Elle Macpherson Heel Smoother Review

Gone are the days when I could afford either the time or the money to spend my saturday afternoons being pampered at the salon.  These days a pedicure is a very rare experience for me and I try to do my best at home.  This natty little gadget is now part of my pedicure routine - the Elle Macpherson Heel Smoother from Homedics.

Now that the summer is in full swing, I do like to wear sandals and flip flops - even to work so my feet need a bit more maintenance.  This Elle Macpherson Heel Smoother is a little electronic tool which you can use to remove dry skin and buff away dry patches and generally give your feet a bit of a polish.  It comes with two attachments, one to scrub the skin and one to buff it.  The heel smoother is battery powered and when you switch it on the head rotates at speed.

There is no doubt that the Elle Macpherson heel smoother takes some of the effort out of buffing the dry skin from your feet.  It is also a bit tidier because the first stage of skin removal manages to capture some of the yucky bits inside its little void - you need to empty it after use.

I found the buffer head to be just as effective as if I had used a manual buffing tool - it comes with a few replacement pads for when they wear down.  I found the scrubbing head a little disappointing though, especially in comparison to the hand-held dry skin remover that my husband uses.  I was expecting the electronic rotating head to make a really big impact... but it didn't.

The Elle Macpherson heel smoother is a smart little gadget and, when it is housed in its lid and standing upright on my dressing table it fits just right in.

The new Elle Macpherson heel smoother by Homedics costs £19.99 and is available from Argos.

Oilatum Daily Junior Lotion Review

People who have read Mellow Mummy over the years will know that both Holly and (especially) Lara suffer from dry skin on their arms and legs.  I have got their eczema under control over the years by switching to only non-bio detergents and by trying to use natural and organic shampoos, bubble baths and shower gels.  Ordinarily, I tend to steer clear of high street brands when I'm looking for a moisturiser for the girls but Oilatum sent me a sample of their Oilatum Daily Junior Lotion to try out on the girls because they wanted to show me how gentle it was on children and babies.

Oilatum Daily Junior Lotion is quite thick.  Holly loves the texture and will actively seek it out in the evenings to apply to herself.  Lara isn't so keen on the feeling of it, she is very much like her Daddy and only likes using body moisturisers which absorb really quickly - this one does take quite some time and you can feel it on their skin afterwards.

That feeling afterwards is a thin layer of mineral oil which is designed to act as a barrier to prevent further drying of the skin.  I have a mild allergic reaction to some mineral oils but I tried the Oilatum Daily Junior Lotion on my own skin and had no problem at all - in fact, I've found it to be one of the best body lotions I've tried in a very long time and I REALLY like the feeling of the skin on my arms when I wake up in the morning after using it.  Shhhhh... don't tell Holly!

The lotion has a gentle scent that reminds me a little of baby talcs.  I would say that it is a perfect product for Holly who has had occasional dry skin since being a baby and, on a hot day she certainly finds it a soothing end to the day and part of her daily bedtime ritual.  But for Lara, Oilatum Daily Junior Lotion isn't the right product but thankfully, these days, we don't have many ezcema or dry skin issues we have to tackle any more.

Sand Art Play

Lara and Holly have a thirst for creative crafts. Our dining room has been totally repurposed as a craft area for the girls and so I am always on the lookout for new and exciting creative activities for both my 5 year old and my 2 year old that will help them to find a channel for their artistic instincts each weekend. Recently the girls have got really in to Sand Art play.

Lara was sent a Sand Art gift pack which contained 11 different colours of really fine sand along with four postcard designs to make.  The postcards have peel-off sections which are pre-glued.  Each postcard has a design marked onto it so you simply peel off the next section of the picture that you want to colour.

Lara's kit contained 4 ocean-themed pictures as this is something she is particularly in to right now.  She started with this dolphin design.  It took her a while to be able to visualise what the picture would look like once she had completed all of the colours (which is why some of the sections run in to each other).  Lara concentrated so hard on getting it right and despite spending nearly an hour (this is a long time for Lara to pay attention to anything!), once she had completed one picture she was eager to move on and do another.

Initially I was a bit concerned that there wouldn't be enough of each colour of sand to complete out the four postcards in the kit because Lara was very heavy handed when sprinkling the coloured sand on to the pictures.  I showed Lara how to place the postcard over a magazine so that we could fold the magazine and pour the left-over sand carefully back into the tube between each colour.  This was definitely a two-person job and not something Lara could really do on her own.

The sand worked really well!  Lara would use the little plastic pick to lift the section from the postcard to reveal the sticky area and then pour the sand over.  The sticky bit doesn't feel that sticky to the touch but the sand is so fine that it sticks perfectly and gives a really even colour.

My only disappointment with the Sand Art kit was the "laminating" pouches which were really just plastic bags that had to be cut and placed over the postcards to finish them off, before trimming to size. I felt that the cards could have come with a correctly-sized pouch that held the sand in place more closely and in fact Lara prefers the look of the pictures without the presentation covers.

I was really pleasantly surprised to see how much fun Holly also had using the sand art kit.  Of course, being that bit younger, she needed a lot more help from me but this is her work in progress...

... Holly really enjoyed being able to choose which section to colour next, and what colour to choose.  I think she wanted to be in control and very much enjoyed the feeling of being able to make a picture that looked so good (sometimes I think Holly gets frustrated at her own lack of ability to paint, draw and write... she wants to be older!)

Sand Art kits are available from www.sandartplay.co.uk