Evans - From The Changing Room

Last week I visited Bluewater with my mum and we spent a crazy long time in Evans.

The staff were absolutely tremendous, picking up on cues of what we like to wear and filling our changing room with goodies until the clothes pegs we're fit to burst with an array of styles and colours.

I wanted to push myself a little outside my comfort zone on this trip, not just going for my usual skater style dress with leggings so I bit the bullet and grabbed the Scarlett & Jo trousers and a tshirt. Its the first time I've worn trousers in about a year and a half so it felt pretty good! Unfortunately the proper photo of this ensemble is too blurry to share so instead here's a rather attractive outtake!

Sticking to the Scarlett & Jo theme (because I'm ever so in love with the current line), I next tried on this mesh insert dress. I've always been a huge fan of the 2-in-1 style dresses with the thick elastic waist defining bands so this one was a definite win for me! The mesh providing a bit of modesty and the jersey top giving enough stretch to accommodate any chest size. Perfect!

The above dress came home with me instead of the following one for two reasons. The first being because I somehow managed to get makeup on it (oops) and the second being the sizing.
I am 100% blown away by how gorgeous this rose print prom dress is. From the length to the sleeves and the sweetheart neckline. There is nothing about this dress that I don't like. As I said, my only issue was the sizing. I tried my usual size but it was a strangely tight (there was some misplaced stitching which could explain away some but not all of the squeeze) and the size up (pictured below) was a little too loose around the waist for my liking.

I won't lie to you, I have been pondering over a lifestyle change following some health issues and I'm tempted to buy the smaller size as it's currently in the sale at only £35 and it's Just. So. Gorgeous! We'll see.

Back to the very first outfit, the #stylehasnosize tshirt is only £16 and ALL profits go to the Rainbow Trust Children's Charity. What's not to love about that?!

From The Changing Room - Scarlett & Jo

Yesterday I returned to my former people-watching haunt, Bluewater shopping centre. Over the past year they've improved their Evans store and relocated it to right in front of the food court which pleases this fatty greatly.

Although the new store is bigger than it's predecessor, it's still not exactly huge but it does have a rail for Scarlett & Jo stock. To my joy I found two of the latest S&J offerings from their recent blogger campaign.

First up was this fan print 40s inspired dress designed for Hollie at Pretty Big Butterflies.

Normally I don't like this kind of fabric. It clings to my lumps, shows off my bumps and gives me a VBO that I am not entirely comfortable with. But this dress lays to rest those issues. The cut is wonderful; I love the wrap top with the tie-up neckline (although as with all wrap front dresses I appear to have my bra on show, whoops!) and it hangs in such a fabulous way that it skims over my belly with relative ease.

I should point out that I was wearing fat pants that even Bridget Jones herself might be horrified by. That would be fairly standard for me in a dress like this though.

The second of the new blogger inspired dresses was this gorgeous 2-in-1 lace prom dress.

This is the first time I've tried on one of Scarlett & Jo's infamous prom dresses, for no other reason than they're generally a little over my Stay At Home Mum budget. But oh my goodness I need to get me one of these!

It's beautiful, it's flowy, it's fully lined and it feels amazing. It feels glamorous and comfortable all at the same time and LOOK!

A WAIST! The elasticated band is a thing of miracles. I'm blessed with an hourglass-ish (ish!) figure anyway but the way the waist is defined by this dress is glorious.

And the lace! Oh the lace just gives the entire dress that extra oomph. I adore the black overlay on the vibrant blue dress and it's perfect for those who might want to cover their arms a little without wanting to take away from the outfit with a shrug or a cardi. I'm in love.

So far the new Scarlett & Jo collection is far exceeding my expectations and I simply cannot wait to try more. Big cheers for all at Scarlett & Jo and even bigger cheers for the bloggers who took part. Hurrah!

Yours Clothing - From The Changing Room & Wishlist

A week or so ago a few bloggers, myself included, got together and had an impromptu styling session at Yours Clothing, Bluewater. The staff were so accommodating as we hijacked the biggest changing room and went to town trying on oh so many outfits.

Me, Mookie, Heidi & Abi

photos c/o Mookie @ www.mookieslife.com

I realised in that changing room that I have no black dresses. As we transition from summer to autumn, I'm feeling a need for black and monochrome but still with a taste of florals and accent colours. There are a few skater dresses fitting these themes that have caught my eye.

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1. Black Panelled Skater Dress With Jewel Flower Necklace
I love this dress. It's so versatile. The jewel necklace really makes it stand out, however it is detachable for those time you want to dress down a bit or decorate your neck with something different. I tried this dress on and really regret not buying it now.

2. Black and Pink Tropical Floral Skater Dress With Belt
This dress is currently in the sale and most sizes are still available. I've been eyeing it up for a long time but it's never made it to the checkout and I'm not sure why. It's the perfect summer/autumn transition dress. Darker florals will be a staple for me this season I think. I refuse to ditch the florals just because the sun stops shining!

3. Black and White Panelled Skater Dress With Mesh Insert
This dress is so different to anything I currently own. I love the way this dress uses the black and white. I can't work out if you would call this a cold-shoulder dress as the white panel and the mesh yoke look entirely separate from each other, but I think that's what I really like about it. I didn't try this dress but I'd love to see what it looks like on.

Because... BOOBS.

Obviously as autumn approaches we have to look towards keeping that chill off our bods and Yours Clothing aren't short of a thing or two to help us along.

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3 / 4

1 & 2: I'm a sucker for a lovely blazer. I've tried on the black with polka dot roll-ups before and it is so comfortable. It's not too rigid and is just a touch on the casual side of smart-casual. The length of the floral blazer looks perfect and would bring a fantastic pop of colour to a black dress like the one I tried on above.

2 & 3: Yep, I'm looking at coats already! The herringbone draped collar coat looks amazingly swooshy and I can imagine myself both buried in it for comfort and twirling it about. How cool would it look with a black dress and brightly coloured tights/leggings? The second coat just has such an unusual pattern and I absolutely love the purple. It makes such a lovely change from the plain coloured coats you'll see elsewhere.

I will be back at Yours Clothing for the opening of the Ashford store on September 5th. If you're in the area, do come along and say hello!