April Favourites | Green Beauty

Over the last month I have been getting into the swing of motherhood. Skincare and beauty have taken a side step as I spend most of my days in my comfiest, milk soaked pjs with my hair in a very attractive top knot. Seemingly out of no where the sun made an appearance and out came my faithful Birkenstocks, but to my horror my feet resembled that of a hobbit. This months favourites only features my green beauty essentials because as a new Mum, it's safe to say - in the politest way possible - you don't even get a chance to break wind. 

Now the sun is shining (most of the time) it's about time I sorted my neglected feet out. I hadn't actually touched my toes for months towards the end of my pregnancy and when you have a newborn, everything goes out of the window. Two products that have really helped improve my dry, damaged feet have been the Fabulous Organic Foot Balm by Suti and the Nail & Cuticle Oil by Herbfarmacy. One evening a week this month, when the wee man has gone to sleep I have treated myself to a mini pedi. Soaking my feet in an epsom salt bowl with a couple of drops of lavender (great to aid sleep) then I apply a generous amount of the Organic Foot Balm and just put my feet up. Then just before bed I pop on a pair of socks. In the morning I buff it off and remove all the dry skin. This product includes a wonderful combination of ingredients such as Peppermint leaves to rejuvenate the skin and calm soreness, which believe me helps reduce puffy, tired feet and cool them down after a long day. This is an intensive moisturiser that sinks into your dry skin almost instantly, offering you a chance to reconnect with your roots and relax.

Four years ago, when I started this blog, Dr Bronner's Magic Soap was one of the first products I ever reviewed, and it is still a firm favourite in the Rinse household. I use it for everything. Washing up, hand washing clothes and even brushing my teeth when we're away. As an avid camper, for years I would lug everything along with us, washing up liquid, shampoo, toothpaste etc. Now I just bring this! I know a lot of YouTubers use it to clean their make-up brushes and if I used any, I would too but I very rarely use brushes these days. It comes in a range of scents from Eucalyptus to Wild Rose and they come in a few different sizes.

Establishing a positive breastfeeding routine hasn't been easy. And although it's meant to be natural sometimes it takes time and a lot of practice. In the first few weeks I developed mastitis and really stubbled to keep going. I plough through the pain but dreaded each feed. Each feed would last at least an hour and the tears would be streaming down my face the whole time. But I knew this was what I wanted for my son so I work hard to build up my supply and started to express some of Hedd's feeds to give myself chance to heal. I found using the Nursing Oil by Weleda a great help to get the most from expressing. It is hard to find the time to express when you have a newborn, especially if you're alone but I would take some time out and use this and massage my breasts for a while before I would use the pump. I noticed a huge difference in the amount I was able to produce within the first few days. I'm planning on putting together a breastfeeding essentials post so I will save the technique I use until then.

This month I am thankful for the sunshine and being able to take Hedd for evening walks along the lane in his new Ergobaby carrier.

What have been your favourites this month?

Laurie Rose