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Lottie Dolls: Let Girls Dream Beyond The Princess Dresses

Published by Oana

I have a girl whose mind is sharp as a needle. A girl who loves to ask questions and learn about the world. A girl who is not satisfied with the appellative princess and who dreams of being a scientist or an explorer when she grows up. A girl for whom Lottie dolls are absolutely perfect as role models and appropriate toys.

What sort of dolls are the Lottie range and what sets them apart form the crowd?

According to the Daily Mail, they are:

“…A range of dolls created to defy gender stereotypes and encourage girls to be adventurous, inquisitive and sporty.
Lottie is billed as a ‘fashion doll with a difference’ because – unlike a Barbie doll which has an impossibly slim figure – Lottie has been designed to look and dress like a child.”

Our love for the Lottie doll range started exactly one year ago, when Emma got the Lighthouse Keeper Lottie for her 5th birthday. I chose it as a significance-filled toy, for Emma as a surviving sibling to Georgie and as our own Lighthouse Keeper, the one who kept us going through the pain of her brother’s cancer diagnosis and the agony of his loss.

Lighthouse Lottie came with us everywhere we went last summer, Greece included, as it is small and light and fits easily in a suitcase or carry on.

Emma loved her for her clothes, so different from the usually pink and frilly “girly” clothes dollies wear these days and for her normal girl size, no over the top boobies nor exaggerated long legs. She loved her for the adventures they got to imagine themselves in, as sailors and airplane pilots when we flew over mountains and endless seas.

The amazing team behind the Lottie dolls saw our pictures on Instagram and understood that they had a real Lottie fan on their hands so this autumn, after we returned from Greece, we were offered the very privileged and much coveted role of Lottie Doll Brand Ambassadors!

As part of our new role, we were sent (coincidentally the week Emma turned 6!), three Lottie dolls of our choice to review and share with our readers as well, as part of a giveaway, here, on the blog!

So, what did we choose from the impressive list of Lottie dolls and why?

When the solar eclipse took place last October and she got wind that there would be a new Stargazer Lottie, Emma literally begged me to put our names down for one. She wanted to look at the sun through the lenses of imaginary play and have a mighty Lottie, expert in all things stellar, show her the stars.

So, of course, the Lottie Stargazer was at the top of our wish list and Emma loved getting it, even a year later! As soon as she saw the box, Emma remarked on Lottie’s warm and comfy clothes, perfect for outdoor activities and as soon as she was out of the box, she asked daddy to put the telescope up so they can gaze at the stars together!

The dolly comes with a mini set of planet cards which will help any aspiring astronomer to remember their names and also, with an information sheet about notable women in astronomy and ways to make the most of what the European Space Agency has on offer for children.

The second Lottie doll we chose was the Fossil Hunter.

I knew Emma would love to learn more about paleontology as from when she was young and we visited the Museum of Natural History in New York, she had shown an inclination for fossil hunting:

What did Emma think of her Lottie Fossil Hunter?

Once again, Emma was impressed with the appropriate clothing and footwear and the handy backpack, any self-respecting explorer has to have one in which they carry their tools! She loves the little shells that come with the doll and has them stored away safely in the above mentioned rucksack.

The doll comes, just like the Stargazer, with a information sheet for budding fossil hunters and explorers. The sheet also provides a list of notable women in paleontology which will come in handy for older girls who love their facts and can draw inspiration from such remarkable role models!

The last doll we chose, and this one will be going to one of our readers, is the Butterfly Protector Lottie.

Just like the other two, this Lottie has a well proportioned body, looking like a young girl rather than a model from a magazine. She wears appropriate clothing for outdoor adventures, is stylish and would make a beautiful toy for any little girl out there.

As I was telling you above, we are truly pleased to be able to offer it to one lucky little girl, all you have to do to win it in time for Christmas is enter the Gleam competition here.

Lottie is available online at http://www.lottie.com (UK Store) and on Amazon. Lottie is available in store at Debenhams and independent toy stores. Lottie doll retails at £19.99. Accessory sets and outfit sets retail at £7.99.

To find out the latest news about Lottie and enter the very exciting competition team Lottie runs regularly, you can sign up to the Club Lottie here.

Lottie can also be found on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

#ShareTheMeal

Published by Oana

I have written a lot about Syria and the heartbreaking crisis we have all witnessed this year in the media and lately, my mind has been doing rounds, trying to find a way we can help again as a family.

So when I was invited yesterday by the amazing team behind #ShareTheMeal to write about their amazing new life-saving app, I knew instantly I had found my answer!

Instead of me explaining the idea of the new app to you, I will let Sebastian Stricker do it himself. After all, the app is his brainchild and he does a much better job at passionately presenting it, more than I would ever dream of doing:

What we can all do, on the other hand, and from today is download the app and each time we have a few spare pennies in our bank accounts, click and donate to ensure not only our children get fed this winter, but also the Syrian ones still on the road to safety and a normal life.

Our (to us!) meager donations of £0.37 per day or £2.45 per week have the financial power to change a child’s life! No, actually, they have the potential to SAVE their life!

Please do involve your children and support together the initiative as a family this December. Instead of focusing on Advent Calendars that offer them chocolate and toys only, make it a daily habit to think and give to others, less fortunate, some of their small change and, more importantly, their love.

Emma’s iPad has the app downloaded from yesterday and we will make it a daily joy in December, to click that button and know that for that day, one Syrian child will not go hungry thanks to Emma’s big heart!

The app is fully endorsed by the United Nations World Food Programme. It has been mentioned in Forbes yesterday as the app with most potential for worldwide change. The #ShareTheMeal programme and app have received the support of the WFP Innovation Accelerator and are in line with the United Nations’ ambitious goal to end world hunger by 2030.

On self-assurance, selling oneself short and other employment matters

Published by Oana

I have been very busy lately and had to sort out tons of things and tie loads of loose ends when it comes to employment and personal life.

Although I had the summer off and only went back to work at the end of August, by mid-September my part-time day became a source of huge stress and I had to step right back and evaluate the best strategy concerning it.

I have also been extremely busy on the blog, with many great things happening, like Mama’s Haven winning UK Best Parenting Blog Award with the Blogging Edge network and loads of respectable brands approaching us for collaborations and reviews.

I did, at the same time, land a wonderful part-time job which I can do from home, during hours that suit our family. As a Social Media and PR Manager with the fastest growing coupon site in the UK , I haven’t had a dull moment since starting working for them, with every day a steep learning curve that challenges and motivates me!

But in the midst of all this, I have felt, at the best of times, overwhelmed and under extreme pressure to perform and do well by everybody.

In the end, the decision had to be taken and my day job had to go.

I did not take the decision lightly and took four weeks to ponder seriously on all the implications but in my heart of hearts, I knew that a job that leaves me drained and frustrated at the end of the day will only get worse if I stayed in it. Nothing to do with the people or the job itself, more of the wrong person for the wrong job sort of thing.

For the past week and a half, with that burden lifted off my shoulders, I had expected to feel lighter but actually, I continued to put myself under a lot of pressure to do well in my new job and deliver excellent quality content in every blog post that was commissioned to me as well.

Needless to say, adjustments had to be made, once again.

I took yesterday off to consider what were the things that were causing the stress and I did realise that I was doing too much for too little.

So, the decision has been taken to up the game, so to say. This coming month I will abstain from taking every blogging commissioning that is being offered to me, just because I want to be nice, build professional relationships and am unable to say no.

I have also decided to up my blogging fees.

At the end of the day, having given up my day job, I am now self-employed in the finance books. A professional blogger who needs to make a living off her blog. I am also an established blogger with loads of credibility and credentials and accepting modest fees need to become a thing of the past.

Lack of self-assurance and selling myself short, I realised, is never going to bring me where I dream to be!

I have decided to walk this path, the self-employment path because it suits my lifestyle, my personality and my gifting.

Now it is time to stick my head high, believe in myself and my value as a blogger and writer and make my dreams become reality!

Her New Favourite Colour is Yellow – Sibling Grief

Published by Oana

Emma was only 4 when Georgie died and, most appropriately for her age, she took everything in her stride.

She accepted without questioning that Georgie went to heaven.

She played tea parties in the chapel where his little body rested for three days, undisturbed by the reality of his departure.

After the funeral, she got back to her only-child life without any qualms, or so it appeared at the time.

But as she grows up, her anger with the situation and her questions grow bigger and bigger too.

Half-term was hell term for us.

Alex worked long hours that week and instead of having a great week off, spending it relaxing and recharging our batteries, Emma and I spent it at each other’s throats.

I haven’t been great myself for a number of weeks so having a screaming, unhappy child for whom nothing was quite right drove me to the brink of insanity several times that week.

I did start to make sense of what was happening the week after, when I picked on the fact that she was insisting her new favourite colour was yellow.

It clicked into place, as I did remember having told her that Georgie loved bright colours and yellow especially.

So I started prodding her gently with questions:

“Do you miss your brother, Emma?”

“No, not really.”

“Do you miss being a big sister?”

“Yes…very much…I made a great big sissie…”

I have also tried to give away some of her soft toys, shortly after her birthday last week, to make room for the new games.

I did show them to her one by one, including one of Georgie’s teddies.

I remember how she stopped breathing when the teddy went up.

She searched my eyes anxiously and asked simply:

“Why?”

She carried on saying that she wants to keep ALL of Georgie’s toys and never lose any of them.

This child of mine is trying so hard to hold on to the very few mementos and memories that she has of her brother.

And it breaks my heart.

As I see her struggle. Her agony with what has happened. Her questions.

And there is nothing, absolutely nothing I can do to make it right.

I cannot bring Georgie back.

I cannot build memories of what they have lost, a whole life of growing up together, of games, of rivalries, of camaraderie and love.

I cannot fix this.

I cannot mend our broken lives.

All I can do is accept it all as it is.

Her broken heart is leaking love for a little brother with whom she will not get to share her life here on earth.

All I can do is offer her the little comfort my words and touch can bring her bruised heart.

That and the fact that….her new favourite colour is yellow…

Love Me Beauty – The Best Subscription Beauty Box

Published by Oana

Love Me Beauty is not the first subscription beauty box I have tried this autumn, but it is by far, the best one on the UK market, in my informed opinion.

What makes me view it as such?

I have five simple reasons and I am confident you would agree with me, once you have heard me:

1. Price

I have tried several other beauty boxes which are decently priced but none of them beats the £10/month that Love Me Beauty sells for! Most of the beauty boxes out there do offer competitive prices but most of them do start at over £12.00.

2. Value for Money

Again, I have tried beautiful beauty boxes which offered a varied array of products, from hair, make up, nails, body and accessories but most of their products come in minuscule, sample sizes, with the odd product being full size and worth the spending. I was absolutely impressed with the fact that my review box arrived with ALL five full size products to sample and enjoy!

3. Great Quality

I received my beauty box last week and I did have a chance to use all five products the team was very kind to include in the review box for me.

The Neal&Wolf Smoothing Blow Dry Balm left my hair silky and smelling divine after the first use and I look forward to using it loads in the weeks to come!

The Caylin Gel Eye Shadow Pencil is extremely easy to use and stayed put for the 12 hours I used it that day, no smudging or leakage at all!

The Lanolips Banana Balm helped my (and Emma’s) lips stay moisturised and prevented cracking during these last days, with all the high winds and storms. It smells lovely too, Emma says :-).

The Malin and Goetz Face Cleanser produced a luxurious lather which left my face feeling squeaky clean and smelling beautifully of citrus fruit.

And finally, the Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse Or added the ultimate glossy, chic look to my hair (which does have a tendency to look limp after straightening).

4. Product Choice

While assembling your beauty product, you are given the great choice of not only several beauty products categories but also, loads of personal choices to suit your particular skin and hair type.

So, for example, the MONU product choice includes firming facial oil, hydrating mask, reviving mist and hydrating moisturiser, all to suit your personal skin type and preferences.

5. Subscription Choice

You can try the beauty box as a monthly subscription or you can pay in advance for three, six, nine or 12 months, depending on your budget and preferences. You can cancel your subscription anytime you choose, as well.

So, if a Love Me Beauty subscription box is something the special ladies(and gents!) in your life would enjoy as a Christmas present, do check out the website here. I can assure you that as someone who has tested the products and the subscription service herself, this is indeed, the best subscription beauty box there is out there at the moment!

P.S.- For an even greater incentive to spoil your loved ones, the lovely folk at Love Me Beauty are offering our readers the unique discount code haven50 for your first purchase, which will save you a hefty 50% your first month’s subscription! So go on, what is your excuse not to?

Disclaimer: we were sent a Love Me Beauty subscription box for the purpose of this review. All opinions expressed are truthful and entirely my own.