Quick! The Sun!

A strange thing happened today.  I went outside and it wasn't cold.  I didn't need to wear a scarf, my fingers were glove less,  what was this strange occurrence?  Could it actually be a turn in the weather?

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth I immediately got to planning my outfit for tonight which is a celebration of my best friend's new business and also my one year of not smoking.  With the weather being that touch warmer, I went running for the nearest maxi dress that I bought on sale at @Dorothy_Perkins last year.

Here's what I am wearing:

Attempting the old "natural makeup look"

 The dress and the shoes are both from +Dorothy Perkins and the belt I bought yesterday from +Evans for the bargain price of £4.00!

At the day is getting on it's looking a little colder out now so I'm wearing a little black shrug for warmth and will be adding my @So_Fab_Clothing biker jacket later on.

What are you wearing this weekend?

A Little Dignity

When it comes to Margaret Thatcher, people have very clear-cut views.  That much has always been evident.  People either like or loathe her, depending on what their outlook on her time as prime minister was.

I’m not writing this post to argue political issues and what she did or did not do.  I’m writing this post in relation to the frankly abhorrent comments and hateful things I have seen said over the past few days.

From people holding parties in the street, to others buying “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead” to such a degree that it is now in the top ten on the Itunes Charts, I’ve never seen anything like it before.  Twitter is full of people celebrating her death, suggesting parties when “the witch burns” and hoping that she is “being tortured in hell”.

She made her mistakes, you cannot deny that, but whatever else you say about Margaret Thatcher you can’t deny that she had courage of conviction.  She had her victories too.  She played a part in the end of the Cold War and brought us to victory in the Falklands. 

She survived an IRA bombing attack and was still at the Conservative Party Conference the next day at 9.00am.  Can you imagine any of our current MPs doing the same?  I wholly doubt it.  They would have been up and out of there quicker than you could say “How much can I claim in expenses for this?”.

This woman didn’t commit genocide.  She isn’t Adolf Hitler.  In the grand scale of things does she really deserve all of this hate nearly 25 years after she left Downing Street?  

Will the same things be said of Tony Blair for the war in Iraq or of David Cameron for the privatisation of the NHS and cuts of benefits?

In the end, she died a frail 87 year old woman, reading in her bed.  Whatever your views on Margaret Thatcher may be, can we not show a little restraint in how they are expressed? 

Think of her family, of her children, of the people who loved her.  Would you like to be grieving at the loss of your mother, whilst in the background you hear chimes of “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead”?  Let’s show a little dignity.

“Maturity is the ability to think, speak and act your feelings within the bounds of dignity.”  Samuel Ullman.

 



Send a Pigeon!!

In 2013 you never think about the days when having a mobile phone was a rarity, and having the internet on your home computer was only a twinkle in the eye.  We all have our smart phones and laptops, Ipads and home computers and everything we want is within a click.

 

The internet on my laptop died this weekend and when the Orange technician finally deduced that my sim card had died, his announcement that another would come in 4-5 working days was taken well, initially.

 

Day three of the wait though and I'm practically breaking out in cold sweats.  I have the internet on my phone of course but I already use all of my allowance so using that is a no go.  My work internet blocks most of the sites I want to use.
 

I get home and I'm staring at my laptop in longing.  Blogs posts are flowing through my head that I can't upload, sales are putting up everywhere online; there seem to be million different online articles I want to read and worst of the worst, I can only check Twitter through my phone.

 

It is KILLING me.

 

So Orange, you know I said that I was fine with 4-5 working days?  I'm not.  Send a carrier pigeon, stat.

Barry M Bold Black Waterproof Gel Eyeliner Review

Eyeliner and I have a bit of a turbulent relationship. I love it, but I can never seem to find one that works the way I want it to. Usually what happens is the pencil is too sharp, the felt pen is too narrow or the colour isn't intense enough.

I came across the Barry M Waterproof Gel Eyeliner in Superdrug the other day, priced at £3.99, linked here. I liked the fact that it was waterproof as I frequently end up with eyeliner everywhere by the end of the day, looking like a bleary eyed panda.

Unlike some of the other pencils and pens I have wrestled with, the Barry M eyeliner pencil is soft and pliable, making it easy to press into my lashes and maintain a steady line. Once applied, I use an eyeliner brush in order to move the line out to the corners of my eye for a more precise look.

I have tried the eyeliner out twice now, once for work and once for a night out and I can confirm that it has stayed put and not lost any intensity of colour. Even though it does say waterproof, I was expecting some smudging or fading after a few hours but that didn't happen at all.

I can heartily recommend the Barry M Eyeliner pencil to you. I have included some before and after photographs so you can see how it looks on.

That's as much of my naked face
as you're getting ;)

Oops!!  Shadow cam!

Edit: A couple of people have asked me what mascara I am using in the "after" pictures.  It's the Benefit They're Real Mascara.

An Open Letter to a Bully

How ironic that the very day that I write about bullying, found here that I encounter a bully on the street.  Here's my open letter to him, the unknown coward:

Dear man passing in the van,

I saw you looking at me from your side mirrors, laughing to your friend as I passed by on the car park.  My chin went up a little higher and I walked past, ignoring you.

Stood at the bus stop I saw you pull out of the car park.  I knew what was coming.

There are a lot of ways to describe me.  I am a brunette.  I have blue eyes.  I am of medium height.  I have, I'm told, a nice smile when I'm happy.  If you look a little deeper, you find I'm a happy girl.  I'm loyal, I'm friendly and I will give anyone the time of day.  But as I said, I knew what was coming.

"Fat bitch!!!!" you shout at me as you drove past me.  Too cowardly to say anything when I passed beside your parked vehicle, you shout it out on the main street, driving past so I cannot respond.  Well yes, sir, I'm fat, and yes, sometimes I am a bitch.

If you had done this to me a year ago you would have hurt me.  I would have put a brave face on but cried when I got home.  Now though, I just feel sorry for you and the person you are.

So how do we describe you?  The villain in the piece?  Nasty, for shouting at a woman alone in the street, cowardly for not daring to say it when I passed you, insecure if you find it necessary to insult someone you don't know and pathetic, because, well you are.

So I am a fat sometimes bitch.  You are nasty, cowardly, insecure and pathetic.  Overall, comparing us both, I think I'd prefer to be fat.

Lots of love,

The Woman you heckled in the street.

 

Bullies - The Ugliest of Them All

There has been much publicity over the past week about a girl called Josie Cunningham who got breast implants through the NHS.  The story appears to be that she went to her GP, upset with how she looked and the GP has arranged for her to have implants.

This is not a one off occurrence.  Whilst I would prefer the NHS to offer counselling and support as opposed to surgical intervention, this type of thing has happened through the NHS as long as there has been cosmetic surgery.  It could be ears pinned back, a nose job, breast implants.

If the GP assesses that this issue is severely impacting your life, causing you depression, they are at liberty to arrange these procedures under the NHS.  It is nothing new.  This procedure has been offered to her, you cannot demand anything from the NHS. 

The only difference is in this case is that either she has sold her story to the papers, in a bid to attain the Page 3 career that she wants, or someone else has sold the story.

When people put a photograph of themselves in a newspaper or on the internet, or even if someone posts a picture of you, the “norm” seems to be for people to disassociate the person from their photograph. They become just an image, something to be ridiculed if you so wish without retribution. Any comment is "allowed" because they have "put themselves out there".

To date this girl has over a dozen Facebook hate pages set up against her, her photographs have been doctored in horrible ways and the comments written about her all over the internet have been vile.  No one deserves this kind of abuse.  There are other ways to comment on and disagree with a situation rather than spew venomous comments about her appearance. 

If you disagree with the NHS offering cosmetic surgery, take it up with the NHS.  Petitions for her “paying the money back” which I have seen are beyond ridiculous.  If you are going to set up a petition, set one up asking for a reform on cosmetic procedures if that is what you believe.  Use your head, not mob mentality.

Just image if you found one your mother/son/daughter/sister’s image online or your own, only then to find a long line of people criticising the way they looked.  Bullying someone online is exactly the same as shouting abuse at someone in the street.  It is just as bad, if not worse because you are hiding behind your internet connection like a coward.

Bullies are the true ugly ones.

The Winter/Spring Outfit

Given the weather over the past few years, I think that we need to create a new season for clothing.  Winter/Spring.  Clothes warm enough to keep away the chills whilst still dressing in a Spring style.

When I looked out of my curtains this morning I was greeted by beautiful bright blue skies, daffodils growing in the garden and frost on the pavement.  What’s a girl to do?

Well today I went for my ever faithful Billie & Blossom  +Dorothy Perkins dress with flower print, purple tights from @EvansClothing which I swear would survive a nuclear war, my new glorious Hush Puppy shoes, hat, scarf (unknown) and my new leather jacket from @So_Fab_Clothing

 

 

(From an old post, forgot to take a new photo!)

 

 

How do you work the Winter/Spring look?

 

 

 



Review - SimplyBe Flirty Floral Dress

In my attempt to move away from black and embrace more colourful clothing; I have actively been making more bold choices.  The current trends for Spring, especially the floral prints and pastel colours, are so far out of my old comfort zone that they are practically down the street and around the corner.

When SimplyBe kindly allowed me to review some dresses for them, this final dress was one that stood out as being completely on trend, and completely out of my comfort zone and so therefore had to be mine!

I don’t know if it's the print, but for some reason wearing this dress I feel like I have stepped into the 1950’s, waiting for my husband to come at 5.00 o’clock, with a cocktail at the ready (apparently in my 1950’s vision I’m married, Ryan Reynolds please!).

As I never knowingly under dress for anything one thing I really love about the 50’s is the way that people dressed.  There was no such thing as a track suit, not outside of a running track anyhow and the evil onesie (I’m sorry, I just don’t get them) was nowhere to be found.

The Joe Brown dress is delightfully feminine and I love the combination of colours. I didn’t have anything remotely like it in my wardrobe and for me; it stands out from the crowd.

I feel flirty and feminine in this dress and can’t wait to wear it when the freezing weather has finally abated.

I have added a brown belt from @ASOS, nude wedge shoes from @NextOfficial and in one of the photos I have on a nude shrug from @YoursClothing. 

The Joe Browns Flirty Floral dress is priced at £40.00  and can be found here.

What have you been buying that is out of your normal comfort zone?

 

I have not been paid to write this blog and the opinions in the same are honest and my own.

Wishlist - Shoes for the Summer

There are a few words that you could say to me to bring an instant smile to my face.  Formula One, Bagpuss, Adam Levine, shoes.....

Every woman loves shoes, I think it may be part of our DNA.  When buying shoes for the summer I try to look for pairs that will go with multiple outfits and also can carry you through from day to evening for those Summer's days outs.

Here are my favourites:

1.  Sporty Black Wedges £36.00

Wedges and not too high, ideal to take you from shorts to a maxi dress

2.  Leopard Print Lace-Ups  £24.00

Comfortable and with a cool print to add a pop of colour to your day time outfit

3.  Tan Block Heels £40.00

Ideal shoe to go with most evening dresses from short to maxi

4.  Espadrille Sandals £25.00

If you have had a long day sightseeing, these lovelies will still look good with a dress at the end of the day

5. Sparkle Ballerinas £28.00

What girl doesn't need a pair of ballerinas?

So those are my favourite shoes for the Summer season, what are yours?

Battle Royale - Me versus the Weather

Dear Weather,

We have had our differences you and I over the years.  Many battles have been fought and lost between us.

 

You produced snow and ice, I counteracted with ice cleats.  You blew gale force winds, I found hair styles that would stay in place, or hats to cover them.  You dropped the temperature to below freezing, I piled on the scarves, gloves and stylish, where possible, warm clothing.

 

Today though, I admit defeat.  I've had it.  The season turns to Summer next week and yet there is still snow on the ground, it's freezing cold and icy winds are all around. 

 

The game of fashion versus the weather has been playing now for so long that I can barely remember wearing sandals.  The thought of going outside without hat, scarf, gloves, warm coat and multiple layers is completely foreign to me.

 

You have beaten me down to the point I have reached today which is having straw like hair which looks like I did battle with a hedge, wearing ugly pants that look horrendous on my ass and dry skin on my face which no amount of foundation seems to be fixing.

 

You have RUINED me.

 

So here I am weather saying "Well done, you have won.  You are the more superior and you cannot be beaten."

 

Now please, pretty please, can you bring back us back warmth and sunshine?

Love

Vicky

Polka Polka Polka Dot

Over the past few weeks I have been lusting over this dress.  A polka dot dress with a pussybow neckline and pleated skirt – there is nothing I don’t like about that sentence.

After waiting a few weeks till payday and allowing myself a little treat, I finally got my hands on it and here it is!

I’ve just had a quick try on for now but when styling it properly I will no doubt be playing around with accessories. I have a lovely pair of red shoes that will look fabulous and no doubt a little cardy will be coming in somewhere.

The very day that we have nice weather, this dress is coming out to play!

Have you had your eye on a must have dress lately?

March Hair

Sorry, bad blog title but I couldn't resist.

So...... Moving swiftly on!! With all the feminine prints trending for Spring, I decided it was time to give my hair a rest from the usual straightening routine and let the natural curls have a go.  

It makes a nice change although I think I may be letting a little of the 80's in with all that hair.

Sometimes it is nice to have a change and also, saves spending so much times with the GHD's!

Do you have different styles to go with current clothing trends?

March Lovelies

From time to time (read every other day) I like to look at the various clothing websites and pick out dresses that I love, regardless of price.  Although it is slightly like dress torture, as usually I am looking when I can't afford to buy, there is no harm in looking and I think it helps to keep on trend.

Here are my March ladies that I am lusting after, some in my price range, some not, all absolutely fabulous:

1.  Chesca Butterfly Print Dress £195.00 found here
2.  SimplyBe Enchanted Print Dress £35.00 found here
3.  AX Paris Laser Cut PU Scallop Skirt £30.00 found here
4.   New Look Ruby Rocks Monochrome Layered Dress £25.00 found here
5.  Asos Curve Skater Dress £28.00 found here
6.  Very - South Mono Floral Print Dress £49.00 found here

What are your favourites of the month?

Making Choices

Life is always about choices.  The ones you make, the ones you allow yourself to make and also the ones that you convince yourself that you can't.

You can only be restricted in your choices if you allow in other factors.  Such as what other people think.  If you allow other people's influences and judgement into your choices, then it becomes more about what they want and think than you.

When I started a degree through the Open University last year, it was a snap decision.  I was still trying to figure things out within myself and I thought doing a degree might be interesting to do.  What I didn't think about was how much of a commitment I was making and the reasons behind it.  

I chose to work at a 25% rate given that I work full time and still wanted a life and other interests.  Adding that up to the honours degree I had chosen equated to the next fourteen years of my life.  Going into it I couldn't say if I wanted a change of career at the end of it.  I basically drifted into it.

This week, after being on the course six months, I sat myself down and asked myself some questions.  Questions that had been in my head for weeks, but I'd ignored.  Why had I ignored them?  Because I didn't want to be called a quitter.

Are you ready to commit yourself for 14 years on this?

No

Do you actually plan to change career?

Honestly, no.  I'm not career driven, never have been.  I chose it for interest.

Is there anything you want more than this?

Yes.  I want to give the blog more of a go.  I want to try and expand on the writing side, and not just on the blog.  I may not be any form of Shakespeare, but I truly love it and it makes me happy.

I asked myself those questions and there was my answer.  I've withdrawn from the degree.

Will some call me a quitter?  Probably.  Was it too hard?  No.  I was maintaining a First after all.  Will I regret my decision. No,  I don't think I will.  I would have regretted more if I was still having the same thoughts two years later and still hadn't done anything about it.

Some people are about education, some about fun, some are about their careers, some are about the life outside of what.  Further education isn't for me.  I've made my choice.

Ranting Makes the Smile Get Bigger

There a lot of things that I like to support.  Movember is a great idea.  Mother’s Day I like, International Men/Women’s Day, why not?  What does irritate me are the “motivational days”.
 

No Smoking Day for example irritates me so much that it actually made me want to start smoking again.  If showing smokers diseased lungs doesn’t make them want to stop the other 364 days of the year, a motivation “Let’s Stop Smoking” day is going to do sweet F A. 

 Smokers are well aware of what smoking can do, all the well intended motivational speeches do is actually serve to make us want to smoke more.  Smokers quit when they are ready, and when they want to.  So back off smoking police.

 

See, I wrote “us” there classifying myself as a smoker.  I’ve actually given up, but when I wanted to, and I made damn sure it was a New Year’s resolution or because someone said I should.

 

Today is International Happiness Day.  Well, that just makes me grumpy as hell.  Enforced happiness.  No thanks.

 

 Happiness Day  makes me think of when I have had dark days previously, or just a generally crappy day.  You either get “Cheer up, it might never happen” which usually gets a glare from me.  How do they know that it hasn’t happened, and what is “it”?  

 

Then, sometimes, when a dark day strikes you get people saying “ Just look at all the good things in your life, you should be happy”.  Well fuck off Mrs Sunshine, I am having a dark day, I can’t help it, now back off.

 

How about “Make someone smile” day.  That’s manageable, that’s easy.  I did that this morning (just in case you were thinking I’d turned into evil incarnate reading this blog post).  I gave up my seat on the bus for an old lady and made her smile.  Job done. 

I think a new day should be created for “Have a Rant, Feel Better” day because you know what, I feel so much better now!

 

My (ok somewhat screwed up) rule of life:   Never trust a person who is happy first thing in the morning.  They are surely evil.  Trust the person who rants. The person who has evil in their eyes before they get to coffee. You know what you are getting with us.

Why do you Blog?

"Why do you blog?" is a question that all bloggers face regularly.  

Many people who have never seen nor read a blog before cannot understand the need or want for people to put their thoughts, their images and their opinions on an open forum, for anyone to read.  The whole idea is foreign to them.  

I started my blog a couple of years ago.  It was borne out of a curiosity, a want to write somewhere but not in a diary, something in which I could be the real me, say what I wanted and voice any opinions I had.  Alongside personal posts I have written about everything from the death penalty to reintroduction of animal species.  

Over the past few years my blog has evolved along with me.  Although I still write about my thoughts and opinions of the day, a lot of the posts have started to flow along the same course as I began to find my self confidence and a happiness within myself.

Through reading other plus size fashion blogs and writing about my own journey coming out of a closet full of black, I have found a real love of fashion.  I love doing the outfits of the day posts; which terrified me previously.  I actively check out the new trends for each season and encompass the ideas into my own wardrobe.  

I don't write to a schedule nor do I worry if I haven't written anything for a while.  I write this blog because I love it, it isn't a duty or obligation.  I love to write and this scratches that itch for me.  If no one were to ever read the blog again I wouldn't mind.  I've poured a little part of myself into it and in return, it's given me a lot of happiness.

I have heard, as no doubt many have, of other's people's opinions on blogging, and bloggers.  We are losers, we are sad lonely people attached to our keyboards, we are idiots and dime a dozen.  Personally my blogging experience has been lovely people, shared interests and lots of fun, but then, people do love to hate what they don't know.

Blogging can be anything you want it to be, be it on a professional basis or just a hobby that you enjoy.  Everyone's blogging story is different.  

What's your story?

The "Go To" Outfit - Work

Considering my post yesterday of Planning - Outfit of the Day I managed last night to go to bed without planning anything.  My plan was to get up a little earlier to get an outfit together, which was disposed by the snooze button.

 

So I have put today's outfit on here because it is my "go to" work outfit when I have to get ready quickly.

 

The patterned wrap dress is from @Dorothy_Perkins the purple tights are from @Evans and the ballet pumps are from @VeryNetwork.  The hairdo is from the 90's ;)

 

Apologies for the bad lighting, the photos were taken in the last minutes before leaving the house, never the best time to take a photograph!

 

Do you have a go to outfit?

 

 

Planning - Outfit of the Day

I'm not generally someone who can put an outfit together first thing in the morning.  I can barely get myself out of bed and organised for work, never mind have decision making capabilities.

As such, I always choose my next day work outfit the night before.  Here's what I wore today, together with the snap I took of the outfit that last.

The dress and the cardigan are from Dorothy Perkins, the belt is from Asos Curve.

How do you plan your outfits?

Preparing for Summer

At this time of year the days are getting longer and we are waking up to light in the mornings, which makes everything a little easier.

It is also the time when the Spring/Summer clothing and shoes start to come out and you begin to choose things to wear for the upcoming season. My first point of call, as always, is the shoes.

Barratts have kindly allowed me to review a pair of their sandals.  I always try to choose my first pair of sandals as being ones that will go with everything, so with this in mind I chose the Ravel Leather Wide Strap Wedge Gladiator Sandals.

These sandals are great for wearing with either casual or evening looks which is particularly good for when you want a pair that will take you through the day and into the evening without compromising on style.  

The sandals are comfortable and don’t have a rigid sole which I something that I hate about a lot of sandals. The soles are flexible and didn't take any breaking in.  

So Fabulous dress, found here

I paired the sandals with my first summer dress purchase of the season which was the printed dress from So Fabulous at Very.  All I need now is some sunshine, a view of the sea and a Mojito in my hand!

 

The sandals can be found here at Barratts and are currently at the bargain price of £32.40.  At the moment there is also an additional discount of 20% if you enter the word FASHION at checkout. 

What is your first purchase for the summer months?

I have not been paid to write this blog and the opinions in the same are honest and my own.