Maternity Skincare

Without a doubt, our bodies change shape during pregnancy, some earlier than others, some in more places than others, but as our skin stretches and our tummies grow, it is important to look after ourselves on the inside and out.

I have been testing a variety of maternity skincare products over the last few weeks, and wanted to put it all together in an easy post, so if you are looking for a little treat for your growing bump then look no further.

Love Boo

I was sent a lovely Marvellous Mummy Kit from Love Boo which has perfectly sized miniatures for travel.  I took this away for our week in Rome and it was great to fit in the suitcase.  The body wash smells sweet and the body smoother is a very thick cream that dries in surprisingly fast.  With shea butter the smell is not overpowering but still soft and feminine.  The miracle oil takes much longer to dry as is common with oils but is a lovely bedtime treat and left my skin feeling lovely and soft.

This Love Boo kit is on offer at £24.99

Hope's Relief

Whilst the Hope's relief moisturiser isn't designed especially for pregnancy, its purpose is to 'help soothe and hydrate dry, itchy skin', which ultimately is the same thing.  Most pregnant women experience itching to some extent as their skin is stretched to the extreme and this is a rich moisturiser that is suitable on baby skin too, so can be carried on after birth.  A little bit of this light cream goes a long way and the packaging confirms that this cream contains no rubbish, is not tested on animals and is full of natural moisturisers.  It isn't perfumed so may be the perfect choice for many and is designed for all sorts of skin conditions so if you have sensitive skin anyway, I would recommend this choice.

Hope's Relief moisturising lotion is available for £15.50

Dream Belly Butter

This Dream belly butter by Fairhaven health contains lots of natural ingredients and is a thick butter.  The smell is light and mostly of milk and honey.  The packaging claims that the butter will soothe, revitalise, tone, regenerate, moisturize and restore and it did leave my skin feeling very moisturised.  I have found it a bit heavy for a morning application, and I do have to wait 5 minutes or so before dressing, but it works better as a night time option.  Even several hours after using this, I could feel the softening effect on my skin and with this designed for use both in pregnancy and post partum, I will be using this again after little pretzel arrives.

Dream Belly Butter is available for $14.95

N Spa

The NSpa range is available through Asda, and the set I was sent also came in handy sizes for being out and about (although the body butter was much larger than other travel sets at 75ml).  The stretch mark oil was more easily absorbed by my skin than other oils I have tried, and was perfect to use straight after a shower. The body butter is not too thick, but was again more of a night time option as it took quite a while to not feel sticky on my skin.  The scent is hard to pinpoint, but is not strong or offensive.  The shower creme was great on a weekend and left my skin feeling very soft.  This range is definitely the cheapest of the lot but the quality was still great.

Nspa products are available from Asda with the Mum to be kit £10

Cloud 9

The first thing that struck me about Cloud 9, was the amazing packaging.  the creams came in boxes as bright and metallic as the tubes and they definitely stand out on your bedside table. For me this was quite good, as whilst I can easily forget to apply a pink or white cream, I was in a much better routine as I saw these every time I woke up or went to sleep.  Again, these products are not designed exclusively for pregnacy.

The blue tube is called 'Nature's Miracle' and is a varicose vein treatment.  The company say it is a dual action formula that helps soothe tired, aching legs, reduce inflammation and the appearance of varicose and spider veins and improve skin's firmness and elasticity.  All of this is perfect for pregnancy as our legs bear the weight of our growing uterus and I found this cream felt incredibly luxurious on my legs and did help them feel revived after a long day on my feet.

The pink, smaller tube is 'Skin Rehab' for minimising scars.  It is designed not only to help reduce the appearance of existing scars, but to help prevent new scars from forming with St John's Wort, Calendula and Arnica, among other ingredients.  This cream comes out in a mustard yellow colour and is easy to apply and instantly dry on your skin.  I think this would be great post C-section or even post baby as our bodies have to find a way back, but I am enjoying using it on my existing stretch marks in the hope that no more can form.

Nature's Miracle is available for £30 and Skin Rehab for £35

Disclaimer:  I was sent these products for the purpose of this post but all thoughts and opinions are completely my own.

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