Magical Cribs

Aloha Bloggerinos,

Only 6 more days and Matt will be back from Costa Rica (he's been gone since June!!) and I will have help with Baby Glitter and I will be able to do good, informative, fun blog posts. Until then though, it's tired waffle from a worn out Mummy! I salute you Single Mothers- I don't know how you do it! I'm pooped!!

Even though I'm wearier than a sloth on sleeping pills, I hate to leave it so long, so I plumped for a good old weheartit style post.

As you will know, from time to time I hop onto that wonderful little site full of gloriously brilliant images, type a word into the search and gorge on all the eye candy. I'm currently uploading an Updated Nursery Tour video to my YouTube Channel so I aptly typed 'cot' and 'crib' into the search box.

Now, I happen to think Baby Glitter has a super duper bedroom, but these are simply huh-mazing!

Are you ready? Here we go...

I think this last one is my favourite. I would love for Baby Glitter to have a special hide away cubbyhole to read and imagine and fill her head with whimsy. Perhaps I should build her one. Time to get my thinking cap on.

Which is your favourite?

Toodlepip!

xx

Brainstorming

Aloha Bloggerinos,

A bit of a short, pointless post today but I like to keep you informed when I can :)

I've got something a bit exciting coming up, which is all under wraps for the nowness, but I think you will be VERY excitederino!!

I'm going to take my plan-free tomorrow to buy a huuugggeeeee piece of card and have a mammoth brainstorm (hmm apparently you're not allowed to say that anymore because it is supposedly offensive to epileptics- I'm sorry if you are epileptic and offended). I love things like this, I find it really satisfying to put all my thoughts down on paper with colourful pens and just dump it out of my brain!

Perhaps in a years time, when the secret is out and in full swing, I will show you the original brainstorm and we'll all chuckle.

Hmm what else do I have to tell you? Oh yes! Did you know I have a Sprinkle of Glitter Facebook account now? If you search Louise Sprinkleofglitter and request, I shall accept. It was getting really difficult to answer emails quickly and with proper thought, so I thought this would be a good step towards better communication with you all :)

Matt has been gone over three weeks now. He's flown off to Costa Rica to do a World Challenge trip with some of the pupils from his school and isn't back for another week, sigh, I do miss the little fellow.

Well Bloggerions, that's it for this funny little post about nothing in particular!

Toodlepip!

xx

Lou's Reviews :: MAC Haute and Naughty Lash Mascara

Aloha Bloggerinos,

Remember a couple of months back I went to the snazzy MAC Event for the Baftas? Well, whilst I was there they gave us all an AMAZING (seriously, I squealed) goodie bag and this was one of the products in it. The MAC Haute and Naughty Lash Mascara.

I've seen quite a few drugstore dupes of this two wand mascara and was eager to try it and see for myself.

The idea is that if you want day-time yet defined lashes, you can use the pink ended wand, but if you prefer a thicker, fuller look, use the purple glittery end. Simples.

So does it work?

The idea of having a multifunctional product really floats my boat- saves space, money and waste- what's not to like?

The pink end actually does give a smooth, natural look that is still noticeable but not really full on. It's ideal if you are doing a low key fluttery girlie look. A negative for the pink wand though is that it is very flimsy. When I comb it through my lashes it feels like because the wand 'stem' is so thin it kind of bends and that takes a bit of getting used to. Not brilliant if you are in a real hurry.

The glittery end is my favourite by a long shot. It takes plenty of mascara fluid onto the brush, glides through the lashes with ease and gives a really full dramatic effect. (Next time I use it, I shall take pics and update this post! *Slaps wrist for not doing it today*)

This mascara doesn't clump, is easy to remove (saying that, I use Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish which I suspect could remove super glue it's that good) and can withstand a few tears, despite it not being waterproof.

As with quite a few MAC mascaras the actual fluid is very wet, which is great because it goes on well but you have to be careful not to blink too much whilst it sets, otherwise you have that delightful black-mascara-splodges-on-perfectly-applied-eyeshadow look. Does anyone else have that ever? It drives me insane!

All in all, I thought this was good, but not great. Usually, I can't rate MAC products highly enough, but at an rrp of £17.50, I think this is perhaps rather steep for something that isn't woweeamazing. I'll definitely finish the tube and will enjoy using it, but for that price, I wouldn't repurchase. Instead, I would consider one of the drugstore options.

To read the official MAC blurb, click HERE.

What do you think? Is £17.50 worth it?

Toodlepip!

xx

Summer Sparkle

Aloha Bloggerinos,

Since you have had a lot of beauty related posts of late and I have quite a few lined up, I thought I would have a bit of a life post on SprinkleofGlitter today.

With the sunny season in full swing, here is what Baby Glitter and I have been up to:

Alfresco lunches. I must admit, these sound a lot more romantic than they are! Wasp sandwich anyone?

Impromptu naps. Baby Glitter is like a sloth and can sleep anyway, including my friend's bed. She generally only has one snooze a day now and a solids night sleep (someone must be smiling down on me because I can't tell you how much I hated having no sleep!!). I just thought this picture was too cute to leave out. I love it when she sleeps because this is my quiet time to get things done around the house. I'm a firm believer in 'Tidy Home, Tidy Mind'.

Playing with toys. Now that she is three months old, she is really starting to play properly- grabbing, pulling, hitting are all mastered skills and so we can be really interactive with her. I bought the above toys from the Early Learning Centre a while back and she loves watching them wizz about. To be honest, I don't mind it either, haha!

I keep the cubes in her cot so that when she wakes up, she can have a little playtime which seems to go down well. Mostly she just tries to chew the corners, but that's good enough for me!

Can you see the bubbles? I take them on walks to Abington Park (a lovely big park with swings, ponds, a bandstand, a cafe etc) and blow them for her but she hasn't quite fathomed them out yet. We'll get there.

Playing with new makeup. This 72 Colour Palette is from KKCentre which is a fabby little website that sells all the huge eyeshadow palettes which I normally buy from eBay. They are extremely bargainous and ideal if you are starting out your collection. I think I'll have to make a video on this and my other giant palette. Would this float your boat?

And of course, my other baby, Mindycat. Mindy spends most of her time sunbathing on the patio during Summer, so I don't get many fluffy cuddles. The poor dear's getting on a bit nowadays (she's 13) but I really hope she stays in good health for a few years yet.

I've also been spending a lot of my time at Fanx HQ, running the Fanx Facebook Page and making videos for the YouTube Channel. Allssssoooooo, I have been working on a Top Secret project with Zoe (of Zoella- did you see all our videos together?) that is set to be very exciting indeed!! Eeeee!

So as you can see, I'm one busy lady!

What have you been up to this Summer?

Toodlepip!

xx

How To :: Vixen Red Lips

Aloha Bloggerinos,

For many a moon I was scared. Fearful of bright lipsticks and vivid shades that I thought would make me look garish and overbearing. I shied away from reds and magentas and stuck to softer pinks and coral glosses. Until now!

In the last few months I have discovered that in actual fact, the 'Red Lip' look, is a lot easier than I thought, and once I had given it a chance, actually looks very fetching...even if I do say so myself!

I've been wearing ruby red lipstick in a lot of my YouTube Videos and quite a few lovely YouTuberinos have commented saying it looks nice- thanking you kindly. I thought I would share my little lip routine with you and maybe help some of you out. I appreciate that some of you Bloggerinos may be very old hat at the vixen red lips, but if, like I once was, you are a tad apprehensive, this might be of use. I took this routine from the makeover I had at the MAC Blogger Even, so I take it on high authority indeed!

Step One

Prime the lips. I use a Boots own brand lipbalm which smells beautiful I might add, and my toothbrush to exfoliate off dead skin cells and encourage blood circulation. I used to use the Lush lip exfoliater but found it a bit messy so gave it a miss. It's quite important to have you lips in good condition (no flakes, well nourished) if you are going to make them such a focal point.

Step Two

Line the lips. I use a MAC lip liner in cherry. It's smooth, creamy and easy to blend- all you want in a lip liner. I tend to colour in my lips as well, just to give the lipstick a bit more base to cling to and hopefully last longer because of it.

Step Three

Apply the lipstick. I use a MAC prowear lipstick in prolong. Apply your lipstick evenly and all the way to the corners of your smile. When you have finished, put your finger in your mouth as if you are licking chocolate off of it and then pull it out, you will see a lipstick on your finger but not on your teeth- woop woop!

Step Four

Gloss yourself (sounds snazzy). Once you have your vixen red lips, apply a think layer of clear gloss to create that shexy vinyl effect. I find it better to gently dab on the gloss rather than heavily 'wipe' it as this can smudge the lipstick.

Step Five

SMILE

And here's one I made earlier. Sorry it's a bit tit-tastic, I wanted you to see the cocktail- it's in a real life carved out pineapple!!! Also, at the time I thought wearing the little brollies in my hair all night was a good idea. Clearly this was the cocktail talking.

Looking a modicum more classy but still struggling to keep those post pregnancy puppies on board. NB- For all of you that will be horrified that I'm drinking and have a young baby- I'm not breastfeeding and she was happily tucked up in bed being looked after by my Husband :)

Lip Tips

Carefully apply a little concealer around the edges of your mouth with a brush, to prevent the lipstick feathering.

Choose a red lipstick with undertones of blue as this will help combat the oh-so-un-sexy yellow teeth look some reds can give you.

If, like mine, your budget doesn't always stretch to MAC, MUA have some rather lovely lipsticks that are creamy and non drying and best of all, only £1!! What a bargain!

Will you be sporting vixen red lips any time soon? What are your top tips? I'd love to know.

Toodlepip!

xx

Zoella's Photishoot with Baby Glitter

Aloha Bloggerinos,

As you may know, the ever beautiful Zoe of Zoella came to stay with me last week for a few days (have you seen our YouTube videos on my channel and Zoe's channel? my videos are a poopy quality because we filmed on my webcam so I could upload them really quickly but I'm now doing all videos in HD- hurrah!). Anyhoo, Zoe came to stay and we had a Hoot I tell you!

Whilst she was here, she very kindly took a few snaps of Baby Glitter with her oh so fancy camera and I LOVE the outcome so much that I want to share them with you. I was a bit unsure that you'd want to see them but I asked in her update (see below post) and the general consensus was 'Yes Please!'.

Your wish is my command.

I love this last one so much that I'm going to get it printed onto a canvass.

Thank You ZoeChummy!!

Toodlepip!

xx

Darcy - 3 Months Old

Aloha Bloggerinos,

I thought it was about time I updated you officially on Baby Glitter's progress, seeing as I mention her so very often.

Wednesday just gone marked her quarter of a year birthday and I celebrated by taking her to a big park near my house, where she promptly fell asleep and missed all the fun! I'm going to try and get some camera footage of us there for my YouTube Channel so you can see her little activities and such. Yay or nay?

It seems crazy to me that 3 months ago she was a brand new teeny tiny little dot (if you can call 9lbs teeny tiny) that could do literally nothing but suck milk, cry and poop, now she can do so much!

Baby Glitter can now:

Do great big cheery smiles when something amuses her. Every morning when I pick her up from her cot, I am greeted with a huge gummy grin and it really is the most wonderful start to my day.

Chuckle. I've only heard her do it 3 or 4 times but it's there. She does a huge open mouth smile, creases up her big blue eyes and makes a deep hearty 'hherrrrhheerrrhheeerrrr' sound.

Grab. You can give her toys and she will hold them and draw them up to her mouth. I have a few of those toys that have plenty of colours and textures on them and she seems to really enjoy squeezing and clasping the crinkly textures the most. She also gets a lot more out of her jungle gym now that she can really use it and bat all the hanging animals.

I'm not sure what her weight it at the moment because we haven't been to Baby Clinic in a while but she feels pretty hefty, we've started calling her 'Pudding Face'.

I'm sure there are more little things that she does but those are the biggies....at least I think they're biggies anyway.

Looking forward to her next update for you! Lots more videos and posts on the way!

Toodlepip!

xx

PS- Do you like these photos? Zoe of Zoella took them, I actually have loads and could put more up if you like but don't wanna go gaga if it's not what you want to see! Let me know! xx

Lou's Reviews :: Bourjois Little Round Pot Intense Eyeshadow

Aloha Bloggerinos,

Pudding Face is in her bouncer, Bride Wars is on in the background, Fluff-face-Mindy is sprawled under the window and I'm tiptapping away on here, what bliss. What I should be doing is cleaning the bathroom and clearing up, ready for Zoe's visit tonight but alas, why do now what you could do later?!

I recently bought 3 of Bourjois latest new releases- the Little Round Pot Intense eyeshadows and thought I would do a quickie review on them.

I don't usually rate the normal Little Round Pots too highly- I have found that a lot of the colours have poor

pigmentation and are rather chalky but as I swatched and mooched about that the Bourjois stand, I was quite surprised. These new Intense Pots really are intense! The formula is easy to blend and the colour pay off is great. I picked up the sparkly buttery shade, the glittery pink shade and a matte black- the black is brilliant! I would even put it above MAC Carbon, and that's saying something!

I have used the 2 glittery colours for an easy wash-of-colour look when I'm in a rush and the black to create a lovely smokey going out look. According the the Bourjois website (which you can find HERE) the shadows are made from 87% mineral pigments- wowee.

I really hope they bring out more vivid colours of these, I would buy more for sure (I'm a poet and I didn't know it!).

I believe these retailed for around the £7 mark, which I think is just about reasonable because you get plenty of product and a cute package with a handy mirror. Pleased.

Have you seen these little treats around? Would you pay £7 for a single 'drugstore' shadow?

Toodlepip!

xx

Baby Glitter's Treat :: Two Little Pixies Headbands

Aloha Bloggerinos,

A little while ago I was kindly sent some lovely headbands for Baby Glitter, from a company called Two Little Pixies.

I have actually made a YouTube video on these which you can find HERE, with Baby Glitter in of course, but I wanted an excuse to blog this picture we took of her in the carseat the other morning. I think the drool just adds to the cuteness! Eeeee! 

If you are interested in these luurrvvvllyy bows, below are links to the facebook fan page and the etsy shop, but my full review is on SprinkleofGlitter's YouTube channel :)

Facebook Fan Page

Etsy Shop

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Toodlepip!

xx