And The Leaves That Were Green Turned To Brown.*

I am feeling quite autumnal at the moment, from my hair now red/orange to mustard jumpers and orange tops I am embracing a autumnal colour pallete at the moment.  So when J D Williams contacted me to review a pair of boots from their range well how could I resist.

I wasn't really that familiar with J D Williams, I had heard of it years ago and remembering it selling frumpy clothes for fats, but when I looked this was a very different J D Williams both in the range of clothes and shoes.

I knew it was boots I was looking for and I was pleasantly impressed with their range which has a good choice from your knee highs which are lovely but I just never find comfy to a beautiful range of ankle boots which you can look at here,  I picked a oxblood pair of Chelsea influenced boots, with a nice sort of fuzzy almost like pony skin feel at the heel.  They feel quite well made and comfy like I could wear them for my daily stomp to the train and with the dog and for work. where I am on my feet quite a lot.  I would say that the E fit are perfect for my slightly chunky trotters.

I have teamed this in a work style way with a pair of Chloe skinny jeans from Simply Be, these are ankle grazers and I think these generally work better in the summer with ballet pumps than with boots in the autumn (mental note) and my new favourite mustard jumper from Matalan. It is not available in Mustard on line but is in a nice bottle green.  Also featured is my elderly Staffrador (Thats a heinz 57 staff x lab to most) Madame Beyonce who has been making oufits more classy since 2004.

As well as the boots I have reviewed I also liked these boots.

Classic with a leopard print, and honestly who can resist a bit of leopard.

And these boots are firmly on my wish list both in the purple and the black as I love the 80's vibe of them and think they would look great with both print mini dresses and leggings as well as jeans.

As I am home now I took these in my local church Yard which is St Leonard's in Deal I have put a couple of pics on, pretty innit?

*These Boots were gifted but all views are my own!

Get Yer Baubles Out!

So when I wrote my 39 before 40 post, the avid follower will remember number 18 was "To have a photoshoot, as generally I feel awkward and most unpretty in photos and I would love a kick ass set that I feel proud of."  Well I finally got round to this with the fabulous, fun and rather talented Chiara Aprea.

I had seen Chiara's work on other other people, she did a fabulous set with the beautiful Mayah Thomas from Beautyful Youniverse and when she did a offer for a Christmas themed shoot at £50.00 who could resist.

I had never had a shoot so I didn't know what to expect but Chiara was really friendly and put me toataly at ease, admittedly the make up was a lot heavier than I usually wear but I was assured it would look great in the pics and under the lights and she was right.  She is also a master at poses and ideas and made me who has a habit of getting a magnificent double chin, pulling a weird mouth (think Cherie Blair with rigormortis) and a habit of doing startled eyes as its either that or closed eyes looking pretty damn fine.

So here's the images I chose for your festive fancy.

My personal favourite is the bauble and I love the retro cheesecake feel of them!  So mission complete and apologies if you have seen more of me than you'd like.  However, if you would like a photoshoot as a confidence boost or as a pressie for someone I cannot recommend Chiara highly enough

Nobody puts Fattie in the corner - No they shove her on the Internet

I used to feel cross that High Street Stores put their Plus sizes in the back of the store, and whilst the internet has made things better I can buy cute frocks from indies and there is ASOS Curve who I think stock fantastic fashion forward stuff.  However, it seems that on the High Street this seems to have given stores the go ahead to just pop their Plus sizes on the internet and whilst I am sure they will tell me it is financial I can't help but feel this is bullshit and they don't want my fat body in their shop.

My fabulously fat self

Whilst the internet is fab and believe me and my bank balance I am  a huge fan, I lament the loss of shopping as a social experience.  I want to go out with my friends fat and thin and be able to shop, try on frocks and bottoms and not be restricted to bags, shoes and the odd top.  I want to be able to go out and buy an emergency pair of jeans for work when mine are looking a bit sad or I just haven't done my washing.  I don't want to wait at least 24 hours for something this sucks arse frankly.

So with the news New Look have banished my fat self to the internet by only stocking Inspire on the internet (apologies pulling it from 250 stores and probably leaving 5 items in the rest) I will be soul searching before I part with my round pound with them!  As if I can't strut my fabulous fat self into your store do you deserve my custom?

What do you think?

*Since this post I have been contacted by New Look (See Comments) who have stated that they are not removing the range from in the stores.  This is great news as I know a lot of people really liked this range.  Although I was really angry with New Look I am still not exactly cheering as in my area neither Canterbury or Westwood Cross stock Inspire to my knowledge and it does feel like it has been pushed as more of an internet based range.  Although when I lived in Swansea Fforest Fach had a really good range although again it had been taken out of the Swansea Store.

It's soooooooo Cute! - Meme Box Cute Wishlist 3

Anyone who knows me know I am a little bit South Korea obsessed, a day watching vlogs on You Tube of Seoul, Guilty as charged, and I have long been curious about South Korean Cosmetics and Skincare as I had heard good things on the internet and Vlogs like Eat Your Kimchi!  So when I saw on Adventures in Tea and Cake Blog  (The very lovely Kelly is another South Korea fan only she has actually been there) there is a American company that ships South Korean Beauty Boxes to the UK, I was well up for one of those bad boys.

As I love a bit of Kawaii and Kitsch I indulged in a cute box, so what was in it.

Inside was a Youngwoosa Oh! It's lovely and Soft Cream with a reccomended retail of $47.00 and a ddung Family Foam Cleanser which retails normally at $12.00

These are the only products I have tried and I will start with the cleanser, the blurb that comes with it has a lovely foamy consistency almost like a shaving foam when mixed with water and left my face feeling squeaky clean but I think it would be a bit drying for my skin.  However the Oh! It's lovely and soft cream has the makings of a winner it soothed the tightness after the wash and left my dryish skin feeling hydrated and plumped up.  It also is quite an attractive little pot to have on your side.

Talking of packaging I also got this splendid Shara Shara Fairy's Make-up Synergy Sun cream which I haven't tried yet but the blurb tells me offers a SPF 45 and will create a synergy effect with base make up that will help balance out uneven skin tone, so if the blurb is to be believed a super SPF BB cream, count me in and to be honest even if it is naf I really like the packaging it appeals to my inner 7 year old girl.

Last but not least I received some Tony Moly Red Cheeks Girl Patch which claims to give moisture relief to dry rosy cheeks, a Shara Shara kissing sugar scrub which is in the cute tin with the girls face and in the leopard print tub there is a Hope Girl tinted lip balm in pink, it looks very vivid in the tub but I think it will go on a nice sheer colour.

I was impressed that these were all full sizes and I think came to about £16.00 with postage the downside was that they take a little while to come.

Unfortunately the My Cute Wishlist 4 has already sold out, but there are other cool boxes such as The Wonder Woman Box here and no you don't have to thank me just enjoy!