Author Archives: Mette Bassett

Happy Hair Days

Posted on December 30, 2011 | Leave a comment

Three months after giving birth, my hair started falling out faster than you can say “hair loss”. I guess the hair Elliot’s scalp has been sprouting recently has had to come from somewhere :-)

Previously I’d been using the Redken Extreme shampoo & conditioner in the hope that it’d work wonders on my hair. Well, it hasn’t. In fact I think it’s pretty crap, as I’ve spent every morning after the shower, desperately combing through my wet hair trying to detangle it before Elliot got bored of sitting in his bouncy chair.

So now I felt like treating my quickly receding hair line as gently and naturally as possible – no need to nuke the last remaining strands with parabens.

What I needed was a powerful de-frizzing shampoo and conditioner and when I spotted the Happy Hair Days products during my online shopping spree at Sainsburys I was intrigued. I love the quirky bottle designs and the fact that the products don’t contain parabens, SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate) or SLES (Sodium Laureth Sulfate).

And the price, oooh the price is just fine: £3.99 per bottle. I chose the Blueberry & Pear smoothing shampoo & conditioner and it smells great. But there are many other cool combinations, like the Marshmallow & Coconut one for coloured hair, or the Rosemary & Mint thickening one.

I couldn’t find a website for the Happy Hair Days brand, but you can find them in Sainsbury’s and Boots.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Beauty, Shopping, Skønhed, Yndlingsprodukt

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

‘Skwish, skwish’

Posted on December 22, 2011 | 1 Comment

And while we’re talking about wooden toys: I found this other classic Manhattan Toy the other day in one of the second-hand shops in St. John’s Wood. It only cost 99p.

It’s called a Skwish because the black cords are elastic, so not matter how hard you ‘skwish’ it it always snaps back into shape. This is the classic version, where complementary coloured wooden poles and balls meet.

It costs around 12 pounds on Amazon and comes in other versions too, like the colour burst one. There’s even a natural coloured one for the purists.

Elliot seems to like it so far…he particularly likes to throw it on the floor.

→ 1 Comment

Posted in baby shopping, baby stuff, legetøj, toys

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Multi-coloured spheres

Posted on December 19, 2011 | Leave a comment

I have a thing for spheres-as-jewellery so I recently saved up money to buy this amazing designer bracelet.

I love the avant-garde look of the over-sized coloured spheres – and it’s destined to lighten up an all black outfit.

What are you saying Elliot?

That it’s not a designer bracelet but your new toy, made of wooden balls, that you can move around with your little fingers.

I see.

Yes, I promise I won’t borrow it again…..just yet.

The Manhattan Toy Classic Baby Beads cost £10.47 on Amazon. Buy the beads here. (And, seriously, I am so gonna wear this when Elliot is done playing with it).

→ Leave a comment

Posted in baby shopping, baby stuff, Elliot, Shopping, toys

Tagged , , , , , ,

Who let the dog out?

Posted on December 16, 2011 | Leave a comment

I love quirky cushions, and this hand-made wool one barked at me the other day in the Octavia Foundation charity shop in St. Johns Wood.

Who can say no to a bulldog? SoI handed £3 over to the guy at the till, and the cushion was miiiiine. When I came home I googled the name on the back (that’s one of my favourite things about second-hand shopping, checking to see if you’ve found a real gem).

And I padded myself gently on the back when I discovered that this pillow is still in production…..at £92.50. On sale here at the moment.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Genbrug, Genbrugsfund, Second-hand

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Well, hello there!

Posted on December 2, 2011 | 2 Comments

Wow, it’s been a while. *Blows dust and baby drool off the computer keyboard*. I hope you’re still out there somewhere. I’m sitting here, home alone while husband is away at a wrap party and Elliot is snoring gently in the bedroom. Trying to kickstart my brain and string together a few sentences, or maybe just a few words that can sum up the last five months.

Basically I’ve been dedicating all my (many!) waking hours to keeping this little fella happy:

This has meant: a helluva lot of breastfeeding, internet shopping, incontrollable chocolate & ice cream cravings, diaper changes en masse, 3 x mastitis, tears of joy and despair, tantrums (mainly mine), 1 x tongue-tie diagnosis, 1 x tongue-tie release, sleepless nights, walks in the park, baby smiles & laughter, caffeine binges, hair-loss and yo-yo’ing hormones.

Add to that a love greater than anything I could ever have imagined, and you might understand why this blog has been a teeny tiny bit neglected.

In the meantime I’ve been keeping up with all the blogs I normally read, and recently I’ve missed my own and been thinking about what to do with it. There won’t be any more “dressing the bump”s. But I guess I could do some “dressing the blob”. Or not.

What I do have is a few second-hand finds I could show you…and who knows, the whole thing might just turn a bit more personal and baby-friendly.

Anyways, it’s nice to be back. Stay tuned.

→ 2 Comments

Posted in motherhood

Elliot August Bassett

Posted on June 29, 2011 | 20 Comments

…was born the day before yesterday, June 27th at 10.00 am. He’s weighs just above 3 kilos and is absolutely amazing. I was induced 2 1/2 weeks early due to obstetric cholestasis which I was diagnosed with 5 weeks ago (hence the blog silence).

The birth itself was a really good experience….god how I love epidurals….and we couldn’t be happier.

Blogging may stay sporadic for a while as Elliot enjoys being constantly glued to my nipples :-)

→ 20 Comments

Posted in Elliot, Graviditet, Pregnancy

A gift: Snygg leather jewellery

Posted on May 12, 2011 | 3 Comments

Hello there. I’m back after a little blogging break…and ahhhh it was nice.

Instead of an outfit post (let’s face it, I’m looking more and more like a tent) I’ll show you a lovely birthday gift I got from a friend in Denmark.

This silver ring with a leather flower is made by Danish designer Vicki Zoé Ziska, the woman behind the brand Snygg. She specialises in leather jewellery and I already own two pairs of her earrings in gold and green,  a bit like these.

This ring is the perfect match for my fat pregnancy-swollen fingers (can’t wear my wedding band at the moment) as the silver ring is expandable. And it adds a bit of oomph to an otherwise boring outfit.

Read more about the designer and check out her jewellery at snygg.dk

→ 3 Comments

Posted in Shopping

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Dressing the bump – rainbow summer dress

Posted on May 3, 2011 | 2 Comments

I bought this rainbow cotton dress many years ago in one of my favourite second-hand shops in Copenhagen. It cost around 8 pounds.

I love the bold and bright colours as you can’t help but feeling cheerful when you wear it, and it’s perfect for hot and humid summer days where you need a bit of ventilation under your skirt.

I remember thinking that someday this would make a great maternity dress, as it can accommodate even the biggest of bumps, so the other day I decided to give it a try.

I’m wearing it with a ribbon tied around it, to make sure that I wouldn’t be mistaken for a ginormous tent

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Genbrugsfund, Shopping, Second-hand, Genbrug, Outfit, Pregnancy, Graviditet, Dressing the bump

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Blog award

Posted on April 28, 2011 | 2 Comments

The other day I  received this blog award from my lovely fellow blogger Karoline-med-K. Thank you!

This also means I have to answer a few questions, so here goes:

Why did you start blogging?
I began reading blogs 3 1/2 years ago when we first moved to London. Mainly about other expats’ experiences moving to a new country plus a few fashion blogs. A while later I was sitting insanely bored behind a desk in a big office building and I decided to start my own.

I love reading very personal blogs, but decided that that was not for me, so instead I focus on recommending stuff that I like and showing you my second-hand finds.

Which blogs do you follow?
You can see links to some of my favourite ones in the right sidebar. In the beginning I was really into style & fashion blogs, but most of them bore me now. Three favourites would be: Teaching Cancer to Cry, where multi-talented Ezra from New York  writes beautifully about how he is making cancer cry (plus he shares some  yummy recipes).

American-born ph.d. student/writer/feminist Anglofille, because it’s highly intelligent, honest and opinionated, and it was one of the first blogs I started following.

Lastly, the only style blog left in my reader: Skylark and Son, where an Australian mama in her thirties shows us her amazing op-shop (charity shop) finds. She is very funny and her son is beyond cute.

Favourite make-up brand?
I don’t really have one. But I’ve been using Lancôme mascaras for the last 20 years and still love them. If I had the money I would buy loads of Chanel, as I love the packaging. And I would buy the entire range from Australian skin care brand Aesop.

Favourite clothes brand?
Yohji Yamamoto, H&M and second-hand finds.

“Must have” make-up products?
Rimmel Glam’eyes liquid black eyeliner,  Estée Lauder double-wear concealer, Clinique transparency blended powder, cream blusher (preferable this one from DuWop).

And this to wash it all off with.

Favourite colour?
Black (yes, I know it’s not a colour). 

Perfume?
Chanel no 5 (pure perfume thankyouverymuch).  Throughout this pregnancy I’ve been wearing Costume National’s Scent instead, so that I don’t risk getting sick and tired of no 5.

Favourite movie(s)?
Hmmmmm…..I cried and cried when I watched The Hours. Finding Neverland and Brokeback Mountain are great too. Moon. And of course Dirty Dancing!

Which country would you like to visit and why?
Australia. It’s just one of these countries you have to experience. Plus I know they make great coffee. And I would love to go on another road trip in the States.

What are you looking forward to in the near-future?
Meeting my baby boy in July.

Now I think I’m supposed to pass this on to 5 other bloggers, but I just became overwhelmed with fatigue, so will head for the sofa and watch The Goonies instead :-)

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Awards

Tagged ,

Matryoshka dolls

Posted on April 26, 2011 | 2 Comments

When I was 6 years old and in kindergarten I was deeply fascinated by this set of Russian matryoshka dolls (also called nesting dolls or babushka dolls). I could spend hours peeling off the outer “doll layers” until I got to the amazingly tiny baby one in the middle.

I’ve never owned any of these myself, until a while ago, when I spotted a set of these in a local bric-à-brac shop. They cost £1, so although they looked nothing like the classic ones from my childhood I had to buy them.  They’ve been cheering up our mantelpiece ever since.

And then when I read a post on Liberty London Girl’s blog about how she had bought one of the more traditional sets while in Moscow for around £8, I decided it was time to invest in the “real thing”.

Luckily for me Sam has a very nice Russian friend & colleague, who was just about to go to Moscow on holiday. And this is what he came back with:

The perfect set, which instantly takes me back to kindergarten.

I excitedly pulled them apart to see who was nesting in the middle: and yay, there it was, the teeny weeny little baby. How cute (sorry pregnancy hormones taking over here).

The dolls make great gifts for kids too (over 3-years-old though because of the small bits). If a trip to Moscow isn’t on the horizon you can buy cheap ones online at for example Amazon or Play.com.

Or if you’re a real aficionado you can visit matryoshkastore.com, which is 100% dedicated to nesting dolls in all shapes and genres. Here’s something for everyone, from cats to Little Red Riding Hood matryoshkas.

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Shopping, Yndlingsting

Tagged , , , , , , ,