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,

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.

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.