Sunday 27 April 2014

April Bloglovin'

It's almost time to turn over another page of my One Direction calendar, which not only means I soon get to feast my eyes upon another dose of direction deliciousness, but you get to feast on a focus of those lovely ladies in my sidebar! Make sure to check both Aimee's and Lucy's blog out as they're totally fabulous and don't hesitate to drop a little email to meg@megsboutique.co.uk if you'd like to have your own little place on the Boutique next month :)   

Hi I'm Aimee from Aimee Loves. I started my blog in January this year after realising that i needed to justify my ever growing stash of beauty bits. My main focus is beauty, but i do like to sneak in the occasional baking or lifestyle post. I love having my own space on the web where I can chat about what I love, there is something quite therapeutic about it really. I have loved my blogging journey so far and how its turned out, I hope that you will too!


I'm Lucy, your average beauty and fashion obsessive with an unhealthy addiction to shopping. My slice of the internet will be filled with beauty ramblings and style staples, with some foodie and lifestyle posts for good measure. Blogging is my hobby and I blooming love it, so I hope you enjoy your visit to Dinosaur Dances...

What blogs have you been lovin' this month?

Saturday 26 April 2014

Get Ready With Me: Spring Edition



Happy Weekend lovelies! I've been a little absent on the blog this week due to being on my holidays and having lots of home related fun, so today I'm back with a post and video bumper bonus! I'm so excited to share this video with you as it's my first ever 'Get Ready With Me' which took me a hell of a long time to film and edit (and upload due to my ghastly internet) and it's also centred around my favourite beauty/fashion season of Spring. I'm rocking a few new favourite things in this look which you won't have seen on the blog before- a copper smokey eye, milkmaid braid hair and the BooHoo smock dress. The copper eye look has totally replaced the classic bronzed smokey eye for me at the moment- it compliments a fresh dewy base perfectly, allows me to pile on the peachy lips/cheeks and is also very quick and easy to create using a Rimmel shadow stick base and Naked 2 shades on top. The milkmaid/halo braid is also surprisingly easy to create and has fast become my go to hairstyle of the season. If you're a shorter haired girl that thinks such plaited Princess Leia styles are out of reach then make sure to watch the hair section of this video as the trick is to use four plaits instead of two. Sneaky... Then  finally we have the smock dress. Something my rather big boobies ordinarily stop me from wearing due to triangle body fear, this super pretty nude floral piece from BooHoo is a delight both in the visual and comfort stakes, elevating to 'Spring staple' status toughened up with chelsea boots. If you want to get a better idea of what I'm going on about and find out how to create the full makeup, hair and outfit looks shown above, as well as watch me make breakfast (highly interesting stuff), then pretty please give the video a watch and subscribe to my channel as I have lots more exciting videos planned. Now I should probably leave my bed and get ready for real... 

What look will you be going for this weekend?

Tuesday 22 April 2014

Back to the Island

new look top // primark jeans // boohoo parka* // primark loafers // topshop satchel* // topshop sunglasses* // barry m 'sugar apple' // mac 'morange'

#1 I'm sitting down to write this post after a wonderful Easter weekend back home with the family and the boy. I was actually rather hung over from a night out with the girls on Saturday and Sunday was too gloomy to do much apart from play board games and eat chocolate, but yesterday I managed to make the most of some chilly sunshine and head to the beach. By 'head to the beach' I mean walk down the road to the stoney sea front by my house... even though it might not exactly be postcard picturesque it is the best part about growing up on an Island and I have quite the soft spot for it.

#2 The outfit of choice was a casual jeans & tee combo with yellow satchel, sockless feet and retro sunnies to bring it into Spring. I ended up unintentionally nautical too which does work rather well with the setting, although I can assure you sea breezes are not the best environment for photo taking! There are a lot of items I love in this look, but I'm especially chuffed to have found a parka perfect for facing Spring and Summer in the UK. I also adore the colour of my new Barry M 'sugar apple' gelly paint, but sadly it seems to chip very easily on me- has anyone else found that?

#3 You may have noticed that my hair is creeping down to the mid-length category after taking the blunt bob chop back in January. I'm unsure if I want to get the collar bone grazing action back again or grow it out a bit more right now as I do love being able to do different things with it- this messy top knot with beachy bangs being a prime example. I'm such an impulsive creature when it comes to my barnet though so I'll probably turn up rocking my little pony pastels next week...

#4 I'm writing this post during a work day afternoon because I have a lovely bit of time booked off till next Monday. As much as I utterly adore my job it's so nice to have a bit of a break and Dave's come home for the week too. It feels like we've been long distance for so long now (five year anniversary this year!) because of uni and even though we are closer at the moment as I've moved near to London it's hard only spending every other weekend together, so I have many cheesy coupley things planned for the week. I'll also be working hard on the blog and have my first ever 'Get Ready With Me' video going up tomorrow so keep your eyes peeled that...

How did you spend your bank holiday weekend?

Sunday 20 April 2014

The Mini Egg Mani

(L-R) Pistachio Dragée // Lemon Meringue // Nouvelle Vogue // Peach Negligée

Happy Easter everyone!! Hopefully you've all had a bountiful visit from the Easter Bunny and are now enjoying a delightful mixture of chilling and chocolate. As I'm back home I went to church with Mama Gunn this morning, ate a Papa Gunn roast dinner special and now I'm waiting for the rest of the family arrive for Easter tea. One thing I really love to do on these chilled out special days is paint my nails to match the occasion (such a cool kid) and this Easter my tips of choice are the L'Oréal Color Riche Les Blancs. I've spoken about these a bit already in my March Favourites and actually wore them in my Weekend Wear outfit post so I won't ramble on too much, but basically they are new polishes from L'oreal which set you back just £5 a pop and are, in my opinion, the perfect pastels. This is largely due to the four shades they come in which are gorgeous off white mini egg colours that have the sweetest names like 'lemon meringue', flatter even the palest of skintones and look super cute worn together or alone. By some pastel polish miracle they also go opaque in two coats, are easy to apply, have a nice glossy finish and last a good few days without any wear or tear. I actually can't rave about these little candy coloured beauties enough and they'll give you the ultimate mini egg mani this bank holiday and beyond. Now pass the edible mini eggs please ...

What are your Easter tips of choice?

Saturday 19 April 2014

MAC Most Wanted Mini Haul


Morange lipstick £15 // 217 blending brush £18 // MAC instore & online

If you're anything like me then you'll have an endless list stashed somewhere of all the MAC products you've been lusting after ever since you first got in to makeup- not to mention those sublists of eyeshadow and lipstick shades... Sadly, as much as I clearly go manic for MAC, the price points and accessibility can make actually buying it hard to justify, but when browsing the MAC Pro Store in Carnaby the other week with a cheeky discount card in hand it seemed time to make two purchases that have been my MAC most wanted since I started blogging- morange and the 217. Both very hyped, cliche and expensive products, but oh my word am I happy I took the plunge! Morange is everything  I wanted it to be- a vibrant but wearable orange that is both creamy and super pigmented on lips thanks to it's amplified finish. It wears well, instantly finishes/perks up any makeup look and smells like vanilla- I also managed to apply it in a club with no mirror last night. Needless to say it'll be hard to keep that one off my lips over the summer months. Now onto the 217 Blending Brush. My first thought was 'Meg has come a long way since applying 17 eyeshadow trios with a foam stick'... this is just the most incredible grown up eye brush that packs on shadow with ease and serious pigmentation, it works all over the lid as well as in the crease/lower lash line and blending is now the stuff of dreams. It's also lovely and soft and looks delightful in my collection (the really important part). Now excuse me while I go and give that list two big satisfying ticks...

What are your MAC most wanted?

Wednesday 16 April 2014

The Westfield Video Shoot

my outfit: topshop hat, sunglasses, skort & bag // river island top // kurt geiger shoes
becca's outfit: topshop skirt & bag // kurt geiger shoes

Last week I had the most amazing experience of my blogging life to date- taking part in a video shoot at Westfield London where I got given money to spend on a 'colour block' trend outfit...so basically I got told to go shopping and was filmed as I did it, and if that wasn't enough Becca Rose was there too! Talk about living the dream! Seeing as it was a rather incredible day and revolved around hauls/outfits I thought I'd vlog it, so if you want to see the whole day from start to finish and get the full low down on mine and Becca's final outfits make sure to give that a watch and subscribe if you enjoy. We got inspiration for our outfits using the new #editme feature on the Westfield website so make sure to check that out too. I better be off now though as I need to pack for my Easter holiday where I'm going back home to eat malteaser bunnies and mini eggs for a whole week! lovely jubbly.


Monday 14 April 2014

GIVEAWAY | £100 Topshop Voucher & Moto G Smartphone


I've wanted to do a nice big giveaway to thank you all for reading my ramblings for a long time now, so I was very excited when Motorola said I could not only treat one of you lovely lot to their latest smartphone- the Moto G- but also a £100 Topshop voucher! The Moto G is Motorola’s best-selling smartphone with an accessible price point that has enabled Motorola to connect more and more people around the world. It's perfect for us bloggers because it's super speedy on the internet and seriously stylish too. You'll even get an extra coloured shell so you can match your phone to the outfit you buy in Topshop! So if you fancy a bit of a technology and wardrobe update don't hesitate to enter via the quick and easy rafflecopter form below (Make sure to at least follow my blog and twitter- where I'll be announcing the winner- and leave a comment!). Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Saturday 12 April 2014

black, white & blue | OOTD

primark pinafore / new look top / topshop hat* / topshop socks / boohoo boots* / michael kors watch  / a&m midi ring* / barry m 'greenberry' gelly paint / no.7 'gay geranium'

This Spring I've really been enjoying taking a seasonal twist on classic monochrome by adding blue denim into the mix. I think it freshens things up a bit and creates a more relaxed look with some subtle colour. This black, white and blue look was created with a few of my go to wardrobe newbies like the bargain £5 (That's right, £5!) Primark pinafore- this makes me feel like a proper 90's kid and is such a fun item to style with different tops underneath like my New Look striped staple. Even though this can be a super casual look, I thought I'd dress things up a bit with my BooHoo chelsea boots, bright lips/nails and Topshop floppy hat which makes me feel like I'm from Made in Chelsea (always the dream). The hat is actually one of the items I bought during my video shoot shopping challenge at Westfield London on Wednesday which was so amazing, but they'll be lots more about all that in my vlog and photos of the day coming very soon. With the shoot last week and a big birthday night out in London for one of my uni besties last night I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying a chilled night in with Britain's Got Talent and plenty of tea right now... I'm also planning a big giveaway that's launching on my blog tomorrow so stay tuned for that!

Are you a fan of the black, white & blue?

Thursday 10 April 2014

The New Base | Benefit's Big Easy

Big Easy Complexion Perfector // Benefit Cosmetics // £27.50

When I first heard about the new matte 'bigger than BB' base in the office I've got to admit I didn't think I was going to be a fan. Having strived to create the perfect dewy base since I started wearing foundation and never really finding a BB cream I liked due to the low coverage, all the odds seemed stacked against poor Big Easy. Until I got my mitts on it and fell in love at first buff that is! Because in actual fact Big Easy is a multi balancing complexion perfector that can be built up/down to achieve a good low or medium coverage and a beautiful skin like finish which lets you skip the powder and allows your natural glow comes through. I use shade 2 light or 3 light/medium depending how fake tanned I am and the colours adapt so well to my skin tone, making it incredibly easy (pardon the pun) to colour match yourself to one of the six shades. After applying this a variety of ways I've found it works best blended into the skin with the Real Techniques buffing brush- it's a super speedy way of getting your base on that doesn't leave a foundation film on top of the skin, making it a go to combo for those 'up and dash' type mornings. aka almost every morning. I've also found this wears really well throughout the day, still covering my multitude of skin sins by the time I get home with minimal top ups and zero setting powder thanks to it's liquid to powder formula which keeps oil at bay. The only thing I would say is to prep the skin with a good hydrating moisturiser first because the matte nature of this product may cling a little to any dry patches you may have. At £27.50 this obviously isn't the cheapest base out there, but I'd say it is the first product of it's kind and has the added benefits (again please pardon the pun) of SPF35, cute packaging and non-comedogenic ingredients. All in all I'm head over heels for this new offering from my beloved Benefit and it may well become a holy grail once the shine inducing sun hits...goodbye summer skin dilemmas! 

Have you fallen for big easy?

Tuesday 8 April 2014

The Spring Edit | Life & Style



It's time for another instalment of all things Spring in the form of mine and Aaman's Spring Edit part two. In this video we discuss our favourite fashion, lifestyle and food of the season, with plenty of giggles and mini egg mishaps to boot! Make sure you watch and subscribe to get more info :) It's just a little post from me tonight because I've got a big blog/youtube project in London all day tomorrow which I need to pamper, preen and charge all manner of social sharing devices for. I won't reveal what I'm up to just yet, but I will be vlogging and blogging the day as well as keeping you updated on my Instagram and Twitter so stay tuned!

What are your Spring life & style picks?
  
Sunday 6 April 2014

L'amôre | Weekend Wear

 h&m sweater / new look shorts / new look belt / boohoo parka* / boohoo boots* / topshop socks / michael kors watch / a&m midi ring* / no.7 gay geranium / l'oreal les blancs / jasper conran bag* 

Now I'm a full time working gal, I don't have as much time as I'd like for outfit post photo taking. So when I came back home last weekend I made sure to don some of my new favourite pieces and head out with my Grandad for some serious snapping! To be honest I don't dress all that differently for work as I do the weekends, but to me a slouchy slogan sweater and mom shorts are the epitomy of weekend wear. This cute l'amôre slogan sweater was something I picked up from h&m for only £10 recently thanks to a snazzy discount card and I think it's a great dupe for the considerably more pricey Whistles offerings. It's so easy to wear as well and looks super cute dressed up with a pleather skort or down with these denim shorts. I've been on the hunt for some, shall we say, greater coverage shorts since I left uni and my teeny weeny levis just didn't seem acceptable anymore. So I found these for just £20 in New Look and I really like them. The distressed denim and mom fit makes them  bang on trend and you can style them in so many different ways for Spring (and my bum is actually covered...). The finishing touches of this outfit come in the form of two new BooHoo beauties- the parka and boots and I can't tell you how in love I am with both these items already! The Tia chunky cleated chelsea boots are the boots I've always been searching for- chunky but still girly, high but still comfy- they are perfection and I've hardly taken them off my feet since opening the box. The Juna parka jacket is another thing I know I'll wear to death because I adore green parkas and this has a really wearable lightweight feel for Spring and cute details like pleather piping and coral lining which make it a bit different. As with all things BooHoo they're really affordable too- as if you need any more excuses...

This weekend I've spent much needed time with the boy watching I Can't Sing the musical, pigging out on pancakes and pizza and making a few naughty makeup purchases (whoops). Both the makeup purchases and an exciting blog project I'm involved in will be revealed this week so stay tuned!

What will you be wearing this weekend?

Thursday 3 April 2014

The Topshop 3 for £3


nails in 'suffuse' / eye crayon in 'rust' / gloss in 'glowing' 

We all love a Boots three for two, so imagine how happy I was when I picked up a Topshop 3 for £3 at their make up section a few weeks ago! That's right, each of these delightful items were reduced to just a pound so naturally I couldn't resist grabbing them and giving you a little low down today...All my experiences with Topshop makeup so far have been extremely positive with the 'head over heels' cream blush, 'crescent moon' highlighter and 'whimsical' lipstick making it into the daily face line up. So I'm happy to report that despite the randomly plunging price point these little gems are living up to the high expectations left by their prettily packaged predecessors. First up we have the nail polish in 'suffuse', a pretty bronze colour on just the right side of shimmer that goes opaque in two coats and lasts a good few days without chipping. It's a great everyday shade for the nails because it goes with every lip colour (does anyone else seriously over think potential lip/nail clash disasters?). Continuing with the bronzey theme, next in line is the Eye Crayon in 'Rust'. This is the kind of product I pick up when perusing and then put down again thinking I won't get use out of it, but lately it's been nice to switch things up in the shadow department by using this to create a simple rich russet line or smudged out 'bronzed goddess' statement look. Kim K eat your heart out. Last but not least I just couldn't leave the cute Gloss in 'Glowing' alone as I do have a bit of an obsession for all things neon/orange/coral, particularly at this time of year. It's a pretty pigmented, not too sticky offering which adds a nice pop of coral colour to the complexion and just imagined it paired with mac 'morange' in the summer. Oh my...

What is your best Topshop makeup pick?
Wednesday 2 April 2014

March Favourites



As I write this I just can't believe how light it is outside! The longer days are making me super happy to be in April right now, but before I give April too much lovin' it's time to give the products I adored in March a bit of spotlight. I actually have a selection of both mine and the lovely Aaman's favourites in the photo as we filmed a video together talking all about them on her channel, Girl on Beauty, last week. But I thought I'd go through the highlights of mine today for all you gals that prefer a bit of a read...The absolute stand out of March beauty was the 17 Skin Wow 3 Way Highlighter which I picked up on a whim after hearing a few good things about it and I've got to say it certainly deserves a 'Wow' status- you can use it beneath, mixed with or over foundation and all for only £5.99. I'm using it as my daily primer right now as it illuminates my skin beautifully and seems to mask imperfections so I use less make up on top! Another thing that blew me away last month is the Charles Worthington Volume and Bounce Texturising Spray which is a fantastic dupe for the much hyped and over priced Oribe Dry Texturising Spray. For £30 less this gives you beachy texture and a tonne of volume without that horrible sea salt feeling. A new discovery which previewed in my Spring Edit are the recently launched L'oreal Colour Riche Les Blancs which are the prettiest, most opaque, long lasting pastel polishes I've tried to date (They also have names like 'lemon meringue'. Enough said.) A few less exciting but highly effective bits to finish are the John Freida Sheer Blonde Conditioning Treatment which keeps my blonde ends super soft and ashy, the Vichy Waterproof Eye Makeup Remover which actually removes my stubborn mascara without taking my lashes with it and the Nuxe Reve De Miel (sadly left out of the photo) which is a real treat for my lips given that they are more used to being smothered in an grubby pot of Vaseline! Talk about pushing the lip balm boat out...Oh and a quick shoutout to my beloved old favourite, Benefit Brow Zings. Thank you for keeping my brows more big and bold than bushy. 

What were you loving in March?   
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