Apart from the first few days after birth, N has never taken a bottle, so when the time came to start introducing food I was a little worried about how well he would take to drinking from a cup. There are lots of different cups for babies and toddlers available these days and we have tried a several of them during our weaning journey; we have two that N currently likes to use and one of those is from the new cute Tommee Tippee Animal Antics Collection.

Tommee Tippee Animal Antics Explora Sporty cup bottle

Tommee Tippee Animal Antics explora sporty cup

tomee tippee explora sporty cup non spill

The Tommee Tippee Animal Antics Collection features fun animal characters each with a special skill, and the new designs are featured across all the different cup types, from transitional cups through to sports bottles. N has a Sporty cup (similar to a sports bottle but without a push up/down spout) and his cup features The Tumblers, a family of balancing ants! You can find out more about The Tumblers and the other 8 characters by visiting the Tommee Tippee website: www.tommeetippee.co.uk/animal-antics. You can also download Animal Antics colouring in sheets!

The Sporty cup has a non-spill valve in the spout which seals automatically when your child stops drinking – you can see the valve in the photo above. Prior to using sporty cups N had soft spout beakers which he was able to get the water out of by pressing the spout down on his tray! With his Tommee Tippee Sporty cup he can only get water out when drinking which is saving me from a lot of cleaning up; also the non-spill valve combined with the large 360ml capacity makes this cup ideal for when we’re out and about.

I love the design of the bottle; the little ants are really sweet and the colours are bright and bold. I like that this one in particular is unisex in its design as I try to stay away from the “blue for boys, pink for girls” stereotype and go for more vibrant shades, although they do have a pink and a blue variation as well. The bottle is the perfect size for N’s little hands as you can see below!

The Tommee Tippee Animal Antics Collection is available at Asda priced £4.49 for the First Transition Cup, and £3.99 for all other cups. They are dishwasher, microwave and steriliser safe and BPA-free.

Which character is your little one’s favourite?

PS. Don’t forget to enter my giveaway – you could win a Betrousse Glitz & Glamour Beauty Box!

Disclosure: I received the Tommee Tippee Animal Antics Sporty cup for free for review, however all thoughts and opinion remain my own.

REVIEW: Tommee Tippee Animal Antics Collection

Which character is your little one’s favourite?

PS. Don’t forget to enter my giveaway – you could win a Betrousse Glitz & Glamour Beauty Box!

Disclosure: I received the Tommee Tippee Animal Antics Sporty cup for free for review, however all thoughts and opinion remain my own.

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A few weeks ago I received some bottles of Naked Brunette Radiance Shampoo and Conditioner to try out on my naturally dark (but currently dip-dyed!) brown hair. I first discovered Naked when I had my baby last year and a friend gave me a few of their baby products to try. I then found out that they had a whole range of lovely products for the face, body and hair as well!

Like all products from the Naked range, the shampoo and conditioner are 97% natural; in case you’re wondering the remaining 3% consisting of things like preservatives to stop the products going off and emulsifying agents to stop them from separating. You won’t find any sulphates, parabens or petrochemicals here. They also use recycled plastic for their bottles and the products are all made in Britain, which just makes me love them even more.

Naked Brunette Radiance Shampoo and Conditioner have been created to care for both natural and coloured brunette tresses, by moisturising and conditioning the hair to leave it shiny and healthy looking. They contain natural, botanical extracts of elderberry, sage and black tea; to be honest I did wonder if my hair was going to be left smelling like a cup of Whittard’s finest when I saw “tea” listed, but this combination has actually created the most incredible smell EVER. I’d like to bottle it up and wear it as a perfume!

A good scent isn’t everything though, of course you want your hair care products to deliver as well as smell nice. Being mostly natural, the shampoo doesn’t lather up as well as you might be used to but that is no indicator of performance, it still cleans the hair really well and rinses away really easily. The conditioner is thick and creamy and washes away with no residue left on the hair. My hair has felt drier since being dip-dyed, however this shampoo and conditioner combination works well to leave my hair feeling soft, tangle-free and ready for styling.

Both the Naked Brunette Radiance Shampoo and Conditioner cost £4.19 each for 250ml and can be found in Boots (online and in selected stores). They’re both currently on special offer in Boots so worth taking a look now!

PS. Don’t forget to enter my giveaway – you could win a Betrousse Glitz & Glamour Beauty Box!

Disclosure: I received the Naked Brunette Radiance Shampoo & Conditioner for free for review, however all thoughts and opinion remain my own.

REVIEW: Naked Brunette Radiance Shampoo & Conditioner

PS. Don’t forget to enter my giveaway – you could win a Betrousse Glitz & Glamour Beauty Box!

Disclosure: I received the Naked Brunette Radiance Shampoo & Conditioner for free for review, however all thoughts and opinion remain my own.

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Icons is the theme of the November beauty box from Birchbox, and features five products plus two extras.

♥ Laura Mercier Ambre Vanille Body Butter It was mentioned in the October box that there would be another Laura Mercier product this month so I was really excited about finding out what it was. I was secretly hoping it would be make-up, but I’m happy with this gorgeous smelling body butter. (25g)

♥ Weleda Replenishing Oat Shampoo I knew this was going to be in this month’s box after seeing the spoiler, I just can’t resist the temptation of looking! I love Weleda products and hope this shampoo will help my dry ends. (18ml)

♥ Spa Find Sculpted Silhouette Intensive Bust Firming Extract Serum Having spent the last 21 months of my life either pregnant or breastfeeding, it’s safe to say this is a product my boobs are looking forward to trying! (6ml)

♥ Chella Higlighter Pencil This is one of the things I love about beauty boxes: discovering new brands. I’ve not heard of Chella before but this looks like a good shade highlighter and I like the chunky pencil style. (1.4g)

♥ English Laundry Perfume This is a really light perfume with notes of quince, jasmine and musk. (2ml)

♥ Pukka Herbs Teas I got a sachet each of Three Cinnamon, Earl Grey and Elderberry & Echinacea. The teas are a ‘lifestyle extra’.

♥ Birchbox Pencil Sharpener Always handy to have! This is a ‘beauty extra’.

I think I was a little spoilt by last month’s box as I’m not blown away this month; I’m happy with my box it just hasn’t got the “wow” factor that last month had!

If you like the look of the Birchbox beauty box and want to sign up, please feel free to use my referral link: http://birchbox.co.uk/?raf=674. The box costs £10 per month plus p+p.

Let me know your thoughts!

♥ Bloglovin’ ♥ Twitter ♥ Instagram ♥ Facebook ♥

PS. Don’t forget to enter my giveaway – you could win a Betrousse Glitz & Glamour Beauty Box!

Birchbox – November Beauty Box

Icons is the theme of the November beauty box from Birchbox, and features five products plus two extras.

♥ English Laundry Perfume This is a really light perfume with notes of quince, jasmine and musk. (2ml)

♥ Pukka Herbs Teas I got a sachet each of Three Cinnamon, Earl Grey and Elderberry & Echinacea. The teas are a ‘lifestyle extra’.

♥ Birchbox Pencil Sharpener Always handy to have! This is a ‘beauty extra’.

I think I was a little spoilt by last month’s box as I’m not blown away this month; I’m happy with my box it just hasn’t got the “wow” factor that last month had!

If you like the look of the Birchbox beauty box and want to sign up, please feel free to use my referral link: http://birchbox.co.uk/?raf=674. The box costs £10 per month plus p+p.

Let me know your thoughts!

♥ Bloglovin’ ♥ Twitter ♥ Instagram ♥ Facebook ♥

PS. Don’t forget to enter my giveaway – you could win a Betrousse Glitz & Glamour Beauty Box!

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Baby N has been giving gNappies a whirl over the past week or so; I’d heard of them before but despite being a “cloth bum mum” I couldn’t get my head around how they worked so I stuck with the other brands I already knew and trusted. I’m so glad we got the chance to try them out because we love them!

gNappies are a two-part cloth nappy: there are reusable cloth nappy covers called gPants, these have a little waterproof pouch inside which hold your choice of reusable or biodegradable disposable inserts. There are loads of different prints in the range currently, including the awesome Grand Tartan print (below left) and gVeggie (below right) print. The sizes range from Newborn to X-Large (6lbs to 34lbs+).

The disposable inserts are biodegradable so can be popped into your compost heap - only the wet ones though, not the dirty ones! We’ve been using the reusable cloth inserts, called gCloths. They have two layers of polyester microfleece and two layers of hemp/cotton. The microfleece is fast-wicking and draws the moisture away from the skin quickly through to the super-absorbent hemp/cotton layers.

Now that Baby N is so much older and more aware of everything he is curious about everything around him. gNappies are different in that they go on “backwards”; the tabs are done up on the back rather than the front so little hands can’t undo them. The velcro on gNappies is also incredibly sticky so even mini Houdinis will have a hard time getting them undone!

The waterproof removable pouch within the gPant forms a seal against your baby’s skin and stops any moisture leaking out. It took us a few attempts to get this part right as I stupidly decided to forgo reading the instructions which tell you to make sure the trim of the pouch sits in baby’s leg crease, just like how you and I wear underwear! Once I realised this, we were all good. Having this pouch also makes gNappies one of the best nappies - out of all the cloth and disposable nappies I have tried - when it comes to containing poo explosions.

We change nappies roughly every two hours and that has been the same with gNappies. You can get a bit longer using the disposable inserts, although personally I would still change every two hours as I don’t think it’s great for their skin to be left any longer! Washing is super easy, simply wash at 30 or 40 degrees and then line dry. As the pant and the inserts are so slim, everything dries really quickly which is great.

I tried to get some action shots of Baby N in his

gJoy Christmas gNappy but he is so fast at crawling off it was almost impossible!

I’ve been very impressed with our gNappy experience; they are so slim, almost as slim as disposable nappies, so I was a little worried about how absorbent they would be. We had a couple of leaks to begin with until I realised I was doing it wrong but since then I simply can’t fault them. They fit really well, the material is super soft and stretchy and they’re really slim. They’re very absorbent as they are, but being so slim means I can easily put an extra insert in if I know N is ready for a long nap. Using gNappies with the disposable inserts would be ideal for if we go on holiday!

We’ll definitely be looking out for more gNappy prints to add to our collection, I’m looking forward to seeing what this year’s Christmas print looks like! gPants start at £14.95 with packs of inserts starting at £7.95, and can be purchased from the gNappies website, Ocado and various nappy retailers.

Disclosure: I received the gNappy and gCloths for free for review, however all thoughts and opinion remain my own.

REVIEW: gNappies

I tried to get some action shots of Baby N in his

gJoy Christmas gNappy but he is so fast at crawling off it was almost impossible!

Disclosure: I received the gNappy and gCloths for free for review, however all thoughts and opinion remain my own.

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I’ve been offline for the best part of a week whilst sorting the final arrangements for Baby N’s first birthday. Yes, my teeny little guy turned one on Monday! I really don’t know where the last year has gone, it still feels like only yesterday that he was born. More on all that to come soon!

I have so many new posts in the pipeline and so many emails to catch up with, but for now, I’ll leave you with a taster of N’s birthday cake. It’s a Heap of Cake by the super talented The Cakey Lady. Eight pieces of gooey brownie, three of them “dressed” as Batman, Spiderman and the Incredible Hulk, and drizzled with white chocolate. This is the smallest of the sizes, the biggest one has a whopping 32 pieces of cake and has other superhero “accessories” too!