I think we can all agree that the 2 dresses Meghan wore yesterday were absolutely GORGEOUS! So, I've decided to round up as much information as I can find about the two dresses and put them nicely into one post!

So, the first dress was designed by Clare Waight Keller for Givenchy, who said the aim was to create a "timeless minimal elegance". The dress was a simple A-line style gown with a boat neckline. The simple design was accentuated by the three-quarter length sleeves and a short train. To add to this, there was a 16 foot silk tulle veil that had every national flower of each 53 Commonwealth countries.












The second dress was a simple high neck dress by Stella McCartney silk crepe dress that she paired with Aquazzura satin heels.




Thank so much for reading! I'll see you all again next week!

Lou Loves x

I don't know about you guys, but I lovely a good scroll down Pinterest. I'm constantly finding new brands and products that I wouldn't have necessarily have found before, so today I'm sharing with you my favourite of those discoveries!

Rose Quartz Coasters - Currently Sold Out but are from Polyvore
Minimalistic Coffee, Tea and Sugar Pots - DIY from The Lovey Drawer


White Bathroom Ladder Shelf - £295 from The White Company


Dottie Honey Pot - £20 from Anthropologie


Geometric Faux Suede Cushion - £23 from Ethical.Market
Cloud Shelf - £30 from Urban Outfitters

Crescent Moon Bowl - £25.46 from Liquorice Moon Studios on Etsy


Copper Terrarium - £20 from JOY


Copper Stationary Set - £5 from Primark
"She believed she could so she did" Quote - £6 from FleurtCollective on Etsy


Marble Pillar Candle - £28 from Nordic House


So, I hope you all enjoyed my Pinterest picks for you and I'll leave a link at the bottom of the post to the board where this lovely lot are pinned. Thank you so much for reading, and I will see you all agin very soon,

Love Lou
xxxx

"My Pinterest Finds Post" Board
My Pinterest

All images sourced from www.pinterest.com

I've been on holiday in sunny Portugal for the last ten days and I thought this would be the perfect chance to show you what I took with me make up wise!


The make up bag I took it all in was this gorgeous one from Being by Sanctuary Spa and it's available in pretty much every boots store and online. I chose this one because 1) it fits my Naked palette in (win-win all round I'd say) 2) it's wipe clean so it won't get really messy and 3) it fits in a lot more that it looks like it does!

Eyes:


Primer - Smashbox Photo Op 24 hour Photo Finish Shadow Primer




Palettes - Urban Decay Naked (original)
                Tanya Burr Hollywood
                Smashbox Mini Trio (discontinued)


Single Shadows - NYX Lid Lingerie (shade - 01 sweet cloud)



Mascara - L'Oreal Baby Roll

Brows - Shade "naked" from Urban Decay

Face:


Moisturiser - Nivea Daily Essentials Rich Moisturising Day Cream



Concealer - Rimmel Match Perfection 2-in-1 (shade - 010 ivory)
                   17 Stay Time (shade - extra fair)


Powder - Rimmel Stay Matte (shade - 001 translucent)


Highlight - NYX Illuminator (shade - 04 ritualistic)

Lips:


Lipliner - "Pose" by Barry M


Liquid Lipstick - Tanya Burr Matte Lip (shade - martha moo)

Lipstick - "Pink Cocoa" from Tanya Burr
                 MAC's Mehr (matte formula)

Gloss - Tanya Burr gloss in cotton cane (Christmas limited - no longer on sale)
            Soap and Glory sexy mother pucker (shade - charm offensive)

So, I hope you enjoyed this little insight into the products that go with me pretty much everywhere! Thank you so much for reading, and I will see you again soon,

Love Lou
xxxxx

(Please request and prices of the products mentioned in the comments)

I have seen posts discussing the new instagram algorithm a few times in the blogosphere so I thought I'd take the opportunity to share with you my point of view.

For those of you who haven't come across the new Instagram Algorithm, a few months or so ago, Instagram released a new update that meant, like facebook, posts were no longer in chronological order. For smaller bloggers like myself, and bloggers in general to be fair, it's caused massive reductions in engagement and followers on both instagram and their blog.

So, the new algorithm meant that posts were mixed up which meant that a lot of posts now wouldn't be seen. It also appears to me that Instagram is more actively promoting (and therefore moving to the top of feeds) posts from accounts with more followers. This is a big set back for small bloggers like me (currently having a few followers over 300) as it means that often our posts are lower down feeds, if on them at all. Obviously, this is just what I've seen and it may not be the same to everyone, but I thought I share with you what I have personally found.

As a small blogger, the new algorithm massively affected my blog. Before the update, I was posting pretty regularly on my instagram, and I still am, however, likes and comments have now become practically inexistent, which has also resulted in a big drop in blog views - dropping from the 200's to the 50's-  due to the lack of engagement on that particular promoting platform (if you didn't already know, Instagram is my main promoting platform so this was a pretty big knock for me).

Like several other bloggers, I am really struggling with Instagram and it's really making me question how long I am going to be actively posting on there. To overcome this, I've come up with some tips for you guys who may be experiencing the same problems as me:

1. Use hastags wisely

Hashtags can make or break a post, use the right ones and likes will flood in but if you don't get it quite right, even if it's the best content you have ever posted, you will get very few likes.

2. Try and produce the best quality content

If you haven't really got anything to post, don't find a picture you took about 5 years ago on your iPhone 3 because chances are you're going to get more unfollows than if you didn't post anything at all.

3. Interact with similar bloggers/accounts

This has been key in my instagram survival so far. Finding accounts similar to yours that you actually enjoy can be pretty difficult but once you find them, you'll often get a follow back and they'll also enjoy your content. (I'll link some of my favourite accounts in each niche at the end of this post)

4. Post as regularly as you possibly can

This is quite a controversial one, I've found. When I post 1 or 2 times a day I definitely get more engagement and I feel as though my posts sit higher on instagram feeds, whereas other 'gramers feel that they get less engagement. This is totally dependant on your audience so give it a go and see how you get on.

So, I hope you enjoyed this post, and let me know any tips you have in the comments if you've been having similar problems. Thank you so much for reading, and I will see you all again soon,

Love Lou
xxxx

My favourite:

Beauty Accounts:

@lifeastillyrose
@dasiyjosephineblog
@justlucyslife

Lifestyle Accounts:

@chloeplumstead
@susiejverrill
@ellenextdoor

Fashion Accounts:

@eleanorclaudie
@rachyblogs
@stylelobster


Other:

@livv.gracee (She's an all rounder to be honest)
@hannahfgale
@devotedtopink (Another lovely all rounder)

Right now, there is a really big hype around this product (as well as the now blogger famous lip lingerie) so I thought I'd pick one up to see what the hype's all about.

I got the shade 01 Sweet Cloud and it's a really shimmery bronze/gold with a coppery shimmer to it and also quite chunky silver glitter running through it. This shade is nothing like any other shade I have ever tried - in fact all of the shades in the range are super unique - there's literally nothing I can compare it to, to give you all an idea of what it looks like.


The product itself obviously isn't as pigmented as a cream or powder product may be as it is just a tint but I was really happy with the colour pay off from it. I was also pretty surprised by the formula of it - I thought it would be quite a liquid product but I'd say it's definitely more of a cream than a liquid product.


I've found from this, that you can get 2 looks out of it. You could get a subtle wash of colour that has a really pretty shimmery sheen to it (which I prefer) or you can go all out glitter. This really depends on how much you apply - it took me a few uses to work out how much product worked well for me.


I have tried this product both with and without a primer and I would definitely recommend giving it a go with primer. When I wore it without primer it lasted for about 3/4 hours before creasing whereas the primer locked it on all day.


I've used this a few times so I thought that I would share with you my favourite looks that I've conjured up using this product as a base. My favourite is, applying this a little heavier and adding winged eyeliner which is super quick to do and looks really nice. Another favourite, is adding a wash of colour with the tint then using the 'Bookworm' from Tanya's hollywood palette into the crease toad some definition to the eye.

So, I hope you all enjoyed this post, thank you so much for reading
and I will see you very soon,

Love Lou
xxxxx

Buy this beauty here - £6