Summer 2016 Plus Size Swimwear and Beachwear Haul Part 2 – Quick Detailed Reviews

Summer 2016 Plus Size Swimwear and Beachwear Haul Part 2! Get ready for summer 2016 with the second part of my detailed reviews of various plus size swimwear and beachwear pieces. Hear about fit and styling and see how the pieces look on me!

I have been trying out a variety of swimwear pieces this summer and I am continuing to feature these pieces across my social media accounts. I am doing this not only to find new items for myself but also to show others what these things look like on me in the hope that I might inspire someone to try something different. Needless to say I can’t afford to keep all of these items, more’s the pity! But I still take the time to photograph the pieces and share them on social media so that other people can get an idea of what they look like on a plus size curvy body.

So, without any further ado, let’s look at the second batch of pieces I’ve tried recently in my Summer 2016 Plus Size Swimwear and Beachwear Haul Part 2. For reference, you can see my first post here.

The lovely team at Brastop kindly sent me this Curvy Kate Instinct Padded Balcony Bikini Top and matching Briefs earlier this year. I took the bikini on my holiday to Spain in May but I didn’t get to wear it much as the weather wasn’t good enough for sunbathing most of the time. However I more recently spent a week in Greece so I finally got to wear it! And of course it is a perfect bikini to include in this Summer 2016 Plus Size Swimwear and Beachwear Haul Part 2.

I love the pattern and the colour combination (this one is called ‘Deep Sea’; there is a new colourway out called ‘Cherry Berry’ available here). I wear Curvy Kate swimwear tops in 34K and bottoms in 18 or 20. These are a 20 and although they fit perfectly when they are dry once they are saturated with sea or pool water they stretch and are too big – in fact I nearly had a very awkward incident in the sea when a wave almost swept them off me!! So my advice is to size down in this style for a more secure fit.

Next up in my Summer 2016 Plus Size Swimwear and Beachwear Haul Part 2 is a one-piece. 

I don’t usually do an awful lot of ‘real life’ shopping and instead prefer to do the majority of my retail therapy online from the comfort of my own home. However, budget fashion retailer Primark do not have an online shop so every now and again I pop in to see what goodies they have available. This summer has been pretty successful as I nabbed a number of items, including this awesome Baywatch swimsuit:

Totally channelling my inner Baywatch babe vibes in these snaps.

Unfortunately I can’t give you a link to this swimsuit as Primark don’t sell online, but you might be able to find one on eBay. It was a lot of fun to wear this suit and take these photos – can you tell?!

The next item in my Summer 2016 Plus Size Swimwear and Beachwear Haul Part 2 is a piece of beachwear from Primark. I have longed for some crochet beach trousers since I tried some ill-fitting ones from ASOS last year, so you can imagine my delight when I found some in Primark this summer!

I got them in white/cream too, which I’ll show you later on in this post. Again, I can’t link to these because Primark don’t have an online shop but click here and here for similar trousers from ASOS.

The bikini I am wearing in the photo above is the Flirtelle Dottie from Brastop. I’d never tried either lingerie or swimwear from Flirtelle before but I’d hear they fit a lot like Curvy Kate (rumoured to be their sister brand) so I ordered quite a few pieces and was pleasantly surprised with the results. I could not resist including some of them in this Summer 2016 Plus Size Swimwear and Beachwear Haul Part 2.

The Flirtelle Dottie Padded Plunge Top comes in a range of back and cup sizes, with the largest cup available being a J. I therefore opted for a 36J in order to get a reasonable fit in the cup and this is not bad at all. The shoulder straps are very thin but I can confirm they are not uncomfortable at all.

The matching Dottie High Waist Briefs definitely come up big. I started with a size 20, but found them too roomy so I exchanged them for an 18 and then a 16 before finally deciding that was the right size for me (it’s so wonderful that Brastop offer free returns and exchanges!)…although having worn them on holiday with the red top below I have again found they stretch when wet so perhaps a 14 would have been even better. They’re not a bad fit but I do like my swimwear to feel secure when I am splashing around in the sea!

Let’s continue through the Summer 2016 Plus Size Swimwear and Beachwear Haul Part 2. My second Flirtelle bikini from Brastop was the Betty Pleated Padded Balconette Bikini Top Red with Dot Trim.

The top is a 32JJ and it’s a fab fit. Oddly a few people on Facebook commented that they thought the cups are too big but I can assure you this is not the case. I think the ‘issue’ is that in large cup sizes there will be a lot more coverage than in smaller ones, so these are quite tall. The cups are spot on for me but if they were cut a little lower I wouldn’t mind.

The red Flirtelle items can be mixed and matched with the black polka dot ones above, so you can have a range of different looks from just a few pieces, which is great news for anyone on a budget.

These Forever 21+ Caged Bikini Bottoms in Red are almost identical in colour to the top, which was a pleasant discovery. I am wearing a 1X here and they are spot on. I find in Forever 21+ swimwear a 1X is usually about right for me although I could manage a 0X if it was not available. I love the caged design on the sides of the briefs as it makes them a little edgier and more interesting than if they were just plain.

Next in the Summer 2016 Plus Size Swimwear and Beachwear Haul Part 2: My white/cream crochet trousers from Primark proved a big hit on social media, and I got lots of wear out of them on holiday (the black ones left a lot of fluff on my skin, despite the fact I washed them before going away).

I have recently seen a few pairs of these in the sale section in a number of Primark stores so if you’re in the UK and fancy a pair make sure you keep an eye out for them. Alternatively, you can find similar trousers online here, here and here.

The following swimsuit in the Summer 2016 Plus Size Swimwear and Beachwear Haul Part 2 is a real showstopper.

When I saw the New Look Caged Scoop Back Swimsuit on the ASOS website I fell in love with it. I loved the cutout design and the fact it looked like a regular black swimsuit with lots of rips in it. I ordered it on a whim, suspecting it would never fit me or look any good, but I was in for a surprise…

This is a UK 14 and it fits like a glove. There is no proper boob support but the suit is quite a snug fit so the material gives support through compression. I appreciate this might not be the sort of support/fit some women would like but as I said at the start of this post I am trying lots of different items so that others can see what options might be available to them. This swimsuit is a very skimpy fit but it really has the wow factor. It’s now sold out on the ASOS website but you might find one on the New Look site here.

Let’s move the Summer 2016 Plus Size Swimwear and Beachwear Haul Part 2 back to Flirtelle; here’s the Flirtelle Bubble Gathered Padded Plunge Bikini:

I kept the top (32JJ) but not the bottoms (20) as I didn’t like this cut on me. They are fine for these pictures but I know I would not have worn them so it would have been a waste of money keeping them. I am now on a mission to find some bikini bottoms that match/work with the top – I think white might be a good starting point as the purple will be hard to match up I think.

I am seriously impressed with Flirtelle swimwear by the way and *whispers* I think I might even prefer it to Curvy Kate, shh!!! Sadly it looks like it may be being discontinued as Brastop doesn’t have any Flirtelle swimwear in its regular swimwear section, and it is only listed in the sale section. I hope this is just a seasonal thing and that there are lots of lovely new Flirtelle swimwear pieces available again soon!

And finally in my Summer 2016 Plus Size Swimwear and Beachwear Haul Part 2 I wanted to try a more colourful one-piece swimsuit so I gave this Missguided Strappy Detail Swimsuit from ASOS a whirl.

This is a UK 14 and it fits very well indeed. Again, there is no proper bust support, but the tight fit of the suit gives a compression effect that keeps my boobs in place and secure. I love the bright colour and the strappy detail on the front and down the sides is very edgy and modern.

That’s the end of my Summer 2016 Plus Size Swimwear and Beachwear Haul Part 2! But there’s plenty more to come so stay tuned for more reviews coming soon.

Let me know what you think of these pieces by commenting below.