April Update

I have been useless lately with my blog. Although I haven't been posting I am constantly reading posts on bloglovin' but for some reason have had no motivation to blog anything. I haven't really had anything exciting happen or bought anything that I wish to rave about. Nevertheless I always have time to look back on the month to see what I got up to. 

Actually now looking at it.. I did have some pretty exciting days! 

Highlights include: 

- You Me At Six 
- Camden Night Out
- Met Office!!!!!! (A slight dream come true, now I just need to secure a job there!) 
- Creme Egg Cupcakes
&&& 
- Looking after this cutie! Hugo the pug puppy <3 

I have also been in love with some tunes this month:
Nobody To Love & Take Me Home 

And the film The Other Women (just because I am in love with Nicki Minaj ;) ) 

Hope everyone has had a great month and Easter :) 

Kathryn xx

Creme Egg Cupcakes/Dairy Free Alternative

Happy Good Friday everyone! 

Yesterday I decided to bake some Creme Egg cupcakes. Although the photo does have a creme egg on top, I replaced some with some dairy free buttons to ensure they are fit for all us lactose intolerant people out there :) Photos for them are below. 

You will need:

For the Sponge 

3 Medium sized eggs (mine together weighed 204g)

204g Caster Sugar

204g Pure Margarine (or butter) 

160 grams Self Raising Flour

40 grams Cocoa Powder

50 grams dark chocolate chips

Vanilla Essence

Creme Egg Fondant Filling

170g golden syrup

60g butter (stork in foil block- contains no milk!)

375g Icing Sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

dash of salt

Yellow Food colouring (preferably the gel colouring rather than liquid) 

Butter Cream

This was my plain vanilla recipe which I don't actually measure... So ideally found a basic recipe and replace with STORK again for a dairy free alternative :) (sorryyy) 

Mini creme eggs or dairy free buttons! 

Method

1. Pre heat oven 160C Fan /180C and line a 12 cupcake cases
2. In a bowl mix together the sugar and butter
3. Add vanilla extract and one egg at a time and mix
4.  Slowly sift together the flour and cocoa butter and fold into the mixture
5. Add the chocolate chips
6. BAKE! For around 20-25 mins. If you are unsure you can tap lightly on the sponge and see if its springy or looks 'done', or stick a skewer in the middle. If it comes out clean they are ready :) 

Take out and leave to cool.... 

In the mean time

Fondant Filling!

1. Mix together the butter, syrup and vanilla in a bowl and whisk! I highly suggest an electric mix for this ha
2. Gradually add the icing sugar
3. Take about 1/4 of this and in another bowl mix with some yellow food colouring
4. Add the yellow to the other mixture and use a fork to stir it in, only slightly. 

Once your cakes are cooled, use a cupcake core (or just a knife and cut around) to scoop the centre of the cupcakes

Fill with the fondant!

Use your favourite Butter cream recipe (ideally just some butter and icing sugar, dash of vanilla until it tastes good) and pip a circle ring 

You should ideally have some fondant left, add more yellow to this if needed and use a piping bag to fill the center of the butter cream ring.

Top with a chocolate and voila!! 

Mmmmmm!! Enjoy :) Have a lovely Easter y'all 

Kathryn xx

Easter at Lush!

I love Lush however since going to university I never really have baths to use my favourite products. I needed motivation to run and knew that if I bought some bath bombs they would make me want to exercise and relax afterwards. Off I went into Lush and came out with two of the Easter edition bath products. The first; the Golden Egg and the second; the Fluffy Egg. 

So far I have just used the Golden Egg. 

What they say:

 'A glistening golden bath melt and bath bomb rolled into one. Because of its luxurious bath melt outer layer, when you first drop this into the bath it will sink down, then bob back to the top as the bath bomb centre begins to fizz away, filling your bath water with its sumptuous honey-toffee fragrance.' 

It is sooo glittery! Not so much in the bath (thankgod) but touching it you will find yourself covered in gold glitter! It smells like lovely cocoa butter and toffee, mmm. I placed it into the bath (with jets) and the bomb went crazy, fizzing away and making my bath a scrummy yellow colour (not that appealing at first ha). There isn't loads of glitter like you would imagine but took quite a while to dissolve, which is great!

The bath felt so soothing and the cocoa butter left my skin feeling soft. I wish there was a little more glitter though in the bath and a strong smell.

Over all though, it was a pretty lovely bath bomb. Not sure I would purchase it again though, now just to wait till the Fluffy Egg! :) 

Kathryn x

Dairy Free Brownies!

Yay I've been baking! It's too early to do Easter Cupcakes, plus I forgot to bring all my cupcake goodies back :( boo. I don't know why, I just had a massive craving for some brownies. I haven't ever been a fan of brownies (don't ask why) but I must of smelt or seen some somewhere and it's been in the back of my mind since. 

I used a recipe I found online for dairy free brownies but I only ever use these as a guide. 

What you'll need: 

125g Dairy Free Margarine ( I used Pure) 

100g Dairy Free Chocolate ( or near enough, 70% green and black works well or Dark Divine)

50g Ground Almonds

80g Cocoa

300g Caster Sugar

4 Medium Eggs

Dash of Vanilla Essence 

& any extras you like. I added some broken Almond pieces and some chocolate chunks :) 

Method:

1. Pre heat the oven to 180/160 fan
2. Grease and line a square baking tin.. they say 25cm ( I just used an average baking tray) 
3. In a large glass heat proof bowl, place the chocolate and margarine in and set over a pan of simmering water 
4. Let it melt and stir until glossy and set aside
5. In a bowl mix the cocoa, flour, sugar & almonds then pour in the chocolate mixture- very thick
6. Whisk the eggs in a bowl or cup and add to the bowl, mix until smooth and silky!
7. Add a dash of vanilla essence and any extras i.e. nuts/raisins/chocolate chips!
8. Pour into the tin and cook for 25 mins. It should have a crusty top with a soft bottom. 
9. Allow to cool- it will take a while. Then cut into slices and store :) 

MMMmmm!! So so good :) 

Kathryn xx

Zara/Topshop Haul

Ohhh I really ought to stop spending, but Spring is my favourite time of the year.. clothes wise anyways. These pretty pastels and florals are so pretty, I could have spent a fortune in Zara however my bank account would be is misery. 

Firstly, this beautiful pink leather jacket found here from Zara! I can't wait to wear this, its so pretty. 

The yellow and white tops were also from Zara but I can't find them online. The Yellow stripe is from TRF and has lovely button and bow detail on the back :)

How cute is this blue jumper! I never used to be into jumpers but recently I have bought a fair few.. Here is where you will this one from Topshop, in addition check out this beauty. I love it, its so soft too but not too hot :) 

And finally this floral top ( which I can't find anywhere). It was in the last chance to buy section of Topshop so maybe they have sold out online :) 

Kathryn x

Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara// Review

Oopsie.. Spelling error

 One thing I can not stand is applying mascara to my bottom lashes. I get it everywhere or just on a few lashes and then they all clump together, so once I saw I had enough Boots points I decided to try out this little product by Clinique: Bottom Lash Mascara.

First thoughts, how pretty is the bottle! I never buy from clinique usually and didn't expect such a lovely little floral pattern.. anyways :) 

The brush is tiny ( as shown in the picture ) and the mascara is claimed to be smear resist, which if you are like me you'll understand that throughout the day the defined mascara you achieve at the beginning is a bit of a mess a few hours later! 

Opinions: I really do like this little one! Its small but so easy to use and allows you to pop mascara on every single little bottom lash ( I also use it for the corners or my top lashes). I really hope the bottle lasts me a while and so far I haven't had any problems with it budging either! :)

 Highly recommend! 

(urgh I hate close ups) 

Kathryn x

Benefit Gimme Brows: Medium//Deep

Ekkk! I am so excited over this product ha! I am a big fan of all things brow related, especially as unlike girls who made their brows really thin, I had untameable brows (thanks dad) which just grew within an hour of plucking. 

I have used various brow products including the Brow Zing by Benefit and all kinds of brow pencils. As much as I love Browzing, I always feel it takes a while to get the current definition. 

I was in much debate with the girls at the Benefit counter whether to go for the light shade or the dark shade, in the end I opted for Gimme Brow in Medium//Deep. I am naturally blonde (with highlights) but have dark eyebrows, and seeing as I usually get them tinted I thought I may as well purchase the dark shade to get the extra umpth! 

Review

Usability: At first attempted I got the product everywhere ha and it showed me how many stray hairs I have (urgh). You are supposed to first go the opposite way to the brow so the tiny fibers cling onto the brow hairs. Once done you go in the direction of the brow and straighten it and what not to make them look beautiful. I love the fact that it also has a brilliant staying powder and acts like a gel/wax to keep your brows in place.

Colour: I chose the dark as my brows are dark anyway so it would just fill in the gaps to match. I loveee it, it instantly adds definition and you can layer it to keep filling in those sparse areas. 

 To finish using this product I do place a little bit of browzing, I don't know why but I feel like I can make it a little neater around the edges. I then conceal around the brows to give them even more definition! This has also shown me that I need to neaten my brows a little bit ha.

Overall, a beautiful little product which I feel is worth the money ( £17.50)  and hopefully last a while, although I will probably use this ALOT..! :) 

NARS Crime of Passion Palette

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