Fatshion Faceoff - Brightly coloured Shoes

Yay another Fatshion Faceoff challenge, I have really been looking forward to this challenge, it is one thing I love to do, take a simple outfit and lift it up from dullsville by using accessories or shoes to really brighten it up.

This week my whole house has been battling a horrible Cold/virus thing that is making me feel utterly crap!

So today I wanted to wear black! plain old boring Black! but wearing a nice bright coloured pair of shoes made me happier than I though they could.

I went for simple jeans and a comfy black top, but one that has a little bit of interest to make it a bit less boring.

I choose to brighten my outlook with my Coral pink flats from Newlook.

The top is a really old one, like 4/5 years old, but hardly ever worn, and the jeans a Dorothy Perkins Skinny Jeans.

This is my Take the damn picture so I can go die on the sofa again face :) 

And my taking a deep breath face.

The cutout back which I love.

This isnt the most comprehensive post, but I can bearly breath so I am off back to my pit (the sofa) and promise to be back on form next week. 

Check out the other fabulous ladies and how they styled up there Brightly coloured shoes.

Hanna – http://thewardrobechallenge.co.uk/

Dani – http://diyfatshion.blogspot.com/

Olivia – www.waituntilthesunset.com

Molly – http://molly-pocket.com

Mouna – www.brusselsfatshion.com

Mhairi

xxx

Plus Size Swimwear Challenge - Tesco

Plus Size Swimwear Challenge

Well hello again and welcome to our Plus Size Swimwear Challenge, myself and 3 other bloggers are challenging ourselves to try out some plus size swimwear, and be brave enough to blog about it. 

For me this is a huge thing as I can tell you that it is at least 5 years since I even went swimming, so swimwear has not been a priority for me, but I need to get fitter and swimming is an excellent way for me to do this.

Swimwear for me is doubly challenging, firstly I am plus size, obviously,  but I also have a very large bust at a 36/38H I struggle to get decent fitting bra's let alone swimsuits, I need support and plenty of it!!

The first swimwear I have been sent to try is from the lovely people at Tesco's, I choose the Panache Natalia Fuller Tankini top and bottoms in a 38G which is the largest size they do.

We are all following the same 5 step review to give a consistent report across all the swimwear.

So here goes.

Appearance 

The swimsuit is beautiful in person with vibrant colours and nice thick material.

I love the fold down panel on the bottoms as it made me feel more secure and helped hide my pre menstrual (sorry for the TMI) bloated tummy, this I like, I loved the purple trim on the top but not the bow on the bust so much as because it is round lace like ribbon it just doesn't look nice tied and wont sit right at all. 

It has nice little metal panache tags on the top and bottoms which thank goodness aren't in awkward positions and are just kind of cute! yes I like strange things :) 

Fit

This is where this Tankini fell down for me, the bottoms fitted beautifully, but the top was a strange one!

It has a full insert bra with 2 hook and eye fastenings with 3 rows which I love! I hate fiddling with bikini fastenings and they always snap on me! 

The problem I had is that the Bra fits my bust really well, but the swimsuit itself does not have enough material to encompass my ladies so it pulls down and shows the wires, not I think I am slightly bigger than the cup size of this tankini but I found it odd that the bra section fits so well but the suit is low on material!

I am not sure if Panache themselves make this in a bigger size but it would be interesting to try in some bigger sizes to see if it corrects itself with a bigger cup.

Comfort

The Tankini is very comfortable and if you have a smaller bust than me, I would highly recommend it, the bottoms give a nice silhouette and the material is lovely, I unfortunately can't vouch for it in the swimming pool as I am one too ill to manage walking there and two my ladies would most likely fall right out of the costume as it is. I am thinking of trying a stitch or two to bring the material to the wires so its a bit more secure but wanted to show it as is for the purposes of the review.

Coverage

The coverage for me is excellent, apart from the obvious boobage issue, but the top is nice and long easily reaching just past the top of the bottoms, and the bottoms themselves are tight but not bulgy and cover my amply bottom nicely. the back comes up high enough for there to be no lumps and bumps on show.

Performance

Well I cant give you a review on swimming performance but i performed jiggle tests and laying down tests, and it looks good, my boobs stayed in and it was comfy to lay down in so for a summer sunshine holiday I would be happy to take this with me either with the little stitch in or with the larger cup. 

Excuse the shorts but I am not well enough to worry about bikini waxes at the moment :)

Value

Well the Tankini isn't the cheapest item that Tesco's sell but if like me you have a big bust it might be a good option to look at, the price of £52.50 might be a it high for some, and possibly would be for me if it is only getting used for a one off holiday, but if I can wear it happily at the swimming pool too, then I will pay this happily if it gives me the confidence to go! 

Value is subjective, if you can afford it, go for it if not I would try something from Tescos other ranges. 

Overall I do love this Tankini, and if I can make it work, I would be a very happy girl!

Make sure you check out the other fabulous ladies taking part in the swimwear challenge.

Becky - The Ramblings of Mrsbebe

Gina - Fat Fit Fine

Sara - Confusedbrit

Fatshion Faceoff

Fatshion Faceoff is a fabulous weekly blogging extravaganza, where myself and 5 other fantabulous bloggers take an item of clothing that we all have in our wardrobes and style them in our way.


I have been having so much fun doing these posts, but I found this week particularly hard!


SO what is this week....


HiLo Hem Skirt/dress


I have a skirt it is a very basic black skirt from Primark, it only coast me about £8 and it is great for the summer with some sandals and and a fab oversize T-shirt tucked in, makes me feel about 15 again.


The hard part of the challenge was that it really isn't summer at all at the moment, and to top it off it was chucking it down and practically dark all day so sandals were not going to happen!


This is what I came up with, it needs work :)

The weather was so bad, it was really hard to get a good photo that showed the length of the skirt, it is about knee length at the front and mid calf at the back.

The back and please excuse my crazy frizzy hair, it is the rain!

This top was from Next last season, and OMG I love the print!

And a fabulous Funk and Finery Wrap Bracelet.

Skirt - Primark £8

Top - Next (similar)

Boots - Asos Past Season

Leggings - Old John Rocha @ Debenhams

Bracelet - Funk and Finery

Go take a look at the 5 other fabulous ladies, they all have the most amazing styles!

Hanna – http://thewardrobechallenge.wordpress.com/

Dani – http://diyfatshion.blogspot.com/

Olivia – www.waituntilthesunset.com

Molly – http://molly-pocket.com

Mouna – www.brusselsfatshion.com

See you again soon! 

Mhairi

xxx

Bags of Love.co.uk review

BagsOfLove.co.uk

This is my review of the lovely  Personalised Gifts from Bags of Love which were offered to me, as one of my biggest passions in life is photography, I decided to go for it.

They offer so many fabulous gifts, from Design Photo Canvases to Bedding and Handbags, and pretty much everything in-between, I was in awe of the selection on the site, I eventually decided to go for the smaller triple set of canvases as I am trying to get some pictures printed at the moment, and thought it would be a fabulous way to see how well they come out.

I choose 3 pictures of my dogs, which you can see in the original format below.

If you have read my previous post, you should know that it is these little furry monkeys who help to keep me sane. 

I chose to have them printed in black and white to bring them all together, and I love how they came out, the quality is really good, I will be ordering a large print of my old girl at some point to see how the colour canvases come out but I have to say the black and white are ace!

This is what I chose the Mini Canvas Prints, they are the 10x8" three part set

We cant wait to get them up on the wall, they are wood frames and the images a wrapped, and would cost £59.98 to purchase them.

Some of the things on the site which really caught my eye were, the Photo Blankets, the photo bedding sets and the photo Wallpaper.

These all caught my eye as my stepson lives with us full time and it would be lovely to have something like these with pictures of his sisters on them for when he isn't visiting them.

There really is a gift for everyone and I honestly would recommend them, and with Fathers Day coming take a look at the options the have.

Hope you find something you like.

Mhairi.

xxx

These were gifted to me, but all views and opinions are my own and I have not been paid to promote these items favourably. 

Fertility Problems Suck!

This post has been swimming around in my head for a while now, I was unsure if I should write it at all for fear off offending people or making anyone uncomfortable, but ultimately I have realised the reason I started blogging was for me and I will write what I need.

My fertility has been an issue for a long long time, me and my Husband Marc married in 2002 and decided to try for a family fairly soon after, we decided that we would just let it happen naturally and not worry about it, but after 2 years and no joy, we began to worry, so we started testing with fertility doctors, I was a size 12/14 at this point with no real health issues, but I was told I needed to loose weight and then I would be considered for IVF, this really frustrated me as I was comfortable with my size and happy with my life and I couldn’t get pregnant as a size 8/10, so my weight was not an issue then, so why is it now?

This blog post is for me to get out of my head the thoughts and feelings that are constantly swimming around and to show how my mind works, I know there are other women out there with similar issues and we all have different reactions to our situations but I wanted to not feel so alone in it, so thought I would share.

Trying to get pregnant is supposed to be an exciting time for a couple, planning a family takes a lot of courage and trust in a relationship (for me at least), When we started trying it was exciting each month waiting to see if there would be a missed period? Would we need the tests we had stockpiled, just in case?

For a couple trying that wait is agonising and every month when that period arrives, at fist it is ok, just have to keep trying, its all part of the fun, no? but when that happens month after month it begins to feel like a kick to the stomach every time it arrives, we have now been trying for nearly 10 year, and month after month it is slowly wearing me down.

I want to be able to say yeah lets not bother trying anymore lets just get on with life but, even though everyone has a story about how they have a friend who this happened to and as soon as they stopped they fell, seriously it is easier said than done, and I do know someone who this worked for, my own sister and she now has 10yr old Twin boys.

The fertility doctors have never given me a definitive answer, it is always you probably cant conceive on your own, you have lots of issues but no definite cause! if the just said you can NOT have children at all, it would be able to let go and live life, but right now all I want is to be a mummy, I love being a step mum, and my stepson Joshua is seriously my little man, I love him more than anything, we want to give him a sibling here, and for me, I want to be a mum to my own son or daughter in the biological sense. 

Now at the moment, I am in a very bad place mentally and have been told they will not give me any help until me BMI is in their recommended range, which is the NHS’s rules and thats fine, but as I am currently in a place where I am accepting my body as it is, and learning to love myself having to loose the weight sucks, I fear being ostracised from the plus community I love because I have gone on the dreaded Diet, but I also need to do this so I can try the IVF and know I have done everything within my power to make being a parent again possible for me and Marc.

So what this boils down to, is that I will be loosing weight in the future and would love support from those able to give it, and hope I don't inadvertently upset people in the plus community, I am not loosing weight because I hate myself or because I feel there is something wrong with my size, because I really don’t, any health problems I have, I had as a size 8 and they are no worse for being the size I am now, but this is something I am going to have to do.

This post really is a mess and I apologise but my thoughts are so allover the place at the moment, which is why I am on a bit of a twitter silence, I needed time to get my head around things. 

Thank you for reading, if you are in a similar situation with fertility and need someone to talk to email me, I am very open about it. xx

Mhairi. x

Coat Review - Ann Harvey Cape

When Ann Harvey asked me which coats I wanted to review, I knew I wanted to try the beautiful double breasted cape that had been featured in Grazia.


The coats arrived and after finding the Red Funnel Neck coat such a good fit, I was so excited to get the cape on, but disaster struck, I am tiny only 5'1" and although I might be fat, I have narrow shoulders and a short waist, the cape swamped me, it was down to my knees and I couldn't even get my arms out of the sleeves, they even sent me another one in there smallest size but I still had the same problems.


Thinking I would have to send it back, I had a brainstorm (yes it hurt), I didn't want to miss out this coat in the review as even though it was wrong on me, it is a stunning coat, the material is beautiful, the quality excellent, and just because I am short doesn't mean all my readers are, so I spoke to Ann Harvey and the said I could pass the coat to my friend for her to wear and review for me.


I had the perfect friend in mind, she is tall plus, and gorgeous, and I knew she could rock the hell out of a cape, this fabulous friend is Helen!


To give you a little background on Helen she is crazy busy all the time, she is mum to Rowan who is 5 Wife to Daniel and she works as a Special needs Teaching assistant, she also used to be a girls brigade leader and beavers I believe and still is as far as I know, so as you can imagine her week is incredibly hectic. 


We had planned to set out the format of the review in the same way as the other two coats but between Helens crazy life, and loosing all her pics on her USB stick and my crazy life of step son breaking his arm and recovery we haven't been able to get together for such a long time, so I am going to give you it all in one go here and now. 

I loved the idea of sweeping about town looking all sophisticated in my beautiful cape but alas it was not to be!

The quality of the Cape was the same as the Red coat, the seams strong and a really well put together item, the buttons are nice and fit into the button holes easily without being stiff.

Helen sent me some photos of herself in the coat, I wish I had remembered to take a photo of me in the cape for comparison, but never mind, helen looks super pretty in it instead. 

My only worry with this coat is that it is such a light colour and I am hopeless with light colours.

We have also just found out the wonderful news the Helen and Daniel are expecting there second baby, so a huge congratulations to them both.  xxx

Helen sent me over a little note to go with the review

The coat is comfy, warm and I think it's stylish, although for me the

colour is a little impractical. At the moment it is great as it is one 

of the few coats I can wear with my expanding waste line!

So all in all a great review again for Ann Harvey, I would recommend a look in the stores if you have one or online, they also have concessions in both Debenhams and some Evans stores, there are a few items on my lists to buy at the moment.

Mhairi and Helen

xxx

Coat Reviews - Final

Well as you may already know I have been road testing Three coats two by myself and the third my friend is wearing, you can see me reviewing my coats Here, Here and Here. 


Just to go over the reasons why I choose to do these reviews....
Coat shopping for me is my most hated activity, Hate is a strong word that I rarely use, but I can honestly say that I HATE coat shopping.
It reduces me to tears and leaves me huddled in a corner wanting to hurt something, I can never get my boobs in them or if I can they are huge on the waist, I have a short waist and find they often fit all wrong, after talking to the fabulous Charlotte of Simply Be about this at an event they offered to send me a coat for review, but I thought it might help other people in my situation to see a few coats to get a good comparison, I want to know the shops I can go to every year and know I can likely find something suitable which I love, and the lovely Ann Harvey team offered me two coats to try, so I went with it.


I am going to give you my final review of the two coats I have tested now, and the full review of the Ann Harvey Cape my gorgeous friend Helen has worn for me will be scheduled for tomorrow, Helens crazy mummy/ work schedule and lost USB sticks have meant that we have been unable to split up the review of the cape. 


The Coats!

The two coats were the Simply Be Trench Coat and the Ann Harvey Red Funnel Neck Coat.


I have honestly worn these coats so much over the winter months and I have been so happy with them, I have found them both useful for total different things.


The Red Ann Harvey coat is such a vibrant red and makes me happy just looking at it, but I have found that the style for me is best worn with trousers and jeans as the length and shape suite them, but the Simply Be Trench works fantastically with dresses and trousers, and made me feel confident and sophisticated! 


I will start with the Ann Harvey coat, I really wanted to put these coats through there paces, so they have been worn for walking my four dogs, going out, playing in snow, even climbing trees! I wanted make them work hard for me!


Cleaning/Practicality 


It is dry clean only, but I haven't needed to put it in yet, as even when it has had muddy paw prints on it they have come off easily once dry, the colour is still vibrant and doesn't show marks easily, this makes me happy, as you can imagine, with four dogs it is easy to get mucky! 


Lining


Have you ever noticed how many coats you buy, even if the cost a small fortune, which have crap linings which are badly sewn and rip within a few wears? Or is that just me?
Well I can say that after 3 months of vigorous use the inner lining of this coat is doing brilliantly, no rips and not even thin spots, thats pretty good in my books!

Under arm bobbles and seems


This also something I hate I expect some wear and bobbles but sometimes on cheap material I find they happen almost immediately and look horrific! But so far so good the under arms look practically new, the colour hasn't faded from rubbing and the seems have held up brilliantly!

Buttons and Threads


Well as you can see from the photo there are one or two threads loose on the button holes but the buttons themselves are all still firm, I am impressed with this as I am hopeless at keeping buttons on coats!
Enjoy the added puppy hairs, they like to give me gifts :) 

Simply Be Caplet Trench Coat 


This coat has also been put through the same crazy routine as the the red coat, and has also worked extremely hard to prove itself to me!


Cleaning and Practicality 
The amazing thing about this coat which I loved is that it is fully machine washable, and although it is a  fairly dark colour it has held up well, but does show marks slightly easier that the red did, but only ever so slightly! I have washed this coat twice now, the first time I leaned against a dirty wall and put marks on it, and the second time, one of the puppies thought it was a good idea to try to jump into my arms, after she had ran around a muddy garden for a good half hour. 
Both times it washed brilliantly i popped it over a clothes horse and let it dry, which took no time at all really and it didn't need to be ironed which was fabulous (I hate ironing).


Lining


Again I am pleasantly surprised that the lining has held up brilliantly, there is no ripping or split teams, I have gone round every inch of seem on both coats and they are perfect!

Under Arm Bobbles and Seems


Now as you can see there is a loose thread hanging out of the underarm on the trench, but I cant decide if it is just a thread that has popped out and not trimmed, because i have had a good tug on the seems and they are holding completely, with no gaps at all, will have too keep an eye on it!  other than that all the outside seems are strong.

Buttons and Treads


 The buttons on the outside of the coat are all strong and holding up well, but one of the internal buttons has come off completely, So I will need to sew it back on, but not a huge job.

I am so happy with both coats that I cant choose which is my favourite only that they both get used for totally different things so that is great for me.
Ann Harvey is not a brand I have never tried before but they have really impressed me with the quality of their items, I will be looking at them again next year for coats! Simply be is a company I have been shopping with for quite a few years, but I had never thought to get a coat from them, but I would happily get one again, there is a rather gorgeous light weight trench coat I am tempted by!


The Red coat is no longer available from ann Harvey but they a couple of lovely winter coats in the sale half price if you want a bargain for next year.


The Simply Be trench is available here but this is the lighter weight one I want PU Sleeve Trench


Both of these coats come with my highest recommendation, so next winter if you are looking head on over and see what they have to offer!


I will be scheduling the Cape review to go live at 3pm tomorrow, so pop back then too. 


Mhairi.


xxx

Fatshion Faceoff - Maxi Dress

This week it was my turn to choose the item, and I went for a maxi dress, my reason for this is I love them, but never know how to style them, and I am hoping the other fabulous ladies can show me how to look awesome in them!

I know as a very short person that I shouldn't wear them, but hey, rules are made to be broken right?

The dress I am wearing is from M&Co a couple of years ago now, but I loved the animal print and the bold colours of it, but I have only ever worn it twice as I am so unsure what to wear it with.

I tried to show how I have worn it during the day before and how I have worn it out for a party.

This picture was just for you guys :)

I decided to team my zebra print bracelet from Funk and Finery with it to keep the animal print.

The shoes are from Tescos last year and the cardi is TKMaxx

I don't feel like this is the most exciting outfit in the world but I do love maxi dresses, I think I just need to find my confidence with them, I plan on finding the perfect pair of sandals to team them with in the sunshine. 

Do you have your perfect maxi dress, what does it look like? feel free to post it to me on twitter, any help is appreciated.

Don't forget to head over and check out all the other lovely ladies in there fabulous maxi creations.

Hanna – http://thewardrobechallenge.wordpress.com/

Dani – http://diyfatshion.blogspot.com/

Olivia – www.waituntilthesunset.com

Molly – http://molly-pocket.com

Mouna – www.brusselsfatshion.com

Lust List

Well this weekend has been a bit of a washout, my teeth have been killing me, so I have spent most of it in my PJ's, under my duvet!

This has given me far too much time to look through my favourite websites, and this is what I have found today.

1,2 &5 are all via Navabi, I am a huge fan of this site as the stock Carmakoma and other international brands without me having to pay lots of expensive postage and packaging.

2 is the stunning high-low hem dress from Simply Be, I love the pale pastel colours that are around at the moment, its not something I am used to wearing but I am trying to expand my wardrobe to include some new items.

4, The Portofino by Day dress from Eliza Parker is just divine, it comes in a number of colours and I honestly need this dress in my life! It is my birthday soon and I want a special dress for myself, but I am stuck between this and another dress which isn't released yet! oh god I cant decide!

6 is from IGIGI, I really have a bit of a love affair with this brand, I find them lovely to deal with online and the quality of the dress I reviewed was excellent, the deep azure colour of this one really caught my eye!

7, this dress is from Ann Harvey, I love the jewel green colour and love that it has decent straps so I can wear a good bra, I plan to go try this on next week.

Is there anything you are lusting after right now, what is your favourite item from my lust list? 

Mhairi

xxx

Fatshion Faceoff - Plain Coloured Dress!

Plain Coloured Dress!


This week we were challenged to style a plain one colour dress, anything except Black.


My choices are limited as I tend to wear a lot of patterned dresses, but I have 2 options they are the same dress but in two colours, I have it in Pink and green, but today decided to try and style the Pink dress and do something a little different, I normally go for a thick black belt under the bust with this dress and simple black shoes.


Today I decided to experiment a bit, and went for some colour mixing, not sure it really worked but I had fun and felt all sunny on a gloomy windy day!

So annoyed at myself for slouching in this picture and my bra straps need tightening!

My vintage gems Pocket watch

Me!

Dress - Dorothy Perkins (past season)

Pocket Watch - Vintage gems

Belt - Asda

Shoes - Next (past season)

Even though I am not sure this worked I enjoyed wearing it :) 

Go see what the other girls are wearing in their interpretations of this weeks Fatshion Challenge. 

Hanna – http://thewardrobechallenge.wordpress.com/

Dani – http://diyfatshion.blogspot.com/

Olivia – www.waituntilthesunset.com

Molly – http://molly-pocket.com

Mouna – www.brusselsfatshion.com