Thursday 28 August 2014

New additions to the Steadman family


On the 27th August my little chihuahua had her puppies, she had been in labour all night and had developed a little bubble at around 2am and birthed her first puppy at 7:15am after my parents had woken me up at 6:40am to help support them, the first was a little boy and he's absolutely gorgeous. My parents had to break the sac that the puppy was in and cut his chord because Peppa was tired after birthing and didn't know what to do, we successfully resuscitated the puppy and he's perfectly healthy. I was very ill the day that Peppa gave birth so I wasn't feeling up to scratch and extremely tired. The little boy is a light brown with a black stripe down his back, we think he's going to be identical to his mother in his markings, just as Peppa looked the same as her mother Ami.

My parents decided to take Peppa to the vets to get checked over as they were worried that she was struggling birthing too much, and the vets reassured them that she was fine throughout her labour and she wouldn't have any difficulties. I went back to bed whilst they were at the vets and ended up feeling worse when I woke up when they come back home. A little while later I was sat in my parents bedroom watching Peppa when I noticed another puppy was on the way, I called my parents back into the bedroom and after a difficult birth she gave birth and once again didn't break the sac so the sac was broken, the chord was cut and we noticed that the puppy wasn't moving...after trying to clear it's airways, and trying to resuscitate it there was nothing we could do.. the puppy had become stressed during birth and poo'd in the sac and wasn't alive when it come out... very sad that we lost a beautiful little girl puppy.

The final puppy was a little girl who was born at 12pm, she's a little cutie and once again had to have the sac removed and chord cut but Peppa knew more what to do this time around. The little girl is a beautiful chocolate brown and she's a little bit bigger than her brother and very greedy. The two surviving pups went to the vets today along with Peppa and they're perfectly healthy and doing great, I can't wait to see them grow up and play and all that good stuff. I love them.

I told my mum throughout Peppas pregnancy that I didn't want to watch her give birth because I wouldn't be able to stomach it but but when you're there in the moment and thinking of the lives of the puppies you completely forget about all the grossness and think about the well being of the mother and pups. It was certainly an experience I won't forget. It's been difficult for our family as we lost one of the puppies but we were warned that this can be quite common with chihuahua birthing, we just didn't think it would ever happen to us and we're all heart broken that the little one didn't get a chance at life.


Wednesday 20 August 2014

NSPA body mists


I have become a little bit addicted to buying these Nspa body mists, I use them every single day simply because they smell absolutely delicious and are a great way to feel fresh. I always keep one of these sprays in my handbag incase I want to spruce myself up during the day and I love that these mists smell exactly how they're described on the bottle, I have received quite a few compliments on how good I smell after I have sprayed these so it's nice knowing that other people enjoy the scents too. My favourite scent is the creamy coconut fragrance which I rave on about all the time and have bought for a few people as birthday goody bag fillers, I have gone through two bottles of this and one of the sweet raspberry so that's an indication of just how much I love these, I will continue to repurchase these because they're such great value for money at just £3 but they're often on a 2 for £4 deal at Asda. I know that a lot of people aren't fans of body sprays and mists but these aren't aerosols and are great to just chuck in your handbag because of the plastic packaging so you don't have to worry about the bottle breaking and leaking over the contents of your bag.

Monday 18 August 2014

Lush snow fairy scent dupe?


Whilst browsing the shower gel section in Asda for no apparent reason because I currently have 8 shower gels in my cupboard waiting to be used I spotted a new brand called 'Dolly's mixtures' so I thought I would check the range out, the first one I picked up to smell was the scent 'bubblegum' and I couldn't stop smelling it simply because it reminded me of lush snow fairy - they smell extremely similar! on the back of the bottle it says that the fragrances are banana, tutti-frutti and bubblegum and snow fairy's know for it's bubblegum and pear drops scent. snow fairy's only available around christmas time and has a hefty price tag for a shower gel, the larger bottle retails at £10 whereas this shower gel retails at 10% of that price at just £1 so if you've wanted to try out snow fairy but can't justify the price tag this shower gel's worth checking out and it's also available all year round. I will say that i'm not a fan of the packaging as it looks a little bit childish, but it's what's inside that counts - right?

Dolly's Mixtures also do a lot of other delicious, candy oriented scented shower gels that are worth checking out, sadly I can't justify buying any more shower gels because they'll just be added to my 'back ups' cupboard until I've worked my way through the mountain of shower gels I currently own.

Tuesday 12 August 2014

The not-so-glamorous beauty bits


So within the beauty community we're all very comfortable talking about our favourites lipsticks and concealers, but there's more to it than that and i'm talking about the products we may use on a daily basis but we feel it's just a little bit weird to talk about.

CB12 safe breath oral care agent is a mouth wash that neutralises bad breath for 12 hours and it has a nifty little pump that dispenses the correct amount of product so you don't end up using too much product at once. This product is perfect when you're going out to a social event or even a date and you want your breath to stay fresh all night, it works wonders. I used this after eating quite a lot of garlic and I got my boyfriend to do a breath test and he couldn't smell any garlic-y goodness. Speaking of bad smells no one likes to stink whether it's bad breath or body odour, I'm extremely conscious of this and known to sometimes shower twice a day and a product that has literally changed my life is the mitchum advanced 48HR protection antiperspirant and deodorant particularly the unscented option, prepare yourself for some TMI but I used to feel as if I sweat more than the average women and no deodorant could control it. My 'excessive sweating' and all that bad jazz stopped the day I tried out this stick deodorant and now I don't feel as if my underarms sweat and there's absolutely zero smell, not that I had bad body odour before. I'm not painting myself as a pretty picture here, am I? Garlic breath and sweating, mmm. I'm completely confident that I can now go out when it's hot and not have to worry about my underarms. I haven't tried any of the mitchum aerosols but my mum uses them and thinks they're fantastic so if you're not a stick deodorant lover then it may be worth checking those out, oh and Zoella also uses them.

It's no secret that I get quite the hairy face and I blame it on my dad for giving me his dark hair screw you genetics so the nair sensitive facial hair removal cream has been a very good friend of mine since my teenage years, I've done a full review on this product (link) but it's perfect for getting rid of that no-so-attractive moustache I naturally sport. I apply it to the areas that need de-fluffing and leave it on for around 3 minutes and then wipe away with a warm flannel and my face is smooth and I no longer resemble an ape.

Sunday 10 August 2014

Quick drying, fool-proof nails


Let's talk about nails, shall we? lets start with how much of a pain it is waiting for your nail polish to dry, it's the bain of my life. I always paint my nails at night before bed and then when I wake up in the morning with pillow imprints on my new paint job. I was on the hunt for a product that will speed up the drying process and a new topcoat, so I struck gold on my new favourite nail product which is the Sally hansen insta-dri top coat. I always apply two coats of the nail polish I'm wearing so it does take quite a long time to dry, but I have been applying the sally hansen insta-dri top coat when the second layer is still wet and my nails are touch proof and completely dry within 5 minutes, the top coat also gives my nails a nice glossy finish and claims to last 10 days chip free but I don't think that's the case, my nails last an average of 4-5 days before the tip wear starts to chip. I love that I can now give myself a complete manicure within 10 minutes and not have to worry about it smudging or getting little imprints, this product is a life saver for lazy girls like myself who don't like to wait around and spend too much time on their manicures.


Friday 1 August 2014

What I'm taking to Holi One festival | What's in my bag




Holi one is a colour festival that's currently making it's way around the UK, where there's Dj's, performances, alcohol and of course colourful dye that gets thrown around every hour. Myself and some chums are going to London on the 2nd of August wearing white clothes, and will most likely return home early hours of the morning looking colourful and messy and possibly slightly drunk. It's going to be amazing.

I'm taking the body shop's anti bacterial hand gel because of the communal toilets. that's all i'm going to say on that matter and some carex hand wipes just incase myself or my chums want to clean up a little bit (which I highly doubt). I'm also going to be taking a body spray to make myself smell nice throughout the day but that's going in my friends bag because mine is absolutely tiny and filled to the top.

Because it's a colour festival and we may want to spruce things up a little bit during the day I'm taking two of my urban decay heavy metal loose glitter and the adhesive so go along with it because it's fun and who doesn't love glitter? I actually won these in a giveaway and have been dying to try them out so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. The more everyday makeup I'm taking with me is a concealer, I know i'm going to get messy and not looking pretty all day but If I feel like I need to touch up then I can. A powder to set down the makeup and if I get a little bit shiney, and a makeup brush to go alongside that and of course the lip product I will be wearing on the day, which I have decided will be the korres lip butter in 'jasmine' and a mirror to apply it all with.

Then neccesities such as money and ID and of course my phone - I want to take pretty instagram pictures whilst I'm there! Sunglasses as they serve two purposes the first being the obvious, blocking the sun from my eyes and the second is if my makeup goes a little bit crazy I can always hide my eyes with giant sunglasses. Don't forget to stay safe even at festivals in the UK and stay hydrated, my friends got me the cutest pug drinking cup the other day and it's going to accompany us on this trip!

Am I missing anything in my colour festival survival kit? let me know!