Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Pari Beauty - 5 Well Eyeshadow Palette in 'Elements' ♥

My two favourite makeup items are eyeshadows and lipsticks so when I come across new ones I like and that work well I'm always delighted and just have to share with you all. I recently tried out the Pari Beauty 5 Well Eyeshadow Palette in 'Elements', a palette which boasts five generous sized wells of gorgeous hued eyeshadows. The 'Elements' palette features a matte cream nude shade, a pearlised golden pink, matte dark russet, matte warm chocolate and shimmer cranberry making this palette the perfect choice for those who prefer to wear neutral shaded matte shadows but like to mix it up from time to time with a pop of shimmering colour. My favourite shades in this palette are the pink and cranberry as I love to wear colour on my eyes and I think these shades are beautiful, the pink with it's undertones of gold flecks and the cranberry with it's gorgeous shimmering tones. The matte cream nude shade is the perfect shade for highlighting the brow bone and acting as a base to the darker shades. The russet and chocolate shadows are quite warm and great for creating a striking neutral eye look.

The eyeshadows all have a lovely soft, powdery texture which makes them ideal for blending. The pigmentation of these shadows is fantastic and I find that they last all day, even without an eyeshadow primer underneath. The palette itself is very sleek looking and has a pro palette vibe to it with it's black casing, removable wells, brush and applicator tip wand and mirror all set in a safety closing clasp compact which protects against breakage and spilling of product. Overall, I'm really impressed with this eyeshadow pallete. I love how much product you get in the individual wells, the pigmentation is fantastic and the shadows all look really striking, there is hardly any fallout from the shadows and they are so long lasting.

The Pari Beauty 5 Well Eyeshadow Palette is available in five different shade choices and are €40. You can buy these palettes and browse through other Pari Beauty products on the Rachel Murphy Makeup website.
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What Tyler Lee Eats - Star Shaped Sandwiches & Lots Of Colour ♥

I'm beginning a new feature on the blog - What Tyler Lee Eats, where I'll be showing some of the meals I make for Tyler Lee, sharing recipes, pictures and my Bento box lunches that I'll be making for him. When I was pregnant I decided that my child would eat healthily from the get go, hoping that they would love fruit and veggies and I had a wish that they would reach for a piece of fruit rather than a chocolate bar when they were given a choice between the two - wishful hoping perhaps but I think Tyler Lee actually does prefer the healthier foods to the sweet treats. He loves berries and always eats them first when he's having his lunch, he then reaches for his sandwiches and finishes with things which may be considered treats such as a fruity oat bar or his flavoured Ella's Kitchen Puffits. I was important for me to set him up on a course of healthy eating which he would continue with for life and thankfully he seems to love everything I'm giving him so far.

Lunch for Tyler Lee is all about fruit and colour with a sandwich thrown in to give him some carbohydrate, protein and dairy with his ham and cheese filling. Also, I only use mature white block cheese, I don't give him any cheese slices/highly processed cheese. We only eat brown or wholemeal bread, no white in our house along with brown baps and tortilla wraps, I'll be introducing these to Tyler Lee too. I've been trying to make his meals look more fun and appealing to him as I want to start doing more Bento style meals, they look amazing and so creative, so I've been using some cookie cutters to cut his sandwiches into shapes, this lunch came with little star shaped sandwiches and he loved them, he found the size really easy to manage. I love how much colour he has in his lunches with all the fruit, not only do all the colours look appealing to Tyler Lee but all the fruits are so healthy too.

Included in his lunch were -
Strawberries
Blackberries
Ham and cheese sandwiches on brown bread cut into stars
A whole banana
Ella's Kitchen apricot oat bar
Ella's Kitchen raspberry and vanilla puffits

Using a separated plate makes it easy for Tyler Lee to choose what he wants to eat at a time without it all being mixed in together. I picked up this green plate for just €1.99 in my local Tesco.

I'm looking forward to giving Tyler Lee more creative looking meals filled with new foods for him to try. I'm going to try doing some proper Bento box lunches and shall be sharing with you all here on the blog and on instagram.

If you have any posts on children's Bentos or any good sources for Bento boxes and accessories please do share them in the comments below.


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Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Tyler Lee's Toddler Room ♥

 We recently moved Tyler Lee into the bigger bedroom to make it a better space for him to both sleep in and play in, a real toddler room if you will. We wanted the room to be colourful, fun and whimsical for him and decided on a mish-mash theme of rainbows, book quotes, baby blue and everything else we saw that we liked. I think the mish-mash of themes adds to the overall fun and whimsical vibe we were going for, I wanted every corner of the room to have something exciting for Tyler Lee to look at and explore. His room in not yet completed, I need to get new blackout curtains, a new lampshade, a rug and some other decorations but I wanted to show you all some pictures of his room so far as I think it's really starting to come together and I will then do an update when his room is fully completed, although I don't know if it ever will be as I keep seeing gorgeous things on Etsy! As we live in a rented property I was unable to paint the walls in a colour I liked to I unfortunately had to keep it the magnolia colour it is but at least it's bright and airy. We also had to keep the wooden furniture, I would have prefered white furniture for his room but I just had to work with what we have.
His room is a good size now and seems even bigger as he was moved from the tiny box room. It has a huge window which lets in a lot of light. I thought the room looked quite sparse when I but everything up against the walls so I put the cot at a bit of an angel so Tyler Lee can look out the window, something he really enjoys doing. I also put his activity cube in the middle of the room until I get a rug.

This is the space above his cot, the decal is from one of my favourite books to read to him, even though it makes me cry every time I do, 'Forever' by Robert Munsch. I say this quote to Tyler Lee quite often and I thought it was a sweet and very true thing to add to his room. To keep with the rainbow theme I saw this beautiful hot air balloon and clouds mobile on Etsy and just had to get it for him. It's made of paper so the hot air balloons float around every time a bit of breeze enters the room. Tyler Lee loves looking up at this mobile as he's drifting off to sleep, it makes him smile sweetly to himself, it's so adorable to see.

 This decal is on the opposite wall to the cot and is another book quote. This one is from 'Guess How Much I Love You' by Sam McBratley, another of my favourite books to read to Tyler Lee.

 This area will be the relaxing/reading corner for when Tyler Lee is a bit older. Right now it houses his beanbag and some cushions which his granda got him for his birthday. I'll be adding a teepee play tent and shelves to this area but that won't be for awhile yet.

Going across the whole ceiling in his room is the beautiful royal flag bunting which we got made from Chloris Boris. It's such a feature in the room and I'm delighted that it was the perfect length for the ceiling.

We got rid of Tyler Lee's old wooden cot when he moved into the big room, something which I'm kind of regretting but for now he's in the MoKee Mini Cot which is supposed to be a teal colour but it more of a grey colour to me. This cot can be turned into a cot bed but I think we'll be buying him a proper toddler bed instead. I decorated it with the same bunting which hangs above his reading/relaxing corner.

This is his beautiful rainbow bedding, the item which started the whole rainbow theme really. It's actually for a proper toddler bed but I just tucked the excess fabric into the sides of the cot and it works fine. Of course his three favourite comforters are always in his cot.

I picked up the three metal buckets in Aldi, they're actually Easter egg hunt pails but I'm going to put chalk, crayons and markers in them when Tyler Lee is a bit older. I also put his canvas on display and some pictures of him and his daddy. Above his chest of drawers are some angel postcards in a frame which I thought were really sweet, these were in his nursery too. His bookshelf houses everything which is a bit delicate such as his christening gifts, fairy door, nightlight, handmade toys, books and cuddly toys, everything has it's own space and I just have to keep it neat and organised even though Tyler Lee has a penchant for pulling out all the books and soft toys!

His room isn't completely finished yet but it really is starting to come together and when I get the last couple of pieces it will be perfect.

Where I sourced everything from - 
White cubed storage units - Argos
MoKee mini cot - MoKee
Bedding - Lulu and Nat
VW van toy box/seat - Homestore + More
Royal flag personalised bunting - Chloris Boris
Blue patterned bunting - Handmade
Canvas - Photobox
Rabbit lamp - White Rabbit England
Beanbag - Ebay, similar one here
'Love you forever' wall decal - Ebay
'I love you to the moon and back' wall decal - Ebay
Hot air balloon mobile - Etsy
Felt rainbow door sign - OmeeOmy

What do you think of Tyler Lee's toddler room? I'd love to see links to your own home decor/toddler room posts in the comments.


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Monday, April 28, 2014

Living Arrows - Week 17 ♥



Your children are not you children, They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

*By  Kahlil Gibran
 
I am taking part in I Heart Snapping's weekly Living Arrows project, a photography project to capture an image which represents childhood to you through the actions, likes, dislikes, looks and movements of your own children. Below is my picture for the seventeenth week of Living Arrows. As usual my boy and I went for dinner at my parents house, our ritual every Sunday and then we went out into the garden as it was lovely and sunny. My boy was being silly and I caught this image of him mid silliness with his finger in his mouth. I think he looks so cute here. I love his curls in the sun and the flowers in the backdrop.


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