality! She has a look of pure mischief and cheekiness on her face a good 60% of the time. She is so confident in walking now and her speech is coming on so quickly! I honestly feel like I come home every day to a new word! It’s so amazing watching her learn!
I have to say I am enjoying this age! Not that I haven’t enjoyed it so far but it’s so lovely now she can communicate with us properly! She is absolutely going to be a girl who knows what she wants and goes for it as we can already see this quality in her! She’s also got absolutely no fear and will give anything a go which I hope is something (safety provided of course) that she doesn’t lose!
We recently started swimming lessons after searching for so long to find a class that fitted in with out schedule and I can honestly say I am so happy with the class. It’s early days as Erin has only done 2 lessons but I can always see her confidence blooming!
I’m not going to be one of those people who says having a toddler at this age is perfect, it comes with it’s own challenges of crying because she’s frustrated and not sleeping (thanks 18 month sleep regression you bitch) and the final leg of teething for a while but on the whole as I said before, the good days far outweigh the bad! I mean look at that gorgeous smile!
Both myself and Adam have very fond memories of holidays with haven when we were younger. For years as a child, we spent time working our way round some of the 40 parks haven have - our favourites being Caister on Sea and Ayr but we’ve visited probably about 8 or 9 of the parks. In fact it was at Caister in Sea back in 1999 while on holiday with our families that myself and Adam actually met.. proper childhood sweethearts come holiday romance if you like.
When we had Erin, we decided that rather than going abroad, we would love to do what we did as kids, and work our way around the different parks that around the UK. I’ll be honest, the idea of going abroad while is little makes me twitch with the amount of stuff we would have to take with us plus the worry of keeping them cool, out of the sun too much... I also want Erin to be able to appreciate the places we take to around the world.
What I love about booking with haven is the ease of everything. It’s all done online which means you can browse holidays in your pjs.... and you can easily move and look at the different parks and accommodation options. Depending which park you stay at, you can stay in a caravan, apartments or lodge and when you pop in your choice of park and dates it gives you the different options to chose from along with the price. Another handy option thing I found with haven was the different payment options. You can either pay for your holiday in full when you book, pay a small amount then the final balance on a set date before you go, or you can pay monthly which is the option we chose.
We chose to stay in a Prestige caravan which is one of the higher quality caravans that haven offers (second only to a prestige) which offered a few more home comforts such as a DVD player which we found handy to have during the afternoons when we had a bit of chill time before going out on the evening.
Hafan Y mor itself it situated 4 miles just outside of Pwllheli. The camp itself used to be one of the original Butlins sites (I think) and is split over 2 sides with a small bridge in the middle over a train line. Haven have just spent over £12.5 million on the camp in the last 12 months and you can really tell that they have done a lot of work on it.
In terms of travelling with a little one to haven we could not fault the service at all. Adding things like a high chair and bed guard onto our holiday was easy to do on the online system and both were delivered to our caravan shortly after we arrived. We also had the option of hiring a travel cot but when I looked into booking this, it said you couldn’t put these up in the little bedroom and would have to go up in the lounge area. As our plan had been to put Erin to bed and keep her in as much of a routine as possible we decided to try a bed guard so she could sleep in the bedroom however I spent more time awake worrying the would climb over it on and eventually since Adam found the bed too soft and favourited the lovely corner sofa, she spent the rest of the week in bed with me.
We didn’t use the entertainment much at nighttime only staying out for the tots disco, seaside show and the bingo so I can’t comment on the main entertainment however the bits we did see were really good. They also has some good bits on in the day however you could defiantly tell the end of the season was nearing as there didn’t seem to be as much on as I thought maybe there would be.
We really enjoyed the park. The only thing I could really pick a fault with (if I had to) was I thought the Indoor play area could have been better. We did venture once however it wasn’t really amazing. On a rainy day I’m not sure it would be good enough entertainment for little ones. If you love swimming though the pool is amazing. Defiantly one of the best ones I have been to.
All in all it was a great week. We have already booked to go back to haven next year - this time to Caister on sea where Adam and I met and my mum and dad are coming too! I’m also hanging on for haven to release the flood dates for 2021 breaks so we can book somewhere for then. What can I say? This girl loves Rory the tiger!
When we had Erin, we decided that rather than going abroad, we would love to do what we did as kids, and work our way around the different parks that around the UK. I’ll be honest, the idea of going abroad while is little makes me twitch with the amount of stuff we would have to take with us plus the worry of keeping them cool, out of the sun too much... I also want Erin to be able to appreciate the places we take to around the world.
What I love about booking with haven is the ease of everything. It’s all done online which means you can browse holidays in your pjs.... and you can easily move and look at the different parks and accommodation options. Depending which park you stay at, you can stay in a caravan, apartments or lodge and when you pop in your choice of park and dates it gives you the different options to chose from along with the price. Another handy option thing I found with haven was the different payment options. You can either pay for your holiday in full when you book, pay a small amount then the final balance on a set date before you go, or you can pay monthly which is the option we chose.
We chose to stay in a Prestige caravan which is one of the higher quality caravans that haven offers (second only to a prestige) which offered a few more home comforts such as a DVD player which we found handy to have during the afternoons when we had a bit of chill time before going out on the evening.
Hafan Y mor itself it situated 4 miles just outside of Pwllheli. The camp itself used to be one of the original Butlins sites (I think) and is split over 2 sides with a small bridge in the middle over a train line. Haven have just spent over £12.5 million on the camp in the last 12 months and you can really tell that they have done a lot of work on it.
In terms of travelling with a little one to haven we could not fault the service at all. Adding things like a high chair and bed guard onto our holiday was easy to do on the online system and both were delivered to our caravan shortly after we arrived. We also had the option of hiring a travel cot but when I looked into booking this, it said you couldn’t put these up in the little bedroom and would have to go up in the lounge area. As our plan had been to put Erin to bed and keep her in as much of a routine as possible we decided to try a bed guard so she could sleep in the bedroom however I spent more time awake worrying the would climb over it on and eventually since Adam found the bed too soft and favourited the lovely corner sofa, she spent the rest of the week in bed with me.
We didn’t use the entertainment much at nighttime only staying out for the tots disco, seaside show and the bingo so I can’t comment on the main entertainment however the bits we did see were really good. They also has some good bits on in the day however you could defiantly tell the end of the season was nearing as there didn’t seem to be as much on as I thought maybe there would be.
We really enjoyed the park. The only thing I could really pick a fault with (if I had to) was I thought the Indoor play area could have been better. We did venture once however it wasn’t really amazing. On a rainy day I’m not sure it would be good enough entertainment for little ones. If you love swimming though the pool is amazing. Defiantly one of the best ones I have been to.
All in all it was a great week. We have already booked to go back to haven next year - this time to Caister on sea where Adam and I met and my mum and dad are coming too! I’m also hanging on for haven to release the flood dates for 2021 breaks so we can book somewhere for then. What can I say? This girl loves Rory the tiger!
♥
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