Montagne Jeunesse - A Cruelty Free Beauty Essential - Giveaway

I am delighted to announce that I have teamed up with Montagne Jeunesse to give 30 of my readers an at home pampering experience with one of their masks. 

Most of you might have heard about or seen Montagne Jeunesse face masks as they are sold in all major pharmacies in Ireland and can also be found in Penneys Stores. I myself have been using their face masks since my teens. They have so many different types of masks available for all different skin types and I find them a real treat. 

The peel off masks are my personal favourite. I recently tried out the Black Seaweed peel-off mask and I loved it. It was really easy peasy to apply and after 15 minutes I peeled it off all in one go and my skin felt truly cleansed afterwards. The following week I tried out the Brazilian Mud Fabric mask. I've never tried a fabric mask before and looked a little like Leonardo DiCaprio in the film Man with the Iron mask but it smelled so nice fruity and gave my skin a real boost. 

Montagne Jeunesse has been crushing, pulping and juicing natural goodness into their cruelty free face masks for 25 years and are now available in over 80 countries worldwide. Costing less than €2 they really make the perfect affordable weekly treat. 

To win, simple click on the link **HERE** and fill out the form. 30 winners will be selected at random in one month and contacted by email. Good Luck! 

Love,

Sarah

Nivea Anti-Wrinkle Q10 Range - Reduce The Appearance of Lines and Wrinkles

If you're currently using a day and night cream you are already making good tracks with preventing the early onset of wrinkles. Lets face it, nobody wants to look older than their age. I had never seen myself using anti-wrinkle products so early into my twenties but you know what, prevention is better than cure. I know I will get wrinkles, just like everybody else. It's all part and parcel of getting older but if there is a product out there which will help me delay the process then I will try it. 

Nivea have invested over fifteen years of research to bring you the new Q10 Plus range. The research was based around an ingredient called Coenzyme Q10 and increasing the levels of that ingredient in our skin. With regular use the formula supports our own natural Q10 to reduce the appearance of wrinkles while preventing new lines from forming. 

I've been using the entire range for the last three months and I'm happy to report that my skin is looking better than ever. I like that the day cream is SPF 15 which will also help protect my skin from sun induced wrinkle formation. It also made a great base for my make-up application. The night cream is also great as it works while you sleep! 

Other products from the anti-wrinkle range include Serum pearls and an Eye cream. I applied both products in the morning after cleansing and then applied my day cream last. I did not find any of these products to be too heavy and found that they sat nicely on my skin leaving it feeling refreshed and nourished. Apart from the Serum pearls looking like scrambled eggs when dispensed from the bottle I had no complaints about it. It contains hyaluronic acid which acts like a filler, smoothing out the appearance of lines. Another great base for under your make-up. I found the Eye Cream great for reducing the appearance of dark circles and left my eyes looking brighter.

Prices

50ml Nivea Anti-Wrinkle Q10 Plus Day Cream SPF 15 - €11.80

50ml Nivea Anti-Wrinkle Q10 Plus Night Cream - €12.59

15ml Nivea Anti-Wrinkle Q10 Plus Eye Cream - €11.79

40ml Nivea Anti-Wrinkle Q10 Plus Serum Pearls - €14.99 

Throughout my pregnancy family and friends have been telling me that I look great and that I have a great "glow". I don't know were that whole pregnancy glow came from but I'm putting it down to the Nivea Anti-Wrinkle range girls! I think the range is great value for money as both the Serum and eye cream lasted me three months and I still have a quarter of the day and night cream left which is pretty good going for daily use. 

Love,

Sarah

Mum to Be Monday #5 - My Baby Shower

Mammy bubbles, myself and bump. xxx

Girls! I'm officially on maternity leave and I'm sitting down to blog for the first time in four months! Hallelujah!!

At the beginning of my pregnancy I had a vision of what the following months of pregnant life would involve and it turned out being noting like what I expected. Taking it easy, saving and exhaustion meant very little time for hanging out with friends so I thought having a baby shower would be the perfect opportunity to catch up with my family and friends before baby arrives. 

I had an absolutely brilliant day and would recommend having one to any expectant mum. It was a great distraction full of laughter and lots of yummy cake. 

You can't have a celebration without cake and boy did I have some cake! My good friends Sarah and Katie who I have known since the age of twelve graciously made me the spectacular cake creations you can see in the pictures above. The cake actually stole the show on the day. The three tier cake was jaffa-cake flavour on top, lemon in the middle and chocolate on the bottom. There was also a separate cake which was carrot cake. Yes, I tried them all! Sarah used the front of the shower invitations as inspiration for her design which turned out beautifully. 

I wanted to treat my family and friends on the day so I had Katie from Nails by Katie & Suzie on hand to do nails. Trying to stay away from the traditional baby shower games that not everyone would be interested in I set up a few cute activities instead. I had a table with plain baby grows and sleep suits with some fabric markers and everyone got to design one for Poppy. They turned out great and will make a lovely keepsake. I got the baby grows from Penneys and fabric pens from the Art & Hobby shop.

Nearly all my friends have children and I wanted them to come along and join in the celebrations too. Seriously who else would help eat all that cake?! There was about ten children as well as a few babies there on the day. To entertain them I purposely had my baby shower in the pre-school I work in so they had many toys to distract them. Teresa, a friend from work also did face painting on the day. I think the kids had fun and some even made new friends! 

I also had a table with a photo album of baby scans from the last eight months. On the same table I had a white tree borrowed from my friend Lorna who used it at her wedding recently. I used it on the day for pink prediction cards I bought on ebay. Everyone had fun filling them out guessing weight, due date of baby and giving messages of advice. I will treasure them forever in a special keepsake box. I also can't wait to see if anyone was close in guessing her due date. 

For fun party favours I had little pink baby bottles filled with tasty treats. They were also personalised using stickers thanking my guests for coming. For food we just had sandwiches, lots of finger food and a sweet table....it was a day of gluttony really.

I was really spoiled on the day and I'm delighted I got to see my friends before baby arrives as I have no idea what to expect once she is here! 

Love,

Sarah & Bump

Mum to be Monday - My Pregnancy Journey

• Pregnancy announcement & 18 week pregnancy update
• Gender Reveal
• 21 Weeks Pregnancy Update
• Baby Bump Painting - My sister-in-law