My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - Yours Clothing

Yours Clothing is the fastest growing plus size fashion retailer in the UK, if not the world.

Image courtesy of Yours Clothing

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - Urkye

Urkye are a Polish boob-friendly online fashion retailer.

Image courtesy of Urkye

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - Simply Be

Simply Be are an online retailer who provide a whole raft of fashion choices for plus sized women.

Image courtesy of Simply Be

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - SLiNK Magazine

SLiNK Magazine is a bi-monthly fashion and lifestyle bible for women size 14+.

Image courtesy of SLiNK Magazine

SLiNK is packed full of fashion, beauty, health, culture, lifestyle, interiors and interesting articles.  Its slogan is: Styling your curves; fashioning your life.  And this indeed is true as the mag features a ton of useful articles to help you work out what clothing is best for your figure, as well as covering off other areas of your life.

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - Rixie Clip Bra Band Tightener

Rixie Clip bra band tightener is a product I reviewed very recently on my blog here.

Image courtesy of Rixie Clip

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - Playful Promises

Playful Promises is a London-designed lingerie brand which mixes quirky, directional design with all things playful, flirty and even a little bit dirty.

Image courtesy of Playful Promises

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - BiuBiu

A few months after starting my blog, I heard about a Polish company called BiuBiu.  They are a clothing brand who aim to offer a range of items to women with larger breasts.

Image courtesy of BiuBiu

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - Affinitas

Affinitas is a lingerie company whose mission is 'to bring beautiful lingerie to women around the world seeking affordable luxury in stylish, quality intimates'.

        

Images courtesy of Affinitas

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - A Sophisticated Pair Lingerie

Since the launch of my blog one year ago, there have been several companies who have kindly supported me by retweeting my posts on Twitter and sharing my statuses on Facebook.  A Sophisticated Pair Lingerie has long been one of these companies and I am delighted to be able to share with you a few details about them.

Image courtesy of A Sophisticated Pair Lingerie

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - Butterfly Collection Lingerie

Butterfly Collection Lingerie is a Canadian lingerie company run by British-born Claire and her husband Paul.  

Image courtesy of Butterfly Collection Lingerie

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - Beautiful Bosom Bras

Beautiful Bosom Bras are based in Kent, fairly near to where I live.  Run by the lovely Beverley Webb, the company aims to source bras that are difficult to find, taking the stress out of bra shopping for their customers.

Image courtesy of Beautiful Bosom Bras

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - Brood's Big Bras

Brood's Big Bras is an Australian company which is run by the gorgeous Brood.

Image courtesy of Brood's Big Bras

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - Curvissa

Curvissa is a new online fashion brand for size 14-32 women who are proud of their curves.

Image courtesy of Curvissa

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - Clothing At Tesco

Clothing at Tesco is the supermarket's own brand range of clothing for men, women and children, otherwise known as F&F or Florence and Fred.

Image courtesy of Clothing at Tesco

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - DBusted

DBusted is an Australian online store which sells clothing and lingerie for fuller busted women.

Image courtesy of DBusted

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - Curvy Kate

Curvy Kate are a lingerie brand who aim to provide fuller busted women with a range of sexy, comfortable and supportive options.

Image courtesy of Curvy Kate

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - Elomi Lingerie

Elomi Lingerie is part of the Eveden group of companies and is a brand which is aimed at fulfilling the underwear needs of plus sized women.

Image courtesy of Elomi

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - Eliza Parker

Eliza Parker is an American company who specialises in clothing for plus sized women.

Image courtesy of Eliza Parker

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - Do It Momma

Do It Momma is the brainchild of former Curvy Kate Star In A Bra winner, Lizzie Haines.

Image courtesy of Do It Momma

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - Debenhams 'Gorgeous' Lingerie

Debenhams' own lingerie brand, Gorgeous, is a great option for larger busted ladies.

Image courtesy of Debenhams

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - Evans Clothing

Evans are a clothing, footwear and accessories retailer for plus sized women.

Image courtesy of Evans

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - Esty Lingerie

Esty Lingerie is an online luxury lingerie boutique specialising in independent designers.

Image courtesy of Esty Lingerie

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - Ewa Michalak

Ewa Michalak are a Polish lingerie company who have created some of the most beautiful lingerie I have ever seen (and worn!).

Image courtesy of Ewa Michalak

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - Freya

Freya are a lingerie brand who are dedicated to giving its customers gorgeous lingerie and swimwear that fits beautifully.

Image courtesy of Freya

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - Forever Yours Lingerie

Forever Yours Lingerie is a Canadian company that specialises in personal bra fittings (in cups B-K) and fine lingerie for women of all sizes.

Image courtesy of Forever Yours Lingerie

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - Excite Clothing

I first discovered Excite Clothing over a year ago when I was searching on eBay for some reasonably priced shrugs.  They had several different options available and all at low prices.  Great - I love a bargain!

Image courtesy of Excite Clothing

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - Large Cup Lingerie

Large Cup Lingerie are online specialists in beautiful and well fitting lingerie for curvy ladies.

Image courtesy of Large Cup Lingerie

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - IGIGI By Yuliya Raquel

IGIGI by Yuliya Raquel regularly makes my heart skip a beat with the gorgeous items of clothing they have on offer.

Image courtesy of IGIGI by Yuliya Raquel

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - Lepel

Lepel is a lingerie brand based in Nottingham, UK.

Image courtesy of Lepel

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - Leia Lingerie

Leia Lingerie are a UK lingerie retailer who have stores in Cardiff, Bluewater and York, as well as a very user-friendly website, where you can purchase an array of gorgeous lingerie.

Image courtesy of Leia Lingerie

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - Navabi

Navabi is striving to become the world's premier online plus size designer fashion retailer.

Image courtesy of Navabi

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway - Panache

Panache are an award-winning lingerie company who have built their reputation on three core values: fit, support and comfort.

Image courtesy of Panache

My Blog's First Birthday Giveaway!

Wow.  I can't believe where the past year has gone...and that it's really been 365 days since my very first post.  I'm so lucky that my blog has lasted this long - when I began it I honestly thought it would be something very few people would read but I had so many thoughts going round in my head about the lingerie and clothing I was trying that I needed somewhere to put them.  And here I am, 12 months later, still going strong.

Anna Scholz for Simply Be Contrast Pencil Skirt

Ever since I got to try on an array of gorgeous dresses at Anna Scholz's London HQ during Plus London Two, I have been keen to add some of her pieces to my wardrobe.  I mean, how can a girl resist beauties such as these...

Image courtesy of Anna Scholz

Rixie Clip Bra Band Tightener

Since I received my Ewa Michalak 32/70 band bras a couple of months ago I have disappointingly found them to be definitely too big in the band.  I have got on much better with my 30/65 bands.  This is good news, as I seem to be getting closer and closer to establishing my true bra size, but it is also frustrating as it means I have a fair few bras which are too loose in the band for me.

Of course, the most obvious solution to this issue would be to get the bras in a smaller band size.  That's fine...but very few of us have money to burn so this isn't always an option, not in the short term at least.  So how else can we address the problem of owning a bra with too loose a band?

The most common thing to do is to alter the bra band to make it smaller.  There are various tutorials available on the internet (such as Helena's fantastic post here) which show how to do this but I am too scared to try them - hacking up my beautiful Ewas seems like sacrilege!  Surely there must be another, less permanent way?

Ewa Michalak PL Bratki

As a child, my mum dressed me in blue whenever she could.  WIth my blue eyes, blonde hair and fair complexion I guess it was the natural choice but once I was older and made my own clothing choices it lead me to avoid wearing blue for a while as I'd had such an overdose.

These days, I wear clothes - and lingerie - in as many colours of the rainbow as I can.  Diversity is all good in my book.  That's one of the many reasons I love Ewa Michalak lingerie as they have such a wide range of styles and designs on offer.

I was recently offered the chance to try some of the newer PL (plunge) range and, having overcome my earlier aversion to blue, I wanted to give the PL Bratki (Pansies) a try.

Image courtesy of Ewa Michalak

A super Saturday fitting with Leia Lingerie and a review of the Freya Ellie Bra

A couple of weeks ago I had the great fortune of spending a Saturday afternoon and evening in the fabulous company of the beautiful Hanna of The Wardrobe Challenge.  We went shopping to Bluewater, Kent, and had a lovely time.

One of the places we spent a great deal of time at was Leia Lingerie.  I have blogged before about how much I love Leia and their friendly, welcoming atmosphere, along with the distinct lack of pressure to buy - so important!  I love how passionate all the staff are about their jobs and how they ensure that every customer gets the best possible fit in the lingerie available.  I have never seen a grumpy member of staff in Leia and the amiable and professional team are always ready to help anyone who requires assistance.

M & Co Dresses: Summer 2012

Ok ok...so it's rather late in the season to be posting 'summer' dress reviews.  But I wanted to share these with you as examples of some of the great things high street and online retailer M & Co have on offer.

I visited the Tenterden store a little while ago and received excellent customer service from Charlotte who was looking after the changing rooms at the time.  She was sweet and helpful and even paid me compliments on the dresses I was trying on, bless her!

I tried on a variety of dresses, none of which are available on the website any more so I am afraid I can't link to them.

(Sandals from Evans) 

Roman Originals Polka Dot Dress

I love a bit of polka dot.  It's such a pretty and feminine look and is smart enough for work but also fun enough for nights out.  I have been looking for a polka dot dress for a while but haven't had much luck in finding one in a stretchy fabric.  I guess that's fair enough as stretch could make the polka dots lose their circular shape, but even so I have been keeping my eyes peeled.

A few weeks ago, I came across this gem from Roman Originals:

Image courtesy of Roman Originals

Ewa Michalak PL Malwa

I hadn't owned a plain white bra for many a year until a few months ago when I got to try the Freya Lauren in white.  It's a very nice bra but it's a bit too high cut on me and my short shoulders to wear under most of my tops and dresses so when Ewa Michalak recently agreed to send me some bras for review I knew the PL Malwa had to be one of them.

Image courtesy of Ewa Michalak

Ewa Michalak PL Carmen

For a while now, I have been finding that my 36J/HH and 34J Ewa Michalak bras have been feeling too loose in the band.  This has made me sad because I love these bras so much...but wearing a bra with too loose a band is no good, regardless of how pretty it may be.  *Sob*

You can imagine my delight when Ewa very kindly agreed to send me some new bras to review.  I was thrilled to be able to try one of the bras I have lusted after for some time now: the PL Carmen.

Image courtesy of Ewa Michalak

Marisota Coleen Nolan Ruffle Dress

I was recently contacted by Marisota to see if I wanted to review something from their Autumn/Winter collection for this year and of course I jumped at the chance.  It's always so flattering to be asked to do this and seeing as I had been eyeing up several items I knew I would have a great selection to choose from.

I wanted to get something special and I was particularly attracted to some of the items from the Coleen Nolan collection, as they are glamorous and great for special occasions.  Coleen says the following of her collection on the Marisota site:

Swan by Clements Ribeiro Autumn 2012 Collection at Evans

I was recently lucky enough to attend the press launch of the Autumn 2012 collection of Swan by Clements Ribeiro for Evans.  It was held in London and I was delighted to be in the company of fellow bloggers including Hanna, Bethany, Naomi, Amy and Joanna.

Having never been to an Evans event before I was excited to meet their PR team and see what the collection was like.

The event was held in the press room of Arcadia's London office - a lovely venue which not only had Evans Clements Ribeiro items on display but also a few from Wallis, Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridge as well.