Looking rough in new stuff

Hi All, I thought I'd show you some new bits and bobs I have. I don't feel ill at the moment but I look ill! Not feeling quite as fabulous as usual thanks to my skin suddenly going bonkers, but for me 'not quite as fabulous as normal' is still quite fabulous so I posed my big ass off anyway!

 First up I went to Primani to get some essentials (for me and the boyf!) and came back with a couple of bargains. First one was this cardi on sale for £5 - I don't have any pale cardi's so this should come in handy.

It's tricky to photograph but there are little flecks of turquoise, pink and silver sparkles in it. It's really soft and comfy!

My camera is having real focus issues tonight. Whatever, you get the jist right?! Another £5 sale bargain from Primark. I desperately needed a massive super warm cardi because it's so cold in my bedroom (where I'm typing this now) and I keep going to bed shivering. This is amazingly warm and I love it!

Theres something of a vintage feel to this print I think. In love!

Yes I look in-fucking-sane, but you know what? This is a size 20 body suit with bright orange fringing and I'm in heaven! Utterly cool. It's actually very generous size-wise and would fit a size bigger than me - considering that I'm a 22 -24 that's pretty awesome for us bigger gals. It's long enough in the body for me (a MIRACLE!) and is super stretchy. I wanted it to wear with patterned trousers and skirts that I find it hard to match tops to. I'm tempted to get some other body suits from Primark for the same reason.... handy, and would keep my tights up!

 Next up is this cute lipstick print dress from Forever 21+. I decided to try it out for size (this is a 3XL, their biggest size) because I love the print. It's too short for me sadly so I have to send it back.

I don't know how to describe the fabric, it's much more slinky and stretchy and shiny than I was expecting. It's also ever so slightly sheer but as it comes with a slip that doesn't matter.
If your interested you can get it here.

I'll be back with a review of a delicious new ASOS dress as soon as it arrives!

Pin-up Diva

It's Friday! That means it's dress like a DIVA day. I decided today would be a pin-up style day.

 

Dress - Queen of Holloway

Cardi - Primark

Leggings - Primark

Shoes - Clarks

 

I'm not at works today, but I have worn this dress to work before (there are very few clothes I wear away from work that I wouldn't be happy to wear in the office - I'm not self concious!). Today I'm waiting for a guy from Ikea to come and look at my broken sofa and then I'm off to the post office for another mammoth ebay posting-fest. Doesn't mean I can't get overdressed! I would normally wear tights with this outfit but at home I'm a leggings girl!

I often wear pin-up style dresses with short cardies, or I tie them up like above.

 

This cherry print. They are a very pink shade of red, so my perfect accompaniment is this lippy....

I have 4 of these delicious glittery lip crayons. I'm a lip stain / crayon fan. I don't like dry or greasy lips (or sticky) so these provide intense colour and shine, with insane amounts of glitter but don't make my lips feel icky!. This is no.2.

See? Glossy lips without the sticky gloss. Yey!

xx

South-East to West

Oh the utter joy of being back in London! Had to go to my home town for a few days, and one of the good things about that is that it means I can go to a few shops I normally can't get to. I'll show you what I wore, and what I bought!

In my home town I wore a vintage dress with some pixi boots from Primark.

 Love the pattern!

 On the shopping day I wore my trusty old Ruby Rocks mini skater dress and some Nike trainers (gotta be comfortable if I'm shopping!).

My first trip was to New Look - I know I can go to New look in London and find Inspire range, but in my home town they have a much better selection of the inspire range. In addition people there don't want to wear the interesting pieces they sell, so I always get good sale stuff! Anyway, I'm super happy that I managed to find some chain linked double stud earrings, which I've been trying to find for ages. I though I was going to have to make some! These are £3.99 per ear.

Ahhhhh home sweet (messy) home! I'm wearing the trousers I got in the Very sale a while back, still available here in a few sizes but you can get something similar by so fabulous here for a bargain price, or from simply be here if you want to get fleeced! The top is actually a maternity top I got in the George sale at Christmas (out of desperation to find a plain black top to wear with my numerous patterned trousers / skirts!).

 

So I also went to George this week which is a genuine treat, as I don't have a big Asda anywhere near me in London, and the website is shite because it never has plus sizes in stock. Hooray for superstores! I had to have this mac - I've never had a real red coat (it's not a bright as the flash makes it look!) and this is so cute. I had to get the 24 as the 22 was too tight across my back & bust.

Only £28, happy with this! It's on their site here, but (of course!) not available in most of the bigger sizes.....

One of the things I like about George is that they do pretty bras in my size, and they are both cheap and comfortable! Available for £6 here. Yeah that's right £6! Insane!

On to the rest of my New look Haul. I got these 'high waisted' super stretchy skinny jeans for £12. This picture is just to show you the jeans and the flash does me no favours - I would never wear them like this because the fabric is too thin and stretchy and the lumpyness of my belly looks very untidy! You can get them here. The 22 were too tight on my bum and calves so I had to go for the 24. They're a bit looser on my belly than is ideal but it does make them quite comfy. Top is yonks old from Primark.

Thing is with high waisted jeans is that my big round butt is too big for them, so they are relatively high waisted at the front but not at the back! Shoes from TKmaxx.

The other pair of jeans I got were these cuffed ones. Also in the sale for £12. In New look I think I would be a size 23... a 22 is normally to small for me but a 24 is too big, or at least they will normally become too big after an hours wear and will then be given to charity like every other pair I've every bought from there! These are a 22, but because they are designed to be loose they are actually a pretty perfect size on me, and have already loosened up on the belly a bit. I think these may become a fave which is good as my poor DP blue skinnies are beyond repair now and have to go in the bin... WAHHHHH!!! These particular jeans have sold out on line but they have another pair of cuffed ones in New Look here. Top is yonks old from Primark, shoes from crocs.

See you on 'Dress Like a Diva' Friday! xx

Dress like a Diva

 So I decided that Fridays from now on would be 'Dress like a Diva' day. Not that I don't normally dress like a diva of course, I reserve the right to do so whenever I please, but I though it would be nice to have one day of the week when I really go to town!

 

Hair Doghnut - Primark

Face - Mainly YSL

Double chin - My own

Necklace - Primark

Dress - Marks & Spencers Autograph circa 2006

Diamante cuff - Primark

Stirrup leggings - Primark

Boots - Vintage

Diva face! 85% of my dresses are patterned, but I do actually own some nice plain dresses too. I figured that Divas wear black a lot, so it was time to get (one of my) LBD's out.

 

Luckily it was bright enought this morning to do a non-flash shot, so you can really see the dress. I've had this for so many years and I still love it. It's from Autograph and I got it for £15 in the sale and I just loved the neckline and slinky (but heavy fabric)

When I got it home I didn't like the hem line so I sewed some elastic into thebottom and turned it into a bubble hem. 

Deco baby! A diva has to accessorize, but I have a few jewellery rules, I don't normally wear necklaces with patterned dresses (definitely not long ones), I don't wear earrings if I wear a necklace and vice versa, I don't wear earrings if I have in hair accessories, I don't wear a bracelet and a ring on the same hand & I don't wear gold and silver together. It's a personal thing.... I also won't wear anything other than lip balm or nude lipstick if I have lots of eye make up on, and wear minimalistic eye makeup if I'm wearing lots of lippy. To quote the Mighty Boosh, "There's such a thing as having too much going on in your face, you know. All a bit too busy. All the features jostlin' for position. Yeah? The eyes screaming out, the nose.... very visually noisy." This pretty much sums up how I feel about jewellery and makeup. I look like a drag queen if I try to wear everything at once!

 AAAAAAAnyway, the other annoying thing about me is my inability to wear bracelets. They drive me mad! I have big wrists but I also work with my hands a lot and they get in the way. These little beauties are great because they are fabric cuffs that have been blinged up. I have a few and don't really notice that I'm wearing them.

You can probably tell that these boots are vintage huh?!

Thats all folks, come back next Friday for another OTT outfit!

xx

 

The matrix

I don't get on very well with white dresses, so as much as I love the baroque print ASOS curve swing dress I bought a last month I just didn't feel very comfortable in it. I wore it to work, and for lunch with my (not officially) in-laws, but I wasn't really sure about it. When I saw the green and black angle print swing dress I was like DAMN! that one is way more me... so I decided to sell my baroque print dress and buy the angle one.

I noticed that the print placement was different on the regular version for this dress, so I ordered and 18 in asos, and a 20 in asos curve to compare. It's too damn cold to get fully changed so the leggings I was wearing today look a bit odd. Please ignore them!

Curve first...

So the Curve dress is the perfect fit. I'm quite tall so it comes to just above my knee, which is my perfect length for a swing dress. The arms are comfy and it's generally very nice. The only problem is that there is a seem down the back which doesn't match up the print properly. It's a bit of a shame, but I knew from the pictures that this might be the case.

The print placement on the regular asos dress is much better I think, but this size 18 is a bit small for me - it's tight on the bust and arms, and so the fabric becomes a little see through so it doesn't swing as much as like it should!. The length is also too short for me. Shame becuase I think the dress looks better with the print like this.

I've decided to go for the curve version because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing.... it's more comfortable too and I feel a bit rock chick-ish in it!

There's no business like show business!

I love this time of year - awards season. Its all about the dresses for me, and now that the Oscars have been and gone I can roll around in all the beautiful dresses! There were some massive fashion crimes committed on the red carpets this year (Jennifer Lopez) but I'm focusing on the positive, so here are my favourites!


Golden Globes.

 Really enjoyed all the high necklines and over the top bead work this year. I also became obsessed with the phrase 'that would have looked so much better if her hair was up'. That is how I feel about this dress - the neckline is so ott that the hair sort of ruins it for me. A big loose up-do would have made this even more special I think.

 Jessica can wear anything she wants, She always looks amazing.

 We had a proper debate in the office about this one. I think it's like a fairytale dress. My colleague thought it was too childish and didn't like the photographic flowers. What do you think?!

 another high neck classic dress. This just screams old school Hollywood glamour to me.

Taking my prize for the best dressed at the golden globes... Helen Mirren hands down. I want this dress for myself. It is perfection!

The Grammys.

 This is the kind of dress I would actually like to wear.

 I wish I couldn't see her pants, because it makes this lovely dress look tacky!

Much discussion was had about this dress. It's another 'should have worn the hair up' situation for me, but I love the actual dress. I agree with my colleague though that Katy might be a bit too pale and to look good in this colour. Maybe it's the back hair? What a figure she has though!

Something else I loved this awards season was all the Art Deco stylings. This dress is like a subtle little work of art!

Too cool for school. Perfect colour, simple style, and neon shoes that seem to be made from lego! I adore this!

 Woah now, love or hate?! The turban ruins this outfit for me, but without it (and with hair up.. again!) I think this dress would have been amazing - It's like something Cleopatra would have worn (or at least the Hollywood version of Cleopatra!). I'd wear this dress, I really would!

Joint 'best dressed' for me were Beyonce in this casual and fabulous jumpsuit...

... and Taylor swifts beautiful gown. Really lovely.

 National TV awards.

This was more of a horror show than a red carpet. I consider the UK to be a real fashion hub, particularly London, but you wouldn't know it to look at the red carpet at our TV awards. The only little glimmer of light came from this beautiful deco and yellow dress from heaven. The rest was like a circus!

Golden Globes.

I was really disappointed by the frocks at the golden globes this year. There was only one that I went nuts for. I quite like Gemma Artentons dress above, but there is a part of me that thinks it looks a bit cheap - almost like jersey... not that that is a bad thing I guess!

Hair up please! This dress looks like a cross between a 70's maxi and a medieval gown. I like it, but I'm not sure why. Probably biased because she plays Margaery Tyrell in Game of Thrones!

Winner! Classic and simple. Love love love.

Oscars.

I genuinely can't remember the last time I saw Nicole Kidman and thought 'Oooh, nice dress!', but this one really suits her and I would totally wear this.

I'm not sure that this dress really suits her, but I love the dress itself. Deco again!

I really like this dress, I just really don't like the colour!

More deco! Classically beautiful, and the nude colour gives it a sexy feel.

There was so much black this year, but who cares if you get to dress like a dark princess?!

More Deco, really?! I hope this trend reaches the high street because I adore Art Deco. Almost my favourite, just pipped to the post by this one....

Oh this is special! What stunner, quite unusual but looks amazing.

As my blog is about plus size fashion (which seems to be anyone over a size 16 in media land) I thought I'd put up some of the not-a-size-4 ladies frocks. Sadly I think most of them are horrid....

This sequin number is probably my favorite.

 I was so happy to see Adele in something other than a black dress! I don't like the style of the dress, but love the colours, pattern and boldness of it. I think if this has a low neckline it would have been a million times better!

I feel a bit sad that when there are so few plus sized women on the red carpet, the ones who are on there wear disappointing clothes! If some of the bloggers I follow were on the red carpet they would be rocking all kinds of madness, and would look as good as the thin girls, so surely it can be done?! When Lisa Riley went out on the red carpet in the silk Anna Scholz maxi dresses she looked stunning, I know it's a bit bright and funky for the oscars but it's nice to see a big woman in something so eye-catching don't you think?. More of that please!

Lets end on a high note. Can I just give a quick shout-out to Cate Blanchet for always trying new styles and looking not only more interesting than everyone else but normally more beautiful too. She got slagged off for the dress she wore to this years AACTA awards, but I saw it and was like YES! That dress blows my mind!

Who were your favourites?!