Recent Clothing Purchases // Primark Haul

Oh Primark, why do you draw me in with your wonderful bargains? My bank balance hates you. Yes ladies, I did it again  - a couple of trips to ‘have a browse’ around Primark resulted in lots ‘ooh-ing and ahh-ing’ over their latest offerings, lots of ‘I need it’ moments and of course, lots of spending. I really should be saving my money instead of spending it like its going out of fashion but hey, we only live once right? Another plus point to my uncontrollable spending habits is that I can now share everything I’ve been buying with you lovely lot. Primark hauls are one of my favourite blog posts/videos to read or watch as I love seeing what’s currently in stock and if anything takes my fancy. Lets say us bloggers and vloggers are like Primark’s online website – we give everyone a little insight into the latest fashion bargains up for grabs.

So without further ado, here’s what I’ve been buying from Primark recently. Prepare yourselves for a long and picture-heavy post. In fact, grab yourselves a cup of tea.

Monchrome Bodycon Dress (£13)

As soon as I spotted this dress, I loved it. Not only does it look like something you'd find in Topshop but it appears to be great quality for the super cheap £13 price tag. I was slightly concerned it would be one of those 'looks great on the hanger, looks rubbish on' items but it actually looked even better on. I love the lace detailing down the front panel, the little cut-outs and the Monochrome colour scheme. I'm planning on wearing it tomorrow night for my friends birthday as I think it will look super glam with some heels, a clutch bag and a bold statement lip.

Aztec Print Skirt (£4)

One thing I don't own a great deal of is bottom halves. By this I mean skirts, shorts and trousers. I mainly wear skinny jeans, leggings or dresses on a day to day basis but I want to start buying a few different bits and pieces so I have some alternatives. My first purchase in my quest to re-vamp my 'bottom half' wardrobe is this super cute aztec print skirt. For only £4 you really can't go wrong and I think it will look great in the summer with a floaty vest top tucked in. Its very versatile too and I already have a few ideas on how I could dress it up or down.

Coral Lace Crop Top (£5)

These lace crop-tops are very 'in' at the moment but I've never been drawn to them until I spotted this one in Primark. The bright blood orange shade screamed summer to me and I think it will look beautiful on holiday with a tan and a high-waisted maxi skirt. It only cost £5 too which is a total bargain!

Clutch Bag (£8)

This is my kind of clutch bag - humongous! I'm the kind of girl that takes everything but the kitchen sink on a night out with her so when I spotted this white clutch bag with a very summery yellow and gold envelope clasp, I was sold. It will add a nice pop of summer colour to my bag collection and I'm planning on pairing it with the Monochrome dress I mentioned above tomorrow night. I always feel the need to add a bit of colour to my outfits at this time of year so bright bags or accessories are great if my outfit is lacking in colour!

Mint Green Lace Dress (£12)

Okay, I'm naming this the 'blogger dress'. I don't know about you but every tom, dick and harry who has posted a Primark Haul recently seems to have bought this dress. I spotted it a few weeks ago whilst having a browse and immediately knew I had to have it. I love a good skater dress and this one is just perfect for the summer. I think it will look great paired with some sandals, a tan waist belt and a blazer. Again, I'm already visioning myself wearing it.

Playsuit (£5)

When summer rolls around, I love wearing playsuits. I find them so convenient to throw on and love that they can be dressed up or down too. They're great for holidays to put on over bikinis and are generally a handy little item to have in my wardrobe. So, as you can imagine, when I saw this little beauty for only £5, it had to be mine. I have a blazer that matches the taupe colour perfectly too so I know when paired together they will make a lovely little outfit.

Mint Green Aztec Print Bodycon Dress (£10)

I actually spotted this dress a few weeks ago but much to my disappointment, they didn't have my size. I could tell it'd been a popular choice as there wasn't many sizes left but they clearly recognised the high demand and when I returned for another browse a couple of weeks later, they'd re-stocked and had my size available. Yay! Don't you just love it when that happens? I really love the simple bodycon style of this dress and the aztec print and mint green shade are perfect for this time of year. I think this could be dressed up or down and I can't wait to wear it on my holidays.

Bun Ring (£2)

I spotted this bun ring whilst pursing the jewellery and accessories stand with my friend and both of us immediately had to have it. I already have one of these but it was nowhere near as big as this one so it didn't work well with my long hair. However, I've tried this one and it works a treat. Its a little bit 'essex' with it being so big but I'm sure I can make it classy when paired with the right outfit and makeup.

White Peter Pan Collar Playsuit (£20)

As soon as I saw this, I fell in love. It was among Primark's 'Limited Edition' range so it was a little pricer at £20 but let me tell you, its worth every penny. The picture doesn't do it any justice (its creased to the high heavens sorry) but the material is lovely and sturdy and the floral embellishment around the peter pan collar is just beautiful. I love the fact its white too as I can imagine it looking amazing with a summer tan, bright wedges and a matching bright clutch bag. I'm even tempted to save this for my birthday night out in July - thats how much I love it.

So there we go, my recent Primark purchases. As you can see, I've had a good splurge and I love everything I've bought. I already know I'll get so much wear out of each and every one of these items and they will all be coming on my hollibobs with me next month. I imagine I'll be heading back to Primark soon to stock up on more holiday clothes so do keep your eyes peeled for yet another Primark haul. I'm a woman obsessed let me tell you.

Have you been shopping in Primark recently? Do you like any of the things I've bought?

Lots of Love,

New Release // Bourjois Cream Blushes

If you're a beauty blogger or someone crazy about beauty like myself, I'm sure you'll know about the release of Bourjois new cream blushes. Renowned for their 'little round pot' blushes and celebrating 150 years in business, they've decided to re-invent their cult product in the form of a cream blush. I was very excited to hear this as I've been wearing blush a lot recently and cream blush is something I've been wanting to try and add to my collection. With this being said, I intended on treating myself to two of the four shades (I couldn't afford them all) with the hope they'd live up to the hype currently surrounding them. However, when I saw Bourjois running a competition of their Twitter account to win all four shades, I knew I had to enter. I didn't think for one second I'd be in with a chance of winning due to the hundreds of entries but low and behold, little old me got a tweet informing me I'd won.

I received the blushes the next day (thanks for the super speedy delivery Bourjois) and I couldn't wait to take photos, have a play around and let you know my thoughts. They're packaged in small circular pots with a clasp opening and a mirror inside (very similar to the original little round pots, just slightly flatter). Each pot is a different colour to represent the different shades which is a lovely touch - it certainly makes those early morning rummages through my makeup stash a little easier. I've got absolutely no complaints on the packaging - they're very cute, practical and pretty. 

The four shades I received and the only shades currently available are 01 Nude Velvet, 02 Healthy Glow, 03 Rose Tender and 04 Sweet Cherry. I absolutely adore all of these shades and think there's something to suit everyone's taste and skin tone. Nude Velvet is a pale peach shade and although I find it a little too light for my taste, it adds a nice natural glow to my skin. Healthy Glow is my favourite shade of the bunch as its a slightly more vivid coral shade. As the name states, it adds a healthy glow to my skin and is the perfect shade for the Summer months. I imagine it would look beautiful with a tan too. Rose Tender is a beautiful rosy pink shade which will look fab on pale skin tones for a natural rosy flush. Sweet Cherry is a darker pink shade and one I surprisingly love. I'm not usually a fan of pink cheeks but this one is very neutral and warms up my complexion without looking false. 

As well as the pretty shade, the formula of these blushes is lovely too. They have a cream to powder formula meaning they apply as a cream but turn into a powder once blended. At first I was slightly wary this 'cream to powder' finish wouldn't give me that dewy glow I was hoping for when using a cream blush. However, this isn't the case as all and when blended, they leave a lovely healthy glow on my cheeks. I'd probably say they're somewhere in-between a cream and powder - not too shiny and not too matte either, just perfect. I've been applying them with my fingers onto the tops of my cheekbones and blending with a Real Techniques contour brush. The creamy texture means they apply smoothly and blend into the skin effortlessly. If you aren't experienced in applying blush, these little beauties are definitely a good place to start.

I'm so impressed with these blushes, they've definitely opened my eyes to the wonderful world of cream blush. They're perfect for this time of year and if you're into that dewy skin look, I know you'll love them too.

Do you like the sound of Bourjois new cream blushes? Have you tried them yet? They're currently available to buy here for £7.99 at Selfridges and will be available to buy from other stockists including Boots and Superdrug tomorrow. Look out for those 3 for 2 deals ladies - we all know its going to happen!

Lots of Love,

Would You Rather? Beauty Edition

Hi Ladies! I hope you're all well and having a great weekend. Today's post is a bit of a fun one and something I've been wanting to do for a little while now. If you've been watching beauty videos on youtube for a good while, you might remember the 'Would you Rather: Beauty Edition' tag that was flying around. It was definitely one of my favourite tag videos to watch so I thought, 'ooh, I could do a blog post instead of a video' (I'm not quite brave enough to put my face on camera just yet). I realise people will of already done it on their blogs before and I'm jumping onto the bandwagon exceptionally late but hey, there's no rules when it comes to blogging. 

If you've never heard of 'would you rather' before, its very self explanatory. A set of questions asking if you'd rather do this or that and often you'd rather not do either which makes it all the more fun. I really like doing posts like this on my blog from time to time as its something different, something fun and you can all get to know me a little bit better too! So here we go, I can tell some of these questions are going to be tough to answer ...

Would you rather lose all of your mascaras, eyeliners, lipsticks, and lipglosses or lose all of your palettes and eyeshadows?
This is actually an easy decision for me. If you've been reading my blog for a while I'm sure you're all aware that lip products are my ultimate weakness. I wear lipstick or gloss every single day and my collection is my pride and joy. With this being said, I'd have to say ta-ta to my eyeshadows and palettes. As sad as that would be, I don't wear eyeshadow every day so it wouldn't be a huge loss from my every day makeup routine. Also, you could play up your eyes with more eye liner/false lashes and even use highlighters as eyeshadow instead. How savvy of me! ;)
 

Would you rather chop off all your hair or never be able to cut it again?
Oooh, tough one. I was originally going to say never be able to cut it again but imagine those split ends? yikes. I also wouldn't want to chop it all off as short hair and I really don't get along. Maybe I could have it chopped and then wear extensions until it grew back? Yes, I'll go with that. Although my hair does take forever to grow so I'd be waiting a heck of a long time!

Would you rather have a coral cheek or a pink cheek?
Definitely coral. I don't really get along with pink blush (it makes me look like a barbie!) so I stick with neutral and coral shades to give my skin a warm flush of colour. My current fave is NARS Gina - go check it out ladies!

If you had £1000 to spend, Would you rather buy clothes or makeup?
As shocking as this may sound coming from a beauty blogger who is *obsessed* with make-up, it'd have to be clothes. Lets be honest, I have enough makeup to last me more than one life-time and although I love buying new bits and bobs now and then, I definitely don't need anymore for a good while. Also, because I normally spend all of my money on beauty products, it'd be nice to have a good splurge on clothes, shoes and accessories. Ooh, just imagine all the lovely Summer clothes you could get with one thousand pounds. If only!

Would you rather apply lipstick as eyeliner, or eyeliner as lipstick?
Wow, I definitely wouldn't like to do either! However, if I HAD to choose, it would have to be eyeliner as lipstick, purely because you could get a nice plum eyeliner and rock it as a plum lip instead. I can't imagine red, pink or coral lipstick looking good anywhere near the eyes though, and how on earth would you apply a chunky lipstick to your eye area? Ew, I perish the thought.

Would you rather only shop at MAC or Sephora?
I guess this tag originally started in the US as we don't have a Sephora here in the UK, sob. However, imagining I did live near a Sephora (what a dream!), I would definitely choose to only shop there. Don't get me wrong, I love MAC but I like to have options and I'd get a bit bored if I had to shop there for every single piece of makeup. I believe Sephora has a good variety and is like beauty bloggers dream land so I imagine I'd be content shopping there forever 8).

Would you rather only use one eyeshadow color or one lip color for the rest of your life?
Definitely one eye colour. I'm quite boring when it comes to eyeshadow and you can always find me wearing a neutral bronze smoky eye. However, when it comes to lipstick, I like to experiment. Whether its bright red, plum, peach, orange, berry, fuschia or nude - you'll find it in my collection. I think lipstick completely transforms a face and its a staple part of my makeup routine, especially for nights out.

Would you rather wear winter clothes in summer or summer clothes in winter?
ARGH, this is so hard - I don't want to do either of these. If I had to choose though - I guess it'd be winter clothes in Summer and my only reason behind this is because we don't have a great summer in the UK anyway. We only get around one week of hot weather a year (if that!) compared to the months and months of freezing cold winter weather so I definitely wouldn't want to be tottering around in summer clothes for the duration of those horrible cold months.

Would you rather dark nails or bright nails all year round?
I think dark nails suit me better so I'd have to go for dark. I do love a bright or pastel shade from time to time but I think dark nails are more wearable, look classier and work with most outfits.
 

Would you rather give up your favorite lip product or your favorite eye product?
Surprise surprise, I'd give up my favourite eye product. As I said earlier, I don't wear it everyday so it wouldn't faze me too much. I love all of my lip products though so they aren't going anywhere!

Would you rather only be able to wear your hair in a pony tail or a messy bun?
I wear my hair in a pony tail for work most days and also in a side pony for a lot of nights out so I'd have to go for that. I think you can style pony tails in various ways whereas a messy bun isn't very versatile.

Would your rather never being able to paint your nails again or never use lipgloss?
I'd rather never wear lipgloss again. As much as I love my lip products, most lipsticks I own give my lips a nice gloss anyway. Oh and imagine toe nails without polish in a pair of pretty summer sandals? Ew, no thanks.

Would you rather shave your eyebrows and have none at all? or sharpie them in everyday?

OMG, can you imagine this? When I was about 15 there was a 'trend' going around my school to shave a few slits in your eyebrows and I decided to do it. Oh my goodness, bad move Kayleigh. Whoever pressurised me into feeling the need to do that, shame on you and your bad eyebrow choices. Anyway, blast from the past aside, I think I'd have to sharpie them in everyday. Just imagine having no eyebrows? I couldn't do it, they frame my face. I'd just have to attempt to make a brown sharpie work?

Would you rather live without makeup or nail polish?
Oh this is a very easy one! I'd 100% rather live without nail polish as other than on my toes, I rarely wear it. Unless I've had my acrylics done, I don't bother with nail polish. My natural nails are poopy because I bite them (I know, awful habit!) and nail polish brings more attention to their grossness. I wear makeup most days and love experimenting with it so I can't imagine never wearing it again.

I hope you enjoyed reading my answers to these funny questions ladies. It was really difficult to decide between some of them. Would your answers be the same as mine or would you have answered them differently? If you decide to do this post on your blog, let me know in the comments below or tweet me (@k_leexjx) as I'd love to read your answers.

Lots of Love,

Skincare Haul // Caudalie, NUDE, REN & Origins

I don't know about you but for me, as soon as pay day rolls around, I have a list of things in my mind that I just need to buy. This month, my to-buy list was all about skincare and its safe to say, I had a good splurge. My skin has been going insane lately - I'm not sure why, it could be the fact I'm not sticking to a routine, using products that don't agree with my skin or not washing my makeup brushes enough. Anyway, reasons aside, I was very unhappy with the state of my skin. It was covered in horrid little pimples, red patches and general yackiness. With this being said, I decided pay day would be the perfect opportunity for me to treat myself to some new skincare. As there's so many amazing brands out there, I wanted to do some research, read lots of reviews and ask for others opinions before making a splurge. I took to Twitter to ask what people would recommend and I got a whole host of products thrown my way, including the REN Glycolactic Radiance Renewal Mask which as you can see above, I bought. This mask is supposed to combat dullness and although I've only used it once since buying it, I can already tell I'm going to love it.

I then decided to ask the lovely Zoe from zoenewlove what she'd recommend as she's a trained makeup artist and skincare junkie herself. Its safe to say she knows what she's talking about when it comes to this kind of thing and as we have similair skin types, she was the perfect person to turn to for advice. She recommended I try the NUDE Perfect Cleansing Oil and although I was wary an oil cleanser would make my skin even oiler, she convinced me otherwise and before I knew it I'd popped it into my Feel Unique shopping basket. Not one to do things by halves, I also popped the NUDE Purify Toning Water into my basket as I thought it would work well alongside the oil cleanser. I feel like toner is a skincare product I often overlook so I want to make more of an effort to use one morning and night. I think it will give my skin that extra boost of radiance it needs. Feel Unique had an offer on NUDE products too so I got a sample size of their ProGenius Treatment Oil for free. Zoe told me she swears by it so I'm excited to give that a go too.

Whilst buying a few bits and bobs from Feel Unique, I just had to get myself another bottle of Caudalie Cleansing Water. Mine recently ran out and although I only went without it for a few days, I really noticed the difference in my skin. I use this product to take my makeup off before doing a proper cleanse and I find it so soothing, fresh and energising on my skin. It smells incredible, takes makeup off effectively and leaves my skin feeling clean and fresh. If I'm in a rush in the mornings, I'll often skip the second cleanse and just use this to clean my face. It works brilliantly and I can't recommend it enough if you haven't tried it already. Its really gentle so would work on most skin types and I 100% prefer it to Bioderma. This is my 5th or 6th repurchase of this stuff now - that just prooves how much I love it.

The final skincare item I've splurged on lately is the Origins A Perfect World SPF 25 Moisturiser. I recently went for a skin scan at Trueskin Clinic in Newcastle which is a free service that anyone can use and it basically scans your face and shows you whats going on underneath the top layer of your skin. There were a few issues with mine including excess sebum (which is what makes my t-zone oily - damn!), fine lines (eeep!) and pigmentation. When we got chatting about the skincare products I've been using, I realised that I never use a moisturiser with SPF. The lady doing my consultation told me this is something I should be considering to protect my skin from sun damage and aging so I immediately went on the hunt for a moisturiser with SPF. I popped over to the Origins website as I love their products and decided to order the A Perfect World moisturiser with SPF 25. It set me back £33.00 which isn't cheap but they had an offer on meaning if I spent over £30 I'd receive a 30ml Starting Over Moisturiser too. Considering thats only 20ml smaller than the £38 full size version, it almost justified the price. I've not read a great deal of reviews about the A Perfect World moisturiser so it was a very spur of the moment decision but on first impressions, I really like it. Its also good to know my skin will be protected from those ever so lovely but ever so damaging UV rays. 

So there we have it, the skincare I've been splurging on recently. I can't wait to get into a proper routine with all my new goodies and see the effect they have on my skin. I've used all of the products mentioned and so far, I'm loving them. Sorry I've not gone into detail about any of them but I want to give them a proper trial first before sharing my thoughts so do bare with me as I'll be reviewing them all in full soon.

Have you tried any of these products? What's your favourite skincare brand?

Have a great weekend guys!

Lots of Love,

Nominate Couture Girl in the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards

Hi Everyone! I hope you're all well and having a great week so far. Its safe to say mine isn't going great - I got some bad news yesterday and am feeling completely down in the dumps about it. I was planning a haul post for today but I haven't had chance to edit photos and all that malarkey due to my mind being on lots of other none-blog related things. Bad times!

Anyway, instead of writing one of my usual posts today (I'll be back with one of those soon, promise!), I thought I'd quickly let you know that the Cosmopolitan blog awards 2013 are now officially open. From 3rd May until 3rd June you can nominate your own or your favourite blogs in a number of fun and exciting categories and its all very exciting. Now I realise there's hundreds of amazing blogs out there but if you enjoy reading my rambles, I'd be so grateful if you'd consider nominating Couture Girl in the 'Best New Beauty Blog' category. All you have to do is click here and enter a few details including my blogs URL. It  should only take you a matter of minutes and it would mean the absolute world to me. I already have a list as long as my arm of other bloggers and vloggers I want to nominate and thats the great thing about the Cosmo Blog Awards - you can nominate as many blogs as you want, as many times as you'd like! YAY!

Since I began writing my blog just less than 18 months ago, its grown into something much more than a hobby for me. This is my passion, what I love to do and what makes me happy. I'm constantly thinking about my blog, jotting down new ideas, tweeting about all things beauty and snapping various potions and lotions with my DSLR. I've also met so many amazing people through blogging and its hard to imagine not chatting to you all via Twitter, Instagram and email on a daily basis. The blogging community really is a great one to be a part of and the fact huge magazines like Cosmo give bloggers the chance to get some exposure and recognition is great!

Anyway, soppiness over. I'm not going to sit here and give you reasons why I think you should nominate me - I'm just giving you the opportunity to do so if you wish! I'll always enjoy writing my blog no matter what but to know even one of you would consider nominating me for such an amazing award would mean an awful lot!

If you do decide to nominate me, make sure you let me know in the comments or via twitter (@k_leexjx) so I can send you huge virtual hugs and kisses!

Have a great day guys and good luck to all of you who are entering too!

Lots of Love,