Motel Rocks Outfits. :)

Motel recently offered a 50% off code on anything on their website for 50 minutes only. I bought a dress and a skirt, both at half price! I admit it was my first time shopping at Motel as to be honest their clothes are not really my style, but I can't resist a massive discount like that!

Because I spent over £70 I got free 1st class delivery. They also sent me a little goody bag which was really sweet:

I got a canvas bag, copy of More! magazine, Batiste dry shampoo, nail transfers, a bracelet, a nail polish, a body spray and 10% off my next order. Thanks, Motel!

 

And here's the skirt I got!

The skirt was £28, so I got it for £14.

The top is from Topshop and boots from Primark.

It's a 'lampshade' skirt, it's made of a sturdy material so sticks out quite a bit, I quite like this structured look tho. I also like the design, it's quirky and cute, and I know this skirt might not be for everyone but for £14 I think I'll get decent wear out of it.

 

I also got a dress which I'll show you in another post! :)

 

Has anyone else ever used Motel? Do you like this style of skirt or do you think it's a bit 'out there'??

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

My holidaaaay: Turkery OOTDs :)

I have been SO caught up in Olympics fever I have put blogging on the back burner since it's been on - Team GB are doing SO well and I am addicted to the gymnastics. But here are some snaps from my holiday to Turkey which I thoroughly enjoyed! Hope you enjoy having a wee sneak peak too! :)

Pool pics - chillaxing with cocktails and a kindle! :)

Left hand photos - on a moonlight boat tour, then bottom right - sitting on the beach at night. :) 

 On a jeep safari tour.

Food (nom!) and posage!

Scott and I. <3

Here's an example of the temperature:

Look at the time... and look at the temperature!! Mental.

And here's a comparison of me on the plane there, and me on the plane back:

Think I got a decent tan! Hope everyone else has had good holidays. Has anyone else been to Turkey? Hope you liked some of my outfits! =p

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

Primark Bargains: Dip Hem Dresses :)

During my hiatus I bought two adorable dresses from Primark I've been dying to share with you guys. They both feature dip hems, which I was initially unsure of as a trend, but I now LOVE. They still show a bit of leg but are very flattering and still dressy!

**Sorry the photos are such poor quality, using a new online 'photo collager', any suggestions for a good one?? :(**

Here's the first one, it's more of a casual dress:

It was £10.

I can imagine wearing this one holiday, over a bikini, heading to the beach. What a bargain! It's a bit long for me tho haha. It ties up with a rope halterneck.

The second one is a bit dressier:

It was £17 I believe, which is expensive for Primark but not in general. It's also a bit shorter at the back than the first dress, which is good for a wee smout like me! I wore it recently to my boyfriend's Graduation (Congratulations Scott Reid BA with Hons!!! =p)

And a wee extra that I picked up that I thought was cute, a wee playsuit - £7, I think! :)

What do you think of them? Do you like this trend? Have you seen any lovely versions in other stores?

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

Primark & New Look Haul :)

I showed you two of my pretty pastel dresses (only £17.99 each!) from New Look in this post, so now I'm gonna show you the rest of the things I got from New Look and some things from Primark. They might be all of a similar theme haha - a bit pastelly and a LOT girlie. =p

Dress - Primark, £13

Blazer - Primark, £18

Shoes - New Look, £25 (not new)

I think this dress is super cute for like a semi-formal summer event, or a summer wedding. It's sheer but has an under-layer, and the drape at the front is really flattering! I also LOVE this blazer, it has padded shoulders and a structured lapel, with runched sleaves. Again, a really flattering fit I think! :)

Top - New Look, £16

Skirt - Primark, £8

Blazer - Primark, £18

Reeeeeally unsure about this. I don't mind it too much with the blazer, but don't think I have the confidence (or the figure) to wear it outside my own garden haha! Maybe by summer I'll feel a little bit better about it. =/

Dress - Primark, £13

Blazer - H&M, £24

Shoes - Missguided, £32

I don't know why I'm posing like a mental for this outfit. It's so pretty tho, I can actually see myself wearing it to work with tights as it's kind of a shirt dress. The little pockets have bows on them, which is adorable. This blazer has got a lot of attention from my last post, I can't believe I haven't featured it before! I got it in H&M a few months ago, but as far as I know it's still available in store. :)

Dress - New Look, £17.99

Shoes - ASOS, £50

Necklace - York Market, £4

Cat - Priceless

The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed I wore this dress on my night out in London. It's another New Look kids dress, love their selection just now!! Dana is in this because a) my cats were trying to get in all my photos anyways and b) because I had a frame left in this collage haha.

EDT: I scheduled this post on Wednesday, but then I went shopping in Primark and got more goodies haha! I got a cute little top which I haven't photographed cause I'm gonna use it in my next OOTD, but I got two more blazers - oops. I'm a blazer addict!

Blazer - Primark, £15

Bracelets - (left) Swarovski and my sister's creations, (right) Forever 21

This blazer is exactly the same as the lemon one but in black and for some reason cheaper. I tried to get in the structured sleeves, they look much better in real life. And it's definitely BLACK, even though it looks blue in the second pic.

Blazer - Primark, £15

I just kind of threw this on on top of this dress for speed, I probably wouldn't wear them together. This blazer is turquoisey and a lot less structured than my lemon and black ones. Even though this is a size 6, it's still a baggy fit but I quite like that about it. It's a lot lighter too.

Well I hope you liked my Primark and New Look goodies, probably gonna be my last haul/OOTD post for a while cause I'm now skint!! What outfit is your favourite? have you found any cute bargains recently?

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

CUTEST Pastel Dresses Ever. Fact. :)

Aaargh, I feel like I've been starting every blog post recently with an apology for being so absent. This time, it's because my boyfriend's dissertation is due this week and I have been putting in crazy hours proof reading, editing, formatting etc. We had to cut out 4000 words, eeeek, but hopefully it'll be ready to be bound tomorrow! Exciting. Hope everyone else having dissertation panic right now is managing ok!! =p

So anyways, I spent a wee bit in London last week which was lovely. I stayed with my sister in Kensington & Chelsea for three nights and then my best friend in West Hampstead for two nights, so I got to see lots of London. The weather stayed mostly nice too, so I got to wear my new pastel dresses! I'm gonna show you two of them today (I went a bit mad and bought a few haha). My next post will have my adventures in London with me wearing these cuties, so I wanted to show you them properly first.

How cute are these?! I got them both from New Look kids!

This dress also came in lilac, and is available for £17.99 (including belt) from here.

Necklace is from Claire's Accessories

Boots are from New Look from Christmastime

Nails are Models Own Juicy Jules with Nicole by OPI Kardahsian Kolors in Kendal on the Katwalk (aaaand take a breath!!)

 Sorry I forgot to take a pic of this dress with blazer off! This dress was £17.99 and is available here.

Blazer from H&M

Bracelets (left) from Swarovski, (right) made by my sister :)

LOVE ring from H&M

Cat shoes (can be seen in full pic above) from Misguided and blogged about here

London necklace (can just be seen) from Accessorize

Hope you like these cuties as much as I do! Are you enjoying the pastel trend? Do you ever shop in the kid's sections haha??

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

Cat shoes!! OOTD :)

I am SO excited.

I have cat shoes.

But first, can I just apologise to you guys for my lack of posts recently - my job just now is seriously stressful, and I have no time for life outside work at all right now, but it's spring break as of Friday, and I should be back to 2-3 posts a week then. Thanks for sticking by me. :)

But back to the main event - CAT shoes. Now, if you're not a cat lover, this may not excite you as much as it did me. But as you might have realised from my blog name, I am a hardcore crazy cat lady and anything cat-related makes me SQUEE. Take my cat dress, for example.

I saw these shoes on another blog and I can't for the life of me remember whose it was - if you know, please let me know so I can credit them! Anyways, you can get them from Missguided here for £23.99 (limited stock left). They're velveteen and just so pretty!

Here's my OOTD featuring these lucious shoes:

Yellow cardi from Primark

Polka dot dress from H&M

Necklace from a market in York

Shoes from Missguided

Here's me and my cats enjoying my shoes:

Top and main pic is Dana, middle pic is Max and bottom pic is Pippa. :)

Hope you're all enjoying the gorgeous weather! I certainly am! So what do you think of my kitty pumps??

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

Bargain NOTD + My Trip to York OOTDs :)

Hello to my new followers! Sorry I've been a bit quiet on the blogging front, I'm now working full time (yay!) with a lovely class of eight year olds and it's taking up all my time! I do want to say thank you to all my followers, so I'm gonna try get some bits and bobs for a wee giveaway soon. :)

A few weeks ago my sister moved to London and she found a shop in her local mall selling lots of nail polish of a brand she didn't know - Kiko. She posted me one to try out, and it's so pretty! It's called Blueberry Glitter randomly, as it's clearly pink.

No flash on left, flash on right. Colour with flash is more true to life.

It's a lot more subtle a glitter than my usual type, as it's a fuschia pink base with pink shimmer rather than solid glitter. It's so pretty though and such a gorgeous colour! This is two coats, it goes on evenly with a wide brush and dries quickly. So far I've had it on three days with no chipping. I'm pretty impressed with this wee polish!

Best of all, it was only £3.90. Sweet. You can shop online here. They have a large range of nail products -and- make up, so I think I'll be giving stuff a go next time I visit my sister!

Some of you may also remember that I went to York for my boyfriend Scott and I's seven year anniversary (aka Valentine's Day). I thought I'd share some of our photos with you:

(as you can see I've discovered Picnik haha)

Hope you're all having a lovely week and I'm so glad I've introduced some of you to the Kardashian polishes from my last post - if you bought some, please let me know if you blog about them! :)

Do you like this nail polish? Or are you over glitter haha? Have you heard of/used this brand before?

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

OOTD - Fair Isle Bargain!!

For some reason my GFC isn't showing up for some people at the right hand side, if you want to follow me (and I'd love you to!) then please click on the 'follow blog' button at the very top of the page, or you can also follow via BlogLovin' using the link on the left. Sorry and thanks!! ^_^

A little OOTD for you today, featuring my lovely little bargain skirt from Primark! It was the only one left, and it said it was a tenner but scanned up at £3. Perfect.

I've liked the whole Fair Isle trend over Winter but because I tend to wear what suits me rather than just follow the fashion, I was worried about investing in something and then looking 'so last season' because I'd probably wear it year round. Ha. So this little bargain skirt was perfect for me to dip my toe in!

I used my Gorillapod to take these photos, my first real attempt with it!
Here's the photo of it incase you missed it in my post a while back:

It worked a treat! I really recommend it if you're looking for a wee helping hand for your photos. =p

The top is from New Look last year, and the tights are from Primark. I'm going through a 'ribbons in my hair' stage just now; just ignore it haha!

And my face:

No idea what the pink thing is under my chin!

Eyes: Naked Palette, Collection 2000 Extreme 24 Hour felt tip eyeliner, UD Supercurl mascara
Face: Nars Orgasm, JK Light as Air foundation
Lips: Revlon Super Lustrous Lip Colour in Coral Reef.

What do you think? Will you still be wearing your winter clothes in Spring?? Or wouldn't you be seen dead in 'last season's' efforts? =p

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

OOTD - Cat Dress!!

So I've been wanting to show you my cat dress I got for Christmas for a while now. I lovelovelove it. But unfortunately this week I've not been feeling very well and I think taking and posting photos of myself would cause other people a lot of pain in their eyes, so I'm going to recycle an older photo of me wearing it. I also can't bring myself to actually look presentable right now, so here goes:

This was for my friend's birthday, we went old school bowling and then back to hers for cocktails. LOOK how cute this dress is! Lots of little adorable black cats. The cut is also super flattering and it's such a great dress for wearing when it's not a 'night on the town', but you still want to dress up!

You can't see it too good on the above photos, but there are actually little buttons down the front:

This is me wearing it on Christmas Day when I got it! When I tried it on in the shop I actually had the buttons at the back, oops!

It was £14.99 for H&M. Probably one of my favourite dresses ever. It is just SO me.

That's all for today folks, sorry it's a bit of a lazy post. Hopefully back to normal next week when I feel better.

What do you think of my cat dress?? I know you can get other prints in H&M, like rabbits and horses - I think they're all super cute! Would you ever wear animal print like this?

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

OOTD - Anime Dress and more!

Thanks to your voting guys, I have changed the name of my blog! I've also changed the layout, I hope you like it! I have a blog button I'd love you to add to your blog if you want to. ^_^

(Link is to the left)

You can also find me now direct at cosmeticskitten.com or thecosmeticskitten.com! <3

I've not done an OOTD in a while!
I bought some things from Sarah at FashionismyH2O in her blog sale. I'm a sucker for anything anime/ manga print, so I got this lovely dress:

It was freeeezing outside and so windy! Also my hair is a bit like a lion's, I washed it last night and then fell in front of the fire, so it dried naturally. Oops.

This is my FOTD:

Face:
No7 Primer
Jemma Kidd Light as Air Foundation
Nars Orgasm

Lips:
Sleek Lip Paint

Eyes:
Urban Decay Primer
Urban Decay Naked2 Palette
Urban Decay 24/7 Liquid Eyeliner
Urban Decay Supercurl Mascara

I also meant to post about this aaaages ago! I won two blog competitions recently, and I just wanna show you what I won. I won a voucher for Ivi Scents from Christine at Makeup, Beauty and Fashion by Christine which is awesome, I've never shopped at Ivi Scents before but it's kinda like Lush so looking forward to ordering some goodies!

I also won a giveaway from Tiffeny at Just Tiffeny. She sent it out just before Christmas so it was all beautifully wrapped like a Christmas present.

So much stuff!! Thank you to both girls!!

What do you think of my anime dress? Do you like cute, quirky clothes or more traditional outfits? And do you like my blog make over?? 

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

FOTD Naked Palette & Christmasssy OOTD

I can't believe I attempted another OOTD so soon after my last fiasco (read about it here) but then again, I am a bit of a hero that way.

I bought this dress a few weeks ago on a little shopping trip to Glasgow. It's a Primark number, as all my stuff seems to be, and as soon as I saw it I just had to have it! I'm so sorry, but I forgot to take note of the price. I'm guessing it's between £11-£15 though as that's their usual kind of price for dresses.

It's quite Chanel-esque, and I love the whole sixties monochrome style. It's also threaded with glittery threads, which just makes me 'Squeeee!' in delight. The lighting is sooo awful in my house that all the pics have a different background as I was running around the house trying to get the best lighting, so apologies. Also think a mini tripod might be going on my Christmas list!!

What do you think? It looked better on the mannequin to be honest; I think I'd pull it off better if I was skinnier, but TOO BAD. I love it for the festive season, defo see me wearing it pottering round the Christmas markets with my mulled wine..! Mmm. I'd probably team this with boots, but for the sake of these photos I thought a wee colour pop heel would be nice. These were £12 from Priceless Shoes.

I stuck with the sixties theme with bubblegum pink lipstick (Sleek Pout Paint  in Rosette, £4.99) and a high ponytail.

WARNING: Scary Pictures Ahead.

Now, I thought I'd be brave and do a FOTD. You think 'I'm a Celebrity' contestants have got it hard? Look at all the challenges I'm facing today!! I've not done a FOTD before for the simple reason that I have a rubbish face. It photographs not too bad from a distance, but close up it's just NOSE. But I had my shiny new Urban Decay Naked Palette (read my post about it here) and I wanted to show you why I love it. So here goes, be kind... :(

Oh, and I'm growing my eyebrows out for HD brows, so you can enjoy that too. =p

Ugh. Don't say I didn't warn you!! Sorry for the gormless expressions.

Face:
Garnier BB Cream
Rimmel Hide the Blemish concealer
ELF HD Powder
Nars Orgasm blush

Eyes:
Urban Decay Naked in Virgin, Sin and Half Baked
Urban Decay 24/7 liquid eyeliner in Perversion
Benefit They're Real mascara (still not that keen on it but persevering!!)
Model Co Highlighter

Lips:
ELF lipstick in Voodoo

I'm also super duper excited because my Claireabella bag is on its way to me! Don't worry if you don't know what that is (although you SHOULD because they are BEAUTIFUL) because I'll be doing a very excitable post on it when it arrives!!

I'm also super duper excited because I ordered my very first set of proper make up brushes! I always just use rubbishy stuff or my fingers, but since I got my Naked palette and the beautiful brush with that, I've been coveting a full set. I decided on Sigma brushes, because I've heard amazing things and they were offering free worldwide shipping. So can't wait for them to arrive too!!

Hope you enjoyed my OOTD and FOTD and I didn't scare you too much with my close ups. What do you think of them?

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥