Mini Primark Haul

I popped into my local Primark yesterday as I needed some more tights and socks but as always I ended up picking up some more bits and pieces!!

I have done a quick YouTube video showing you what I got!!

Snow Day OOTD

Well the snow has finally made it to my neck of the woods, although it is not as bad as some parts of the country!

This morning when I realised what the weather forecast was for today I threw on a warm and somewhat practical outfit for work today. (My first indication of the weather was that it was snowing on my phone!!)

Footwear is always my concern at this time of year as I have a 20 minute walk to work from the bus and back again at night and since I nearly fell over twice yesterday I knew I need to be able to stay upright today!

So here was my outfit of choice!

It was so cold!!

I love this Russian Doll jumper which was a sale purchase about a year ago from New Look and it has appeared on the blog before. The shirt was one of my recent buys also from New Look in their sale (sadly it is no longer online), and the jeans are my trusty Dorothy Perkins superskinnies.

The boots I love they are  from Caterpillar and I bought them a few years ago in the sale and they have served me so well ideal for colder weather and I use them when we go wander round the Lickey Hills.

Outfit Details
Jumper New Look No longer available
Shirt New Look no longer online
Jeans Dorothy Perkins
Boots Caterpillar Similar Here

I hope you are all keeping safe and warm!

Valentines Day with ToxicFox*

I was recently contacted by the lovely people over at Toxic Fox and asked if I would like to review something for Valentines Day. I had no idea what I would receive so when a box turned up last week I eagerly opened it!

This is what I was sent.

I have to say this really tickled me as I love Rose Wine and I love handbags so this is right up my street!
Yes essentially this is like a box of wine but I can imagine how much fun this would be at a party or as a gift for someone. Rather than have bag will travel, its now have wine will travel!!!

The wine inside the bag is Vernissage Syrah Rose and you get 1.5 litres so the equivalent of two standard bottles (also known as a Magnum). In terms of taste because of course I had to sample some it is on the drier side but slips down easily and made a nice accompaniment to my food over the weekend! At 13% it is on the stronger side but as always alcohol should always be enjoyed responsibly.
If rose isn't your bag (see what I did there?!!) there are also white and red wine options. 

In terms of price it isn't the cheapest of options at £29.99 but if you were looking for a present to celebrate a special birthday or for the person who has everything then this is a quirky and fun idea- it certainly made me smile!!

If you are in need of something for Valentines Day I have a discount code which is valid until 15th February just enter TFLove at the checkout for 10% off (not valid on the 3 for 2 offer).

Thanks for reading!

*Item gifted for review- all opinions are my own.

Mini New Look Haul

Morning peeps, so I was lucky enough to be given a New Look Voucher as one of my Christmas presents and I finally got round to spending it last week!

I have filmed a quick YouTube video showing what I bought please have a look!

Hope you enjoy it!!

Casual Weekend OOTD

It's Saturday and for a change I decided to pop my jeans and see what outfit I could put together. I have a great love for dresses- my wardrobe is full of them but every so often I like to put my jeans back on!

I finally got my hands on a shirt in the sale at New Look which I had wanted for ages to go under a jumper I bought last year from Yours Clothing as I have always been a fan of the layered look. I wore it under my jumper yesterday but today I fancied a change and dug out a sweatshirt that I won from Pink Clove last year.

I love this sweatshirt as it is super comfy but I mainly wore it whilst lounging around in the house so I decided to use it for today's outfit.

For an impulsive outfit choice I am quite pleased with the way it turned out and for me this quite the departure from all the pretty dresses I have been wearing recently!

Outfit details
Sweatshirt Pink Clove
Shirt New Look no longer online
Jeans Dorothy Perkins old
Necklace Adorning Ava via FAB Event Goody Bag
Trainers Primark

Thanks for reading

Another Floral Friday OOTD

Morning campers, today I have the third and final dress from my Simply Be Christmas haul!

I almost didn't buy this one as I kept looking at in store and eventually on a whim decided to try it on (as did a few of the other ladies who I was with) and it was love at first try on!!

It is a scuba material which I have become quite the fan of as it hugs your body but without feeling too clingy if that makes sense. The floral print is vibrant and cheery- perfect for the dark and gloomy winter days that we have had just lately! Since buying this dress I have already worn it to work twice where it was very well received!!

So here it is!

I went for a size 22 and I would say it is pretty spot on if a smidge generous so if you are looking at this dress then stick with your usual size. Despite the size of my boobs it doesn't pull across them or leave them feeling squashed. I have some vbo but as the material is stretchy it doesn't cling to every lump and bump instead it skims. (I would even dare to use the F word yes it is flattering!!).

At £50 it is not a cheap purchase but I went for it as I had a discount to use at the time and I know it is a dress that will be very much loved so I will get my moneys worth out of it!!

Outfit Details
Dress Simply Be
Tights Primark
Shoes Everything Five Pounds- last year

Style XL 2015

So you may remember I was lucky enough to attend the first ever Style XL event last year, you can read about that here, so I am really excited to say that it will return again this year!!

This time the event is being held in Birmingham at the Paragon hotel on the 18th and 19th July and promises to be even bigger and better than last year. (Last year was pretty awesome!).

The venue is about ten minutes from the city center of Birmingham and there are plenty of hotel and travel options for those who want to stay overnight.

There will be stalls, fashion shows and just general fabulousness.
If you haven't already booked your tickets I have a code which will get you a whole weekend ticket for the reduced price of £15. Just use code NNSML15 when booking to get the discount (the code only applies to Weekend tickets).

To book tickets please head over to Style XL.

I look forward to seeing you all in July!!

Beauty Knows No Size Tag

So I was recently tagged by the lovely Leah from Leah XL to take part in a Beauty Knows No Size Tag and I have recorded this as a YouTube Video which is featured below.

I tagged Leah from Just Me Leah, Kim from Call Me Kim and Kelly from Adventures of a Riot Grrrl to take part next.

If you fancy having a go either by blog post or YouTube then please head over to Leah's blog for the full list of questions!

Enjoy!

Silent Sunday

The Estella Dress OOTD

 Good morning campers I hope you are all well, today I have a rather fabulous outfit to share with you all!

I had been lurking on the Lady Vintage London site for ages drooling over the Estella dress which had been designed by the gorgeous Georgina from Fuller Figure Fuller Bust but I couldn't afford the original price tag. When I spotted on Facebook that their sale had started before Christmas I had a look and decided straight away to grab one for £30! 

I have been desperate to blog this dress since it arrived but I was waiting until I had a petticoat to go with it. After days of trawling Ebay and the rest of the internet the lovely Sarah from Plus Size & Proud  mentioned she had one to sell so I was very excited when it arrived at my office earlier this week and so I took it for a spin round Birmingham yesterday!!

So here she is in all her glory!

I apologise that you can't quite see the top of the dress but it was so cold I couldn't take my cardigan off, but at the bottom of this post is a very short video of me in the dress!

I went with the 22-24 and it is slightly big I would say that these dresses are cut generously so stick with your usual size. My only slight issue is the shoulders are a little big but that is down to me having narrow shoulders not the dress. I love that the bust is stitched closed as normally cross over dresses are left open which means they gape on me and everyone gets a a good look at my bra!! It is so lovely to have a dress which shows some cleavage but doesn't leave me feeling to exposed!

To get the best look with this dress a petticoat is a good addition as it has the full skirt so sometimes you want a bit of oomph. I actually wore it to work last week and the reaction was amazing my co-workers loved it and it made me smile all day!

I think Lady V and Georgina have nailed it with this dress and I also love that the size range was 8-32 so totally inclusive.
Sadly since I bought it they have all pretty much sold out, but I'm sure they may pop up on Ebay now and then so I am just thankful I bought one when I did!

You can also check out my latest Vlog on YouTube to see this dress in action (towards the end of the video).

Below is also a quick snippet of the dress as well!

Outfit Details

Dress Lady Vintage London
Cardigan Primark
Tights Primark
Petticoat Sarah Plus Size & Proud
Shoes Primark

Feeling Floral OOTD

So I have another outfit post for you today and it is the second of the three dresses that I had for Christmas from Simply Be.

This dress was another find on the sale rail and after discounts was an amazing £11 so a total bargain!

I must point out that I was absolutely freezing when I took this photos so if my facial expression is odd it was because I was so bloody cold!!!

 

This was the dress that I wore on Christmas day as it is so comfortable to wear, the material is super stretchy and I love the three quarter length sleeves. Since Christmas I have also worn it to work so it is really versatile dress and I am really quite the fan of the smock style. I went with the 22 and I would say it is true to size and was a good fit on me.

Outfit details
Dress Simply Be
Tights Primark
Necklace Primark
Boots Ebay

Unconditional Body Beautiful Part One- My Body and I From The Beginning

Hello and welcome to a brand new monthly series called Unconditional Body Beautiful which has been created by Rebequita Rose.

Over the coming months we will be concentrating on different parts of our bodies, but today we start with a look at the story of our bodies.

I guess I was quite lucky when I was younger in that spent my childhood never really giving my body much thought to me it was just a body and I was happy in it. The first time I ever remember feeling any discontent was during my teenage years when my bust seemed to grow at an incredible rate of knots which for someone who was a total tomboy was disconcerting!

Right through my late teens and early twenties I was still comfortable in my own skin but still had moments of annoyance that my boobs were quite large on my then slim frame and often wished for smaller ones!! In fact during my twenties I was all set to have a breast reduction but ultimately I didn't go through with it and I am now glad I didn't.

My love/hate relationship with my body didn't really take hold until my mid twenties when a sedentary job which I didn't really like (I worked in a call centre) and the ups and downs in my personal life made me turn to food for comfort and so weight gain began. I spent the majority of my twenties yo-yo dieting, sometimes refusing to go on nights out because my confidence had hit rock bottom. In those days plus size fashion was very limited and there wasn't the same choice of trendy outfits that my slimmer friends could wear.
My life was held to ransom by the number on a scale and whenever I would start a new diet my whole day could be either transformed or ruined by what the scales said in the morning.

Sadly this mindset lasted well into my 30's despite meeting my now husband who loves me no matter what weight I am and it wasn't until two years ago that something changed and I reached an epiphany over my body.

The turning point was stumbling across plus size fashion blogs online and being wowed by the most amazing women who just oozed confidence, were totally at one with their bodies and wore outfits I had never considered I could wear. I trawled the internet searching for all the plus size blogs I could find and the more I saw the more my attitude towards my body began to change.

I then decided to go one step further and have a go at blogging myself and this was when my journey to being body confident and body positive really got going. It sounds cliche but the PS community really are amazing, very welcoming and never have I felt more at home! I was still finding my feet when I started the blog and my early outfits reflect this, but fast forward nearly two years and I now wear bodycon dresses and own a bikini! I no longer feel my worth is defined by a number on a scale or what dress size I wear as there is so much more to me than that!

One of my first ever outfit posts!

My Xmas Party outfit!

I would be lying if I said I never have the odd wobble because I still do I am only human after all and at this time of year with all the new year new you floating around it can be hard to shut it out. So what do I do when I feel like that, I grab my most fabulous dress pop it on do my make up and stick it on Instagram. Vain you might say, attention seeking maybe, well yes maybe it is but sometimes you need to be reminded just how brilliant you really are!

Don't forget to check out the other ladies also taking part

http://www.rebequitarose.blogspot.co.uk/

www.jaymiranda.com

JustMeLeah.co.uk

http://curvaciouslyyours.com

www.mode-plus.com

thecurvyandcurlycloset.com

PhatGirlFresh.com

http://everydayrunway365.blogspot.com.es

www.BBWGeneration.com

www.lagorditapresumida.com

www.shalondozier.wordpress.com

www.toodalookatie.com

www.prettypluspep.com

www.prettybigbutterflies.com 

https://curvesbecomeher.wordpress.com

http://falalamele.blogspot.com.es

http://www.mariedenee.com

katherinehaywardmylifewithcp.blogspot.com.es
www.clotheyourcurves.wordpress.com
http://curvesalamode.com/ 

OOTD- Take a Walk On The Wildside

If you are a regular reader of my blog you may remember that I mentioned I bought three dresses from Simply Be whilst I was at Meadowhall back in December. These were part of my Christmas present from Mr S and I thought it was about time I showed you the first one!

 

I found this dress on the sale rail and decided to try it on now this is a 24 and I must admit that when I took it off the rail I didn't look very generous. In all honesty I wish I had also tried a 26 as this is quite snug on my boobs and a tad tight across my shoulders. It is also shorter than a lot of dresses I normally wear, it is above my knee so if you are taller than me it may be too short but it could also be that due to my boobs taking up a lot of room it makes it shorter.

Now whilst we are on the topic of sizing this brings me onto an issue that you may have seen or heard about with regards to Simply Be. It has become apparent that just recently there is a lot less choice of clothing in sizes above a 26 and that a lot of the newer ranges are stopping at a 26 so sizing out many women. To me this risks alienating your core customer especially those who have been very vocal in their support for the brand and who are now finding their choices becoming more restricted. Add to this the odd sizing such as this dress (I normally wear a 22 and whilst the size on the label doesn't bother me for some women this will be an issue) those who wear a 26 could also find themselves sized out if the outfits run too small. I hope Simply Be take all the comments on board, look at the sizing of their clothes and availability of items in all sizes as after all they are supposed to be a 'Plus Size' retailer.

Outfit Details
Dress Simply Be
Necklace Johnny Loves Rosie Via ASOS Secret Santa
Tights Primark 100 Denier- my favourite tights of all time!
Boots Ebay