Never Plan Anything

Hello, Everyone :) I just wanted to give you guys a quick shoutout and say that all the posts I have planned for this week, will be on hold due to the fact that I am sick as a dog. 

But do keep checking back as I will get back to posting the minute I feel better 

xoxo

Meril

Monthly Fashion Picks

Hello, Everyone :)

Welcome to (drumroll please....) ''Fashion Week'' :) I love fashion, but I love finding stylish pieces that will last and fit for years and years even more. It's all about style once you pass that 24 years old mark I think, because usually by this time you have experimented enough to have found what works and what doesn't for you. If you are still searching then there is nothing wrong with that too. Have fun with fashion, mix it up and do try new things every now and then :) And where do I go for those new trend buys I think I need...Missguided...

I think if you have been reading my blog for a while, then you know how much I love this super affordable on-line fashion retailer. The quality is so good and the fashion is on trend. But even if you're not into edgy new fashion pieces there are lots of classic items like cigarette pants and shirts, awesome footwear and amazing accessories to choose from. So I will try (I'm not going to promise :D) to bring to you my favourite pieces from Missguided every month...

And here are this months picks :)

So I seem to be obsessed with Khaki, Navy blue and grey. And that is absolutely ok with me :D I'm also gravitating towards really chunky cardigans and really tight dresses :D Maybe a few more weeks in the gym and I will treat myself to one of these beautiful bodycon dresses :)

Hope you enjoyed my little Missguided picks

Stay tuned

xoxo

Meril

End Of

Hello, Everyone :)
It's another end of another week. I know it's really Tuesday, but when you are a stay at home mother you can set your own week endings and starts, or that is what I'd like to think. The week ending I'm really talking about is the Holiday Week...on blog it didn't really go that well. But I'm actually quite excited to end it so I can start another one, that will hopefully go a bit better.
But as a finishing treat, here are a little video and a few more pictures from our time in Cabo Verde :)

I love this little video of Oscar. He stops and poses for Dan to take a photo of him and then continues with his little walk :) So freakin sweeeeeeet :)

This is one of the pictures I actually absolutely hated, because I just felt I look so massive and it was just one of those why meeee? moments with this one. Then I realised that I am actually not massive, I'm just next to a 1 year old and a skinny guy :D SO I figured I'll just put this picture out in the world to remind me to be less critical about myself.

The amount of pain we went through to find these swimming outfits for Oscar. They are from Debenhams and cost a fare wack with about £20 for each (we got 2)but they were so worth it in the end. Oscar hated when we tried putting sun cream on him, so it was good that most of his body was already protected with this spf40 suit :)

YES I look like a twat, but I wanted a picture with the massive waves :D I mean they were huge. The red flag was up most days because these waves would take  a grown man down and under. And they were also very loud. The bikini is again Roxy :)

Anyway, I do hope you have enjoyed a few little snippets from our first long haul family holiday to the hot Cape Verde. And as always, Stay tuned :)

xoxo

Meril

White Blouse

Hello, Everyone :)
You know when you pack your bags for the holiday and plan your outfits and you think you're going to look amazing at all times? And then you realise that you really don't want to put make up on every day just in case there will be pictures taken because it's bloody hot outside. You don't really want to wear those high wedges that go nicely with that short skirt because you are running after a toddler all the time and bending down in places where people will have a full view of your private parts. So you end up wearing pretty much the same kind of outfit pretty much every day, because it looks nice AND it's practical for the holiday. For me the outfit was shorts and this £5 peasant blouse from Missguided that I ordered from their sale section only a few days before the trip. And this top has become my favourite since I wore it the first time.

I mostly wore it with my two pairs of jeans shorts I took with me and mixed up my shoes and accessories :) So if I was going for dinner I would wear sandals and some jewellery but if we were going to the playground with Oscar it would be paired with tennis shoes and my trusty backpack (I will talk about that some other time :D)

And now I have wore it so many times during my holiday I have kind of gotten obsessed with white blouson style gypsy/peasant tops. SO above are a few other ones from Missguided I love and the first one is the actual one I own. And I love that mixing it up with different items of clothing I can wear it all year around :)

What is your favourite holiday outfit? Let me know in the comments below :)

And as always, Stay tuned

xoxo

Meril

Holiday

Hello, Everyone :)
SO blogging on a holiday went great :D Let me just put it out there before anyone else does...I failed miserably. We just had way too much fun and we packed every day with lots of activities and naps :) Yes...naps...most days we all had 2 naps and it was wonderful :D I will also apologise to everyone who has emailed me, I have filed the emails and I WILL reply :) As like I already said the Internet and WiFi situation was poor in Cape Verde. But here are a few pictures I took of Oscar on the beach that I love so much. It was our last day (not travelling back day) so we decided to take a long stroll on along the soft sand and crashing waves while the Sun shun brigth and the wind blew stong.

And if you haven't already realised then we are back home now and apart from getting more activities and adventures for Oscar I will try to get back to the old routine we had, because even though holiday mode is great... in the real world it won't work for that long :D I will write a few posts about the lovely holiday we had and then continue with the interests, hobby and family posts with a few little foodie ones thrown into the mix as well.

So Stay tuned

xoxo

Meril

Travel Day

Hello, Eeveryone :)

You know that feeling you get when you step out of the plane and the heat hits you with all it's force :)? Being couped up inside due to bad weather and cold in England I am currently experiencing a feeling I can't really describe. It's a mixture of tiredness and happiness and buzz all at the same time. We have only been here for a day and a bit and as you might have noticed this post is late....due to no fault of mine really. Because apparently having wifi in rooms is such a tabu here in Cabo Verde I have been unable to write at the times I usually do. 

I am not saying there is no Internet what so ever, that would be just crazyness :D but it's only in the lobby/bar area and I didn't really want to leave D alone in the room with a sleeping Oscar on the first night :D

But let me tell you about the joy that was travelling with a 16 month old for about 8 hours (6 hours of that in a plane). And I'm not even joking about the ''joy'' part of this as it really couldn't have been better. Well it can always be better, but what we got was pretty damn good as well. 

I know no one really wants to hear a happy story, but I thin I still learnt a few tricks along the way that I can share with all the mama's going to travel in the near future :)

We only had about 45 minutes of this blissfull sleep until the silly lady started talking too loundly, but it was nice none the less and gave us a well needed break of entertaining the little one to keep him happy.

So here are my 5 tips to last a ''semi'' long flight with a toddler

1. Get new toys - I give all the credit to Dan for this one, because he was the one researching the good toys to get and actually got them in time and then managed to not give them to Oscar ahead of time. 

The 2 things I thought were pretty awesome were the buckle pillow, that you can see on the picture and sticker books.

The buckle pillow kept him entertained for a good half an hour initally and then he kept going back to it. So it was definitely a WIN. And the sticker book (stickers you can re-attach) is another one of those things he had so much fun with. To be honest he has been loving sticking little stickers everywhere lately, which is why D got it in the first place, but the fact that you can stick them on the pages and stick them again and again, is what made a huge difference. 

2. Bring snacks - the unheathy kind you know he will love

3. Be calm - you are locked in an airplane for the duration of the flight, so no matter how angry you will get, you will not be getting off early :D SO why bother stressing yourself and everyone around you out by being a stresshead.

4. pack all the baby stuff is one bag in separate zip lock bags, so everything will be easy to find when you need it. Snacks and drinks in one bag, diapers and wipes in another, toys and books in the third....you get the idea. Also pack a set of spare clothes...there might be explosions of all kind

5. If strangers wants to help you out.... let them :D you are in a contained space so no one can steal your child, so if he is willing to go for a little walk down the isle with a complete stranger, then let him :D you will get a little breather and your child will have a little change of scenery so to say.

But all in all we were so lucky with Oscar behaving so well on the flight and even during lift off and landing. And now it's our second night here and we are all enjoying it so much. More to come ...

So...As Always

Stay Tuned

xoxo

Meril

Holiday Week

Hello, Everyone :)

Let me start by saying how sorry I am for being late with this post. The plan was to still upload a post every morning at 9am like during Beauty Week, but life got in the way yesterday so I had no time to write or prepare anything. Tomorrows post will also be a late one, because we are travelling quite early and obviously I won't be able to do any work on the plane as there will be a little toddler needing all my attention at all times :D But that means I will be able to do an update of our travel day and tell you all about how it went :) And during Holiday Week I will be updating you all about how and what we are doing on (I can now reveal it)Sal Island in Cape Verde. 

Totally stole this picture from the Internet and I have really no idea if it's in Sal or another Cape Verde Island :D But hey I wanted a nice picture rather than a pile of suitcases that is sat in D's office waiting to be taken to the car tomorrow morning at 7am :( :D

So what have I been doing today? It feels like everything. I have been trying to get the whole family ready to go, packed my things and Oscars thing. I cleaned the house :D (Is it just me or coming home from a holiday is less painful when you know you are coming back to a clean home and clean bedsheets?)Prepped everything for the plane trip...so everything that is not going in the checked in luggage. I also went and got a few last minute things and collected the things we ordered .... All in a day :D And the day is not even over. Once I finish this post, because I told Dan I needed to do this, I have to go and help him clear our living room and cover our furniture, because while we are gone some work will be carried out....some wall plastering and stuff I'm quite happy about not having to witness :D OH, and I also did a food order for when we are back. We are getting back quite late on Tuesday and we will be arriving to a pretty much empty fridge, so I did our usual weekly food order for Wednesday morning. So I have been very busy here, but I'm glad I've made the time to write this post and let everyone know I haven't given up on the blog already :D 

But for now I hope to see you all back here every day for a week for Holiday realated posts filled with Sun, Sea and Burnt Shins (or hopefully just some tanned skin :D rather than burnt :)

And As always 

Stay tuned, everyone :)

xoxo

Meril

The End Of Beauty Week

Good Morning, Everyone :)
It is officially the end of beauty week here on WhiteCrispShirt and let me just say how proud I am of myself for completing it :) During the week I shared my latest beauty finds, make up looks, product reviews and lots of other fun stuff with you and I enjoyed every little bit of it.
Today was meant to be the unboxing of my first Glossybox post, but silly me I didn't realise I had to register online first to start receiving my monthly box :D (Dan got me a 6 month Glossybox subscription for Christmas, and I'll admit I was really excited so I didn't read the actual letter until he asked me about it today :D) I have now done the work though, so the box should be with me in a week or so and then I will most definitely be sharing it with all you guys as well :)

I am currently in the eating fruit for breakfast (I had too much wine yesterday :D) and planning my next weeks post kind of mood. And since I'm on the subject of next week I am now able to say that we are going on a holiday :) SO from Monday onwards there will be all kinds of holiday related post because it's going to be ''Holiday Week'' here on WhiteCrispShirt

But for now, I hope you enjoyed Beauty week as much as I did and 

As Always Stay tuned 

xoxo

Meril

All Time Beauty Favourites

Hello, Everyone :)

It is day 5 of Beauty Week and today I am sharing my all time beauty favourites with you. It will be a bit of everything, from skincare to make up brushes. It will NOT be 2015 favourites, because once I find a good product I tend to stick to it for a long long time. But there are some new releases that have made it to my cult list as well :) So keep reading to find out all about my favourites.

I am not going to make a massive top 100 list, but rather give you five make up, five skincare and 5 brushes favourites instead :) ALSO I don't have a few of the things that are on my list, either because I don't have money to buy them ( :D awkward :D) or because I am currently using another product instead, or I've recently ran out.

Lets start with the brushes, because I just cleaned them and I am very very proud of that :D

Firstly and mostly, the brush I use THE MOST. And it's the Real Techniques Buffer Brush, which was part of the Real Techniques Core Collection Kit. I use this to apply my foundation I use it to buff out the contour... And I got this set over a year ago and the brush is still in pretty much the same condition...as if new :o

Moving on it's the ZOEVA luxe sheer cheek brush Again I got mine as part of their first edition rose golden brush set. But on it's own it's in the same price range as the Real Techniques brushes. This is THE softest cheek brush I have ever tried and it applies blush AND bronzer amazingly. Doesn't leave harsh product residue and is just all around a great brush

Third favourite...and to be honest they don't really contend with each other as they all do different things and attend to different areas of my face, but I am making a list so we will go with third.

The third favourite brush is the cheapest of all and it's the Crown Brush Eyebrow brush. It was about £3 pounds, and I have 2 of these. But they are the same....but I have two. It's the brush I have been using for over a year now to apply my powder brow products and also brush out the pencils when ever I use them. And it is just the perfect size and bristles are just the perfect strength.

Number four on the list is another brush from the Real Techniques Core Collection Kit and it's the contour brush. But no contouring is made by this brush to my face. I use it to set my concealer and I also use it for all kind of smaller area powder application.

AND lastly but not leastly? (that is not a word...)  it's the ZOEVA Petit Crease Brush And this brush is my favourite to blend blend and blend....

If you feel like splurging on some brushes check out the alternatives below

Moving on to Skincare

This is a subject I haven't really touched during my Beauty week. Not because I don't take care of my skin, but because I do tend to either change up my products completely ( I use whatever face wash I find interesting rather than sticking to one) or keep using the same product over and over again, which means I have probably touched upon that subject previously...in my posts :) But here are my 5 all time skincare favourites.

THE EXPENSIVE ONE - Estee Lauder Idealist Pore Minimizing Skin Refinisher 50 ml It is by far the best product I have used to just bring light out of my skin. It smells amazing, it feels amazing, it does everything you want your face cream to do for you....BUT it's so expensive I can't find a reason to buy it excpecially because there are cheaper alternatives out there, that are just as good :)

Which brings me to my second product and it's

THE SUPER AFFORDABLE ONE L'Oreal Paris Skin Perfection Anti-Fatigue Perk-Up Daily Moisturiser Cream - 35 ml I absolutely swear by this cream...DAILY. And I'm pretty sure I have convinced a few friends and family about the awesomeness of this one as well. It just perks up my skin. The tiny particles that are hidden in this nice smelling cream make my face glow and create a nice canvas for make up or blur out the redness and tiredness on those ''no makeup'' days.

THE SCRUB - another drugstore brand. St Ives Blemish Fighting Apricot scrub. I use it every other day in the shower and I think it is the best scrub out there. Only £1.99 in Superdrug at the moment...I wouldn't swap this for a high end brand for any reason :)

THE NIGHTTIME CREAM  - Vichy Normaderm Night Detox 40ml Is a french pharmacy brand that I kind of like and it likes me too :D But this is the product I LOVE. The night time cream that gives your skin what sleep gives to your body. You wake up and your face looks clearer, from the first use may I say, the skin looks young and vital and vibrant and it does not feel greasy at all and absorbes into your skin in just a few seconds so need to wait around for the cream to dry so you wouldn't end up moisturising your pillowcase.

THE TOOL - It is by far the least expensive face brush you can get and it works miracles :D my lovely friend got it for me for my birthday and although at one point I forgot to keep using it, I'm back on the game now and use it every night to take off my makeup and prep my skin for the night time serum which is  the Doctor Babor Ultimate Repair Serum at the moment (by far the most expensice skincare product I have ever owned...I stole it off my mom :D) So instead of buying the expensive battery operated facial brush put in some elbow grease and get the £4 pound one instead and the result will be the same :) (there is one that actually comes in a cute little case in The Body Shop :))

And now on to the MAKE UP.

I'm sorry for flipping you guys off....I don't mean to :(

MAKE UP...Something I've spoken so much about during this week and continue talking about in the coming years...I am sure of it :D

My Make Up Cult List

THE FOUNDATION - Maybelline Dream Flawless Nude Foundation. This liquidy consistensy foundation leaves my skin looking like it's covered with soft silk, and what more can you ask for really. Although it might be replaced by the new L'oreal True Match foundation...I need to have a few months of testing before I knock the Maybelline foundation off it's pedestal.

THE POWDER - Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder has been in my make up bag since I can remember having one. And it has served me very well for a very long time. And even if I have gone back and forward between other beauty products I have always come back to the least expensive pressed powder by Rimmel.

THE MASCARA - So recently everyone has been loving the Maybelline Mascara Lash Sensational, Black And I'll admit, I'm in the same boat with all of them. The mascara is awesome and I've gone through 2 of them already in the last 3 months. But the mascara that makes it into my all time top list is the L'oreal Telescopic Mascara. And there are two reasons for it. It is an amazing mascara... it's SO MUCH EASIER to remove than the Sensational one and it doesn't dry out as fast. And those two reasons are why I will now go back to the good old L'oreal Telescopic :)

THE LIPSTICK - Bourjois Rouge Edition Lipstick in colour Violin Strass. I won't say anything more about this one as I have been on about it for way too many times :D

THE EYE SHADOW - Maybelline Colour Tattoo eyeshadow in the shade On&On Bronze. I use it on it's own and I use it as a base and it stays on for ever and it acts as a great base for powder shadows. It is just an all around amazing cream eyeshadow.

And a few other beauty related favourites are.

My all time 3 favourite perfumes. The YSL Black Opium, Calvin Klein Euphoria and Hugo Boss Deep Red. My ultimate hair repair serum OGX Ultra penetrating Argan oil although I do also like the Brazilian Smooth Keratin oil. And my go to moisturiser that makes me think of Sun, Sea and suntan the Ambre Solaire After Sun Cream, which I like to use all year around :)

I really hope you guys have enjoyed this post, It took me ever so long to assemble it and make sure I'm proud of it.

As always Stay tuned as tomorrow will be the last post for Beauty Week and I will also be revealing next weeks theme :)

xoxo

Meril

Product Review BOURJOIS PARIS

Hello, Everyone :)
Another day another another 2 products to review. Today is the turn of Bourjois Paris Healthy range. There is the Healthy Mix serum Gel foundation and the healthy balance Unifying powder.

I will start with the powder as I've had a chance to test this one out a lot more. Since I ran out of my usual Rimmel Stay Matte powder I have been using this to set my make up since I got it. 

The healthy balance unifying powder is said to give you 10 hours of MATT finish and NATURAL HEALTHY GLOW. And as much as I'd love to find a powder that keeps my oily skin dry for 10 hours in a row I have yet to find one. But this powder is awesome and And here is what I think.

It is definitely more loose. It's still a compact powder don't get me wrong, but it's not as dense as the Rimmel one so I feel like there is more product waste as it powders everywhere when I put my brush in it. But on the skin I feel like it's much more natural looking and less cakey. It sets my foundation perfectly and it smells really nice on top of everything. So I FEEL like this is my new go to powder. And I got it in the shade 52 Vanilla

The Healthy Mix Serum Gel Foundation says to give you 16 hours of radiance boosting even, revived complexion and it is a light coverage foundation which is why I got it in the shade 58 Dark Bronze. I figured a nice glowy and light foundation is exactly something I would need for my  sun holiday next week. I have tried it on, but there will be no picture as it really does not match my skin tone at the moment :D But it feels light and not cakey at all. It blends really well and again it has a warm undertone rather than a pink one, which will suit my skin perfectly with a tan :) I haven't tested the 16 hour stay claim, as I am usually not even awake for that long let alone wear make up :D

I won't be using it during the day in the sun, because I just think wearing make up by the pool or on the beach is a bit silly, but I will be evening out my skintone for those lovely warm weather dinners. I will update on this foundation during the holiday. So if you are interested to find out how it stays on and lasts and feels follow me on Instagram, as I'm more likely to just do a little make up of the night kind of picture/update. :)

Hope you enjoyed this product review post :)

Stay tuned for tomorrows All Time Favourite Beauty Products post :) And read my previous posts in the archive in the meantime :)

xoxo

Meril

Product Review L'OREAL PARIS

Hello Everyone :)

Day 3 of Beauty Week and for today I have tried out 2 products for you and for me :D This going to be a really positive review because I'm so impressed. The products I'm talking about are the L'oreal Paris new True Match foundation and L'oreal Paris Color Riche Extraordinaire liquid lipsticks.

I have used the old formula true match before, but I wanted to see if this is any better. And I actually don't think the last one was bad at all, but they have clearly made this one even better and I LOVE IT. I got mine in the shade 3.D Golden Beige and although it is a bit dark for me it is just the right amount of yellow rather than pink that it doesn't bother me at all. And once I blend it on my neck as well, you honestly can't tell it's a shade too dark. The formula of this foundation is super blendable and it stays on in this smooth silky layer and looks flawless. I have taken the picture below without flash by the window and just to show how even it is I haven't edited the picture. I have set the foundation with clear powder.

It photographs really well with and without flash so perfect for a night out :D I have been using it for a few days now and because I do have oily skin it does get a bit shiny after a few hours, but it's nothing a little plotting paper or powder can't fix. But it is definitely medium to full coverage foundation. Absolutely the best foundation I've tried recently...and when I say recently I mean this year :D

Top -  L'oreal Paris Color Riche Extraordinaire in colour 500 MOLTO MAUVE and 

Below - 600 NUDE VIBRATO

Although they advertise this as a liquid lipstick I think it's more in the moisturising gloss section. But I love this gloss. It's so moisturising and it stays on for so long...even after having food and coffee. I do prefer the mauve color more, but that's not saying I don't like the nude. It's just my preference. But I can't rate these glosses enough. Definitely a favourite everyday lip product and so good for those cold days that make your lips crack .

Hope you enjoyed this little product reiew. I will be doing another one tomorrow so

As always, Stay tuned :)

xoxo

Meril

Bronze Gold Natural Make Up Look

Hello, Everyone :)
Day 2 of Beauty Week and today I am sharing a little bronze gold natural make up look I have been rocking lately. It's just a really natural looking make up that is great for everyday errand runnings or for a nice date night dinner, lunch, breakfast....any food :D, shopping trip...it's just good for anything really if I do say so myself :)

As you can see there is nothing too outgoing about this look. It's just a nice  bronze gold look. Because I look so pale lately as well I have been piling on the bronzer just to make myself feel better :D

Products I've used

I hope you have enjoyed the two days of beauty posts :) And please come back tomorrow for the third one, which will be a product review.  :)

And as alwyas, Stay tuned

xoxo

Meril

My Make Up Collection

Hello Everyone and welcome to January and Beauty Week :) A whole week of beauty related posts with the exception of Sunday...Mama needs a little break :D But 6 blog posts that I am really excited to share with all of you. If you are not really interested in beauty then come back in a week, because there is beauty and beauty only over here on WhiteCrispShirt

FIRST post to start out the madness is a little look at my make up collection.

And here it is, my beautiful vanity. I got the table from IKEA....obviously and although I like it...I don't love it. The drawer doesn't come out fully so the back of the drawer is quite underused. I have put everything in boxes which makes finding things more easy, as I can just move the whole box and pull others out but still...And I'm yet to get a bigger mirror to either be bolted on the wall or sit on the table. But for now I'm using the little round mirror
Another thing I don't like about the vanity is where it is. It's at the opposite wall from the window so the light comes from the back of me. I end up wearing way too much make up on a daily basis just because the lighting is awful :D That is my excuse and I'm sticking to it :D

I will go through the little bits and bobs in it and on it, but I won't go too much into detail about the brands exactly. If you have been reading my blog for while you know that I am very into drugstore brands, so there isn't much high end brands in there that might excite people :D

This is the left side of the vanity. In the little pink Ted Baker box I have a jar of pencils...eye and lip pencils that is...and a few brow ones. I also have a few eye liners in there.in there I also have my hair oil, some letter writing sets and my Urban Decay Vice3 palette, which is just too big to fit anywhere else.
On top of the black Black Opium by YSL box I have the perfume, and whatever skincare things I currently use at the time during my night time skincare routine...I mix it up a lot. The gold DKNY box is filled with nail varnishes and the Audrey Hepburn picture you can see is a cut out from a calendar :) The mirror is from Tk Max , and even though it has a big crack on the other side it has served me well over the years :D

The right side of the table is where I keep all my brushes. They are on top of a few books...as you can see all by yourself :D The bigger grey box is from Ikea and the glass jar is an epty Douwe Egberts coffee jar (same as for the pencils).
I would like to find some matching ones instead of the three containers that I have now, but I haven't found ones I like yet...or I have and haven't bought them right there and then, and then regretted it :D
On top of the #FrontRoe book I also have a few random items. YSL eye liner, a gold necklace, compact mirror and nail varnish :/ this is usually where little random things end up :D
I also have my Tiffanys box, that actually has some massive glass earrings in it and the orange box that holds the earrings D got me for my 26th Birthday :) I just like the colours of the boxes really though :D And the postcard is obviously from Paperchase.

This is one of the boxes from the drawer, which is filled with my most used items. The stuff I use pretty much every day or use most often.
A few items there - The Maybelline Dream Satin Liquid foundation which I love. Maybelline Lash Sensational Mascara and the Collection Brow trio.
If you have any more interest in my most used products then stay tuned as I will be posting my all time favourite make up products and brushes post this week :)

Tomorrow I will be sharing a nice simple Bronze Gold Make Up look...so...

As Always, Stay Tuned

xoxo

Meril