Tried & Tested: Curvy Kate ‘Tease Me’ lingerie review

I was very excited to recently be invited by one of my absolute favourite online retailers, BraStop, to be part of their Fuller Focus group. I’ve shopped at BraStop for ages and I love their dedication to finding great brands for bigger busts, and the fact they hunt for new reader models every month, letting their customers show off the different sets brilliantly and never airbrushing their pictures. Being part of their reviews team is a great honour, but before I began my official duties, I was sent a special set from one of their key brands – Curvy Kate – to review for this site. They obviously did their research into the styles I love, as the set I got was their very best retro-inspired favourite, the ‘Tease Me’…

Shabby Chic Sleepwear from Charlotte & Co.

I’m clearly not very good at getting my reviews scheduled for the right time of year. Just as I’d put a bikini review on the back burner because I thought it would entirely irrelevant now we’re into October, the Sun came out, the beaches were packed and I contemplated pushing back the review I had been planning; focussing on some particularly warm and toasty sleepwear! But the pics have been taken, the products worn and thoroughly tested, so despite the fact the last few days have been 30-something degrees and I’ve slept in virtually nothing, you’ll have to trust me that in the days running up to this, I was happily snuggled up in my new Charlotte and Co. pyjamas…

Tried & Tested: The Pepperberry Summer Clothing Challenge

Yep, I’ve been back to Pepperberry, purveyors of clothes for ladies with boobs. This time I was invited to take part in their Bloggers’ Summer Clothing Challenge. Basically, I got to choose an event and Pepperberry would dress me for it! I was sent down to the Oxford Circus store in June, where a set of frocks had been picked out for me to try on. I then picked my favourite and styled it up for the event in question. I chose a picnic with friends for my birthday, though I ended up swapping that for an afternoon in the pub (I didn’t trust the weather). I had planned to wear the dress on the day, but it ended up being a bit too restrictive. The moral of the story? Don’t pick a super-fitted dress with a synthetic lining, then put on 5lbs and expect it to still fit on one of the hottest days of the year…

Tried & Tested: Big Beauty at One Stop Plus

I’ve not done a review of a plus range for a little while, because let’s be frank, who wants to see a size 14 modelling plus stuff when you can see that in the advertising and catalogues anyway? I think my high street reviews are probably a lot more useful (because they might make it in a 14, but that doesn’t mean it was made with a 14 in mind…), so I tend to leave the bulk of the reviews to the amazing community of size 16+ bloggers.

But, sometimes I just can’t turn an opportunity down and when that opportunity is to try something designed in collaboration with one of the aforementioned bloggers, I am powerless to refuse! So this is how I, oddly, came to find myself in a’straight’ sized version of an item from a plus size collection…

Get Bikini Ready: Ministry of Waxing Tried & Tested

They say that once you ‘go to Brazil’ you never go back. And The Ministry of Waxing definitely makes said trip a bit easier to bear.

I’ve always been a slave to Veet cream and a bit scared of salon waxing, but after getting one done for a review through work, I became a convert. I originally visited Ministry of Waxing on a cheap Keynoir deal, but have been back twice since and will no doubt continue to. The salon itself is more like a cool bar than a beauty salon, with lots of chrome, red leather, mirrors and quirky touches. You can get a variety of waxes, choosing from a takeaway style ‘menu’ at reception, but what they specialise in is the classic Brazilian wax. There are now Ministry of Waxing salons worldwide, but the brand started out in 2001 as the first salon to bring the Brazilian to Singapore…

Tried & Tested: Dee.V by Diana Vickers for Very.co.uk

Diana Vickers’ husky voice and propensity to yelp may be something of an aquired taste, but her new clothing range for Very.co.uk is a bit easier to fall in love with. A capsule range of vintage-inspired florals, fities skirts and 60s-inspired separates, it appealed instantly to me, so when Very got in touch to offer an item from their huge range for review, I knew I had to go with something from Diana’s collection.

I picked the Contrast Collar Printed Dress (£49) which I thought was very cute with its big pink buttons and collar. I’m getting to the point where I’m far too old to pull off anything this twee, so let’s call this my last hurrah. I can’t resist anything a bit childish!

Tried & Tested: Lingerie Please

You all know how passionate I am about making sure the right outfit is supported by the right underwear, so when Lingerie Please got in touch to see if I’d like to review a few of their products, how could I say no? I dropped them a line with my size and told them what I love, and sat back to see what they chose for me.

But first a quick note about bra size. There’s a huge, huge chance (an 80% chance, in fact) that you are NOT wearing the right size bra. So pull your head out the sand and go and get re-measured if you haven’t done so in the last couple of years. And by ‘couple of years’ I really do mean two, not ten. I spent years unwittingly wearing the wrong size, and the difference a well-fitting bra has made is unbelievable. So if your bra straps fall down, if the back of the band rides up, if your boobs overhang (above OR below the cup) or if you just want to double-check, go and get measured somewhere they don’t use a tape measure and finally enjoy the joys of a bra that does its job…

Tried & Tested: INES Collection’s plus size prints!

I’ve been sitting on this review for months (literally) because I didn’t want it to disappear in the middle of all the Dressember madness, so please forgive the fact I didn’t tell you all about INES Collection sooner! The brand (available at ShopTranslated.com, who ship internationally) offers affordable plus size dresses and blouses with an emphasis on prints – a great move as plus size fashion is so often black, black, black, and while some people can totally pull that off, others want a bit of colour!

I was sent the Graphic Pop dress ($72) and a ruched sleeve peacock print blouse to try out, so read on for how I got on!

Tried & Tested: Fitflop Mukluk boots

With a couple of meagre inches of snow bringing the whole of the London train system to a standstill, I’ve spent a fair amount of time working from home the past week. But various events have forced me out of the comfort of my flat and onto the icy roads (and the blessed snow-free tube), and only one footwear option has been suitable.

Forget non-waterproof Uggs, impractical wellies or leather boots with flimsy, slippery soles. This year, my feet have barely left my new Fitflop Mukluks. And it’s safe to say I’m sold…

Five shirts, five days: the ‘ladyshirt’ challenge!

The last time I wore a shirt was probably on my last day at school, so when The Savile Row Company got in touch to set me a bit of a wardrobe challenge, it was with slight trepidation that I took it on! They offered to send me a selection of shirts from their surprisingly vast women’s range, which I would then work into my own wardrobe to suit my style. Given that my usual way of creating an outfit involves picking a dress from the hundreds I own and proceeding to over-accessorise it, doing creative things with shirts was going to be tricky. But I’m always game for a challenge, and it turned out to be very interesting to see how these classic pieces can be taken far beyond their traditional home as workwear…