My Joules Baby Christmas Picks!

When Joules asked me if I wanted to try some of their baby boy selection I was pretty excited! From my experience Joules clothes, whilst a little pricier, are gorgeous and so well designed and made.

They have some adorable festive pieces in the collection at the moment which would be great for Christmas gifting - I for one would be thrilled to receive them for Archer!

I picked a few pieces to try for Archer - firstly the adorable Cream Babypolar Character shirt (£14.95)*. I love the cute little flappy tartan ears on him! Anything with a face amuses Archer, so hopefully this will entice a giggle from him too.

Secondly is possibly the favourite piece of clothing I've ever got him. This little 'I Still Live With My Parents' two piece (£29.95)* is simply ADORABLE. It's a little big for him at the moment (as is most of the stuff, he's a tiny 18 month old!) but I can't wait to get him in this.

Finally, I picked more of an 'essential' item which would make a great gift for Christmas. The gorgeous 'Babygeorge' gilet  (£29.95)* which looks so cosy - I wouldn't mind having one for myself! It's a great piece because it will keep your little one cosy but still allowing them freedom to explore with their arms without stuffing them into a big coat. 

Do you have any other recommendations for toddler clothes this Christmas? 

xxx

Products marked with * are gifted PR samples, please read my disclaimer for more information

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One Hour A Day Challenge

I'm setting myself a little challenge. Over the past few weeks I've let my degree take up a lot of my time and I've been letting Electric Suede fall behind, because I feel like my time is better spent studying. This might not seem like a problem, it's better than me putting all my time into my blog and none into my degree! But it's something that has been niggly away at me, because I really do want to make more time for my blog.

What put the wheels in motion, however, was when I was offered a part time job. I would make barely any money after nursery fees but was still considering losing an extra 16 hrs a week to a job, and if I could afford to lose that much time away from my studies it might as well be on something I love.

So I've decided that I will attempt to dedicate just 1 hour a day to Electric Suede. Whether that's writing a post, replying to comments, scheduling posts, taking photographs or whatever other admin-y tasks come along with it. This way I will hopefully not fall behind too far, and hey if I want to carry on after an hour, then that's fine too!

I'll check in soon to let you know how I get on, and if you have any tips for blog time management then PLEASE let me know! I really suck sometimes.

xxx

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Keeping Warm with TargetDry!

I was recently lucky enough to be asked to trial a coat from Irish outdoors company Target Dry. I was pretty excited about this as I'm ALWAYS freezing and was after a 'proper' coat to try and keep a bit of extra warmth in.

Now this isn't a glamourous or fashionable piece, obviously, but it's totally practical and perfect for people who have to walk their commutes (like me) or take little people or animals out a lot (also like me).

The coat I chose was the Apollo Waterproof Xtreme coat* (£89.99), which I think may have had a new version released over the last few weeks.

The coat is highly waterproof, highly breathable and highly windproof. I've put it to the test over the past few weeks against the Welsh winds and rains and can say that it certainly lives up to these claims!

I also love the big roomy pockets, the hidden hood and the adjustable hems for keeping all the warmth in!

I would say that the sizes come up a little bigger than I thought - but I'm fine with a bit of extra room because it means I can layer a big comfy hoodie underneath for when the weather really drops!

I love this coat and I'm certainly getting plenty of wear out of it. Unfortunately I asked Mr. Electric Suede to take a few photos of me out and about in it and they were pretty much all rubbish so I apologise for that!

Any extra tips for keeping warm over the next few months would be greatly appreciated!

xxx

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*This post contains gifted PR content - for full details please read my disclaimer*

Faking a Winter Glow with Make Up Revolution

I'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to highlighting. As someone with an oily t-zone, I was always a fan of keeping my skin as matte as possible, regardless of how half-dead I looked as a result. Over the past year or so though, I have built up a decent collection of highlighters and have come to use them on a daily basis to add a bit more glow to my face (and disguise the sleep-deprived parent look that I'm usually rocking...)

Make Up Revolution have some great highlight offerings which I thought I would share with you today, if you're looking for an affordable way to add a little bit of glow to your skin now that the winter is drawing in! 

Radiance Palette Swatches: Left-Right - Breathe, Exhale, Glow

If I was going to suggest a 'must-have', it would be the radiance palette (£8). As you can probably tell I get A LOT of use out of the two highlighting shades, and despite having used this almost every day for a few months I am yet to hit pan.

I haven't tried the hourglass ambient lighting powders, but these are supposedly a dupe for those at a tiny fraction of the price! They are more subtle than regular highlighters and without any chunks of glitter, instead they just add a beautiful sheen to the skin. I use the first shade 'Breathe' around the under eye area and tops of cheek bones and the centre of the forehead then the second shade 'Exhale' to add a little extra glow to the tops of the cheeks and the brow bone. The third shade 'Glow' is a great bronzey shade for the summer months, too!

Left - Goddess of Love, Right - Peach Lights

Two of the separate highlighters Make Up Revolution offer are the Goddess of Love highlight (£4.99) and the 'Peach Lights' baked highlighter (£3) which both offer a light pinky glow - perfect for cool skin tones like mine. The Goddess of Love highlighter comes in gorgeous packaging (very similar to the Too Faced blushes...) and seems to have a little more depth to the colour which doesn't seem to show up in the swatches. Peach Lights is very similar though and a great affordable alternative.

I'm forever being impressed by Make Up Revolution. I'd love to know if you have any recommendations for me to try!

xxx

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Ben Nye Neutral Set Colorless Powder DUPE!

Hello everybody!

Today I have an exciting discovery to share with you all... a dupe of the Ben Nye Neutral Set Colorless Powder! Now this powder normally retails at around £6.50 for a small tub, or £12.50 for the large. It's not really expensive, but it's not a bargain either. It's not the easiest to get hold of, either. Unfortunately... the Dupe is a little bit hard to get your hands on as well... but now that E.L.F. are back online in the UK it can be yours in a few clicks! 

Now as far as E.L.F. goes, their High Definition Powder is actually at the pricier end of the spectrum with the RRP of £7.50, however if you're a savvy shopped like me, you'll know they run promotions all the time, so you can probably pick this up at a fraction of the price if you just wait for a promo code to land in your inbox. 

I love a translucent powder. I'm so pale that I think it's necessary to not make my foundation look patchy and weird. I picked the Ben Nye powder up at IMATS this year, and whilst I seem to have barely made a dent in it with frequent use, I'm still a little scared of using it up. So recently, I started to delve into my make up collection and found the long forgotten E.L.F. powder. I picked it up ages ago when they had their store in Cardiff, but for some reason never got around to giving it a go. 

I'm not into looking super-matte, but rather use these powders to set my undereyes and oily areas. I actually like to apply both, lightly, with a sponge. I feel like this moulds it better with the make up than with a brush and makes your base look a little more seamless. 

The only differences I can tell between these powders is that the E.L.F. one seem to be a little bit more finely milled... more like a bright white dust, than the Ben Nye which resembles more of a flour-y texture (okay, describing powders is weird - they both look a little bit like cocaine too, if that appeals to you). Despite being more finely milled, I think the E.L.F. powder is slightly more visible on the skin, but with good application you should be able to achieve seamless blending. 

OH, and let's not forget the elephant in the room. Ben Nye powders have the most annoying packaging ever. Guys at Ben Nye, can we sort this out please. You end up having to sort of dab a little bit into the lid and end up wasting loads / making a mess... So E.L.F. definitely win on the packaging front!

I'd love to know your translucent powder recommendations!

xxx

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'From House To Home' Part One - Soft Furnishings!

*Sponsored Post*

'From House To Home' is a series which follows my attempt to make our new house more of a 'home' for me and my family. It's a rented house, so everything will be done without making any changes to the house itself. We are working on a budget, as we don't want to spend a huge amount on fixing somewhere up which isn't a permanent home for us, but we still want to make it as comfortable as possible in the meantime. I will feature things we have bought or made, and anything I'm lusting after for the home in the hope of providing you with some inspiration!

There is no easier way to spruce up a home than to spend a few pennies on some new soft furnishings to make it a little more 'you'. For me, this includes bedding, throws, blankets and curtains.

For bedding, nothing beats Ikea for me, and I picked up a few lovely sets of bedding recently, including this 'Alvine Kvist' set for £30, which feels like SUCH high quality and the 'Skorpil' set which was a total bargain as £15 (both for King Size, may I add!)

The 'Alvine Kvist' IKEA Bedding!

As far as throws and blankets are concerned, Primark has been smashing it recently with their home department. They have some really cool blankets in there which are priced around £4-£5 for the mid sized ones and around the £10 for large throws - such bargains! I picked up these few recently...

Now curtains are something we have struggled with. We didn't own any as, to be honest, we had only ever used blinds in our previous places! The house did have a few sets of questionable curtains when we arrived with a purple and floral print which we really did NOT love.. so they had to go immediately. Curtains are pretty pricey, so my first bit of advice would be to measure up and have a look around your local charity shops as I managed to pick up a great set for Archer's bedroom for about £10!

A shorter drape so my little man can't try and pull them off and a total bargain!

Since we have moved, we have our living room window looking straight on to the pavement, so voile curtains are a must to provide some privacy. If you aren't familiar with voile curtains they are basically a second layer of curtain which can dress up your window area. They are usually very sheer, so keeping these shut will allow plenty of daylight in, whilst giving you a little bit of privacy. There are many places you can buy voile curtains, such as Ikea or Dunelm, but if you're after a really wide selection at affordable prices then Yorkshire Linen's voile curtains are your best bet. If you have a house like mine where all your curtains length requirements are different then they also have a wide variety of sizes, so you're bound to find something suitable!

Have you seen anything more adorable than these star embellished voile curtain?!

I'd love to know if you all have any other recommendations for great places to buy soft furnishings!

xxx

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