Medik8 one of my favourites

As far as advanced skincare goes Medik8 are a great company to start with, good price and great results, this British based company are well known as the green cosmacutical brand, not only are there products great for your skin, but they care about the environment too!

Beta AOX Oil free Antioxidant gel.

This fab serum is designed for problematic skin, and has advance from the original Blue AOX, which was geared at Acne prone and oily skin. classically if you had oily skin antioxidants particularly Vitamin C, can make the skin oily, therefore many people with this skin type avoid this part of the skincare regime and skip onto an oil free moisturiser.

Well Medik8 have done it again with this product, i have been using it for nearly 4 months, and i can honestly say i have had fantastic results, it is so easily absorbed and my face feels very soft to the touch post application, but this isn't what the gel is for, its designed to protect against free radicals and nasties we come across every day, from sun damage to pollution. Other key ingredients like Copper PCA help the skin to repair rejuvenate.

AOX is a super hero in a bottle and a must have for those with  oily/combination skin. its not cheap at £60 a bottle but it is worth every penny! 

If you were to build a house you would start with the foundations, AOX is that foundation and gives you a great platform to work on, follow with moisturiser and SPF 30 and your ready to face the day!

(well that all depends on how much sleep you have had and if your 2 small children think its normal to want to get up at 5am! but il tell you more about eye creams another day)

Beta AOX can be purchased online from:

http://www.effortlessskin.com/p-3198-beta-aox-30ml.aspx

to find your nearest stockist:

http://www.skinbrands.co.uk/stockist/find_stockist.php

This week featuring on the yummy mummy guide

My rubbish weekend!

We had baby sitters for Saturday night and we had a lovely time at the cinema watching the wolf of wall street.  Brilliant film. Then within an hour of getting home I came down with a sickness bug. I feel awful I'm starving and I miss the kids! Big thank you to my other half who looked after me and my amazing mother in law who looked after the children for me. And still is!

So my blog won't be ready as quick this week. Sorry thanks for reading X

What did we learn from our mothers?

As a little girl i loved nothing more then watching my mum put on her make up ( she wasn't quite so keen with wandering hands all over her much loved cosmetics!). But being a loving Mummy she let me, She didn't have big brand make up, but what she had she used well, and people would always comment on how good my mum looked. so what did i learn?

Take off your make up every day -

Artist start with a clean canvas and before applying cosmetics you should think the same. always always always take your make up off before you go to bed ( and when i say take off, i mean properly, not with baby wipes). 

Keep a core collection of essentials -

Despite her questionable collection of eyeshadows, Mum always had a neutral essentials selection for when she wasn't sure what she would be wearing. I tend to stick to this today, I'm not the most daring of cosmetic queens and i tend to get in a bit of a rut with my eyeshadow colours, but i do believe that keeping an essential collection is a good idea.

Put your clothes on after your make up - 

There were too many times when i was a teenager that i would go to leave the house and mum would notice there was make up all over my top, or foundation powder on my trousers, which when you then try and brush off you end up rubbing in more, mum would then attempt to wipe it away with a cloth, it looked fine till the material had dried and then this stain would reappear!.

And finally ...................

Don't let your 4 year old son watch you putting on make up to often! Leo was watching me ready to go on one of my few girls nights out he picked up my powder wiped it on his face and said " this will cover up the red" he then went and showed daddy which you can imagine didn't go down to well. But on the positive he clearly pays attention to what i say! 

What did your Mother teach you ? 

London Beauty Queen: STRESS: How Does It Effect Our Skin & What Can We ...

London Beauty Queen: STRESS: How Does It Effect Our Skin & What Can We ...: Stress can have major implications on the body and is now recognised as the number one proxy killer disease in today's society. (A proxy...

The monk's guide to fasting http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25592458

Can Cosmetics become an obsession?

For centuries, Woman have taken pride in their appearance with various rituals, lotions and potions, fast forward to present day and this is still as much a part of today's culture, but are we becoming to obsessed?

With the increase of social media and cosmetic procedures becoming more accessible, i worry we are becoming obsessed with ourselves and what we look like, i know because i became a victim to this obsession myself.

After having my 2 beautiful children and trying to keep a healthy lifestyle (as much as you can with children) i still had a little pouch on my tummy that was annoying me and i thought i had found the easy solution.

I decided to have some non-invasive fat reduction and skin tightening, The clinic used 3d lipo, which used radio frequency to firm and tighten the skin and ultrasound to break the fat down into liquid which then just passes through your body as normal antioxidants do.
after my first few treatments i did see some results but not as much as i was hoping, but i was still willing to have more after the agreed course (since having the treatment i found out that the machines are not fit for purpose and many clinicians are suing the company due to the safety implications). My clinician has since got rid of hers!

I was willing to spend money on the hope that the next course would work a bit better, and I'm talking about £100's. thankfully i realised i was becoming a vain lady who was more interested in how i looked then who i was! don't get me wrong i like to look good but there is looking good and obsessing about looking good!

I fell into the same vicious circle with advanced skincare facials, thankfully i took a step back and hadn't damaged my skin. Now i am happy with what i have got, i enjoy my treatments (as you know) but i must enjoy them and not feel i have to have them. 

So that's my story, but it scares me to think of how many others are in a worse situation and continually working on their selves, its a sad sad place to be in. just look at the celebrities who have not changed but indeed mutilated their face, and for what most of them have failed careers and are still injecting and tucking to keep up with the "crowd".

What do you think? have you become obsessed with how you look i would love to hear your stories and opinions.

beauty is it only skin deep? 

A little treat for the Yummy Mummy.

Espa little box of calm 

Espa is a popular luxury skincare brand found in many spas all over the world, Espa focus on natural ingredients and you can see why, when you open a bottle of any of their products you just feel yourself melting away, even if its just for a second. This is what the brand is about, working on the inner you as well as the exterior.

i purchased this kit after having a massage at my health club, they suggested i try the restorative oil as i had been fighting off a cold and generally feeling tired, exhausted and running on empty.

The only word i can use to describe this duo is LUSH!

Once the oil melts away, you start to smell the aroma of  sweet orange, rose and lavender, but the lavender is not to over powering, it blends well with the other essential oils. once i had enjoyed my relaxing soak in the bath i opened the bottle of body oil. my previous experiences of some body oils had been heavy and take hours to be absorbed into the skin, a little goes a long way with this beautiful body oil and it soaks into the skin quickly and without leaving a greasy after feel. obviously with my chaotic lifestyle i didn't manage to soak in the bath oil every night, but i did manage to use the oil once sometimes twice daily.

I was impressed to see that my skin tone improved, dry patches vanished, what i most like is the little night time ritual off applying the oil and of course i smelt amazing!

I have now fallen in love with this product so i will need to go and get the full size!

Espa little box of calm is a great gift idea or even better for a little treat for yourself. we all need a bit of me time.

http://www.espaskincare.com/body/bath-and-body-oils/restorative-body-oil

http://www.espaskincare.com

Happy pampering

Amba

London Beauty Queen: LBQ's Top Three: Face Primers

London Beauty Queen: LBQ's Top Three: Face Primers: If you struggle keeping your foundation in place all day, or are susceptible to the 4pm 'face run' that sees our makeup slide all ov...

My weekend

Well this weekend I have mostly been wanting to sleep! Both my children are unwell and have kept myself and partner awake for 2 nights nearly. They appear to be better today (thankfully) as don't think I can cope with much more sleep deprivation and being kicked all night!
As the children were ill we didn't really get up to much, and also the miserable weather didn't help.

This mummy is not looking very yummy but a couple of tricks and ill be back!

Hope you all had a good weekend. And remember it's Monday so they are back to school/nursery and I can finally clean properly and watch a bit of trash on telly , until lunch then time to get children and off to the gym.

Have a good week

Amba

Is it bad to eat your children's christmas chocolate...........

Im not the kind of parent who doesn't allow my children to eat chocolate, and this christmas my children didn't actually get that much, but last night i couldn't help myself...........

After cleaning up the daily toy explosion, i was passing the children's christmas chocolate stash, at first i walked away but suddenly that golden reindeer with a red ribbon and bell around its neck started looking at me, i couldn't help it...........

Within seconds i have devoured the entire reindeer as if i hadn't eaten for a month!!!!!

My question is, was it wrong to eat their chocolate reindeer? and should i replace the the chocolate?

The Yummy Mummy's Christmas 2013

My Christmas was spent with these 2 angels! and i wouldn't have wanted it any other way. well a lie in would have been nice but with those excited little faces on christmas morning who could say no!

Life was hectic as usual this christmas, visiting family and trying to make the most of our time off as a family, so we did just that, bike rides, swimming, days out to keep us all occupied over the wet and miserable festive season, but i still managed to pamper myself a little, with a gel manicure and extraction facial but ill go into more detail on another of my posts about this.

And now after my break I'm back and ready to focus on cosmetics and skincare again, (however i will be giving my children a mention from time to time!).

Bad weather, bad skin?

This rain and wind don't appear to have affected my skin as they did in previous winters this year? even the central heating hasn't made my skin dry? i think this is down to my continued drinking of water and using more targeted and effective skincare, usually where i have the heating on, my skin gets dry and congested. but i do honestly think that using the right products have made a difference, and outside even in the wet and wind, my skin held up! 

Is it worth paying a bit more for a skincare product?

In my opinion i would say yes, providing IT IS RIGHT for you, and you are not just buying products because you like the pretty packaging or the free gift that comes with it, (we have all done it especially at airports). 

• Spend the pennies wisely- if it doesn't agree with your skin, take it back companies don't want you complaining about a product they want you to rave about it!

• Get advice - just because you are concerned about an oily forehead, doesn't mean your skins oily?a professional skincare expert will be able to tell you what your skin needs and the best way to achieve it. 

• Stick with it - theres no point in spending £50 on a face cream and washing your face with 99p soap! or taking your make up off with baby wipes! it defeats the point and takes away all the good you have done with the cream.

Time to detox your skincare as well as your body? using these steps can really help and ensure you get what you need and not what you like!


Happy detoxing!

Amba