OOTD

Just a quick hello,

Will be blogging about the amazing IGIGI dress I am reviewing later this evening, but wanted to show you my crazy face.

THis dress is from next, I loved the colour of it, but hate how shapeless the top half is, so it is now relegated to the, I feel rough days when I just want to throw something on.

Dress - Next

Boots - Schuh ( so comfy!)

Bag - Accessorize

Tights - Tescos

Scary Lady - All Me :)

see you soon! 

Mhairi

xxx

Bettie Page Clothing Review

The Tatyana Dress

I have been looking at America to see what they offer plus size women compared to the UK, they have some amazing retro inspired clothing designers and Bettie page clothing has been one of my favourites for years, You can read more about the company and its founder/ designer HERE

When they said they would be happy to send me a dress to review, I thought I had died and gone to heaven.
Tightened purse strings have meant I couldn't order any items from abroad for a while, so I have been coveting the dresses from afar.

I was struggling between the Tatyana Circle and the Alika dress so asked them to choose for me so I didn't have to make the decision myself, I turned out to be a great idea as I would normally have gone for the safer choice of the Alika over the animal print of the Tatyana.

When the dress arrived I wasn't disappointed the colours were vibrant and the Bengaline material was beautiful to the touch with just the right amount of give, to fit me perfectly.

Please excuse the slightly blurry first picture as it was highly windy and I kept moving :)

The dress feels fabulous on, I love the red belt and will probably wear it with my wide black belt too.

The back of the dress is what made me fall in love with it in the first place, I love the fold out and the button detail it is just different to the usual high, or V back. 

Detail of the button

Close up of the back of the dress, must get the rest of my back tattoo completed just so I can show it off in this dress :) 

Close up of the button hole (for show only), this is possible the only thing I would change on the dress, I think it would be nice with an actual button hole even though it is only for show. 

This dress is genuinely amazing, I felt sexy, sassy and fun all night in it at Plus London 2 Now I need to find the perfect dress for plus North! 

It retails for $132 and comes in sizes XS to 4XL I ordered the 4XL and I am a uk 20/22.

I have asked some questions about sizing of a few other dresses and will update as soon as I hear back from Bettie Page Clothing.

Mhairi. xxx

Disclaimer:- This dress was gifted to me for review by bettie page clothing, I have not been paid to give a positive review and it is all my own opinions and words.

Kelsey Arif

A couple of days ago I read a blog post over at Fullerfigurefullerbust about the fabulous Kelsey Arif and her entry into the Miss British Beauty Curve Pageant, some of you may remember Kelsey who won the Plus Size Tall Model Search, to help her in her pagent endeavours I offered a posst on my blog, as I love to see a gorgeous plus woman making a name for herself.


Could you please introduce yourself for the readers who do not know you?

Well I'm Kelsey Arif and I am in my second year at Hertfordshire University studying Marketing with Advertising. I've been on / off modeling for around a year now but due to work and study constraints I have been finding it hard to dedicate enough time to building my portfolio.

When is the pageant and why did you want to enter?
It all started last January when I entered the Plus Size Tall Model Search and won! I entered believing I wouldn’t get very far and certainly didn’t think a trip to Vegas would be on the cards! I decided to go for the competition in a bid to help boost my self and body confidence and it most definitely worked! Modeling will always be a part of my life now I have had a taste of it; it's something I can only dream of doing full time!

Its  another way to get myself out into the plus size industry, last October I entered the Miss British Beauty Curve. I have made it to the finals as ‘Miss Hertfordshire Curve’ which is being held this Saturday the 25^th February so my nerves are riding high! Another reason I entered was to see if pageantry was for me and if there was anything I could learn and use when modelling. It is also a great way to celebrate the fuller lady and a fun opportunity to be a part of!

What is involved?

The pageant consists of rounds just like a standard pageant and Miss British Beauty Curve has an opening round, fashion wear, swimwear and eveningwear. There will also be a personal interview before the pageant begins.

I am really excited for all of it! It’s something I have never done before so I’m obviously nervous for things like poses and the walks but I’m sure with all my practicing I will be just fine! All I can do is try my best and I feel amazing in all of my outfits so that always helps and I’m happy to just have got to the finals so as long as I do my best I can hold my head high no matter the outcome!

Has being involved helped your confidence in yourself or are you naturally confident?

I have always been quite a naturally confident person really. I did get to a stage when I was at my heaviest where I felt myself becoming more self-conscious but I also felt so un-healthy which didn’t help. That was one of my reasons for losing a lot of weight last year and since I’ve lost the weight and started modeling my confidence has been boosted again. There is a big difference in being confident and being arrogant and I make sure I don’t come across as a big head as I find it extremely distasteful.

What a your plans for the future? (more pageants, competitions, modelling)

Modeling isn’t just a past time for me. Next year once I have finished my university degree I am going to spend the time hitting agencies with my portfolio, attending more castings, following up on all that essential networking and doing whatever I can to boost my presence in the plus size industry. I have also got a big interest in Marketing and Advertising so that will hopefully play a part in my life as well.  As for the pageants…. I will have to let you know once the shows over and done with on Saturday!

As you can see kelsey is stunning, and deserves all the support in her modelling and pageant venture we can offer. 


I will have everything crossed for the 25th. 


For more info go to Miss British Beauty Curve


Mhairi.


xxx

Coat Reviews Part 3

It is now just over 4 weeks since I posted the initial review of the two coats, and since that initial post I have been wearing them to death! They have been my dog walking coats day to day task coats, going out coats, they have been in snow wind and rain and covered in mud.

So how did they do...

Simply Be

Double Breasted Caplet Trench Coat £80

This coat has been excellent so far I recently wore it to London for the Plus London Two bloggers event and found it warm and comfortable on all the train/tube journeys, it snowed heavily in london and most of the uk that weekend and it survived easily, a waterproof coat may have been a good idea, but I am never as warm in them.

It also had to be washed last week, I loved that it was machine washable, so when our crazy puppies managed to jump up at it and cover me in muddy paw prints I whipped it off and stuck it in the machine, and popped it on a clothes horse to dry after. Once dry the coat was clean, looked great and still had its shape, which was a huge relief.

I have not seen any noticeable bobbling, was expecting some after the amount I have been wearing it, especially in the usual places like under the arms, but pleasantly surprised to say it hasn't yet.

The colour is great, I find it can be worn with almost anything in my wardrobe and the removable caplet is fab, i like it on with my clutch bags and off when I use a shoulder bag.

It was so windy outside when I took these pictures that my hair went from being down and smooth to whipping about all over the place making me look a little insane :)

I didn't need to iron the coat after I washed it which was fab, I hate ironing with a passion, but I did make sure it was nice and straight on the dryer.

As it is I would still highly recommend buying this coat, it is versatile a gorgeous colour and works well with so many outfits, as it is warming up a little now, I will be out a lot more walking and shopping so it will get even more use, action shots to come.

Ann Harvey

Red Funnel Neck Coat £40

This coat has also been put through its paces and it is doing exceptionally well, I love it on casual days with the collar pulled up to keep me warm, being red it doesn't go with everything in my wardrobe, but it is incredibly versatile, I have worn it with jeans, skirts and dressed, and it looks good with them, but I did make the mistake of throwing it on with my green jeans and boots the other day and my step son had hysterical giggles as he thought I looked like an elf.

It hasn't needed to be washed yet, but I will be putting it in this weekend, so i will give an update about that after it is done.
I do love that I don't feel the need to be extra careful with it, the colour is dark enough not to show every speck of dirt, but vibrant enough to be interesting and brighten up my day.

The colour still makes me very happy, and I love wearing this coat, it is also a bargain at £40 in the sale right now, and is available in black, go take a peek.

I am starting a little photography project at the moment, so they will be tested out for practicality in use, and while carrying lots of equipment.

will be putting up the first months worth of reviews for the lovely double breasted cape coat form Ann Harvey as well this weekend, so look out for that.

Mhairi. xx

Mens Clothing - Jacamo Review

Jacamo

Flintoff Jeans and Ben Sherman longer length shirt review

My husband has been watching me blog for these past 6 months and began to think, it isn't just women who struggle with plus clothing and he has the added hassle of being tall, so he asked if I would show some of the clothing he buys to show what there is to offer. 

After chatting with the lovely charlotte of Simply Be she suggested I talk to Jacamo about reviewing some menswear for them, we knew the name, but hadn't really looked at the before, but Marc was very happily surprised by the clothing on offer, he is my monkey man with a long body and arms and not so long legs for a 6'2" man.

Jacamo have jeans starting  from a 34inch waist and go up to a 56inch waist in lengths 29 to 36inches, the also do tops up to 5XL.

One of his biggest problems is jeans, he finds on the high street if the do stock his size he cant get them up his legs and if he gets the size for his legs then the waist is far too big, the other issue is length, most shops stock 3o, 32 and 34 inch lengths, but Marc has a 33 inch leg length so a 32 means ankle swingers and a 34 means ripped jeans.

His other big issue is shirts, a standard length shirt means he has to roll the sleeves up as down they are usually too short, we can get longer lengths in some dress shirts from the high street, but not often a more casual shirt for a day out of just for general wear.

Above is an example of a casual high street shirt, he loves the colour but this is his arm raised about 12inches from his side, if he goes any higher the cuff strains so much it pops the button, so not a good length for him.

Jacamo asked him to select a pair of jeans and a shirt from the site, whilst looking he saw that they had a new range becoming available from Freddie Flintoff, and whilst he isn't a huge sports fan he loved the look of the clothing on offer. 

He originally chose a pair of Jeans and a longer length shirt from the range but the shirt was not yet available so he went for a pair of jeans from the Flintoff Range and a longer length shirt from Ben Sherman.

The Jeans.

The Jeans he chose were the Flintoff by Jacamo Jean  33" length, the fact the did a 33 inch leg was a huge selling point for him, he also loved the Colour which is called Denim Blue but it isn't your usual blue for a pair of jeans it is a bit darker.

When they arrived the fit was lovely, and a great length, but he decided he wanted to wear and wash them a couple of times to give as good a review as possible, and this is what Marc had to say - 

They are very comfortable even after they have just been washed, and after a couple of wears, and the rarely need ironing, even straight from the clothes horse, the colour has also stayed nice and dark, the pockets are great nice and deep wallet feels secure in them.

They have a button fly but they aren't too stiff as I have found with some jeans, and they don't go saggy after a couple of wears, I plan on trying some of the Flintoff cargo trousers to see if the quality of them is as good as my other pairs.

So as you can see he likes them, here are some photos of them on.

For the Shirt he went for the Ben Sherman Long Sleeve Check Shirt Long in Olive it arrived and the colour was really nice, it fitted well and looked really nice on, it also looks great tucked into jeans and with a jumper on top to smarten it up.

Marc said - It makes a nice change to find a casual looking shirt in a longer length, its nice to lift up my arms without having to unbutton the sleeves or have them rolled up all the time so I don't look like I am wearing my sons shirt. Just need to persuade Mhairi to order me the red one now too!

My Iron decided to stop working so the shirt was really rather creased in the pictures from today as you can see below

But I do have a dodgy phone picture from tonight when it was ironed :) 

And as you see it has great length in the arms, even when he holds his arms out straight.

He looks pretty good to me, I dont mind being seen in public with him :) 

Go take a look at Jacamo, we were very impressed! x

Marc and Mhairi

The Satchel of my dreams!

I am most definitely a shoe girl but sometimes a bag catches my eye and it has to be mine! I am not really into designer handbags but the craziness surrounding satchels last year got my attention and I fell for so many beautiful ones, especially some of the offerings from the Cambridge satchel company, but none in my price range really jumped out at me.

That all changed last week walking past Accessorize, in the window, just waiting for me to walk past was the satchel of my dreams, Tan in colour with contrasting pink trim, perfect size and so pretty, it had to be mine.

So it was...

Accessorize Ivy League Satchel

It makes me all warm and fuzzy just looking at it, it works with so many things, and will be the perfect size for my ipad wen i finally get to buy one :)

It is also available in a beautiful berry red colour, but for me the tan was more practical.

Mhairi. xxx

By Caprice Lingerie Review

Dianthus Black/Purple Gel Bra and Brief Set

A while ago I had @bycaprice follow me on twitter which is the official account for Caprice Bourret, she regularly posts photos of her lingerie collections on twitter for us to all drool over.

When the picture of the Dianthus in black/purple came up on my timeline I was instantly attracted to it, I replied to her that it was a beautiful set, and continued on with my day, but a short while later she approached me to ask if I would like to review it for her on my blog, I gave her my contact details and was quickly contacted by her PR team to ask what set and size I would like to review, as this was the set the caught my eye I went for it, and after a bit of a delay due to a change in staff members I received the gorgeous set in the post.

Now I would like to first point out that the sets are available in sizes 32A-38G and at the moment I am being measured into 38GG and 36H cups, so was slightly out of the cup sizes available, but felt this bra still needed to be reviewed.

Image from www.bycaprice.com

Well as you can see I definitely do not look like Caprice, but I have pretty perky boobs for a larger lady and have an excellent cleavage with the right bra, with the cups on this bra being a little bit small for me, I couldn't get the lift and shape I really like but they also do not look bad at first glance, but on closer inspection i did have a bit of quad boob when I breathed in and the central gore will not lie flush with my chest.

Front View

From the side the shape was actually pretty good too, it was fairly rounded and not pointed, a look I can't pull off very well.

Side View

This bra could have almost worked for me if I could have shortened the straps more, I do not have very deep shoulders and add to that very heavy boobs, I need straps to be of a width to be able to withstand this combination, and this was the one true let down of such a beautiful bra, they are far too thin for a lager cup, and I don't just mean at the top end of the band sizes either, because believe me a girl with a 32G cup is going to need some support from her straps too.

I just found that if I was to tighten them to the length I need to get the cups in the right position for optimum support I would have cut myself in half with the straps, it is something I often find with pretty bras, strap widths are not taken into account for a heavier breast.

Straps

Oh but the details are what truly still make me love this bra, I loved the vividness of the purple against the black and the pretty flowers embroidered on the fabric. 

Pretty Bras make my heart sing!

Embroidery/ colour detail

It also has a pretty bow on the central gore which is very pretty indeed!

All in all I will give this bra a positive thumbs up, and I know some women cope very well with thinner straps, but the weight of my breasts means my shoulders just cant cope with it, and I hope that one day caprice and her team manage to extend there cup sizes and also make there band sizes in both 28 and 30 backs and also in larger back sizes than a 38 as they are missing out on a hole market of eager women looking for beautiful bras.

I also recieved the matching briefs pictured in the official photo and I have to say they are also beautiful, and fitted me well.

If you would like to look at where to purchase lingerie by Caprice then please visit her website.

Please also note that all the photos have been lightly photoshopped by me as my skin is blotchy at the moment due to an allergy.

Disclaimer: this set was sent to me as a gift from Bycaprice lingerie from review, but I have not been paid to give a favourable review and all words are my own.

Plus London Two

Wow I cant believe it is wednesday already, it has taken me until now to recover from the epic day that was Plus London Two.

I was so ill last week I really wasn't sure I could make it on saturday, as well as the anxiety of just going out, but at 11 pm on friday night I decided to just go for it.

My crazy day started at 6.30am I got myself ready and finished packing and stuffed half a hot cross bun in my mouth (the last piece of food till 11pm that night) and headed to the train station, I headed for the Bakerloo line at Baker Street, where I found the gorgeousness that is Caroline of Curvy Wordy, you should check out her blog for amazing underwear fabulousness.
We headed off together to Anna Scholz where our adventures began.

What and adventure it was...

Anna has created two collections within the black and white labels, there really was something for everyone and far too much that I really really did like.

 There were so many vibrant colour and patterns making me wish for the warmer weather to come, there were a few items which really caught my eye and called to my purse.

The first item to really catch my eye was the original pattern I fell in love from the campaign photos

The colours were just so summery and bright.

But I really surprised my self by falling in love with the palm print fitted dress which is so far out of my comfort zone, but after being persuaded to try it I honestly would do anything to own this dress. 

I also loved that it worked on 3 completely different shapes and we all felt good in it. 

Above is the stunning Lauren who looked beautiful in the blue of this dress.

Anna Scholz, Liz and Kathryn all looked stunning too.

Caroline looked beautiful in the this dress I loved the orange colours.

She also looked a total hottie in this dress. x

Anna and cliff along with there whole team were so welcoming and friendly answering so many questions for us and throughout the morning, proving us with drinks and amazing hummingbird bakery cakes (I couldn't have any, they use cream cheese frosting on most things) 

Anna also did a fantastic Q&A session towards the end of the morning and it was fascinating to see how her collections and business have evolved.

I loved how she collects ideas for her collections and develops her mood boards by taking photos and collection samples over time to help her come up with ideas, I also loved that the python print she used in the purple and black dress was a real python skin scanned into a computer and coloured and stretched till she had her perfect pattern.

She also informed us that she is working on a simple basic range of classic items that would be available all the time, such as black trousers and shirts, which every girl needs.

it was a fabulous morning and I had so much fun meeting all the other girls, even if i did need to hide in a corner a couple of times to calm down my anxiety at being in a room with so many people at once.

After this a group of us raced off across london to the OSP offices for a practice of the catwalk, I was not modelling but my wonderful friend Kathryn was and as we were staying together in a hotel and need to check in we decided to stick together.

On arriving at the office, we had to ask for a drink and even though most of us were starving after dashing all over london no refreshments were offered and they even ordered pizza for themselves and ate it in front of us all, I don't expect them not to eat, but god have some manners these women were pushing themselves out of there own comfort zones to model there clothing without any form of payment, I think the least they could have done was provided some snacks for them.

Now I did end up on the catwalk, but only because someone didn't turn up and poor gina, who had done such an amazing job of looking after us all and working with OSP to get everything sorted was desperate, so I stepped in and went for it, I wont lie this was the most terrifying experience for me, I was having very bad asthma that day and anxiety was at its highest, but I did it.

Anyone who does get to see the photos from the show, please realise we DID NOT have any say in what we were wearing! 

I found it honestly bizarre that a company working with plus fashion bloggers did not allow them to select there own clothing from the new range to put together an outfit showing there own style and take on the clothing, instead we were all dressed in our worst nightmares of plus clothing and made to feel frumpy and unhappy.

After another mad dash across london with Kathryn and Caroline we managed to get checked into our hotel and headed straight back out to the strand gallery to prepare for the catwalk, I am not entirely sure why we needed to do all this running about as OSP didn't even get the running order right and had missed out most of us so it was still a mess, but we went on and a staggered my way down the catwalk in my ill fitting skirt and dodgy flip-flops which I kept attempting to fall out of, luckily I only needed to wear one outfit so as soon as I was done I got out of them and into my own dress.

Which was this stunning little number from Bettie Page clothing which they kindly gifted to me to wear for the event.

It went down a storm and I had so many lovely complements, and I will be doing a full review of it this weekend as I think it deserves some true screen time, to show just how wonderful it is. 

The evening was fabulous, we had clothing on show from Simply Be, Navabi, Asos Curve, Elomi, and a fabulous selection of vintage clothing from Michelle of Red Bows Boutique which were so fabulous.

There was also a pop up photo studio provided by the gorgeous Diana of Fashion Loves Photos I can not wait to see the photos!

Here are a few blurry photos I manages to take, violently shaking hands and tiredness do not make for a steady photo, whoops :)

The whole day was brilliant even the strange parts (OSP) were fun just because the wonderful women who's company I was in made it that way, and I feel that Claire of A Monkey Fatshionista deserves a huge thank you and should be so proud of the amazing event she pulled together it was a fabulous night and day and I am so glad I had the chance to be involved.

Thank you. xxxx