July Favourites

Welcome to the last day of July folks! It's been quite a crazy life changing few weeks for me (August now looks beyond exciting) and this month's favourites have all been life savers in getting me to look half decent whilst running around like a headless and very hot chicken...

My ultimate time savers have definitely been the Urban Decay Naked Flushed Palette in 'Streak' and Seche Vite Fast Dry Topcoat. The palette has been shaving several minutes off my morning make up routine as I can do bronzer, blush and highlighter with one brush and one product and the effect is seriously stunning too. Bravo to Urban Decay for picking such perfect shades and also making beauty packing less hassle! The topcoat may not look as pretty but it's just as fabulous at speeding up the pampering process, drying tacky polishes in seconds and making even the cheapest varnish and shoddiest paint job look gelled to perfection. 

The delightful duo of sunshine and stress decided to wreak havoc with my complexion this month (how kind of it), causing me to reach for some serious de-slickers and blemish pickers I usually neglect. I really shouldn't neglect the Una Brennan Deep Clean Pore Purifying Clay Mask however, because it detoxes congested skin in no time at all, visibly drawing out all those nasty impurities from pesky pores and keeping breakouts under control. In the daytime I've been covering the mayhem with Benefit Big Easy, which is genuinely summer base perfection. The cream to powder formula blends effortlessly into the skin with  a great coverage and natural matte finish that helps to keep shine at bay without the cake.

On the brighter end of the spectrum we have the Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet in 'Ole Flamingo'. Already an all time favourite lip product, this is flawless- it lasts ALL day long, never transfers, fades evenly and looks absolutely fabulous with it's matte finish and hot pink shade. Long live the liquid lipstick! Another colourful item and my last favourite of the day are PopBands. I randomly picked up a packet of these in Topshop recently and will never look back. They are super cute as hair or arm candy and somehow don't leave kinks in your barnett so you can throw it into a top knot at will without fearing the kinky repercussions. There's something a little '50 shades' about that...

What have you been loving this month?

Cute & Casual Get Ready With Me

Holaaa ladies! Hope your week is going well. If you fancy a little outfit/beauty inspiration for the next few days you may want to check out my latest 'Get Ready With Me' video. It's a cute, casual one perfect for summery workdays and weekends and there's a surprise appearance from a little furry friend who may or may not give me a bop on the nose... I've had some really lovely blog/vlog feedback lately and a wonderful subscriber called Amy even came to visit me in the Gabbi's Head on Sunday (pinch me moment), so I'm going to work even harder to get lots more content out there for you lovely folk who read and watch it! I also hit a very exciting 10K followers on Instagram a couple of days ago so if you want a daily stream of Meg's Boutique head on over and say hello :) It seems like everything is just really rather exciting at the moment and me and Dave are booking a last minute holiday this weekend too which I'm using as a great excuse to book a Brazilian blow dry and stock up on all things summer. Oh, and the Great British Bake Off is back tomorrow. Now that's something to get giddy about.

Have a fabulous night & let me know videos/posts you want to see next!

  

New Things #1 | The Topshop Trio

A late night post from me today (I've just got back from being all egg and spooned out at the Benewealth Games!) to show you a few new things I've acquired lately. As much as I love big make up/fashion hauls, I also think it's nice to show those random bits and bobs you pick up along the way and I managed to pick up three random purchases on my way to the till at Oxford Circus Topshop last week. That place is lethal... Seeing as my Cath Kidston phone case had got rather worse for wear, I knew this super summery watermelon wonder had to come home with me. It's really good quality, was only £8, reminds me of Dirty Dancing and may even encourage healthy eating. Winning! Another summer inspired purchase was the Models Own polish from their 'for tans' collection in the shade 'bikini'. I'd wanted a proper party neon for ages and this certainly doesn't disappoint as it's easily the brightest beauty product I own, has a great formula and looks simply fabulous against tanned talons and tootsies. The new addition I was most chuffed to get hold of has to be the colourful hair/arm candy, popbands. I've been despairing over the havoc bobbles wreak in my already unruly hair and these have completely solved my issues because they don't leave kinks- I can tie my hair right up and still wear it down afterwards without attacking it with ghd's first! They also look super cute both in the hair and on the wrists. God bless Topshop for stocking so many random things.  

What new things have you picked up lately?

OOTD | Sports Luxe

New Look Tee // Zara Skort // Nike Free Runs // Michael Kors Watch // Models Own 'Bikini'

I thought I'd do something a bit different tonight with a literal 'outfit of the day'. When you live in a first floor flat and work full time it's hard to find the time/location for proper outfit shoots, let alone a makeshift photographer so I think I'm going to do more 'in the moment selfie snapping' which will give you nice little snippets of what I wear day to day. Work's pretty flexible on dress code so I quite like to mix things up a bit and today I went for a look I've never even thought about before, the sports luxe, aka sports day chic! Now I have a gorgeous pair of Nike Free Runs courtesy of SportsShoes (probably the first pair of trainers I've ever worn outside of a gym) I get to do the whole comfy and on trend thing and because they're monochrome they look quite smart still too. I kept the actual outfit short but slouchy with my Zara leather skort -potentially my favourite item of clothing ever- and a new neon yellow boyfriend tee to make things a little more colourful. This was actually a perfect match for my Models Own 'bikini' nails, so I was certainly safe crossing the road... Add a high pony quiff and some rose gold bling and you've got a sporty chic look not half bad for a girl who runs the other way when a ball comes towards her. Don't judge. 

Do you like this style of outfit post?

Naked Love | Urban Decay Haul

If emojis could be used in blog posts I would be cracking out anything with a love heart in it like no tomorrow right now because this haul is plain DREAMY. Those gorgeous people at Urban Decay very kindly sent me my very own wishlist of products and it's fair to say it was pure naked love at first unboxing (you can actually watch that happen in my weekend vlog). As I've been road testing everything for a couple of weeks now today I wanted to give you my thoughts and let you know what's worthy of adding to the lust list...

The absolute stand out of the beautiful bunch has to be the Naked Flushed Compact in 'Streak'. I'd eyed up the original for quite some time but as soon as this more summery version was released I knew it had to be mine. The bronzer is a perfect wearable shade ideal for contouring, the blush is a perfect peach which looks gorgeous with a tan and the highlighter gives just a perfect amount of glow. All in all this perfect all in one gives you seriously sexy sculpted features and saves you time in the morning too! I've got to say I was almost worried about owning the Naked 3 Palette, as I've used my Naked 2 to literal eyeshadow death and wasn't sure how this would compare. I needn't have worried though because not only does it race past my 2 in the appearance stakes, but the rose gold shades are divine and super pigmented so you can create some ever so pretty eye looks.  No doubt this will be battered and well loved in a few months too... The Primer Potion in 'Sin' was an addition encouraged by Rosie that I'm so glad she recommended. If you've read my blog for a while you may know I have an obsession with taupey gold shadows and now I have something which not only gives the lids a stunning champagne sheen, but also provides a crease proof long lasting base for any pesky powder shadows popped on top. Last but not least I now have three of the infamous 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencils in my collection in shades 'Zero', 'Scorch' and 'Stash'. The formula is amazing- creamy, pigmented and long lasting so you can swipe and smudge away to your hearts content! I particularly adore the fact I now own copper and olive coloured liners as I know they'll look gorgeous used as all round definition or smudged under the lash line. Watch out for lots of over excited experimental eye looks coming soon...

  Is there naked love on your lust list?

Rise of the Liquid Lipstick

Strawberry Kiss // Stellar // Ole Flamingo

Oh the liquid lipstick. It started with a lone Rimmel Apocalips boom but now they're popping up all over the shop and I for one can't get enough of them! Higher pigmentation, longer wearing formulas and matt-ier (totally a thing) finishes with seriously stunning shades, they're a whole other level of lip product. So today I thought I'd do a bit of an ode to them and bring you the best of the liquid based bunch. First up we have the Sephora Matte Lip Cream in 'Strawberry Kiss'. I know these live across the pond but UK delivery does exist now, not that I'm enabling or anything... this vibrant red dries to a stunning matte finish, is super easy to apply and smells like vanilla ice cream. Important stuff. Then we have the Rimmel Apocalips which caused possibly the biggest blogger hype of all time and rightly so; they're the most purse friendly offering, come in a huge range of colours and unlike the other two picks, leave a gorgeous glossy finish on the lips. 'Stellar' also happens to be the most vibrant lip product I own and perfect for when you need a little pick me up! Last but not least we have my latest discovery, the Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvets. I've got a couple of these but my favourite has to be 'Ole Flamingo' which is a wonderful wearable fushia pink. I can't even tell you how long these babies last- I can apply it before breakfast and still have it on by the time I get home from work in spite of eating, drinking (and even a bit of kissing on the weekends. oo la la.) It really is the ultimate look lifting, long lasting, lazy girl lip and the pint sized packaging is pretty cute too. 

Apologies that this is my first blog post of the week but life has just got pretty darn manic, however I've got a nice chilled weekend at home to look forward to now so I'm going to give some serious attention to blogs, vlogs and my mogs and be back on track! I hope you've all had a good week :)

What's your favourite liquid lipstick?

The Weekend VLOG #1

Happy Weekend!! I thought I'd kick this Saturday off with a VLOG from last weekend which includes a sneak peek into my job at Benefit, a very exciting Urban Decay haul, big blogger breakfasts and British Summer Time festival! Needless to say it was very jam packed and I'll be sure to capture more of my summery weekends soon, so make sure to subscribe here if you want to see those. Now though I have a weekend full of working Bene-events followed by a couple of days off for my boyfriend's graduation. Have a lovely time whatever you're up to! 

Festival Fashion

Outift: all new look for #fashfestfun

The festival look. It's a style that's in fashion every summer and whether you're actually off to slum it in a field for a weekend of bands or just sun bathing in the garden, you can totally rock it. So needless to say I was over the moon when New Look invited me to their flagship London store to pick out my very own festival inspired outfit for their #fashfestfun campaign! I decided to build the whole look around this cute denim playsuit. The best thing about it is that it doesn't have spaghetti straps (my boobies don't get on with strapless bras) and the shorts actually cover my bum, so it's both comfy and appropriate for wearing in normal civilisation. I love the acid wash, drawstring waist and everything about it really, plus you can pick it up for just over £20! The only downside comes when it's time to battle with the portaloos and semi nakedness ensues... The other item I'm totally in love with is the floral crown. I haven't ever worn one before, but I think this hot pink offering is just the right size and really adds a punchy pop of flower power. It makes styling unwashed, ghd deprived festival hair super easy too! The funky half frame glasses also added a nice hint of mint to the main neutral colours and actually don't make me look like a bug (I have such pea head problems.), so I'm a big fan. I wasn't such a big fan of the rain that drenched me and the girls when I was wearing this outfit at the Hyde Park British Summer Time Festival seeing The Backstreet Boys and McBusted though, so it was a good job I threw on this parka style mac over the top last minute. Next time I just need to dig out the wellies too...

Will you be rocking festival fashion this summer?

The Summer Candle

We all change up our lipsticks for the seasons, but this year I've started to do it with candles too. Call me obsessive, but I love a good seasonal change and by some miracle I don't actually want to relax to the smell of cookies and cupcakes right now! So in comes a more summery offering from Yankee Candle, sun & sand. My mum got me this little gem for Easter and I can't get enough of burning it in the evenings with a nice book and bubble bath and pretending to be transported to some hot sunny beach (she says whilst looking out to grey and gloomy storm clouds). Not only does it look nice and summery, it also smells of fresh citrus mixed with calming lavender and I would highly recommend if you need to put the christmas cookie scent away for a while... 

What candles are you loving this summer?

Picnic at the Palace

new look vest // new look shorts // new look sandals // topshop hair bow // topshop sunglasses* // topshop satchel* 

Welcome to the weekend folks! To kick off this super Saturday I thought I'd show you some sunny snippets from a couple of weekends ago when me and the lovely Rosie went for a picnic at Buckingham palace. Well, not quite at the palace but in St. Jame's Park which is close enough! Now Rosie's made the big city move and I'm not too far away it's so nice to catch up, sun bathe (make last minute trips to Space NK) and eat twisters/various M&S goodies togther in leafy London. This was one of our first properly sunny days so I opted to get the legs and arms out with my new look denim shorts and crochet vest and make the outfit extra girly with my Topshop hair bow and satchel. The perfect comfy, casual and cutesy outfit for soaking up sun and exploring! Rosie looked like a stunner as always -that skirt- and you can get all the low down on her outfit here. I shall be snapping the outfits I wear this weekend too, as well as vlogging my adventures because I've got my best friend's birthday party tonight and British Summer Time Festival tomorrow. Summer starts here, WOOP!

What will you be getting up to and wearing this weekend?

June Favourites

To kick off July (as if half the year has gone?!) I've got a June favourites for you. This mainly comes in video form as me and the gorgeous Aaman filmed a beauty favourites on her YouTube channel and a non-beauty favourites over on mine, so for the full June faves low down give those a watch, but I'm going to give you a little snapshot of what I've been loving now for all you gals that prefer reading to watching... Firstly I need to give some serious love to my new £4 sandals from Primark. Yes that's right, £4!! They look so much more expensive, are super comfy and really good quality too so definitely keep your eyes peeled for them when roaming Primarni. Next up, I'm right back into my (very fake) tanning at the moment thanks to finally getting my mitts on the classic St.Tropez mousse. I know it's pricey, but it is so worth the hype as it's completely foolproof, gives you a gorgeous olive toned colour and doesn't smell of biscuits one bit! Goodbye pale Meg... and talking of pricey things that are worth the hype, in June I decided that Marc Jacobs Daisy, Benefit's they're real! push-up liner and MAC morange are all incredibly necessary items in every girl's life. Maybe not quite so necessary, but very lovely all the same is my new Flamingo candle in 'oriental lotus & rose otto', which smells as pretty as it looks and is so wonderful to unwind with after the crazy days I'm having at the moment. I'm actually preparing tonight for another few non stop days which include working at an outdoor cinema, travelling home, my best friend's birthday party, seeing the boy, breakfasting with blogger faves and watching McBusted and the Backstreet boys at Hyde Park. PHEW. I best run a bath and get that candle burning...

What were you loving in June?