Pregnancy Update #6: Week 28 Update

The last couple of weeks have been where pregnancy for me, has really started to take its toll on my body. In terms of aches and pains, you name it, I've had it. Backache, sleepless nights, exhaustion- the list goes on.

It's fair to say that with a baby boy growing inside me thats now only 11 weeks away from being due to be born (eek!), aches and pains are inevitable and so in that sense, I feel bad for moaning. But being uncomfortable is a horrible feeling at the best of times and when you can't get into a comfortable position laying down, stood up, sat down or on your hands and knees (yes, really)- it's hard going and throw a few sleepless nights into the mix and it can really get to you. Without getting too "tmi" on you, I thought nine (or ten) months without having a period would be a dream- how wrong was I? I swear I will never complain at that time of the month again.

Baby has changed position massively over the last couple of weeks and as I suspected at the beginning of week 28, he is now head down which means he's getting comfortable with his feet in my ribs and body resting on my pelvis (ouch), getting ready for his big exit. This is amazing and I'm so pleased everything is going as it should be, but it's made it all very real for me and seeing one of his limbs run across my stomach on pretty much a daily basis now, reminds me that very soon, I'm going to have a push a little baby out, which although I feel completely calm and positive about- is a little bit scary all the same!

Knowing that my baby boy will be joining us very soon, be it extremely exciting, has put me in the most stressed and anxious of moods this past week and has been the cause of a fair few hormonal breakdowns and tears. With the nesting period now in full force, getting things ready for his arrival is a daily occurrence and I'm finding myself organising things that don't even need to be touched at the most unpractical times, even in the middle of the night. I want everything to be just perfect for him and if that means sorting through the entire contents of the house and organising press releases by date, then that's what I'm going to continue to do.

My bump has grown a fair bit over the last couple of weeks and it feels so much heavier, especially when I'm stood for too long. I had my 28 Week midwife appointment this week and after being measured for the first time, I was pleased to be told that my uterus is measuring dead on 28 weeks, which is perfect. She seemed pretty shocked at how low he is positioned, but didn't comment on it any further, so I'm guessing that's "normal".

My belly button is pretty flat, which I'm happy with. I'm not sure whether it's going to "pop out", but I'm really hoping it doesn't, as I'm not great with belly buttons at the best of times.

I don't want to speak too soon, but I'm thankfully still stretch mark free, so fingers crossed all round please! I thought  I had noticed one appearing, but it seems to have disappeared today so I'm not sure what that was all about.

The only potential problem so far is that my urine isn't perfectly normal and on being tested has shown up something (not too sure what) twice now. This hasn't caused any concern for the doctors as it's most likely just girl stuff that increases during pregnancy, but it's definitely something that I'm keeping my eye on in terms of any infections appearing.

Taking things a little easier now, I've not really been out buying baby things over the past week, but I did perform a little pram demonstration of my Stokke Scoot over on this weeks vlog, which was of course purely an excuse to get it out and have another push of it around the house.

Now 2 days into Week 29, I'm super excited that in just 4 days we'll be seeing our little boys face at a 4D HD Scan we have booked. I'm incredibly excited and slightly nervous about this, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity of seeing his fingers and toes in real time and can't wait to have a little peek at what it is he's actually getting up to in there whilst he's kicking away. I'll be vlogging our little trip up to Harley Street, so make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel so that you don't miss out.

As always, thank you so much for following my journey and for all of your continuous kind words and congratulations. I've really enjoyed documenting my pregnancy so far and will really miss it once it's over- although not too much, so don't expect a second round any time too soon!

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Two Faced Chocolate Bar Palette

In the look above, I used the shades Milk Chocolate, Créme Brulee, Cherry Cordial, Hazelnut and White Chocolate. 

Too Faced is a brand that I haven't indulged in for a fair while, which is strange seeing as back when I was just getting into make up, I had a huge stash of their stuff. Their lip injection lipgloss (I think that's what it was called anyway), was my first "high end" lip purchase and I can remember swooning over the collection like it was yesterday.

Their most recent eyeshadow release, the Chocolate Bar Palette*, had my attention from the offset and featuring 16 shades covering most bases in terms of finishes, I've not been left disappointed.

I've read mixed reviews on this palette, which mostly falls down to the price, but we'll get to that later. I'm personally really impressed with the shade range and although it carries your regular neutrals, which may I add I love, it has some more varied shades which have had me experimenting more than usual.

Gilded Ganache- a Dark Chocolate Brown with a Yellow Bronze Shimmer running through it- this has photographed with a somewhat Green tone, which is pretty bizarre.

White Chocolate- one of the two larger eyeshadows, this carries a matte pale Beige tone.

Milk Chocolate- one of my personal favourites and great for the crease, this is a medium Brown with a matte finish.

Black Forest Truffle- a Red Brown with a really pretty Bronze shimmer.

Triple Fudge- a matte Dark Brown perfect for a matte smoky eye.

Salted Caramel- a light to medium Brown that has a muted Orange tone and a matte finish.

Marzipan- a frosted, metallic Peachy shade that I personally adore.

Semi-Sweet- a matte medium to dark Brown with a matte finish.

Strawberry Bon Bon- a matte light Pink.

Candied Violet- a darker toned Violet with various tones of shimmer running throughout.

Amaretto- a medium to dark Brown with Red tones and a beautiful frosted finish.

Hazelnut- a medium to dark Golden Bronze with a frosted sheen. I love to run this below the bottom lashes.

Créme Brulee- a delightful rich, dark Gold that applied wet works incredibly well.

Haute Chocolate- a dark Chocolate Brown with ever such a Red toned frosted finish.

Cherry Cordial- a Plum Brown with shimmering fleck inside of the matte base.

Champagne Truffle- the second of the larger eyeshadows, this is a Pink toned White highlight with a Golden sheen.

I'm really pleased with how each and every shade works and find them all beautifully pigmented and easy to work with. They all blend out really well and even with the darker shades, I've never experience too much fall out.

The Chocolate Bar palette is made of 100% Cocoa Powder, which on opening, lets of the most delightful Chocolate scent which in my opinion, with my sweet tooth is never a bad thing, although I can imagine it to be off putting for those that aren't into scented make up.

Costing £45, this palette certainly is on the more expensive side of things, but is it worth it?  I think it can be justified by cost per shadow, coming in around the £2.80 each mark, but if you're just on the market for a decent neturals palette and don't necessarily need all of these shades, then you can probably find as good and a more purse friendly alternative. That being said, I'm really impressed with it and do recommend it if you have a few spare pennies (or pounds).

The Two Faced Chocolate Palette is available to buy now in Debenhams and Sephora and I'd love to know if you're going to be making a purchase.

Right, I'm off to get some Chocolate...

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Urban Decays Heavy Metal Loose Glitter

For those of you that are happy to get a little creative with your make up and enjoy to dab into a spot of glitter, Urban Decays Heavy Metal Loose Glitter* pots may well be your thing.

A little too on the adventurous sides of things for me, these pots of chunky glitter are available in six shades; Pyrotechnics- a White Silver glitter, Catfight- a Pink glitter, Loaded- a Green glitter, Goldmire- a Gold glitter, ACDC- a Purple glitter and Reverb- a Blue glitter. 

Designed to use with Urban Decays Bondage Weightless Make Up Adhesive both alone and on top of make up, there's no getting away from the fact that these will glisten up your look immensely for a jewel encrusted look should that be what you're going for.

I imagine these could get a little bit on the messy side of things, but the sprinkle cap function is there to avoid over spilling and I think they would work best sprinkled into the Gunmetal lid and applied from there.

Available to buy now in Debenhams and House of Fraser, these Heavy Metal Loose Glitter pots are sold individually costing £14 each.

I would love to know if these are your kind of thing and how you would go about using them.

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Estée Lauder Pure Colour Envy Sculpting Lipstick in Potent

Estée Lauders Pure Colour Envy Sculpting Lipstick in the shade Potent* has become one of favourite lipsticks over the past couple of months and I honestly can't get enough of the creamy formula and pretty tone.

A pretty, wearable Pink- Estée Lauders Pure Colour Envy Sculpting Lipsticks offer an incredibly creamy formula that applies like a dream. Formulated for a full coverage, I really like the finish and love how it wears on the lips. Fading away nicely after a fair few hours, Potent is the perfect day time lipstick that sits comfortably and isn't drying in the slightest.

With multi-faceted pigments to create definition, the idea of Estée Lauders Sculpting Lipsticks is that they shape, sculpt and make your lips look more curvaceous which in all honestly, I think they do. My lips certainly appear slightly more plumped when I apply Potent, without physically being plumped at all. 

Homed in a luxury magnetic closing case, I'm a huge fan of these new Estée Lauder lipsticks and will be building up a collection I'm sure. 

Available to buy now at Estée Lauder counters in the likes of Selfridges, John Lewis and Debenhams, Pure Colour Envy Sculpting Lipsticks cost £24 and are available in 21 shades.

I'd love to know if you've tried any of these lipsticks and what your thoughts are on what I think is such a beautiful formula.

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Cloud Nine- The O

Previously to getting my hands on Cloud Nines 'The O' Heated Rollers*, they were a concept that I had been very intrigued by- in fact, I still am. They're pretty magic in how they work and in my opinion, are an amazing hair styling tool.

 A go-to for volume and bounce, I tend to use these when my hair is at its flattest or when I haven't blow dried it properly and need my hair to be styled as quick and as easily as possible and I find they work absolutely brilliantly. I particularly enjoy using the 40mm and 50mm Rollers through my parting and along my hairline and find that after about 20 minutes of having them in, although the longer the better, my hair is quickly transformed. 

I've been using The O for a few months now, but having let my hair get ever so slightly out of control with length, it's only now that I've had some layers put in, that I'm seeing the best results.

Although I've been using them for a while, I'm still not quite sure how The O actually works, but I do know that the system does a brilliant job. 

Each roller is heated in a minimal few seconds, by placing them into the pod where they are individually charged with heat, heating from the core outwards, giving you the 'ready' indication when they're each charged, making them a "burn safe" and time efficient way of styling your hair. 

With three different sized rollers to choose from in the set, there's the opportunity to style your hair in various ways including volumised curls, roots and bounce to suit all different hair lengths, which is fab.

Having tried traditional rollers, various heated rollers and now The O, I'm definitely sold on these and have been recommending the set to so many people, including my friends and family who have been blown away by the results on trying them.

This set is The O Ultimate Set, and comes with:

The O Pod

4 x 30mm The O Rollers

4 x 40mm The O Rollers

4 x 50mm The O Rollers

12 x The O Clips

Amplify Spray

Luxury Black Carry Case

Costing £199.95, it's really great value in comparison to buying The O Pod and Rollers separately and is available to buy on Look Fantastic, HQ Hair and Beauty Bay.

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Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess Summer Collection 2014

If you follow me on Instagram, then you will have seen that I was invited to a rather special lunch in the sun last week, where I was given the opportunity to swoon over this years Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess collection. 

Bronze Goddess is a collection that I look forward to every year and last year, the limited edition and extremely popular fragrance Bronze Goddess Eau Fraiche SkinScent was by far my favourite product of the Summer. 

Consisting of a huge twenty-one products, Bronze Goddess is the perfect Summer collection that for me, will be pretty hard to beat. 

                 EYES:                

NEW Limited Edition Bronze Goddess Eight Color Eyeshadow Palette RRP £40.00

Sumptuous Waterproof Mascara in Black RRP £20.50

Sumptuous Extreme Mascara in Extreme Black RRP £22.00

Sumptuous Extreme Waterproof Mascara in Extreme Black RRP £22.00

CHEEKS:

NEW Limited Edition Bronze Goddess Cheek Glow RRP £25.00

LIPS:

NEW Limited Edition Pure Color LipShine in Mandarine RRP £18.00

NEW Limited Edition Pure Color LipShine in Luscious Plum RRP £18:00

NAILS:

NEW Limited Edition Pure Color Nail Lacquer in Bare RRP £14.50

NEW Limited Edition Pure Color Nail Lacquer in Buffed RRP £14.50

NEW Limited Edition Pure Color Nail Lacquer in Burnished Nude RRP £14.50

NEW Limited Edition Pure Color Nail Lacquer in Lust RRP £14.50

NEW Limited Edition Pure Color Nail Lacquer in Scorpion RRP £14.50

FACE:

Limited Edition Bronze Goddess Luminous Liquid Bronzer RRP £28.00

Bronze Goddess Powder in Light RRP £30.00

Bronze Goddess Powder in Medium RRP £30.00

Bronze Goddess Powder in Medium Deep RRP £30.00

Bronze Goddess Powder in Deep RRP £30.00

FRAGRANCE:

Limited Edition Bronze Goddess Eau Fraiche Skinscent 100 ml RRP £47.00

Limited Edition Bronze Goddess Body Splash 240ml RRP £56.00

Limited Edition Bronze Goddess Shimmering Body Oil Spray 50ml RRP £29.00

Limited Edition Bronze Goddess Whipped Body Crème 200ml RRP £29.00

The Bronze Goddess fragrance collection is an all time favourite of mine and I'm so pleased that the cult favourite Bronze Goddess Eau Fraiche SkinScent* has been re-released for yet another year. With notes of Amber, Coconut Milk, Sandalwood, Vanilla, Mandarin, Orange, Lemon, Jasmine and Lavender, it is the most stunning Summer fragrance and can only be described as smelling like a Summer holiday with cocktails and suntan lotion and it honestly is so incredibly dreamy and well worth stocking up on.

The three new fragrance products that have graced this years collection are the Body Splash*, which comes in the most divine looking of bottles, the Shimmer Body Oil, which offers the fragrance as well as a shimmering and soft effect on the skin and a new favourite of mine, the Whipped Body Creme which smells incredible, lingers beautifully and keeps your skin perfectly moisturised throughout the day.

For nails, Estée Lauder have created five new Pure Color Nail Lacquers* in the most delightful of shades each to suit the amazingly designed bottles. Of course, being the Nude loving girl that I am, Bare immediately caught my eye and I've been wearing it every day for the past week, with a huge amount of love and lots of compliments. I imagine come the Summer time, Buffed, Burnished Nude and Lust are going to be very popular shades, particularly for the toes.

There is only one product needed for Cheeks where Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess is concerned, and this is in the form of a Cheek Glow*. Providing a healthy, sunkissed touch of Coral colour to the cheeks, it's perfectly blendable for a more subtle colour and equally buildable for those who want something a little more dramatic. It's the perfect cream formula for an illuminating Summer product and even without the sun, has already become a go-to for me. 

For Skin, the Bronze Goddess Luminous Liquid Bronzer* will I'm sure, be an extremely popular summertime product. Providing the perfect luminous finish, it works as a natural-looking reflective base that will be dreamy in the sun. Very minimal amount of product is needed and I personally think I'll be using this in extremely small quantities to create a pearlized highlight to my cheekbones for the sunkissed look. 

For those of you that prefer a powder bronzer, the Bronze Goddess Powder Bronzer is here to stay. An all year product, this has been a go-to for me on many occasions since last summer and available in four shades, it has tones to suit all. Packaged in a huge compact and designed in the delightful Bronze Goddess Tortoise Shell design, you can read all about in my post from last year. 

For lips, Estée Lauder have created two new limited edition Pure Colour LipShines that follow the balm, crayon-like trend, that although they apply incredibly sheer at first, offer a buildable finish too, to create more of a bold look. Formulated with Mango and Shea Butter for soft and moisturising results, these are available in two shades, Mandarin and Luscious Plum* and look subtly glossy on the lips, perfect for the beach.

I'm sure you can imagine how much my eyes lit up at the sight of the new Nudes Eyeshadow Palette*, and something tells me I won't be the only one that will find themselves swooning over the 8 Eyeshadow beauty over and over again. Created with 5 matte finish Nudes to enhance the eyes and 3 high-intensity gelee metallics to dramatize, I'm all over this palette and personally find the shade range to be just perfect. I can imagine that some people won't be as impressed by the intensity or colour range of the mattes, but I think they're stunning and such easy to wear "second skin" shades, making them winners in my opinion. The three metallics are just as fabulous and highly pigmented with multidimensional colour, could create the most stunning of looks. 

The palettes double ended brush applicator doesn't wow me as much as other palettes have recently, but I've been told that the sponge tip used wet on the metallic eyeshadows creates an incredible finish. This is something I'll definitely have to put to the test, so watch this space. 

To finish the Bronze Goddess Colour collection and complete the look when it comes to eyes, Estée Lauder have launched their Sumptuous and Sumptuous Extreme Waterproof Mascaras into the collection in two shades and being waterproof, will work with the entire collection perfectly for big bold lashes on summer days out and holidays. 

As I'm sure you can tell, once again, I'm sold on the Estée Lauder Bronze Collection and if you're just as excited as me, you'll be able to get your hands on it at Estée Lauder counters in Debenhams, Selfridges and House of Fraser on May 1st.

See last years posts on Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess Powder Bronzer in Medium here and the delightful Bronze Goddess Eau Fraiche SkinScent here.  

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