Worth the hype.

Hello, from a dull grey Milton Keynes. Apologies for my absence the weather has actually been pretty damn good (ish) so I have been spending my days at the pub with fam/friends/boyf. I have also been avoiding the shops not only to save money but because, and please don't judge me for this, I HATE SALES. They're messy and stressful and grown women resort to behaving like animals over a 8 pound dress and I.cannot.take.it. Anyway back to the point, because I haven't been shopping as much it got me thinking about products I already have and that I am forever repurchasing. For regular readers of my blog you will know that my real weakness in life is clothes. However I do absolutely obsess over skincare/make up etc but I always think cosmetics are so expensive that I can't just buy them on a whim. I very much sit and do my research on blogs and youtube before taking the plunge. As a result I often try products that get extremely hyped up on blogs/Youtube so I thought I'd let you know which I think are really worth it and will be a staple in my make-up/ skincare/ tanning routine for years to come. 

1. First off I have the Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish - Hot cloth cleanser. "Original" I hear you say, well yes I am another Liz Earle sheep and judge away but it the best cleanser known to man. Ever. End of. You know the drill you put a pump on your hand and massage onto dry skin (you can use it on eyes, I tend not too as my eye make up destroys the muslin clothes). Then you rinse the muslin clothes in hot water and polish off the cleanser. Thus cleansing and gently exfoliating simultaneously. Simples. I have combination skin and it works like a dream for me.

2. Next up I have Bioderma Crealine H20. Quite simpley Bioderma shits on all other make up removers/cleaners. The king of the make up remover if you will. Slight issue is it's french so you have to buy it off ebay or travel to France to get it and even I draw the line at leaving the country for a make up remover that costs 10 Euros. However luckily my best friend studies French at Uni so is always popping over for trips so brings me back a tub or two. It removes every last scrap of make up and calms my skin down like nothing else. I introduced it to her and she has also seen the Bioderma light, she's much more acne prone than me and has said this stuff has literally changed her skin for the better.

3. Next is St Tropez Bronzing Mouse. Smells awful but looks amazing. I apply 2 coats and it goes a lovely golden colour that honestly just looks really natural with no streaks or patching. However the smell in my opinion is rank, when first applied it smells like really stong fake tan that they've tried to mask with the smell of a leather car interior (trust me sounds wierd but so true). I apply it at night and then shower it off the next morning and I kid you not the smell lingers for the next day and my boyfriend hates it. But if its a choice between him and the tan...he'll go. I JOKE. Or am I? I don't even know anymore haha. But anyway the look is unbeatable, I have tried every fake tan on the market and this for me cannot be beaten and the smell goes away after a day anyway.

4. The body scrub/exfoliator to end all body scrub/exfoliators: Soap and Glory Flake Away. A must for fake tan obsessives. If any of you are like me and are just essentially massively lazy the horror of scaly skin will not be new territory for you. Because sometimes lets be honest I cannot be arsed to exfoliate I just want to be brown. Hense I turn into a scaley mess. This is far from ideal. Enter Soap and Glory Flake Away and suddenly I'm scale free and smooth as a babies bum! *Tip* For severe cases of fake-tan-educed-scales this product combined with Exfoliating gloves will sort you right out.

5. This leads on nicely to Soap and Glory body moisturiser; The Righteous Butter. It smells beaut (not unlike Miss Dior Cherie perfume), lasts forever and is just generally brilliant. It helps prevent/rectify the afore mentioned scaly skin situation and masks the smell of St Tropez. Fake tan smelling, scaly skin ... I know what your thinking, my boyf is one lucky man. I really don't think he new what he was letting himself in for... poor Dan.

6. Make up wise I didn't want to go into too much detail because all my hyped cosmetics are featured in my Everyday Maquillage post. However I feel purely for the sheer number of times I have repurchased these items they needed to feature. They are MAC eyeshadows in Satin Taupe and Tempting. They are my ultimate eyeshadows that I will always always own. What I love so much is they look amazing on their own or with a black in the crease, et voila you have created the perfect smokey eye whther you want a taupe or a dark gold. My love for Tempting stems from Laura from Buy Now, Blog Later way back when she was Lollipop26 and she showed a Youtube video where she simply put Tempting all over the lid with MAC Carbon in the crease and blended it out. Since then this has been my go-to smokey eye. Satin Taupe is just so beautiful on its own in the day or again with a black in the crease. My mum also loves it as it has the perfect amount of shimmer as she often finds too much glitter is ageing but totally matte eyeshadows a tad boring.

7. My next product worth the hype is Clarins Beauty Flash Balm. Now this Clarins claims Beauty Flash Balms 'Brightens and Tightens' and I have always been highly sceptical. This is the ultimate 'are the effects just in my head or does this product actually work' product. I won't lie my Mum has been banging on about it for years and years so when she got a free sample she gave it to me to try. I kid you not this stuff is bloody good. I have rather dull skin this gives my skin a radiance it simply doesn't have naturally. It smells lovely, makes my foundation application smoother and appear dewey and youthful and is just an all wound winner.

8. My penultimate product is YSL Touche Eclat. As with the Clarins Beauty Flash Balm I wasn't autimatically convinced as I thought the hype surrounding it was just hot air. However I bought it for my mum for her birthday as she's always wanted to try it. So I thought I'd test it out just to try... que me stealing it forever. It is often misused as a concealer, this is not the case, it is in fact a highlighter/ eye brightener. It's creaming and moisturising and when applied correctly around the eye area your skin does truly appear brighter and you just look more awake!

9. And finally everybody's favourite the Yankee candle. I had to feature these as between my mum and I we must have practically the whole collection. What I love so much about Yankee candles is that the smells are not sickeningly sweet that leave you with a headache or feeling nauseous. They are still strong smelling and last for ages and are just the best candles ever! 

None of the products featured are groundbreaking and I most certainly won't be winning any awards for originality. But all these items have been purchased a million times before and will continue to be repurchased as I simply cannot live without them!


Kathryn x

The hunt for the perfect maxi skirt.

For the last few summers I have wanted one thing: the perfect maxi skirt. I'm rather short and not exactly a skinny mini so if I'm honest I feel I resemble a house in them... a very wide house. I initially wanted a jersey one however made my hips look far to wide and then last year I wanted a pleated one but dear god my arse is too large for that. So anyway I had resigned myself to a maxi-skirt-less life. But, this season I noticed something different. Instead of bulky wades of fabric, the high street are offering chiffon maxi's, with short skirts underneath with splits up the thighs. Meaning a bit of flesh was still on show and the dreaded bulk is somewhat avoided. Suddenly I knew my prayers had been answered.

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1. This beauty is my ultimate love, I found it in the Zara store in Milton Keynes, however it was the only one left and the zip was buggered and the sales woman said that Zara refuses to discount damaged clothing (SHAME ON YOU ZARA). I went on a search in Manchester and online and I had friends in Leeds, Bournemouth and Sheffield looking for it but I couldn't find it ANYWHERE however when I was in London for my birthday I found it!!! The only issue being it's a size too big but I bought it anyways and hopefully the mother can take it in. 
2. Before I found the Zara one in London I went on a hunt for a similar one, I found this ASOS beauty but yet again IT WAS SOLD OUT IN MY SIZE - que me having a minor breakdown over my unluckiness. However my lovely mother kept checking ASOS on the sly every 5 mins and eventually a size 10 came back in stock and she surprised me with it on my birthday! Ta Mum. 
3. I'm loving my coral however I'm defs thinking a black one is needed in my wardrobe EVERYTHING LOOKS GOOD IN BLACK and I have this weird thing where I like to buy the same thing or very similar in various colours.

Anyway they are, I tend to wear them with a block colour I'm especially loving them worn with this black crop top from Blue Rinse as there is the perfect amount of skin left showing. I then wear this simple collar necklace from H and M and I'm good to go.

What I love so much is that depending on the weather (which is extremely variable in England) or occasion I can style them up or down...

For dinner or drinks with friends/fam//boyf I accessorise with my Zara beaded clutch and these white wedges from Topshop. They're so beaut however after a rather *ahem* intoxicated night out they're a bit scuffed but ho hum I still love them.

For sunnier days (these are few and far between but sometimes miracles do happen and we have sun) I wear them with this statement Zara Clutch and River Island sandals. 

For the more common rainy and nippy days I whack on my trusty Topshop Ambush boots and Mulberry Alexa neither of which ever fail to complete an outfit. 

So all in all they're versatile, can be worn day or night with heels or flats. They're also perfect for work, I'm interning at a magazine publishing company this summer and although it's fairly casual I dont't want to rock up in stupidly short vintage Levi's as it may be slightly inappropriate to flash the ol' bum cheeks at work. 

Kathryn x 

I'm a sucker for the bottle.

I turned 19 on the 6th of June this year and it’s sort of a ritual for me to always get a nice perfume every birthday and then every christmas. So that got me thinking what are my all time favorite perfumes in my collection and I have managed to narrow it down to just 4 which I either have repurchased or will be repurchasing when they run out. Please bare in mind it is so hard to describe fragrances so bare with me, the words ‘smells really good’ may come up more than it should here.

So my first perfume favourite is Marc Jacobs Lola, this was my 6th form perfume I literally wore it every day and has been repurchased a good 5 or 6 times. I won’t lie I am a shallow creature and theres no denying the first thing that attracted me to the perfume was the bottle. To be honest I didn’t give a flying monkey what it smelt like that bottle needed to be on my dressing table. However luckily enough it smells as good as it looks... well almost. However after Justin Beiber released his perfume blatantly ripping off the bottle it somewhat killed it for me! But hey it still smells gorge, floral and girlie without being overly sweet or sickening.

The next perfume replaced my Marc Jacobs Lola as my favorite day fragrance is Dior’s Miss Dior. It was previously named Miss Dior Cherie however has recently changed to Miss Dior (this caused my mum great confusion when trying to find it for my birthday). This perfume is just gorgeous, its fairly sweet but not on the same level as say a Juicy Couture perfume. This may sound mad but if you own any Soap and Glory products such as the Righteous Butter that is what the smell is reminiscent of only much much much nicer. If I could only have one perfume for the rest of my life this would probabley be it!

My next perfume I’m on my third bottle of and it is my go to evening scent. I do think for me it’s a bit strong and rich smelling to whack out in the day but at night it’s perfect. As I have said it smells rich and almost luxurious. It is also a definite man pleaser as it is mostly men that stop me and ask me what perfume it is as they want to by it for their girlfriends/ sisters/ friends. 

Let’s be honest a Chanel carrier bag is guaranteed to put a smile on any girls face. So when I received Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle off the boyf for a birthday present I was one happy bunny. I have always been a bit scared of Chanel perfumes, my mum has Chanel No 5 and I know its a cardinal sin to say this but I’m not a massive fan! Maybe I’ll like it more when I’m older, it always strikes me as a really grown up perfume if that makes sense. Anyway I have previously owned Chanel Chance and that is a beaut of a perfume but it just doesn't last on me so never bothered buying it again. This is Chanel’s Coco Mademoiselle and actually smells not unlike Miss Dior but there is almost a vanillary smell .... wow Kathryn brilliant description there. But anyway it lasts on the skin and is my absolute favorite at the minute so am wearing constantly. Unlike Armani Idol it isn't a definite day or night perfume, I think it can be worn when ever and I have got so many compliments on it already. 

Let me know any of your favourite perfumes I'd love to try them out! 

Kathryn x 

Oh! Whats Occurring?

I love a bit of leather. A leather jacket is obviously a must in every girls wardrobe and it's one of the items I own that I will always spend that little bit more on because I know how loved mine always are. However leather is generally expensive so when it comes to other pieces like shorts and trousers im not adverse to a bit of faux leather *ahem* pleather. 

These waxed trousers are from Zara, I would have killed for the real leather J Brand or All Saints beauties but I cannot justify spending hundreds of pounds on real leather trousers which realistically I will only wear a couple of times a year. I love the gold zip detailing and as they are only waxed rather than full on leather they are much less scary to wear as well as more day time appropriate!

These pleather shorts are from Topshop last year and have been seriously well loved. The look gorgeous with a chunky knit jumper for day or with heels for a night out. 

This leads me on to my hunt for a leather/ pleather skirt. The hunt has been on for quite a few years as I won't lie to you every time I found one I had hideous visions of Nessa from Gavin and Stacey and that is one comparison I can bloody well do without.

So anyway it was absolutely chucking it down in Manchester recently (shocking I know) so I decided to take refuge in the H and M on Market Street. I have a strange relationship with H and M, their advertising campaign and look books are always really impressive and quite a few people I know find some absolute gems in there, I on the other hand am usually left empty handed and disappointed. However it's been newly refurbished and looked bright, uncluttered and quite a few things in the window caught my eye: essentially the opposite to the store environment before. So I walked in and there it was, a leather, well pleather,skirt that ticked all my boxes. It’s barginous (£14.99), a simple design and although it’s faux leather it avoids that awful shine fake leather often has.

Paired with a simple shirt and a statement necklace or a neon knit (there are the PERFECT fine neon knit sweaters in Zara at the minute I will be running to buy tomorrow) the skirt makes the perfect dinner/drinks outfit when worn with wedges but styled with embellished sandals I can see myself wearing it come July when I start an internship. 

Kathryn x

P.S. I am sure some of you are thinking, leather?! In Summer?! That could lead to some sweaty situations. However as I write this I kid your not it is as if it is the apocalypse, I have never seen so much rain. So I feel I am very much justified in buying essentially winter clothes in June. 


P.P.S You will only understand the title if your a Gavin and Stacey fan! 

Statement Sandals.

I'm a total clothes buying keeno so I have no quarms about buying a bikini in January or a coat in July. In fact in my opinion when it comes to the high street you snooze you loose. We've all been there when you have a holiday booked for mid July ans start looking for a bikini at the end of June and there is NOTHING LITERALLY NOTHING left, que a hissy fit and a desperate search for last years bikinis. Anyway this leads me on top a pair of my all time favourite pairs of shoes I snapped up way back in January 2010, they have been turely loved and worn to death however I have come to accept that they are on their last legs and I need a new pair. They are currently in the bin *sob* as the feathers and jewles have fallen off and the zips have broken so were merely a shadow of their former glory! This pic in no way does them justice but you get the general idea.

My old River Island beauties RIP.

This led me to these bad boys, also from River Island, that I was given as a birthday present. Still embellished, still colourful: in essence the perfect statement sandel. Worn with denim shorts or leather skirt they really make an outfit that bit more striking. 

They also make me feel extremely summery which is handy in the non existant summer we are having as they make me imagine jetting off somewhere hot and exotic rather than being stuck in grey Milton Keynes!


Kathryn x

I'm baaaacckkkk and THANK YOU.

I have been a massive slacker with the ol' blogging malarchy so apologies for that. However I have been very busy as it has been exam time/ my birthday/ the end of my first year at uni. So for the past few weeks I've been finishing exams/ coming home to celebrate the birthday with the fam, boyf and home friends then to London then back to Manchester for Parklife, a festival in a park right next to my halls. 

These are just a few pics from Parklife, it was ammaazinnnggg, it's got me buzzing for global! I had SUCH a good time and was a brilliant end to the best year of my life. It was only about 70 quid for a ticket and saw people like Nero, Noah and Whale, Dizzee Rascal, Justice, Labrinth, Delilah ... amaze. 


Anyway I will be back on the blogging now I'm officially freeee for summer and just wanted to say a massive massive THANK YOU as I have currently reached over 100 followers which is so lovely and I know not impressive for a lot but for me the fact any of you follow is a massive mystery/ achievement. So thank you!!!


Kathryn x