Rimmel 2-Step Super Gel Nail Polish Review

Deliveries from Rimmel are always the most exciting and the ones that honestly humble me the most. I can't believe how lucky I am to be on the receiving end of press packages from any brand let alone one of my favourite high street brands and I swear they just keep getting more and more exciting. This time around I was very generously sent the latest colours in the Super Gel Nail Polish collection along with the Super Gel Top Coat which is supposedly a self-curing top coat that gives the same nail effect finish as a Gel manicure. Personally, I love having gel on my nails and I love the look, feel and longevity of gel nails and because of that I do usually pass on nail polish samples to my friends and family as I never really get any use out of them, but for these I just had to soak off the gel and put my lamp to one side for a few weeks as I gave it a go. With a brand like Rimmel, which is a brand I have always loved and trusted, I just couldn't pass these on without giving them a go first. At £5.99 a bottle and without the hassle of the UV lamp and everything else,  I thought it was definitely worth a go and a review! 

My initial first impressions were that the colours were insane, the five new shades they've brought out for Summer are absolutely gorgeous and so so bright. At £5.99 a shade and with such beautiful colours, this was honestly the point for me that tipped me over the edge with wanting to give these a go and I really wanted these to be for me. My lamp and my Gels are amazing, don't get me wrong, but at £15 a polish and with all of the extras you have to buy like base coats, top coats, acetone and not to mention the lamp itself to begin (which I was kindly gifted to try out) it can get pretty expensive. These Super Gel polishes from Rimmel sounded like the perfect alternative and with only 2-Steps involved and boasting of a 14 day chip-proof longevity, I jumped at the chance to get trying them. 

As a whole I really like the polishes themselves; the colours are super pigmented, the brushes are super thick for a quick and easy application and on the whole they lasted pretty damn well without chipping and looking nasty. I firstly applied the gorgeous turquoise colour fresh from removing my gels and filing down my nails and was amazed by the pigmentation of the polish; with only one coat (and no base coat as the instructions suggest) the colour was holding well and was pretty opaque. I then waited a little around a minute or so before applying a second coat which really just solidified the colour and covered my nails more evenly. After waiting another minute between finishing my second hand I then applied the Super Gel top coat evenly over the top. The top coat definitely reminded me of my gel top coats as it was quite thick and gloopy, but it applied evenly and didn't move the product around like I usually find with 'normal' nail polish top coats. Then all I had to do was sit and wait for it to self-cure and this is where I became slightly disappointed. 

Unlike with curing my gels with my lamp at 15 seconds per hand after a lick of top coat, I sat and waited a good twenty minutes before moving my hands around too much to find that with a slight touch to one nail I left a fingerprint mark all over it. I'm just going to throw it out there now that I am really not patient when it comes to nail polish drying and for me to have waited 20 minutes without fidgeting and that to have happened I was pretty pissed off. Another 20 minutes later and they seemed dry to touch so I set about tidying away and just doing slight tasks that didn't include too much of my nails being used (which is really bloody difficult actually). I thought I'd done well but another half hour later and I'd noticed that two of my nails had scuffed. The exact reason why I never paint my nails 'normally' anymore. I tried to push the polish back into place gently with the end result looking semi-acceptable and set about my day before heading off to see Ariana Grande perform in Birmingham. I was really impressed with the colour and with the gel-like shine my nails had to them but not at all with how long they'd taken to dry. I use my hands on a daily basis and having to wait around a couple of hours for them to be 'fully' dry is ridiculous to me. At the end of the day though, I know these never claimed to be quick-dry like gel nails are and so I was prepared to try again in a few days to fully get the look and test them properly. 

I removed the polish the next day with some everyday nourishing nail polish remover on a cotton pad and was quite shocked to see how much the colour had stained my nails. I hadn't used a base coat on them as the press release and copy on the Boots website had both said there was no need as it was 'in-built' and so I was quite disappointed again that nail polish remover hadn't been able to remove all of the colour. I cleaned my nails up best I could, filed them down a little more and applied a standard base coat that I've always used to prep my nails before applying a different colour. This time I applied the bright red which was absolutely stunning and a colour I knew would easily stain my nails if I hadn't used a base coat. 

Again, it applied really nicely with the larger applicator an absolute God-send for quickly applying an even coat across my whole nail and the colour was so pigmented that there really wasn't much need for a second coat. I left it (along with the top coat) to dry for about 40 minutes before doing anything this time around (thank god for long-ass weekly vlogs) and when I touched my baby nail to see if it was dry I was so happy to not have the tell tale fingerprint left behind! My happiness was short lived though as after going to the toilet and pulling up my leggings (a whole HOUR after applying my nail polish) I scuffed a nail and literally thought I would cry. My thumb as well - not an easy one to hide when you've scuffed your polish! Nevertheless, I was determined to see how long the polish would last and tried to patch it up best I could. In terms of chipping, the polish really did stand the test of time though and a good 8 days in and there were no 'chips' as such. The end of the nails did start to look a little warn and scruffy, but they weren't so bad that I wanted to re-do them again. It's now day 13 and although they looked quite rough before I re-painted them earlier, they still didn't have any really noticeable chips in them which I think is a really good result for a 'normal' kind of nail polish! 

Half hour before writing this blog post I re-painted them for a third time and although I had more luck removing the red in terms of my nails being stained by the colour (thank you trusty base coat) I still waited a good hour for these to dry and they STILL scuffed up on one nail a good hour and a half after I'd finished painting them. I'll keep this colour on now for as long as I can as I really do like the colours ( I opted for the lilac) but after today I think I'll be heading back to my UV Lamp and full on Gel nails. I loved the overall idea of this 2-step routine and was super happy with the longevity of the polish and top coat combo, but for the hassle of waiting around for them to dry for so long and for them to then still scuff two hours after being painted, I just don't think I have the patience for them. 

If you're used to waiting for your nails to dry though / are far more patient than I am, I would definitely recommend these; the colours are fab and the gel-like shine is beautiful, it's just that for me, I like the ease of using my lamp and not having to wait more than 15 seconds for it dry. Have you tried these before? What did you think of them?

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BekyLou, Beauty, Fashion, Fitness and Lifestyle Blog based in the South West and London.

(*this post may contain items gifted to me for PR purposes*)

The Best Budget Liquid Lipsticks Around - From Primark??

If you told me a year ago that I'd be excited over a makeup delivery from Primark I would have slapped you silly. Not that I've got anything against Primark as I am probably one of their biggest fans and would spend half of my life in there browsing if I could, but the idea of putting cheap makeup on my face always terrified me. I am a snob when it comes to beauty and skincare products and I've declared this on my blog for years, but recently I've had a bit of a change of heart and so when I approached Primark with a couple of proposals and they said 'yes' I was more than excited to get trying it all out! I was overwhelmed by the amount of products Primark kindly gifted me and have so many more blog post ideas now than I originally had too so make sure you keep following BekyLou via Bloglovin for a couple more posts in my 'testing Primark makeup series'.

Liquid Lipsticks have been all everyone's been talking about for the past two years or so now and with Kylie Jenner's Matte Lip Kits creating such a stir and now other makeup junkie faves such as Anastasia, Colour Pop,  Jeffery Starr and Kat Von D doing nothing but taking away our pennies as they produce more and more fab shades, I can't help but feel like a cheaper alternative is all any of us having been striving to find. Between the inflated prices here in the UK for brands that are hard to get hold of and the customs charges we've been crying over to get our favourites shipped in, there's no wonder the high-street chains have been dipping their toes into the pool that is liquid lipstick and don't get me wrong, some of them are really good (that I've tried so far) but budget wise, they're still not quite there. When I found out that Primark had a collection of their own for a heart-stopping £3 a pop I couldn't quite believe my eyes. With so many other dupes on the market and Primark starting to get a name for themselves with cheap makeup that was actually good, I actually got really excited about these and couldn't wait to try them out. Of course they are only £3 so my expectations weren't all that high, but I had good hopes for something semi-decent and was so happy when Primark generously sent me four shades to try out. 

As with all beauty reviews my first point of call has to be the packaging. Not beauty related at all or something that has any relevance to the product and formulation itself, but something that us beauty lovers just pine for time and time again. The Ps Pro for Primark Matte Liquid Lipsticks are actually packaged really nicely I think, of course you're not going to have anything too fancy when the whole product is just three quid but for what they had to play with, I think they've done well. The lid is matte black and the bottle itself is clear plastic so you can easily see the colour through it, it's nothing  overly fancy but it's sleek and I like it. The applicator is also pretty decent, it comes with a sponge applicator that has a sort of dent in it (which is really hard to explain so feel free to have a peep at the photo I've taken) and it applies the product easily to the lips. It is quite large but with a little precision, it's not too difficult to get on. 

Obviously my next port of call is the product itself, which come in some really beautiful colours. I have four shades as I mentioned above, which are: Pink in Excess, Dark In Tension, Rouge in Danger and Nude in Private. They're all really gorgeous shades and are pretty true to their bottled shades when swatched, which is always good as it can be quite difficult shopping for liquid lipstick shades when you can't easily swatch them. The colour pay off with these is amazing and as you can tell from my swatches, they don't seem patchy at all. I managed these swatch photos with just one swipe of the wand and was amazed at how well they applied. I didn't find them overly sticky when applying them and found they dried matte really quickly without being overly drying either.

I've worn each of the colours now for a full day to fully test out the longevity and practicality of the product and have been really surprised with the results. Not that I assumed they'd be crap but, well, after all they are only £3 each and for a gal who loves her $29 lip kits, I didn't think they'd survive testing as well as they did.

The Grey/Nude Toned shade was the first that I tried and after easily applying it with the given applicator I was really impressed with the way the colour dried on my lips. I'm not usually one for grey toned nude lips colours, but this one seemed to actually go really nicely with the smokey makeup look I created that day. Although I'd say this one is the one that matches the colour in the packaging the least, it's not by too much at all; I did originally think this would be more of a peachy-nude than grey, but you can't win them all! I wore this shade for around about eight/ten hours and by the end of the day I was surprised at how well it had held up. I only had the tiniest amount of product misplacement and for the majority of my lips it was still very much in it's starting position. With the packaging of these lip products comes the status of 'kiss proof' and after much protesting from my boyfriend because I'd only just applied it, I can confirm that these are in fact to some extent kiss proof. I mean, I didn't go off on a full on snogging mission to see if it stayed on or not, but it definitely didn't transfer to his lips or cheek at all and I had barely waited any time before puckering up. Throughout the day I ate and drank plenty and even when eating bread (the tell-tale on whether a lipstick is holding up or not) I noticed only the smallest amount of product transfer. I didn't re-apply once throughout the day and I was pretty happy with the end result.

As for the other colours they all lasted the test of time pretty well too. The darkest shade, Danger in Tension, was the only one that didn't impress me as much as I'd hoped and with the other three standing my testing pretty well, I was a little disappointed. As with many other liquid lip products though, the darkest is usually the runt of the group. I felt like the product was a little patchier than the others and took a little more effort to apply nicely. It also didn't stand the eating test quite as well as I'd hoped and one jam donut later (with minimal licking of my lips may I add) I did feel the need to apply a little more. Overall though, it lasted quite well and for £3 you can't really go all that wrong. Unfortunately I can't find a direct link to them as they're not on the Primark website but I'm sure they'll be easily accessible in store!

What are your thoughts on Primark makeup? Have you tried their liquid lipsticks at all? I'd love to know your thoughts on any of it in the comments below! I've got lots more Primark makeup posts coming up so I'd love to also know what kinds of posts you'd like to see!

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BekyLou, Beauty, Fashion, Fitness and Lifestyle Blog based in the South West and London.

(*this post may contain items gifted to me for PR purposes*)

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Current Night Time Skincare Routine; May 2017

Like with many things recently I've become quite slack with my skincare routine as of late and over the last week or two my skin just got to the point of desperation. With all of the baby hormones messing up my body's natural rhythm my face has been break-out central and so after a skin detox weekend and getting back into the swing of things with my skincare routine I thought I'd share it with you all as it has most definitely changed since last time I gave you an insight! 

MAKEUP REMOVER / MICELLAR WATER

I must admit that when it comes to removing my makeup I am quite lazy, don't get me wrong, I mean most of the time I do double cleanse and all that jazz but when my cleanser does a pretty decent job of getting rid of my makeup, why take the extra step? To remove my makeup on the whole I currently use the Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm; I scrape out the tiniest bit of this onto my fingers and apply it all over my face and makeup with a splash of warm water and it literally melts my makeup away. I then use a hot damp muslin cloth to wipe it all off and I find that this combination does a really good job. I do this every day and with a second cleanse after (which I'll go into detail about below) I usually find that there isn't a scrap of crap left on my face!

For little bits of eye makeup and getting rid of the extra scrapes of mascara that usually get left behind I normally use a micellar water with a cotton pad; for me it's the most gentle way to get near to my eyes and does a pretty decent job for getting those stubborn bits gone. Normally I use a Garnier Micellar water (the really popular one with the pink lid) but recently I splashed out a little and have been using this YSL Micellar water. I did get it through a work discount when I worked back at the Body Shop, so I didn't quite pay the hefty £25 for it, but it was definitely a splash of the cash compared to my £4 Garnier bottle. It's good, don't get me wrong, but I won't be repurchasing this when the bottle is finished. I'll be back to my drugstore remover in no time!

FACE MASK

I love giving myself a pamper and face masks are one of my favourite ways to do that! I usually pop on a facemask straight after removing my makeup and before cleansing my face for the night as a bit of an extra clean of my face. Before applying any face mask though I always make sure my face has been washed and then spritz on some of the Origins Maskimiser facial spray. I always feel like my mask works that little bit hard when I've used this and I feel like it gives a nicer base for my mask to be applied to. I then have a couple of staple face masks that I go back to time and time again which I'll talk about in a minute, but to properly treat my skin I recently bought myself the Lush Mask of Magnaminty self-preserving face mask to really drag out those spots! After being recommended it by one of my best friends and complete lush addict, Melody (she has so many Lush videos on her Youtube Channel) I couldn't wait to see the end results. I've been applying this every couple of days at the moment for a deep clean of my skin and love how fresh it feels. It literally smells like mint choc chip ice cream and honestly takes all of my will not to just lick it off (pregnant lady craziness right there). I've been loving how radiant this leaves my skin and thanks to the added honey and it's antibacterial properties (which is the main ingredient to make it self-preserving) have found that it really does bring out any spots that are hiding beneath the surface. 

Another one of my all time favourites that I always use is the Origins Clear Improvements active charcoal mask, a clay-like drying face mask that I apply about once a week for a really good deep cleanse of my pores! I have loved this one for a good two or three years now and with one tube lasting me around 6-9 months, it's definitely worth the price and purchase! I've never once applied this and had a bad result, it always delivers and always leaves my skin feeling refreshed and polished. It's one that I will continue to use and continue to love time for many years to come and I would honestly recommend it to everyone out there looking for a new face mask! 

FACE SCRUB

About twice a week (when I'm not having a face mask kind of day) I like to insert a facial scrub into my routine. I like feeling like I'm doing something to help my skin and getting a nice gritty scrub in there to really buff up my pores is just the thing for me. I have a couple that I really like (especially one of the Liz Earle scrubs) but at the moment I am obsessed with the Pineapple Papaya Facial Scrub from Kiehl's. Now, even though there is currently a lot of Kiehl's in my skincare routines, I am fairly new to Kiehl's products and honestly I'm not entirely sure why I've never ventured to the brand before. Again, I did get a lot of these whilst getting a discount through The Body Shop, but I'd 100% repurchase many of the products I've tried purely because they are incredible. I have been loving this scrub in particular for a good deep clean of my skin on those in-between days and really feel like this is doing something for me. The scent of it is incredible (how could it not be with two gorgeous fruits) and I really like the feel of the way it scrubs on my skin. It's not overly abrasive and harsh, yet I still know it's doing it's scrubby job, if that makes any sense? 

CLEANSER

Cleansers are something that I often chop and change between in my skincare routine and are things that I even tend to change between on a daily basis (especially for my morning and night routines). I never want my skin to get too used to a specific cleanser as I feel like that defeats the point, but for the past week at least I have been loving this specific combo. The Biore Baking Soda Cleanser has been my go-to for about a month now on and off and I really liked how that one made my skin feel, but most recently I've been loving the Biore Deep Pore Charcoal Cleanser. I love massaging this onto my face, specifically around the areas where I usually suffer most with breakouts and blackheads and letting it work it's magic for a minute or two before splashing this off with water. I love the tingling sensation I get when I use this as it really makes me feel like it's working hard and if you know me, you'll know there's nothing I love more than a cleanser that feels like it's doing it's job properly! Like I said, I've only really been using this for the past couple of days (almost a week) but already I can tell the difference this is making in my skincare routine and I think I'll start sticking to just changing between this one and my baking soda cleanser for the foreseeable future.

TONER

Honestly when it comes to toner I'm a little bit of a newbie. In that sense, I mean that I've used it on and off for the past two years but I've never really understood what it does! I currently use the Kiehl's Ultra Facial Oil Free Toner every evening after my cleanser and do so on a cotton pad to wipe away any excess bits of crap that may have been left on my face (although I must admit, with my routine, nothing usually gets past the cleansing stages!). I like to think that my toner does something, but in all honesty I have not one drop of clue as to what that thing is! If anyone could enlighten me in the comments, please do! I've tried many in the past, but right now I'm stuck on two (my other will be coming up in my morning skincare routine soon) and this Kiehl's one seems to be 'working' for me as my evening one! My skin does feel a little tighter after applying it and ready for my next steps! 

FACIAL OIL

My Facial oil of choice these days is one that I was introduced to by my kinda sister-in-law Emily when I first discussed my love of all things beauty and skincare with her. In fact, she's the whole reason behind my new Kiehl's obsession, so I'd like to really thank her here for my huge credit card bill a few months ago! The Midnight Recovery Concentrate from Kiehl's is a cult favourite that everyone and their Mum raves about and quite frankly I don't know why I'd never discovered it before. I apply one or two drops of this to my fingers and pat over my face lightly every night after what I like to call my 'bathroom routine' (everything up until this point as these next three steps are kept in my beauty room). Again, I'm not entirely sure what exactly this does to my skin in a sciencey kind of way, but in short, after applying this my skin just looks so much clearer in the morning. I really feel like this helps to heal my blemishes and even out my skin tone over night. Like I said before, so many people rave about this product and although pricey (£49 for 50ml) I definitely think it's worth it as you use so little every night. Before purchasing this Emily gave me a sample she'd been given whilst shopping (around 5ml or less) and that kept me going for about 3 or 4 weeks before I finally gave in and purchased the real deal!

EYE CREAM & MOISTURISER

Another two products from Kiehl's here but two that I have been loving for the last couple of months. First up is the Avocado Eye Treatment which for £34 for a 28ml pot it's definitely pricey, but when I say you literally need the smallest amount of this ever to cover your under eye / eye area every evening I really do mean it. I've never really been an eye cream kinda gal but since being pregnant and getting barely any sleep due to being so uncomfortable and having my little bubba kick all through the night an eye cream has most definitely been required to banish those bags! I have been loving the consistency of this eye cream as it's nice and thick but sinks into the skin with minimal effort and my under eyes look so much better for it in the morning. The dark circles are no where near as bad as they normally are and my eyes don't feel as tired as they usually have done. I've read a lot of bad reviews about this product by people saying they just haven't got on with it when using it in the morning before makeup and honestly I can kind of see where they're coming from as it is quite oily and thick, but for me, I always use this before bed and see such a massive difference in my skin under my eyes that I just think this is wonderful! I have dry/combination skin so a really moisturising product like this is just perfect for me before bed!

The next product I slap onto my face before bed is usually a moisturiser and in the past I have used ones such as the Origins High-Potency Night-a-Mins which I absolutely adore, but when I ran out of that about 4 or 5 months ago I wanted to try something a bit different. The Kiehl's Ultra Facial Overnight Hydrating Masque  has been my go-to for around three nights of the week for me recently and I've loved the effect that it has on my skin. I apply a very small amount all over my face (avoiding the eye area that I would have just covered in my eye cream) and let it sink in before heading to bed. On the website Kiehl's recommended that you wipe a layer of this off with a cotton pad before you sleep (after around 10 minutes or so) but for me, if I apply a tiny amount to begin with I find that I just don't need to waste the product. For 125ml of this, it will set you back around £29 which I honestly think is a really good price for a moisturiser of this size and for Kiehl's. I love the way that my skin drinks this in and my face always feels super smooth the next day. I use this around three times a week because it is quite a hefty moisturiser and it is recommended that you only use it a couple times a week; I don't normally listen to guidelines like that but in this case, I don't want to over indulge my skin and make it have the opposite effect. As it's quite an oily product I feel like too much of a good thing could make my skin too greasy and so I like to mix it up a bit and just use this every other night. On the off days from my Ultra Facial Hydrating Masque I like to just leave my face with the eye treatment and Midnight Recovery Concentrate and I've found that this combination throughout the week just leaves my skin feeling it's best!

Obviously at the moment I am very hormonal thanks to pregnancy and so my skin is breaking out quite a bit, but with the routine I've set myself with all of the above, I've found that I'm breaking out a little less and the spots/belmishes/scars aren't staying around as long at all anymore. I'm really hoping that I can keep this routine up throughout the rest of my pregnancy and when bubba is born as it's really working for me right now! Of course being a blogger I do occasionally break the cycle and insert a new product to review, but for the majority of my time over the next few months I'll definitely be sticking to this as close as I can! I'd love to know you're skincare routine and what holy grail products you've been loving!

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BekyLou, Beauty, Fashion, Fitness and Lifestyle Blog based in the South West and London.

(*this post may contain items gifted to me for PR purposes*)

This post contains affiliate links - Disclaimer

Pregnancy Update Week 23: Pre-Natal Depression, Going Baby Crazy & Free Stuff!

So since I last gave you a proper update at 18 weeks (besides the short post with our Gender Reveal telling you all that we're going to be having a baby girl), I haven't really let you in on how my pregnancy has been going. I wanted to leave it a bit before I wrote this  because I've been going through some personal things and quite honestly I just haven't wanted to write. Pregnancy for me has so far been anything but glorious and I've really been struggling these past couple of weeks with my mental health and I've just wanted to take time to myself to figure a few things out before updating you all on how my pregnancy has been going. More on that later though...

Since our 18 week update, I've had two scans, 2 Doctor's appointments and 2 visits to my midwife. From that time when I said the wait in-between appointments was ridiculous, well now, I've kind of made it so I've been having a few more than they originally thought I needed. My two scans were two that I knew I was going to have since being referred to the specialists in Bristol back at my 12 week scan. I had one on the baby's heart at 18+5 where a cardiologist had an in-depth look to see if there was anything wrong as with earlier on complications, they thought that may have been something that would have been an issue - luckily, our baby girl has a perfectly lovely looking heart and there was no concern from either Doctor that came to have a check. That was a relief straight away as for the past 6/7 weeks I had been worrying myself to no-end that something would have been wrong with her and all I want, like most new mamas-to-be out there, is for my baby girl to be healthy. 

The next appointment was just a week later at 19+6 where we were back in Bristol for a more detailed anomaly scan (or what's more commonly known as the 20 week scan). This is where we found out that we were having a baby girl and although they never say it's 100% we definitely went out and did a little bit of shopping straight after! Again, they said our baby girl was looking good and healthy, but as we have been referred to a specialist unit, we are going back at around week 32 for another scan; which by the way, I am in no way complaining about because it just means more opportunities for me and Steve to see her before she's here - and of course more photos! 

After those two appointments I was over the moon that we have a healthy baby girl on the way, but over the next week or so my mood just started plummeting and I could feel myself getting myself quite easily onto that spiral of depression. I tried to ignore it and tried to pull myself together and back out of my low moods without letting anyone know about it, but in the end, just after the Easter Bank Holiday, I just broke down. I really got to the point where I couldn't handle things anymore and was hating most days. I wanted to stay in bed and not get up for work, I wanted to do absolutely nothing and see no one and I could feel myself just slipping into that familiar funk of hopelessness. I was at work when this happened and so phoned my midwife for a chat, making an appointment to see her and also then phoned my GP so that I could talk to someone to get some kind of help. I'm not ashamed to say I need help as I'd much rather make sure I'm healthy for my little girl too as the last thing I want to do is let her down before she's even arrived, but it's been difficult to realise I was at the point where I needed help. Most days are a struggle for me and as I've been signed off work, the want to stay in bed all day is greater than no other right now, but I have been trying to get myself up and dressed and to put a bit of makeup on so I don't fall into that pit of depression even further. 

I wanted to be honest in this update and tell you exactly how I've been feeling as pre-natal depression is extremely common and I wanted to let anyone else out there suffering with it know that you're not alone. I've actually got an appointment  booked in to see a CBT therapist / counsellor at my GP surgery in two weeks time to have a chat and try and have a more positive outlook on things and my Midwife now wants to see me every two weeks for a chat just to make sure I'm doing okay and not getting myself even further into my pit of despair.

This week specifically has been really tough for me, the bad days have most definitely been outweighing the good and I've been really struggling with being on my own in the day. I've also been having quite a lot of pain just underneath my bump this week which has really freaked me out and I got myself really worked up and paranoid that something was wrong with our little girl. After not feeling much movement for her I actually ended up phoning the midwife last night and we spent half an hour getting checked over. She seems perfectly fine which has really put my mind at ease and knowing that the pain is most likely due to the fact that she's sitting really low has made me calm down loads!

On to a sligtly happier note now though, I've been feeling baby move so much over the past week or so (apart from last nights scare). I mean, she has her lazy days like I do, but on some of them she proper wriggles around and gives my tummy a good booting! I've been trying desperately to get Steve to feel my tummy when it happens but so far he's only managed to faintly feel one or two kicks / movements. She's an active little one already so as much as I love feeling her kick, I am a bit scared for when she grows even more and proper starts going for it in there. Some of the positions she's managed to get herself in are uncomfortable enough as it is!

I've also been loving the free stuff available to us mumma's to be! I've downloaded a couple of apps recently and signed up to a few websites and have been able to pick up a couple of free packs from Boots and Tesco that are full of samples and vouchers etc. The three that I've picked up so far have been from Bounty and Emma's Diary and have included samples to pamper me as my bump grows and my body changes and samples of things like nappies, Sudocrem and baby lotion for my bubba. They are so helpful and I'm stocking up on lots of bits already that aren't costing me a penny! I'd definitely recommend them to anyone and hey! Free stuff is free stuff, it all helps!

Overall, it's been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster of a few weeks and the thought of having another 16 and a half weeks of this is enough to drive me even more insane, but she's keeping me going as strong as I can and at the end of the day my main priority right now is to make sure she's okay. A lot of changes are happening at the moment in my life where I'm taking a step back and putting both her and I first over anything else and I'm just looking forward to seeing the finish line now. I am not enjoying pregnancy one bit, but I'm hoping that will change soon! Any tips or advice on getting through the second half of pregnancy and keeping my spirits high will be more than welcomed in the comments!

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BekyLou, Beauty, Fashion, Fitness and Lifestyle Blog based in the South West and London.

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