When Will My Twins Notice Each Other?

When I first had my twins, who are now 7 months by the way, one of my first thoughts was how they'll be able to play together and keep each other entertained; thinking that would happen right from the start. In actual fact, it's only been in the last month that my boys have finally realised the other one exists. You'd think being crammed into the same uterus, and being kicked by your sibling on a daily basis would make you realise there was someone else in close proximity to you. You'd also think that a baby would notice another baby who looks just like him when they stare at each other, or when they lie next to each other screaming for their milk. Well, you'd be wrong.

If you want to know when your twins will first notice each other, I wouldn't expect anything until around 6 months old. By then my boys actually started paying attention to each other. There would be the odd smile or giggle, but usually only one would really be looking at the other, without a response. 
Before 6 months they would always listen to each other cry, normally one would let the other cry and then when it went silent so he could catch his breath, the other would most graciously take over the screaming. But they still didn't really know each other were there.

Now, as the video below shows you, my boys are fascinated with each other, everything they do is hysterical to the other. All those hard nights, which to be honest are still difficult from time to time, are worth it when I watch this video. Watch how Dylan (my eldest by 2 minutes), has hiccups and it is clearly the funniest thing ever to Sebastian on the left:



If you have twins I'd love to hear from you and hear about your experiences. I'll be sharing more about mine soon.

Lots of love,

Samantha Dawn

xoxo

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My Top 10 Summer Beauty Buys of 2013

Hello blog world,

As the sun has been shining down in London for a good week now (I know, I'm surprised too), I decided why not share with you my top 10 summer beauty buys of 2013. These are my favourite items that I have to use in summer or when I go away on holiday. Here's a photo of me in Ibiza in 2011 wearing all the beauty products listed below:

1. My favourite foundation to wear in summer is Chanel's Vitalumiere Aqua (review on this here), which obviously isn't cheap (around £30-40) due to being a high end product, but is the perfect summer foundation. The reason I love this foundation so much is that it is so light to wear. I absolutely hate when you're out in the sun, or sat in a heated office and you can feel your skin desperately trying to breathe through your foundation. This foundation also has SPF 15 which is perfect for those days you didn't realise you'd be exposed to the sun. It also leaves your skin looking as though you have no makeup on just a fresh dewy look.

2. My second must-have beauty item for summer is the Soap and Glory Glow All Out Luminizing Face Powder, priced at £11. This product is just the perfect final touch to your summer makeup look. Brush it lightly over your cheekbones and it will give your face a healthy glow. Not only is this another product that is light to wear, but it's not too over-the-top like some shimmery luminizers. It's a great product for day or night, as you can use a small amount in the day to get that summer glow, and at night you can use a little more to lift your cheekbones and enhance your foundation. You can even use it as a brow highlighter or an eyeshadow.

3. Moving onto the nails, which have to be painted in summer, my all time favourite nail colour is Barry M's Cyan Blue #294, a bargain at just £2.99. This nail colour looks so summery and is a gorgeous shade of blue. Every time I wear it someone comments on how nice it looks, it is really is an eye catching colour. I have to say Barry M's Mint Green #304 is another favourite summer varnish, also cheaply priced at £2.99.

4. You can't have a summer beauty favourites blog post without adding a bronzer. We're coming back to Soap and Glory for this one, the Soap and Glory Solar Powder, price £11. This is the perfect bronzer to give you a shimmery tanned look without being too much. It contours perfectly, and is half bronzer half highlighter to give you a luminous glow. Whilst it does have the highlighter, it still works perfectly with the S&G's 'Glow All Out', they compliment each other really well. There is a mirror in the compact, and also a little brush which I don't use on a regular basis, but if I forgot to take one with me it's a great substitute. For the price I definitely think Solar Powder is a steal.

5. I love bright coloured lipsticks for summer, in fact I love bright colours anyway but they work best on the lips and nails. When it comes to my favourite summer lip colours, I honestly can't list one so I'm going to have to at least put two. I could add so many more to this but instead I think I'll write another post just dedicated to summer lips! Before I tell you my favourites I just want to say, don't be afraid to wear a bright colour on your lips, especially in the summer time; once you've tried it once you'll be doing it all the time! My favourite summer lipsticks are: L'Oreal's Color Riche Intense Fuchsia #288, priced around £8. I am saddened to say that this colour has been discontinued, and I've used half of mine already! :( I think the closest replacement to that colour is L'Oreal's Crazy Fuschia. As my top choice has been discontinued it makes sense to tell you my second favourite anyway, and that is one I have previously reviewed: YSL's Rouge Pur Couture in Le Orange, which costs a mighty £25. It is worth it though, if you read my review you'll see that it is a perfect summer lipstick, that in time will show you it was worth the money.

6. Do you find that your eyeliner seems to melt in the heat? Then give Maybelline's EyeStudio Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner a try. It's usually priced at £7.99, but is often in the Boot's 3 for 2 offer so you could even get it free! It comes with a little gel brush which works well as an applicator and is small enough to add to your makeup bag and take on holiday. The gel itself is easy to apply and the high pigment means the colour lasts all day without smudging, and is perfect for creating a 'cat eye' look.

7. Some of you are probably going to think I have a Soap and Glory addiction. Well maybe I do, because I'm adding yet another S&G item to my summer must-haves. The It's About Prime Eyeshadow Underbase Primer is £8, and another regular in the 3 for 2 offers at Boots. In my opinion, if you want to wear eyeshadow in summer or on holiday, then you need to use an eyeshadow primer. With heat on your face for even a small amount of time eyeshadow/liner won't last and you have to run to the nearest bathroom or whip out your compact and reapply. Not if you use It's About Prime you don't, or at least you won't have to as often. I've used this primer on summer nights out and not needed to reapply my eye makeup all night. Not only does it keep your eye makeup in tact, but it makes any eyeshadow colours more prominent.

8. Here's another cheap favourite of mine. I bought this eyeshadow just because of the price and so I could try out the NYC brand. The eyeshadow I have is the NYC Metro Quartet Eye Shadow Queens Boulevard 796B which was £2.99 but again is discontinued! :( However, a very similar one has come out which is the NYC Metro Quartet Eyeshadow Manhattan which is only £2.99. These eyeshadows are really pigmented and if you use them with the eyeshadow primer from Soap and Glory (listed above at number 7!) it really bring out the colours. The packaging even shows you which colour is for contouring, highlighting, in your eye crease and for an all over look. It's the perfect little eyeshadow kit, great value and small enough to fit in the smallest of handbags.

9. I'm saving the best until last, and every girl needs some kind of tan in summer. I'll be the first to admit it though, I have fair skin and do not tan I just burn, peel and go back to being white! It is the most frustrating thing ever, and most self tanners make my skin go orange and streaky. This is one of the only brands of self tanner that actually does the job and makes my skin look sun-kissed and golden brown, not to mention it's amazingly cheap! It's the St Moriz Self Tanner sold at a bargain price of £2.99 in some shops (home bargains), and others have now put up the price to £4.99 (feelunique), but either way it's as cheap as chips. It does have a bit of a biscuity smell, but then again most fake tans do and that smell disappears after a while (or you just get used to it!) Just a note: always make sure you exfoliate your skin first, and remember to apply with a tanning glove, you can buy the gloves from Primark for £1, as this stuff works fast and will tan your hands within seconds. I would advise to use this on your body and another product (mentioned in the number 10 spot) for the face. With St Moriz I use regular or medium for my fair skin.

10. Ok so personally I think St Tropez is the number one fake tan, however the cost is a little off putting, which is why St Moriz is also in my top 10. However, St Tropez really is the best, and when it comes to applying fake tan to your face I would definitely recommend using something that's going to do the job properly. St. Tropez Gradual Tan Everyday Face Lotion (£12.39 at Boots) is definitely my recommended purchase. Mix it with a bit of the St Moriz when applying to your face and you'll immediately get a perfect bronzed look. If you want to use it on it's own, apply it each day and within a week you will have a gorgeous golden tan. You can also buy another of my favourites, the St.Tropez Everyday Gradual Tan Body for an all over gradual tan. Note: I buy all of these products in the light/medium range.

I hope you liked my top 10 summer buys. I did sneak in a few more products so it's not exactly 10 beauty items, but still these are my all time favourite beauty products that I really love. 

What are your favourite summer beauty items? Do you dislike any of the products I mentioned? I'd love to know.

Lots of love,
Samantha Dawn
xoxo

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TOPSHOP Haul July 2013

Hey guys,

So I wanted to show you the little TOPSHOP.com haul I recently had. As I'm not back to my pre-pregnancy weight I decided to steer away from clothing (except for one thing), and go with accessories! I absolutely love the jewellery section in TOPSHOP at the moment, so many gorgeous statement necklaces that really are beautiful.

My first purchase was the Semi Precious Shard Collar necklace, which retails at £15.

This gorgeous necklace has beautiful semi precious turquoise stones attached to a collar of metal and jewels. It really is an eye catching piece, that would look great with a black maxi dress or a white summer dress and a tan. There were other very similar necklaces with turquoise stones at TOPSHOP but this one was definitely my favourite. It's currently sold out on their website, I appear to have bought the last one, oops!

Next I bought another gorgeous necklace, the Stud Chain Multirow Necklace which set me back another £12.50. 

I've been eyeing up this necklace for some time and finally decided it needed to come home with me. It has great reviews online at TOPSHOP.com and I think it would look good with a white shirt and leather jacket, and would make any plain top more interesting. I know there have been similar arrow/triangle necklaces around, but this one really stands out to me and I love it!

My penultimate necklace is this gold chunky chain necklace which cost £12.50. 

I've wanted a large gold chain for a while now, they look really good with a casual top as you can see here Kylie Jenner is sporting one and I think it looks great and can make the focal point of a plain outfit.

My final piece of jewellery is a bit of a novelty gift to be honest, but I thought I'd show it anyway. I bought it for a friend for their birthday along with some other non-TOPSHOP related items. 

It's the Make your own necklace from TOPSHOP which cost £12.50.

I think this necklace is quite a fun gift, it reminds me of necklaces me and my sisters had when we were younger with our names on them. But you can change this so you could put anything you like, depending on your mood. The more I type about this necklace the more I want to keep it for myself just to try out different things!

Whilst I tried to avoid looking at the clothing area online as I don't really want to be buying anything whilst I'm not at the size I would like since having my twins, I couldn't resist a bargain! I found this gorgeous Hollywood Tank for £3, yes you heard me correctly just £3 and it's still online!!!! I love this shirt for casual wear, and I think it'll go great with my gold chunky chain and some skinny jeans.

Let me know what you think of my TOPSHOP buys, and if you've got any sale bargains I'd love to hear about them! Do you have any of these items, if so what do you think of them?

Lots of love,
Samantha Dawn
xoxo

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YSL Rouge Pur Couture Lipstick Le Orange #13 Review

Hey guys,

I bought this lipstick last summer and have put off reviewing it as I just wasn't sure if I liked it or not. I bought it after watching Keeping Up With The Kardashians, it's the episode where the family visit Bora Bora. On this holiday Kourtney Kardashian looked amazing, she had this gorgeous orange coloured lipstick on and all I could think about was that lipstick and that I wanted it so much. Sadly I do realise I'm the total opposite of Kourtney K in the looks department, and am as pale as anything, and blonde! But still, I wanted to try this lipstick so bad that I decided I just had to buy it.

I ended up buying the lipstick online as it was sold out in my local shops, so I didn't actually see the colour until it arrived and I opened it. For some reason I thought it would be more of an orange colour, I mean it is called 'Le Orange' after all. But it's actually quite a reddish colour with a hint of orange. Needless to say, I was rather disappointed with it, especially after paying £25 for a supposedly orange lipstick. I thought that anyone who suggested this was the shade of lipstick Kourtney wore had got it wrong and that I had just wasted quite a lot of money on a red lipstick I didn't want. I was so disappointed with it, I even put the lipstick away in my 'review later' pile and to be honest, I completely forgot I had it.

Well summer is back and I delved into my makeup box this morning to end up finding this lipstick again, and I have to say, I love it! It's in a beautiful gold packaging, with the usual YSL logo on the lipstick itself, it just oozes luxury. 

It's one of those lipsticks that's creamy in texture and once applied stays on for hours, which is perfect in this summer heat. I think because I thought it wasn't what I wanted previously I wrote it off without really trying it out, but I'm so glad I've found it again. 

At the moment I'm still rather pale thanks to the British weather being pretty awful, but as the sun is shining today I had to apply this lipstick and it even suits pale skin. Yes it is more of a reddish colour, but the tones of orange are there and the colour in itself is really beautiful. It's probably the closest I will ever get to a red lipstick that I actually like, and one that suits me too.

I can't wait to get a tan and wear it again as it really does compliment that darker skin colour well, and Kourtney Kardashian looks gorgeous wearing this lipstick. I think this is definitely a  regular Kardashian make up item, as I've since seen Khloe and Kylie wearing this shade.

I'd say the only downside to this lipstick is the price, which is obviously going to be more as a designer brand. I did really hesitate before I bought it as I just didn't know if I could convince myself that a lipstick was worth £25. But I have to say this will definitely be worn each Summer, the reddish/orange colour just doesn't go out of fashion, and I think it is money well spent for a lipstick you can continuously wear. The other reason why I love this lipstick so much more than your regular high street brand, is because it only needs one application to last you all day. 

I would definitely say to give this lipstick a go if you've got the cash to splash, and there's various other gorgeous shades in the Rouge Pur Couture range that you may prefer.

Let me know if you have any YSL Lipstick recommendations, or if you've got this lipstick yourself, I'd love to know what you think of it.

Until next time, 

Samantha Dawn 

x

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DermaH20 Water Wipes Review

If you're a mum-to-be or a new parent you've probably heard of WaterWipes. WaterWipes are made with 99.9% water and 0.1% fruit extract, and are suitable from birth. They are free from chemical preservatives, allergy friendly and help avoid nappy rash. The company who produce them, Derma H20, emphasise the fact that WaterWipes are all natural wipes, and don't contain any harmful chemicals found in other baby wipes. These chemicals can be found even in those produced by leading brands such as Pampers, Huggies etc. I'll be the first one to admit that, prior to hearing of WaterWipes I was quite happily going to use standard wet wipes without any question as to the chemical ingredients. Surely we can trust baby brands not to add ingredients that are harmful to babies skin? Maybe not.

Prior to buying my first pack of WaterWipes, I did question whether it was worth spending money on something that is essentially just water; however the guilt of being a new parent and potentially harming my baby with 'chemical wipes' took over me and I gave in. I did hesitate before placing my order online, at Amazon you can buy 12 packs for £25, which again seems a lot for a water based product you use once and throw away. I placed four orders of £25 whilst my babies were newborns, looking back that was £100 on some baby wipes that are just made of water!!!
Don't get me wrong, I like the fact that they contain no chemicals, and my twins didn't get any nappy rash whilst using the products, (although we no longer use WaterWipes and they still don't have nappy rash so that could have just been coincidence). 

In hindsight, what was wrong with a bit of cotton wool and some water? It would have saved me a lot of money in the long run. 

I'm not saying don't buy WaterWipes. They are a lazy alternative to cotton wool and water, and in the newborn months you certainly need to have some quick easy alternatives. It is a lot easier to open a packet of wipes and clean your babies tushy rather than go and get some water, get the cotton wool out and clean them up. Having said that, I think DermaH20 have certainly played on the dangers of other baby wipes, focusing on them being harmful which obviously makes new parents stop using anything but, yes you guessed it, WaterWipes. Well I can't knock them for that as it certainly worked with me and other mums I know.

Will I continue to use WaterWipes now my babies are 7 months old? No. I switched to ordinary fragrance free baby wipes to use when I'm out and about (for ease) and cotton wool and water when I'm at home. I stopped buying them when my babies were around 4 months old as I think they are a good buy for newborn babies, but now my babies are getting a little bigger and I've had a little more sleep, I think I can manage to clean them the old fashioned way, with water from my tap. 

WaterWipes retail at just over £2 a pack, which is higher than your standard pack of baby wipes. I have to say the price itself is a little baffling, I mean they can't cost that much to make, can they?!

I suppose you're wondering would I recommend these for your little one? Well, I do for those early newborn months, if only to save you the trouble of using cotton wool and water. Other than that, there are cheaper alternatives that do the job just as well, if not better, so I'd save your money.

Have you used WaterWipes? What did you think of them? I'd love to hear about your experience and if you like them or not.

Don't forget to follow me for more baby related product reviews and general mummy chat.

Lots of love,

Samantha Dawn

xoxo

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What's in my Twin Changing/Diaper Bag

Hi blog friends,

Thought I'd share with you my must-haves for my twin changing bag. My changing bag is from the very popular Yummy Mummy range by Pink Lining, and retails at £79. This particular bag is an old design and no longer available to buy as new designs are brought out to replace the old ones. However you might be able to find someone selling one on eBay.

You can watch my YouTube video on my changing bag(s) here, or you can read the list below for more details on what I pack when I go out with my boys!

 

Ok, so my essentials for travelling with my little ones, it's pretty much the same for a singular baby, just times everything by two!

• A travel changing mat, one of those mini fold out ones that wipe clean easily
• Nappies - definitely an essential!
• Wipes or cotton wool
• Nappy sacks to discard of those delightful packages
• Nappy cream, such as Sudocrem, Bepanthen etc.
• Hand Steriliser Alcohol Gel
• Spare Soothers and Lids to keep them clean (if you use them)
•  Sterilised Baby Bottles/Teats/Drinking Cups
• Baby Milk Powder/Pre-made millk/Expressed milk (if needed)
• Teething gel, calpol sachets, any other medication
• Bibs
• Mits/Gloves
• Socks
• Vests
• Hats
• Outerwear (Cardigans, Jackets etc.)
• Clothes (T-Shirts, Rompers, Trousers etc.)
• Sun Cream Factor 50 (if needed)
• Muslin Cloths
• Blankets
• Spoons and food (if needed)
• Baby Scissors
• Teethers/Toys

The amount of nappies you may need in a day for twins could be 10 nappies per baby. I always over-pack on things like nappies, milk powder, dummies and calpol sachets; because you just don't know how unpredictable these little monkeys can be. The other day I got through 10 nappies by early afternoon with my two!

Obviously there is quite a lot here to pack, especially as I'm packing for two babies and my bag doesn't really fit everything in. Normally I will carry powder/bottles in a separate carrier bag; I think any bag would be too bulky if you could fit everything in it.

I know Yummy Mummy bags are a little on the expensive side, but they are really gorgeous bags. The one downside to these bags is that the material can get dirty quite quickly, and I would suggest only using this bag on proper day trips, or when you're meeting up with friends rather than using it every day. I have a cheaper changing bag that I use for quick trips to the shops or everyday errands which I don't mind if it gets dirty or not. I think every new mummy deserves a nice changing bag to carry around with them, and these pink lining bags are the cutest on the market. I also love the Storksak leather changing bags, but they're in the £200 price range so I think I may hold off on that for now!

Let me know what you pack for your little ones and what changing bag you have. I love talking to other mummies :)

Lots of love,

Samantha Dawn
xoxo

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