I'm one of those women. I used to wear make-up and do my nails all the time. I had functions, meetings, and customers in my day. Then I became a mum and “doing my face” became a long-stay lippie before tumbling out the car in the morning. On a good day, I might even throw in some mascara. But it's two years on, and I'm slowly finding my balance again, and that includes gearing up for the festivities of the coming months – and a bit more than lippie and mascara for a night out.

I thought I'd reach back into the recesses of my memories and try the Rocker Eye set from Bare Escentuals bareMinerals Tutorials.

This set is made for that smoky look the models sport in magazines. You'll get two eye colours – 1980s is a metallic grey and Rock Star is a sparkling dark smoke, or black, in non-make-up terminology.

There's also a liner shadow, called Black Leather, which is pretty much soot black, and a double-ended applicator brush.

So, the pros of the Rocker Eye set, first?

Just how much are you willing to spend for great looking and feeling skin for the summer? Or any time of the year for that matter?

Here at PlayPennies we all thought that honestly, these skin creams and lotions are much of a muchness and you're just paying for the extra marketing and a bit of posh perfume. The consensus was that if we were really feeling like treating ourselves we might spend a fiver, maybe £10 on a big bottle.

QVC wanted to challenge those preconceptions. Its argument is that you can get great value for money by spending more. Well, that made us think. We'd all come across false economies before - those items we've been enticed to buy because they were so cheap and then had to spend lots more money to fix things afterwards.

There's only one way to know for sure and that's to actually test the products out. I gave these to our PlayPennies mum of one Theresa, partly because she lives next to the sea and needs all the moisturiser she can get.

Who doesn't want to look great when the sun comes out? As the layers come off, we're more and more exposed. And suddenly some of those wobbles and bumps become a bit more than just annoying.

So when QVC sent us what is descrbied as a 'Gym in a Bag' I took notice. Specifically it is the Pilates Spacemate Portable Pilates Gym in a Bag with resistance cords, mat & DVD. QVC sell this for £39.84, marked down from £44. Postage costs an additional £5.95.

After gazing longingly at it, and imagining a toned bikini body (well we can all fantasise!) I gave it to PlayPennies mum Becky, a mother to three lively youngsters.

Father's Day is just one and a half weeks away; it's on Sunday 19 June and if you've been stuck for ideas then this Liz Earle Men's Face Scrub, Cleanse and Polish review might give you some inspiration.

It's taken a long time for men and skin care routines to become comfortable bedfellows, and there are still hardcore guys who flatly refuse to go anywhere near anything vaguely resembling moisturiser.

Fortunately for us we have PlayPennies dad Simon on hand, he got wise to the benefits of skin care years ago and was more than willing to put some Liz Earle products for men, sent to us by QVC, through their paces on our behalf.

The Liz Earle Men's Face Scrub, Cleanse and Polish set contains Men's Cleanse & Polish (100ml), Men's Face Scrub (75ml), Aftershave Moisturiser (15ml) and two muslin cloths; at QVC it retails for £23.20.

I saw the products before they were sent off to Simon and was interested to hear what he thought of the packaging.

"I was relieved when I saw the packaging for the Liz Earle products for men," says Simon, "It's subtly manly without a bulldog, or garish colour, in sight which makes a refreshing change."

Cleanse and Polish

The Cleanse and Polish cleanser is suitable for all skin types and has a two-step process which promises to clean away dirt and  the excess oils that build up, block pores and cause spots.

"The hot cloth cleanser is great," Simon reveals, "it's lovely and creamy and easy to apply.  Then taking one of the muslin cloths, dipped in hot water and wrung out, you rub off the cleanser."

"It leaves your skin feeling clean, relaxed and refreshed - although at times with my shaved head I did feel like I was polishing a bowling ball!"

The Cleanse and Polish cleanser is mineral oil free and it's 'Naturally Active' ingredients include eucalyptus, to purify, and cocoa butter for smooth skin.

Face Scrub

The face scrub can be used one or twice a week after cleansing and/or after shaving - it can help prevent ingrowing hairs apparently - but it's not suitable for sensitive or damaged skin.

"The scrub leaves your skin feeling clean and seriously smooth to the touch," Simon tells us, "Like most scrubs it has rough bits in it but they don't feel like they're shredding your skin whilst you're massaging it in!"

Now I rather like that, but I understand feeling like you're rubbing sandpaper on your skin isn't everyone's cup of tea.

The rough bits in the Liz Earl Face Scrub for Men are actually tiny bits of pumice stone and jojoba beads.  It also contains eucalyptus to cool the skin.

After-shaving Moisturiser

Finding the perfect moisturiser can be a bit hit and miss; some can be a bit watery, others too heavy, some can smell horrendous and others have far too much of a scent to them.

The Liz Earle After-Shaving Moisturiser claims to be light, easily absorbed whilst being very effective at the same time.

Simon certainly agreed.

"I really enjoyed using the after-shaving moisturiser," he says, "it really was easily absorbed and left my skin feeling moisturised without that horrible oily feel you can get sometimes."

Don't be put off by the small size of the moisturiser, Simon says you don't need to use much at all as a little bit goes a very long way.

The Naturally active ingredients in the After-Shaving moisturiser include self-heal extract (I have NO idea what that is, but it sounds like it's a good thing to have in there) to help soothe small nicks and calm razor burn plus borage to help moisturise

Naturally Active

There is a very strong natural and environmental ethos behind all of the Liz Earle products.

They describe themselves as a botanically-based beauty company doing their upmost to keep their environmental impact down, whilst not compromising on product quality.

They won't settle for anything but the highest quality naturally active ingredients, which have to be ethically sourced, and try to ensure they're certified organic too.

Liz Earle are also committed to making sure that as much of their packaging is made from already recycled material and can be re-recycled.

Simon told me he feels the Company's efforts to go green and be a environmentally responsible and ethical manufacturer hasn't compromised the products in any.

If anything, he was surprised they weren't more expensive as a result.

And finally...

All of the Liz Earle products were a big hit with Simon.

"All of the products had a very pleasant neutral fragrance; it was light and fresh without being perfumed." Simon explains, "The whole system is quick and easy to use too."

"In the past I have mainly used L'Oreal for Men but I'd switch!" concludes Simon. "Liz Earle has a popular Facebook page where fans can get promotional offers and extra product information - I 'like' Liz Earle for Men!"

Liz Earle Men's Face Scrub and Cleanse & Polish @ QVC

We've been utterly spoiled for choice with make-up and beauty products here at PlayPennies over the last month, but I certainly haven't heard any of our PlayPennies mums complain!

We received two items from QVC to test and sent them on to Sally, mum of three, to see what she thought.

The first item Sally tried was the Hugs & Kisses eau de parfum (100ml) by ‘Judith Williams’ (£23.95)

“I’m very picky when it comes to perfumes – I don’t things that are too flowery, too fruity, too spicy, too light, too heavy and so on,” Sally told us. “There are also perfumes that can give me a headache too, so I tend to be a little wary and, dare I say it, sceptical when I’m sent perfume to review. Not only that, so much of it comes down to personal taste – one woman’s Vera Wang is another woman’s (Dior) Poison and all that!”

On arrival, the Hugs and Kisses box is delicate and very girly – predominantly white with a very pale pink rose on the front and pretty swirly writing. The bottle itself is clear glass, with clean simple lines, something Sally likes in a perfume bottle. However, Sally felt he cheap gold plastic lid lowered the tone somewhat.

The scent wasn't an immediate win for Sally either. “When I first sprayed it I was NOT impressed. It was sweet and flowery and far too heavy. So much so, in fact, that I flung the windows open to try and air the room and vowed never to spray it anywhere near, or on, myself again.

A week or so later, I went to the QVC website to see what everyone else had to say about it and, on the whole, it gets RAVE reviews, so I went back to Hugs and Kisses and smelled it again.”

In the end Sally isn't sure if she likes it or not - “It’s funny how it smells different now, much less flowery.  So now I’m in a quandary – do I like it or do I not? I actually have no idea anymore.  Was I lead into thinking it was super flowery because of the picture on the box…? Or am I smelling what other people are saying they smell?”

The aroma aside, Sally says that the scent “lasts a reasonable amount of time on the skin and also comes with a very handy 10ml handbag travel size spray too – I think this should be compulsory for every perfume!”

The second item QVC sent to Sally was the Mally Ultimate Performance Lip System - £17.95 and unfortunately, she's definitely not a fan. “This is hideous. I’m sorry, there’s no other way to describe it and I don’t feel I can dumb it down.”.

Sally explains: “It comes with a primer/liner and what they call a ‘lacquer’ (that’s what my nan calls hairspray…that should have given me a bit of a clue!)”

So what you do is this – you draw around the outline of your lips with the liner and then colour in the rest of your lips with it. After that you go over your lips with the lacquer.

The liner comes in a thin pen and you twizzle the end to push the liner ‘pencil’ out – so no need for a pencil sharpener. “It’s quite soft, goes on easily and has a matt finish to it”, Sally tells us.

“Next,” she says, “the lacquer. In the instructions it says this:

‘Finally, using the innovative applicator, specifically designed to get as close to the lip line as possible, fill in your gorgeous mouth and watch as your lips are literally transformed into little pillows of perfection. I got your back on this my lovelies, this gorgois colour isn’t budging, so enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!!’

I kid you not, that’s word for word…my lovelies (groan).”

To say that Sally was less than impressed would be just touching the surface of the matter. To start with, she was unconvinced by the applicator. “Firstly, I fail to see how the applicator is remotely innovative, my mum had lipstick/gloss with a little furry-tipped applicator when I was five years old (some 32 years ago!).”

This might seem like a small detail, and a bit of marketing speak, but the next bit is not good at all. “My lips were NOT transformed into little pillows of perfection – they were transformed into two slimy, greasy slugs on my face! Seriously, the lacquer was gungey and stringy when you pulled the applicator out and it will come off and leave messy trails on anything it comes into contact with; if you kissed someone with this on, they’d never forgive you.”

For all the wrong reasons, it seems.

Interestingly enough, the reviewers on the website gave it five stars each, with one saying that “the liner is soft enough to apply easily but stays put all day & the liquid lipstick/gloss is high shine & long lasting reducing the need for touch ups.”

Sally's final thoughts?

“Well, maybe I'm just a make-up grinch, but make an application mistake with this at your peril and don't go anywhere near anything with your lips that you don't to get covered in lacquer slime!”

You can see a whole list of QVC products on their website, and hopefully you'll agree with their customers more than with Sally!

There are simply stacks of products out there all aimed at mums, or at babies, and it is really hard to know what is good and what is simply a waste of your hard earned cash. Which is why I love it when we get the chance to review these products, so we can see what they're really like. I'd love it even more if in fact the products could be tested by yours truly, but our policy here at PlayPennies is to have our lovely panel of parents road test items.

So, reluctantly, I had to give the scrummy toiletries we got from the QVC online shop to mum Jo to try out. Jo's baby son Ryan is just a few months old, and she's more than ready to start trying anything that will give her a bit of pampering and make her feel human again! Ah yes, I remember those early days all too well, when it was a plus if you simply managed to have the time to apply deodorant and brush your teeth.

Jo received five bottles from QVC:

• Philosophy 3 Piece Holiday Sweet Shoppe Collection (£30).  One bottle of English Toffee and one bottle of Spicy Gumdrop, which are both shampoo, shower gel or bubble bath. One bottle of the Candy Cane, which is a foaming bubble bath and shower gel.
• L'Occitane 2 Piece Mom & Baby Body wash Collection (£24.50). One bottle of L'Occitane body and hair, mom and baby cleansing gel and one bottle of L'Occitane ultra rich hand and body wash.

First of all, Jo decided to investigate the spicy gumdrop. "The green colour of the liquid is very rich and lush looking. I popped off the seal and had a sniff of the spicy gumdrop. It smelled delicious - good enough to eat. But I resisted the temptation to taste it! I poured it in the hot running bath water, and it created a lovely spicy sugary smell in the air. The bubbles were nice and foamy too."

Next she checked out the English Toffee flavour. The front of the bottle actually has a toffee recipe on it, which isn't the most conventional for a bottle of shower gel!  Jo found that the colour does look nice, creamy and toffee coloured, as you might expect. She's not a very big fan of toffee and toffee flavoured items, so  was a bit sceptical about the smell of this one.

I felt it smelled quite strongly of toffee, so I wasn't jumping with joy at the thought of it in my bathtub.

Jo couldn't really say much about the bubbles, it performs pretty much as you would expect in that department. It's personal taste, but she didn't enjoy the smell of this particular one.

Third,  the candy cane flavour. "This one smells beautiful, it is just my cup of tea." The Candy Cane product has hints of cinnamon. Jo found that it was a lot creamier than the previous two, so was actually a bit harder to make a lather. But the smell was just divine when this was added to the hot water.

For the above 3 products, Jo didn't try them as a shampoo on her hair, although she could have. "I just tested them as bubble bath / shower gel."

The L'Occitane mom and baby cleansing gel and the L'Occitane ultra rich hand and body wash both come in a dispenser type bottle, which is handy for popping on the bathroom sink.

The L'Occitane hand and body wash contained 5% shea milk, which sounded quite luxurious when Jo read it on the bottle. "I lifted out the spout to have a look and a sniff, and the liquid was very thick for a hand soap. It smelled very fresh and a bit "manly" to be honest." When she used it on her hands, it made a good lather then rinsed off easily. It didn't leave much of an after smell, which Jo was happy with.

The L'Occitane mom and baby cleansing gel looked quite syrupy when in the bottle. Jo said that she "liked the smell of this one, but I find it hard to describe. It also contained the shea butter extract, so that gives something to the scent. I'd say it was a clean smell, the kind of smell I would associate with babies." Upon washing her hands with this soap, it made a lovely light lather, again easy to rinse off. "It left my hands with a very nice scent, almost like that smell of a baby's head!"

And Finally ...

Some of the products in these collections are available on their own, or in a smaller grouping, on the QVC online shop site. Standard shipping on the site is £4.95.

Son is back at school, I'm back at work and suddenly I realise. I'm a little older, and a little more worn, but with less time than ever to spend on myself. How did that happen? So we looked about for something that might just help us out, and found these luxurious, rejuvenating, products to pick ourselves up again.

Two mums with teenagers to juggle along with full time jobs, Terri and Melanie, took charge of testing these products from the QVC online shop.

Elemis Skincare Collection

The Elemis 5 Piece Exotic & Nourishing Face & Body Skincare Collection (pictured above) costs £47.75. This comes with a silver make up bag.

Terri liked that the bag zipped up, and that the soft silver material looked good. "But it is too big for a make up bag. And a little too small to be a toilet bag."

Terri tried the Skin Nourishing Hand & Body Lotion (300ml) first.  "It smells like something you would get out of a pound shop."  She also found it greasy on her hands and felt she had to wash her hands after using the lotion.

However there were positives too! "The despenser gives you a good amount to use on your face - not too much at once. It soakes into the face well not leaving it feeling greasy or looking shiny. After five minutes my skin feels moisturised but there is no trace of the product. I don't feel like there is actually on my skin which I think is great."

Overall Terri felt she wouldn't use it as a body moisturiser because of the smell, but would happily use it as a daily moisturiser for her face as it feels quite refreshing and feels like it rehydrates the skin well.

Terri loves her baths, so the Elemis Exotic Frangipani Monoi moisture melt (35ml) and Exotic Frangipani Monoi Bath & Shower Cream (200ml) got a good try out.

"It takes quite a while to de-solidify the oil. I had a bath and just had it in there with me in the end and that did the trick! I would say it took about 20 minutes to be able to get the oil out, which isn't very practical."

She found more positives than negatives though.

You only need the tiniest bit so it will last forever!

However, Terri did like the scent, and loved it when applied on her skin. "I used it on my legs as they are usually quite dry after a bath. I did it on one leg first so I could compare and it made my leg nice and soft - so I did the other one too! I will use the oil again because it's really easy to use, not messy and leaves my legs feeling all smooth and shiny."

The bath and shower cream was just, well, a bath and shower cream! "My skin felt clean afterwards, and soft, but then so does my usual shower gel. I am not sure I'd use both together again as the scent, while nice, was a bit too much."

Terri passed the Pro-collagen Marine Cream on to her mum to try out. "There were just too many skin lotions! My mum really didn't like the smell, felt it was too flowery and reminded her of something her mother used in the 70s. However, she did find that the cream really did make her skin feel plumper, and she liked that."

Commuting to work and back in the city does take its toll and Terri is diligent about her cleansing routine. "The melting cleansing gel is just lovely! It smells like oranges, but not too strong, and really works into the skin without feeling like it is stripping it. However, it is an odd concept - you put it on your skin then use wet fingers to move it over the surface. I found this took a little more time than I wanted to spend on a daily basis, but I'm definitely keeping this as my weekend and 'special' cleanser."

Firming Body Emulsion

The Philosophy Amazing Grace firming body emulsion(473.1ml) costs £25. It arrived on its own in a sturdy box, firmly packed with polystyrene packing Melanie tested this product for us. "It says that it has firming agents to help revitalize aged and wrinkled skin and I am definitely at an age where I need all the help I can!"

"To be fair, I haven't used it long enough to see if that works or not. But otherwise it doesn't seem any different to most moisturisers I've used. I didn't feel that it particularly sunk into the skin well. It did leave my skin feeling smoother but slightly greasy."

"However, it definitely made my skin feel firmer - almost a little stiffer actually. I liked that on my upper arms, definitely. The problem is I don't know if I would ever buy it again. Simply because of the smell. It is rather odd and I'm guessing it is meant to be refreshing in an outdoors by the seaside kind of way but actually, it smelled too much like the Method Tub And Tile cleaner I use in the bathroom for me to really enjoy using it!".

And Finally ...

Most of the products in the Skincare collection are available on their own, or in a smaller grouping, on the QVC online shop site. Standard shipping on the site is £4.95.