How I Style: Converse Hi Tops

Hi Top Converse are notoriously hard to style, unless you're Tumblr famous and wearing a crisp white pair alongside some Levi cut-offs and a figure hugging crop top. 

For Christmas I received this bright red pair, and it may have taken me a few months, but I've finally figured out all the funkiest ways in which to wear them. When I first unwrapped these bad boys, my inner extrovert who likes to sport holographic flatforms and flamboyant t-shirts was exhilarated by the challenge of working a shoe that's so easy to get wrong. My inner sensible fashionista, however, was not so thrilled at the fact I may unwittingly end up looking like Kristen Stewart on a bad day.

Birthday Haul

On Saturday, I celebrated my 19th birthday; it was probably my most enjoyable birthday to date and I spent way too much time eating cake, leaving no time for me to photograph the celebrations. So, instead of a post all about how I spent my birthday, I decided to share with you some of the things I was lucky enough to receive. I was delighted to find I'd been gifted a couple of things from my birthday wishlist, as well as some lovely, thoughtful surprises. 

InstaDiary: Week 19

Mini Victoria Sponges | Newly purchased rings from H&M | Easter treat from work | The sunset over The Downs | THAT'S ME | Wine and InStyle on a sunny afternoon | The only thing I ever eat for lunch; scrambled eggs on toast | Burger burger | Birthday treats from Eloise. 

KJ xo

How To: Quick and Easy Up-Do

In a few weeks, me and a friend are heading up to Oxford for a few nights to visit a friends who are studying there. Whilst we are there we're going to be attending two formal dinners, which means pretty dresses and fancy food all round! I have been put in charge of styling everyone's hair for the dinners, so I decided it was time to start practising my up-do's. 

Recipe: No Bake Cookies

Lately I've found myself wanting to bake all. the. time.

 There's something about the sun coming out that makes me want to whip up cupcakes and cookies and pavlovas and pies! 

Today, I decided to try out a new recipe; the "No Bake Cookies". Peanut butter and chocolate is one of my all time favourite flavour combinations, and so I was drawn in by the beautiful idea of a quick and easy recipe that results in a whole batch of peanut butter and chocolate flavoured cookies. (Also, oats being the main ingredient means they're a tad healthier than regular cookies, rejoice!)

The process of making the cookies only takes about ten minutes, although they do have to be left in the fridge to cool which can take up to two and a half hours. They're a great option if you need a sugar hit fast, or if you're not quite up to Great British Bake Off standards!

Lovin' Burgers

 Last night, me and my friends decided to dine at a new spot in town; The Love Inn. By day it's a trendy little bar that serves an array of brunch dishes and by night it's a minuscule club that all the hipsters flock to, in order to dance the night away to "fresh beats". By evening, however, it serves a select few burgers and pizzas (and they may just be the best damn burgers I've ever had!). 

They menu is not hugely extensive, with just seven burgers, five pizzas and two desserts on offer. Nevertheless, the flavour combinations available are quite original and a refreshing change from the usual hamburger/chicken burger/veggie burger. It was a tough choice between The Cheeseburger Deluxe, The Bacon Swiss and The Chicken Caesar, made only tougher when I realised there was a Rosemary Chicken and a Spinach and Ricotta pizza on the other side of the menu.
After placing our orders, I was reassured that it would be acceptable to snap a few photos because it's an "arty place" where "people do that sort of thing", so off I went...

The Prom Edit

I love prom. In fact, I love the run up to prom more than prom itself. There's nothing quite like the rush of trying on hundreds of dresses before the feeling of infatuation when you find the perfect one; choosing the perfect heels and accessories, deciding how to wear your hair and make-up and spending way too much money are all part of becoming a woman and ensuring the perfect prom experience. 

Of course, I don't have a prom to go to this year but I couldn't resist putting together a few looks that I would have considered rocking if I did have one to attend.

To me, a classic prom dress is either a floaty maxi or a short poofy number. Zara has some beautiful maxis at the moment; this blue one can be dressed up for prom and then worn with flats on a Summer's evening, because let's be honest if you can get more than one wear out of your prom dress then everyone's winning. This tfnc London dress is pretty swanky and fit for a masked ball; paired with black and gold accessories it would be a perfectly elegant number for prom.

100 Followers Giveaway

When I reached 100 followers, I decided to celebrate by hosting my first giveaway. I pondered what to have as a prize, and eventually came to the conclusion that a handful of Barry M nail varnishes would do nicely seeing as we all have a communal love for them. 

InstaDiary: Week 18

OOTD: Vintage shirt and Topshop jeans // Fishtail braiding // OOTD: Vintage jumper and jeans // A big ball of Reese's heaven // Leo // Thai food with the girls // Dress shopping for my trip to Oxford // Amazing heels that I don't need // OOTD: SheInside coat and t-shirt, Topshop skirt.

KJ xo

Perfect Pastels

'Tis the season for pastels and ice cream and all things light and fluffy.

As Spring is slowly approaching, I've decided it's time to stop wearing leggings and oversized jumpers and start looking a little more ladylike. To inspire me, I put together this little mood board of pastel pieces that would be perfect for the upcoming season.

 Jelly shoes are making a bigger comeback than Britney and are definitely this season's number one must have; these coral ones are perfect for the warmer weather! This Zara coat is perfectly chic and makes me want to roam the streets of Paris or take a stroll through Central Park, although I supposed I'd settle for just wearing it to the pub. Coloured denim is great for Spring, and these Topshop shorts are a great alternative to a pear of Levi's for a slightly sweeter look. Of course, no outfit would be complete with a slick of red lipstick so I've included a Barry M Lip Lacquer in the shade "Mandarin" to spice things up a bit. 

1. Jacquard Top - Zara, £25.99 // 2. MOTO Mom Shorts - Topshop, £30 // 3. Patent Block Heel - New Look, £19.99 // 4. Barry M Nail Paint in "Strawberry Ice Cream" - Barry M, £2.99 // 5. Barry M Lip Lacquer Crayon in "Mandarin" - Barry M, £4.99 // 6. Seamed Textured Tunic - Topshop, £46 // 7. Coral Jelly Sandals - New Look, £9.99 // 8. Barry M Nail Paint in "Peach Melba" - Barry M, £2.99 // 8. Structured Coat - Zara, £89.99 // 10. Turnlock Satchel - Topshop, £28.

Just a reminder that as of tomorrow afternoon, I will be changing my URL to "www.agirlbloggingabout.blogspot.com", but it'll still just be little old me writing all the same posts!

KJ xo

SheInside Haul // My SheInside Experience

About two and a half weeks ago, I made my first SheInside purchases. I was pretty nervous about ordering from them as I had read a lot of negative reviews citing poor quality products, orders not arriving and their customer service team being unresponsive. However, seeing as I managed to pick up a t-shirt, dress and coat for around £40 I decided to risk it. I'll leave a full review of my experience with SheInside at the end of this post, for those of you who are considering ordering from them. 

The first thing I added to my cart was this (fake, obviously) Acne Studios t-shirt. I'm a bit snobby when it comes to fake designer shoes or watches, but one teensy tiny fake t-shirt is acceptable, isn't it? Apart from being terribly creased when it arrived, the quality of this t-shirt isn't too shabby. The cotton is quite thin, and not the soft sort that you get with Topshop or H&M t-shirts, but the sizing is nice and the stitching looks fine. 

100 Followers/URL Change

First of all I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has followed me as I've just passed 100 followers on Bloglovin, which may not seem like a huge milestone to some, but for me it's extremely exciting! When I set up my blog I couldn't imagine how I'd even gain 10 readers and now there's 100 of you, which is crazy to me and also makes me excited for expanding my blog further and hopefully reaching more milestones in the future. I'd particularly like to say thank you to Jes from NaturallyJes for always leaving lovely comments and feedback on my posts!

I decided that when I reached 100 followers I would do some sort of giveaway, so I'll be going ahead with that sometime next week; make sure to keep your eyes peeled! 

When I started my blog I chose the URL www.kathjam.blogspot.com as I've spent my whole life watching people struggle to spell my full name, and wanted my URL to be easy to remember and spell. However, lately I've found myself wanting to change it as I don't think "kathjam" is as catchy or memorable as I would like. Seeing as the tagline for my blog is "A girl blogging about a little bit of everything", I'm hoping to change my URL to www.agirlbloggingabout.blogspot.com . I'll hopefully be doing this next week as well, it's just a bit more of a complicated process than I thought, and I want to ensure that the URL really fits my blog as I don't want to have to change it again (hopefully it will still be available when I come to change it!).

So, thank you for following and all your lovely comments; I will keep you updated as to when I'm doing the giveaway and when/what I am chaging my URL to!

KJ xo

Umberto Giannini Painted Lady Talons - Nail Wrap Review

I have been wanting to test out a set of nail wraps for ages now; there's something very appealing about being able to just stick a pattern on your nail with the promise of it lasting for a whole week, especially when you're as lazy as me. However they can be pretty pricey and I wasn't ready to drop £10 on a product that may or may not work for me. Whilst making an enthralling purchase of sixty hair grips in Boots the other day, I saw these Umberto Giannini nail wraps in the clearance bin for just £2 and I couldn't resist giving them a go.

 Umberto Giannini Painted Lady Talons in "Green Python" - Boots, £5.00