Is it just me or is Spring the best season of the year? The city is awash with endless blue skies, golden pops of wattle dot the skyline and fragrant star jasmine overwhelm the senses. To quote Shakespeare, 'When daisies pied and violets blue, And lady-smocks all silver white, And cuckoo buds of yellow hue, Do paint the meadows with delight'

Perhaps Spring is a good time to do something you've been putting off over the colder months...go hiking in the mountains, re-paint the wardrobe, treat yourself to a facial, read a book, do some knitting and lose 10 kilos? Quite honestly, this is my to do list and am keen to get started (not too optimistic about the weight loss though!). What's on your list?

With all things new and fresh that goes with the season, we've discovered a smart way to remove make-up as part of our nomination in the Kidspot Voices of 2014 Challenge. We were asked to review the Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water with a promise it would remove make-up, cleanse, soothe the face, eyes and lips. We were quite impressed with the product and have no negatives! It doesn't dry my skin and we only needed to wipe a few times to remove heavy eye make-up. A winner in our household 

Love the headband? You can knit it too! It's the best way to keep wayward hair off your face when taking off make-up. It's super easy and you can complete it in a few hours. It has cute 'love-heart' ends that tie off at the nape of the neck and the knit allows the headband to stretch slightly. I hope you like the pattern

We used 10 ply wool with 4.5 mm (US and UK size 7) needles 

It's been fun and games at our house recently with the production of the video we've just made for our Garnier BB Cream submission for the Voices of 2014 Challenge. We thought it would be fun to show you some behind the scenes chaos that ensued and what we've learned from making a video

Lessons Learned and some Quick Facts

• It took 5 people (and one dog) to work behind the scenes and in front of the camera. The final quicktime video is 2 minutes long and took 6 hours to shoot and two people five hours to edit

• We used 5 camera angles, three were fixed and two hand-held

• Lighting is much better shot outside but we wanted to control the light and shot inside (well that didn't work)

• Don't shoot underneath a skylight over a period of time as it drastically effects the lighting (Ah, hello!)

• Don't buy ghastly blue velvet curtains as a backdrop. Ew, yuck. What was I thinking???

• Applying makeup to someone else and from the side is EXTREMELY difficult. I completely struggled with NOT getting the back of my head in shot. The eye liner took three attempts and still looked more like a Jagged Lid than a beautiful Winged Eye. Let's chock that one up to experience, shall we...

• Luckily we had a professional hairdresser for the glossy curly locks. Thanks Patrick from Wildlife Hair in Sydney

• With time lapse, our model had to stay extremely still. Poor Helena...

• I cried after it was all done. It's over now and I feel much better

Here's the behind the scenes video shot in my studio. Music is The Flight of the Bumblebee. How appropriate.

Hair always seems to be the last thing to do before going out the door. Well, it is for me anyway! I usually figure if I have lipstick and blush on my face I'm doing well. If my hair isn't perfect then I'm doing OK

Perhaps Spring will renew my desire to spend more time on my locks. For some inspiration, here are nine easy hair tutorials for better looking hair

Top to bottom: Braided Up-do by She Lets Her Hair Down, , The Relaxed Ponytail by Makeup.com, Easy Chignon by Bellashot, Hollywood Waves by Grey Likes Weddings, 3D Chain Braid by Hair Romance, Perfect Pony by The Beauty Department, Partial French Braid by Love Maegan and Workout Hair by The Beauty Department

Pimples, oily combination skin, blackheads, clogged pores and skin imperfections are every one's nightmare. Me included (perhaps minus the pimples!). My daughter is one of those young teenagers hitting her stride into adolescence and all the skin problems that come with it

When we were sent the Garnier Pure Active 3-in-1 face wash, scrub and mask to try as part of the Garnier Challenge for Kidspot Voices of 2014 we were absolutely delighted. How perfect!

So we both embarked on a 7 day trial. Helena used it mainly as a face wash and scrub. Having never used a product like this before, she was excited by the thought of dealing with blackheads on her nose and and blemishes on her cheeks. What she loved... she firstly commented on how thick the product was and that it has a subtle fragrance. It's enriched with mineral zinc and pumice stone beads that help with dislodging impurities, leaving her skin smooth. The verdict? She felt her skin was extremely soft and had received a professional facial. That's good news for my wallet

For me? Loved it! My skin is extreeeeemly sensitive. The mere talk of using skin care products sends me into a cold sweat. Anyway, I thought I would use it as a mask and see how I would go. No reaction and left my skin soft and tingly. I'm not sure I would use it every day as a wash but once a week is perfect

You can create this face cloth too! Knitted from cotton, a classic and beautiful natural yarn that's gentle on the skin yet the moss weave pattern is nubby to help dislodge any residual scrub. It's such a pleasure to use cotton when knitting and this face cloth can be made in hours. I purchased my 10 ply wool from Morris & Sons in Sydney. Worth the effort for a little indulgence. The pattern is below....

Hey friends! Are you going to a party or wedding this weekend and are contemplating a sassy addition to your hair? Well let us inspire you. This diy hair clip  accessory can be whipped-up in mere minutes with designer looks on a Target budget. We used some easy-to-get turkey feathers and a broken brooch for added bling. You can also use a button or loose faceted rhinestones instead. Shiny is good! We found an assortment of hair clips in the bathroom cupboard that we could use but any size will do. You can make a Guinea feather hair clip too, see our how-to here

How to make a jewelled feather hair clip
Hold the hair clip against some felt and cut around the edge leaving a little extra around the sides. Using a hot glue gun, adhere to the top of clip. Trim feathers and glue, layering one on top of the other until all the felt is covered. Adhere broken brooch or embellishment to base