Fat Festive Meetup!

Hello my lovelies! After Plus London three it was generally agreed that many of us didn't have time to chat enough and we should have a London bloggers meetup. As much as I love a good restaurant, I prefer the 'I'll be here, come meet me' approach! Lazy Parsnips! 

To be honest this is partially a selfish move, because I totally want to go to Winter Wonderland to soak up the fabulously over the top Christmas atmosphere and eat German sausages / drink mulled cider. 

To those of you based in London if you fancy meeting me there I'm planning to go  after work on the evening of Wednesday December 11th, from about 6pm onwards. Come for a meetup to eat, drink and be merry! xx

Wardrobe Weekly

Monday

Parsnips does tartan.... granny style!

Jumper 20 - Primark

Skirt ? - Charity shop in Streatham

Boots - Simply Be

Tuesday

I think I am developing a pattern, which is to wear swing dresses on days when I'm in a rush and don't know what to wear! They're so easy to chuck on that it takes the stress out of morning outfit construction!

Bonus... if you want extra cuteness (or day to evening!) just tie up the cardi!

Cardi 18 - Dorothy Perkins

Dress 20 - Asos curve

Leggings XL - H&M

Shoes - Terra Plana

Wednesday

Another summer outfit made warm with cardi & leggings!

Cardi / t-shirt / stirrup leggings 20 & skirt 18 - Primark

Shoes - Brako via TKmaxx

Thursday

IT may not hide my mega belly but I love this comfy midi. Lots of my female colleagues told me how nice this dress was... not so much 'you look amazing' but more of a 'I want a dress like that', so I think the love of stripes is still strong among my ladies.... hope I inspired them!

Dress 22 - Dorothy Perkins

Leggings 20 - Primark

Boots - Primark

Friday

 Lets just talk about this fabulous dress for a moment. When I saw the 2nd Beth Ditto for Evans preview images, this is the dress I really wanted. It sold out almost instantly so I missed it. I ended up with the rose print tulip dress (so much love for that one!) but despite trying to buy this a few times on ebay, I've never been able to afford to bid high enough to snap one up (and they're RARE!) so when Becky offered me first dibs on hers (which was too big for her) I was SO happy and of course paid up immediately! Was this dress made for me or what?! I love it, and I love Becky for being thinner than me!

Dress 24 - Beth Ditto for Evans

Leggings XL - Primark shaper leggings

Boots & red socks - Primark

Loving my new boots!

Saturday

You've already seen that outfit, posted yesterday!

Sunday

Didn't get dressed!

Winter Parsnip part-1!

Yesterday I felt sexy, so I got rather overdressed for a woman just going out to get groceries..... having said that I was buying a (frozen) Turkey for Thanksgiving and a goose for my faux Christmas, which sort of made it acceptable to get all wintry and glam!

I feel hot in this dress (Barbara Hulaniki for George), and I feel sexy in red lipstick, so that's what I went for!

I casualed it up with my little boots and some Christmas socks peeking out the top, both from Primark!

Anyway, the reason I'm doing this post really is to show you my winter coat, cause you never really get to see me with my extra layer do you?!. I used to be much more concerned with the stylishness of a coat, but as I've got older I've come to the conclusion that I'd much rather be the warmest person at the bustop than the most stylish! I have two types of coats I wear at this time of year - puffa and faux fur....

 This is my beloved puffa coat, bought YEARS ago from Tesco of all places, (their normal range, size 20!) that has been repaired so many times because I just can't bear to part with it! I just totally fell in love with it's asymmetric shape and crossover high neck. I think as puffa's go it's rather unusual.

 What I have come to accept over the years is that although it is freezing outside, that doesn't mean it's freezing indoors.... public transport, offices, shops all have the heating on full blast at this time of year, which makes layer upon layers unbearable to me. I only need my normal clothing indoors until it gets to the coldest part of winter, and even then I just need to wear a jumper, so what I want is a coat that is really super warm to protect me from the elements when I'm outside, but can just come off to reveal a thin layer of clothing underneath when I'm on a sweaty train or in an over heated shop!

The other thing I insist on during the cold months is a big hat! I don't have loads of woolly hats, but the ones I do have are totally and utterly big, warm and fabulous! I love this big bobble hat from Primark, and I have a few other big woolly hats... they have to be big enough to remind me of rasta hats because I hate beanies.... my head is too small for them!

This chunky one from H&M is my all-time favourite, but the other one I'm very fond of (even though I'm nearly 32!) is this little fella...

Yes it is faux fur and yes it has ears. It's cute, but more importantly it's SO warm! Perfect with a puffa! A primark special and I think they have them again this year! I'll be back soon (when winter really sets in!) with my faux fur & other choice head gear, but for now, here are my favourite puffas and hats available online!

 Evans £69.50

Asos £15

Bon Marche £45

Asos £15

 New Look inspire £39.99

Asos £9

 Tesco True £35

Asos £15

 George £35

Asos £15

Elf mineral make up review

I've been wanting to try some mineral foundation for ages - not sure why, it just seemed like a nice Idea! I like a semi sheer foundation, I've never been a fan of the thick stuff that feels like a mask, but I have quite good skin generally speaking so I don't need thick makeup. I've used all kinds of foundation over the years but unfortunately for my bank balance I've landed on Yves Saint Laurent Le Teint Touche Éclat Illuminating Foundation. This is a particularly expensive item because as I get older I've found that my skin colour changes throughout the year much more than it used to, and my face is at least one shade darker during the summer months so I have two foundations that I use, with the option of mixing them throughout the year.

 I've seen lots of bloggers wearing e.l.f makeup, and when I realised they sold mineral foundation for £5 per pot, and were offering £10 off a £20+ spend (amazing!) I thought I'd try some. To give you an idea about my skin tone I wear YSL Beige Rose 40 in the winter and Beige Rose 50 in the summer. I'm not exactly olive skined, but I'm also not as pale skined as I was a few years ago & am now able to tan slightly (which just didn't happen until a couple of years ago!) so I'm sort of a hint of olive with a pink overtone.

This lot (plus the brush) was what I went for. I have to say that I was a bit surprised by the colours of the foundations. They are far less pink as well as darker in real life than they look on the site. It's so important to have a reliable colour chart of your buying this sort of thing online so I was a bit annoyed! Anyway, I compared them to my YSL's before opening them and they weren't a million miles off so I tested them out. Additionally the 'sheer' booster powder is so pink that I figured it might balance out the yellowness of the foundations! I chose the eye brightener deliberately because it's quite yellow, and my under eye circles are normally dark with a bluish / purple tone so I was hoping that would balance them out!

Here is my face! I have to say that my camera (as it turns out!) is not really up to daylight close ups. My skin is a bit more blotchy and ruddy than this, particularly with the winds we've had recently! Anyway, it's the best I have so lets get to it! I had just showered, moisturised (blue Nivia forever!) and I've got a bit of Garnier tinted caffeine eye roll on under my eyes. Ready to go!

I used a kabui brush to apply the foundation, this one is from MUA (£5)

This is the beige foundation (£5) and it's a little bit darker than my skin but not too disturbing. As much as I appreciate bieng able to pay just a fiver for a small pot of foundation (to try), the size does make this a bit fiddly to use. The brush is bigger than the lid so it goes everywhere, and takes quite a long time to apply because you have to keep going back. I think this would be much easier to use if it were the size of the booster!

Foundation done (eventually!) and it's quite a nice sheer coverage. I think to get thick coverage you'd either have to have quite greasy skin or use tons of this! 

My stupid camera decided to change it's white balance slightly in this shot (argh!) but I then added the eye brightener (£3.50) under my eyes all over my eye bags. It's hard to see but this actually worked rather well, I think it might be my favourite item in this order! As you can see it's a bit darker and more yellow than my normal skin tone, so on goes the Mineral booser....

This is the last of the e.l.f products I tried. The pinkness of the mineral booster certainly equalled out the yellow of the foundation a bit. The idea of this powder is to 'absorb oil and minimises the appearance of wrinkles, fine lines and pores for a beautiful even finish' which it sort of does. I have to say that I'm always a bit freaked out by very matte skin though, so for me this over all look was just tooooo powdery and needed a touch of sheen!

MUA undress your skin highlighter to the rescue! I love this stuff, but it may be too frosted for some peoples liking!

Ahhh that's better! I like to be a bit shiny - not glittery, just a subtle sheen!

I finished my make up with my normal favorites and this is the final look. 

Gosh bronzing shimmer powder (002 pink) on my cheeks (I normally use this all over my face and MUA 1D 'oh my blush' on the apple of my cheeks fyi).

My everyday mascara nowadays is Gosh growth mascara. Not because I like the texture or brush (I don't, I much prefer Max Factor masterpiece mascara!) but because it actually works and has improved my eyelashes loads since I got it! L'Oreal superliner (the original) which in my humble opinion is the easiest liquid liner to use and can do both thin & fat lines. Then a nice sheer slick of lip colour in the form of my beloved NYC appleicious glossy lip balm in 'big apple red'. I have so much love for the appleicious balms, I've got 5 of them!

The final apperance is nice I think, but in all honesty there is no way that this foundation is going to replace my YSL liquid one. It's a bit a pain in the bum to use and I know i'd make such a mess using all this powder first thing in the morning! I also think that my skin is too dry for powder foundation to really work well on. I just feel like I'm wearing so much more make up than usual, but have ended up with the same effect as normal, albeit a little drier! I think this would be much better for ladies with greasy skin. Having said all that I think it will come into it's own when I have posh functions and need a more matte, polished look & have time to take a while applying thick layers. I also think it'll be good in summer when I don't want to slather my face with liquids. I wear less make up in the summer months so a thin layer of this on a hot day with just a bit of mascara will be great I think, plus lets just say it, this will cope better with my sweaty face than a liquid foundation I think!. The booster powder will be handy when I need to tone down shine or to even out the yellowness of the foundations. I think the product I'll use most will be the eye brigthener, which for everyday use I'd just put a thin layer of right on top of my under eye concealer (flips between Garnier caffeine roll on and YSL touche eclat fyi!) and leave it at that, because as you can see from the picture above, too much powder tends to emphasise the plump bags I always have under my plump eyes!

Plump Parsnip out!

Primarama

You know I love a bargain! I went to Primark to buy 2 things.... winter leggings and a fluffy (eyelash) jumper. Came out with a bit more than that, but all of it bargainous!

After Simply Be informed me that they don't do exchanges (fucking rediculous!) I decided to just get some cheapo black boots. These are the black version of my tan ones and I love them.... sized up so that I could wear big socks with them! £10, super comfy, go with everything!

I've been feeling like my ever-expanding pencil skirt collection needs smart tops recently, and I fell in love with the many different versions of this pussy bow chiffon top. I plumped for this delicious orange one because it was on sale for £3! size 20 so obviously much tighter on me than intended, but I LIKE the tightness!

I've been looking for the perfect top to wear with my Domino Dollhouse zip skirt, and this is it. Marilyn Marilyn Marilyn! How to marry a Millionaire posters and stills. I think this was around £5-6. Look out for the full ensemble next week!

Oh my god, could I love this £10 jumper any more? Nope! I have a green eyelash cardi from Primark and it's so warm and lush, but when I saw this post from Musings of a Curvy lady I just HAD to have a jumper version to wear with my midi skirts. Primark have this perfect jumper in a number of colours, and I took the white / cream version and this super pale pink (actually I think this colour is technically 'nude'!) to try, both size 20. I loved them both, but the fit of this pink one was just a bit better, longer in sleeve and body so this is the one I got!

 

Here you can see how pale it is, I feel SO Christmassy in this, and so incredibly warm. I highly recommend these bargain jumpers to everyone!

BTW, I got my second pair of primark 'shaper' leggings (size XL) which are sort of like a cross between leggings and disco pants... I don't know if they're particularly effective as shaper's other than being long and stretchy enough to pull over my top belly, but they're thick so are great for winter. The friction of my thighs when I walk in them does sound a bit like a train, but that is quite often the case and I don't really care!

Why do you have to be a heartbreaker?

SUDDENLY EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED HAS PASSED ME BY!

Okay, so maybe a tad over dramatic, but Miss Dionne Warwick sings the shit out of that song and I know how she feels!

Oh god, when I saw the Delilah Dress on Nancy's blog I fell hard..... so hard! I've never ordered anything from Collectif before, generally because they seem to sell out of the big sizes in the stuff I like pretty quickly, but on this occasion they had the dress I wanted in a size 22. Most of my stretch velvet dresses are a size 22, and I wanted this to be like a sexy wiggle dress so I figured I should be okay with a 22. I looked at the dress on the model and thought 'okay, it's below the knee so it should be a good length on me, and it's quite loose on the top so that'll work', plus I knew that Collectif have used Georgina as a model in the past, and her boobs are SO much bigger than mine. I went for it.

YOU GOT ME CRYIN'!

 I knew the moment I took this out of the packet that I was going to be in trouble. I looked at the bodice and then checked the size thinking I must have been sent the wrong size, but alas no, the body of the dress really is that short and small. The waist on this is about 4 inches higher than my waist, and as you can see from the first shot of me in it there is just no room for my boobs. I have deliberately photographed it next to a M&S size 22 so you can compare the length of the body's.... this really is ridiculously short.

I can just about pull the wrap sections under my boobs, but it is actually physically painful to do so, my poor boobies!

Can you see how it's digging into my breast?

If you're a size 22 woman with small boobs then you'll be fine.... it's stretchy and is just about knee length on me, but if you have big boobs forget it!

I would have adored this dress, I would have rocked up to my extremely fancy works Christmas party in it feeling like a million bucks, but alas, it was not to be. To quote General Melchett 'HOWL HOWL HOWL! Oh well... can't be helped'.

To be honest the most annoying thing is that the postage was over £5 and I also have to pay for the return, so I've lost nearly £10 and all I have to show for it is a broken heart!