Perfect Prints With Silly Old Sea Dog

That's it folks, I'm moving on to pastures new. Foral prints are done for!

Okay, that's obviously not entirely true. But while I love my big daisies and sparkly rose prints, recently my attention has been directed towards bigger, bolder and dare I say more exciting prints?

After a short love affair with Modcloth (which might have been a lifelong relationship if it weren't for postage costs and customs fees), during which I received three dresses with gorgeous prints and not a flower in sight, my eyes have wandered to find more of these petal-free pretties. I wasn't quite sure how I might trump a woodland print, scottie dogs and a tropical fruitgasm but I think I've done it.

You may have already heard of Silly Old Sea Dog, a wonderful company producing 50s style clothing in not-so-50s style prints, possibly due to their fantastically popular Cartoon Dress (available up to a size UK28) which is so high on my Wishlist Of Awesome Things right now. I have to get me one of these.

I've been an admirer of Silly Old Sea Dog for a while now, so I was rather excited when they contacted me showcasing some new and upcoming products. The first dress to catch my eye was this awesome quirky fox print. How cool is this little guy with his hats and neckties!

This foxy dress will be available up to a size 20 which, while great news for some, is unfortunate for a lot of us fat babes who are far too flabulous to squeeze into such sizes. My chest would be bustin seams all over the place!

Not one to be deterred however, I kept a keen eye on the Silly Old Sea Dog new arrivals and found the gorge turquoise Forest Friends dress which is available now up to a size UK28.

What a beaut! I absolutely adore the colour of this dress and it makes such a refreshing change from the butterflies or owls that seem to have overpopulated plus size fashion of late. There are wolves and eagles and bears, oh my! A fantastic take on a wildlife theme.

And now they're producing a Christmas collection which I cannot wait to see, so keep an eye out for that!

Have you bought anything from Silly Old Sea Dog? What's your favourite print?

All You Need Is Lush; Part Deux (Pic Heavy)

Back in September Lush in Bluewater closed for a refit and earlier this month I was invited back to their relaunch party to take a look at the new layout and some fantastic seasonal products.

It's a very impressive store with a fantastic Bar-style layout which allows for much more floor space.
Lush know how to treat their guests, with bubbly and cake, product demos, live music, and of course a first glance at this years Christmas range. Snow Fairy is back, ladies!

I'm in love with the Snowman Fun Kit. How cute is that lil guy!

Giftboxes Galore & Cutie Pie Penguins

I was really excited by a product called Northern Lights, which I'd not heard of before. It's a bath bomb/fizzer and reminds me of a colourful firework, spinning and swirling around, turning the water into a rainbow of gorgeous colours. I definitely need this in my life!

One of the main attractions of the night was the brand new make up bar. This is one of only a few in the UK and has such a gorgeous, bright and extensive range of eyeliners, lipsticks, eye shadows, foundation and brushes. We were also treated to the talents of a make up artist. She recommended a lipstick to me so I tried Passionate and fell in love. It's a gorgeous pink with blue undertones that make the lips shimmer. Of course I had to test to see how easily it washed off so I grabbed a glass of bubbly. For research purposes of course!
To say the Passionate Lipstick has staying power is an understatement. The next morning my lips still had a large amount of colour and would have only needed a thin layer of touchup colour. Definitely worth the £14.50 price tag. I'll be revisiting the Lush make up bar again for sure.

Towards the end of the evening, we were treated to an acoustic session by a couple of the gorgeous Lush girls, and given our giftbags containing a couple of Lush products and the mini Comforter bubble bars we made earlier that day. I was also given a mango and a melon on my way out. Lush use fruits and natural products in their range and the fruit (just like the aloe vera orange juice from my previous visit) served as a great reminder of that.

Thanks to Lush for your warm welcome and hospitality. It's cemented my love affair with the brand and I urge you all to pop into your local store next time you're passing and see what takes your fancy.

Wearing the fabulous Passionate lipstick from Lush

Style XL 2015

The keen eyed among you may have noticed a shiny new button on the sidebar of this very website. It's something that I am very excited about so I thought I'd tell you a little more about Style XL.

I was unfortunate enough to miss all the big plus size events this year so I vowed to make more of an effort for 2015. Enter Style XL, a plus size event showcasing all the upcoming trends from some of the best plus size retailers in the UK. There will be a chance to talk to your favourite brands, buy from market stalls, preview the latest trends on the catwalk and enjoy some fabulous entertainment over the two day event.

Next years event (organised by the awesome Leah) is being held in Birmingham over the weekend of 18th - 19th July.
Early bird tickets are available here and are £15 for the weekend, £7.50 for Saturday day, £7.50 for Saturday evening and just £5 for the Sunday day event. I am super excited to be attending next year and hopefully seeing some of you there!

Make sure to keep an eye on the Style XL website, Twitter and Facebook page for updates on brands, events and more.

Can't wait!

Scottie Saturday: An OOTD Attempt

I often feel like I'm letting myself down with my lack of outfit posts. I love seeing other people's outfit of the day and there are times when I'm rockin a new dress or my make up is top notch and I want to take a mirror selfie and proclaim to the world that I FEEL GOOOOOOD.

But every time I try, something like this happens.

Kudos to other mummy bloggers out there (human, fuzzy or otherwise). It's tricky business!

Kiddos and smeary mirror aside I had to show off this dress from Modcloth. It's adorable scottie dog print in black and grey, tartan and houndstooth is so cute it's hard to resist.

The waist is a bit big on me and floofs out making my hips look somewhat bulging (I think its the gathering at the seam) but I'll soldier on for the sake of the itty bitty scottie dogs.

Weekend Wishlist Part 2: Swing Dresses

I have a confession. I'm addicted to window shopping. Any old window shopping will do but really the absolute best kind of window shopping is the vintage inspired 50s style circle swing dress kind of window shopping. There have been some cracking new prints recently so I thought I'd show you a few of my faves. (Honestly this is just a few of them!)

- 1 - 2 -

These two dresses from Pretty Kitty Fashion have beautifully large, bold prints. I adore the sweetheart neckline of the first and the peacock feathers amongst the roses of the second. 

- 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 -

Anybody who follows my social media will know my love for the Ophelia dress from Lindy Bop. If I had to throw away my entire wardrobe and pick only one style of dress for the rest of forever, it'd be the Ophelia. There are so many prints already and new ones are constantly being produced. I'm in love with the pink bird print at the moment. Take a look at it up close. It's gorgeous.

- 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 -

Finally I've been eyeing up some goodies on the Lady V website. A couple of these are currently out of stock but hopefully they'll be back soon. Especially that cupcake one. Wowzers! I was gutted when the Estella dresses (as designed and modeled by the babely Georgina) in cream floral and green bird print sold out but the rose print is still available as well as a new polka dot variety in a few different colourways. The black is just fabulous.

So I guess that's my current top 10. Which is your favourite? Have I missed any that you think should be on this list?

Weekend Wislist Part 1: ASOS

Why do I overlook Asos so often? Their Curve selection is actually rather excellent. So, as I'm alone on a Saturday night with nothing but Doctor Who to keep me company, I thought I'd show you a few bits that are on my wishlist.

1 - 2

I've never seen leopard print as very "me" but this kind of animal print is so... charming. I love it! Especially the woodland print of the first dress. It's perfect for this time of year.

3 - 4 - 5

Checks and tartan are some more of my favourite patterns for the A/W season and I love the variety in these three dresses. I've seen the green dress on a few fellow bloggers but never got around to buying it myself. I forgot about it for a while and it's just made its way back onto my wishlist.

And just because.... Here's a bloomin magical tshirt.

Bonus Unicorn of Awesome

What are your favourites from Asos at the moment? Leave me a comment and let me know.

Chalkboards by Wooden Flamingo

I spend far too little time on Etsy these days. I love the fact that it's a community of independent sellers, buyers and browsers and really need to start checking more often again. I miss far too much good stuff!

One of the Etsy shops that slipped under my radar is Wooden Flamingo. They sell shabby chic homewares, hand knitted baby clothes and the most adorable coloured chalkboards in cute shapes such as clouds, fruit and teacups.

I received this gorgeous double sided pineapple chalkboard* last week and I love it! Isn't it just the most cheerful chalkboard you've ever seen? 

The board arrived well packaged and with it's own pale blue chalk to season the board with. (This is something I didn't know I had to do so I was happy that I was told about it at the time.) I think I will buy a few more chalks in darker shades just because my old lady eyes get a bit squinty at the contrast.

Despite it's bright colours, this chalkboard has a shabby chic feel about it. You can see and feel the brush strokes of the chalkboard paint where each and every item has been handmade with love and attention. The pineapple is double sided and can be hung by the loop of twine rather than wall-mounted so you can flip it over and use a fresh side without rubbing off that all important To Do list.

I love love love that different coloured chalkboards are so readily available these days. It opens up so many more possibilities and let's face it- You can never go wrong with a pineapple!

Are there any shapes you'd like to see in chalkboard form? 

What Etsy shop would you recommend to a frequent browser?


* denotes an item gifted for review. All opinions are my own.