Celebrate Good Times, C'mon!

So, I found out some VERY good news this week; I shall officially be graduating my degree with First class BA honours in Journalism and English! To say I'm happy, is an understatement. Uni was something I always knew I wanted to do, so to have passed at such a high level just blows my mind. 

Even though I'm no longer a student, I'm still just as poor as one. So despite desperately wanting to buy myself a treat, I can't afford to! :( Luckily, I was sent this lovely skirt from Pop Couture to take the edge off! Its a beautiful chiffon maxi skirt, with a cheeky underskirt in a gorgeous nude colour. I really like it and I like how it goes with my skin colour too. I wore it with a speckled dip hem top from New Look which I also wore in this post with a black maxi skirt. 

My heart ring, of course is from Marie Loves Jewellery ;) which you can find here. I thought the look was quite feminine so the pretty heart ring would accompany it quite well!

P.S, sorry if I sounded like I was bragging at all about my degree, just proud of myself for the first time ever!

P.P.S, I would just like to give a thank you to the talented Malia from Deep Fried Freckles, who ever so kindly sent me this wonderful illustration of myself! I will treasure it! It is a rarity, I think, to get to see yourself in the illustrated form! I have popped it in my side bar as my 'about me' picture as I don't want it to go to waste! 

Reckless Abandon

Love this outfit! This skull print top was kindly sent to me by Glamorous, and I'm so into the whole skull/floral thing recently, and this top is just such a feminine twist on that whole edgy trend that we've been seeing everywhere recently. I teamed it with a pair of blue skinny jeans from Dorothy Perkins to show off the scooping effect of the top, and to try and create that causal but 'cool' look! I love Dorothy Perkins jeans and jeggings, they're so comfortable and definitely the 'skinniest' jeans I've tried in a long while.

Then, to dress the look up, I added these beautiful, colourful wedges from Daisy Street Shoes. I absolutely love them, they're so bold but comfortable at the same time, and I've just seen they're in the sale now too! 

As you can see above, I had a go at doing some photos outside. The one in the front of the wall was the only decent one I got! I don't know how some of you bloggers do it! The wind and lighting was just not working for me!!

Introducing Marie Loves Jewellery!

Five Heart Ring - Skull Ring - Cross Ring - The Hare and The Tortoise Ring

I'm very excited to announce that tonight I will be launching my own online jewellery shop, Marie Loves Jewellery! 

I've spent the past couple of months carefully picking out a few rings that I really loved, so I could share them with my lovely followers! I get lots of comments complimenting me on my jewellery choices in outfit posts, especially my rings, so I thought a jewellery shop would be the perfect accompaniment to my blog!

As you can see above, I have four different rings on sale at the moment, all double finger rings as they're my current favourite go-to style! I've been wearing the rings myself and absolutely adore each one of them, and I would offer no less than what I love myself to my followers.

So please visit my shop here, and let me know what you think of my ring collection! I'm really proud of it, even if I do say so myself ;)

MAC Studio Fix Giveaway!

I am hosting my first ever giveaway this month, offering my followers the chance to win MAC's Studio Fix foundation in the shade of their choice! 

I've never done a giveaway before, but always wanted to, so this is just really a thank you to all my followers for sticking by me and for all your wonderful and supportive comments and tweets over the last six months since I started blogging.

So, seeing as MAC is one of the biggest brands on the blogging scene at the moment, and their foundations are so wonderful, I thought I would treat the lucky winner with a bottle of Studio Fix for themselves!

If you would like to enter, all you need to do is be a follower of Marie Loves via GFC! You will then be able to earn extra entries by doing the following:

Follow: Follow me on Twitter (@marieelton).

Tweeting: Tweet the link for the giveaway to me (@marieelton) sharing that you have entered the giveaway.

Youtube: Subscribe to my YouTube channel (more videos coming soon).

Facebook: 'Like' the Marie Loves facebook page.

So that's a possible total of 5 entries for this giveaway! To enter, please fill in the Rafflecopter form below, no need to comment! Your extra entries will not be counted if you do not follow on GFC as well. 

You have until the 14th July 2012 to enter, and the winner will be announced on the 15th, when I will get in contact with the winner to find out what shade you would like! Unfortunately, this competition is only open to followers in the UK! Sorry to my international lovelies!! Many thanks again to all my followers and all those who enter, and good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Edit Me

Well, I definitely took advantage of the couple of days sunshine we had this week and whipped out this wonderful sheer maxi skirt, kindly sent to me by Glamorous, quicker than you can say 'good morning Mr Sunshine'!! It comes up ankle grazer length, which is perfect for me, as I often have to have maxi dresses/skirts taken up (baring in mind I am wearing high waisted). Its so flowy, and the elasticated waist band makes it very comfortable on a hot day. I love the colour too, its so bold and eye catching, I'm sure this skirt will be coming into regular rotation during the summer!

I teamed the skirt with a simple white vest top from H&M, as I felt the skirt made enough of a statement by itself. Along with this, a tan woven belt from Primark, which was only a couple of pounds, to create a slimmer looking waist, and my favourite collar necklace from Primark, which was £3 if I remember correctly!

I just wore this outfit whilst on a stroll about the shops with my boyfriend, making the most of the sunshine and free time in Coventry before we move this weekend. I'm struggling to come to terms with having to move out of the flat I share with Jack and go back home, its not my idea of fun if I'm honest. Its been a bit of an emotional week, saying goodbye to some very good friends and Coventry. It may not be the prettiest of cities, but being here at university has changed my life, and I'll never forget it!

Anyway, I'll stop before I get emotional again!! Just wanted to pop a quick thank you to the lovely Huda who awarded me the Laine Blogger award! Thank you sweet, glad you're enjoying my blog!

Lace Nails

Knowing I'm a big nail art lover, Born Pretty sent me some lovely nail stickers to try out, and these lace effect ones were by far my favourite!

From previous experience with nail stickers, I chose to go with a neutral, nude shade for my nails to begin with, as brighter, bolder colours can make the outline of the actual sticker look very apparent. I used my latest favourite polish from MUA's Love Heart collection - I <3 U, a beautiful nude shade, that requires a few coats to get solid colour.

After my nails were completely dry, I then picked out which lace pattern I wanted to go for and carefully peeled it off the sheet with a pair of tweezers. You are really better off using tweezers as the stickers are very sticky and can easily get stuck to your fingers and rip. I then carefully positioned the strip and pressed down, then cut off the excess and moved onto the next nail. As you can tell, a really simple but effective process. Finishing it off with a clear top coat will ensure the stickers stay in place for longer, so is really a necessity. 

I really like these lace effect stickers, I think they give a real vintage look to your nails and its definitely a bit different from my usual nail art. My main concern with them is just how sticky they are and so how easily they tear once you try to move them if they've been positioned incorrectly, so I would recommend being very wary when applying. 

If you'd like to try them, you can now get 5% off using this code: MA5J61.

Primark A/W Collection Wish List

Wow! Omg! Yowzer! Did I ever tell you guys about how much I love Primark? Think it may have come up before... The A/W collection was revealed on Look's website today, and I think a fair few of us have been swooning over it, including me. So, I have attempted to make a wishlist, although, it was bloody hard to narrow it down to a select few items! 

001. I have a long black blazer that I brought from Primark over a year ago, a very similar style to this black and white Contrast Blazer, that I absolutely adore, and always turn to! What I love about this blazer is the colour blocking. Instead of just a plain blazer, it makes more of a statement, but not in an 'in your face' manner. Like a lot of the pieces I've picked out, this makes it very workable for wearing to work, which is what I especially like about it. Plus, the price is cracking! £12!!

002. I love this Trimmed Waistcoat for £19, its so sophisticated! I could easily imagine this with a plain white vest, tucked into black skinny jeans or trousers with a statement collar necklace! It would be so chic!

003. I think everyone is loving themselves a bit of ombre lately, and it looks like its surviving the highstreet for another season - hoorarr! This Sleeveless Ombre Print Shirt for £12 is pretty much guaranteed to brighten up any gloomy winter's day, infact, I could do with it right now to brighten up this gloomy British summer's day!!

004. How pleased am I that such a thing as the 'peplum' was invented! What a wonderful invention that goes in at the waist and then out over the mid drift! I adore this pattern, Primark seems to be bringing a lot of these graphic prints into their latest collection. Oh, and for all those arguing Primark is getting more expensive, well hows £8 for ya!

005. I really, really want these black and white printed trousers. I actually love them. They match my bedding as well, which indicates some sort obsession with this sort pattern I think...

006. I also really like these blue, black and white printed trousers. The floral graphic print is so retro, it just screams 60s curtains, and they'd make a statement all by themselves. Once again, ideal work attire, which has got me very excited to compile my autumn/winter work wardrobe! And both of these pairs are £14 each!

007. This necklace is right up my street at the moment. I obsessed with collar necklaces, and this one is just beautiful. I love its futuristic look, and for £8 its definitely a statement worth making. I'd love to pair it with the trimmed waistcoat!

008. Finally, what I was most probably most blown away by out of the new collection, these beautiful Floral Block Heeled boots for £20!! A similar style to the ever popular litas, these looks like a more manageable height for my suffering tootsies! I can't get over how beautiful and bright the print is, they would look so fantastic with a pair of black skinny jeans, or a pair of high denier black tights.

As you may be able to tell, I've basically planned my winter work wardrobe based upon Primark's new line, as I basically love it all. What do you make of the A/W collection? Do you agree with my picks, or is there any others I may have missed?

How I Fill In My Brows: Born Pretty Eyebrow Kit

It's only been a recent change to my make up routine that has seen me filling in my eyebrows on a daily basis. I began a few months a go, simply filling in with a dark brown eye brow pencil, but have been very keen on trying an eyebrow powder. So, when the lovely people from Born Pretty ever so kindly sent me their eyebrow kit, I was very excited to try it out.

As you probably know, thick, defined eyebrows are a key make up trend, carrying over from A/W into the summer. My initial concern with filling in my brows was that they'd just look bushy and look very obviously filled in, but to be honest, I couldn't of been more wrong. Filling in your brows is a great way to either finish off a look, or to make yourself look more put together when wearing little make up. And its really very simple, here's how I do mine:

Brows before: I pluck my eye brows on a near daily basis. Eye brows grow through so quickly, so its important to maintain them as often as you can. I never go to get mine waxed or threaded, so its especially important for me to keep onto of eyebrow hair growth.

As you can see, my eyebrows are naturally very dark, virtually black, so they already quite defined by themselves. I have quite a good natural arch to my brows, so when plucking and filling in, the main area I tend to concentrate on in the inner, thicker section of the brow.

Filling in the brow: The brush supplied with this eyebrow kit is the same that will come with most decent kits; a small angled brush, ideal for creating a sharp, defined shape. I used the darker brown shade and coated my brush thoroughly with the powder as I needed to create a darker shade as possible to blend with my natural eyebrow colour.  I then began by almost drawing a line the height of my inner brow, just in front of where my natural brown begins, towards the middle of my head. I then proceeded to brush right a long the top of my brow, to create a thicker effect. Then, after topping up my brush, filled in the rest of the brow, concentrating on the inner brow area, for a consistent and solid eyebrow colour.

Finished eyebrows! Filling in your eyebrows is as easy as simply drawing and colouring in your eyebrows to your desired look. Just make sure you don't get too carried away! Remember, filling in your brows is about enhancing your natural shape, not creating a completely different shape all together. If your brows are too sharp or square, you can use the sponge end of the brush to soften the edges, making the brow look more natural.

As a kit, I am quite impressed. For $6.99 (converted to roughly £4.55), you get two good quality powders and very soft and usable brush, which aids the application process perfectly. Saying this, even this kit in the darkest brown still realistically is not dark enough for my eyebrows, and I think I can only just about get away with it. On that note I would definitely recommend for those with slightly lighter brows than myself. Using the code 'MA5J61' on the Born Pretty website will get you 5% off too. 

You Will Go to The Ball

So here are some pictures from the CUPA Ball (aka the uni ball) from last night. I thought I might as well share some photos of some of my gorgeous friends as well as my outfit! We had the best night, it really was so much fun! You can never go wrong when there's food, drink and dancing involved!

My dress is by AX Paris, and I picked it up from New Look about a week ago. I absolutely love it! It really had a wow factor to it, and the dip hem made it so dramatic. I love the contrast of the black and white with the pastel pink of the blazer too! It was £15 from Primark, and I think it was definitely a better choice than a boring black blazer! I also wore my New Look platforms, which happily crushed my toes to death through out the course of the night!

I hope you enjoy the photos as well as any end of year celebrations you may be having! I really can't believe uni is over, feels like a dream!

Revlon Colorburst Lipstick in Carnation

I purchased this lipstick about a month ago, but just didn't have the time to blog about it. I've been obsessing over two things recently: a) pink lipstick b) Revlon lipstick, so its basically all I've been searching for online (when I should of been doing work). I actually picked this Revlon Colorburst from ebay, for £2.99. I picked it in the shade Carnation, because the swatch colour looked so pink!

One of the things I really like is its Channel-esque quilted style casing, it just looks so expensive and attractive. I must admit, packaging does largely sway me when choosing make up, so Revlon really came up trumps this time round. The actual colour of the lipstick on is absolutely perfect. Its a lovely warm, baby pink. It really gives you just the right amount of colour without being too in your face pink, which is what I prefer, and is easily buildable for a bolder colour. The lipstick is a really soft formula and went on easily, with a large amount of colour pay off without too many coats. Its not drying at all, in fact quite moisturising which is really nice. Its not a matte lipstick, which are my favourite style, but it also isn't too shiny and not sheer at all. I really couldn't fault this lipstick at all - it really is amazing.

Boots sell a great range of the colours that are available in this Colorburst range, of which I'm also really lovely the look of Baby Pink and Raspberry! 

Have you tried the Revlon Colorburst lipsticks? What do you make of the shade Carnation?

Bones

So, went to Primark looking to have a bit of a spree if I'm honest, and struggled so much to find anything half decent. I feel like with Primark, you've really got to be careful and not grab any damn thing just because of the price tag. This has been an often occurrence for me over the past three years living in Coventry, and being SO close to a Primark, so I have learnt my lesson. This dress however, caught my eye instantly, and for £13, its a bit of a doozy (I have no idea what doozy means)!

Okay, basically I think this dress is just plain cool. I saw it, and had to have it. I love the combination of the bright, bright orange with the black and white graphic printing on the skirt. I love its shape and the way in comes in at the waist with the elasticated waistband. Its such a mash up of 1960s and the sports luxe trend, and on this occasion I think Primes have really outdone themselves. The quality is lovely; the material has a thick, silk feel to it. I feel like Its just so multifaceted, you could dress it up or down so easily, so I'm really glad I picked it up!

As for the rest of the look, I tried to keep it simple, because I think the dress is enough on its own. I'm not even wearing any rings, which is a rarity for me. I decided to pin the sides of my hair up too, trying to in keep with the 60s kinda vibe! 

This trip was meant to equal a haul, but unfortunately this was all I managed to find in Primark this week that I thought was worth the money! 

What do you guys think of the stock in Primark recently? Yay or nay?

P.S. I've created a Facebook page if anyone wants to 'like' and follow me on there! x