Mother's Day Gift Guide

Flowers and chocolates are always gratefully received at Mother's Day but there are some lovely gift solutions available that make amazing alternatives to these traditional items. Here are a few of the ones we received recently that will certainly put a smile on mums face this Sunday!

Valentine's Day Gift Guide - For Him and Her

It's that time of year again; when the shops fill with confectionery and flowers, cupid seems to be firing arrows at everyone and love is in the air. That's right, Valentine's Day is upon us.

We have some great gift ideas to suit most budgets here for the him or her in your heart... 

I just hope my Mr is taking note too!

Get Salon Quality Nails with Rokit (and your chance to WIN)

If you would love salon quality nails without the price tag, the Rokit Nail Kit is a great purchase to make. It is so simple to use and you can create beautiful talons time and time again in the comfort of your own home.

The set contains:

• A high performance LED lamp with 32 LED lights and a built in timer for ease of use
• A gel polish (more are available separately)
• Nail File/Buffer
• Cuticle Stick
• Lint free cleansing pads
• Rokit Ready
• Conditioning Cuticle Oil
• Rokit Remove

Beauty Bags From Victoria Green (and your chance to WIN)

Victoria Green is a British textile and home product designer with 20 years experience. Born and raised in Cumbria, Victoria studied at Winchester School of Art, before going on to work for some of the high streets biggest names, including Laura Ashley, Heal’s, The White Company, M&S and Debenhams.

Victoria had always dreamed of launching her own product range and last year took the brave step of setting up on her own under the 'Victoria Green' name. Her first collection of eight beauty bags launched last February.

Victoria Green Love Hearts Print Traveller Bag

This bag is perfectly proportioned to keep all of your holiday essentials inside safely. It has two spacious compartments, both of which are waterproof, and a zip closure. The coated cotton canvas is easy to clean due to the surface material and it has a lovely heart and polka dot print.

Night without the kids? Then it’s glamour time!

They run around at your feet like excitable hounds, jump around while you do the dishes, and wake you up in the middle of the night to get rid of monsters under the bed. You love your kids – but when will you have time for yourself?

Sometimes you simply have to drop the kids off at their gran’s, get dolled up and hit the town. But that eye for fashion that used to be so sharp has grown a bit rusty since you’ve started raising kids.

Fear not! We’ve put together a few top fashion tips to inject a dose of modern glam back in your life. Have a gander and you’ll be looking more stylish than a Cara Delevigne and Kate Moss double act.

Maximise your makeup

You’ve probably got a few friends who are complete fashion disasters; the type of people who own more mascara than sense.

Christmas Gift Guide - The Adults Edition

It's often the adults that are particularly difficult to buy for at Christmas but hopefully these ideas will help you to purchase something magical for the loved ones in your life this December...

Bright Side Notebook - £7.99

It's always a good idea to have a notebook laying around for writing shopping lists, jotting down important things to remember or even by the phone for taking messages, and this one is a quirky and fun alternative to the norm. 

Christmas Gift Giveaway - Day 28

My #ChristmasGiftGiveaway is back - 30 days 30+ prizes!
A BIG thank you to my followers for their support this year.

WIN 1 of 2 Beauty Gift Sets

Christmas Gift Giveaway - Day 23

My Christmas Gift Giveaway is back! 30 days, 30+ fantastic prizes.

A big thank you to my followers this year.

WIN a Bundle of Goodies

Christmas Gift Giveaway - Day 14

My Christmas Gift Giveaway is back! 30 days, 30+ fantastic prizes.

A big thank you to my followers for their support this year.

WIN Lorena Oberg Miracle Oil

Christmas Gift Giveaway - Day 8

My Christmas Gift Giveaway is back! 30 days, 30+ fantastic prizes.
A little thank you for all of your support this year.

Spooktacular Bath Time Fun

If the kids need encouragement to have a bath, which can be quite common, the best way to get them into the tub is by making cleaning fun. Shaped or character sponges, plenty of bubbles and toys can really help but I've recently discovered that the products from Mini-U help too; to the extent that I now struggle to get the kids back out as they enjoy them so much!

Keep bugs at bay, the Vosene way

With the children back at school and others starting for the first time, it's quite likely that at some point soon your little ones will return home with unwanted visitors. Head lice. 

Unfortunately as many as 63% of parents, with children aged 4-11 years of age, have said in a survey that their children have had head lice. Prevention is certainly better, and easier than cure, and Vosene's repellent products are here to help!

Lice go for clean or dirty hair, long or short, so if heads touch (they can't fly/jump) it is possible they will be transferred but you can certainly do your bit to try and prevent them. Vosene Kids shampoo and conditioning spray help to defend against head lice and leave hair clean and fresh with each use.

Body Care with Montagne Jeunesse

We don't all have the time or funds to book regular spa days unfortunately but that's no reason to stop well deserved pamper sessions! With Montagne Jeunesse you can treat yourself to some relaxing beauty treatments on a regular basis at home, without breaking the bank.

Seaweed Peel Off Masque

We received a lovely bundle of goodies from Monagne Jeunesse to put to the test:

Saturday Caption... The One With The Mr Wearing Makeup

The Mr decided to do his bit for charity so he decided to #ManUpAndMakeup.

His t-shirt is quite appropriate, don't you think...

Lip Balm Lab - National Science Week

National Science and Engineering Week was 15th-24th March this year and it was a great way to inspire the children (and adults) of today to have a career in these areas -  both of which are very important to our economy. We didn't get to attend any events in relation to this unfortunately but we have however had fun with Interplay's Wild Science Lip Balm Lab at home instead!

This kit is ideal for tweens and Minxy thoroughly enjoyed creating her own make-up products. She got a real sense of achievement and discovered how exciting experiments can really be. She is very much into science already but for those that aren't keen this may encourage them to give it a go.

Contents

Soy Ester

Baby Oil

Vegetable Wax Beads

Fine Shimmer

Strawberry Flavouring

Oil Based Red Colouring

Lip Balm Storage Jar

Spoons

Stick

Beakers

Gloves

Microwave Heating Tray

Sample Tray

Colour Instructions

Mother's Day - Bargain Buys

Homemade cakes and cards are a lovely treat on Mother's Day, but quite often your kind and thoughtful little ones will want to use their own pocket money to purchase a gift for mum. They probably don't have a fortune to spend though so making the most of their pennies will certainly help - our list of bargain buys should provide you with some ideas!

All of these are just £5 or less.

• Aldi have a superb selection of great value gift solutions this March from handbags and pjs to flowers and teapots. Their cosmetic bags come in a set of three and are perfect for mums that like to travel with all of their essentials to hand or just want to keep their makeup organised

WIN a Best Wishes Gift Set from Lush #ChristmasGiftGiveaway

This box of bath time delights from Lush is beautifully presented and would make a great gift solution this Christmas! 

The Best Wishes set contains a trio of goodies and it's a steal at £13.50 complete with wrapping, ribbon and tag.

Luxury Lush Pud

With lavender, tonka absolute and ylang ylang this bath bomb will help to melt away the stresses of the season and relax you. The pastel colours are really pretty and your water will soon turn purple as you lay back and enjoy! I'm not a great lover of lavender in general but the scent was pleasantly sweet and it really helped me to unwind.

Golden Wonder

This bath bomb is layer upon layer of colour and filled with paper stars that float to the surface as the product dissolves - if you shake it you can hear them rattle about inside! It's a very festive treat featuring gold lustre and shades of blue and green. It bubbles away under running water like champagne and the air is filled with scents of orange, lime and cognac oils - Minxy indulged with this one and she loved the little parcel style presentation.

Snowcake

I adore the sweet scent of this soap. It's compared to fruit and marzipan and I would totally agree. It lathers up well for hands or body and it doesn't dry out your skin. 

The fragrance of rose absolute, cassis absolute and benzoin resin lingers nicely for hours.

*** WIN ***

For your chance to win a Best Wishes gift set from Lush you can enter via the Rafflecopter entry form below.

The giveaway closes on 10th December 2013.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Make sure you enter the previous competitions and return tomorrow for our next #ChristmasGiftGiveaway!

You can find out more information here: 

http://www.theminimesandme.com/2013/10/christmas-gift-giveaway-2013.html

Silent Sunday

How Does Your Garden Grow?

To celebrate World Photography Day on Monday I decided to head out into the garden to attempt to capture some of the natural beauty (among the weeds) that lingers.

I don't have a digital camera. It was broken some time ago in a night out involving a few too many cocktails *cough* so this was taken on my iPhone...

My garden is filled with buddleia and butterflies at the moment and I was pleasantly surprised by not only the quality of my picture, especially as I'm quite a novice, but by the fact that the butterfly sat still long enough for me to take a photo of it.... even though the Mini Mes were screeching around on their scooters in the background.


How does your garden grow?



I'm linking this with...

The theme this week is World Photography Day

Christmas Gift Giveaway - Korres

Korres is a Greek skincare brand that provides a natural and organic range of products and they have some lovely gift sets available for Christmas. 

The Shower Gel Trio Gift Set contains Basil Lemon, Guava and Fig shower gels for a refreshing clean and with 90% Natural ingredients and Dermatologically tested (no animal testing) you can feel guilt free using it!

The Party Survival Kit contains all the essentials for the morning after the night before; Wild Rose 24 Hour Moisturiser, Evening Primrose Eye Cream, Guava Body butter, Guava Shower Gel, Milk Proteins Cleanser and Lemon Chewing Gums. Packaged beautifully in a gift box it would be the perfect gift for those who like to celebrate the festivities in style.

*** WIN ***

We have a Party Survival Kit and Shower Gel Trio to giveaway!

You can enter via the Rafflecopter entry form below before 20th December 2012.

Good luck!

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Both of these gift sets are available to purchase here: www.OliverBonas.com