Dinner Date OOTD

I spent the other evening out with a friend for a quick dinner date at ASK Italian and had to share with you guys what I wore. I picked up this new jacket from Boohoo the other day as well as some new heels from New Look and felt as though they deserved some serious recognition on their first trip out. 

Jacket - Boohoo (stone colour currently not in stock)

Top - Primark 

Jeans - Miss Selfridge

Shoes - New Look

Bag - Primark

Sunglasses - New Look

Katie xx

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Birchbox April 2015

This months Birchbox celebrates the pending arrival of the new royal baby! The box this month comes in two different colours, either blue or pink, fitting to find out whether the new royal will be a girl or a boy. Whilst this months Birchbox contains some great products I don't think they relate very well to the theme, what do you guys think? There a some major stand out products for me this month as well as some rather disappointing products, so overall this months box is very well rounded.

Birchbox April 2015 (£10 per month plus £2.95 p+p)

Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser (£14)

I'm a big fan of the Liz Earle Hot Cloth Cleanse & Polish and this size is going to be great for travel. I love how thought out this sample is, it even comes with a muslin cloth so you can experience the full benefits of this cleanser. The fact that it also came carefully wrapped in tissue paper makes it feel extra special. This cleanser is suitable for all skin types; containing eucalyptus oil, rosemary, chamomile extracts and cocoa butter, it lifts away dead skin cells and removes all traces of dirt and makeup, leaving your skin clean and radiant. 

Percy & Reed London Smoothed, Sealed & Sensational Volumising No Oil Oil (£14)

This Percy & Reed No Oil Oil has me very intrigued, containing pomegranate seed oil that claims to fight frizz this will leave your hair silky smooth. It also works at nourishing and repairing your hair with vitamin B5, as well as protecting your hair from heat. This hair 'oil' can be just on both wet and dry hair, however personally I think it will be best used on damp hair. 

Lola Barcelona Nail Polish in Rambla (£7.50)

This product disappoints me, whilst I never use nail polish any more so this doesn't appeal to me at all, however I would have preferred a nail polish that was more fitting to the theme, perhaps a baby pink or blue. This Lola Barcelona polish in the shade Rambla has been created exclusively with Birchbox for this month's box. Since the weather has started getting warmer here in the UK it is a great colour for summer weather.

Pommade Divine Nature's Remedy Balm (£19.80)

I have never heard of Pommade Divine or this multi purpose balm before but I'm in love. After having a play around with this product it not only smells divine but seems to work great on the skin. I recently got a burn on my arm and this balm seems to have reduced the redness and dryness already. It rubs easily into the skin and doesn't seem to leave a greasy film which quite a lot of multi purpose balms tend to do. Using 97% natural ingredients this balm contains Shea butter, cinnamon, clove, jojoba oil and nutmeg oil. 

Laura Mercier Kohl Eye Pencil in Black Violet (£17.50)

I did originally request to receive the Laura Mercier Foundation Primer however there seemed to be some sort of mix up with my account and I received the Longwear Creme Eye Pencil in Violet. Am I disappointed to have received this? Yes, I am. I'm not a big fan of coloured eyeliner especially pencil eyeliner as its just not something I tend to reach for when doing my makeup, plus I was desperate to try the Laura Mercier Foundation Primer as it is something I've been lusting over for a long time. However if coloured eyeliner is your thing then this super creamy, pigmented eyeliner will be right up your street. I hope I can find this eye liner a great home. 

Befine Warming Clay Mask (£17)

As a special treat this month Birchbox included six beauty items for every subscriber and this clay mask by Befine is probably one of my favourite items in the box this month. Containing Cardamon, Arnica and Pomegranate this sounds like a mask I can't wait to try. This warming mask claims to break down oil and clogged pores as well as toning the skin and fighting wrinkles. The Arnica within the mask is full of anti-inflammatory properties to soothe the skin. 

What did you think of this months Birchbox?

Katie xx

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Sea Front OOTD

I spent the day talking a walk along the beach with my family today and wanted to share with you what I wore. The past couple of days the weather has been really nice around where I live so it was nice to be able to go out without coat for once, spring is finally upon us.  I've loved spending time with my family the past couple of days and this walk in the sunshine today was really special. Let me know what you guys got up to over the Easter weekend in the comments. 

Sweatshirt - Pull & Bear

Skirt - Miss Selfridge

Shoes - New Look

Sunglasses - Oakley (not exact model but very similar)

Bag - Michael Kors

Katie xx

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Bourjois Rouge Edition Aqua Laque First Impression

Bourjois recently released their new Aqua Laque Liquid Lipsticks (£8.99) that claim to give intense shine and colour, as well as 10 hours of hydration. Overall there are 8 shades in the collection and I picked up the shades Feeling Reddy and Rose on the Rocks. The texture of these liquid lipsticks reminds me of the Revlon Moisture Lip Stain, a very jelly like consistency that can be quite difficult to blend out, making the colour rather streaky. Due to the formula being very watery they aren't very long lasting on the lips as they just don't seem to set, they lasted maybe an hour on my lips before wearing off. I'm  just not sure whether I like these new lip products, whilst the colour pay off is great I'm just not sure the texture is something I personally like, it takes a lot of work to get a nice even colour. 

The packaging itself is wonderful. Sleek and metallic plus you can easily see the colour of the lipstick. The applicator itself is easy to use and gives you a fairly even application however I find the actual product itself feathers a little bit (you can especially see this in the red), even though Bourjois claims that it is a feather resistant product. However it certainly does live up to its shine claim, I'm not usually a fan of shiny lip products (aka lipgloss, matte lipstick is my best friend) but somehow I really like the shine this gives off, it seems different?

Have you tried the new Bourjois Aqua Laque range?

What do you think of them?

Katie xx

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Easter Treats

Happy Easter everyone, today I'm gonna share with you some Easter treat ideas for all of those with a sweet tooth. All these recipes are super easy and didn't take long at all to make. I hope you guys take some inspiration and get baking, Easter is the best time to eat lots of food especially chocolate and lots and lots of sugary stuff. 

These cookies are the cookies from Tanya Burr's book Love, Tanya however I did develop them slightly. Overall you use round 400g of chocolate and I replaced around half of that with smarties to make them more bright and colourful. Can we also just appreciate how massive these cookies are? Each one is almost as big as my head and they sure are scrumy. I'm quite fussy when it comes to cookies as I like them golden on the outside and soft and gooey on the inside and these hit the spot. 

These Rice Krispie nests are perfect as a snack if you have the family round this Easter, whilst these are super quick and easy to make it can get rather messy, be warned!

You will need- 

- 6 cups of Rice Krispies

- Around 285g of marshmallows  

- 3 tablespoons of Butter

-1/2 cup of desiccated coconut

1/4 teaspoon of water

-Green food colouring (around 4 drops)

-Chocolate eggs / mini eggs

Method- 

1. Mix the water and food colouring together in a small bowl then add the coconut and mix together to dye the coconut a green colour. 

2. Melt the butter and the marshmallows in a pan over the cooker, constantly stirring to avoid sticking.

3. Once melted remove from the heat and add in the Rice Krispies, stirring to completely cover them.

4. Spoon the mixture into a greased cupcake tin and leave to cool.

5. Decorate with your coconut and chocolate eggs and enjoy.

I cheated with these nest cupcakes a little bit because I used ready made vanilla cupcake mix however these are probably my favourite out of the treats I made, they taste great. To make these I just used Betty Crocker's vanilla cupcake mix, once baked I melted two bars of chocolate and mixed into two broken shredded wheat. I then just spread equal amount of the mixture over the cupcake to create a nest shape; you then just want to fill the middle with chocolate eggs. The chocolate eggs I used were Tesco's own micro eggs (they had run out of mini eggs, what?!) 

I hope you guys have great Easter and eat lots of chocolate.

If you try out any of the treat ideas tag me on instagram @katielouise13 or tweet me @MissKatieAlden. I want to see your pictures!

Katie xx

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