The Cosmetics Kitten's Diary :) --November 4th--

Heeeey guys! Time for my lifestyle post. I was obviously planning on doing this every week, but life is so hectic that I'm just going to try do it as regularly as I can. :)

 

What have I been up to this week?

I have been sooo tired this week. I think now the clocks have gone back, it gets dark so early and my body just wants to go to sleep! I hate this time of year, when I literally don't see sunlight because it's dark when I go in work and dark when I come out. Meh.

 

Weekend before last I went to London to visit my sister and my best friend, who both live there. I took my boyfriend Scott (his first time in London!) and we had a great time! I'll do a wee post on that soon.

 

Us at Buckingham Palace. :)

 

I also caught up with the girls this weekend, we're all teachers and sometimes it's hard to find time to meet up, so I'm glad we sorted something out!

 

 

I also finally got rid of my old extensions last weekend! I had my old set in for six months and although my hair was still ok quality, my own hair had grown in too much at the roots so it was time to replace them! It took six and a half hours to take my old set out, colour my hair and put my new set in. Phew!!

 

old hair / my own hair (yes, all of it...) / new hair

 

And how was work?

Work was actually mostly fun this week. We had an all-day Hallowe'en party on Wednesday, which I scrabbled about for a last min costume for. None of my regular Hallowe'en outfits were particularly... appropriate haha. So I wore my cat onesie and went as a cat! =p

 

 

Easy haha.

 

 

And how are the cats?

My wee cat Pippa was not very well at all, she had an abscess on her wee bum. :( She's 14 and we worry about her, and she had to get a buster collar on. She was SO down and we thought she was maybe giving up. :( But after two weeks on antibiotics, she's making a good recovery!! :)

 

 

 

Anything else?

My watch broke so I'm hoping to get a new one for Christmas, looking for some suggestions of brands/styles?? This is the one I'm kind of drawn to just now, it's a Michael Kors. I'm looking for a big-ish face and maybe a wee bit of bling haha. Not too expensive tho!!

 

 

 

I'm also doing the Photo a Day Challenge on Instagram - if you fancy seeing what I'm up to, you can follow me on there - I'm CosmeticsKitten. :)

 

 

 

Hope you've had a good week! Remember to give me any suggestions of watches if you can think of any. Have you been up to anything exciting??

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

The Cosmetics Kitten's Diary :) --October 14th--

Hi guys! I am thinking of starting a feature on my blog which is a bit more 'lifestyley' than what I normally do. I'll still do reviews, OOTDs etc like normal, but once a week I'm going to do a little diary entry on what I've been up to the past week! We'll see how it goes, but I'd love to do it every Sunday. Through chatting in #bbloggers it seems people love having a nosy at lifestyle posts, so here goes!!

 

The Cosmetics Kitten's Diary

 

What have I been up to this week?

Last weekend was so much fun, on Friday night my boyfriend Scott and I went to my best friend Heather's flat to catch up with her and her boyfriend. It was long overdue! She'd recently adopted two bunnies so I got to meet them....

 

Cute bunnies! 

 

And give lots of love and cuddles to her amazing dog, Cody. Now Cody is a 'clearance puppy'. He may be a Chihuahua, but he thinks he's a cat, is the fluffiest thing ever, and most hysterically, has a tongue that he can't keep in his mouth.

 

 

That tongue is like that ALL THE TIME. He makes me laugh so much.

 

On Saturday night, my aunt and uncle joined us for a murder mystery evening with my parents and Scott. I'm no stranger to murder mystery parties, I've done loads, and blogged about one HERE.

 

 

They're great fun, I thoroughly recommend it!

 

And how was work?

In case you don't know, I'm a teacher. A primary teacher, but right now I'm working in a nursery. Obviously I can't give too much info about that (always the fear of being cyber stalked!!), but sometimes I have to share funny stories! For example:

 

Me: Who's got news?

Boy: Me! I do! I'm going on holiday!!

Me: Lucky you, where are you going?

Boy: Uhm... I think it's 'Blackpool'... No, wait, it's BLUEPOOL!!!

 

I honestly couldn't stop laughing. He was determined he's going to Bluepool. Who knew?

 

I got sent home on Wed with a tummy bug and didn't go in Thurs or Fri so it was a short week, I felt lousy tho!! Feeling better now. :)

 

And how are the cats?

For someone who is a self confessed crazy cat lady, I don't feel I give my cats enough blog time. They are literally my BABIES. This week, Dana has learnt where her treats are, and jumps up onto the kitchen counter, knocks them off, and opens the packet on the floor to eat at her leisure.

 

 

But who can resist that face (and slightly chubby body)??

 

Anything else?

Well, yes. My boyfriend Scott sold his car (he's unemployed - sadface) so he had a bit of money. So yesterday we went into Glasgow to go shopping and have dinner. I got some lovely stuff which I'll share with you in other posts. Here's some pics from our day:

 

MUA Constellations in Scorpio, my new cat hat and kitten mittens, strawberry daiquiris in TGIs, me drinking cocktails, a gorg bag I resisted, Scott and I in TGIs, me at dinner. :)

 

 

Well, what do you think of this feature guys? Too boring? I don't have the most exciting life haha! Would you enjoy reading something like this?

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

An Apology :(

Hey guys! Long time, no post. I know recently I've been awful at posting regularly, and I have no real excuse except I am completely bogged down with work. In the last two weeks, I have worked three 11 hour shifts, two 13 hour shifts and five 9 hour shifts. And then I do work at home too. I have just had NO time to blog and I miss it and I hope there are still readers who haven't given up on me.  :(

I'm also off Twitter just now, so you probably haven't seen me around there either!!

LUCKILY, I finish up for the summer in less than two weeks so after that be prepared for an onslaught of posts from me haha!

Here's some wee photos to enjoy:

My new Claireabella bag specifically for work! Lovelovelove.

My cat Dana enjoying the sun. <3

My new NOTD obsession - my 'kids' have called it a glitter waterfall, where I have a lot of glitter at the tip and then pull it down a little bit.

(Sorry it's Instagram filtered - wasn't in the blogging frame of mind!)

Hope you're all having a more relaxing time than me, and have enjoyed any sunny weather you got!!

~ 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 ♥

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 ♥

Christmas: Could I Be More Lucky??

Hope you all had an amaaaazing Christmas!! ^_^

I wasn't sure if I wanted to do a post showing my Christmas pressies, cause I always feel I'm unbelievably spoiled and some people might think I'm showing off, I don't know...

I get really, REALLY excited about Christmas. We always do the same thing (mostly) and it's just my mum, dad, sister and I for most of the day before my boyfriend comes up at night. We visit my grandparents on Boxing Day.

I still get up early, have a stocking, am not allowed downstairs until I'm given permission and we open presents one at a time so we can all see and appreciate each gift! Christmas dinner this year was steaks, and then games all night! I just LOVE it.

As a family, we got a 3D TV for the living room! Not really tried it properly yet, but we have Harry Potter DVDs coming in 3D so looking forward to it. We have 7 3D glasses so we can all have our own colour lol. Here's the TV and my mum and dad modelling their glasses:

click to enlarge

Hahha.

I also got a ton of cat related gifts (my friends and family know me so well!). Here's a pic of some general presents I got (on the left) and my kitty themed presents (right)!

click to enlarge

Some things to mention: gorgeous jumper and cat print dress, cat egg cup and cosy, book on beauty blogging (!), Sims 3 Pets (that'll be me busy from now til next Christmas =p).

You may also have noticed my beeeeaaaauuuutiful Claireabella!

This is hand made by Claire herself, and the batch I ordered this from (on behalf of my bf obv) sold out in ten seconds!! I'm very lucky. Designed it all myself - do you see the wine, phone and kitty?? Love it!

You may also have noticed my brand new camera! My old camera was only a 7.2mp and this one is 14.1 so I'm very excited!! It's so pretty and pink too. <3

For some reason I didn't put my new knee high boots in, but here's a sort-of pic:

They look really high actually, but they're not cause it's a built in platform. They're really comfy! At least that's what I'm telling people. =p

Here's some of the beauty goodies I got:

I needed new straighteners, but GHDs are so expensive. Well, here's a fact for you. If you search in Amazon for straighteners and sort them by highest customer review first, number one is Babyliss Pro 230 Elegance and number two is GHD! So after a lot of research, I asked for the Babyliss ones and they are AWESOME.

As you can see, I got Soap and Glory goodies, Front Cover stuff, travel hair straighteners, etc! The Models Own ones were a total sursprise, sooo nice, and I was counting down the days til Christmas so I could get my Sigma Complete Set.

Here's me playing about with some of the Models Own colours:

I also got a lot of other gorgeous things, like a Swarovski necklace, cute underwear and jammies, and chocolates and wine! I also got a 'voucher' for a cut, colour and my next set of extensions put in. Sooo lucky!!

I had an awesome day, with lots of laughter, fun, great food and alcohol! Here's me making a Kir Royale(or is it an Imperial Royale?)

Hope you all had as awesome a day as I did! I'm sorry if this post was too much, please let me know cause I'm worried in case I come across badly. =/

What did you all get? What was your favourite present? Did you get Christmas money, and what are you buying with it?

Let me know.

~ Lauren ♥

Spread Christmas Cheer - Volunteer!

Just a little quickie today because I'm busy busy busy for Christmas!

Firstly, THANK you for getting me to over 200 followers! So happy to have managed that in ten weeks, you guys are AWESOME.

But the real reason of my post is to remind you guys how lucky we all are. We all blog about the latest beauty products and the 'must have' fashion item and see something on someone's blog and HAVE to buy it... Sometimes it's good just to stop and remember that not everyone is that lucky.

Sorry for being so serious, but please consider dropping your change into a charity can, or signing up to a charity. Some of these charities are as little as a pound a week! Seriously, that's nothing. Even better - volunteer! I know times are hard just now and a lot of people are out of work, USE this time! It not only helps others, it helps yourself as well as it's such an amazing feeling to be making a difference.

I volunteer at an animal shelter, and it gives me seeerious endorphins! I love it. I try to go twice a week, and my job is a 'kitty cuddler'. Here's some of the cats I have the privilage of spending time with:

Click to enlarge

And here's a little video of the cutest cats ever, Stuart and Charlie (please ignore my 'baby' voice!!).

On a less serious note, I hope you're all looking forward to Christmas and spending time with friends and family! I'm sooo excited! Here's my tree:

And here's my festive nails!

(they look really messy here but are actually really cute... even on my pathetic wee nails!!)

And here's some photos from my trip to the Edinburgh Market:

Mulled wine, ferris wheel, chocolate covered strawberries

Cocktails and cider!

Have an amaaaazing Christmas guys!!

Merry Christmas!

~ Lauren ♥

Adventures of an OOTD: Outttakes!!

I bought a new blazer in the Debenhams sale. I bought a new skirt. I wanted to show them off. I thought, "Ah ha! I can do my first real Outfit Of The Day!!"

Now, I should have known I was destined to fail straight off the bat, when I went to take the photos yesterday and my camera battery was kaput, resulting in this mini post. But today I persevered, and got my outfit on for the sake of this 'photo shoot' (it was actually yesterday's outfit to go to my boyfriend's 'family night'). The camera was ready, the outfit was ready, I was essentially ready... except for the fact that I don't have a 'photographer' and I have to take the photos myself using a timer. Now this wouldn't be a big deal except I was determined to take the photos outside... and it was RAINING.

Ugh.

But, battling on, I went outside anyway and tried to find places I could put the camera where a) it wasn't damp, b) it wasn't going to get rained on and c) it wouldn't topple over. Unfortunately for me, I hadn't reckoned on d) my lovely cat Dana would suddenly decide that out of all her toys, the camera wrist strap was the VERY BESTEST OF ALL. I think she was determined to make this post a failure by attempting to hunt down and ensnare the camera the very second I pressed the timer button.

I so wanted this to be like all professional, like I see other amazing bloggers do.

I think it's time for me to admit I'm just not that kinda blogger - you'd think I'd have realised my style by now!!

So, for your amusement, I'm going to post some failure photos for you.

Photo Failure One: having just thrown my cat Dana away from the camera I was sprinting to position in the last second. Didn't... quite... make... it. =p

Photo Failure Two: after all my positioning of the camera on my cat's climbing frame (come to think of it, maybe that's why she thought it was a toy..?) and me running to position, I somehow misjudged it completely. Although you can see all the outfit and not my face, so maybe it's a good thing!!

Photo Failure Three: I decided on a nice simple sit down pose since clearly standing up wasn't working for me. And what does the camera capture? Me telling Dana to move out the shot. Wonderful.

Now there were many, many more, but I did actually manage to capture ONE decent photo. So here it is:

Blazer - Topshop (£40/£32 in Debenhams Sale)

Top - Topshop (a present)

Skirt - H&M (£3.99)

Tights - Primark (£3.50)

Shoes - ASOS (£15)

My charm bracelet is Swarovski, and the other bracelets my sister made for me.

My nails are Andrea Fulerton Kylie (my new love).

I picked this blazer because I've been wanting a black blazer for aaaages, I think they are so nice just to throw over an outfit and smarten it up but still have that casual feel. I've never been able to see one I really liked, and even the black Topshop version felt too much like a suit jacket. Then I saw this grey one and it's sooo soft and cosy and just delish. I love it.

The skirt was a wee bargain, it was only £4 and being monochrome I figure it'll go with anything. The tights are AMAZE by the way, they are the 'Super Cosy' ones and they are sooo thick and lined with cotton, so soft and also a total bargain.

And here are the trouble makers:

Max on the top, Dana in the tunnel. This is what I was using to sit my camera on lol. No wonder they were confused!

Anyways, hope you enjoyed this wee OOTD 'Outtakes' post.

Hopefully I'll have more success next time!! =p

~ Lauren ♥