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I stumbled across these beautiful jewellery pieces by Illuminance Jewelry while searching for amethyst necklaces on Etsy earlier in the week and found about twenty pieces that I wanted to add to my jewellery collection! They're so unusual but dainty and pretty and would go with so many outfits!

I really wish my little kitty Cleo didn't eat any plants or flowers that we try and bring into the house because these 'Singing Brownies' plant pots are just so amazing I would love a collection in the living room. They make me think of one of my favourite films Spirited Away!

This sweater from Kinship Goods makes my inner teenage goth scream out with glee but also pleases my dainty vintage floral loving side too! I'd rock it with a black maxi skirt, sparkly loafers and a black flower crown.

We don't have any plans for New Years as yet (eep!) but if we were throwing a party I'd definitely whip up some of these jagerbomb jelly shots for Pete and some kir royale jelly shots for me. What fabulously unusual canapes for your guests!

Bows, glitter and low heels. Pretty much the perfect Nancy shoes by Croon Bangkok. There are lots more glittery delights on their website and some new metallic stripey pointed flats which set my heart a flutter!

These cocktail cases by Tipplesworth are just fabulous! I wish they weren't so pricey, I'd love to take one on a picnic when the Summer finally rolls round again! This is the bramble version but you can also get a mince pie martini version and an old fashioned version which my Pete would greatly enjoy.

Last but not least, I was very happy to stumble across Anais Penelope's blog today! She's a super glamorous plus size fashion blogger from France and I just adore her style and beautiful jet black hair. I'll be brushing up on my French so I can read her posts as well as look at the lovely photos!

Hi loves! Oh boy has it been a busy Christmas! There have been quite a few very stressful occurances but over all it has been really lovely, the worst having to be our oven breaking yesterday as I was about to start cooking a roast dinner for my family - thankfully my lovely mother in law let us drive everything over to their house to cook and then Pete drove it back for me to finish off the stove top cooking here. As you can imagine I was very close to bursting into tears when I realised that my giant 7kg turkey had no oven to go in so it was a good job my little sister and her boyfriend were here to cheer me up!

Anyhoo, this was my Christmas day outfit which I wore to Pete's parents house. He actually bought me this dress as one of my presents but I had it early as I wanted to wear it to the Very Vintage Christmas fair which I did in early December. I got lots of compliments and people asking where it came from and everyone was really surprised to hear that it was from Bon Marche. I was actually surprised by it too, I spotted it in a shop window and instantly fell in love and then realised what shop it was. I have to say that Bon Marche have got some really lovely dresses in at the moment and they have a big sale on which includes this dress so you can bag one for yourself for only £25!

The side drape of the dress is lovely and so flattering to a bigger tummy. The velour is lovely and soft and such a gorgeous deep holly berry red, and as an extra plus it is machine washable - my velour pencil skirt is hand wash only so I was expecting this to be too but it came out of a machine was perfectly.

My only gripes are that I would have liked a prettier neckline, perhaps a v or wrap top and I had to adjust it slightly at the hips on the side with no draping as it wasn't shaped right for me and bulged in an odd spot, but this is more to do with my body shape than a fault with the dress!

You can find the dress here in the sale and also grab these lovely shoes in the Irregular Choice sale here!

Hi guys. Now I have been told that I'm pretty ridiculous in the fact that I start my Christmas shopping in about October, but my worst nightmare is if I was having to run around the week before the big day trying to find something meaningful for my friends and family and ending up giving them toiletry sets and socks. Despite this, there are always some people that you weren't expecting to see that you need to be able to give a little something to so I like to have a few bags of something delicious and home made on hand to give to anyone who I think deserves a special little sweet treat!

This year's recipe actually came about as a recipe I was going to make just for one friend, but it was so delicious and easy to make that I've ended up using it as my little go to gift too. It's really easy to make and relatively cheap, and you can change the flavour profile as you need so if you're recipients don't like coffee just swap them out for chopped nuts or cocoa nibs or popping candy, or just leave it out altogether. This recipe makes four generous bags of fudge, and even if you can't get the pretty Christmassy bags that I've used a normal sandwich bag jazzed up with lots of ribbon and a tag will do just fine too.

Chocolate, Coffee Bean & Sea Salt Fudge
Makes approximately 72 pieces

Ingredients
1 x 397g can of condensed milk
300g dark chocolate, chopped into small chunks or chips
200g milk chocolate, chopped into small chunks or chips
30g butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
3-4 tbsp coffee beans, smashed into small pieces (I put mine in a bag and hit them with a rolling pin...)
1 tsp sea salt flakes

Method
Get yourself a dish, baking tin or tray that is at least one inch deep and is approximately 12" x 7". This really doesn't have to be exact as it will just affect how thick the fudge is and how you will need to cut it to getthe amount of pieces you need. Line the tin with a double layer of cling film which overlaps the edges of the tin so that it can be folded over to cover the fudge when it's finished. Set to one side.

Make yourself a bain marie or double boiler by placing a metal bowl over a saucepan of simmering (not boiling!) water. Add the condensed milk, chopped chocolates, butter and vanilla exract to the bowl and heat, stirring constantly, until it's all smooth and melted together. Now stir in the crushed coffee beans and most of the sea salt and pour into your prepared dish. Spread it out as evenly as possible and if you haven't got an easily breakable dish give it a few taps on the work top to make sure it gets into the corners evenly. Sprinkle with the remaining sea salt flakes and pop into the fridge to set before cutting it into bite size pieces and packaging it up all pretty and present like.

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I personally think that the way to make any celebration really special is to pay attention to little details which might usually be forgotten or ignored. Finding the prettiest candles you can for a birthday cake, dressing the dining table to a nice colour scheme or making sure you have your guest's favourite songs ready to play if you're having are party are lovely little touches you can add to make an occasion that extra bit memorable. 

One of my favourite things to do when it comes to present giving season is to wrap everything to a theme. I do this every year most of the time heading to Paperchase or IKEA for my wrapping stuff as they always lovely unusual designs, although this year I actually bought my wrapping paper from Primark - it's a fabulous festive Muppets print mainly in greens and reds and I'll be accenting it with miniature gold tinsel that I got from IKEA and glittery red bauble tags from Tesco.

The wrapping papers above are all from fabulous Paperchase, a shop which I just cannot walk by without going in for a browse and usually coming out with a silly stationery purchase.

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They really know how to do gift wrapping an always have an amazing selection of wallpaper worthy wrapping paper designs and cute quirky tags and decorations as also demonstrated by the adorable deer tags above!

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I really love these wrapping accessory packs that they do too, it makes it so easy to just grab a box and be all set than to have to buy the pieces individually. Plus, I just love shredded foil for padding out boxed gifts! They are available in red, black, gold and silver so you're pretty much covered no matter what wrap you go for.

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Now if you're looking for something even more unusual or something handmade, Not On The High Street has some great offerings. I think the red and gold chevrons look great especially all stacked up together, and I couldn't resist the perfume bottle print and cute animals in tattoo style designs!

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Last but not least I wanted to share a few wrapping accessories from one of my favourite online stationery stores Papermash. I actually found them last year when looking for a UK stockist of the Rifle Paper Co. and have loved them ever since. I have a genuine obsession with that glitter tape up there, and those bird rags are just fabulous and classic. Don't like tying ribbon? Then why not go for some of that bow washi tape or grab a roll of that darling red bakers twine which is much much easier to tie into a pretty bow!

Do you wrap to a set theme? If so I'd love to know what you've gone for this year!

Now, being a lover of classic glamour I do like a nice seamed tight or stocking and get ever so annoyed that it's so difficult to find them in plus sizes. Well ladies (and gents?) a lovely little shop called Claireabella's Closet has the answer to our chubby sexy leg dreams!!!!

These tights are available in size 20-26 or size 28-32 - now I tried the 28-32 although I usually wear a 24 on my bottom half and I would say that was the right fit so I'd take the next size up if I were you as when you get tight sizes wrong it is oh so uncomfortable.

They are a nice nude shade, not too tanned looking, and are of a nice weight so they don't ladder at the stroke of a moth's wing. The black seem and cuban heel detail is lovely - make sure you either have a good low down mirror or someone to help you get your seams straight. Unfortunately my heel is a little out of line in these - I won't trust Pete to advise on this again!!!

If you do go and check out Claireabella's do have a look at the lovely dresses and accessories she sells too - there are some lovely Hell Bunny pieces on there and she has some Collectif pieces on sale in sizes 20 and 22! Claire herself is a very lovely lady too, she is the lady with the red hair and gorgeous cherry clip on my last hair styling post!

* Tights were gifted for review.

Well I have to admit, every piece of clothing in this outfit was bought in the sale! Like most ladies I do love a fashion bargain and get even more excited when I reach the checkout and find out that my purchase is even cheaper than the sale label says! This is exactly what happened with the lovely jumper that I'm wearing above - I was strolling through Tesco trying not to look at the clothing when I saw a sale sign and just had to have a quick gander. I saw the lovely deep metallic blue first so grabbed it to take a peek and was drawn in even more by the leopard print - it was labelled up at £7 so I thought I'd treat myself even though I'm not meant to be spending this near to Christmas, but when I got to the checkout it turned out to only be £5 so even more of a bargain!

The jumper itself is a size 20 but I was a little worried that it may not fit quite right as I find that Tesco pieces run small, but as it is a nice stretchy fabric it actually fit perfectly - I can't wear their non-stretch stuff because it just doesn't fit over my boobs!

It's actually a long jumper but I don't tend to wear those very often as I think they require jeans or trousers and as you've probably noticed that's not really my thing, so I just rolled it under and wore it over my standard pencil skirt - this one is a lovely black velour from the Claire Richards collection at Fashion World. The jumper is sadly sold out but this black sequin leopard jumper is still available and is very pretty and the diamante bow brooch was a gift last Christmas but this one is very similar.

I apologise for my pasty looking visage in these pics, I was inspired to wear a nude lipstick that day after reading Nigella's beauty section in Stylist magazine but I'm not too sure that it's a look I should go for again!!!

Right lovelies, I have some exciting new for you! A brand new online store has opened up for us chubby ladies that is selling amazing designer plus sized clothing! They're called MS SVG and currently they are selling designs by Rue114, Cabiria and Anna Scholz as well as pretty nail wraps, fake lashes and useful fashion trickery like body tape and nipple concealers should you be going bra-less (oh la la!).

MS SVG are currently running a competition for bloggers and as I am so in love with the Rue114 brand I thought I'd enter. I chose the following dress and then found the perfect accessories that I'd style it with...

The dress I chose is this gorgeous Sweetheart Dress by Rue114, a brand that you can only buy in the UK through MS SVG. I absolutely love their designs as I have always had a thing for bright African printed fabrics. They mix lots of different prints and put them together in beautiful feminine styles like peplum tops, fitted trousers, pencil skirts and prom style dresses.

I styled it with a Bunting Torque Necklace and Square Clam Bangle from ASOS, a Metallic Pouch Bag by Coast at House of Fraser, Orange Fleur Wedges from Office and to finish off some glitzy Giles Gold Nail Wraps from MS SVG.

Naturally I'd team this with my signature blonde curl set but I think I'd mix it up a bit with a really dark burgundy lipstick for contrast and perhaps a little gold glitter in the corners of my eyes!

Hello darlings! Oh I have something special to show you today! I was contacted recently by the lovely Janine on behalf of Navabi, a truly amazing online store selling designer fashions in sizes 14 to 30. I found Navabi about a year ago and immediately fell in love with SO many beautiful pieces. I sent it straight over to my mother in law too who also fell head over heels. I seriously recommend that you go and take a look if you aren't already aware of them because I'm sure that there is at least one item on there that you will think is fabulous!

Now as you can imagine I was very excited to be contacted by this lovely company and even more so as they asked if I would like to review a piece from thier party collection! It was a very hard decision to make as to which piece I would like to review as the whole range is so beautiful, but I decided to go with the piece that had first caught my eye - the Feminine Lace Dress by Kiyonna.

I am so pleased that I did pick this gorgeous dress as it feels like it was made for me! It's glamorous, dramatic and sexy and features pretty scalloped edging which is one of my favourite things ever.

It fits like an absolute dream - I went for a size 24 to accomodate for my big hips and it was just perfect, flattering to my tummy but nicely fitted to the bust and arms. It is made of entirely elasticated fabric, including the lace, so it is oh so comfortable and shapes itself to your contours giving a super sexy silhouette which is enhanced by the band at the waist.

The main body of the dress is a lovely thick nude coloured jersey which is lovely and soft, with an overlay of stunning lace which again is thick and luxurious feeling and just oozes glamour. I really like that the sleeves are left sheer too, it's a very nice touch.

Speaking of the sleeves, they're 3/4 length which is another thing that I look for as I find them the most comfortable (and it shows off my tattoos). The length is also bang on the mark on me sitting just below the knee, so I can happily sit down and walk up stairs without feeling self conscious that the skirt might be riding up too high and showing off things which I would rather keep covered!

I thought I'd take a few closer snap shots of the lace to show you how beautiful it is and also to show you better how wonderfully it fits to your curves.

I have a relatively small bust but the stretch to the fabric would easily allow someone with a much bigger cup size to rock this style too and feel comfortable and not too exposed! You can see from this next picture how thick the lace is - no need to worry about it tearing easily like with cheaper laces.

I truly think this is one of the most beautiful, elegantly executed and expertly fitted dresses for plus size ladies that I have ever seen. I will most definitely be keeping my eye on the Navabi website for more Kiyonna pieces and they'll be my first point of call should I need a special occasion dress in the future. You can find this dress here on the Navabi website and check our the rest of their party collection here.

And here's a silly pic to end with...

Hi lovelies! I've had a super fab weekend hair styling at A Very Vintage Christmas run by The Vintage Suitcase team! I met so many lovely people and got to do lots of lovely hair styles - I just love making ladies happy with a glamorous new do! Thanks so much to Gemma and Allison and the rest of the team - these fairs are my favourites of them all and I always look forward to seeing everyone again, I already can't wait until next year's run of fairs!

Here's some photos of styles I did over the weekend - inevitably I forgot to take photos of some of the styles I did as I always do - silly me!

Don't forget loves that I do private appointments and parties and also teach classes! I'm also looking into doing a vintage glamour charity day in the new year so keep your eyes peeled for more info on that! Mwah!

Oooh it's that time again! For me the start of the month now brings with it some excitement in the form of the Magnificent 7th challenge! If you're not familiar with this challenge here is a little intro for you...

We will be posting on the 7th of each month, and the aim of the challenge is to create an outfit to fit the theme, using clothes from our wardrobes, and yes that does mean digging deep into the depths and finding those long lost clothes! Hopefully one of us won’t end up in Narnia, but you never know with a bloggers wardrobe!

So as you can see from the title of the post this month's theme was 'sparkle', just in time for party season. I had a good think and decided to go with this amazing metallic gold maxi dress which I bought from ASOS Curve about two years ago for a work Christmas party - as we all know I always like to over dress!!! 

It has to be one of my favourite pieces of clothing ever, but sadly cause it's so fancy I don't get to wear it all that often. I clearly need to get invited to some more swanky soirees and balls!

The deep gold fabric is just killer, metallic but not too in your face as it's quite a dulled down shine which works so well with the pleats that help it catch the light when you move. It's also fully lined and quite thick so it keeps your legs nice and warm if you end up standing outside for half the night like often happens.

I have had to pin the fabric to the bust underneath each arm to make it fit which is a little unfortunate as it means that I love a bit of the pleating detail to the top. It was clearly made for someone with much bigger boobies than me but I don't think it looks bad though, you probably wouldn't know if I hadn't mentioned it. It also features nice wide straps which are adjustable so are nice and comfortable and hide your bra straps well so you don't have to suffer one of those strapless monstrosities all night.

The little shrug jacket I'm weating with it about was from ours Clothing at some point last year and my necklace is from Butler and Wilson about five years ago - you can't really see here but it's lots of little crystal bows with crystal drops!

Don't forget to check out the other lovely ladies taking part in the challenge! 

Beth - Kaye - Becky - Nicola - Gail - Kirsty - Mary  - Kathryn - Steph - Charley - Rebecca - Leah - Lindsey - Vicky - Nikki - Christiana - Megan - Leah

I absolutely LOVE giving people presents. I know lots of people claim it, but I genuinely do like giving presents more than receiving them, because I just love making people happy. Because of this, I always put lots of thought into the gifts I give and always get kind of confused and annoyed by people that just buy a load of random generic gifts and dish them out to whoever they need to give a present to - that isn't the spirit of Christmas guys!!!

But anyway... I think I have some of the most fun finding gifts for my other half. I'm very lucky in that I have a boyfriend who cares about his appearance and, like me, enjoys some of the finer things in life like tasty drinks and nice clothes, so I actually enjoy buying him stuff! These are some of the nicest guy things I came across while looking for prezzies for Pete...

First up here are two shirts from fabulous clothing brand Johnny Cupcakes. Now if you aren't planning to visit their London store and need to order online it will come from the USA so you best be quick in order to get it in time for Christmas! First up is the Classic Crossbones shirt (which Pete already has) which is my favourite of all - JC shirts are fabulous quality and have great little details like super cute detail tags with sweet little messages embroidered onto them. Second up is the Original Recipe Crest shirt which looks like it's selling out super quick!

If, like me, you have a bearded gent in your life, you could really get into his good books by buying him The Mighty Beard Box from Murdock London. It features their very famous and apparently fabulous beard moisturiser along with some other essential beardy tools - a brush, comb and pair of cute (sorry, manly) gold beard trimming scissors all packaged in a cigar box.

A good accessory is always a nice gift (as long as it is actually a nice accessory and not some crumby gift set from the Next bargain bin). Ted Baker is a brand that can really knock out a great guy accessory mixing classically elegant male styles with more modern details, prints or finishes to bring them a little more up to date. Every man needs a nice wash bag for travelling and I just adore the embossed paisley print to this Wolfboy Leather Wash Bag. I feel a nice wallet is the sign of a man with taste, it's all in the details eh, and I just love the purple lining of this Hailcab wallet. If you have a gadget loving guy then why not give him a classy cover for his iPad like this Pickett Scotch Grain Case. Let's face it, all men look adorable in a scarf, so why not give your mayun a special one like this Twiglet Herringbone Scarf.

For me, the best men's fragrances will always be by Guerlain, because this is what my Mum always bought for my Dad. There are two men's fragrance gift sets available from Guerlain this year, firstly Homme L'eau Boisee and secondly Vetiver which to me is the true classic men's EDT.

Lastly, for the real manly men out there, here are some nice whiskies and whisky based liqueurs from The Whisky Exchange which is an amazing resource for rare and unusual boozes - not just whiskies, they have an eeeexcellent range of gins and lots of other things too. First up is a great whisky gift set of 10 year old Talisker with two glasses - my Pete just loves the 15 year old too. I'm very partial to this Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey myself and this comes with a nice glass too - it's fab just with coke and especially nice in warm milk for a night time treat. I've not tried this Tap 357 myself but my guy is a big fan of maple syrup which this whisky is infused with so I recon it would be a winner. Last up we have another honey based liqueur which happens to have the fabulous name of 'Stag's Breath Liqueur' which cracked me up - I'd like to give this one a try whizzed into a nice chocolate milkshake, which I'm sure would steal the heart of any man worth his salt.

I hope this little roundup helps some of you guys with your Christmas shopping! Are there any excellent boy presents that you've found this year?

It might seem kinda lame, but I look forward to buying my Winter coat every year. I actually really like wearing long cold weather coats, they make me feel really glamorous and ladylike and I feel they really suit my figure if they have a flared skirt and nipped in or belted waist.

So this is the style I chose this year. It's by South and is available through Littlewoods or Very and is called their Fit and Flare Coat with Faux Fur Collar - it's available in black or a lovely shade of teal. It may seem a little pricey but I think a good warm coat for the chilly season is really a good investment, especially in the UK, but hey, I reeeeaaaaally hate being cold and am happy to pay to ensure that I'm not!!!

The faux fur collar is a great addition and it's at the perfect height to keep my neck warm so there's no need for a scarf with this style. It's detachable too (although I can't comprehend a time when you wouldn't want to be wearing a little fur) and is great quality - the fur is silky soft and thick so it doesn't itch or irritate your skin like some can.

I know a lot of people really like concealed buttons - I'm usually not a fan as I think buttons are cute - but I think it works really well on this coat especially with the slight peplum detail on the waistline. Another nice element is that the peplim doesn't carry on all the way around, it's just to the sides and ends on either side of the central panel of fabric at the back which helps give the coat its flared skirt shape.

As you can probably tell, I'm really happy with this purchase. It might even be my favourite winter coat to date! It looks like it's selling out pretty quickly sadly and is now only available up to a size 20 so if you want one, get in quick!

I've really been enjoying seeing what Winter coat everyone has gone for this year so do share with me what you picked, I'd love to see!

 
Hey guys! So this is a little late but here is part two of the photos from the shopping adventure I went on with lovely Leah who writes 30 Something Curvy Me. This pic above is me trying on a great peplum jacket by AX Paris - it has PU sleeves which was a little scary but I actually really loved what it looked like on, it's not my usual style really but it fit so nicely and I do love a peplum (I think I'm the only one that does now...). I would have bought it had it not been for my promise to myself that nothing would be added to my account that day!

This lovely lady's name is Fern and she works at the store, she was ever so nice and I adored her style! Not many ladies can pull off an enormous bow but Fern can really rock it! She helped us with getting the right sizes of things and take photos and was all round fabulous and lovely - I hope she's there next time I visit too!

Doesn't Leah look fab in this cherry print Joe Browns dress? I tried it on a few weeks ago and loved it too so didn't think I should try it again as I might not have been able to stop myself buying it and I know that Leah loved it too. This second one was very very pretty, but the colour just didn't quite hit the mark - I love the crocheted rose detail though!

These are two new in styles that I had seen online and loved so grabbed them from the rails when I saw them in store. I'm a big fan of velour and am tres happy that it's in this season so was very excited to try this bodycon style on. I went for my usual upped size for fitted stretchy styles, but it was still too tight for my liking and sadly sat well above my knees which I don't tend to go for. It really is gorgeous though so if you're comfortable in bodycon styles you should give this a go.

I also tried on this amazing blue jacquard dress which has PU side panels and a very 1960's shift shape. Although I adored the fabric as soon as I saw it I wasn't expecting to like the shape on me at all, but was pleasantly surprised. It's really really lovely, the jacquard fabric is so shiny when it catches the light and is really nice and thick so it holds its shape fabulously. You couldn't really see the PU panels when I had it on, but I think they would be more apparent on someone with smaller hips.

Here's Leah again looking just fabulous is a selection of more party-tastic dresses. We both liked the middle one best because of the pretty beading detail over the nude chest panel - the pencil style looked ace on Leah's curves too! Super sexy! Although the other two were very pretty styles too, unfortunately Leah just didn't think they were quite right.

We both grabbed this dress because we loved the red stripes, however neither of us felt that the style was right for our shapes. I do like the high-low style but just can't pull it off myself, I think this dress would be amazing on the right person though and the red chevron-esque top is a great unusual print and very eye catching.

This was Leah's favourite of all the dresses she tried, but sadly they didn't have the right size in stock - it did look just gorgeous though and I think she's planning on ordering it in the right size. She also fell head over heels in love with this fab Joe Browns coat too which is a really unique style and looked great on her! I can't wait to go on another shopping adventure with her soon!