I am in awe of the many incredible Mum’s out there, doing a fab job of running their own successful businesses whilst simultaneously holding down the fort at home. I’m fortunate enough to have ‘met’ many of these ladies online and can’t wait to introduce you to some new …
Gosh I was excited to review this new beauty product. Let me tell you, I am the Laziest Lazy Girl there is when it comes to cleansing my face and removing makeup. More often than not I will collapse into bed way later than I …
Oh I love, love, love serums. They are just the best, most magical wee potions ever. If you’ve never used one expect a light, non-greasy formulation that spreads easily and can be worn underneath make-up. These are usually super concentrated and pack a power punch of luscious goodness for your skin.
I headed into the city a couple of weeks ago to visit The Manuka Doctor Concept Store for the first time. Located downtown Auckland, across the street from the Ferry Building, this is definitely a destination for the skincare conscious. I left with a couple of gifted products to review, and a little more knowledge about the use of bee friendly products in the Manuka Doctor Range.
The ApiRefine Radiance Serum RRP $35.95 (30ml)
First impressions – this was so hard to capture but the lovely, refined texture of the serum has the most amaze opalescent hue, totally what you want in a product that claims an “instant illuminating effect”. It goes on like a charm and a little goes a long way which is what you should expect from these concentrated formulas which can be super expensive per ml.
I have been applying this after moisturising every day. On days when I’m heading out I pop my L’Oréal BB cream on over the top, or most days, when I could care less, I’ve been sporting the serum with a naked face and maybe just some mascara. So, back-up. Did you pay attention there? A naked face! This serum delivers. I have pretty uneven skin tone from years of sun damage and the Radiance Serum worked beautifully to counteract the blotchiness. There are so many wonder ingredients in this stuff (Organic Cactus Extract, Purified Bee Venom, Manuka Honey are just some) I don’t know what’s responsible for what, but, my skin feels and looks brighter, hydrated, dewy and younger.
The serum also provided an excellent non-greasy base for make-up application. It felt good to know that there was a product actually doing my skin some good underneath the camouflage layer! Long term I’m definitely planning to continue using this product. I’ve used bee venom based skincare products for years and I’m totally on board with the statements that it’s clinically proven to refine fine lines and wrinkles.
So, I’m impressed. ApiRefine Radiance Serum is a keeper, plus I’m pretty excited to try more products from the three Manuka Doctor ranges; apiclear, apinourish and apirefine.
Welcome to The Mummy Make-up Project! I’m five years shy of 40 and after 20 years of clueless make-up application, 2015 is the year of turning drab to fab. I’m going to find the best skincare and make-up products, share them with you and actually learn how …
I’m so pleased to have joined Munch Cooking this year as one of their Munch Mums! Look out for my reviews and giveaways each month as I introduce you to some awesome {and pretty innovative} products from The Munch Cupboard. Oops. This morning I …
I’m so pleased to have joined Munch Cooking this year as one of their Munch Mums! Look out for my reviews and giveaways each month as I introduce you to some awesome {and pretty innovative} products from The Munch Cupboard.We are big fans of using our frozen dessert maker {a poor-mans Yonanas I found on a daily deals site} to whip up yummy summer treats and I’m also a big fan of anything that makes feeding the babes easier. I decided to combine the two and put the Squish Delish reusable pouches through their paces by serving Nixon his frozen banana and strawberry treat in one – freaking excellent idea if I do say so myself! Independence has taken hold of my now 19 month old ‘baby’ boy but the thought of letting him loose with a bowl and a spoon every time we have an ice cream substitute gives me the heebies. As my day is a never ending cycle of cleaning and wiping as it is, I have no desire to add to the 3 meals a day + snacks mess that we already have rolling. Needless to say I was crossing my fingers that Nixon would enjoy the independence offered by the Squish Delish…….and manage to keep the ‘delish’ inside the pouch.
Home boy loved this arrangement! I found it super easy to fill the pouch and seal it, the double press seals were totally leak-proof plus these pouches are just the perfect size for little hands to grip. Nix wasn’t giving up his faux-ice cream-banana-and-strawberry-treat until he had sucked the very last drop out, which took him about 10 blissful minutes in which I was able to NOT feed him! Hooray, everybody wins!
I made all of Nixon’s baby food and have no idea why I didn’t invest in these awesome little pouches. Washable, reusable, BPA free, freezable, 6 would have been perfect for baby meal-prep.
If you would like the chance to win 3 Squish Delish pouches for your sweet little babe, head over to our FB page to enter, or if you just can’t wait you can buy your own here.
Subscription boxes of all descriptions are huge right now, am I right? Whatever you’re into, be it make-up, jewellery, food, organics, kids toys……..you can part with your cash and get a box of ‘happy mail’ landing on your doorstep once a month. From my experience …
I’m so pleased to have joined Munch Cooking this year as one of their Munch Mums! Look out for my reviews and giveaways each month as I introduce you to some awesome {and pretty innovative} products from The Munch Cupboard. A cookbook for kids is …
SAM the Sleep Trainer has moved into Nixon’s room courtesy of Zazu and I’m quite taken with him to be honest! He’s cute, functional and does what he’s told at bedtime – listen up kiddos lol.
Nix is definitely too young at 16 months to use SAM to his full potential, but we have started closing his eyes at bedtime and nap time (Nix enjoys helping with this), telling him ‘night night’ and noticing that SAM’s eyes are open/awake when we go in after naps or in the morning. Programming SAM to work with our sleep schedule was really easy, with a predetermined wake up time – we have chosen 6.30am with no alarm on so we can talk about Sam’s eyes being open when Nix wakes up and gets out of his cot. During nap time we tell Sam to wake up after 100 minutes, again with no alarm sounding, forever hopeful that Nix will go the full two hours!
When Nixon is old enough to comprehend things like ‘mummy doesn’t drink coffee so you need to stay in bed!’ SAM will help with two different visual cues. At bed time his screen will turn blue, half an hour before wake up time (when SAM will open his eyes) it will turn green meaning, ‘hold on for a bit longer’. Exactly how long is shown by 12 stars that disappear one by one over the remaining 30 minutes.
This clock makes so much sense to me now I have used it and watched Nix get quite fond of the process. I’m pretty certain his familiarity with SAM as a nightlight over the next 6 months or so will help immensely when we get down to the business end of staying in bed untill SAM opens his eyes.
Sleep Trainer SAM runs on battery or AC power and is available from numerous retailers nationwide for $69.99, just Google him!
Nix was recently fortunate enough to be gifted a wee pair of toddler shoes from the range at www.attipas.co.nz. After struggling to settle on a style from the huge number of options I eventually chose a pair from the Marine range – because I’m a HUGE …