Pretty in Plus

Snapshots

2012-01-31T15:09:00.000Z

Some people have been asking if my last post was my triumphant return to blogging or if it was a sad goodbye... umm, I don't know? I definitely miss posting here and I definitely miss all the people (I've totally been lurking on everyone else's blogs for the last few months). If I was to carry on here, I think this blog would change to something more personal - less fashion news and less dealing with clothing companies (they give me headaches, to be honest) because I was never good at that stuff really, the blogs in my blog roll at the top of the page all do that stuff better.

While I figure some things out (and your thoughts on all this are welcome) I thought I'd share some pictures of what I've been up to during my absence.

This is my husband and I in front of the Halifax skyline. I'm feeling really settled here now, I'm in love with the city - it's big enough that interesting things happen and small enough that you see people you know whenever you're out and about. Getting used to Canada has taken a really long time but I feel like I belong here now.

Skating! This is a picture of one of my very first outings with my rollerskates. My friends want me to try out for a roller derby team but I still don't think I'm ready. My balance is getting better all the time though and I'm getting faster too. Right now though it's winter so I'm trying to get the hang of ice skating.

My best friend Mif and I in the zombie walk in downtown Halifax last summer. I was yelling "braaains" so much I lost my voice. I had cool makeup that made it look like flesh was rotting off my arms and neck, but you can't see it in this picture.

Having a Monroe moment in a Ruby Belle dress I bought second hand from Katrin. I just really like this picture.

This one is from christmas. My dad always dresses up as Santa to visit the school where my mum works and hand out presents. I was home for the holidays so I was drafted in as an elf. I had a lot of fun as Santa's mute sidekick, my duties included carrying Santa's sack and waving a lot.

The most exciting thing that happened to me though was becoming an aunty, my nephew AJ is gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous.

What have you all been up to in the past few months?

For those of you who are still wondering...

2012-01-22T16:20:00.000Z

Thanks to everyone who sent me messages to ask where I was and if I was okay. Everyone in the fatshion community has always been so wonderful to me,
it was shitty to vanish without a word. Hopefully this explains what happened well enough, I owed everyone that much.

Shorts and tights and brollies... oh my!

2011-04-20T17:46:00.003+01:00

First of all I want to apologize for not getting some better more shots of today's outfit - it started hailing on me while I was taking these pics and I surrendered and ran inside. Rarrr, isn't it supposed to be spring now?

Anyway, in the spirit of my summer challenge (which, by the way you should totally do) I decided to practice wearing my new black shorts from city chic. It's too cold to wear them on their own but lately I've really enjoyed mixing them up with coloured/patterned leggings and tights and seeing what kind of looks I can create. The shorts are super duper comfy and a great fit, I really can't recommend them enough - and usually I'm not a fan of shorts at all.

T-shirt - Walmart // Scarf - Old Navy // Tights - Evans // Shorts - City Chic // Shoes & Umbrella - Matalan
The t-shirt is one of those occasional great finds from Walmart, I think I got it for about $7. I love it because it has these zippers on the shoulder that you can zip up or down and it creates a slightly different look. (The picture below is a bit "myspacey", but it shows the zips I'm talking about).

So there you have it - hopefully the nice spring weather will come back soon and I can do a better job of showing you my new shorts. I hope it's nicer wherever you are. Peace, love, hugs, etc...

Stamp of Approval: Best Swimsuits Results

2011-04-19T13:41:00.001+01:00

Welcome to the (super late) roundup for March's Fat Girl's Stamp of Approval. In case you haven't seen this feature before, here's a little recap: each month I'm asking you to share your opinions on a certain type of clothing (March was swimsuits) so that I can pool everyone's recommendations together and figure out which retailers get the thumbs up from us fat girls.

So who got your vote?
Some months we just don't seem to manage to find a clear consensus, and this month was one of those times. It's always a little harder to write up the recap when it's like this, but hopefully by pointing out where the industry is lacking we can help get the word out about what we're looking for when we buy our swimsuits.

Common Swimsuit Problems:
The bust seems to be the biggest problem when it comes to us plus-sized swimmers. Lots of you complained about the bust being too big or too small. It seems to me like we need a little more variety in cup-size when it comes to our swimsuits. After that, the biggest issue seemed to be finding prints and styles that are actually fashionable. I think one reader in particular put it best, "I don't want to look like an old lady... that's my biggest complaint."

Best Review: Lane Bryant
Thanks so much to Closet Narcissist for her review of her new suit from Lane Bryant: "My Lane Bryant order just arrived, and I cannot even express how much I'm in love with it. Like full-on, couch-jumping love. The construction is sturdy, the the material isn't flimsy and too-thin, the cut and shirring are flattering, and there is a FULL BALCONETTE BRA built-in. It's low-cut in front, but it's supportive enough that I look cleavage-y, not droopy. The straps convert to crossback, so I know they won't be constantly falling down. The back is cut high enough to cover my back roll. I'm a big girl (size 24, 44D, with a big rear and a smaller-but-not-terribly-small belly) and I can't believe how excited I am to actually wear this suit in public with my family -- I look curvy and sexy."

Most Mentions:
There were quite a few mentions for Land's End, who I'd never heard of before but they seem to have quite a wide selection of swimsuits and they do ship to Canada. Here's what Holly had to say, "Land's end has lots of options for fit. I wish they had more options in terms of style, because they're a little conservative and "old" for my taste and age, but they're the best I've found."

Other retailers who managed to get a few mentions were Simply Be and Torrid.

Honourable mention:
Like a huge chunk of the plus-size blogging community I am totally in love with Monif C's swimsuits. So I thought it would be a good idea to track down somebody who owns one and ask them about the fit. I managed to get this review from Gabi of YFF, who owns the red one-shoulder one: "I love it! My only complaint is that it's not supportive enough for me, but I use it for when I'm just laying out at the beach." Although, I wonder if the support issue is just because it's a one-shoulder suit? I'd love some more opinions on this. I'm seriously considering saving up for one of these suits this summer.

Me last summer in my halterneck swimsuit from Evans
Beth's Picks:
As someone who swims at least once a week, I have to buy swimsuits fairly regularly. For years I've lamented that my only real colour/pattern options have been plain black or gaudy florals, but I'm happy to say that I've been seeing a lot of changes for the better in that respect coming from stores like Evans, Asos and Torrid. To date, my best swimsuit ever has been my halterneck one from Evans (pictured above) - I loved that it was underwired in the bust so it gave me a lot of support. I also love that they acknowledge the need to have different bust sizes - for my size I have relatively small boobs so it's nice to be able to choose a smaller option. I think this is something they need to go further with though because a lot of you mentioned that the bust sizes only cover C-E cups, and plenty of us are bigger or smaller than that!

Thanks so much everyone for taking the time to send me your opinions and reviews, I couldn't make this feature happen without your input and I seriously appreciate all your help.

Cherry Bomb

2011-04-15T17:38:00.002+01:00

I've been holding out for a sunny day to show you guys my new dress from City Chic. It's the first thing I've ever ordered from them and I'm definitely impressed by the quality. I can't tell you how long I've been searching for the perfect cherry-print pin-up dress, and I'm so happy with this one. I also ordered a pair of shorts from them, and those are a wonderful fit, I'll show you soon.

It's comfy to wear with my denim jacket and leggings but I'd love to put together something a bit more stylish soon. I'm searching for the perfect red cardigan to pair with it. I also think a big white lily to put in my hair wouldn't go amiss. What would you style this dress with?

I really love the bow at the back - super cute! It makes this dress a bit of a bra nightmare though, when it's warm enough to wear it without a jacket (which it totally is not right now) I'll have to invest in a black strapless bra to go with it.

And as you may have noticed... I am outside! I've been waiting for so long to be able to head outside with my tripod, and I know plenty of you were getting sick of the sight of my bookshelf. In case you're wondering why I was hiding inside all winter, I hope the picture below will explain it for you...

For a couple of months all of my outdoor outfits looked like this.
(OHGOD snow pants!)
But spring is finally here and I'm going to endeavor to shoot outside as much as I can. I'm going to try to get some pics of me out and about too, but that'll have to be on weekends when I have my ~~photographer~~ husband to help me.

I hope you have sunshine wherever you are!

SUMMER CHALLENGE 2011

2011-04-14T13:53:00.000+01:00

So if you've been following me since last year you might remember me setting myself a few fatshion challenges for the summer. I really believe that fatshion is all about challenging ourselves to wear whatever we want, and challenging others to realize that we don't need to stick to the "fashion rules" to look good. So what better way to get back into the swing of blogging than to set myself some new challenges for summer 2011?

(dress pictured is from Domino Dollhouse, shorts are city chic, swimsuit is Evans)
I know the swimsuit made an appearance on last year's list, but it still feels like something that a lot of girls struggle with, including me, so I'm going to reconquer the swimsuit. Shorts are a big fear for me but I'm going to find the perfect pair and it's going to be fine! I wear strapless things a lot, but never without some kind of cover-up, so for me the strapless challenge is about bearing my shoulders and arms.

I know some of these things can seem daunting to us when we've been told our whole lives to cover up and be ashamed of our bodies, but last year I learned that breaking out of my comfort zone can be incredibly liberating. So be brave and join me in breaking some rules and proving we fatties can wear anything! You can always set your own summer challenges if these ones seem to easy/hard, everyone has different comfort zones.

And of course I'll be recording my progress with these goals right here on the blog!
I hope you'll join me and keep me posted on how you're doing.

LET'S BE BOLD THIS SUMMER!

Excuses excuses...

2011-04-11T19:29:00.000+01:00

Sooooo it's been a few weeks and I've vanished without a trace and as it turns out some of you have been worried about me. I'm so sorry to make anyone worry, I'm not dead and nothing is even really wrong but apparently I needed a break from the internet. I guess I owe you guys an explanation...

The short answer is that I was homesick. Which doesn't sound like much of an excuse, I do realize. But back home in Britain there's been exciting things happening like friends getting together for things without me and family making plans for easter and, most importantly, the birth of my nephew! I've been stuck here in Canada though, missing out on things like that and feeling really down about it. So for a couple of weeks it was easier to just ignore the internet and pretend like I didn't have a home to miss. And I guess in doing that I neglected my blog and a whole bunch of dear friends and made people worry. I'm so sorry, and I do promise I'll try to not let that happen again.

So there's my lame excuse. I'm feeling better though now and I have a gorgeous nephew with a chubby face and soon I'll even get to meet him! I have some things planned for the summer now and I think there's going to be a lot of fun in my future, which is definitely a good thing. I do plan to share all of that on here.

So... what'd I miss while I was gone?

Double Take

2011-03-15T19:12:00.002Z

I've been a bad blogger! I can't quite believe I haven't posted in a week, or that I'm TWO "five take" posts behind. A lot's been happening but it's time to get back on track! So to play catch up, these are my two missing outfit posts.

Five Take... Stripes

This dress is one of my best bargain finds ever, I got it in October for a mere £7. I posted about it at the time but I wasn't happy with the way I styled it back then - the wide belt ruined the nice drapey effect around the bust and the navy t-shirt underneath took the focus away from those striking stripes. I like it much better like this, with just a pop of vibrant colour from that little red belt.

It's not going to be warm enough to wear it without a jacket for months yet, but I definitely want to wear it like this when it's warmer. In the mean time I can cover up with my trusty waterfall blazer...

Dress - Dorothy Perkins // Jacket - Evans // Leggings - Walmart // Boots - Forever 21

Five Take... Nautical

I bought this top whilst shopping with my fellow bloggers in London last month. It's from primark and not my size but I loved the anchors so much that I decided I had to try it. I think it possibly is supposed to be a dress... but on me it just isn't. When it gets to summer time I really want to pair this with denim shorts and I'm still on the hunt for the perfect pair. In the mean time, it's cold here anyway so long jeans will have to do.

I had to brave the cold (it looks sunny but it's still frosty out) and pop out onto the deck for a minute to snap my cute navy sunglasses that match the top so perfectly - I'd feel like a jerk wearing them inside.

Top, shades - Primark // Jeans - MXM // Flats - Matalan

I'm SO close to being able to do outdoor outfit posts again - I can't wait! It's hard to be fabulous walking down the street in Canada when you have to hide your pretty outfits under thick coats and snow boots. Come on summer, I'm ready!

Next post is going to be my round-up of everyone's swimsuit recommendations so don't forget to send your tips my way if you want them to be included, thanks!

Love you guys
xoxo

CarmaKoma Goodie Bag Winner

2011-03-08T13:54:00.000Z

Thanks so much to everyone who entered my giveaway! You're all so lovely, and if I could I would send each of you a goodie bag. But unfortunately I only have one to give and as you can see from my fabulous pink widget, a winner has been chosen!

Congratulations to...

ROSIE

from a Pocketful of Rosie

Once I have an address your prize shall be winging its way to you!
Better luck next time to the rest of you!

By the way, I wanted to mention - sorry it's been quiet here the last few days. To be honest I've been feeling a teeny bit burnt out and not all that fabulous. But some lovely ladies on twitter have cheered me up! I've just taken some outfit pics that I'll post tomorrow, and I've just ordered this dress from eshakti that I've been eyeing up for weeks, so I think my mojo is making a comeback!

In the mean-time, please enjoy this random gif:

Love you guys,
Beth xoxo

Wishing for Spring

2011-03-03T13:24:00.000Z

Just a quick little post to show you my wishlist for Spring. There's still snow on the ground here but a girl can dream, right?

Sailboat top - Forever 21 ($20) // Bow-front dress - Eshakti ($65) // Max C Lace Dress - Evans (£55) // Vintage Denim Shorts - City Chic ($44) // Blue Pop Skirt - Domino Dollhouse ($16.99) // Striped Flats - Domino Dollhouse ($37.99)

If I could build myself a capsule wardrobe for Spring and summer, it would look something like this. I'm so excited to see so many fresh blues and whites around right now. I'd love to find a great floaty white beach dress for the summer (totally ignoring the fact that I would no doubt spill something on it...) Denim shorts are something I'm also on the hunt for, but that vintage pair from city chic looks incredibly promising.

And did I mention eshakti have resumed shipping to Canada? It might be time to make that blue dress mine...

What stuff are you guys dreaming of for Spring and summer?

Stamp of Approval: Swimsuits

2011-03-01T14:11:00.002Z

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi hapus pawb!
(Happy St. David's Day all)
It's time for another Fat Girl's Stamp of Approval. If you're new to the blog then here's a quick explanation: each month I ask readers to help me by sending in their recommendations on where you can get the best fit for a certain item of clothing (February was boots). After a couple of weeks I pool all of these recommendations together so that we end up with a bit of a shopping guide on the subject. It's also a great place to write down our gripes about where retailers are failing their plus size customers.

And this month we're tackling... Swimsuits!

(Swimsuit pictured from Torrid)
Thanks to Rebecca from The Plus Side of Me for suggesting this topic!

So let's get talking. What problems do we have finding swimsuits that fit? Which retailers are letting us down? As usual, you can leave me a comment on this post, send me an email (beth[at]pretty-in-plus.com), send me a tweet or write it on my facebook wall. It’s all good!

Whose swimsuits get your stamp of approval?

Five Take... Velvet

2011-02-26T18:57:00.001Z

This week the five take girls are taking on velvet. Be sure to check out Elizabeth, Claire, Nicole and Valerie to see their takes on this theme!

My velvet item is a purple velvet shrug I picked up from Yours Clothing (for just £5!) while I was in the UK. I was going to wear it over a black dress for plus london but then I decided I'd be more comfortable in my jumpsuit.

Shrug & Jeggings - Yours Clothing // Studded top - Evans
I'm not sure what we're doing tonight but this is the kind of outfit that will work whether we end up at a concert, out to the bars or even just out for a meal - it's pretty versatile. The studded top is another of my post-christmas sale purchases from Evans. It's not "flattering" really since the studs do a great job of outline my belly, but my belly and I love each other a lot so we don't care in the slightest.

Who wants to see my unintentional Fonzie impression?

I like this outfit for now but I'm desperate to start wearing some fresh spring colours soon. I can't wait for the snow to melt. How about you?

Blogtoons: Sarah

2011-02-25T18:36:00.002Z

I've been drawing my favourite bloggers again, but before I show you what I've been up to let's get a bit of housekeeping out of the way.

There's still a few days left for the exclusive Pretty in Plus discount code at eShakti. Just type in PRETTYINPLUS2011 to get 20% off. That's valid until Feb 28th.
Don't forget to enter my giveaway if you haven't already. All you have to do is leave a comment on the giveaway post and you'll be in the running to win a CarmaKoma goody bag.

Anyway, onto today's blogtoon:

(You can click that pic for a bigger version)
Today I've drawn Sarah from Return to Sender (found at Tabayag.com). I'm a huge fan of Sarah because of her honesty and her attitude. She's really witty and she makes me laugh on a daily basis. She wears a lot of black so I just had to draw her wearing dark colours and tough boots. I'm pleased with how she turned out but the only thing I wish is that I'd managed to capture her gorgeous eyes because they're so big and moody and dark.

Here's a real pic for comparison:

(used with permission)
By the way, the blogtoon that I drew last week for Stiletto Siren has been put to good use; she's gone and stuck it on her new business cards! I feel really proud to see these, I think they look awesome.

Next week I'm going to draw one of my favourite bloggers from Europe, so stay tuned for that one.

Ways to wear it: Lace t-shirt

2011-02-23T20:53:00.000Z

In the January sales I managed to pick up this lace t-shirt for a bargainous price from Evans. Since then it's been sitting in my closet looking lonely because I hadn't worked out a way to work it into my outfits... poor lace t-shirt!

So today I decided to play dress up and see what outfit combos I could come up with for this piece, because what's the point of buying something if you aren't going to wear it? These are some of the ideas I came up with:

Dress - Torrid // Leggings - Walmart // Boots - Forever 21
I really like the look of it under a strapless dress (although I guess you could wear it under any dress regardless of the strap situation). This is a cool way to make my military dress from Torrid look a little more dressy, don't you think?

Dress - SWAK designs // Leggings - Walmart // Belt - Evans // Boots - Forever 21
Here it is over the top of my SWAK dress. I wanted to layer it over something colourful like a tank-top, but then I discovered that I currently do not own any tank tops, so when I start stocking up on summer basics in the next couple of months that's definitely something worth trying. I definitely like lace mixed with that bright pink colour.

Bra - Addition Elle, Skirt - George @ Asda, Flats - Matalan
Several bloggers have rocked the lace top over just a bra look and done it better than me. I'm not convinced this is the right skirt for the job but I still love the idea of wearing it like this, even though my mother wouldn't approve. I liked it better with my favourite blazer over the top but that didn't go with the skirt. I've got a new pair of jeans on the way though, so maybe with jeans and a blazer would be the right way to do it (and I might feel a bit less exposed).

So anyway, those are my ideas for my lace t-shirt.
I hope that now it won't just sit at the back of my closet feeling unloved.
Which one is your fave? And can you think of any other ways to wear this?

(By the way, sorry about the pictures being all super contrasted, my laptop's charger has died so until apple send me a replacement I'm on a different computer and it uses a different version of my photo editing software, which I'm not quite used to.)

CarmaKoma Giveaway

2011-02-21T19:35:00.008Z

How would you like to win a CarmaKoma goody bag?
Here's me to tell you how:

(I keep saying the scarf is orange but it's really more of a pale coral sort of colour, really pretty, just not a colour I can pull off.)

~~~~~

To Enter:

Simply be a follower of Pretty-in-plus

and comment with your email address or twitter name.

For a bonus entry, just tweet the following:
"I've entered to win a CarmaKoma goody bag
from @Bethamint: http://tinyurl.com/6hhdq9c"

*Giveaway is open to international readers*
*Winner to be chosen on March 7th using random.org*
~~~~~

I really hope one of you can provide a happy home for that gorgeous scarf.
Best of luck everyone!

Blogtoons: Stiletto Siren

2011-02-17T12:31:00.003Z

A lot of you have asked for me to draw you guys as one of my fat doodles and that's something I'd definitely like to do! Some of you even offered to pay me a few dollars, but I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with that; I'd be so mortified if one of you had paid me for a picture you didn't even like in the end!

So I think what I'm going to do is draw and spotlight some of my favourite people in the blogosphere and tell you why I love them so much and why you should check out their blog. So to start us off, here is one of my blogger bffs...

Stiletto Siren from Lips, Hips & FATshion Tips:

(You can click this pic to see a bigger version)

I met Stiletto in Vegas last year I warmed to her instantly. She's just so sweet and fun that you feel comfortable around her right away. She's probably the hardest working blogger in the plus-size community and she does it all on top of a full-time job and a busy family life. I would describe her style as femme fatale mixed with punk rock goddess, and the outfit I based this drawing on can be seen below. When drawing Stiletto I knew there was three things I had to get right; the hair, the pout and the pose. I love that she puts so much attitude into all her pics!

Do you think I captured her well?

(photo used with permission)
Sam is sick this week so get well soon Sam!
Be sure to check out her blog.
(Also check out the guest post I'm doing there tomorrow to cover her sick-leave)

I'd like to try doing one of these posts every week - I might not manage it though, we'll see how it goes (and how much you guys like to see these)

Stamp of Approval: Best Boots Results

2011-02-15T15:10:00.002Z

Welcome to the first mid-month roundup for the Fat Girl's Stamp of Approval. In case you haven't seen this feature before, here's a little recap: each month I'm asking you to share your opinions on a certain type of clothing (February was wide-calf boots) so that I can pool everyone's recommendations together and figure out which retailers get the fat girl's stamp of approval.

So which retailers got your vote this month?

(Thanks so much to Hannah for this picture of her duo boots)
The Stamp of Approval goes to: Duo
Those of you who own Duo boots had nothing bad whatsoever to say about the fit. "Expensive but worth it," seems to sum up most of your reviews. You liked the selection of calf widths and said the quality was fantastic. Some of you said that the calf sizes needed to go higher. Duo stop at 50cm (19.7 inches) and plenty of you told me that your calves are larger than this.

Runner up: Evans
Evans got the most mentions by far, but the reviews weren't as overwhelmingly positive as the ones for Duo. Claire described Evans as, "the best of a very very very bad bunch.” One of you said that you'd had both your best and worst shopping experience with Evans' boots. The general consensus seems to be that the fit is unreliable, but when they do fit they're great. Probably the most glowing review for them came from Gazel, who said that hers have even lasted her through harsh Winnipeg winters!

Honourable Mention: Widewidths.com
Valerie was the only person to mention widewidths.com but I thought I'd share what she said because she mentioned having calves that are too big for Duo; “I need 21/22" calf and I have only been able to find them at www.widewidths.com But I am "luckier" because I am a US10/11 so with this foot size they have a few pairs.” So one to check out if Duo don't cater to your calf size.

Also Mentioned:
Torrid were mentioned a lot but reviews were mixed. You liked that they tell you the calf circumference for each size but said the quality can be questionable.

Simply Be's boots only got one mention from LaCara, but she said "the fit is great" and she "can't fault them.

Avenue's boots were described as a Godsend by one reader.

New Look's wide-fit boots generally got the thumbs down. Apparently the "wide-fit" applies to the feet and not the calves.

Thanks to Asia for sending me this pic of her in her Jalisa boots from Avenue.
You can read her whole review of them on her blog. (How beautiful is that colour?)

Beth's Picks and tips:
My calves are 17.5" wide and I've found that Evans boots fit me pretty perfectly. But the thing I don't understand is why retailers aren't making more boots that can be adjusted. Some of you told me that you've had tailors put stretchy panels into your boots for you to make them fit, and this is something retailers could easily be offering. One pair of boots I've had for years that I love are my corset boots from Evans; the ties at the back make them adjustable so the fit is perfect and it looks nicer than a stretchy panel. They need to bring these out again because it's such an elegant solution.

My ancient corset boots from Evans
Thanks so much to everyone who sends me emails, tweets, facebook messages and comments, and especially to those of you who sent pictures in. I couldn't do these posts without you!

The next topic will be posted at the end of the month. Let me know in comments if there's something you'd like to cover in the coming months! Also comment if there's a retailer we missed from our boots guide.

Evolve Magazine

2011-02-14T13:28:00.000Z

Happy Valentines Day my lovelies! I've been writing up my stamp of approval post today but it's taking a while and actually I have something else to talk about first, so I guess we'll do stamp of approval tomorrow.

Have you checked out Evolve magazine yet? Their launch issue came out on Friday. It's all about the plus-size community and it's brilliantly positive and uplifting.

If that wasn't reason enough to check it out, it features an article by yours truly. That's right, you can find me on page 28 talking about my favourite plus-size brands. There's also an article by Lauren from pocketrocket fashion.

You can view the whole thing online but i highly recommend downloading the .pdf version from this page so you can zoom in and get a closer look at things (my mum was having trouble finding the .pdf icon so I made this picture to help her find it).

Do let me know what you think of my piece!

Five Take... Valentines

2011-02-12T13:28:00.000Z

So I'm back home and without the added complication of living out of a suitcase, so this should mean I go back to posting my Five Take outfits reliably. Yay!

Five Take is a series of posts in which four other bloggers and I each post an outfit based on a theme that one of us has chosen. This week we're sad to say that Valerie from More of this and less of that has had to drop out because life has gotten a bit too hectic, but we're very happy to be welcoming Valerie from Blog to be Alive into the five take family.

And of course this week we couldn't resist doing valentines themed outfits. Be sure to check out Elizabeth, Claire, Nicole and Valerie to see their takes on this theme!

Red is one of those colours I usually avoid - I love it on other people but I'm always scared to rock it for myself. But when this cute babydoll top went down to £10 in Evans' christmas sale, I knew I had to give it a try. I spend a lot of time complaining about my shortness on this blog, but being short does have the occasional advantage; like being able to just about pull off wearing this top as a dress or tunic - I figure if my bum's covered then I'm good! ...Right?

That closeup is to show you the pretty shiny dots that are all over the top half of the tunic. They're really subtle but I love how they add a little glamour to the top without being overwhelmingly sparkly. I've worn this waterfall blazer a ton of times on this blog and it's probably one of my most favourite things in my wardrobe. Also that belt cost me 50p, which is crazy.

Tunic & Blazer - Evans // Leggings - Yours Clothing //
Bow - Ardenes // Belt - New Look // Boots - Forever 21
I've just noticed that there's something a bit magical about the colour red that makes me look more confident. Probably I should stop avoiding it and work some more red into that wardrobe of mine...

What colours do you tend to shy away from?

Plus London: Part Two

2011-02-09T13:20:00.001Z

Yesterday I talked about the great people I met at the ++London blogger meet, but today I'm going to show you some of the fashion previews we got to see.

Anna Scholz:

That neckline is so wonderful, isn't it? I love that Anna Scholz never shies away from using colour in her designs. Her prints can sometimes look overwhelming on the hanger, but once you try them on they look amazing and you just feel like a bombshell. I had fun squeezing myself into the size 18 samples, but this could be very dangerous for my wallet, because there's now two dresses I really would love to add to my summer wardrobe.

(Some of us trying some Anna Scholz samples - photo borrowed from Wendy)
By the way you can get a 10% discount on all purchases at Anna Scholz with the code PLUSLONDON until the end of february.

Asos:

There were some really nice Asos pieces and I was so happy to see the fresh spring colours they've incorporated. I really liked that camel coloured cape, I'm really hoping they bring it out in navy blue too because that would be amazing. The maxi dresses had such beautiful prints on them, but they were all longer than I am tall! So not really an option for us short fatshionistas, oh well...

CarmaKoma:

Here is the beautiful Cynthia trying on a dress from CarmaKoma. I was really impressed with the quality of their stuff, having never seen any of their garments in person before. Top of my wishlist from them is their obi belt, as seen modeled below by a beautiful lady whose name I didn't catch (sorry! But you do look gorgeous in that belt..) I think I would wear this belt with everything if I owned it!

H&M Inclusive:

Softest cardigan EVER! I really loved this piece. I feel like a bad blogger now because I somehow failed to get any other pictures from this collection. There was a yellowy-green dress and a peachy-pink dress that both looked really pretty but I could never pull off those colours. The piece that I'm seriously eying up wasn't there, so I'll have to wait until the collection launches, I guess.

Torrid:

I love this blazer! (But not my drunky face). The sample was a bit small for me but I love cut of it and the rouched sleeves. A great piece for when the weather gets warmer. Another piece I love (and I'm kicking myself for not getting a picture of it) was a one-shoulder swimsuit that had ruffly bits - it was so pretty. If that swimsuit is anything to go by, then I'm going to be shopping with Torrid for my beach-wear this summer.

Yours Clothing:

I really liked these skinny biker jeans from Yours clothing. The detail on them is really fantastic, and you could wear them with a long white shirt and flats and still have a pretty edgy looking outfit because of that great detailing on the legs. I love them for bringing out such a great mixture of things from basics to slightly more daring stuff like this (and of course the jumpsuit of theirs that I was wearing on the night).

So there's a few things added to my wishlist for my Spring wardrobe!

Thanks to Yours Clothing, Plus size tall, Simply Be, Torrid, Dickewelten.de, Anna Scholz, CarmaKoma, Asos, H&M, Jibri, Domino Dollhouse, Little Miss Delicious, Bijou Bijoux, Evans, Reaction Magazine and NSPCC for sponsoring such a wonderful event, and thanks to organizer Lauren and her helpers Carla, Kat, Katrin and Valerie for putting in such hard work to make it happen.

Plus London: Part One

2011-02-08T10:00:00.003Z

I'm at the airport right now waiting for my gate to open, so I decided to be productive and write about the #PlusLondon blogger meet, even though I'm really tired and sitting somewhere noisy and crowded.

The truth is that on Saturday I wasn't feeling very well. Honestly if it was for anything else I probably would have made my apologies and stayed in bed, but I knew I'd never get over it if I missed the chance to meet all of my favourite bloggers. I looked less than fabulous, but I'm glad I went!

Everyone was so lovely, it probably sounds a bit ingenuine to say that about EVERYONE, but they honestly were! Here are my pics:

Katrin was so wonderful and I spent the whole day with her. By the end of the day, the Anna Scholz people thought we were blogging partners!
Valerie is so incredibly stunning in person, she's like an alabaster doll. I couldn't stop staring at her, she is so beautiful.
MessyCarla has informed me that her mother is a fan of my blog, that made my day!
A few people have told me I'm exactly how they expected me to be. That makes me happy, it's really important to me that I come across as myself online.

Okay so this was kind of a rushed job and I feel bad but I have to go and catch my flight now. I'll write Part 2 from Halifax. Bye guys! xxx

PS: Thanks so much to Lauren who organized the event, and thanks also to all the sponsors. I'll go into more detail about that in the next post though. Okay bye...

Beth Fail

2011-02-06T22:17:00.000Z

Okay so you guys know the "Five Take" posts I do? (If not, Five Take is where four other bloggers and I each post an outfit based on a theme one of us has chosen.) Well this week's theme is "blue" and it was chosen by me because it was nice and simple and would be easy to work with during this busy week where I am traveling a ton.

I bought a really cute blue dress, it's by Simply Be but I got it via ebay. The perfect little dress for running around London this weekend and even more perfect to take me into spring with a nice pop of fresh colour. Do you know what I did with that dress? I left it in Wales by mistake. Dammit!

That screwed up not just my five take outfit for this week but also the daytime outfit I was planning to wear to attend the Plus-London blogger's meet yesterday. But even in the wrong dress it turned out to be a great day and I was so happy to meet everyone and admire all the amazing outfits.

Soon I promise I will do a full recap of both the people and the fashion at Plus London, and my (different) blue outfit for five take as well. In the mean time here's a little teaser pic of me and fellow five-take girl Claire.

Maybe my mum will be nice enough to post me my blue dress...

Stamp of Approval: Boots

2011-02-02T09:53:00.000Z

Round three for the Fat Girl's Stamp of Approval. In the last two months we've tackled jeans and blouses and now I'd like to take on boots.

Boot pictured is from Evans
So let's get talking. What problems do we have finding boots that fit? Who makes the best boots for those of us with thicker calves? Which retailers are letting us down? As usual, you can leave me a comment on this post, send me an email (beth[at]pretty-in-plus.com), send me a tweet or write it on my facebook wall. It’s all good!

There's a couple of things I'd like to change up for this month though. Most of you are super fast at responding to these posts, so instead of waiting all month to dig up everything that you wrote, I think I'm going to do a mid-month roundup. So from now on I'll launch the topic at the beginning of the month as usual, then write the roundup of our opinions in the middle of the month, and then have two weeks off before I launch the new topic. Sound good?

The other thing is that I think the roundup posts are looking a bit bare, so maybe you guys could help me out with some pictures? So for this month if you have a picture of yourself wearing your favourite boots maybe you could email it to me? (again:beth[at]pretty-in-plus.com) That would be great. Then I can put a pic of me in my favourite boots too and we can have some pictures to break up all that text.

So tell me ladies,
Whose boots get your stamp of approval?

Stamp of Approval: Best Shirts/Blouses Results

2011-02-01T11:04:00.001Z

In case you haven't seen any of my Stamp of Approval posts yet, here's a little recap: each month I'm asking you to share your opinions on a certain type of clothing (January was shirts & blouses) so that I can pool everyone's recommendations together and figure out which retailers get the fat girl's stamp of approval.

At the beginning of January I asked you guys to tell me who makes the best fitting shirts or blouses. Thanks so much to all of you who took the time to respond.

This was an interesting topic to cover, because from the comments you sent me I certainly get the impression that this is an area where the plus-size clothing industry has a LOT of room for improvement. Plenty of you said that you don't even bother buying shirts anymore because you can't find the right fit. The most common fitting problem by far was around the bust, with a lot of you suffering from gaping buttons around that area. A couple of you also mentioned having trouble with the fit around the upper arms and shoulders, with shirts being so tight around that area that you can't fold your arms.

So which retailers got your vote?
To be honest, there wasn't a clear winner for this month. It seems like everyone could be making better fitting shirts for us big girls. So instead of choosing a winner, I'm just going to tell you which stores were getting the most mentions.

Most Mentions:
Not all of you are in love with Evans' shirts, but they certainly got the most mentions. Those of you who like their shirts say that the buttons don't gape and the styles are trendier and more current than a lot of other options. A couple of you said that the fit in the bust is still too tight, but you're happy to buy a size larger (but one of you said that this makes the rest of the shirt too billowy, and it's impossible to get a more tailored fit). So mixed reviews for Evans, but among them a lot of fans.

Best Review
Reader Melissa was the only person to mention Marks and Spencer, but she wrote a wonderful review about them that is worth sharing: "I have found that Mark and Spencer tend to have the best fitting shirts. they are pretty consistent in sizing (I know that I can pick up a 22 there and guarantee it will fit), and if you buy one of their shirts that has a little bit of lycra in, then this can compensate for the gaping buttons issue a little. I think Marks and Spencer produce good quality clothes and in particular my smart work shirts from there are excellent with some slightly quirky details and really nice finishing that sets them apart."

Honourable Mentions:
There were a couple of retailers who you guys mentioned who make wonderfully fitting shirts but only in the lower end of plus-sizes. Bravissimo got a mention, they cut their shirts with more room in the bust but only go up to a UK 18, which is a shame because it sounds like there's a lot of demand for shirts like this in larger sizes. In Canada, Rickis got a lot of mentions for having wonderfully cut shirts in up to a US 18 or an XXL.

Beth's Pick
Honestly, shirts have never featured heavily in my wardrobe, and I have a couple of good ones from Evans that have lasted me quite well. For me the problem with fit is usually in the arms rather than the bust. My favourite shirt ever came from New Look Inspire, so they get my vote. I often find I need to go a size up to get a good fit, but New Look have always had enough room in the shoulders that I buy my usual size and be fine.

So sorry we couldn't find a clear winner this month. Maybe we'll revisit this topic in the future and see if we've found some better options. Feel free to comment if you think there's a good retailer missing from this recap!

Tomorrow I'll announce February's Stamp of Approval topic, so see you tomorrow!

Five Take... Pencil Skirts

2011-01-31T20:55:00.000Z

Quick reminder: Five take is a challenge where each week Elizabeth, Nicole, Claire,Valerie and I each put together an outfit based on a theme that one of us has chosen. This week it's pencil skirts! Be sure to check out the other girls' blogs to see what they've come up with for this week's challenge.

I was supposed to get this up on Saturday... I am such a failure, and doubly so because I was complaining about the other girls being late last week. My excuse? I was visiting my Grandparents and they couldn't get their internet to work. Not that you guys were really missing anything with this week's attempt at the challenge - I was a ~~hot~~ damn mess when these pics were taken, my brother kept making me laugh and my hair was refusing to play nice.

The truth is I don't even own a pencil skirt! The closest I have is this dress from Faith21+ that I've worn at least 5 times on this blog before. I really like it teamed with a sweater and this is one that I have just reclaimed from my old wardrobe here in Wales along with my favourite (heeled!) shoe-boots. Comfy and casual and a little bit sassy, it how I'd describe it.

Sweater - Tesco// Dress - Forever21+//Leggings - Yours Clothing//Shoeboots - Evans

Oh well... I'll try harder to be fabulous next week at the blogger meet in London!
(Stamp of Approval roundup should be up tomorrow xoxo)

eShakti discount

2011-01-27T11:25:00.001Z

Hello beautiful readers!

Apologies for the slow week here, I've just flown home to Wales and I'm still thoroughly jetlagged and not feeling very fabulous, but maybe a lunch date with my best/oldest friends and the best smoothies my hometown has to offer will set me right.

In the mean time I have a little treat for you. eShakti have sent me a discount code for my readers. From now until Feb 28th you can use this code to get 20% off any order (and you can use it as many times as you like before it expires).

Just type in:

PRETTYINPLUS2011

eShakti has some really cute spring prints out at the moment, but the things I'm really eying up are their romantic valentines dresses. Here are my top three:

eshakti valentines by Bethamint featuring dresses

The one in the middle especially makes me swoon!

Canadian readers: eShakti have temporarily suspended shipping to Canada but promise it will be back soon (I hope so, or I can't use my own discount code!). I'll let you know on here when that happens, but they think it will be before the end of the month.

European readers: Sorry to tease you with these dresses, I know it's a pain! I asked them about shipping to Europe and they said it's something they're working on but right now the courier costs would be incredibly expensive. Keep your fingers crossed and keep asking them and it's something that could change soon.

Happy shopping!

Five take... sequins

2011-01-22T21:59:00.003Z

Five take... is back! Quick reminder: Five take is a challenge where each week Elizabeth, Nicole, Claire,Valerie and I each put together an outfit based on a theme that one of us has chosen. This week it's sequins! Check out the other girls' blogs to see what they've come up with for this week's challenge.

I've always dreamed of finding the perfect sequined dress, but it hasn't happened yet (though something I've eying up on ebay could change that soon). In the mean time I'm all about adding sparkle in smaller ways, like this cute headband I found on sale at Claire's accessories (lol, I know, I'm so classy...)

I know I'm usually all about the colour, but once in a while it's nice to go for a simple black outfit and let the accessories do the talking. This black Beth Ditto dress is amazingly versatile and I can't wait to show you some more looks with it; it's also incredibly comfy. The 2010 Beth Ditto collection came out at a time when I really didn't have much money to spend on clothes so I was really happy to find one thing in my size in the sales - it's not super exciting but I think I'll get a lot of wear out of it.

Dress - Beth Ditto @ Evans // Tights, Belt - Evans //
Boots - Forever 21 // Headband - Claire's // Necklace - Ardene

There are more sequins to go with this outfit, but they're for when I'm outside and need to be warmer; sequined hand-warmers that I got on sale for $2! You didn't think I could stay serious for a whole blog post didya?

By the way, this week somebody asked me "Why do you always stare off into the distance in your blog photos? Is it to be artistic?" and I couldn't help but laugh out loud. The truth is... I do it because I'm so awkward in front of the camera that pretending I can't see it is the best way to get a good picture where I'm not blinking or pulling a ridiculous face! I've been trying to get better at looking into the lens and smiling but it's not something that comes easily for me. So that's why!

So tell me gorgeous readers, what's your favourite sequined item?

Zip it!

2011-01-18T17:53:00.002Z

I wanted to say a quick thank you to all of you for posting such nice comments about my fat doodles the other day! It really made me so happy, I wasn't expecting such a great response so thank you! I will do more soon, I promise!

I've been meaning for a couple of weeks now to show you this zip-front Lucie Lu dress that I snagged from Peppermint Park for a bargainous $16. To be honest it takes a little courage to post myself wearing a dress that doesn't have a well-defined shape - I feel better with a belt cinching my waist or a blazer or something to help me look more like a natural hour-glass. Without that I feel a bit naked. But that zip-front that I love so much looks a bit wrong if I interrupt it with a belt or jacket, so here I am - being brave and just wearing it on its own.

Dress - Lucie Lu via Peppermint Park// Tights - Addition Elle // Boots - Forever 21

Sorry about the pictures being a bit over-exposed today, I guess my camera and I got in a bit of a fight over the flash. In this last pic I was trying to show you my cute scarab necklace, but I couldn't get it to turn out at all. You can just about make it out though with its cute little wings and jeweled bottom.

Anyway, I hope you guys are having a good week, and if you have a dress that's been sitting in your closet for a little while waiting for you to be brave - why not make this the week that you finally wear it?

PS: Does the title of this post remind anyone else of this?

Some News...

2011-01-15T16:10:00.000Z

So a little bit of news...

I'm going to Britain in just under two weeks. For visa reasons I needed to head back reasonably soonish, and it turned out the end of January was the cheapest time for flights, so we've booked it. The exciting part is that this means I'm going to be in London on a very special day...

So that is incredibly exciting and I can't wait to meet all of the fellow bloggers. I hadn't thought I'd be able to go at all but the dates just worked out and I feel so lucky and happy and excited... No clue what I'm going to wear though! Ahhhh!

If you're going, see you there!

Doodling on a cold day

2011-01-13T18:31:00.002Z

Today is one of those days. It's cold and dark and horrible, I have second degree burns on my arms (don't ask!) and there's nobody around and all I want to do is build a nest and snuggle up in it and doodle.

One of my new year's resolutions is to do more drawing. Probably ~~not many~~ none of you know this but during university I used to draw a webcomic. It wasn't a super famous one but it had a small following, enough that I could make a little pocket-money through advertising. I miss drawing things every day. I haven't really drawn anything since my wedding invitations...

I've thought a lot before about perhaps making a webcomic about a fat girl before, but the thing is... I don't know how to make it funny. It would be all too easy to slip up and become self-deprecating, or to come across as bitter. I don't think the world needs anything like that. I think the world just needs a bit more colour, a bit more cuteness and a lot more happiness.

So today I decided to doodle a couple of pretty fat ladies and write down a positive message that I believe in. So this is what I've drawn...

I guess that's what I want everyone to take away from this blog when they read it. I want everyone to feel that they are beautiful. (Also, I want someone to make me a dress like that)

I want to apply my doodling to my blogging somehow... maybe I should start drawing my favourite bloggers? Or maybe I should draw a cute banner for the top of the page or something. I'm not sure... Would you guys like to see me add some doodles to the mix too?

Anyway, I'll do an outfit post soon when it's not so stormy and cold.
In the mean time, remember...

Back to Basics

2011-01-10T13:34:00.001Z

When I'm shopping I really tend to be like a magpie - attracted so much more to the shiny, exciting clothes and not buying enough of the basics. I'm trying to be better about it though, and with that in mind I thought I'd put together an outfit that is nice and simple.

The other thing I'm trying to do right now is dress more weather appropriately. Back home in Britain I almost never wear sweaters/jumpers because I can usually get by just throwing a wool coat on over my outfit and being warm enough. Here in Canada I need to layer a bit more.

Sweater - gifted // Dress & Leggings - forever 21+ // Hat - made by mum
What looks like a black skirt is in fact my comfy dress from forever21+. I love how putting such simple things together really makes my favourite pearl and chain necklace the focus of the outfit. The shoes are my snow-boots, bought to help me survive my first Canadian winter. Obviously if I was going outside properly I would wear a coat, but for posing on my balcony for a minute or two this was perfectly fine.

As for the beret, my mum knitted it for me <3
(It was starting to snow, I don't have really bad dandruff)

Ringin' it in with style

2011-01-09T01:09:00.002Z

As promised, although they're a week late, here's my new year outfit pics. We had a few friends over and did some drinking and rockband and card games and had a lot of fun. I also skyped with my friends back in the UK so it was a really good night even though I was kind of overdressed for it (though maybe that isn't possible on new year's eve?)

Dress - Eshakti // Shrug - Lucie Lu // Tights - Addition Elle // Bow and necklace - Ardene
I'm a bit sad because I got an email from eShakti right after I first posted this dress saying that they can't ship to Canada anymore because it's just too expensive - they were subsidizing the cost but now it costs over $50 a dress to ship them here, which is ridiculous. I hope they can find an alternative soon because I really love the two dresses I've bought from them. Also, I wish they would start shipping to Europe.

I know the black shrug isn't super exciting but I thought I'd mention I bought it from Peppermint Park for a bargainous $9. It's a really nice soft fabric and I'll probably end up pairing it with a ton of stuff.

The tights are the first pair I've bought from Addition Elle and I was a bit disappointed with them. I got a size larger just in case and they only just fit me - they're really tight around the thighs. I love the subtle diamond pattern in them though and they are nice and thick.

The cute necklace and over the top hair bow are both from this store called Ardene, I think it's a Canadian store but it's a lot like Claire's Accessories. The one in the mall near our apartment does a lot of great deals like 5 for $10 so I always pick up a lot of cute things. I'm really clumsy with jewelry so I'd rather buy cheap things so I don't have to worry about them.

Sorry I posted this so late, I hope you had a wonderful new year too!

Slip into Something More Comfortable: Cityslips Review

2011-01-04T19:18:00.004Z

If you've been reading my blog for a while you might have noticed my love/hate/fear relationship with heels. I think heels are gorgeous but I still have no idea how to wear them without ending up in copious amounts of pain. My usual solution is to only wear them when I know I don't have much walking to do.

Recently though I was sent a pair of shoes to review, and I think they may be a fantastic solution for girls like me: foldable ballet slippers from cityslips. The idea is that you keep these foldable ballet slippers in your handbag while you're wearing your heels, and then when your feet can't take anymore you change into the ballet slippers, and their carry case unfolds into a big tote to store your heels in. Nifty, huh?

I love the way they're packaged, such a cute little box!

This is the carry case they come in. I think it's cute, I would gladly keep this in my handbag for emergencies.

These are the shoes themselves. They come in other colours too, but I really like this silver: emergency shoes with a little glamour to them! I've finally worked out that I am about a 9.5 in American shoes (I wear a 6 or 7 back in the UK... sigh!)
so I ordered a 10 to be on the safe side and they are a tiny bit big for me, probably I needed a 9. I have very wide feet and was worried they wouldn't be wide enough but they certainly are. Nevertheless, they are very comfortable and I could easily run to catch a bus in these.

They claim to be durable enough to wear everyday, and looking at the thick sole on the bottom of them I'd certainly believe it.

This is what the carry case looks like when it's folded into a tote bag. Not the prettiest tote ever but it would do in a pinch. It carries my favourite heels no problem so it's certainly strong enough. I probably wouldn't want to carry this around with me on a night out on the town, but for day to day stuff this is a pretty good way to give your feet a bit of relief if your toes are throbbing.

I really love the idea of these and I especially love that cityslips have recently done some collaboration shoes with Hello Kitty - so adorable. They're available at Torrid and cost $35.

I can just imagine getting lots of use out of these if I worked in an office; wearing nice heels to work all day and then comfy ballet pumps for the commute home. As someone who works from home though, I'll be happy just to have these as backup for those days when I do venture out in heeled shoes.

Stamp of Approval: Shirts & Blouses

2011-01-02T18:17:00.002Z

Fat girl's stamp of approval is back for a second round. Over the course of December you gorgeous readers helped me put together a pretty awesome guide for where to buy plus-sized jeans; thanks again to everyone who contributed. This month I'd like to tackle shirts and blouses, and once again I need your help!

Shirt pictured is from Yours Clothing
So basically if you've ever found the most perfect fitting blouse or shirt, let me know where you got it and what was so great about it. If you want to be extra helpful you could also tell me a little bit about any problems you tend to have finding shirts that fit properly.

You can leave me a comment on this post, send me an email (beth[at]pretty-in-plus.com), send me a tweet or write it on my facebook wall. It’s all good!

At the end of the month I’ll write a post listing the most glowing reviews and telling you which stores got the most mentions. I’ll also add my own opinions to the mix. Hopefully what we’ll end up with is a perfect little guide for any plus-size girls who aren’t sure where to get their shirts, as well as some good tips for retailers on what we bigger girls are looking for when we shop for them.

So get reviewing, ladies!
Whose shirts or blouses get your stamp of approval?

Stamp of Approval: Best Jeans Results

2011-01-01T17:19:00.002Z

Do you even remember a whole month ago when I launched my Fat Girl's Stamp of Approval feature? In case you missed it or it got forgotten amidst all the holiday cheer, here's a little recap: each month I'm asking you to share your opinions on a certain type of clothing (December was jeans) so that I can pool everyone's recommendations together and figure out which retailers get the fat girl's stamp of approval.

On December 1st I asked you guys to tell me who makes the best jeans. Thanks so much to everyone who left me comments and twitter messages and especially to the couple of you who took the time to send me lovely long emails.

A lot of you talked about the problems you have finding jeans that fit properly. The most common problem seemed to be having enough room around the tummy. This is a problem I have a lot too, and I find that often jeans that do fit me around the stomach are too loose around my bum and hang off me like a nappy - I hate that! The other problem that got mentioned a lot was leg lengths, a lot of us are having trouble finding tall or petite jeans in plus sizes. As someone with a 26" leg length this is something I can definitely relate to!

So which retailers got your vote?
Here's what you told me...

The stamp of approval goes to: Old Navy
Old navy's jeans got the most positive reviews. You guys like that they are budget friendly and comfortable. You also like that there is a choice of different leg lengths to ensure a good fit. And you jeggings junkies can't recommend their jeggings enough. So well done Old Navy!

Runner up: Torrid Source of Wisdom
Torrid's source of wisdom jeans didn't get quite as many mentions, but those of you who wear them swear by them. You like that they are chic and keep their shape over time, although one of you mentioned that the material is a bit thin.

Best Review: Lane Bryant
Reader Amy was the only person to mention Lane Bryant, but I found her review convincing enough that I now think I need to check these out, so I thought I'd share what she told me in her email: "My favorite pair of jeans are Lane Bryant's Right Fit jeans. They come in 3 fits depending on how curvy you are, I wear the red triangles. They also come in 3 lengths: petite, average and tall. Buying petite jeans means I don't have to hem them, win! My favorite pair of right fit jeans that I've worn at least 3 times a week for over 2 years, just had the inner thigh region wear through, that's a pretty good life span!"

Honourable mentions:

Asos and Dorothy Perkins were recommended by taller readers.
British readers mostly recommended Joe Browns and Yours Clothing.
Australian readers highly recommended City Chic.

Beth's pick:
My favourite jeans are MXM. I've been wearing their jeans since I first visited Canada 7 years ago. They're good and thick and last a long time, they fit me well in the stomach without hanging loosely off my bum and their petite selection means I don't need to get them hemmed. If you're short and thick in the stomach and thighs like me then these will fit you beautifully!

So there you go, our collaborative guide on where to buy jeans.
Tomorrow I'll be posting the Fat girl's stamp of approval topic for January and asking you to help me out with more recommendations. Thanks again to everyone who helped to make this one happen.
Love you guys xxx

Lessons and Favourites of 2010

2010-12-31T08:00:00.010Z

This post is totally ~~stolen from~~ inspired by Amelia Pontes who frequently posts a list of 5 lessons learned and 5 of her favourite things. I'm not really astute enough to come up with 5 whole nuggets of wisdom each week, but since it's new year's eve I've been thinking about the lessons I've learned writing this blog throughout 2010, and so I thought I'd list them, and throw in my 5 favourite outfits of the year too while I'm at it. So here goes...

5 Lessons Learned in 2010:

1. Rules are made to be broken. Before this year I would never have dreamed of wearing stripes; now my wardrobe is full of them! I don't even worry about it anymore, I know I can rock most things with my shoulders back and a smile on my face.
2. Haters gonna hate. I kind of pity people who have nothing better to do than try to hurt others. If I just carry on doing what I do and never let it bring me down I'll lead a much happier life than any hater.
3. Put your personality into what you wear. Anyone can wear a dress straight out of the box and probably look good in it, but it's not an outfit until you've accessorized it and made it your own.
4. Take Risks. Pushing myself to do things that take a lot of confidence like posting bathing suit pics and wearing a jumpsuit have helped my confidence grow immeasurably. I'm so glad I took those risks and I hope I take more next year.
5. Bad outfits happen. So don't sweat it. Just remember every bad outfit is a lesson learned.

5 Favourite Outfits in 2010:

What did you learn in 2010?
And which of your own outfits will you remember most fondly?

Happy New Year, everyone.
I wish you all the best in 2011. xoxo

Outfits Untold: My Year in Pictures

2010-12-30T07:34:00.030Z

It's time to wrap up the year here at Pretty in Plus. As we ring in 2011 I want to share with you some pictures that I never posted here. It's a bit of a look into my "real life" so you can see where I went and what I got up to and most importantly; what I wore. I have quite a few pics to share so apologies in advance to the 0.92% of you who still have dial-up.

Here I am starting the year as I meant to go on: falling on the floor with a smile on my face and rum in my belly. My friends and I threw a "Golden Age of Hollywood" themed New Year party. There aren't that many pics of the actual party, but the gold cocktail dress I wore can be seen in this old post from March.

I spent the spring really making the most of my best friends back in the UK because I knew I'd be moving to Canada over the summer. Here's my friend Ant and I creating giant boobs and a belly for my actually very thin bestie, Mif. That was about the time I started my love affair with deep, rich purples.

In April five of us set out on an amazing city break to London, this is us in trafalgar square. This is one of the only pictures from that day where I don't look hot and bothered; small town girls and hot, busy cities do not mix well!

Later that day outside the British museum. There was a terrible heatwave that day so what had started as a cozy scarf became a polka-dot shawl.

At the end of May, eight of us went to Cardiff for the weekend for my hen night. This is us shopping the day I got to try on the Ruby Belle dresses at Evans. This picture is actually horribly misleading though, because my group consisted of four guys and four girls; most of my closest friends are actually guys so I had to bring them along too!

For the night itself, pink sequined mice ears were compulsory, even for the guys, and we all wore accessories to match. We went to a great drag bar, and there was definitely a lot of drinking and singing involved (and I don't remember why I'm making backwards star trek signs with my hands). In the morning my fiancé arrived from Canada, and I celebrated having a photographer to boss around by posting a whole week of outfit posts.

The week before our wedding was so bizarre for me. My fiancé's family and best man arrived from Canada and I basically spent a few days playing tour guide to my home town. I've spent six years traveling back and forth between Canada and Wales, so having my Welsh friends and family in the same place as my Canadian friends and family was incredibly surreal. My uniform for that hectic week was comfy harem pants, a wrap cardigan and shades.

I know, I know, my wedding dress doesn't really count as an "outfit untold" because I posted like a zillion pictures of it. But it wouldn't exactly be a recap of my year without mentioning that I got married, now would it? One thing that surprised me about my wedding pictures was that I actually preferred all the candid shots taken by the guests to the posed ones taken by the photographer. I don't remember what I was laughing about here though.

Here I am on the steam train in my dress. I love this picture because my Grandad took it, and it's one of the only pictures that was taken on film instead of digital.

And this is one of my favourite pictures of the day because it reminds me of a funny part of the day. We got ambushed outside the church by well-wishers, and when we turned around, the whole of the wedding party had gone to the park to take pictures and left us behind! I was having trouble rushing to catch up to them so I made Luke carry my heels and we ran after them barefoot. When we arrived at the park they were all of my friends and family crowded together ready for a group picture, and there was a big cheer as we caught up.

Married life saw me moving to Canada, and having a wonderful summer here in Nova Scotia. Posting a picture of myself in my bathing suit was a huge milestone for me and something I never imagined I'd be able to do when I first started blogging.

In July I got sick of my crazy hair and cut it short. This picture is from a beer-tasting event that my husband and I went to. I'm not a beer person really, but I enjoyed trying all the different kinds. People in Nova Scotia are very friendly drinkers so it's always fun to be at this kind of event.

Singing with hubby's guitar in the park on a hot day. Guitar isn't my forté but I think I look the part.

The least practical outfit of the year award goes to this polka-dot maxi dress I wore on a walk along a rocky cliff path. It was so windy!

September's trip to Las Vegas was a huge highlight of the year for me. I was there for the Viva Fat Vegas conference, but also my husband traveled with me and we took a couple of days vacation either side of the conference stuff. That was really great because we never had the chance to take a honeymoon (he was required to spend 3 weeks in the UK before our wedding, so by the time that had passed he couldn't take any more time off work.)

But obviously, getting to meet blogging bffs like Sarah was really wonderful. The best part for me was getting to go clothes shopping with other women who have as much passion and excitement for clothes as I do. And getting to try on their clothes was mind-blowing, I've always wanted to try on friends' clothes but only ever had thinner girls around me.

One last picture from Vegas, just because I love my fatshion girls so much!

This was an OOTD that never really made the cut, the pictures just never really worked out for me. I really need to get back to that lake and try to get some pics there again because it's a wonderful backdrop. That can be one of my new year's fatshion resolutions!

Getting bored yet? We're almost there! For halloween I wore a home-made bee costume, and my friend Serena was a ladybug. I can't tell you the number of bee puns I came up with that night!

With my parents in the snow as they come for a christmas visit. In between christmas and halloween I wrote a novel for Nanowrimo, but there's not really any fun photos from that time - just a lot of memories of caffeine fueled all-nighters.

So that's how my year went. It was a momentous one and I doubt 2011 will be quite so life-changing, but who knows? Either way I'm going to go into the new year with a smile on my face, ready for adventure!

An Eshakti Christmas - Part 2

2010-12-28T15:31:00.000Z

Today I'm going to review the dress I got from eShakti for christmas. My mum and I both got dresses, and while her pick was a bit more classic and versatile, I went for all out new year glamour.

I chose the ruffled skirt strapless dress in "crushed berry". Now, before I review it I have to say; I don't think my pics of it came out very well. I don't think they do a good job of showing what the dress looks like and we won't even talk about the bad hair day I was having. So I'm just going to pop in the picture from their website to show you the shape of the dress.

I have nothing but good stuff to say about this dress. The second I put it on I felt super glamorous and couldn't stop twirling. Those ruffles just make me swoon, the colour is perfect and the fabric is lovely. It's one of those dresses that I think looks better on person than on the website. I find the fit a bit generous in the bust, if I was a cup-size or two bigger it would be a perfect fit, but apart from that the fit is pretty perfect (you can get custom sizing on eShakti dresses but I decided to go with regular sizing).

The fabric is a bit shiny, more shiny than the picture on eShakti, but not quite as shiny as the flash from my camera makes it look. I guess shiny fabric is hard to photograph.

I'll try and get some better pictures of me wearing it when I wear it on New Year's Eve; this picture is just from a quick silly photoshoot my mum and I did in front of the tree and it was early in the morning and I wasn't very composed. I super love this dress though, it's one of my favourite dresses I've ever owned.

An Eshakti Christmas - Part 1

2010-12-27T21:19:00.001Z

Hello and a late Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope you all had a wonderful day. It was a landmark one for me; I cooked christmas dinner for the first time in my life! I thought it would be super stressful, but I channeled my inner Nigella and planned ahead and delegated some of the work and it all came together. It was a little tiring though, I ended up falling asleep on the floor by the christmas tree afterwards!

Today I'm going to feature the woman who taught me how to cook a roast dinner in the first place; Ann Price, my beautiful mother. I know we don't look alike, I take after the women on my dad's side more than anyone else, but we're very close and we make each other laugh a lot. For our christmas presents we each chose a dress from eShakti this year.

My dress is, in my opinion, the perfect new year's eve dress - but I'll write about it next time. For today though, I'm going to share my mum's review of her eshakti dress.

My mum chose the Surplice front shirt-dress in charcoal. I think it looks really cute on her and is one of those dresses she can dress up or down for lots of different occasions. I also love that the cute bow belt is detachable so she can wear it with other outfits.

Here's what she had to say about it:
"The material of the dress is heavier than I expected but it is very well made and I love the style of it. The neckline plunged a bit low for my liking so I had to pin it at the collar because I don't like to show so much cleavage. I'm looking forward to wearing this to all sorts of places; it's very versatile, I love the bow and I think I will be very comfortable in it. They should come out with a dress in the summer that is like this but in a crisp cotton and a 50s retro print!"

Isn't she fabulous?

My parents are heading home today so it's going to be awfully quiet in our little apartment. I'll miss them a lot but I'll see them again soon! Safe travels to you if you're also traveling back from christmas visits.

Pink, sparkly and wonderful all over

2010-12-23T14:53:00.000Z

Hi guys! I hope you don't mind that it's been a slow week here, my parents are visiting me here in Canada for Christmas and I've kind of been making the most of them while I've got them. I just had to do a quick post though to show you the apron that my friend Holly made for me:

This is the most wonderful apron I have ever seen in my life, I nearly cried when I opened the parcel because I can't believe that somebody would make me something so pretty. I love everything from the sparkles, to the ruffles, to the lace to the pink flower shaped buttons and the ribbon ties at the back.

The only problem is that I think it's too pretty to cook in!
Next time I see Holly I shall have to bake her a cake and have a little tea party (of the adorable girly variety, not the American political kind).

I want to learn to sew amazing aprons too, maybe Holly can teach me!
Do you guys have any friend-made clothes that you are in love with?

Swimsuits for All Review

2010-12-16T21:03:00.002Z

This week Swimsuits For All were nice enough to send me a swimsuit to review. It might seem like a strange time of year to be reviewing one, but if you follow me on twitter you may have noticed that I'm an avid swimmer and I do it year-round. I try to make it to the pool about twice a week (though in the crazy run-up to Christmas just managing once a week has been a challenge) and I usually swim a kilometer which in the little 10m pool on my street is 100 lengths. As you can imagine - swimsuits are an incredibly important part of my wardrobe!

It's always been my favourite form of exercise since I was a toddler, but for about five years I never even dipped my toes in for fear of anyone seeing me in a swimsuit. For me, the body part I was always most self-conscious about was my stomach. I'm much happier in my skin these days, but back in the days when I didn't feel so happy, having a suit like this one might have given my the confidence to dive in.

(Sorry for the horrid hair, I didn't see much point in styling it nicely when I was about to go for a swim)
It's just like a regular one-piece except that it has a built-in tankini top that fits over your tummy. It's barely noticable, but the result is that you have this extra, looser layer to cover anything that bulges. I hope that makes sense. I don't really care if anyone sees my wobbly tum, but I totally remember being too shy to even think about swimming, and a tummy-covering panel like this would've been a godsend.

As for the rest of the suit, the material is nice, it's well made and there was plenty of support in the bust. I put it through its paces right after that picture was taken and everything stayed in place. So it gets a thumbs up from me! The only thing I would maybe change is the print - it's a bit mumsy. And this isn't just a criticism of swimsuits for all, because almost everyone who makes plus-size swimsuits does it, but I would love more choices than black or floral print. I want fresher colours and prints. (If this suit was navy with white hearts printed on it, I'd probably be calling it the greatest swimsuit of all time.)

Gosh this has been quite word-heavy, hasn't it? Well done if you made it this far. All I want to say in closing is that if you're planning a getaway to warmer climes this winter, or if you just fancy taking up swimming as a new year's resolution - I'd definitely recommend Swimsuits For All. They've got a huge selection in sizes up to 34W and the suit they sent me is very high quality and is something I'll be sure to get a lot of use out of in the coming months.

We have a winner!

2010-12-15T04:11:00.003Z

Thanks so much to everyone who entered my Domino Dollhouse giveaway. There were some really brilliant answers to the question (what is your dream article of clothing) and it was tough to choose who to give the $25 certificate to, but in the end one entry really stood out.

And the Winner is...
(I'm in one of those over the top, happy, sparkly moods today,
so you'll have to forgive me for announcing this in glitter)

Aka. D from The Merry Traveller.
Tracy and I both loved her answer because it was so romantic and body positive and just put a smile on our faces. This is what she wrote:

My dream article of clothing would be a seriously pouffy tutu made of lace, tulle, romance and dreams in black or the palest shade of pink. Even though I didn't learn ballet when i am young but you can't stop me from indulging in the world of make-believe when i am old. I want to twirl round and round in it and show the world that big girls can be graceful too.

Isn't that so sweet?
I want one of those too.
Well done Merry, and do let us know what you spend your well-earned prize on!

Serious Layering

2010-12-11T17:50:00.003Z

Oh! Before I forget, there's still a day left to enter my Domino Dollhouse giveaway. I've really loved reading all the wonderful entries.

Temperatures in Nova Scotia are down in the minus numbers now, and this poor brit is not used to it at all! Time for some layering - and when you have to layer leggings, you know it's serious! Here I've worn my fave lace leggings with a pair of coloured tights underneath. It's a fun pop of colour and it stops me from shivering.

Dress & Cardi - Torrid // Lace Leggings - Yours // Purple Tights - welovecolors.com // Boots - Forever 21

I really love this dress but it doesn't photograph particularly well; that satin fabric always looks like I haven't ironed it, especially if I lean over like that. Also, I neglected to wear a strapless bra today and that was silly. Oh well, at least the bra strap matches the other purple parts of the ensemble! Hah, maybe I shouldn't have posted this pic, but I like to be honest and not pretend every outfit is perfect (really, none of them are...)

I've tried this out with my blue tights and my pink ones too, but I think the purple looks the cutest.

This Phillip Mercier watch has been my watch for about two years and I still love it to pieces; so much that I wore it today even though it needs a new battery right now. The band is stretchy and made of safety pins with black beads on.

So anyway, that's my trick for keeping warm on this cold December day.
What are your tricks for staying warm?
I'm looking to you Canadians especially, here.
I seriously need some tips!

A Few Of My Favourite Things

2010-12-08T19:59:00.002Z

Hi gorgeous readers! Not much to share this week - I'm mostly just organizing the apartment for my parents who are coming to stay in a few days. But I do have a quick silly video show you (featuring almost no singing...), I hope you like it:

The idea for this vid was borrowed from fellow blogger, Thomessa.
What are your favourite things?

While you're here, three things worth mentioning:

1.City Chic just launched their American store and they're offering a 30% discount to their US customers (I'm jealous!) Just use the magic code: BM30FS. There's a lot of really beautiful dresses in their store and I've heard wonderful things about their jeans, so it's well worth a look.

2.Peppermint Park are currently hosting a christmas giveaway and you could win a really gorgeous Laura Elizabeth necklace. One of the necklaces is called the Beth necklace! Coincidence? ...yes. But it's really pretty even though it isn't named after yours truly, so head on over to peppermint park's blog for details on how to win.

3. Have you entered my giveaway yet? You could win a gift certificate to Domino Dollhouse! Just tell me what your dream article of clothing is. Not picking a winner until Sunday December 12th, so you've still got time. Go for it!

Domino Dollhouse Giveaway

2010-12-05T17:31:00.000Z

Did you happen to catch my interview with Tracy from Domino Dollhouse a couple of days ago? Well Tracy has been kind enough to offer a $25 gift certificate to one lucky reader. All you need to do is leave a comment here with your answer to the following question:

"What is your dream article of clothing?"
Tracy and I are going to choose our favourite comment and the person who posted it shall be the winner. The deadline is one week from today which is December 12th. So get commenting!

Here's some of my favourite finds for under $25 that are in stock right now, just to show you what you could be spending your prize on:

Domino Dollhouse by Bethamint featuring dollhouse dresses

Good luck everyone!
(this is my first ever giveaway, so I'm really excited)

Five take... jeggings

2010-12-04T16:00:00.006Z

It's time for another five take! This is going to be the last one for a while, we're taking a bit of a break since the holidays are coming. Be sure to visit A Well Rounded Venture, A Monkey Fatshionista, More of this & Less of That and The State I am In to see what the other Five Take girls have come up with for this week's challenge.

Edit: Actually I think I'm the only one who got theirs up on time. We must all be ready for that christmas break I guess!

The best thing about this challenge is that it makes me put things together in new ways on days when I would be lazy and just wear my jeggings with some boring t-shirt and not bother showing you. Anyway, last week I asked you guys how you felt about me posting more pictures, and the overwhelming answer seemed to be that you liked them, so I'll be posting a few more pictures from now on then!

All stuff I've shown you before but I never thought of putting a belt on over that jacket before, or wearing the summer dress as a tunic. I can't believe how much I've worn this dress since I bought it from fellow blogger Christina last spring. It just works with so many different things in my wardrobe, and it's super comfy.

I think this is the first time I've ever showed my hair on here when it hasn't been styled. This is how it goes if I just let it dry, it's not really curly or straight it's just extremely wavy and goes a bit crazy if the weather is damp (which here = always).

Boots, jacket, belt, necklace - Evans // Dress - 2nd hand // Jeggings - Yours Clothing
Did you miss my bookshelf?
The weather outside is a bit horrendous for picture taking...

Interview with Domino Dollhouse

2010-12-03T18:21:00.000Z

Domino Dollhouse is a brand new online store created by fellow plus-size blogger Tracy Broxterman (of Chubble Bubble). The store, which just launched in the last couple of weeks, aims to bring quirkier and edgier pieces to the plus-size wardrobe. Tracy was kind enough to take some time out of her busy store-running schedule and let me ask her a few questions!

What inspired you to start Domino Dollhouse?

Life! I'm not only plus size, but come from a plus size family. It's an issue that I've grown up with, struggled with, and ached over...and no, I don't mean being fat. I mean buying clothing! That was always my NUMBER ONE complaint. I knew my body was destined to be a certain way, so I embraced it quickly, it's the rest of the world that annoyed me. I'd always wanted to have my own store, but couldn't truly nail down a concept that I loved. There are several plus stores out there doing a fabulous job right now, but my favorite quirky shops: Betsey Johnson, Patricia Field, Popkiller, etc did not have a plus size equal. And that's when I knew what I wanted to do.

How difficult is it to find people who make the quirkier items that you want to stock? And what are some items that you are still trying to find in plus sizes?

It's extremely difficult to get the quirky items in plus sizes! About 95% of what is available is an aesthetic that is insanely overdone for plus sizes...flowy tops in bad prints and materials, bad jeans, and unfortunate club dresses. So, of the 5% that is in the shop's style, there are other things to consider when purchasing...price, size, availability, shipping...which narrows things down quite a bit. But, the junior plus market is improving in style, which is why I was able to open my store, but that doesn't mean I am not on the lookout for all plus sizes...they are coming, for sure!

Items that I am on the lookout for and WILL FIND UNTIL IT KILLS ME are kooky party dresses up to size 28 (this I've had some success with...coming soon!), cute-ly printed cardigans and hoodies, tights and leggings with fabu prints, and killer lingerie.

It sounds incredibly frustrating to have such limited choices as a buyer. Do you think this is an aspect of the plus-size industry that can change in the future? Or do you think it will always be difficult to find trendier or edgier pieces in the larger sizes?

It is...particularly a buyer that cannot sew and create the pieces herself. I think that all it takes is one truly passionate person to prove that they can make money with affordable, kooky fashions and others will emulate. In this business, money really does speak volumes. I'm here to prove that there is a market for this and that it isn't a huge risk for factories to make these pieces. So...I'm optimistic for the future! Things are already exponentially better than when I was in highschool (over 10 years ago)...that's very promising.

Well that's good news! Since we've touched on the subject of sizes, I'd like to ask you about the sizing on Domino Dollhouse. I've noticed that there isn't a lot of consistency when it comes to the size measurements for the items in your shop. Why do the sizes differ so much?

With most retailers, when they use one size chart, they have to give an approximation of what they would consider a 12, 14, etc. However, as a plus size girl my whole life, I know that EVERY garment is a COMPLETELY different size and cut. For instance, I have a size small dress that I wear and yet I'm a 24 4X. It is important for me to measure the items at their maximum and minimum measurements at each point on the body so that a girl can see if the items will work for her.

For example, the Cocktails for Breakfast dress has a smaller bust but has a decent amount of draped fabric in the tummy area. So while someone who is a 12/14 in the bust could wear it with no issue, a girl with larger tummy/bottom but a small bust who identifies has a 18 could also fit into it. I realize that this may seem confusing, but I think it is important to not follow those strict "size" limitations! If I did that: I might never buy half of the items that I love because the tag/chart told me I couldn't.

That sounds like a really great way to make sure customers aren't disappointed with the fit. So what are some of your hopes for the future of Domino Dollhouse? Where do you want to go from here?

I want it to be a shop that is more than just "cute for plus size". I just want it to be quality design and a great price with no settling. I plan on creating a Domino Dollhouse label in the future...hopefully sooner than later!

Thanks so much for answering my questions, Tracy. Congratulations on opening your store and best of luck with it in the future! One last question for you: my friend Holly is begging me to ask you how wide the Endo boots go?

Thanks so much! It was a really great interview and I enjoyed the questions so much. The Endo boots are a wide width at the top and the foot...I don't have the shoes on hand, so I can't get exact measurements for you, BUT I can tell you that these were developed specifically for Torrid. If she fits in Torrid's knee high boots: these will work! I hope this helps...if she needs a specific measurement (calf, foot width, etc) let me know and I can try and contact the company for this information.
***

Check out some of cute items Tracy has in stock right now:

I really enjoyed getting to chat with Tracy. I definitely admire her honesty and her positive attitude! What did you guys think? Are you digging quirky style of Domino Dollhouse?

Stamp of Approval

2010-12-01T16:52:00.002Z

Happy December everyone!

I’d like to get the ball rolling on a new feature here on Pretty in Plus, and it’s one I’d love you guys to help me out with. What I want to do is create an award; I’m calling it the Fat Girl’s Stamp of Approval. And every month I want to take on a different item of clothing (jeans, bras, boots etc...) and ask you guys which retailers you recommend for each one.

So this month I’d like to start with jeans. I know some of you don’t wear them that much, while others of you live in them. But if you’ve ever found that perfect pair of jeans that ticked all of your boxes, it would be great if you could tell me about them. All I need to know is where you got them and what was so great about them. Tell me whose jeans fell short of your expectations too, if you like.

You can leave me a comment on this entry, send me an email (beth[at]pretty-in-plus.com), send me a tweet or write it on my facebook wall. It’s all good!

At the end of the month I’ll write a post listing the most glowing reviews and telling you which stores got the most mentions. I’ll also add my own opinions to the mix. Hopefully what we’ll end up with is a perfect little guide for any plus-size girls who aren’t sure where to get their jeans, as well as some good tips for retailers on what we bigger girls are looking for when we shop for them.

So get reviewing, ladies!
Whose jeans get your stamp of approval?

Five Take... Outerwear

2010-11-27T23:13:00.005Z

Today is the fourth installment of five take! A quick reminder: Four other bloggers and I are taking a theme each week and posting an outfit based on that theme. Today's theme is looking good in necessary outerwear. Be sure to visit A Well Rounded Venture, A Monkey Fatshionista, More of this & Less of That and The State I am In to see what the other Five Take girls have come up with for this week's challenge.

This is my winter coat, I bought it last year from Old Navy. I love it so much because of the big dramatic collar, the belted waist and the kimono sleeves. It has a pink satin lining too which makes it really comfortable to wear.

It's not the most practical thing in the colder months - back home in the UK I can cope by wearing long gloves and a chunky scarf, but I've been told that by January this thing is going to be fairly useless against the Canadian winter, so this week I've invested in a ski jacket with lots of padding so that I can survive. For now though this is perfect.

I wanted to show you these heels I found at Value Village. The big polka dots are actually velvet, and the heel is velvet too. I've been wanting to find a small way to incorporate this fabric into my winter wardrobe, so I'm really pleased with this find. And I can walk in them - bonus!

I love this ring because it's stretchy. I got found this in Voluptuous boutique in Las Vegas. As someone with very chunky sausage fingers I'm a huge fan of stretchy rings!

Shoes - thrifted // Dress - Forever 21+// Coat - Old Navy // Tights - Simply Be
I'd love a bit of feedback for this post - I've included a few more photos than usual including a couple of details shots, and I'd love to know if you guys like seeing more pics or if you think less is more. I'm never sure how many pics to post.

As always, thanks for reading,
Love you guys! xxx

More Sizes Equals More Customers!

2010-11-25T17:21:00.003Z

Some exciting news my lovelies! eShakti.com are extending their sizes.

"This Thanksgiving, we are happy to announce that we are extending our size set beyond 3X to cover 4X, 5X and 6X. This is part of our commitment to serving real women who range from petite to tall to Plus-size. To start with, not all styles are being offered in the 4X-6X range, but about 60% of them are."

I think that's really great news and I hope other companies will follow in their footsteps. So many plus-size retailers just stop at 3X and there's plenty of gorgeous women beyond that size who are willing to spend their cash on pretty dresses too! And if you are thinking of buying a dress from eShakti.com, then don't forget you can use the Pretty in Plus discount code to get 15% off. BeAMF9 is the magic code. It's valid until the end of November.

Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers,
and happy thursday to everyone else. xxx

Berets and Bows

2010-11-24T23:26:00.002Z

I haven't said it in a while, but thanks so much to everyone who reads this, especially those of you who take the time to leave me comments. You're all so lovely and you give me so much energy and make it so fun to write this blog! So thank you!

This week I've been featured over at Amelia Pontes' amazing blog, Soundbites, talking about my three style icons, so you should go and have a look! It was really fun to write and I think it really explains why I dress how I do.

Now less talk, more outfits:

T-shirt & Skirt - Asos Curve // Hat & Boots - Forever 21 // Leggings - Walmart

Today my outfit is uncharacteristically dark. I don't usually feel comfortable wearing outfits that are black from head to toe, I'm totally a colour person, but if I mix in cute details such as the bow on that t-shirt and my navy beret then it feels more like me!

I did of course wear a coat over this, but just to show you the outfit underneath in good light I managed to brave the cold without it for a couple of minutes and snap these pics.

You Can't Tell Me I'm Not Happy

2010-11-22T17:21:00.008Z

Last week I read an interview that made me kind of angry. It made me angry because the interviewee stated that everyone in the plus-size community is lying when they say they are happy. I don't want to link to it really, because it's already brought a friend of mine to tears today.

But I am going to share my response with you:

My blog has a simple message. It’s this: BE HAPPY IN YOUR SKIN. I don’t want to preach to you about what you should do to get to the point where you are happy within that body of yours. I can’t tell you how to get there, everyone is different. I can tell you how I got there, but nobody is the same.

For me, this is the size I am comfortable at. So far in my life I have been lucky enough to never suffer any health problems. I exercise regularly (mostly by swimming). I can run up stairs without getting out of breath. I cook my meals from scratch. I eat a balanced diet (and I’ve had a dietician teach me what a balanced diet is). This is the size I have been for ten years. I’m done bullying my body to try and make it smaller. I just give my body the best care that I can and thank it every day for taking care of me in return.

There are people the same size as me who don’t eat particularly healthy foods and don’t really exercise. That’s their choice, and it doesn't automatically mean that they are unhappy either. There are also thin people who don’t eat healthily and don’t exercise. Bodies come in all shapes and sizes and it’s up to us to decide what we do with ours. It’s not anyone else’s place to judge.

If you are the same size as me but you just can’t be happy about it, or you do suffer from health problems, if you don’t think you were born to be the size you are and all you want to do is get thinner … fine. If you lose weight I’ll still be your friend. I would never judge you harshly for doing what you feel is right for your own body. If the end result of that is that you are healthier and happier, then I am happy for you.

But in return, don’t tell me I suffer from self-esteem problems and health issues. Don’t tell me I am ignorant about nutrition and health. Please don’t tell me I am in denial and not really happy. That’s not something you can possibly know and it’s horribly unfair. Your beliefs do not apply to every single human being.

No matter what anyone says, I know that I am happy.
Truly, honestly, incredibly happy.
I hope you are too!

Five Take... Summer into Winter

2010-11-20T20:07:00.004Z

Today is part three of the Five Take challenge. A quick reminder: Four other bloggers and I are taking a theme each week and posting an outfit based on that theme. This week is taking a summer dress and styling it for winter. I'll put a link to everyone else's posts at the bottom.

This chambray shirt dress was a wardrobe staple for me throughout the summer, despite only showing it once back in July. Back then I wore it all the time over a white cami and with a coral belt, cropped leggings and sandals.

For this cool day in November I've teamed it with darker things. A grey boyfriend cardigan, a black belt, long leggings and ankle boots. And voila! A perfect casual outfit for a saturday morning.

Shirt dress, belt - Evans // Cardigan - Torrid // Boots - Forever 21 // Leggings - Walmart

(I'm so squinty when I take pics outside...)

I wore this to a birthday lunch for my sister-in-law. I've realized since taking these pics though that my boobs are a bit big for the shirt, and I should've had the top unbuttoned like I did in the summer. Oh well, lesson learned...

Be sure to visit A Well Rounded Venture, A Monkey Fatshionista, More of this & Less of That and The State I am In to see what the other Five Take girls have come up with for this week's challenge.

What clothes from summer have you carried into your winter wardrobe?

Electric Blue Boogaloo

2010-11-18T17:37:00.002Z

Just a quick reminder guys: you can get 15% off an order from eshakti.com using the special discount code BeAMF9. It's valid until the end of November. You can also get two months free membership to PeppermintPark.com using the exclusive code PrettyInPlus.

Today I'm rocking my blue tights again and I've paired them with this blazer I picked up at value village the other day - I've just been having the best luck in thrift stores lately, or maybe my lack of funds is making me look harder? Either way I love this recent find.

Blazer - thrifted // Sunglasses - New Look // Boots - Forever 21 //
Tights - We love colors // Skirt - Asos Curve // Tee - Old Navy
I know this is a genuine 80s throwback because of the shoulder pads. Usually I cut them out but I actually think these ones look pretty good, they're not too noticable but I look a little less hunched over than usual. What do you think? Should I cut them out?

We're having a really warm November so I'm making the most of it and getting as many outfit posts outside as I can before the snow comes and it starts to be impossible.

Ciao for now!

Peppermint Park

2010-11-16T13:51:00.007Z

I always get excited when people give me stuff like promotion codes to share with you guys. It seems like such a simple way to thank you all for reading and following my little blog. Well I've got a good code for you today but first I want to tell you a bit about the store that gave it to me.

PeppermintPark.com is a membership-based fashion and luxury brands e-tailer, and they offer discounts on designer clothing and accessories at prices up to 80% off retail. What's really great is that Peppermint Park just launched their plus-size division, so unlike other online designer discount stores, they actually carry stuff in larger sizes. Yay! So far the plus-size selection isn't huge but you can pick up a lot of bandlu pieces at about a 30% discount which is great.

They also carry a lot of shoes and accessories, and there's a lot of serious designer names there (Prada, Gucci, Dior...) So y'know, it's a pretty good place to get some Christmas shopping done.

Here's some of my favourite items they have right now:

The me of the future who hopefully will have a little more financial freedom really likes things like Marck Jacobs handbags at 53% off, but even with that discount the me of now doesn't have the cash, but in the meantime the pretty things above are in my price range.

So here's the fun part! Every reader of this blog gets a 2 month free membership to peppermint park. All you need is the magic code: PrettyInPlus and you're covered. They ship worldwide so this is open to everyone.

Happy shopping lovelies!

Five Take... Patterned Knitwear

2010-11-13T17:26:00.005Z

Today is part two of the Five Take challenge. A quick reminder: Four other bloggers and I are taking a theme each week and posting an outfit based on that theme. This week is patterned knitwear. I'll put a link to everyone else's posts at the bottom.

Cardigan - Thrifted // Dress - SWAK designs // Slashed leggings - Self-made // Belt & Boots - Evans
Knitwear is something I've been having a lot of trouble with this year. Everything in the stores over here seems to be chunky cable knits right now, which don't seem to work for me. Other people manage to look chic and cozy in them at the same time; I just tend to look cuddly, like someone's mum!

Luckily, just yesterday I found this cardigan in a thrift store for just $6 and I snagged it. It's actually a size 14 but it fits me fine. Just goes to show that it's always worth trying stuff on, especially in the knitwear section where everything has a bit of stretch to it.

If you've been reading since last year you might remember that these leggings were just plain black leggings that I attacked with some scissors when I was bored.

It's so strange to me wearing sunglasses in November. Back home in Wales when it gets to November it's cloudy every day, more or less, so I feel like a bit of an asshole being outside in my sunnies, but they are definitely necessary here!

I still think I look a bit cuddly even in black and grey striped knitwear. Maybe I'm just doomed to be cuddly... oh well... I can think of worst things to be doomed to!

Check out the posts from the other Five Take girls:

Claire in an Asos cardigan (with owls!)
Valerie in an argyle cardigan.
Elizabeth in a rose-print cardigan.
Nicole in a black and white cardigan.

Dream outfits: festive edition

2010-11-08T13:53:00.002Z

Okay Okay, I do realize it's still November, but lately I've been seeing the stores bring out their christmas catalogues and I've started to dream about what I want to be wearing when the festive season arrives. There's always two things I want to be doing come December: one is being glamorous at a christmas party or New Year party wearing something that's thoroughly sparkly. The second is being cosy in something knitted and cute as I sing carols and drink hot chocolate.

So for this post I've put together my dream outfit for each scenario! They aren't impossible dream outfits; everything comes in my size and is available from shops I usually shop at. They're just dream outfits because I don't have the money to buy them right now. Here we go...

Seasonal Sparkle by Bethamint featuring dorothy perkins hair accessories

Purple velvet bow clips, 5 GBP
Black & Silver Sequin Front V-Neck Dress Plus Size Fuller Figure, 45 GBP
laser cut peeptoe platforms - shoes - shoes & boots - evans, 35 GBP
black velvet bolero - tops & tunics - new in - evans, 20 GBP
purple 70d opaque tights - tights and socks - lingerie - evans, 5 GBP

How amazing is that Sequin dress from yours clothing? It reminds me of a 1920s flapper dress! The bolero I picked to go with it is super trendy velvet, as are the hair bows. Such a luxurious fabric, so perfect for the holidays.

Caroling and Cocoa by Bethamint featuring red tops

Red ruched shoulder cardigan, 18 GBP
black shearling ankle boots - ankle boots - boots - shoes & boots -..., 40 GBP
silver lurex ribbed tights - accessories - accessories - evans, 8 GBP
cream fluffy panda beanie hat
Black/ivory bow stripe gloves - View All - New In - Dorothy Perkins

That panda hat is unbearably cute, and I love those big red bows on those gloves. I ran out of room to include the skirt I picked for this outfit, but it was just a short, plain, black skirt.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my dream holiday outfits.
What's your dream outfit for the holidays? What things from the christmas catalogues have got you excited?

I have to admit though... I had an ulterior motive for making these sets so early. I want my husband to see them so he'll have an idea of what to get me for christmas!

Five Take... Lace!

2010-11-06T18:57:00.004Z

So some blogger friends and I have decided to take part in a wardrobe challenge where each week we create an outfit based around the same theme. The participants are the wonderful ladies of A Well Rounded Venture, A Monkey Fatshionista, The State I am in, More of This and Less of That... and of course me! I'll put links to the other girls' theme posts at the bottom of this entry. This week the theme is lace!

I feel like I've been doing lace a lot lately, between my eshakti dress and my fave lace leggings. It's funny though, because I don't really think of myself as sultry/sexy/feminine enough for lace outfits, but I guess I am! But for this outfit, instead of my lace dress or my lace leggings, I decided to do something different.

Tunic - Walmart // Cardigan - Thrifted // Jeggings - Yours Clothing// Boots - Forever 21
This purple tunic I've worn before here on my blog, but I've never shown the back of it. The back has this big lace panel that I really love, but I'm usually wearing a jacket or cardigan over the top anyway.

Today though I decided to try wearing the tunic backwards to see how it looked with the lace at the front, and I really quite like it like this! My bra sticks out a tiny bit at the top but I'm not really bothered, if I want to cover it I just tie up the cardigan. To amp up the lace factor I've teamed it with my thrifted lace-trimmed cardigan.

I really enjoyed having short hair over the summer, but I'm working on growing it out again now, and I'm kind of excited that it's long enough to be in a ponytail again!

So tell me lovely readers, are you a fan of lace?
How do you incorporate lace into your wardrobe?

Be sure to check out the other gorgeous Five Take ladies:

Poor ill Claire mixes some lace in with her comfy jumpsuit and slippers.
Valerie rocks a white lace top.
Elizabeth gets bonus points for having a lace bra under her lace top!
Nicole pairs her lace cami with some cute skirts.

I Love Colours too! (A Review)

2010-11-04T19:57:00.003Z

Here's a video review for Welovecolors.com:

(I realize I might sound like a commercial for them, but they didn't pay me to say this - I just get super excited about coloured tights that actually fit me!)
As promised in the video, here are my two pairs of tights styled with stuff from my wardrobe. It's all stuff I've shown you before, but I just wanted to show how brilliant coloured tights can be for adding something different to an outfit.

Cardigan & Dress - Torrid // Boots - Evans

Shoes & top - Walmart // Skirt - Evans

Top - Dorothy Perkins // Skirt & Boots - Forever 21

Dress & Jacket - Evans // Boots - Forever 21
I think the first look is my favourite, I love electric blue and black together. Which do you like best?

Don't forget, you can get free shipping to Canada until November 10th by using the gift code: WELOVECANADA.

Also, if you used any We Love Colors products in your halloween costume, be sure to enter their costume contest and you could win a $150 coupon! (I entered!)

Housekeeping and Shopping Codes

2010-11-03T16:42:00.003Z

Thanks so much to all of you who took up my "define your style" challenge a few posts back. A lot of you left your picks in comments and on twitter, but I know some people wrote blog entries too. Check out Claire, Stephanie, Hannah and Katrin's picks over on their blogs. Oh! And let me know if you also blogged your picks, I'd love to read them.

ESHAKTI DICSOUNT
For those of you who liked my dress from Eshakti a few posts ago and wanted to try them for yourself, they've given me a special discount code. Just type it in at the checkout to get 15% off your order: BeAMF9. That's valid until the end of November.

WE LOVE COLORS FREE SHIPPING
And for you tights fans who live in Canada like me, I wanted to mention that We Love Colors (they made the stripey tights I wore with my halloween costume in my last post) are doing free shipping to Canada until November 10th. The gift code is WELOVECANADA.

Happy Shopping guys!
I'll be back this week with an outfit post and also a video post (it's filmed but the editting is giving me a headache; I'm outta practice.)

Ciao for now xxx

Bee Beautiful!

2010-10-31T20:55:00.004Z

I'm sorry! I couldn't resist sticking a pun in the title. For a Halloween party last night I dressed up as a bee and had all kinds of fun drinking and playing pool. I've got all kinds of pics to show you guys, so I'll dive right in...

I wouldn't quite call it a home-made costume, but it was "home-assembled" I guess.

My antennae, wings and necklace are all from the costume section at Value Village. The black top is just an ordinary one from Walmart. The skirt was bought for £4 in the Asos Sale, and I cut up a yellow t-shirt into petals and sewed them on (though this is the part of the costume that came out the worst, in my opinion, oh well...). I'm also wearing a tutu underneath that skirt that I bought on ebay, that made my skirt stick out and added the cute detail of the netting underneath.

I'm never very good at remembering to show the backs of my outfits, but my little bee wings were so fun that I had to make sure I got a pic of them!

I even had yellow nails. I wanted to do some nail art - how cool would this have looked with some black stripes? But I chickened out in the end. I'm still a bit of a noob when it comes to nails.

And here's a closeup of my tights from welovecolors.com - I ordered these back in August and I'd been dying to tell you about them, but I wanted to keep my costume a surprise. The striped kind only come in one size on their website and these were, to be honest, a little snug for my liking. Despite being well within the height and weight range for them I could only just get them on, so if you're a bigger size or taller than me (5'3) I wouldn't really bother with their stripey tights (but their solid color tights come in larger sizes).

They may have been a bit snug, but they really made the outfit, in my opinion. I expected my legs to look awful in stripes, but I didn't think they did at all!

By the way, We Love Colors are hosting a costume competition right now, so if you wore a halloween costume that featured their tights, you should definitely enter. You could win a gift certificate for free tights! It's going until November 14th, and I'll be entering!

Tonight it's spooky movies and roast chicken on the cards for me. I hope you guys are having a great Halloween too!

Love you guys xxx

Cheer-up date

2010-10-30T00:51:00.001+01:00

I've been a bit glum this week. My wonderful friends that I made in Las Vegas last month have all gone to LA for Full figured fashion week(end) and I'm broke and stuck in Canada. Obviously I'm happy that they're all having a wonderful time and it's great that an event is happening to celebrate plus-size fashion and women with curves... but it's still hard being the one left behind.

There, pity party over!

Tonight to cheer me up my husband took me on a date. We went out for dinner and then to a movie. I had the most yummy avocado salad wrap and sweet potato wedges - I'm still rubbing my tummy from being so full! Not quite as glamorous as a plus-size fashion event, but there's nobody I'd rather spend a Friday night with than my Luke.

On the walk home Luke took a couple of pictures of my outfit. I wish they'd come out a bit better, but my camera doesn't cope with night so well. It's all stuff I've worn before but I like to try and post myself out and about occasionally so you can see that I do wear these things outside of my living room.

Dress - Sizes to Fit // Jacket -Evans
This next picture came out kind of spooky; it didn't seem to be misty or anything, but in this one picture a strange fog covered everything! Halloween must be just around the corner...

Strange, non?
By the way, I've decided to start a tumblr to post things that make me happy so when I'm having a bad day/week/month I can look on there and feel a little better. If you'd like to have a look it's over at http://bethamint.tumblr.com/

Stay tuned for my halloween costume!

Beth gets angry!

2010-10-27T03:53:00.004+01:00

I know I'm not the first blogger to mention this, but I wanted to share my response.

Have you ever had one of those days that started out terribly but got completely turned around? This morning I had been woken up earlier than usual, I was cranky, I hadn't had breakfast yet, and I had come across an article that made me want to vomit.

The article was posted on the Marie Claire website by blogger Maura Kelly, and its title was "Should Fatties get a room?" I don't really want to link to it, you can google it if you like. I will post this little gem of a quote though:

"I'd be grossed out if I had to watch two characters with rolls and rolls of fat kissing each other ... because I'd be grossed out if I had to watch them doing anything. To be brutally honest, even in real life, I find it aesthetically displeasing to watch a very, very fat person simply walk across a room."

Head. Hit. Desk.

Usually when I encounter something like this online, I roll my eyes and shut my laptop, or leave a well-worded positive message about HAES if I think it would make a difference. But today, as I mentioned, I was cranky. And I wrote this:

"Dear Maura Kelly,

I sincerely apologize for my disgusting body and all the various rolls of fat on my person. When I married my fat husband back in June I didn't realize it would offend anyone when we got to that "you may kiss the bride" moment, or we would have skipped it. If I'd realized how unacceptable it is for me to have love or happiness, I would have called the wedding off entirely, of course. I have told my husband that there will be no more kissing or cuddling or FATTY SEX until we both lose some weight. I hope he understands... I really am so sorry for being so fat and happy all this time!

In your very honest and sensitively written article "should fatties get a room?" you write that fat people should walk more, yet you also write that fat people walking across a room is something you find disgusting. I take long walks around my neighbourhood most days, is this too much? I want to find the correct balance between getting thin and not upsetting anyone with my jiggling body parts. I also swim twice a week and go to the gym once a week, are these activities also disgusting to you? Perhaps I should start doing these activities at night so nobody has to be offended by them. Do you think that would be best?

I don't own a television so I haven't seen Mike and Molly. But I do hope they take garbage like that off the television soon. As you say, it's implicitly promoting obesity. Surely anyone who watches it will see the yucky fat people making out and suddenly think to themselves "I should gain some weight, that looks like fun." And then where would we be? By the way, I haven't ever had any health problems before but if anything does come up I'll be sure to stay away from the doctor so as not to be a drain on anyone's health costs.

Thank you for writing this meticulously well researched, world-changing article. I really think you are going to cure obesity with this! Yay! Your plump friends are very lucky to have a friend like you who is in no way a hateful bully or an ignorant sizeist jerk.

Best wishes, Beth"

I wanted to share this with you guys, partly because I'm proud of it, but mostly because I hope it will bring a smile to your face and help you to shrug off the steaming piles of horse poo that hateful people sometimes write.

My day picked up as I watched other comments pour in from people all around the world of all different shapes and sizes to inform Maura Kelly that yes, she was being an insensitive jerk. Hundreds and hundreds of people supporting fat people. It was a beautiful thing. A day that began with anger and frustration is ending with a warm, fuzzy feeling that makes me think that there is hope yet.

The cherry on top of that was seeing my comment get quoted in this article on Jezebel, and reading some of the positive replies about it. Especially the people who said "Marie Claire: hire Beth to do your blogging from now on." Haha!

Seriously though, Marie Claire, I AM available.
And instead of hate, I spread awesome!

All the Deepest Blues are Black

2010-10-24T16:31:00.000+01:00

I know I've already posted pics of this tutu skirt along with my Healthy is the New Skinny post, but I didn't want to write too much about it back then because I'd already written so much about the t-shirt campaign. I decided to feature it again so I could tell you all about it properly.

I’m not usually such a blatant wardrobe thief, but last month when I was at the Viva Fat Vegas conference I was sat in a hotel room with some of the girls, and Allison of Curvy Girl Chic pulled the most gorgeous sparkly tutu style skirt out of her suitcase. I gasped! I’d seen it already on the Forever 21 website, but in person I found it a lot more striking. It’s just so pretty, like something a fairy would wear! When we went to the giant Forever 21 the next day, it was the first thing I grabbed to try on. I felt bad, I hate to copy my friends, but this skirt just felt too special to ignore. I made sure Allison was cool with it before I skipped to the checkout at least!

It’s a 3X (everything I got at F21 was a 3X and a really good fit) but this has such a stretchy waistband I think it could fit someone a few sizes bigger than me.

T-shirt- Dorothy Perkins // Skirt - Forever 21+ // Leggings - Yours Clothing // Boots - Evans
Are you guys feeling Navy Blue as much as I am lately? It feels like all I want to wear lately is Navy blue, Black and Grey.

Eshakti dress (Without sleeves)

2010-10-22T19:58:00.003+01:00

So here it is, the gorgeous eShakti dress without its sleeves. I cut the sleeves off myself and tidied up the seams, it wasn't too difficult. What do you think?

My sewing job wasn't 100% perfect but I tend to wear shrugs or cardigans with these kinds of dresses anyway, especially this time of year, so I'm not too worried. Also, I forgot to mention the other day that this dress has pockets, which always makes me love a dress so much more!

I couldn't resist teaming it with this lace-trimmed cardigan that I thrifted ages ago. Maybe it's lace overload, but I like it!

I wanted to tell you guys about the lovely email that they sent me to thank me for my review of this dress. They said, "we truly appreciate the time you have taken in putting the review together. We also like the fact that you were very honest with your shopping experience."

That was such a relief to hear, I hate the idea of being rude about something that somebody gave me but being honest with you guys when something isn't what I expected is very important to me.

On the subject of those sleeves they said, "We sincerely regret to note that the sleeves weren't to your expectation. Have raised it up with the Design team here to see how best we can service those customers that opt for sleeves on sleeveless garments." So that's good news.

I can see this dress being a wardrobe favourite now I've altered it!

Video time!

2010-10-21T18:54:00.002+01:00

Hi guys! Here's a video update all about my new Youtube channel. If you're interested in sending me a wardrobe question for my new video feature, my email is beth[at]pretty-in-plus[dot]com.

By the way this is the first video I've ever managed to do in just one take! I'm very awkward and I get tongue-tied a lot... I'm more of a behind the camera kind of gal, so I don't know how well all this regular video posting stuff is going to go but I'll give it a shot. I want to try and work in some video product-reviews as well.

Also apologies that my accent is going all "mid-atlantic" lately. It gets very confusing when I haven't had any brits to speak to in a while!

Eshakti dress review

2010-10-19T15:29:00.007+01:00

The concept of Eshakti.com is fantastic. How many times when you’re shopping do you see a dress that’s almost perfect but you wish the sleeves were longer, or the neckline was different? Well when you order a dress with eshakti you have the option to alter the sleeves or the neckline or the length. On top of that you can get the size custom fitted to your measurements, so you can really end up with your perfect dress.

They let me choose a dress to review, and the one that I chose was well-made and a perfect fit, and it arrived in just 12 days, which for Canada is phenomenally fast!

My only advice to add to that is that if you’re not sure about something you’re ordering… ASK! Here is the dress I ordered:

Lace trim pleated chambray dress
One of the custom options on the page was to add sleeves. I wasn’t sure if the sleeves would be lace, but then I decided to assume they would be and went ahead and ordered the dress with sleeves. Here’s what came in the mail…

So the lesson here is to always ask them if there’s something you’re not sure about. Most of the dresses are made out of one kind of fabric so there isn’t much danger of this sort of thing happening anyway. I hate to write anything negative when they were so generous in sending this to me, but the chambray sleeves were certainly a surprise. Everyone I've talked to about this has said they would also assume that the sleeves would be lace, so probably eshakti should add a note to explain that the sleeves are not lace. The dress was perfect in every way but the sleeves just ruined it for me.

I’m not entirely put off though, there’s a ton of great dresses on that site and now that I know how perfectly they fit, I definitely would order again – just a bit more carefully next time.

Now I’ll be cutting the sleeves off this dress and hopefully soon I’ll be modeling it for you! Lace sleeves would've been really sexy...

Healthy is the New Skinny

2010-10-17T14:41:00.001+01:00

One of the sponsors of the Viva Fat Vegas conference last month was Healthy Is The New Skinny™. We were all given t-shirts and asked to style them up in our own way; cut them up, bedazzle, belt, whatever we wanted! I got a little over-zealous with the scissors and ended up with a sort of baggy halter top, but I teamed it with a cute skirt at least.

About Healthy is the New Skinny:
"Healthy Is The New Skinny™ is a T-shirt fundraiser to promote health as common goal for all women! This is not about a size. It’s about a movement.

Healthy is the New Skinny is about revolutionizing the values of the fashion industry. It’s about putting happiness and vibrant good health first and foremost. Generations of young women have assessed their own worth by how far they are from the ideal of unrealistic thinness. Healthy is the New Skinny believes in natural beauty, the kind that can’t be defined by a hip measurement, but is defined by fitness and joy." (if you want to read more, click here)

Guys, I really believe in this message and it's really an honour to take part. I'm done starving myself in order to fit into that cookie-cutter mold of how the fashion industry thinks I should look. I work out, I eat my five veggies a day, I'm still fat. But I'm also happier and healthier and that has nothing to do with my weight. Maybe this is all stuff I should talk about more on here, but the point I'm trying to get to here is that it's time for the fashion industry to embrace all shapes and sizes. We live in a world of diversity, nobody is the same, and that should be celebrated! (Personally I want it to go further than just seeing sizes 6-10 on the runway, but it's a good start!)

If you want to get involved, please go ahead and check out Healthy is the New Skinny on facebook. T-shirts go from S to 3X (They're generous though, I was sent a 3X and it was more like a dress on me before I cut it) and cost $20.

By the way, check out Stiletto Siren rocking her t-shirt over on her blog. I don't think any of the other conference girls have done theirs yet though.

As for the skirt? It's my new fave, but I'll tell you all about that in another post.

My Style in a Nutshell

2010-10-13T16:50:00.002+01:00

I have a little challenge for you, and it's harder than it might sound:
Post 5 pieces from your wardrobe that define your style.

Style is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. It’s interesting to me that we plus-sized women have such limited choices when it comes to the clothing we buy, and yet in the fatshion blogging community there’s such a huge array of personal styles that none of us really ends up looking the same.

I’ve always found it tricky to sum up my own style. Finding it has taken years of experimentation and I’m still honing, but I guess it’s somewhere in the middle of me wanting to be a cupcake baking domestic goddess and a laid-back rock chick. For the rest of this post we’ll call them my “cute side” and my “rock side” (I have a nerdy side too, but she mostly deals with the computery side of running a fashion blog).

Colours are an important part of it for me, I need bright shades; they suit my personality better and anything muted makes me look washed out. Lately I think I've been going for more classic shapes and less crazy patterns, that's probably me growing up a bit. Being comfy is important too, I don't have much patience for things that are painful to wear.

So anyway, onto the five items that define my style. I’m going to give a little explanation for why I chose everything. It’s harder than it sounds to think of only five things, it took me quite a while to choose. I've illustrated each choice with an old pic, some were from this blog but most are from my "real" life.

1. Wide Belt

Back in 2008 - graduating uni in my favourite belt
If you read my blog on a regular basis you’re probably sick of seeing me wear this. I love wide belts because I love the cinched waist that they create. This was the first wide belt I ever bought and it’s still my favourite because the big silver buckle really speaks to my rock side while my cute side loves anything with a heart on it. I even graduated in this belt!

2. Black Leggings

Chilling with my mutt in a black cropped pair
I wear leggings mostly for comfort and warmth, and haven't stopped rocking them in spite of a few haters. I’ve chosen black ones for this list because that’s probably what I wear the most, but I love owning all kind of different colours and patterns to really change up my look. I find it’s easier finding comfy leggings than comfy tights, and I think my legs look good in them. I think it’s going to be hard to wean myself off them when they cease to be fashionable; some trends are just hard to let go of. I'll always have tights, I guess.

3. Huge Sunglasses

Shades, beach, icecream, best friend... perfect day!
I think I look cute in giant sunglasses and I love how bold they are, but I also prefer them because they stop the tops of my cheeks from burning. My inner domestic goddess loves to channel Jackie O and my rock side just loves all sunglasses because well, they make a gal look mysterious and that’s very rock and roll.

4. Bold Scarves

In London with my besties, wearing a giant scarf.
I really enjoy scarves. It’s probably partly a fat girl thing because wherever I go shopping, at least a scarf will always fit me. But I also love them for how such a small piece of fabric can have such a big effect on an outfit. I have a floral one that totally softens the harshness of my leather jacket. That giant polka dot one pictured above always makes a bland jeans and t-shirt ensemble look less boring. My latest favourite though is a fringed pink scarf from Old Navy, I love the bright shade and the fact that it looks like it might just be a t-shirt that I cut to shreds.

5. Flat Boots

This picture pretty well explains why heels are not for me.
While I love the look of heels, they don’t really work for me. If you’ve ever met me in person then you might have noticed; I’m kind of excitable. When something catches my eye in a store, I run to it. When something good happens, I jump up and down with glee. When I’m bored, I dance. And yes, I still play on the swings at my local park. So being in heels that I can only just manage to walk in does not suit my lifestyle. Comfy shoes I can cope with are kind of a necessity, and for me, nothing beats a good worn in pair of boots. Lately I've been living in my black ankle boots from Faith 21 but I still have an awful lot of love for my brown leather cowgirl boots from Evans.

So that is my style summed up.
What things define your personal style?

80-tastic Lightning Bolt Sweater

2010-10-12T23:33:00.002+01:00

This amazing 80s sweater is the best thing I've ever found in Value Village. It instantly reminded me of the lightning bolt sweater in the Beth Ditto collection, but this one is a lot brighter and crazier, and only cost $8.

Sweater - Thrifted // Skirt - Asos Curve // Legwarmers - Walmart
I'm not much of a thrifter. Plus-size pickings around here are usually pretty slim (no pun intended) - mostly stretched out walmart leftovers and frumpy old lady clothes. Sometimes though, just sometimes, some treasure appears. I spotted this sweater a few racks away, it was a long way away from the 2XL section though, so I didn't hold out much hope. But I guess they made these super baggy back then, because when I held it up it seemed to be just about my size. Just goes to show that it's often worth having a look in places where you don't expect stuff to fit, you never know...

BY THE WAY... I know a lot of you really liked the convertible Anastasia dress by SWAK that I was wearing a few posts ago, so I thought I'd mention that it's now on sale. It comes in other colours including black so it's worth a look even if you don't dig the raspberry colour I was wearing. Bargain!

Laid-back Military

2010-10-10T15:44:00.000+01:00

Now you all know I'm happy to rock a strapless look when the occasion calls for it, but the weather's getting chilly around here and so that's getting harder (in fact I really should have put some tights on today). Sticking a t-shirt under my strapless dress from Torrid is a great way to keep my arms warm and also a great way to create a more laid-back feel to what is a pretty tough looking dress.

T-shirt - Dorothy Perkins // Dress - Torrid // Boots - Forever 21
Since I mentioned t-shirts I feel I should tell you where I get mine. Hands down my favourite place to buy plain tees is Dorothy Perkins (can you tell my order from them just arrived two days ago?). They usually have a good selection of different necklines and sleeve lengths, they don't break the bank and the quality is really good. I buy a couple of new ones every season, this autumn I've gone with a navy blue one and a white one.

You certainly haven't seen the last of my kick-ass Torrid dress, I'm planning on doing a dressier outfit post with it soon, so stay tuned!

Where is your favourite place to buy t-shirts?

Show your stripes

2010-10-09T04:41:00.006+01:00

Is anyone else having a stripey moment right now? This time 6 months ago I was petrified of stripes and now that seems to have gone completely. When I first saw this dress on the Dorothy Perkins website I thought it was cute but I didn't think I had it in me to pull off such bold stripes, but then when it went down to just £7 in the sale I thought - why not give it a try?

Dress, Leggings, T-shirt - Dorothy Perkins // Belt, Boots - Evans
When I buy stuff from Dorothy Perkins I always get questions from you guys about the sizes there. I wear a UK22 for the most part and I find I can only order certain things from them. This dress was a safe bet because it's made of t-shirt material and has some stretch to it, I probably could have managed a size down even. For material that has no give I find I'm fine as long as the thing doesn't have sleeves, but if you have small upper arms you should be fine. For trousers or skirts I just steer clear altogether, my thighs are too big.

The reason their size 22 won't fit as well as an Evans size 22 is because the clothes are just scaled up from the smaller sizes and weren't designed with your curves in mind, so just remember that and follow the sizing chart and you should be fine.

There's a lot of mid-season sales still happening, though I think the best sale right now is definitely the Asos curve sale. I promised my husband I'd take a break from online shopping until christmas, so I'm trying not to look too hard at those bargains. I sent my mum the link to my favourite piece though so maybe it will show up on christmas morning!

In the mean time, have you found any bargains in the sales?
Let me live vicariously through your shopping!

Tights Parade

2010-10-06T15:41:00.004+01:00

So since my pink tights made an appearance a few posts ago, some of you guys have been emailing me to ask where you can find plus-sized tights that are not completely boring. Here's a few I've found...

1 & 2 - Yours Clothing
Yours just started selling tights this month, so I don't know how their quality is, but I'm definitely liking their selection enough to give them a try. I'll let you know... My picture doesn't show it well, but that first pair is studded, which I think is adorable, I haven't seen ones like that in any other plus-size stores. I think the animal print ones would be so good with a little black dress to add some RAWR! It's £6 - £8 for most pairs, but those special studded ones are understandably a bit more.

3 & 4 - Evans
I've found Evans' tights to be very hit and miss when it comes to the fit, so I recommend sizing up (if possible) if you have large thighs like me. When they do fit, I find they last for a long time so at least the quality is there. I'm in love enough with that silver ribbed pair on the top right. Evans tights go from £6 - £8.

5 & 6 - Torrid
Torrid is another place I haven't tried for tights, so I can't tell you how the quality or fit is (maybe you can tell me?) But I can tell you that if you like fishnets then they've certainly got you covered for selection. I'm really digging that ribbon-print pair on the bottom left. It's usually $15 for a pair from Torrid.

7 & 8 - Simply Be
Simply Be's Viva La diva tights are, hands down, the best I have ever owned. The fit is absolutely perfect, they are super thick and they have never ever ripped, laddered or snagged on me. The only thing that sucks is they don't ship to Canada so I have to hope mine will last me until I'm back in the UK. £14 will get you a pack of two, which isn't bad value but often means you have to buy a colour you don't like so much to get the colour you love.

Another great place for selection is We Love Colors, where you can choose from 50 different colours of tights as well as a few patterns, all in plus sizes. I bought two pairs recently for my halloween costume (you'll see that at the end of the month) and I found them to be about the same as Evans - the quality is fair but get a size bigger if you have large thighs. Fantastic selection though! Basic colours start at $9.

So those are some that are out there at the moment. I wish we could get our tights a bit cheaper but I'm happy there are at least options for us to have tights that aren't completely plain.

Do you wear tights?
Where do you get yours?

Casual fall layers

2010-10-04T06:16:00.007+01:00

Voluptuous Boutique in Las Vegas was nice enough to give me this dress when I visited last month. I was hoping to do a proper outfit post with some better pictures of it, but I've gotten sick, boo! I'm still playing catch-up reviewing things that I got in Vegas and I don't want to fall further behind so I'll just have to do my best with existing pics. At least it's fun to show you guys I do leave my living room from time to time!

(I know I'm showing up small in the pics, but you can click any of them for a bigger version!)
One of my favourite things about Autumn/fall is getting to take summer pieces like floral dresses and creating a totally different look by layering things over top. This is how I wore it for a road trip with my husband this weekend - leggings, scarf, denim jacket. Totally casual and comfy for a cool sunny day. I like how the dress looks more like a high-waisted skirt with a black t-shirt underneath.

That's a Mastodon behind me and she's totally jealous of my ice lolly!
Are you guys fans of layering?
How do you like to style things up for autumn?

I also bought a really cute top and a ring from Voluptuous that I'll show you guys when I'm feeling better. I hope that's soon!

By the way, Yolanda over at Diva in Deep Thought was nice enough to feature me as one of this week's Divas of the Week so you should check that out to see me looking a little more polished!

Torrid Haul

2010-10-02T19:00:00.003+01:00

So some of you (mostly friends back in the UK) were asking me to post my haul from my first ever trip to a Torrid store last month. So here it is!

I really enjoyed visiting their Las Vegas store a lot, the shop girls were really helpful; they gave me some great advice and were so great at bringing things to me in the changing room. I also really liked the clothes there, it was nice to see so many current trends on display, all in sizes i could wear. I had a hard time choosing what to buy. In the end I spent more money than I'd meant to, but who knows when I'll get the chance to go again, right? (And their shipping prices outside the US are a joke)

What wasn't satisfactory was the fact that all three things I bought broke somehow on the day I bought them. I'd really like to know if this is normal or not so maybe you guys can tell me! I'd have gone back to the store to complain but I didn't get a chance to before my flight back to Canada. I hate to write negative things because I really do love the things I bought and I'm glad somebody is making such trendy pieces in my size. I just think when I spend over $100 on clothes they should last at least a day.

Anyway, here's the stuff! You might notice a theme...

Fingerless Military Gloves
The big shiny buttons on these gloves are so cute! Unfortunately one of the buttons came off before I'd even tried them on. It's easy enough to fix but I'd rather not have to. I might add a few stitches onto ALL of the buttons while I'm at it, because they didn't come with any spares and I'd hate to lose them. You'll be seeing these more once the weather gets colder, I'm sure.

Black Tube Dress
I love this black tube dress! Unfortunately, the same problem again, a button came off the first time I wore this. It did come with spares though, thankfully. I'll be doing an outfit post with this really soon, because I really love it. Did I mention it has pockets? (I do apologize for it being so wrinkly, I haven't ironed it since I brought it back in my suitcase).

Boyfriend Cardigan
I couldn't find this cardigan on the website, and anyway I wouldn't recommend buying it unless you really like it a lot. I fell in love with the embellished shoulders, but the problem is that the cardigan snags on them if it gets a chance. Keeping it on a hanger has stopped it getting any worse, but it got its first snag in the plastic bag I brought it home in, so it was already not perfect by the time I first wore it and that makes me sad. If the stars were sewn on more securely they wouldn't have a chance to get caught on things. Also, some of the gems are coming off already. This is super cute but I'd bet money it won't last until christmas, and for $40+ I think it should.

In the last pic here you can see the two snags it has in the back.

I'd love some feedback from you guys on this. I was pretty bummed to have EVERYTHING that I bought at Torrid get broken somehow before I'd worn it for one day. How do you find the quality at Torrid? Have you had things break that quickly?

I can see how military details could be problematic, heavy buttons and pointy details, but still... Argh. Frustrating!

I'd better get started on some sewing I suppose.

Jumpsuit love

2010-10-01T12:05:00.000+01:00

I realized that in all the conference excitement, I never got around to properly showing you guys my jumpsuit from Yours Clothing. If you've been following me since the early days you may recall that I've dabbled in jumpsuits before back when I was new to blogging and thought it was acceptable to take pictures using my laptop's webcam *cringe*. I think I've come a long way with my blogging since those days, but I still like to push myself into wearing pieces that require a bit more confidence to work, and so a little over a year later here I am back at the jumpsuit.

I love this thing! I keep thinking I should feel less confident in it because it's a jumpsuit, but I don't feel that way at all. It's just so comfy and soft! I wore this on the first night of the Viva Fat Vegas conference and it just felt like the perfect garment to say "I'm here, I'm fat, I'm fabulous!" This is exactly how I wore it, the belt and jacket are from Evans and the shoes are from Matalan.

Since then I've actually been wearing it around the house on warmer days because it's that comfy, but I'm hoping to wear it soon for a night out on the town. No offence to Halifax but it's not a very fashion-forward city so I can definitely see myself getting a few sideways looks for it. Do I care? Not really.

Would you ever wear a jumpsuit?
Do you ever wear clothes to get yourself out of your comfort zone?
Let me know, I always love to hear what you think!

Anastasia Dress Review

2010-09-29T20:15:00.002+01:00

If you read my posts on the Viva Fat Vegas conference then you may have already spotted the beautiful Raspberry coloured Anastasia dress that Sarah from Swak designs was nice enough to give me, but if not then here it is again! You guys this is a really magical piece that you can wear all kinds of ways. The key to its versatility is two super long ties that can be tied any number of ways to create a different look. So I thought for this post I would show four ways to style it and give it a bit of a review too.

Sleeved Dress:

If you don't want the sleeves on the dress, all you do is pull them up onto your shoulders and they sit there like straps. When Sarah was dressing me in this, she did something cool where she wrapped the ties around my bra strap which made a cool effect and also meant that my bra strap would never be on display.

Strapless:

Usually my least favourite thing about wearing something strapless is that I don't get as much support in the bust when I'm wearing my strapless bra. But I'll tell you a secret - if you tie this tightly, you get extra support in the bust and for me that means extra confidence. If you're not ready for strapless yet, you could tie the dress as a halterneck or one-shoulder.

As a skirt:

I hadn't though of this until I saw it on their website, but it's pretty darn cute as a skirt. You can wear it high-waisted like this or pull it down so it covers more of your legs. Tucking-in isn't mandatory either. So even just with this style of tying it there's room to experiment and make it your own.

As a tunic:

Probably my favourite thing about the dress is that it really has the wow-factor when you wear it long, but it still works for a more casual look when you hoist it up and wear it as a tunic. Pair it with leggings or jeggings and you have something I'd happily go shopping in. You could also change up the sleeves for an off-the-shoulder look, that's one I want to try out soon.

I'm not gonna lie, it takes practice to tie this thing. It even takes a little bit of practice to get it on the hanger in your closet. But it's worth it! Don't let me fool you into thinking I'm an expert. Most of this I mastered by watching the Swak Designs instructional video:

Which look is your favourite?
Are you a fan of versatile pieces like the Anastasia dress?

PS: Click here to see Stiletto Siren rocking the Anastasia on her blog.

Pop of Pink

2010-09-25T22:27:00.005+01:00

Today I had a lunch date with my husband and afterwards he was nice enough to take some outfit pictures for me in the public gardens. I'll have to come back here again, because it's a gorgeous backdrop!

[[ Dress - Faith21 // Tights - Simply Be // Boots - Forever21 ]]

I was lucky enough to get to shop in a giant Forever 21 with a big Faith 21 section while I was in Vegas. I was really impressed with the clothes there actually, all of the dresses I tried on were a perfect fit and I ended up buying a fair bit (but still wish I'd bought more, hah). I've worn this stripey dress quite a lot since I brought it home because it's so comfy and it's got great pockets. The boots are Forever 21 too, I've worn them nearly every day since getting home.

Seeing Scott Pilgrim vs the World in the cinema this summer convinced me that I need to wear my coloured tights more often (Ramona Flowers rocks some gorgeous purple ones). The weather is just getting cold enough for that now so I thought I'd use these pink tights to add a big pop of colour to this otherwise black and grey ensemble.

Are you guys fans of coloured tights?

Sizes to Fit Review

2010-09-24T18:57:00.003+01:00

There's been a little bit of an influx of new subscribers the last few days, so I'd like to take a moment to say hi and thanks for following me! Don't be afraid to comment or tweet me (@bethamint). I love talking all things fashion with you guys, and I'm super nice, I promise!

So it's been a little while since I did an outfit post because I've had a lot of conference stuff to write about, but I've been desperate to show you guys this dress that Sizes to Fit were nice enough to put in my swag bag for Viva Fat Vegas. I actually wore this a couple of times on the trip and if you've been going through the pictures you might have spotted me wearing it, but I just wanted to recreate the outfit and take some proper shots of it for this review.

While I really do love this dress, I'm dedicated to being honest with you guys about any problems I have with my clothes. The sizes at sizes to fit do tend to run a little small and while my dress itself was fine, the belt that came with it had no chance of fastening. The dress too is a little short for my liking and I'd be unlikely to wear it with bare legs.

So I'd recommend buying a size up (if possible) and pairing with leggings. But aside from that, I have nothing but good things to say about this piece. I love the teal colour, I think it's a lot nicer in person than in the pics on their website. It's comfy, it fits well and the fabric is gorgeous too; it's a bit like suede and the texture of it looks thick and luxurious. I'm really pleased with my Sizes to Fit dress and with the lovely low prices on their website I think it's well worth trying out a piece if you love the look of it.

Thanks for the dress, Sizes to Fit!

By the way, my girl Allison is doing a Sizes to Fit giveaway right now, so if you'd like to try one of their dresses for free, go ahead and enter!

Hmmm.... maybe I should host a giveaway soon!

Day 3: Torrid

2010-09-23T16:44:00.001+01:00

The final official event of the Viva Fat Vegas conference was a shopping excursion to Torrid (which I totally didn't take enough pictures of). I've been a fan of Torrid since my teens but I've never had the chance to visit one, so I was super excited about this event! The store we visited didn't disappoint and my credit card was given a thorough workout (I'll review my purchases soon, promise!)

The store had so many assistants working that day that it was almost like we each had our own stylist helping us shop. I think we hogged every single changing room and tried on about half the store between the 10 of us! We all kept running out of the changing rooms and through the store to find each other and ask, "should I get this?" which was pretty funny. The staff made us feel so special and gave us little goodie bags with chocolates and water in them.

I enjoyed seeing my name on the changing-room door

At the end we all posed out front with our shopping bags
I feel like I should have covered this event better, but I was just so excited to try everything on, I guess I forgot that I'm supposed to be blogging about all this stuff. Hah!

Thanks Torrid for a great shopping experience!

This will be my last post on the Viva Fat Vegas conference and I'd really like to take a moment to thank all my fellow bloggers for being so lovely and fun to be around, I really had the time of my life!

I'd also like to take a moment to thank all of our wonderful sponsors for their generous contributions: Sonsi, B&Lu, Jibri, Plush Boutique, Pambra's, Sizes to fit, Swak designs, Figuresque,City Chic, Torrid, Svoboda and Voluptuous Boutique. Phew!

Day 3: Rosie Mercado Luncheon

2010-09-23T07:39:00.000+01:00

If you're getting tired of conference roundups, I promise I'm almost done!

On day 3 it was off to the fabulous Firefly restaurant for a luncheon with the beautiful Ms. Rosie Mercado. We'd gotten to meet her briefly the previous day at the Queen of the desert model search which coincided with our visit to Voluptuous Boutique, so I already knew that she was drop-dead gorgeous, a total sweetheart, and that she had her face painted on the side of her van.

We nicknamed it "The Rosie-mobile"
What I didn't know when she sat down for tapas with us was that she's also incredibly intelligent and witty, and has a lot to say about the plus-size fashion industry. We all ended up having a huge discussion on everything from makeup to plus-size fashion, fat acceptance and role models. I could've happily sat there and talked all day. I really enjoyed chatting about all the terrible wardrobe choices we all used to make back when plus-size fashion was truly awful, I giggled a lot. It's amazing to think that I grew up over 6000 miles away from Rosie's home in Las Vegas and yet had a lot of the exact same problems when it came to dressing well and feeling pressure to diet.

The Fab 3 enjoying their drinks.

Stiletto being a tweetaholic while Allison admires the decor.
Rosie was generous enough to give us all little goodie bags with samples from her makeup line, Bellisima Cosmetics (I've had my pink lipgloss on ever since), and filmed an interview with all of us for her website, which I guess will be up sometime soon. When it was time to go she was even generous enough to give some of the bloggers a ride to our next event!

Rosie filming us answering some plus-size fashion questions.

Rosie and Me.
A huge thank you to Rosie for coming out to lunch with us, and also a huge thank you to City Chic and Pambra's for sponsoring the event!

There's just one more event round-up to post and then normal Beth service will resume, I promise!

Day 2: SWAK designs

2010-09-22T17:05:00.002+01:00

A major highlight for me at the Viva Fat Vegas conference was getting to spend an evening with Sarah Sapora of SWAK Designs. We bloggers were invited to her gorgeous condo in Las Vegas to eat, drink and try on clothes (including some fall previews and samples) - fashion blogger heaven!

Sarah in the rack of clothes
Sarah was a wonderful hostess as well as a wonderful stylist, and kept showing us different ways to work the things we were trying on. She's clearly very passionate about the line, loves her job, and loves seeing us all get excited about the fashion.

A whole bunch of the girls trying on the Veronica Dress,
which I just realized is on sale, so now's the time to grab it if you like it!

Chillin' on the floor

I don't drink wine so Stiletto drank mine for me!
We all put our names into a jar and picked them out at random to decide whose turn it was to try things on - otherwise there would have been a feeding frenzy around the clothing rack! We each went off into Sarah's office to change and then strutted back out onto the ~~catwalk~~ living-room carpet. At the end of the night we got to keep the piece we liked best!

Allison trying on a sample dress (I hope they end up making this -
it's so glamorous and it looks really cute on Allison!)

When I stepped out in this Anastasia dress, I heard people collectively inhale and I blushed so hard that my cheeks matched the colour of the fabric. I knew it was the one! But before I could get smug about it, Sarah untied the top and started showing the girls other ways it could be tied (thank God I was wearing a decent bra!). You see, the Anastasia is a convertible dress and the top part can wrap around several different ways. Sarah had me wearing it strapless, with sleeves, sleevless and as a tunic. I can't wait to review this and experiment with all kinds of different ways to tie it; I can see myself wearing this thing everywhere!

All of us in our chosen dresses!

Our going away treats were cookie lollipops
in the shape of the SWAK designs logo - so cute!

Allison and I with our cookies. MWAH!
Being a foreigner and everything, I wasn't too familiar with SWAK designs before this event (although I know now that they ship internationally), but I was really impressed with both the quality and the fit of their dresses. Everything I tried on was true to size and geuinely really comfortable, but looked stylish too and that's something that's very tricky to pull off. I'm seriously eyeing up the Audrey Dress for when my credit card has recovered from the Las Vegas trip.

Thanks so much to Sarah and SWAK designs for the great night out and for the wonderful dress!

Day 2: Voluptuous Boutique

2010-09-21T22:07:00.006+01:00

If like me you're a big fan of Amanda Allison's blog Fashion, Love and Martinis you may have heard of Voluptuous. If not, it's this amazing plus-size boutique that opened July 2010 in Las Vegas. After reading Amanda's post about the store I was desperate to check it out, so when I heard we'd be paying it a visit as a part of the Viva Fat Vegas conference I got super excited!

Sarah, Allison and I en route to the boutique
I had a huge smile on my face the second we walked in. The walls are the brightest shade of pink and all of the clothes are organized by colour. It's all 80s inspired and there are records on the wall and cassette tapes around the mirror. Too cute!

Dannika, Jasmine and Stiletto hanging out on the cute yellow chairs

Monique chatting with owner Patty Barba (love her black romper)
What might come as a surprise is that the owner of the boutique, Patty Barba, is not a plus-sized woman. We had the chance to chat Patty and her husband, Juan, about the boutique and it was really refreshing to hear from two people who really seemed to care about catering to us big girls. They seemed genuinely interested in our feedback, and enthusiastic to improve the shopping experience in any way they could. It was so refreshing to meet some thin people who really seem to care about fat people!

Sarah looking fierce in her animal-print one-shoulder dress
The prices are not at all what you'd expect for a boutique, everything is incredibly reasonable. I was given the cutest black and blue dress that I'll be reviewing soon, and I also bought myself a cute striped top with bows on it, and a gorgeous flower ring with a stretchy band to fit my sausage-fingers. The jewelery section was probably my favourite part of the store: chunky bangles and stretchy rings galore!

Sarah and Stiletto hanging out in the jewelery section.
The funnest part of our visit was their "Wall of Fame" which we all got to write on. We each took a polaroid picture with Patty and got to write a little message around it with a marker pen.

My wall message

The wall after we'd finished with it
If you're in the Las Vegas area, or you ever get the chance to go then you really need to check out Voluptuous, it's absolutely worth the cab fare! Be sure to check out their website or add them on facebook. Hopefully I'll get to go back someday too.

We were also lucky enough to get to hang out with the gorgeous Ms. Rosie Mercado while we were in the boutique, but I'll tell you all about that lovely lady in another post. I'm trying to round up the conference as quickly as possible so I can get back to some OOTDs and clothing reviews, so normal Beth service will resume soon.

Viva Fat Vegas - Day 1

2010-09-20T15:25:00.002+01:00

So I wasn't going to start posting about this stuff until I got home, but since I've woken up super early today I thought I should get a head start on covering the wonderful Viva Fat Vegas conference that's been happening over the weekend here in Las Vegas.

The words "trip of a lifetime" don't really seem to cover it. I arrived here with my husband on Thursday night and our jaws dropped as our shuttle drove us down the strip. How does this place even exist? It's just so over the top. I really like our hotel, the Riviera, a lot. It's not the fanciest place but it has this old-school vegas glamour about it, and it's been in a lot of movies. They upgraded everyone to nicer rooms too, not too shabby for Beth.

On Friday night I started getting ready to meet the girls super early, making sure my nails and hair and makeup were all perfect. I was pacing my hotel room like a teenager about to go on a first date. I was just so excited and nervous to meet everyone. I wore my jumpsuit from yours clothing and my waterfall jacket from Evans.

I totally didn't take enough pictures! The bar we went to was quite dimly lit so it was a little bit tricky to get good photos. But it was really great to see all these wonderful, talented women in the flesh and bond over some kick-ass cocktails.

Micaela, Monique and Cid in the hotel lobby.

Cid, Jasmine, Monique and Sarah at the peppermill. (spot the tweetaholic)

Alison, Micaela, Dannika and meeee.

Group shot!

I totally need to do a proper outfit post with that jumpsuit.

Anyway I've been so inspired by these ladies and feel so lucky that I got to come here and meet them. I'm going to try and get all my conference posts done this week, because after that I've got a few new outfits to share and a lot I want to write about. This conference could well have me covered for blog material until christmas!

Thankyou so much to Figuresque for sponsoring our opening night cocktails!

DIY T-shirt Dressy Dress

2010-09-14T14:06:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I showed you the t-shirt dress I made from my husband's old black tee. Today I've teamed it with my lace leggings, a purple top and some bling to go for a more dressy look. I really love it together with the lace but it's a bit chilly right now to wear this out, I need to invest in a top with sleeves to wear with it, I think (hah, remember how I never went sleeveless before this summer?)

Purple top - Walmart
Lace Leggings - Yours Clothing
Belt & Boots - Evans
Necklace & Hair band - Ardéne
I'd prefer to wear my favourite shoe boots with this outfit, but alas, they're back in Britain and I'm still on the hunt for their perfect replacement. I haven't had much luck shopping for shoes in Canada, so if you're Canadian and you know the perfect place to shop for wider feet, do tell! Otherwise I'll have to make kissy noises at my mum until she ships my old ones to me.

Two more sleeps to vegas, three more sleeps to the conference and three more sleeps to the new Beth Ditto line. Such an exciting time!

Next time you see me I'll be wearing something that didn't used to belong to Luke.

DIY T-shirt Dress

2010-09-13T21:00:00.002+01:00

A couple of weeks ago my husband was throwing out a plain black t-shirt. There was something wrong with the seam in the shoulders that was making it uncomfortable to wear. Instead of throwing it away though, I decided to attack it with some scissors and see what I could make of it.

I cut off the shoulders and started slashing the neck, with the intention of hopefully coming up with something similar to this shredded neckline vest I've been coveting from Evans. The shredding part went wrong. A lot wrong. So I cut that off and what I was left with was a tunic with a very deep neckline. And apparently it's a tunic that I like to layer over t-shirts and cinch at the waist with a belt.

Pink Floyd Tee - Old Navy (mens dept.)
Boot & Belt - Evans
Leggings - Walmart
Another easy casual fall look. Tomorrow though, I want to show you the same outfit but as part of a more dressy ensemble.

Fringe Scarf - Old Navy
By the way, the Beth Ditto A/W line is coming out on Friday and I cannot wait! I'll be in Vegas by then but I'll probably place an order from the hotel. I really wish I could go to London and try on all the pieces, but for that I'm afraid you'll have to keep a close eye on Lauren and Em over the weekend because I'm fairly sure both of them are going to be heading out to do just that. I really cannot wait to see what she's got in store for us!

Are you guys excited for the new Beth Ditto collection?

First outfit of autumn

2010-09-09T16:20:00.001+01:00

I don't want to launch into a big list of excuses for the gap between this post and the last, but suffice to say it was not by choice. Let's move on...

I've been busy building my autumn wardrobe, and as promised I've been going for a lot of blacks and greys. This first outfit of the season is nice and basic and features my brand new grey jeggings from yours clothing.

Purple Top - Walmart
Jacket - Evans
Jeggings - Yours Clothing
I've been meaning to try out a pair of jeggings for a while now, tons of other bloggers are in love with theirs so I thought it was about time I gave them a go. I was worried it would be uncomfortable like wearing a pair of jeans that were too tight, but these are stretchy and have an elasticated waistband. Not as comfy as leggings but not bad at all. I'm super late to the jeggings party but I'm glad I came.

(I'm more comfortable in front of a camera making silly faces)
Are you a jeggings fan?
Are you planning on trying out some new styles this season?
Let me know in comments,
Love you guys xxx

PS: One week to go until I fly to Las Vegas! Yayyy!

A Video Update

2010-08-30T23:31:00.004+01:00

Here's a video where I mention about 15 billion times that I am excited...

Click here for all the info on the Viva Fat Vegas blogger conference in Las Vegas.

Don't forget to comment if you know somewhere my husband might enjoy in Vegas. Or with any Vegas tips for that matter, I've never been before!

Wishlist for Autumn

2010-08-18T17:45:00.004+01:00

Before I get started on this wishlist post, I thought I'd mention that I've been featured over at Nikstar's blog as part of her Highschool Confessions and Fashion Flashbacks series. So if you'd like to see me as an awkward teenager, click here.

And now onto today's post...

It seems like everything I'm lusting after for my A/W wardrobe is either grey or black. So I think my general style plan for this season is going to be grey and black outfits with pops of bright solid colours from accessories. I'm really digging all the military details that are showing up, so I'm hoping I can toughen up my look a bit with those. I'm very much looking forward to layering things and wearing tights and scarves again, fashion-wise I tend to be more at home in the cooler months.

Anyway, I thought I'd share with you my autumn wishlists for my favourite stores.

Evans...

1. Shredded Neck 2-1 Vest - £23
2. Heart Stripe T-shirt - £20
3. 3/4 Sleeve Military Blouse - £29.50
4. Grey Fairisle Waistcoat - £35
I thinks Evans has been really smart to split up their newer stuff into different collections - it makes it really easy to find stuff that suits your own style. My personal favourite is the "rebel rock" collection. However, I don't think I'll be splurging on this stuff quite yet, as I'm waiting with baited breath for the new Beth Ditto line to come out. (One more reminder: My Evans discount code "EVPINP" gets you 10% off a £40+ order until Sunday)

Yours Clothing...

1.Tulip Skirt (with pockets!) - £16
2. Jersey Military Tunic - £22
3. Grey Jeggings £16
4. Jumpsuit - £35
(the jumpsuit looks much better on their site, I couldn't fit the pic in properly!)
They aren't the most exciting picks, but I can see each of these things becoming an autumn staple for me, especially that skirt! I'm thinking it's about time I tried me some jeggings and I really love those grey ones.

ASOS...

1. Embellished Shoulder T-shirt - £20
2. Blowfish Harnett Strapped Ruched Flat Boot - £55
3. Over The Knee Rib Socks - £4
4. Music Note Knitted Jumper - £30

I want those socks with those boots. Also, I'm kind of a sucker for knitwear with a cute print. And the shoulder details on that tee are awesome.

So those are my picks right now. I can't afford everything in this post but I'm hoping to at least buy some of these things and look for thriftier answers for the others.

What things are on your autumn wishlist?

International Shipping woes and an OOTD

2010-08-17T16:06:00.002+01:00

One of the hardest things about moving to Canada is being away from my favourite stores. I really think we're very lucky in Britain to have the choice that we do when it comes to plus-size shopping. Canada... has room for improvement... a lot of room. Things are looking up though because this year Evans have added Canada to the list of countries they deliver to, and will ship you absolutely anything for the reasonable sum of £7.50. I don't think that's bad at all as shipping prices go. To put it into perspective, Torrid charge about $44 (USD) to ship to Canada *sob*, and they are on the same continent!

This week my first ever international order from Evans arrived and I thought I'd show you what I got!

Before I do though I thought I'd get my mini-rant out of the way. If you live in Canada you're probably already aware of this but I have to rant anyway. CANADA'S POSTAL SERVICE SUCKS! Don't order anything fragile because it will get broken. The plastic hangers my clothes arrived on were completely crumbled by the time they got to me. I've never received a parcel in Canada that hasn't been ever so slightly crushed. It's slow too. I know Canada is a big place and everything, but come on.. Three weeks just to get one little parcel to me? RAAAAR. Okay, rant over. Onto the clothes...

I love love love love love love this jacket. The fabric is like a dream, it's so soft and snug. It fits perfectly in the shoulders, and I love how the eyelet details toughen up the softness of the waterfall front. If I wasn't in love with it enough, it also has hidden pockets at the front that were a lovely surprise to me when it arrived. I do love pockets!

The dress was a sale bargain. I'd wanted it for a couple of months but it was right before my wedding and I didn't have much money for anything else. I'm glad I didn't buy this until after my wedding because I need my husband to get that tricky zip at the back. Apart from the zip though I do love this, it's just the perfect going out dress. The length is just right!

A couple of detail shots:

Did you guys manage to get any great dresses in the summer sales?

Whatever side of the Atalantic you're reading this from, don't forget that you can use the code EVPINP to get 10% off an order of £40 or more. You've got one week left before it runs out!

Pockets? I'm in!

2010-08-13T14:29:00.001+01:00

I wanted to do an OOTD to show you the dress I've been running around in the last couple of weekends. It's actually from Walmart, I got it for $16. It's so comfy and light and best of all... (this is always a big selling point for me) it has pockets! The pattern is so girly, it kind of reminds me of an apron on a 1950s house-wife.

Dress - Walmart
Scarf - Old Navy
Shoes - Matalan
It's strapless, but the top is elasticated and it holds up perfectly without slipping down or without gripping my chest too hard. If you're curious, my strapless bra is from Evans and it's the best one I've ever owned. I wore it on my wedding day and it held up perfectly the whole day, even when I was dancing with my arms above my head.

(Remember - The Pretty in plus discount code, EVPINP, will get you a 10% discount on Evans orders over £40 until August 22nd)

Walmart's plus-size section has a lot of jeans with elasticated waistbands and a lot of clingy, stretchy fabrics that make me sad... but sometimes there are hidden gems so I always go and have a look.

Haircut

2010-08-12T17:02:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the little hiatus there, I got distracted by shiny things (and real life), but I'm back now and I have a lot I want to show you. This is just a quick post though because I wanted to share my haircut.

Remember in my last post I was stressing about my hair? I know a lot of you thought I should grow it long again but the weather has been SO HOT and I was sick of my rebellious layers so... CHOP!

I plan on growing it out again over the winter, but I just felt like I could use a fresh start for now.

MORE OUTFIT POSTS THIS WEEK, I PROMISE! ♥

I need hair help!

2010-07-27T15:48:00.002+01:00

Guys, I'm majorly undecided about my hair right now. I don't know what I want to do with it and I'm feeling very frustrated. Long or short? I just can't decide if I want to cut it or grow it. All I know is I don't like how it is right now, my hair and I have had a major falling out.

These are two moments in time when I actually loved my hair:

I was 19 and cutting my hair myself back then to save money.
I love those long layers I cut in around my face and the fact that
I used to straighten it and it would actually stay straightened.
The way it's cut now it just resorts to curls the second I get warm.

On the other hand, the day I had it cut like this was probably
the cutest I've ever felt in my life. I was 22 when I had it like this.
I loved how low maintenance it was and how big my eyes looked
peeking out from under those bangs.

But now I just don't know what I want to do with it.
Maybe I should go for a new style altogether but I don't really have any ideas.

So here's my question for you, dear readers: If you had shoulder length dark-brown hair that likes to rebel and a face-shape somewhere between oval and round, what hair style would you go with?

Rainbows!

2010-07-25T02:37:00.004+01:00

Muted girly colours might be all the rage right now, but sometimes an occasion calls for bright colours and lots of them! Just like the pride parade in downtown Halifax today.

Here's what I wore:

The skirt is an MXM favourite from last summer and the boots are my favourites from Evans. The beads and whistle are both parade swag.

As for the t-shirt, it's a Beth original! Reflections, the bar I went to last night, had a table where you could grab a plain white t-shirt for free and paint it up, and this was my creation! I'm really glad it dried overnight so I could cut it up a bit and wear it to the parade today.

I had so much fun, it's so wonderful to see a whole city turn out to show love for the LGBT community. I hope pride week just continues to get bigger and better in Halifax every year!

Summer fun

2010-07-20T16:07:00.005+01:00

Sorry it's been quiet lately, I actually have a ton of stuff I want to show you but life has been pretty hectic lately. I'll play catch-up this week!

This weekend was amazing because it's been the first time I've started to feel like I have my own life here in Canada. I joined a samba drumming group by myself and had a lot of fun even though I didn't know anybody. I also got to hang out at an amazing lake house with some friends and do a lot of swimming and kayaking and sailing. I spent the whole time in my bathing suit even though there were skinny boys everywhere and you know what? I didn't care, I just had fun!

I didn't take nearly enough pictures, but I wanted to show you these couple so you can see my Evans bathing suit that I got for my birthday. I'll try and do a proper outfit post with it at some point, because these pics aren't great.

This brings my SUMMER CHALLENGE to an end - I'm really proud of myself for actually doing it. Thanks so much to all of you who encouraged and supported me, and especially to those of you who pushed yourselves out of your comfort zone too.

Miraculously I didn't get sunburnt even!

How about you guys?
Any good beach days yet? Any swimming or boating adventures?
Whatever you've been doing so far this summer I hope you've had fun!
Love you guys xxx

PS: I've just been taught how to use the timer function on Luke's camera and he has a tripod too, so I should be able to do more outfit posts now!

Green fingers, white dress

2010-07-11T08:42:00.000+01:00

PSSST! ... Fancy a discount from Evans.co.uk?

Pretty in plus just became an Evans Blog Partner, and you can get 10% off an order of £40 or more by typing in the special code EVPINP (valid until August 22nd 2010)

If you're not sure what to get, I highly recommend this polka-dot number. I've been trying to find a maxi dress for ages but everything's been too long. This dress is supposed to be calf-length, so of course on me it's down to my ankles - perfect!

Sorry I don't have any better pics to show you, this is just a random one that my Mister snapped while I was on our balcony. In case you're wondering why I'm holding a watering can... it's because I've decided to embrace my inner domestic goddess and start growing herbs out there! I have oregano and chives and parsley and mint and rosemary and thyme - yum yum!

Do any of you grow herbs? Any tips for me?
Anyway, happy shopping if you do decide to take advantage of that Evans discount!
Ciao for now lovely readers xxx

Beth's big fat wedding guide

2010-07-07T16:18:00.000+01:00

A few of you said on my wedding post that you'd be interested in reading my tips on being a fat bride and planning a wedding, so as promised I've written my thoughts out for you. I really hope some of you find this helpful! I'll start with sharing my top three tips, and then I'll give you a list of links that will hopefully come in handy.

MY TOP 3 TIPS

1. Weight-loss and wedding don’t belong in the same sentence.
Or at least they shouldn’t. There are too many girls out there of every shape and size who stop eating the day they get engaged, and I think it’s so stupid. For starters, when your guy asks you to marry him, he’s not asking you to drop 30lbs and marry him. He’s asking the person you are now. Second of all, planning a wedding is stressful enough without having to beat yourself up every time you fall off the wagon and eat a cookie. Thirdly, do you really want your wedding day to be about how much weight you’ve managed to lose during your engagement? Wouldn’t you rather it be about the love you share as a couple? Those are my thoughts on the matter anyway.

When it came to my wedding, I told my mother and my bridesmaids straight away that I intended to remain the same size, and it was never mentioned again. I tried to do a lot of exercise in the weeks coming up to the big day to build up my stamina so I could dance for a long time at the reception, and that actually helped me to keep up my energy in the crazy week before the big day, but I absolutely did not diet, and I’m so glad I made that decision. I truly believe that some of the worse “bridezilla moments” would have ended in violence if I'd been dealing with hunger as well.

2. There’s no such thing as a perfect wedding.
I don’t want this statement to be too misleading. My wedding day was all that I asked for and more and I will probably remember it as the best day of my life. But did everything go according to plan? Hell no! And I think that’s the key thing, you can stress about getting everything how you want it in the days leading up to the big day, but not everything is under your control and some changes you just have to roll with.

For example, I ended up having to move my wedding to a different church! It was a pain to organize a last-minute venue change, but it was preferable to canceling. In the end, I feel lucky to have got married in that second church, because it’s so beautiful and it was right next to a park where we ended up doing the group photos, so really it worked out very well. There were a few minor things that went wrong – I’d bought some pretty rose petals to scatter around the table decorations and they ended up being sent to the church instead of the reception by mistake. Also my music playlist got taken off shuffle, and I realized about half way through the night when we went from Outkast to Paulo Nutini that the music was playing through alphabetically. But These minor things had no real impact on the day, none of the guests even noticed, so I just shrugged them off.

3. Don’t be afraid to be different.
When I was planning my wedding, it felt at times like I was between a rock and a hard place trying to meet everyone’s expectations. Marrying someone from another country made that doubly hard because a lot of my family’s expectations clashed with Luke’s family’s expectations. Eventually I realized that no matter what I did, I wouldn’t meet everyone’s expectations and the only people that I really had to please were my future husband and I.

A lot of things I chose for the big day were a little offbeat – my cake was a tower of cupcakes with a lego bride and groom on top, my ride from the church to the reception was a steam train, instead of a first dance we sang a song together on the band’s stage, I also played drums with the wedding band for a couple of songs. At times I was worried that people would judge me for going my own way, but what I’ve realized since is that those are the things that made my wedding day memorable, and I’m so glad I stuck to my guns and did what I wanted!

SOME HANDY LINKS

1. CLICK HERE for my guide to stress-free plus-size wedding dress shopping.
2. CLICK HERE for Definatalie's fantastic "Fat Bride Survival Guide."
3. CLICK HERE for the "Here come the fat brides" Flickr group.
4. CLICK HERE to visit the offbeat bride website, where you can get some great ideas on how to do things a little differently.
5. CLICK HERE for a British wedding planning site that I found helpful.

Like I said, I really hope that's helpful to some of you!
If you have any questions or need some advice, feel free to ask me in the comments or via email (beth[at]pretty-in-plus.com) and I'll do my best to help you out.
For now though, that's the last time I talk weddings for the foreseeable future.
Love you guys, xxx

Back in Nova Scotia

2010-07-06T03:09:00.003+01:00

I'm back! Didya miss me?

I've been busy settling in in Canada but I'm back now. I really love it here and everything's coming together really nicely. Anyways, I wanted to show you guys a couple of bargains I nabbed in the Evans sale before leaving the UK...

I think I'm pretty well the last fatshionista on the planet to get a long denim shirt, but I really love mine. I've got a few different ways I like to wear it so you'll probably see it again in a few more posts.

I'm so in love with the coral belt too, it goes with a lot more things than I expected.

Did you guys manage to find any bargains in the summer sales?

A Birthday Outfit

2010-06-22T22:48:00.001+01:00

Busy week huh? First my wedding and then my birthday! I'm 25 today - it sounds like such a grown up number but I spent all morning playing nintendo at my parent's house so I certainly don't feel very grown up.

Thanks to all of you who voted to help me choose a birthday dress back in May. I hope you don't feel let down, but I decided that the money is a bit tight post-wedding for a £50+ dress that I don't really need. Instead I asked for a new swimsuit, and the one I got was very cute, I'll show you soon!

Here's today's birthday outfit:
(sorry the pics aren't great, the sun was being most unhelpful)

Cropped Harem Pants - Yours Clothing
Butterfly print top - Vintage Dorothy Perkins
Denim Jacket - Thrifted/customized
Gold pumps - Matalan

(I couldn't recommend the harem pants from yours clothing enough, they're super comfy and they've been perfect in this hot weather we've been having lately.)

My mum gave me this necklace, it's from Evans (and I think it just went into their 50% off sale, so don't tell her)...

My new husband and I are flying back to Canada on Friday, so if I'm gone for a few days then you'll know why.
Ciao for now xxxx

PS: A few of you said that you would find a "fat bride's guide" helpful, so I plan to start work on that next week!

My Big Fat Welsh Wedding

2010-06-21T18:30:00.002+01:00

So this post is essentially going to be a big photo-dump of wedding pictures with a little bit of commentary from me. I'm sticking mostly to pictures of me because this is a fatshion blog after all.

I'm not sure what to do after this. Should I write a post with all my advice for the fat brides of the future or would you all rather I just got back to my regular outfit posts? Let me know in comments!

HERE COME PICS...

This is my dad and I before we left the house. A lot of our neighbours came to wave us off, which was so sweet!

As many of you guessed beforehand, the dress is from the Evans bridal range that came out a couple of years ago. I bought mine brand new from ebay! I showed you the shoes a few months ago, they were a bargain in the Evans post-christmas sale. The shrug is from monsoon. Pretty thrifty as bridal outfits go, but it was perfect for me, especially considering how much dancing I did at the reception.

After the church service, the whole wedding party took the steam train (a local tourist attraction) out into the countryside where the reception happened in a big hotel. It was really fun, I think the guests all enjoyed the train ride.

And I thought I'd finish by showing you our cake:

(yes we definitely did have lego cake toppers - I drew the goatee on lego Luke myself)

I definitely wish more of my dresses had netting coming out of the bottom like that!
Love you guys xxx