Mummy Mondays - Mothers Day Meme :)

Hi Ladies!

Wow, what a week, I have been down with tonsillitis, then my wee one was not well and my Brother got married yesterday up North!!!

I missed blogging for a week and have lots of posts planned :)

I am sorry this is so late but better late than never...right?

The lovely Karen @ http://365pearlsofwisdom.blogspot.co.uk has tagged me (my first tag ever woop! thanks Karen!) in a meme, which was originally started by More Than A Mum and so here are my answers to her Mothers Day Meme!

Describe motherhood in 3 words:
Amazing, fulfilling, exciting!

Does your experience differ from your mums and how?
OK, to answer this question from the heart I have to share some personal information about my life that I never thought I would share so publicly :)

My dear Mum passed away when I was 4 months pregnant with my daughter. So, for obvious reasons, yes my experience has differed from my Mums. The thought never crossed my mind that she would not be around to see her granddaughter and to experience being a grandmother. It has been emotional (and still is for me) to say the least. I experience many 'I wish' moments. From the simplest I wish Mum was here to push my wee one on the swing and see/hear her squeal with laughter to wishing the 3 of us could be together on special occasions like Mother's Day.

I hope I haven't made anyone teary eyed! Just to end on a happy note I am glad my Mum knew I was preggars and she saw the scan photos and was over the moon knowing that I was going to be a Mummy :)

What's the hardest thing about being a mum?

I think the same as the above really, as it has brought up so many emotions for me that I never thought I would feel from anger to simple desperation.

Oh and sleepless night! My poor eyebags!

How has it changed you?

I feel I am alot more in touch with myself. Before my daughter was born, I worked in the City in London and sometimes it felt like the days would just pass by with the mundane routine. Now, I am more productive and efficient with my time.

The biggest change for me is I feel like I have found my calling in life and feel extremely content.

What do you hope for your children?

I hope my children find true happiness and always remain humble and down to earth.

What do you fear for them?

I think I fear the obvious of harm coming their way. As any mother would say, to see your child unwell or hurt would break their heart.

What makes it all worthwhile?

The smile and mwwwwwah first thing in the morning. The sound of her pitter patter tiny feet. Her calling 'Dadddyyyyy' when she hears the key turn in the lock. Wow, so many things!


So her are 3 ladies who I think are pretty cool and would like to tag on to this meme!

Bubblegarm ://bubblegarm.blogspot.co.uk/

Machick333 http://www.thecurrentlyobsessed.com/

Oxford Jasmine http://oxfordjasmine.blogspot.co.uk/

Looking forward to reading yours :) xx

Update!

Hi Ladies,

I am so sorry I have been AWOL all week but I have been down with the flu/tonsilitis!

I will resume posting from Monday (it is my brothers wedding this weekend!). I have lots of posts coming up as I have been online shopping at 2am whilst unable to sleep!

These will include wedding outfits, lots of product reviews and the odd spot of bling!

Have a fab weekend!

xx

Mother's Day FOTD

Hi Ladies,

As promised here is my Mother's Day FOTD:



Moisturiser: No 7 Protect and Perfect
Concealer: Bobbi Brown Peach Colour Corrector, Bobbi Brown Warm Beige Creamy Concealer
Foundation: Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation in Tawny ( I will be doing a post on the foundations I have been trying out)
Loose Powder: Clinique
Eyebrow Pencil: Dusk by Shavata
Eyeliner: MAC Smoulder
Eyeshadow Primer: Urban Decay
Eyeshadow: Barry M Dazzle Dusts in 100 & 30
Mascara: YSL Black Shocking
Eyeliner: MAC Smoulder on inside rim
Blush: Sleek Pomegranate 923 ad NARS Orgasm
Bronzer: NARS Laguna
Lipstick: MAC Syrup
Lipgloss: NARS Pillow Talk
Highlighter: MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in By Candlelight

I bought a new Sleek blush last week in Pomegranate which I wore above. I am loving their blushes the price is fab and they have a the perfect level of pigment in them.



Apologies for the random guy in the background!

xx

Mummy Monday: Mother's Day

Hi Ladies,

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. Hopefully all of you with bambinos had a lovely Mothering Sunday :) I am dedicating this post to my wee one :) I had a lovely Mother's Day, spending the day with my Hubbie and baby.

My hubbie told me he had an afternoon out planned but didn't tell me exactly where we were going. It turns out it wasn't far from where we live at all. We went for Mother's Day Sunday Lunch to Great Fosters Country House Hotel.

Great Fosters is a historic home set in 50 acres of ground. We had lunch in their 14th century Tithe Barn and it was yum:

A selection of starters:



Nothing like a good old Sunday Roast!:



Divine desserts:





A entertainer was on hand to keep the wee ones happy, my daughter was content to play with her balloon cat :)



The grounds were lovely, I defo recommend coming here in the summer when it is full bloom. There is a lovely maze and also a moat with ducks and swans, After all that eating we defo needed the walk:



Saying bye bye:



I would defo recommend Great Fosters for a special occassion. I think we may go back for Father's Day :)

I am going to post my FOTD and OOTD for Mother's Day now

xx

Lip Gloss!

Evening Ladies,

I hope you had a lovely Saturday :)

We spent the afternoon at Coworth Park in Ascot for my Dad's Birthday. I would defo recommend it, especially when the weather improves. It is set in beautiful grounds and has some extremely yummy food! I had a steak which was simply, melt in your mouth, divine. They also have one of the best Spas in the country...hint hint Hubbie!

Here is a link if you are interested:

http://www.coworthpark.com/


Moving onto lipgloss! I think I am a self-confessed lipgloss addict. I have tried pretty much every brand out there and at the moment my collection easily hits double figures...finger in the air...possible 30!?

I like my lipglosses to be quite pigmented although I love a sheer lipgloss for a no make up look or to add on top of a lippie. Although I have tried the high street lipglosses from Rimmel to L'oreal, I have not found any that I have liked. If you can recommend any please do.

So, I thought I would post my fave lipglosses as I get asked about what I have on a fair bit. These are my top twelve lipglosses which is based upon which of my glosses I wear the most.

My top twelve lipglosses:



From left to right: Mally Liquid Lip Colour in Mally's Look, Estee Lauder Pure Colour in Shocking Pink 42, Smashbox Pink Sugar, Chanel Brilliant Levres 71, NARS Pillow Talk, Dior Addict 256, Lancome Pamplemousse 37, YSL Golden Gloss 11, MAC Lustreglass Love Nectar, MAC Oyster Girl, Bobbi Brown Rose Sugar 3 and Chanel Rouge Allure Laque 707.

As you can see I prefer my nudes and pink tones of lipgloss. I do like the odd darker shade but at heart I am defo a nude or what I could call mid-pink girl.

Nudes:



Pinks/Darker:



This post would be pretty useless without swatches so:



Close up nude swatch:



Close up pink/darker swatch:



After taking the photos I left out I had left out the Chanel! So here you go:



What are your favourite lipglosses? I will post my favourite lipsticks next time :)


xx

Stacking Rings

Hi Ladies,

I bet you are all thinking TGIF!

I wanted to get a post in before the weekend officially commences as I am not sure I will have a chance to post before Sunday.

So...stacking rings...my favourite past time...not! But I do love the different looks you can so easily achieve through stacking rings. I do this all the time.

My favourite stack consists of 2 rings from the QVC Tacori range and a delicate shared prong diamond eternity ring:



A shot further away:



I think the two stimulated ruby rings were a great buy from QVC. I wear them all the time and get many compliments on them. If you wanted to you could easily get away with letting people assume these are the real deal. They are no longer available on the QVC site but they do have this ring which is very similiar:

http://www.qvcuk.com/ukqic/qvcapp.aspx/view.2/app.detail/params.item.602681.cm_scid.KeywordSearch

I also pair the rings with my engagement ring:



I think delicate eternity bands really make a solitaire engagement ring stand out and are a great look :)

Pave and shared prong rings together:



Another eternity band from the QVC diamonique range which is paired with my diamond eternity band from David Morris:



I think the above photos just goes to show how great QVC diamonique is and that you don't have to spend £££ to achieve a sparkly realistic look. You can mix diamonique with your diamonds for a more economical way of having variety with your rings.

Shared prong jewellery (my fave!)



The rings in question:



A close up:



The obligatory sparkle shot!



Hope you all have a sparkly weekend, it is a shame the sun has gone back to hiding from us :(

For those of you with wee uns have a lovely Mother's Day!

xxx

Thank you!

Hi Ladies!

The Beauty & The Bling is a month old tomorrow :) I am really enjoying blogging and so very happy that you are all visiting and leaving comments. I have had 2000 hits in a month so I assume you are enjoying the blog :)

I just wanted to say a big thank you to all of you :)

Please feel free to leave comments if you have any suggestions for future posts or any general questions.

I also have a facebook page at:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Beauty-The-Bling/211025625661521

Here is a sneak peak of my next post on stacking rings...



xx

Sparkly Studs

Evening Ladies,

I am sure you have figured out by now that I have a serious passion for jewellery! I think more than clothes, bags etc jewellery is my favourite purchase.

Since I have had my wee one I mainly find myself wearing studs to avoid any pulling temptation for her!

I bought these Shamballa stud earrings a few months ago and I now wear them all the time. I first bought the clear ones (they are 6mm in size) and was impressed with the quality and sparkle for the price. There are many shops selling these on Amazon, I paid £8 for mine.





A few weeks later I also bought the rose gold colour:



A link where you can find them:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Swarovski-crystal-earrings-Avantgarde-Jewels/dp/B002POPCI4/ref=sr_1_4?s=jewelry&ie=UTF8&qid=1331766711&sr=1-4

I also have a pair of diamond stud earrings which are a classic staple:



Had to get the mandatory sparkle photo in there:



My love of jewellery started young and on my 16th birthday I was extremely lucky to receive small diamond stud earrings from my parents. I have had the studs made into drop earrings now, but I still look to them as my first pair of studs. The centre diamonds in these earrings are my original studs:



Sparkly Sparkly!



I was a bit hesitant to have these made, as I thought my daughter would have a field day with them, but luckily she merely points to them now and again and lets me enjoy my bit of bling in peace!

xx

Spring OOTD

Hi Ladies,

I hope you're having a fab week.

Here is my outfit from the weekend, I wore this with my spring makeup look.

I am loving the trend for coloured jeans! I have the pair pictured in rose pink and also another pair in teal (my fave colours), they are both from MOTO Topshop.

Here is the look I put out:



The top was reduced at good old M&S to £15 from their Limited Collection and the cardie is from their current Indigo collection.

The bag is my Mulberry Small Bayswater Satchel in Birdsnest (this didn't make it to the park in the end!).

A close up of the top:



The top is great for the weather at the mo, as it is made from a slightly thicker material. The best thing is that you don't need to iron it...I am a bit OCD about ironing!

The overall look:



My piece of bling was my diamond Fleur De Lis key pendant:



An overall comfy and pretty casual outfit. Thanks for looking Ladies...I hope the Sun stays with us!

xx

Currently Loving

Hi Ladies,

A quick post on products I am currently enjoying.

In our Dubai hotel room we had products from Penhaligon's. I had never tried their products as I always tend to use shower gels from Molton Brown or L'occitane.

Well, I loved them! We had the shampoo, conditioner and shower gel from the Blenheim range.



The smell is divine. The shampoo and conditioner leave hair incredibly soft and shiny :)

A wee bottle of the shower gel came home with me :)

What are you currently loving? Do share!

xx

Mummy Mondays!

Hi Ladies!

I want to introduce Mummy Mondays! Every Monday I will dedicate a post to being a Mummy, I hope all the Mummies out there will find the posts interesting.

My daughter is now 15 months old but I will try and include posts from newborns all the way to the wee toddlers :) I thought a good area to start off would be decor of the nursery.

We did not know the sex of our baby so kept the colour of the decor in unisex colours. My Hubbie wanted to have a bright and colourful nursery (this also has the added advantage of being very stimulating for young ones).

There is a popular store in Europe called Mamas & Papas. Being the first grandchild both our parents were very enthusiastic and excited :) We were fortunate that they gifted us the nursery furniture and decorations. So without further ado here is my wee ones Gingerbread themed nursery:



The cot (didn't stay this way for long!):



We hung these bouncy toys from the ceiling which she loves!



The book corner (don't think she will be reading the Winne the Pooh box set anytime soon!!)



The blinds:



I love the colour of the blinds and the pearl finishing touches. They were very economical to make as we have small windows.

Close up:



The toy box (now houses my shoes lol!):



I think I was a bit naive when it came to the decor of the nursery. My daughter never slept in the Moses basket, the cot is now in our room and it never stays tidy lol! We have made changes as she has grown and this is how it looks today:



The overall look is incredibly easy to achieve. We didn't change the colour of the original walls but added a border all the way around the middle of the walls. We had the blinds made (much cheaper than curtains) and used toys as the majority of the decor.

A big shout out to everyone who helped us with this nursery as we would not have been able to have this without them.

Wee bit of advice for any expectant parents - lay off the cute toys! I know it is incredibly hard to resist but trust me, you will get a fair few gifted!

Good luck and happy parenting to all the expecting parents out there :) It's a heck of a ride!

xx

Spring Sun FOTD

Hi Ladies,

I felt a spring in my step on Sunday morning! As the sun was out we decided to spend a day out with the wee one in Windsor and I thought I would do a spring make up look.



I have had terrible skin over the last couple of weeks due to a pretty bad allergic reaction, so I have been avoiding wearing makeup, especially foundation. However, as it has calmed down I thought of glamming up a bit!

Here is my FOTD from yesterday starring Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation (wee bit slow off the mark with this foundation, considering it is an oldie).

Moisturiser: Eucerin Rich Moisturiser
Concealer: Bobbi Brown Peach Colour Corrector, Bobbi Brown Warm Beige Creamy Concealer
Foundation: Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation in Tawny ( I will be doing a post on the foundations I have been trying out)
Loose Powder: Clinique
Eyebrow Pencil: Dusk by Shavata
Eyeliner: Rimmel Black Eyeliner
Eyeshadow Primer: Urban Decay
Eyeshadow: MAC Expensive Pink
Mascara: YSL Black Shocking
Eyeliner: MAC Smoulder on inside rim
Blush: MAC Warm Soul and NARS Orgasm
Bronzer: NARS Laguna
Lipstick: MAC Modesty
Lipgloss: Estee Lauder 42 Shocking Pink

This makeup look is very easy to re-create. I haven't used MAC expensive pink eyeshadow in a while and I think it looked great just on its own.



I am loving how the foundation photographs!



Hope you are all enjoying the Spring sunshine :)
xx

Last bling from Dubai...

Hi Ladies,

I thought I would start off Sunday with a nice and easy post ( I am still in bed with my bambino) snoozing beside me.

So here they are my eternity band and diamond bangle...the last pieces from Dubai...I am now officially banned from buying diamond jewellery!

My bangle has a shared prong setting and has diamonds 75% of the way round. The bangles in the shop were full eternity bangles but I knew that the setting for the underside would defo take some knocks and over time probably get damaged due to wear and tear. From memory this is just under 2 carats:



The sparkle:



Modelling shot:



I also bought an eternity ring. I love stacking rings with my engagment ring (mental note for separate post!) and I usually stack a couple of very delicate bands with it. On our first wedding anniversary my Hubbie surprised me on return from a very long work trip with an eternity band! Unfortunately the craftmanship was not up to scratch and a stone fell out fairly quickly :( I had this ring recycled in Dubai into the pear shaped pendant. So, anyway, here is my new eternity ring! It is 1.7 carats:



With my engagement ring:



Finally altogether:



I defo have what I would say a 'classic' diamond wardrobe now...I may post my studs in another post. I never thought I would have this at my age and do feel extremely blessed.

Upcoming posts this week will include the first post for 'Mummy Mondays', I am planning to post about our nursery decor.

Beauty posts with include my foundation testing over the last couple of weeks, John Frieda 3 day straight, L'occitane and my fave lipsticks and lipglosses! Busy week for me! :)

Happy Sunday Ladies!

xx

P.S. If I have time I will do the ring stack post this evening