*Disclaimer: You don’t have to be a Mum to read this post

Happy Monday folks! I hope you’ve all managed to make it through the day relatively unscathed. Today I’ve picked out a few things that have recently been making my #mumlife a little more efficient, however you don’t have to be a mum for most of these to revolutionise your life. 

1. Shade Adjusting Drops from The Body Shop, £10 – These little beauties could just be life savers! We’ve all been there: major face-to-neck shade discrepancy due to a mismatched foundation and a look that is so ridiculous you’re forced to throw on a turtle neck. Most of us no doubt have (at least) two different foundation products; one for tanned us, and one for pasty, ‘can’t be bothered to apply any tan’ us. Or if you’re not the type to smother yourself in biscuity bronze, then the other will be for the ‘fresh from the beach’ you. Etiher way, these bad boys solve all our foundation-based faux pas. There’s a lightening one and a darkening one, and I’m pretty sure that doesn’t require any further explanation. I have the lightening one as I sometimes have a tendency to overdo on the orange, and overall I’m pretty happy with the product as it has helped curb my silly spending on multiple foundations and I can tailor the shade to whatever the hell colour I’ve woken up as that day. One small con in my opinion is that the pipette makes it a little difficult to transfer the product from the bottle, but it’s not terrible enough to stop me from buying the product again. I wouldn’t usually think to buy make up products from The Body Shop but I was really impressed with the stuff they have to offer.
2. Tommee Tippee Steamer Blender, £60-100 – This is The.Best.Thing.Ever. Please all go out and buy one NOW! It will change your life. When we began weaning Dexter I was steaming everything in our steamer and then getting out the food processor and blending in that. I was left with a mountain of dishes and gadgets to wash up, and lots of wasted food that eventually ended up in the bin as Dexter wouldn’t eat much whilst he was still only at the learning stage. I ended up for a short while switching to Ella’s Kitchen organic pouches for some of his meals as it meant I could get him used the the quantities and textures without taking massive amounts of time to prepare the food, only to throw it all away again. I wasn’t entirely comfortable with Dex being on the pouches for too long though, as not only are they bloody pricey, I was also keen to keep everything as fresh as I could for him and to get him used to eating pretty much the same meals that we do as a family. Cue the steamer blender. It’s great for meat, fish, fruit and vegetables, and all you have to do is chop up the food set the steam and blend times and it does it all for you in one nifty little jug. No transferral from one gadget to another = no Kilimanjaro of dishes. I seriously love it and think you all will too.
3. Hemsley Hemsley Spiralizer, £20 – There are so many food related fads around these days, especially when it comes to ‘eating clean’, however one that I happen to think is great and should be used more widely is the concept of spiralizing. For those that aren’t familiar, (where have you been?!) this is the replacement of refined carbs such as white spaghetti or noodles, with a variety of veggies such as courgette, butternut squash, sweet potato, and many more. We have been using this spiralizer by the Hemsley and Hemsley sisters who champion nutritious and delicious food, and we are so in love with our meals. Not only are we switching things up a bit, we’re being healthier and feeling better for it too- and we honestly don’t think you miss the pasta! Don’t get me wrong, we do still eat carbs as I believe in everything in moderation, it just means that if you like those kind of heavy pasta dishes, you don’t have to limit how many times in the week you have them. Spiralizing is also a fun way to introduce kids to all different kinds of vegetables from an early age.
4. Wunderbrow by Wunder2, £19.95 – As you know, I’m a fan of all things beauty related and even more of a fan of anything that speeds up the application process, as it’s a case of ‘the quicker the better’ when you have a kiddiewinkle. Brows are the new black in my eyes, and everyone who is anyone is sporting a mean pair of face-framers these days, so you have to seriously up your game (I’m thinking more Cara D than Scouse Brow btw). This product comes in 4 different colours and is designed to be a one-step solution to eyebrow shaping and hair loss; it claims to create the perfect brow in under 2 minutes, which will last for days. I do really like this product as it is a great way to groom your brows whilst looking more natural than powder or pencil. I think it takes a little bit of practice getting to grips with how much product to use and how best to distribute it to create the desired result and you may have a few bodge jobs before you nail it (sorry Mum!), however once you’ve got to grips with it there’s no stopping you! It is designed to last for a few days at a time, even enduring a trip to your local pool, however I do have to top mine up daily due to my facial cleansing routine each night.

I hope these recommendations have been useful. I may do more of these as and when I come across any super must-have products that I think everyone needs to know about, so keep a look out and let me know what you think.

A.x