Hooked on Clinique's CC Cream

When it comes to certain beauty products I never seize to be amazed at how I somehow always seem to be able to make room for just one more... and then just another one... which means that I have far too many nail polishes, lipsticks, eye shadows, eye pencils and perfumes. At the same time there are other beauty products that I only buy very rarely and foundation is one them. It's not that I don't like or use foundations - on the contrary, for me it's one of the products that I'm more than willing to splurge on since just like skin care it truly is the canvas for everything else that you're creating, and if you don't get that right, then it doesn't matter what else you add to that. The only thing that will prompt me to buy a new foundation is that I have either finished the one I already had, or my skin has changed color tone enough that I definitely need a new product. Since we've been lucky enough to have gloriously sunny weather in the UK, I'm gradually replacing my pale blue office tan with a slightly more golden and healthy looking hue so when I was exploring the Clinique counter at Boots, that I also shared with you in my post about Clicking with Clinique, it was definitely time for something new. After a bit of testing I brought with me home something completely new for me - Clinique's Moisture Surge CC Cream Colour Corrector (£28) in the shade Medium.

A CC Cream is supposed to be primarily a color correcting cream that evens out your skin tone taking care of concerns like red or sallow skin, dullness or any scars you might have and from a formula point of view, they fall somewhere in between foundations, moisturisers and serums, and most of them have intense moisturising properties. This particular Clinique CC cream is suitable for all skin types and you can wear it on its own, over a moisturizer or under your foundation as a primer, but I prefer to use use this on top of my daily moisturizer instead of a foundation. The CC cream comes in a slim, flat and elegant looking plastic tube which is very practical since it doesn't take much space in your makeup bag, and there's no risk of it breaking and causing a mess on your bathroom floor. As with all products from Clinique the CC cream is 100% fragrance free which always is a concern for me since I am a very fragrance focused person and a lot of the time fragrance free products just don't appeal to me, but by nature it still has a clean and neutral "scent" that is very inoffensive and it doesn't last on your skin. The consistency is lovely, light and silky and it blends beautifully with your skin adding extra hydration and making your complexion feel very soft and cared for, especially since it also has a built in SPF 30. Since I was told a while back that foundations oxidise and change the color if you apply them using your fingers I'm trying to be good, using my amazing Moxi foundation brush and it's really easy to get an even polished finish with the CC cream, but I have to say that it's equally straight forward to get at least very similar results using your fingers. The CC cream gives sheer to moderate coverage but enough opacity to cover the odd blemish scar, and although it feels almost matte on the skin without any oiliness or tackiness at all when you apply it, it still adds a lovely natural looking radiance. It wears incredibly well throughout the day and on me the finish lasts for at least seven hours, but at the same time it's easy to remove using either a micellar solution or a normal cleanser. I am so impressed by this product and because of the light texture and the great wear I think it'll work brilliantly for the coming warm summer days. I never caught the BB cream bug, but this CC cream has got me well and truly hooked and I can't recommend it enough.

2000 follower giveaway

It feels as if it was only yesterday that I started this blog, but as we all know time flies when you're having fun and it's actually just over 10 months ago. Blogging has been an amazing adventure; I've learned so much in a short amount of time, got to know some wonderful supportive people and had the privilege of seeing the blog grow little by little thanks to all of you. You have helped me to reach another incredible milestone - 2000 followers on Bloglovin', which means.... drumroll: GIVEAWAY TIME! The giveaway is open internationally, and this time the prize is a £30 gift voucher from ASOS who as we all know has a fantastic selection of clothes, jewellery, shoes, bags and of course beauty products and so much more, in short ASOS is a treasure trove to explore. All you need to do to Open Sesame is to enter the Rafflecopter below. The giveaway is open until May 20, and the winner will be contacted via e-mail shortly thereafter as well as announced in the post on May 23. Although the words feel completely inadequate, all I can say from the bottom of my heart is THANK YOU SO MUCH for your support and encouragement!!! As you know all feedback and comments are very important to me and since I really want to make sure that the posts are relevant to you, I'd be very interested in hearing if there's a particular type of post or content that you would like me to do more/less of etc, so please let me know your thoughts in the comments section. Best of luck to everyone who enters and I'll be back with another post tomorrow! Xx

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Manic.Monday: Ciaté Cuticle Tattoo's

Greetings everyone and welcome to a new week and as usual on a Monday I'm here to bring you something from the world of nail polishes. If you've read my blog before you'll know that I'm not one to shy away from trying out any nails trends, regardless of how whacky or strange they might seem, but I'm also the first to admit that willingness to experiment does not always equal success. Today's look is not so much about the nail polish itself, as the accompanying cuticle tattoo which is something I wanted to try as soon as I saw the promotional photos of it, and the look just reiterates to me how forward thinking Ciaté is when it comes to nails. Every photo that I've seen of cuticle tattoos is in combination with a very pale and neutral color, letting the tattoo doing the talking so to speak. I can understand that and personally I think that you either have to go pale or full on with vibrant colors - there just doesn't seem to be room for anything in between.

Not feeling quite brave enough to go full out (believe it or not) I chose to go with a pale neutral shade with Ciaté's Cookies and Cream (£9) a beautiful neutral and sophisticated light ecru shade that will make even the shortest of nails look groomed and elegant. It has the usual lovely Ciaté formula which is just the right consistency, not being too thick or thin and even though the brush is of very average width its easy to work with to get a streak free opaque finish, despite being a lighter shade. It's quick drying and wears very well - on my nails I would say that it lasts for about 4 days before I need to retouch the finish and it's a shade that I think would work well with most skin tones.

Let's move on to what actually makes this look - the Ciaté ASOS Exclusive Cuticle Tattoo's (£10). You'll get a set with five different designs and stencils - one set for for your left hand and one for your right hand, and even if you choose to only go for an accent nail, you'll have enough tattoos for at least 30 wears - talk about value for money! Once you've decided on which design you want; a diamond shape, an arrow, a bow, three stars or a floral chain,  you cut out each tattoo for each finger with a pair of scissors and I would recommend that you apply one tattoo at a time. At the back of each sheet you'll see a shape outlined that you need to follow with your scissors and once you've cut that out, you're ready to go once you've removed the clear plastic backing. Place the shape with the outline facing upwards which is also slightly sticky as close to the cuticle as you can get, press down and then use either a cotton pad soaked in water across the back, or just some drops of water to transfer the stencil onto the skin. Once you've added water, the transfer starts very quickly and it's easy to remove the back before the transfer is complete, so take care to make sure that you get the entire design transferred onto your finger before you slide the backing paper away.

The process itself of transferring the tattoo onto the skin is very straight forward and you can't really go wrong, however the trickiest bit is placing the tattoo close enough to your cuticles that it looks nice once you've rubbed the stencil with water. I must admit that I thought that I placed the stencil very close to the cuticle, but in my opinion I probably could have gone even closer and I think that these are things that you'll learn only through trial and error. I have to say that I'm slightly disappointed in the clarity of the outline of the tattoo, if you've seen photos of the cute bow, it looks very clear and precise, although at least with the stars that I chose they are much more faint and not at all what I had pictured, but that could be down to the design. More important is the wear of it; it took me about 10 mins to read and follow the directions properly, being careful with how I traced the outline and then transferring it onto my accent fingers (each ringer finger), however I am VERY disappointed in the wear. It only lasted me a few hrs on one hand before I had washed it away through daily wear and tear and you probably could remove it unintentionally even sooner if you happen to scrub that area just a little bit more than through a normal hand wash e.g. when you apply a hand cream. Considering how long it took me to do just two fingers, I don't think that I would go all out and do one tattoo on each finger and personally I'm not sure that the look is worth it since it's a lot of fiddling for a few hrs of flawless wear, but I guess that if you're expectations are low and all you're looking for is a night out look, then you might be happy with it. What do you think - would you give this a go?

Life in letters TAG

TAGs can be a fun way to share a bit more about yourself and today I thought I would do the Life in letters TAG, which isn't the easiest TAG In the world to do since you go through the alphabet and give a fact about yourself that starts with each letter. It was quite a long time ago now that I was tagged by the lovely Jen from A little bit of Jen to do this, and it's been sitting in my draft for a little while since I only do one TAG a month - but better late than never and I hope you enjoy it!

A - I love ANIMALS to the point that I wouldn't even kill a mosquito, which is rather stupid of me especially since I'm allergic to mosquito bites and mozzies seem to love me.

B - I've been BLOGGING since July 2013 and have been amazed at the level of support and encouragement that I have received. Blogging is definitely a commitment that requires focus, thought and effort and getting lovely feedback and interacting with everyone in blogiverse, makes it all worth it!

C - My favorite tipple is CHAMPAGNE, and we usually end the week with a bottle or so. It's really tough having to do this weekly chore, but someone has to do it... 

D - I love to DANCE, especially salsa and tango 

E - I have always been very interested in ancient EGYPT so it was a dream come true when I got a chance to visit and see all the famous sights along the Nile and the Pyramides.

F - I have a very curious FELINE, or rather she has me... She's been my constant companion for 16 years and filled every single day with lots of fun and laughter - she's a senior, but you wouldn't know it to look at her. 

G - I'm a massive fan of GREY'S ANATOMY and have recently started to watch the series all the way from the beginning again. I just can't get enough of McDreamy, not to mention McSteamy...
H - I'm a neat and tidy person, but when it comes to all things beauty, actually change that to girly (clothes, makeup, shoes, bags, jewellery) I am a complete HOARDER, e.g. I think I could wear a different statement necklace every single day for the next 3 months. I should really speak to someone about that...
I - Even though I try to eat clean and healthy most of the time ICE CREAM is my biggest weakness and I've never really understood the concept of scoops... why? Just give me the whole tub!
J - My favorite food is JAPANESE and if I'm ever lucky enough to be able to visit Japan I have a feeling I'll spend a lot of my time there eating...
K - Since I love to read and always have a few books on the go, my KINDLE always comes with me wherever I go and since I got it, my bags are considerably lighter since I don't have to lug around stacks of books anymore.
L - I start every day with a cup of hot LEMON WATER and cayenne. It's brilliant for kick starting your metabolism, it detoxes and brightens your skin - not bad for such a humble drink! 
M - I'm ridiculously fond of animated films like MADAGASCAR and Ice Age and probably laugh more and louder than any of the kids in the cinema.

N - I am a NAIL POLISHAHOLIC. How can you tell, you ask? - well I own 284 nail polishes... say no more... (yes I did count them).
O - I've mentioned before that I'm a bit of a magpie and in addition to being attracted to anything sparkly I've genuinely always been fascinated by gems and stones, these little masterpieces of nature. My favorite gemstone is the precious OPAL, because of its incredible explosion of color and light.
P - I am a die hard fan of PILATES which I've been practising for as long as I can remember and I swear by it as a way to stay lean, strong and healthy.
Q - I love QUINOA, it's an amazingly useful protein rich grain that you can use for both sweet and savoury dishes.
R - My absolute favorite perfume ever (and that says a lot considering I'm a perfume collector) is REFLECTION from the Omani perfumier Amouage, and it's probably extra special to me since I associate it with my honeymoon - you can read a review of it in the Silver edition. 
S - As many of you may know I am SWEDISH but work brought me to the UK after I'd been traveling around a bit.
T - I love to TRAVEL and explore new places but I am a terrible traveller; I get car sick, sea sick and am to put it mildly a VERY nervous flyer. Bring on teleportation is what I say!

 U - I spent quite a lot of very happy years at UNIVERSITY, I absolutely LOVE learning new things and if it wasn't for that small thing called paying your bills, I would probably still be studying something obscure in a corner of a dusty faculty library somewhere.
V - Most of my life I've been a VEGETARIAN and although it's a personal choice that I wouldn't impose on anyone, I think I'm healthier for it. 
W - If I could have any job in the world, I would want to be a WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER
X - My favorite holiday of the year is X-mas, there's just nothing like it.
Y - In addition to doing pilates I also do YOGA. I find that it's a great combination and where Pilates adds a lot of strength, the yoga helps to stretch the muscles afterwards.
Z - One of the best experiences in my life was when I got to be a ZOO KEEPER for the day a few years ago working with tigers, leopards and lions. It was an incredible day being that close to these amazing animals that I'll never forget and a massive thank you to Him Indoors for arranging it.

Wow, certainly not the easiest TAG in the world to do, but I hope that you've learned a little bit more about me, and as I'm sure you've guessed I now need your help to keep this going. Everyone is welcome to join in, but I also specifically TAG the following and I hope you can join in:

Shubha from Blue Velvet Addict 

Siobhán from Make Up For Dolls 

May from La Vie en May 

Victoria from Florence and Mary 

Laura from Maquillage Magic

Have a great Sunday everyone and I'll see you tomorrow with a Manic.Monday post! Xx

I won a prize in the Fanny Crown Blogger Contest!

Good morning all, I hope you're enjoying the weekend! You may remember that I did a designer inspired post in April (Don't be distressed, be a Damsel in Dress with Fanny Crown) as a competition entry with Fanny Crown in which I picked one of their amazing dresses and then created a mood board around it.

 

I got some wonderful feedback and comments from all of you about my Dolce & Gabbana inspired article and I'm very happy and honoured to announce that Fanny Crown awarded me one of the 3 Bronze prizes amongst the April winners for my entry.

Thank you so SO much to Fanny Crown and everyone for all your support, and if you feel inspired to join in the competition that runs on a monthly basis, here's a reminder of the rules, so join in and have fun creating your dream outfit!

Clicking with Clinique

One of the first premium brands I ever used when my passion for beauty things started many moons ago was Clinique, more specifically their 3-step skin care system and their mascaras. Unfortunately the skin care products didn't seem to do anything for my skin at the time, and I soon found other mascara favorites so except for fragrances it's been a loooong time since I bought anything from Clinique - that is at least up until a few weeks ago. This season Clinique has launched some beautiful makeup which is why I found myself a sunny morning at the Clinique counter in Boots planning on treating myself to one of their gorgeous Cheek Pop Blushes, but you know what they say about best laid plans so instead I ended up trying (and buying... how did THAT happen?!) a few other products and here's a sneak peak at what I bought - more detailed reviews will follow.

I was never really interested in BB Creams but I'm much more curious about CCs and DDs - feel as if I'm talking about bra sizes here.., so when the extremely helpful assistant suggested that I try the Clinique Moisture Surge CC Cream Colour Corrector (£28) I jumped at the chance. The CC cream is intended to increase radiance while it also adds intense hydration, the color correction evens out your skin tone and it has a built in SPF30, which is always an extra bonus. The cream feels very light on the skin and so far I'm very impressed with the color it gives and the wear.

Another product I had wanted to try ever since it was released is the Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara (£12) and since at the moment I have quite a few volumising mascaras with monster brushes that work fine for the upper lashes but almost always make a mess when I apply on the bottom lashes I have a great excuse for getting it. I haven't tried the mascara yet but I'm very excited to see if it lives up to its excellent reputation. I quite unexpectedly ended up with a couple of chubby sticks as well; to all beauty junkies joy there are so many lovely lip crayons in all price ranges and colors available on the high street to choose from, and I have tried quite a lot of them but never the original Clinique Chubby Stick Lip Balm (£17) which of course is a gap in my chubby stick knowledge that I had to fix, so when I saw the beautiful shade Mighty Mimosa I just had to get it even though it is a bit more expensive than other great lip crayons. The formula seems lovely and nourishing and the color Mighty Mimosa is a beautiful sheer light peachy pink, just perfect for a natural summer look (a color swatch is available here on my Instagram). It's not just pretty colors that are sure to draw me in, anything that's slightly unusual automatically catches my eyes which is what happened with the Clinique Chubby Stick Shadow Tint for Eyes (£17) in Whopping Willow. I've tried this formula before and know that it's easy to work with and wears very well throughout the day, but even if I hadn't tried it before I would have bought it anyway because of the unusual color. Whopping Willow is a light golden straw green (have a look at a swatch on my Instagram) and since I've got a bit of a tan at the moment it is perfect for highlighting my eyes. I didn't get the Cheek Pop Blush that I originally was after, but instead I've rediscovered Clinique and since we've definitely clicked there will be many other opportunities to get that!

Celebrate spring with Aerin's Lilac Path EdP

You don't have to be a beauty junkie to have heard of Estée Lauder - one of the most well known, iconic and successful brands in the beauty industry, and without a doubt one of my favorite brands (you can see a post about my Fave 5 Estée Lauder products here). But it's not the only brand created by a member of the famous Lauder family, we also have Aerin - a wonderful stylish and elegant lifestyle brand created by Aerin Lauder (Estée Lauder's grand daughter) offering beauty products as well as home decor and fashion accessories. The beauty range consists of makeup and fragrances, characterized by beautiful packaging and soft timeless shades for a feminine, romantic and effortless look. Today I'll focus on one of the products from the fragrance collection which has five different scents, all based on classical florals but with an added contemporary twist; Gardenia Rattan, Amber Musk, Lilac Path, Ikat Jasmine and Evening Rose. Although they all smell amazing, I had already decided that I wanted Aerin Lilac Path EdP (£85) even before I'd tested it, since lilac is one of my most loved flowers EVER and it's surprisingly difficult to find good lilac based fragrances. All I needed to do was to make sure that it did in fact smell as fantastic as I had imagined, and the long and the short of it is that it most certainly did. 

If we start with the packaging, all the boxes have a lovely abstract floral pattern and a color that is associated with the floral base of the scent which in this case with Lilac Path, is a pretty lavender lilac and inside the box is one of the most beautiful perfume bottles I've ever owned - cut glass with an imitation of a rose quartz as a stop, it's simple, chic and it oozes refinement. You can really tell from the design and print that Aerin has made its mark when it comes to decor and soft furnishings. The scent is a fresh, soft, crisp and pure combination of beautiful spring florals. When you first spray it on you're wrapped in delicate lilacs that give way to seductive jasmine for depth and creamy summery orange flower. Despite being so rich in very distinct floral scents, the fragrance is very graceful, airy and mild, like spring in a bottle and there's no sickly sweetness or heaviness to it at all. As an Eau de Parfum, it's not as diluted with alcohol as e.g. colognes and Eau de Toilettes which means that not only is the scent more pure and prominent, but it also lasts longer and I'd say that one spray lasts for about five hours. As I love lilacs I have been searching for a good lilac fragrance for years, and as I mentioned at the start: they're not easy to find, but Lilac Path isn't a good lilac fragrance - it is absolutely MAGNIFICENT; it gives an exquisite, polished and classy impression and wearing it makes me feel like a queen. If you're looking for a fragrance that is out of the ordinary then something from the Aerin fragrance collection is a real treat that you won't forget. Aerin isn't as widely available as Estée Lauder products, but in the UK you can find Aerin in Selfridges, Harrods, selected John Lewis stores (not available online) and from Estée Lauder.

Manic.Monday: Scentillating nail polishes from Revlon

I don't know why, but when it comes to nail polishes Revlon usually doesn't seem to have a lot that catches my eye - with the exception of Moon Candy, but as soon as I saw the news that they were going to launch a scented range I was literally counting the days to the release date and even signed up to get first dibs on them in Boots. Finally the release day arrived and I quickly bought a few bottles of Revlon's Perfumerie Scented Nail Enamel (£6.49) but with 20 shades to choose between ranging from soft pastels, vibrant shades and darker sophisticated colors it certainly wasn't easy to choose. I have to confess that it's the first time that I've not only let my eyes guide me when I decide on a nail polish shade, but also my nose and after much testing and so much sniffing that I was almost light headed, I decided on Autumn Spice, Wintermint and Fresh Linen. Most of the time a nail polish bottle is just a nail polish bottle, some are more fancy than others but ultimately there's not too much you can say about it, but with the Revlon Perfumerie range I really like how they've made them just a little bit different by having a rounded top, which reminds me of apothecary bottles or old fashioned perfume bottles, it's a very nice attention to detail.

The formula has a nice and easy to work with consistency, and although the brush isn't particularly wide you'll get an even streak free finish with minimum effort, at least with the darker colors although I did have to be a little bit more careful with Fresh Linen, but that's not unusual for lighter shades in general I find. Revlon does recommend that you apply the polish in two coats, and out of the shades that I tried it's really only Autumn Spice that you can get away with wearing only one coat since the pigmentation is that strong, although for maximum impact of both color and scent you definitely need at least two coats with the others. In the photo I've actually used three coat and as you can see the look is lovely and opaque even with the lightest shade, and as the polish is fairly quick drying, I would definitely recommend that you apply more rather than fewer coats. I haven't actually worn these with a top coat, since I wasn't sure what that would do with the scent, but without a top coat and with three coats the colors lasts about 3 days on me before they start to chip, which I think is a pretty average length of wear. The formula contains essential oils that develop throughout the coats and which will come into their own once they have dried, and that scent is quite noticeable for the first day or so and then it gradually fades.

I wouldn't necessarily have bought these three shades if the polish hadn't been scented but I was so intrigued by the whole concept that I wanted to try a little bit of every scent type; Autumn Spice is a sophisticated warm maroon color with a subtle bronze sparkle and with a wonderful and comforting warm cinnamon pumpkin spiced scent. Then we have Wintermint which is a lovely cool pale sea foam green color with light blue glitter which reminds me a lot of Deborah Lippman's Mermaid's Dream. It has an incredible fresh and soft mint scent that smells quite strong, but in a good way. Last but not least we have Fresh Linen which is a nude pale wheat color with a slight pearlescent shimmer and it has a clean, fresh and ever so slightly soapy scent. Out of the shades I tried my favorites is definitely Wintermint, and when I've worn it I feel like a school girl because I can't stop sniffing my nails throughout the day. The Revlon Perfumerie range is a fun concept and I really hope that Revlon plan on introducing more shades and scents, but until then head down to Boots and make use of their 3 for 2 offer, and get yourself some yummy nail polish!

Herbal Essences Moroccan My Shine Nourishing Products - Yes, yes, yes or No, no, no?

Have you ever really wanted to like a product, but it just doesn't work for you? That's sums up how I used to feel about Herbal Essences hair care - great prices, wonderful scents but they dried out my hair completely, turning it into an unruly coarse ball of knots. Remembering these painful previous experiences of Herbal Essences, it was with a lot of apprehension that I decided to try the Bee Strong range last year, BUT but I was completely bowled over by these products (you can read my review here) and how soft and silky they made my hair. With this new experience fresh in mind I decided to be a bit brave and to also try the latest product range - the Herbal Essences Moroccan My Shine Nourishing Shampoo (£3.79) & Conditioner (£3.79). The range targets damaged and dull hair and contains the well known argan oil - the amazing miracle oil for hair and nails, which is rich in vitamin e and carotenes and therefore perfect for strengthening the hair and improving thickness and shine.

All shampoos that I've tried have had that typical gel like syrupy consistency that we all know, however this shampoo is very different since it has a much thicker, milkier and creamier consistency, almost like a conditioner and the first time I tried this shampoo I even had to double check that I wasn't trying to wash my hair with the conditioner! Despite this creamy consistency the Moroccan My Shine Shampoo develops a generous lather, which is something I really need from a shampoo and it cleans the hair gently without making it feel stripped of moisture. Personally I try not to wash my hair too often, but the shampoo is gentle enough that you could use it daily if you want. If the shampoo was thicker than I had expected, then on the other hand the conditioner isn't quite as rich and thick as many others I've tried and the consistency feels a little light for my liking, although it does make the hair feel very silky, sleek and conditioned - even to the point that I don't need to use a detangling spray when combing through my hair.

Now, I really enjoy argan oil not only in beauty products but I use it in cooking as well and I absolutely love the taste and the scent of it, so I was very surprised and a little bit disappointed that none of the products have that gorgeous and distinct roasted nutty scent at all, but if you don't like the scent of nuts you'll be very happy to know that both the shampoo and conditioner smell like a summer orchard, filled with sun kissed apples and pears. All in all, I'm almost as impressed by the Moroccan My Shine products as I was with the Bee Strong range - my hair feels nourished, soft and well behaved, although after 3 weeks of using it I can't say that I've noticed any improvement on the thickness of my hair (at least not yet), but with the generous amount of product that you get, these products are great value for money and I would recommend that you take advantage of the current Boots offer of 2 Herbal Essences products for £4 . For me the Moroccan My Shine Nourishing products are a definite Yes, yes... YES!

April on my mind

April was a month of indulgence in so many ways. First of all we've been spoiled silly in the south of England with beautiful sunny and warm days made for lounging on the grass or having a picnic and I don't think that the long awaited bikini days are far away now. I also might have done some accidental shopping, oops... like some new clothes for the season and since I've attended a few beauty sessions with Dior, Clinique and Estée Lauder I also picked up a few odds and sods that I'll show you very soon. I can't remember when I last had this many treats of amazing food and cake, but I completely refuse to feel guilty about it and instead I'll quote Marie Antoinette: "Let them (me) eat cake!". Then of course we had Easter, which for me always signifies the beginning of something new and this year I was so looking forward to Easter since it's the first proper break we've had since Christmas and for one could certainly feel it. While we were away in Suffolk we definitely indulged in all of the above, but in in double dose and getting away for a few days was a well needed break to recharge the batteries. For me April was also a month of appreciating the small things in life like spending time with friends, seeing new places and snuggling up on the sofa with Him Indoors and Cat watching a great film. Maybe it doesn't sound like much but I've enjoyed every second of it and have tried to bottle up this calmness and harmony since I have a lot on for the next few months, and I have a feeling the tempo will be anything but slow and I'll definitely need to tap into some of the the energy I've got stored up now, so come on May - I'm ready for you!