DIY Pumpkin Spice Latte

Everyone and their dog loves Starbucks' Pumpkin Spiced Latte but at nearly £4 a pop this autumn favourite can get a bit expensive, so why not make your own from home? DIY things never work out for me, ever. They never look or taste the same but this recipe is so easy that it tastes exactly like Starbucks'. I even topped my latte off with a slice of Pumpkin Pie. 

For the Pumpkin Spiced Latte you will need: 

- 1 cup of milk (you can use almond milk / soya milk if preferred)

- 1 tbsp of canned pumpkin ( I picked mine up from Waitrose, however I'm pretty sure most large supermarkets stock it. Hint its with the tinned fruit!)

- 1 tbsp of sugar

- 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon

- 1/4 tsp of ground cloves

- 1/4 tsp of ground nutmeg

- Around 1/2 cup of coffee (this can vary depending on how strong you like your coffee)

In a saucepan over a low heat you want to begin warming all the ingredients except the coffee, mixing them together until they are completely dissolved and warm in temperature. Simply then add the mixture to your hot coffee, give it a quick stir and top off with whipped cream if desired! 

It's such a simple recipe that takes not even five minutes. Personally I think it tastes as good if not better than the real thing by Starbucks.

How much do you love the Starbucks Pumpkin Spiced Latte? 

Any other  DIY Starbucks recipes I should try?

Katie xx

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Birchbox September 2015

If you didn't already know Birchbox are celebrating there 5th birthday this month! To celebrate Birchbox allowed subscribers to choose their design out of two rather fitting designs; both inspired by subscribers designs. Since Birchbox started up in the US this month focuses on fabulous products from across the pond. 

Birchbox made sure your all sorted this month with products catering from head to toe, plus they included an extra little treat in the box, a Birchbox own brush. This month's box is definitely going to be a hard one to beat, it features such a great line up of products.

John Masters Organic Citrus Neroli Detangler - Knots and tangles is something that I never grew out of, my hair is a constant knotty mess. This detangler by John Masters contains both coconut oil and wheat amino acids that help smooth and nourish the hair; plus neroli and grapefruit help condition and smooth the scalp.

Laura Mercier Facial Polish - Who doesn't want to receive a Laura Mercier product? This facial polish with micro beads sloughs away dead skin cells to leave your skin smooth and radiant. This scrub has a gorgeous peachy scent to it that leaves the skin feeling fresh and revitalised. 

Beauty Protector Beauty Wash - I already own several hair care products from Beauty Protector that I received in previous Birchboxes, however I didn't realise they did body care as well as hair care. Beauty Protector are well  know for their gorgeous smelling products and this body wash is no exception, now I'm rubbish at describing scents so I'm not even going to attempt to explain what it smells like but just trust me it smells heavenly, okay?

Laqa & Co Cheeky Lip Pencil in Cray Cray - This bright Lip Crayon from Laqa & Co is certainly something I'll be saving for next summer as the bright coral colour is something not really suited for the autumn months ahead. This non-drying lip crayon is super creamy and pigmented, however the staying power isn't that great because of how creamy it is. 

Benefit Porefessional License To Blot - I'm already a big fan of the Porefessional Primer so can't wait to give this blotting stick a try. I'm a sucker for cute packaging so this won me over straight away. The blotting stick claims to instantly mattify shiny, oily skin and keep it that way for up to 6 hours. I don't suffer from oily skin but my nose does get a bit shiny from time to time so this will be perfect to pop into my handbag for oily emergencies. 

Birchbox Birchbrush - The added extra in this month's box is the Birchbrush; Birchbox's own answer to the tangle teezer! This compact brush comes in three different colours and brushes your hair with snagging your hair. 

What did you think of this months box? 

Katie xx

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Sephora Give Me Some Lip Set

If you saw my last post about picking up Becca Champagne Pop from Sephora, you would know that of course I couldn't get just that from Sephora now could I? So of course I had to pick up something else. It quite a well know thing that I love lipstick so being able to get all different types of lipstick in one is of course a winner in my book and this Give Me Some Lip contains 6 different types of lip products, including a full sized Tarte lipstick. Usually in sets like this I find there a few stand out products and a few that aren't so good, however I honestly love all six products. Each are such universal beautiful colours. 

Left to right:

- Make Up Forever Pexi Gloss in 202 

- Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in Lolita

- Fresh Sugar Rose Tinted Lip Treatment

- Marc Jacobs Le Marc Creme in Je T'aime

- Tarte Amazonian Butter Lipstick in Coral Blossom

- Sephora Rouge Infusion in Peony

Katie xx

P.S This item is currently out of stock but I still want to show you it in case it comes back in stock or you wanted to purchase a full size. 

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Birchbox Selfridges Box

To celebrate Birchbox turning 5 this month, they have opened up a pop up shop inside Selfridges London exclusively for the month of September. Of course when I was in London a week or so ago I just had to pay a visit and check it out. For just £15 you can build your own Birchbox, you select six products to go into your box. What isn't so clear is that you select a product from each category and two products from the make up category. This didn't really bother me but I did see some people getting quite upset by this.

From the make up category I picked up Benefit Professional & Wild About Beauty Nutrilips Gloss in Astrid (this wasn't what I originally wanted but they were sold out of the Stila Convertible Colour, boo!)

From skincare I chose the Embryolisse Lait Creme Concentre, I've been wanting to try this for ages so why not?

From haircare I struggled a bit as I either already own it or wouldn't use it so in the end I went for the Beauty Protector Protect & Oil as I already own two little bottles of this but do love it! So I thought I may as well stock up. 

In the body care section I went for the Rituals Foaming Shower Gel in Yogi Flow as foaming shower gel just seems like an awesome product to me (seriously... it's the little things in life that excite me!) and I couldn't resist the gorgeous scent of Indian Rose and Sweet Almond Oil.

And lastly from the lifestyle section I chose the Regenerate Advanced Toothpaste, I've been a bit obsessed with whitening my teeth at the moment and have wanted to try this toothpaste for a while but at £10 a tube I can't seem to justify it, so I can't wait to see if its worth it.

As a newsletter subscriber I was able to pick these two bonus items in my box, make sure you check your emails if you plan on going to Selfridges to get your own box. Who doesn't love a freebie?!?

Will you be building your own Birchbox at the pop up shop?

Hurry you only have till the end of September!

Katie xx

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DIY Sunglass Storage

I don't know about you, but I never quite know how to store my sunglasses. I don't want to have all of my sunglasses lying around but putting them away in a draw seems like a scratch or break waiting to happen. I took inspiration from a picture on pintrest with this simple, cute way to store your sunglasses. 

This DIY is super simple and only requires a couple of things. All you need is a frame of your choice; I went for an A3 sized frame which holds 6 pairs of sunglasses, some chicken wire and some screw eyes. 

You want to start off by taking the glass etc out the middle of the frame, leaving just the wooden outside. After this I poistioned my sunglasses to see where abouts I wanted to place my wire and I just used a pencil to mark a dot on the back of the wood. Attach your screw eyes to the wood where you put your pencil dot and wrap some of the chicken wire around one end. Pulling the chicken wire as tight as you can, wrap the other end around the opposite screw eye before repeating again for the bottom layer. 

Finally either hang your frame up or place on the top of a table/draws, hang up your sunglasses and your done. 

This DIY is a great way to display all your sunglasses, as well as being easy and convenient way to grab a pair of sunnies on the go.

What do you think of this DIY?

Tweet me some picture of your sunglasses storage?

Katie xx

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Barcelona July 2015

I apologise in advance for the amount of photos there is in this post, I took so many pictures it was so hard to cut them down. This is probably about 1/6 of what I took. 

I was lucky enough to spend a long weekend in Barcelona with my parents at beginning of July and of course had to share the photos with you guys. It was super hot out there so we just had a chilled time, visiting the must see sites. 

We stayed at the beautiful Hotel Cram (I definitely recommend it, a great location and a beautiful hotel). We spent the first day chilling up on the hotel roof top (it has an amazing roof top bar and pool  FYI) before venturing out in the evening for some food and a walkabout. The next day we visited La Sagrada Familia followed by the Casa Batllo and dinner in the evening. The last day we spent wondering around Gaudi park before flying home. 

Enjoy the pictures, I highly recommend Barcelona, it's such a lovely city. 

Katie xx

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