Nina Rabaiotti

NINA RABAIOTTI – A BEAUTY JOUNALIST - IS EXPECTING HER FIRST CHILD IN AUGUST. HERE, SHE BLOGS ABOUT HER FAVOURITE PREGNANCY FINDS

When it comes to beauty products, anything with the words ‘baby’ or ‘mum-to-be’ in the name usually means you pay ten or twenty quid over the odds, and there’s still no guarantee that they will work. Happily, there are lots of products out there that do deliver the goods without you having to part with a small fortune. One is The Sanctuary Mum-to-Be range, from £6.99, which has a stretch mark oil, facial oil and collagen boosting body butter in the range. I’ve tried several body creams in the last few months and this luxurious butter is my favourite. Truth be told, I probably don’t need to apply it three times a day, but massaging it into my stomach, especially at the end of the day, really helps to ease the tightness, making me feel less leather-drum, more mother earth. The smell is just dreamy. Mum to Be Collagen Boosting Body Butter, £9.99 for 475ml (http://www.thesanctuary.co.uk)

My new shoes arrived this week and not a moment too soon for my fat friends in the south, formerly known as my feet. A friend, who has just had a baby, told me about them after hearing my painful accounts of small heels (treacherous on pavements); wedges (hefty calves) and gladiator sandals (straps plus swollen flesh? Ouch). They are - beauty products and Cadbury Freddos aside - my best pregnancy buy (BPB) so far. The blurb says: they have a mouldable foot-bed which moulds to the contours of your own foot to create a custom orthopaedic fit encouraging neutral alignment and balance. For once, I find myself in agreement with PR hype. They are a dream to wear: light, comfortable and supportive, and unlike other shoes that make similar claims, these actually look good. I’ve worn them every day, for eight hours solid and for a six-month-pregnant-woman, that is unheard of! SOLE Platinum Sandal Sport Flips, £49 (http://www.yoursole.co.uk)

The strain of living with an, at best, unpredictable, at worse, bonkers hormonal woman is beginning to show on my boyfriend who has taken to having long solitary soaks in the bath with scented candles and, hang on, MY Neal’s Yard Remedies Mothers Bath Oil. This aromatherapy-rich oil has been a total Godsend, especially when “oh-my-God-I’m-going-to-be-a-mother/father” panic sets in. The main sell is that a few shakes of this will restore a sense of calm and make your skin soft and supple, but I’ve also found that adding a few drops to a warm, wet flannel and applying it to your forehead will send you off to sleep a treat, even when your mind is whirring. (Works on men, too.) Neal’s Yard Remedies Mothers Bath Oil, £13.10 for 100ml (http://shop.nealsyardremedies.com)

Wise woman say: never underestimate the restorative effects of a good pedicure - especially for toes that have, what my friend Emma, a beautician, calls the ‘Fat Hobbit Effect’. For a large bar of Galaxy and her pick of my Leighton Denny polishes, she consents to pop over one night and give me a quick polish, although she draws the line at buffing my hooves.(And, I can’t honestly say I blame her.) It’s a measure of how desperate I am that I am willing to part with Chocaholic, a chic, rich brown polish and one of those rare shades that suits all skin tones equally well in winter and summer. But a coat of Copy Cat, a bright bubblegum pink, on my toes, followed by the Crystal Finish Top Coat – a must for klutzes like me – soon restores twinkle to my toes and makes me feel a bit more surefooted. Leighton Denny polishes, from £9.79, (http://www.beautique.com/)