my beauty loves

It's been a whole year since I chatted about my favourite beauty products! Seriously, where did all the time go? Do you have some of those products that you don't know how you ever lived without? These are some of mine as we move from summer to winter...

1. Dermalogica's Skin Prep Scrub, for making my skin deliciously smooth.

2. Dior Addict gloss. I am all about easy lips at the moment. My fave colour is number 684 - a subtle pink that makes my lips look perfectly kissable, even if I say so myself.

3. Davines shampoo and conditioner. I love Davines sustainable philosophy.

4. Smashbox Photo Finish foundation primer. This does wonders underneath your foundation and I can feel the difference the whole day.

5. Clarins Delicious Self Tanning Cream. Do you use self tan? I am vowing to use it on my legs all winter long!

6. Essie nail polish in Ballet Slippers. I love the look of perfectly manicured nails but in a neautral, soft colour. Ballet Slippers is spot on!

7. Estee Laude's Pure Colour Blush in Brazen Bronze. I picked this compact up at a beauty sale and now I am obsessed. I love that the colour isn't too pink and perfectly defines my cheek bones.

8. Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Lip Protectant Stick. I am a huge Eight Hour Cream (the original) and use it for everything but I am pretty sold on this lip stick too... it makes your lips super smooth.

9. Bobbi Brown eye shadows... so easy, so quick! 

14/52

 A portrait of my babes once a week in 2014 (36 weeks) - picture taken at our annual Easter party

My beautiful baby girls, you make my heart glow.

the perfect autumn outfit

hello leaves turning colour, the cold nip in the air, hello cardigans, an extra blanket and hot tea after dinner. New season means new style, I think this is the perfect autumn look.

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what the twins wore

Smocked rompers at our annual Easter party - made by Kimmy

An evolving view of animals

I find these portraits of animals so moving - it is worth viewing the full slideshow here. 

"Most of Mr. Flach’s intimate portraits of animals are intended to be a bit jarring in their simplicity — concentrating on the subtle details that impart a humanistic feel. He wants his images to engage people in debates about who we are and our relationships to animals, with the belief that “how we treat animals is often dependent on how they display characteristics we think are human.”

An ode to summer

My baby days. My favourite days. Endless summer days that are so fleeting. It's mid February and the air is still thick and warm in the late afternoons. We go for walk with Chessie this evening, with you babes wrapped tightly against our bodies. You dozed off to the rhythm of our feet on the pavement, the constant buzz of traffic making its way home. Another world. Another life. We walked a few blocks of our tree-lined neighborhood. Leaves still heavy with the greenness of summer. We passed ramshackled houses in need of attention with overgrown front gardens and dusty cars on crumbling driveways. Burglar bars cutting through picture perfect scenes of suburban bliss. Neat pavements and high walls. Other walkers with dogs in tow. Runners and domestic workers gathering on street corners, waiting to make their way home. Ripe smells in the air. Four chubby legs swinging back and forth. Four little palms pressed around the side of chests. The warm wetness of body heat as our breathing echoes yours. Passersby smiling at us as they notice two babies. Two babies! Oh my heart will never take this fact lightly.

13/52

A portrait of my babes once a week in 2014 (35 weeks) - Florence Willow (top) and Anna Clementine (bottom)

It the first day of April and the seasons are changing from summer to autumn. The sky turned to night earlier as we lay in the water and watched the colours change through the mottled glass of the bathroom window. The air is getting nippier, the mornings' sunlight has adjusted its path into our home, and the canopy of green lining our neighborhood is transforming into reds and oranges and dull browns. These changes parallel your changes as you enter a new season too. A season of new found mobility and the blossoming of your personalities. I take each indication of these beings that are emerging with wonder, curiosity and delight - be it in the form of a cause for laughter, a taste preference, the discovery of your own shadows or the way in which you awake from an afternoon nap. My favourite moments this week have been watching you two interact; hearing bursts of laughter as you react to each others antics. There couldn't be a sweeter sound in all the world.