The Wishful Style Queen

Holy moly how is it March? Despite the extra day, February seemed to go by in a flash. While I’m not quite ready to ditch the opaques just yet, in fact I’m not sure if I am ever ready to ditch them, winter clothes are much more flattering on me than Summer clothes. However, Spring is definitely in the air and I’m looking forward to longer, brighter and hopefully warmer days. Who am I kidding we live in Ireland, longer and brighter is good enough.

February for me was definitely a continuation of winter thinking, wrapping up from the biting wind and rain, oh so much rain, eating comfort food and trying to counteract the effects of central heating on my skin. I live in a house that Jack built, he was having an off day and forgot to insulate the thing, it was the 70’s so I’ll forgive him, but by god it can get cold in there. Hello hot water bottle. Brr.

I have three favourites for February, one beauty, one food and one for the baby.

First up is beauty and one that has rapidly made it into my permanent collection – Pixi Glow Tonic. I had read about this on various British beauty blogs for years, but was always terrified by the idea of putting acid on my face to exfoliate. Yet strangely was totally fine exfoliating with apricot kernel sandpaper paste, my logic was out the window on that one. My skin was suffering from lack of sleep, thank you darling little A, central heating, an overdose of caffeine and general aging. I decided to give it a go after spotting in on the shelves in Marks and Spencer Grafton Street. Oh boy was I glad I finally bit the bullet and bought it.

This wonder potion  comes in at €23.50 for 250ml bottle and lasts quite a while, despite being used daily. Up until recently it was tricky to get in Ireland but now is available in M & S along with Cloud10beauty and I’m sure a whole host of other outlets. After one use I noticed my skin was smoother and over a month later the tone in my skin has greatly improved, as have my spots – sing hallelujah!

Designed to be used after cleansing and before your treatment products, think serum, oils moisturiser. The packaging states to use both morning and evening, but I find it works best for me just once a day in the evening. It has a watery consistency and smells faintly powdery, however this scent isn’t off putting, nor does it hang around. A slight tingle is felt on the skin after application, but like the mild fragrance it doesn’t last long. A must is to apply spf daily while using this product, but we all know we should be doing this anyway.

My food favourite this month is the delicious White Tea Cafe in Dun Laoghaire. I’m always on the lookout for somewhere new to eat, and if it accommodates a buggy even better. This hidden gem is tucked away in Brian S Nolan’s interior shop on George’s Street and was recommended to me by a fellow new mum. A group of us popped in for an early lunch/coffee/cake eating date with our little ones. As I’d never been there before I had no idea what to expect and actually thought I was in the wrong place as I entered the world of beautiful curtain fabrics. A lift brings you up to the cafe which is situated on the first floor, with large sash windows overlooking the street. While the seating area is tight,(it takes approx 30 seats) the staff are very accommodating and have space for buggies, while not right beside you they are in eye line.

We took up residence on a comfy couch, right beside a fire place at the far end of the cafe and the little ones took their rightful place in some highchairs. The menu is small but perfectly formed, delicious soups, salads and open sandwiches which change frequently are available to have in or take away. Everything is incredibly fresh and seasonal , never mind being extremely tasty. But the main draw to this place are the cakes. A change from usual offerings at so many cafes across the country, these are quite simply to die for. We opted to share a raspberry nutella cake which is the stuff dreams are made of. While you could easily polish one off yourself, sharing is caring and sure calories don’t count if it’s shared – do they?!

A great place to stop in either by yourself, baby in tow or with a group.

My final favourite this month is for Little A, Tommee Tippee’s Roll n Go Bib. My mum had relayed the virtues of what she calls a ‘pelican bib’ but the teenager in me resisted and refused point blank to buy one on the grounds that I had a whole selection of bibs that were equally good. Wrong, oh how I was wrong. Instead of splashing out the €4 I spent the last month picking bits of ground in carrot/rice cake/you name it off Little A’s clothes before popping them in the wash. I used full painting style smocks, but he STILL managed to get stuff everywhere, I finally caved and bought one. I must add, I’ve no problem with things getting messy at mealtimes but if I can save his clothes a trip in the washing machine I’ll do it. Environmentally friendly n all that!

Tommee Tippee’s Roll n Go bib’s are available in many supermarkets and Boots pharmacies. Handy as they are made of flexible silicon so can be easily rolled up(as the name suggests) and popped in a changing bag for meals out. They can be wiped down or popped in the dishwasher to clean. The crumb catcher acts like a pocket for the bits of food the dog would normally get. Little A thinks it’s great, as he dives in to get the remainder of the rice cake.

Definitely money well spent – don’t tell my mum she was right!