Hairspray Vibes with Simply Be

I have mentioned my love of the 60's far too many times to regular readers and I guess it no surprise I am still feeling them.   So when Simply Be offered me a dress from their amazing Day Wear selection, despite the fabulous selection it was already pretty much a given I would pick this high necked Geometric Swing Dress, that made me feel a lot like Tracey Turnblad and I should be dancing on the Corny Collins Show.

As this is such a bold print I kept my styling simple with Black Opaques from Primark, I cannot recommend these enough as the XL fits my size 22/24 bum perfectly and they are mega cheap.  My fun ice cream clutch which is very old from New Look came out, you can't get these in New Look now but rip offs are all over E Bay and silver chunky Sandals from River Island a while ago.

I found the dress super comfortable and perfect for this outing to the cinema to see Suicide Squad. The length was great and I found it to be quite a large size 22, so if you wanted a more snug fit you could size down.

Hair and make up I kept it simple with a side pony which is a style I am feeling at the moment with the heat.  For a night time look I would try and do a beehive and put more eye make up on as I feel the dress could easily be styled for a night time look, but here I kept it simple with basic make up and a Limecrime rip off of their pink velvet from Wish.  

*This item was gifted to me but the opinions are all my own,

Sequins & Stripes - Feat: Simply Be

It has been a beautiful Bank Holiday weekend following a rather steamy and sultry August.  I worked a lot of it but I did have the Saturday off which gave me the opportunity to wear one of the beautiful dresses sent to me by Simply Be to a BBQ.  I chose this beautiful striped, sequined dress from their party wear collection, where it is currently on sale for £24.99 and goes up to a size 32.

I liked this dress as I thought the striped sequins were unusual and a different way to wear sequins.  The sequins were tiny and in a rope like pattern which glittered nicely which doesn't show much in the pictures and I thought it was a perfect mix of casual and dressy.  I sized up in this dress and I didn't find it roomy, so if you are interested in this dress I would definitely size up.  I wore this with leggings as it was very short on me, for reference I am five foot 5.

Accessories wise I kept with black teaming it with my fabulous Blackheart creatives Vicky name earrings and a nautilus necklace my Dad gave me around 8 years ago which I must confess I have not wore as much as I should.  I also had one of my current favourite handbags which is from Skinnydip in the shape of a can of liquid sarcasm, which my friends little girl loved.

As I am still loving the 60's I tried to do a mini beehive with my hair it wasn't as big as I would liked it to be, but passable for a first attempt.

I hope your bank holiday was lovely too, but I am beginning after the sweltering heat of the end of the Summer to long for some cooler Autumn days.

*Although the dress was gifted to me from the lovely people at Simply Be all opinions are my own,

Plus 40 Fabulous - The July Edition

Welcome dear reader to my much neglected Blog!  It is July and the Summertime Madness or Sadness depending which way you are inclined has struck and for this month's Plus 40 Fabulous we are talking Summer holidays,

I have to say I am a big fan of Summer from childhood it may be due to the 6 weeks off school and being a big kid I have never grown out of this and find myself becoming meloncholy towards the end of summer thinking as the first leaf falls that it will never be as perfect again.  I am nothing if not a little self indulgent and dramatic at times.

As a kid summer holidays meant the beach, ice cream, spam fritters and holiday camps probably in Scarborough or Norfolk with their unique naf brand of entertainment and me entering every contest and never winning,  I am still smarting at not being crowned Junior Miss Blue Dolphin,

I am the very little one

I retained my love of the beach through my teens and was thrilled when we moved to Deal because it had a beach, Woolworths and a Marks and Spencers which was a big upgrade from Market Rasen with it's biggish Forbouys and Co op.

Not Deal

My first holiday to somewhere like Greece or Spain came when I was 21 and me and my friends went to Kefalonia to work.  It was adventure we we're sacked for drinking to much then rehired, the bar where we worked shut then I got a job alone in another town but was unceremoniously sacked for not having a affair with my boss, he was short, in his 40s, blew dried his hair and being a 21 year old Shirley Valentine was not one of my goals.

Now as a adult I tend to do Winter holidays as who wants to be in Britain when the weathers crap????  But I do tend to have a little Summer Staycation.  A lot of this years Staycation will be devoted to the Rio games as I love the Olympics and geekily watch as much of it as I can.

However, some of my staycation plans will involve:

An Afternoon Tea.  My Mother in law is visiting and I am searching for the ultimate afternoon tea, so hit me up with suggestions.

A visit to Margate, Dreamland and a ice cream parlour.  I love the Margate, zero apologies given, I want to check out Dreamland and I want ice cream simples.

Not in Margate but in Broadstairs

To read the new Lisa Jewell book.

To Take some OOTD pictures, when I don't look like hell, I have some pretty fancy clothes that I would like to share.

There are probably loads more of things I want to on my staycation, but anyway I will be indulging and loving my time off in hopefully the summer sun.

I believe several other foxy forty plus bloggers have shared but please go and check out other blogs as there are some pretty splendid ones on the list below.

Cathy: http://southernyacht.blogspot.co.uk/
Christy: http://www.sprintingwithscissors.blogspot.co.uk/
Daisy: http://daisysays.co.uk/

Kate: https://wearingmywardrobein2016.wordpress.com/
Kath: https://fatheffalump.wordpress.com/

Kaye: http://www.polishedcurves.com/

Kellie: http://www.bigfashionista.co.uk/

Leah: http://www.justmeleah.co.uk
Lee: http://www.pinkybellesshed.co.uk/
Lisa: http://www.kitandkoboodle75.blogspot.co.uk/
Marged: http://www.divadellecurve.com/
Mookie: http://www.mookieslife.com/

Nikki :http://www.nattynikki.com/
Perelandra: http://www.pamperandcurves.com/

Sarah: http://www.plussizeproud.co.uk
Steph: http://misskittenheel.com/
Tanya: http://www.secretplussizegoddess.com/

Vicky: http://www.therandomnessoftwee.blogspot.co.uk
Yvonne: http://woosangwashere.blogspot.co.uk/

A Rose Like This OOTD

As I wrote about on a earlier blog I attended Curvy Convention which apart from babes, the catwalk models (no so much the clothes) and a few brands was well a bit underwhelming.  However, after spending a long time with the ever wonderful Perelandra I headed to blogger babe and plus size designer Rosie's stall where I saw a fabric of great loveliness with retro swimming ladies on it. Regular readers know I am all about the fabric. so like a dress of dreams I tried it on and god damn it was a perfect fit, so there was never a question it was coming home with Mama.

Luckily I was meeting up with my oldest bestest pals so the dress didn't have to sit in my wardrobe like Miss Havisham too long.

I teamed it with my trusty denim jacket and with a nod to summer a ice cream bag I bought in the New Look sale years ago.  The dress itself reminds me of the 80's with the think black band reminding me of my cheerleader style dresses from back then and 90's grunge with its vintage fabric, leather style edging on the collar and sheer sleeves.  Remembering the 90's I teamed it with clumpy shoes.

With my hair I went sort of big with a Victory Roll. Make up wise I went with a strong eyebrow and lip with Stila's long last lip stain in Aria which I highly recommend as it does not budge.

I cannot say how talented I think Rosie is, there are so many Rosie Originals she has made that I would just love in my wardrobe but for now finances dictate I will have to be satisfied with this beauty.

Down in Margate

I am a sucker for the seaside, I live by the sea here in Deal and there are loads of fabulous seaside towns around where I live one of which is Margate.  Margate is a bit Marmite, people tend to loathe it or really quite like it.  I'm not gonna lie, parts of it are bloody awful the advent of Westwood Cross the local out of town shopping centre killed the High Street and around the same time Dreamland shut and the seafront had the look of a place where winos and chavvy teens would hang out looking for trouble and fun.

However, like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, Margate's fortunes have began to turn.  I suppose it began with The Turner Centre and a few cool shops in what is known as The Old Town.  Then came a couple of Boutique Hotels like The Sands and The Reading Rooms, there is also the Crescent Victoria where I had a cracking scone in an afternoon tea that was otherwise a bit unremarkable.  Although I am told The Walpole Bay is the place to go for a slightly eccentric but authentic Cream tea.  Anyway I digress then Dreamland has reopened as a heritage Theme Park,  Yes, Margate is on the rise putting it's make up and lashes on for a comeback to rival Bet Lynch returning to Corrie.

A particular love of mine is the old town with it's quirky shops and on the first bank holiday I lured Mum there hoping for cake at The Cupcake Cafe, unfortunately that was rammed so I had to make do with a really good Waffle at Melt The ice cream parlour that belongs to The Sands, I also had a good wander around the shops as it is crammed with vintage shops and quirky boutiques.

Can you spot Las Vegas, Margate?

I loved these letters but they were a bit pricey.

I really liked this little Boutique that caught my eye as it had a Jarvis Cocker print in the window, unfortunately I can't remember what it was called, but the stock was really cute.

I then popped in Madam Popoff's Vintage Emporium which had the most beautiful stock and the best most helpful staff ever.  Who when I was talking to her gave me her card and told me to e mail my measurements so that if anything came up in my size that she thought I would like came in she would let me know.  I have to say as these pictures of the window display show it really does have some of the finest vintage clothing out there.  How much do I want that 60's style pink and white dress.

Finally I had to head up the High Street a little way to Rat Race, it specialises in Mod and skin wear but also reproduction clothes in general and have recently opened a devoted women's section.  Sadly everything was too small I think stopping at around a size 18, but the staff were really friendly and offered that I could try things on.  I fell in love with the houndstooth dress but alas it wasn't to be.

Finally as I said I stopped on the seafront for a waffle, I did stop in The Chocolate Bar first but the heady sweet vanilla and chocolate smell put me off, so I tried Melt it must have been good or I was hungry as there are no food porny shots, but the light must have caught my eye as there is a picture of that. Pretty innit?

So that was my day in Margate hope you like it as much as I do.

The Curvy Convention 2016 - Feat a 60's OOTD

So yesterday I got up at unholy O'clock for a Saturday Morning when I am not working and headed up to London for Curvy Convention (or Chubby Con as the Hub called it) and to meet up with the stylish and wonderful Plus size and Proud.  I have known this wonderful lady for a long time on Social media for a long time but meeting in the flesh did not disappoint, I am pleased to report she is a fantastic human being who made me chortle many times.

After finding each other in Kings Cross we headed over to Hackney to St John's church to meet up with other fabulous bloggers attending, which included Katt from a Fat girl for life, Tanya from  secret plus size Goddess, Becky from Does my Blog make me Look Fat?, Lottie from Lottie L'amour and the lovely bra guru Caroline Curvy Wordy.

The venue if I am honest was underwhelming a old church St John's which was nice enough but a huge room, with nowhere to chill out, the music from the catwalk was a bit overwhelming when you were walking round the exhibitors and made it difficult to talk.  The first hundred people were given a goody bag which had some sweets a T shirt and the Programme which was nice.

I am having a 60's period at present and generally want to look a bit like a fat mod or Ronnette, and as the poor women at the Voodoo Vixen stall found out don't get me started on the swing dress.  So I went full on in a half beehive and my Heart of Haute, Doreen Dress in Atomic Chequers.

I have to report this dress is fabulously comfortable and the pockets are functional.  I teamed this with some old silver sandals from River Island that although comfortable are too heavy for a day on your feet, black opaque tights, my Skinny dip raygun bag keeping with a spacey feel.  My headband is a Grown and Glory Glitter band.

On entering the venue we headed straight to the Nicky Rockets stall as I knew I wanted a pair of pants and a Unicorns Tee.  In my haste I neglected to notice the £10.00 sale rack but did end up with the Perelandra Hare Tee, which I think was the experiment as it is on a pink Tee rather than the eco friendly ones, I kind of wish I had snapped up the grey hare one too as it is lovely.

It was lovely seeing Nicky, Baba and Perelandra, so we ended up chatting for the first hour at the Nicky Rockets stall and not looking at much else because they are just so lovely.  I then had a mooch round and we looked at the Voodoo Vixen stall where I moaned at the poor lady about the lack of choice as VV is fine for a swing dress, but what if I don't want a bloody swing dress, there main range does lovely stuff but I find their plus range a bit meh!  Although I do love the Katniss and own one and think everyone I have seen looks great in it.  To be fair the lady I spoke to was Plus sized and said she was trying to make the people at the top listen, but come on VV if Tara Starlet can do so should you.  Anyway to the poor lady I spoke to if you read this sorry for my frothy mouthed rant but I do think a swing dress is a lazy design choice for a fat range still.  However, the discounts at VV were fab and although I didn't buy £30.00 for a dress with the second half price is a fabulous discount.

We had a mooch around, a lot of it was to me not that interesting but I did like Plus|Equals which is a upcycling brand which had some interesting choices. including these maribou trimmed cullotes.

But the star for me was A Rose Like This Designs I could have spent a small fortune on Rosie's quirky one off designs and am still debating buying a lipstick print and sheer dress.  I am pleased to say this beauty did come home with me and I will do a proper outfit post towards the end of the week.

we then hung around to show our support to Rosie and Nicky Rockets who were both showing on the Catwalk,  I did take some pictures but there not great, but I hope this gives you some idea.

The dress I'm seriously considering.

We then had ice cream and a sit around outside, whilst trying to decide what to eat.  We finally decided upon Yardpizza which was local to the venue, it was a tiny pizza place but did do very tasty pizza.  I went for the Chessus Walked pizza with all the cheeses and walnut pesto.  It was tasty but pizza and me don't mix so I think that it may well have been my last dalliance with pizza but at least I did it in fine company,

We then hung out and had a final look around.  We wanted to do the photo booth with Katt but it had packed up which was a bit sad.  I then headed back a bit early as my pizza tummy was kicking in and I felt a urge to get back.  

Would I do Curvy Convention again?  Well, yes if everyone else was and as a social thing but as a event no not really it was a bit poor.  I want a venue with toilets not portaloos and a bit of a chill out area as if it had rained it would have been awful as a lot of time was spent sitting outdoors.  I loved some of the brands like Nicky Rockets and Rosie, but was surprised none of the bigger brands bothered which was strange for a London based event.  So I suppose in general although I had a fabulous time this was more due to some cool people who were exhibiting and the amazing women I got to hang with.

Great Lengths - Or adventures in hair extensions.

The eagle eyed among you my have spotted that around December my hair had a sudden growth spurt, of course this wasn't natural and owed more to head of Meccano (Micro rings) holding beautiful hair not belonging to me to my own.  I have always played with my hair colour and the only thing I had never done was extensions always believing I was a short haired girl, then  I did a photoshoot with the genius that is Chiara Aprea who popped me in a beehive wig and ever since I have longed for long hair and my own hair just wasn't playing ball fast enough. So I booked in for extensions which took me from a jaw length grown out crop to shoulder length hair.

I did everything right got recommendations saw a couple of people and got a head full of micro ring hair extensions,  The beautiful colour doesn't really show on this picture I took on day one but you can see it better on this my hairdresser took.

I'm not going to lie going from fine short hair to a mane, my husband used to go "Put em up, put em up." like the lion in Wizard of Oz at me quite a bit to illustrate my mane was strange.  Blow drying went from a 5 minute blast to 15 minutes, oh it's still not dry never mind, and styling was difficult where my hair was pretty short it could be tricky if I wanted it up to hide all the bonds.  However, I loved it.

I had my maintenance which was pricey too but I loved it, so didn't mind  Then 10 days later disaster struck there was a incident at work and loads of my extensions were pulled out.  My hairdresser is very popular and I couldn't get in and I couldn't live with a patch of hair just not there, so I googled micro rings and my home town paid £30.00 to get them put back but the bonds felt different and still the extensions were falling out and I felt like it just wasn't quality work.  I tried to get in with my hairdresser but she couldn't fit me in till after my birthday, so the impatient Aries I am I sought out options.

I got recommendations and saw 2 people the first person said she would take all my extensions out but because I was walking around with her name on my head she wanted to use her extensions and me to buy new hair.  The second said she would take them all out and it would take about a hour and a half to put them back in so would cost about £90.00 I liked her so I booked.

On the day it ended up taking nearly 5 hours but before she started she got me to sign a disclaimer as she is trained in Balmain extensions and mine were Remy.  She did mention she couldn't guarantee the bonds but I didn't think to much of it.  I found out from the geniuinely worried look on the girl's face that the lady who put in my extensions that had been ripped out had used bonds that looked like they had been used before with no cushioning to protect your hair, and if they slipped had put another on top!  Leading to moments where she thought they may not come out.  So despite it costing double what I had been quoted I was happy as I had what looked like a good head of hair.

And for my Birthday a few days later manged a beautiful mini beehive.

I'd like to say the saga ended there but it didn't.  My hair continued to fall out at a alarming rate about 10 micro rings again.  I went back to the hairdressers who said I think it is these bonds I did say I can't guarantee them and as I had signed a disclaimer I had nowhere to go.  She offered to put them all in again but if they were all going to fall out in 10 days what was the point.  I am going with she didn't know.

As I was skint having used my birthday money and more to get them done.  I am left with my natural just shorter than shoulder now length now hair, that just feels as insubstantial as Olive Oyl.  As I am not happy my lovely hub has said just get them done.  So I am going for a consultation with someone who i have seen recommended quite a bit in another town as my original lady is booked till July and doesn't do taped ones.  So wish me luck.