NZ Style Curvettes - Christmas Day

Two weeks ago I was very fortunate to win an amazing Eve maxi dress from EmbodyDenim and I knew instantly that it would be my Christmas Day outfit! And let's be honest, everyone loves to wear something new on Christmas Day!

For a day that is [for me] reserved for chilling with family, assembling toys, eating way too much, napping and just plain old lazing about with awesome company, this dress was perfect! 

Originally I thought the size 20 would be too long for me, as that is usually the case for me as I'm probably around 5'4" but this dress was just the perfect length! Even if it was too long, if it was getting in my way, or I just wanted to change it up I could easily knot it to make it more 3/4 length. 

It's been a long day and I'm starting to get a bit sleepy (most likely from eating too much) so I'll end it there!

Thankyou heaps to EmbodyDenim who really helped make this Christmas special for me considering it hasn't been all that easy.

Merry Christmas to you all! I will see you for the New Years challenge!! 

Outfit details:

• Eve dress || EmbodyDenim || RRP$249 however I won it on Instagram!

• Swarovski black crystal drop earrings || Opshopped

• Just Bitten Kissable balm stain || Revlon 

NZ Style Curvettes - Stripes

The challenge theme for this week is stripes however I can't seem to think of anything but my new Black Tea Skirt from Pho Sizzle.

Yes this outfit does have stripes in it and they make the outfit because without them it would be all black and basic but I'm choosing to make this blog post all about this skirt because I am totally in Love with it!

Back around August this year I did a review of a couple of items I bought from the Lollygaggers Collection  (see my review post here ).

One of these items was the gorgeous hot pink Folly Tea Skirt

 And i mentioned or hinted in the blog that I reckon the same skirt in black would sell out quick. Next thing I know Phosizzle have a sneak peak of their soon to come out Gentle Persuasion of the Iblis collection featuring, what do you know, a black tea skirt!

Well being unemployed means Im pretty darn broke which totally sucks so I sold some of my clothes to find new clothes. 

When I spoke to Pho Sizzle designer, Jacqui from blog Fashion and Pho, I was pleasantly surprised to find I would get it half price!! Due to the new Pho sizzle membership I would get 10% off PLUS a one off just joining membership bonus of 40%. Woo!

And that is the story of my black tea skirt! :)

Outfit Details:

• Black tea skirt || PhoSizzle || $45 (50% off!!)

• Black singlet || holeproof

• Striped bolero ||

• Black Sandals || Target || $15

• Black Sunnies || Prada Knockoffs from Bali || Gift

• Silver ball earrings || 

Huudaverti

So I knew today was going to be really cold so I fished out a bag of winter jumpers I had stored in the top of my wardrobe.

I pulled out a black jumper I bought from ASOSCurve that has bronze studs on it in the shape of a heart. I put in on with my black tights knowing I wanted to wear a skirt, now just to find the skirt...

As I looked at my reflection in the mirror I couldn't help but be drawn to the sparkly bronze studs on my chest and then it hit me... I had the perfect skirt!! And I havn't even worn it yet! I've been waiting to find the perfect top to make it's debut with!

Back in March at The Curvy Couture Roadshow market I had discovered Huudaverti. The skirt I had worn to the market had a non stretchy lining that had split, frayed and was driving me nuts as it kept crawling up under my skirt. Huudaverti had showed me a gorgeous bronze skirt and what I love about it as much as the amazing bronze colour was the deep red jersey lining, that stretches!!

I eventually decided I needed this skirt and when I went online to order it was on sale!!

The delivery was so quick I didn't even know what my parcel could've been when I was told I had one! Not to mention the shipping was free! AND It was even sent express!

The quality of this skirt is excellent as is the customer service I experienced! The bronze material is stretchy and the waistband is too so no need to worry about popping a button after a big meal!!

I was so glad I made the connection between my bronze studs and this skirt. This outfit has easily made my day more pleasant... Even if it is a little dressed up but then again I am a big believer that we should dress up every day cause every day is worth celebrating!!

Outfit details:

  Bronze skirt || Huudaverti || On Sale for $40 || Get it here! 

  Black Jumper with bronze studded heart || size au22 || ASOSCurve || $27.20

  Bronze clutch || Corelli || Opshopped for $3

  Footless tights || ?

  Rose/bronze hooped earrings || Lovisa? $?

  Heels || Target || Opshopped for $4

NZ Style Curvettes - Floral

A little while back Nyata had an awesome pop up sale.

Now this pop up sale was so awesome because there was nothing over $40! How could I say no?!? Designed in Australia and manufactured in Indonesia, I would definitely class this as an Aussie brand so I'd be helping our economy and such a bargain sale so I just had to!

I used this thing people call "self control" and only bought 3 items. Mind you I can't seem to figure that "self control" thing out around chocolate...hehe

With trademark Indonesian names I bought:

The Ungu Vixen top for $20 (ungu means purple);

The Bunga Charm Kimono for $20 (Bunga means flower); 

And Pas Pas pants for $25 (Pas Pas apparently means 'fit snugly' according to google translate)

All in size stunning! What size you say? Yep, I am size Stunning! 

I was pleased yet disappointed that 2 out of 3 fit. That's a pretty good percentage for qn online purchase I know but I wanted them ALL to fit! It was my own fault however, I panicked cause the prices were so good and didn't check the size chart properly and consider materials etc. 

Size stunning is equivalent to Aus28-30 but my size considering my rather endowed chest. Of course it wouldn't really matter with the kimono but with the Ungu Vixen top it definitely mattered cause the material doesn't have much stretch (pictured below)... One size down and my twins would not have fit!

Whilst the rest of my outfit for this challenge is very bland and black all the attention is drawn to this glamorous kimono and its beautiful tropical flowers and birds pattern. It even has flower designs embossed into the material as you can see in the pic below!

I think the sequins are a great touch. They allow the top to be dressed up if needed but they are smaller than usually sequins which I think helps them seem not too overglam so still able to be worn in everyday outfits like mine here. 

Nyata means "real" in Indonesian. I love that! We are all "real" regardless of our size! If you want to check them out in REAL life keep an eye on them at Nyata on Instagram as they are in the process of creating a studio in Geelong.

Outfit details:

• Bunga Charm Kimono || Nyata || $20 during their online pop up store

• Black jeans || City Chic || $50

• Black top || Taking Shape 14+ || Opshopped for $4

• Boots || Autograph || $100

• Leaf necklace || $1 at a garage sale

Oh and dont forget my $1 leaf necklace which sorta keeps with the floral theme wink

PhoSizzle - The Lollygaggers

When I first heard Phosizzle was doing more extended sizing I was pretty happy and then when I saw sneak peaks of bits and pieces on their Instagram I was so pumped and excited to see the whole lollygaggers mini range.

However I think I had already decided before everything was officially out that I wanted the hot pink Folly tea skirt and the button fly flares.

Having read that there was one available in some sizes I made sure I was super quick to obtain what I desperately wanted! 

The Button Fly Flares

Skinny jeans are not my thing. I love a good bootcut jean. When I see flares I just think of them as super bootcut so that helps explain part of my lust for these Phosizzle jeans. 

I've been quite impressed by the quality of these jeans and also the consistency with sizing is super impressive too! It's always hard shopping online when a brand isn't sized the same over different items and I rarely will return anything. So it's nice to know that when I buy something from Phosizzle again, that it will fit because they clearly put alot of thought and effort into that. 

Now I must inform you all that I'm pretty short so (as the above pic shows) these are a few inches too long for me at the moment. Usually I would just wear them into the ground but I definitely like these too much to do that! So even though I really really want to wear them out and about I'm trying that thing apparently called "self-control" to make sure I don't impulsively wear them until I get them to a tailor... Good motivation to get them taken up though!

One thing I love about these jeans is the pockets. The only right way to describe  these pockets in my mind is as 'Phosizzle pockets'. 

I'm a back pocket girl so I keep going to put my hands in my back pockets but when I find none I still get that pleasant little voice in my head saying "oh yeah I've got cute front ones!"

The Folly Tea Skirt

This skirt. Well where do I start?

The colour. Im not a huge pink girl but if I was going to choose any shade of pink it would definitely be this shade of hot pink. Make this same skirt in black (hint hint Jacqui!) and it would sell like hotcakes I reckon! It would be a staple of mine without a doubt. But as for the pink it will still get some good wear from me. 

 

I initially wasn't really sure what to wear with this. I didn't want to look too prissy or girly so I paired it with a denim vest to give it a little bit more of a rock punk feel but still wore heels so it didn't look too grunge. 

The sizing. Just like the sizing of the Button Fly Flares, the sizing of the skirt is very consistent aswell when compared to the other Phosizzle items I have. Which makes shopping online with Phosizzle so much easier! Yay!

The material. Now I know it was said somewhere that there was a limited amount of skirts because it was the end of the roll but OMG this skirt feels like heaven on! I didn't want to take it off! Only reason I did was because I had to take some pics of the button fly flares! Now excuse me whilst I go change back into it! 

Outfit details:

• Button Fly Flares || Phosizzle || $120 with free postage

• Pink peplum || Autograph || End of season sale $5

• Folly Tea Skirt || Phosizzle || $90 with free postage

• Denim vest || My Size || Opshopped for $5 I think, years ago

• black bandeau || Opshopped for 50c

• Pink watch || Diesel || Opshopped for $5

• Blue and colours wedges || Naughty Monkey || $15 from Famous Footwear

• Awesome macaroon earrings || Made by a good friend of mine

• Musk sticks || Supermarket $1-$2

Harlow

I'm usually a fashionista on a budget and stick to opshops but roughly about a year ago I realised that if we 'plus size' women want more options in fashion then we have to support such businesses when they come into place or else they won't survive the tough market and we will be back to square one.

This especially goes for Australian plus size labels. So I've been gradually purchasing more pieces from Aussie Labels such as Hope and Harvest, Huudaverti, Seraphim and Pho Sizzle. You can see my posts about these pieces under my Aussie Brands tag on my blog.

Harlow is one Aussie plus size label that has been on the top of my lust list for sometime now! I do have a couple of their pieces that I've bought secondhand but haven't bought any myself yet.

Now that I've had my little spiel about supporting business... Did I mention I won a $200 voucher for Harlow?!? I entered Ashley Rose's 10K followers giveaway on instagram and was so stoked when I won! 

So what did I buy? I bought

• The Gothic Glamour Lace Shirt in wine currently on sale for $64.50; and 

• The Invincible Winner Hi-lo knit in bordeaux for $159

Now I may have won these items so Im not really 'supporting' the business financially but it has definitely sold me on buying more!!

I may have to save a little bit longer than usually but the pieces I will buy are such great quality, versatile, trendy, comfy and I reckon will last ages!!

The Gothic Glamour shirt.

It's clear why the colour of this shirt is called wine, I couldn't think (still can't) of anything else this shade but red wine! It's so gorgeous! Definitely one of my kind of colours to wear! 

I wasn't really sure how I would go with sizing for this shirt because I usually have boob gaping problems with shirts. I ended up sizing up just to allow extra room for my twins which worked well. Any smaller and I would've had issues...but then again I do have huge boobs.

I'm really glad I got this shirt cause I don't have anything else like it in my wardrobe. I do have a couple of black lace tops but don't wear them much because when I wear black under them (as I wear black under almost everything) it just looks like a plain black top rather than lace. Plus the colour... Did I mention I love this colour?!?!

The Invincible Winner Hi-lo knit.

I love these hi-lo tops! I wanted the grey one but they were sold out in my size so I got the bordeaux. The grey one is on the top of my LustList now! 

I love so many things about this knit...knit, yes for starters it is wool (& elastane) so it is warm, the colour, the cut, I just love it!

Originally I wasnt sure about the pleather sleeves cause I was thinking it would only match with pleather bottoms (I'm a very matchy match kinda gal!) so I emailed Kerry (the woman behind Harlow) and she  reminded me that they look great with jeans and plain black pants. And she was so right! 

I wore mine with my black jeans and my Lee Cooper heels cause they have a similar sheen to the pleather sleeves.

And to finish with a little quote I got sent with my Harlow parcel...

"Make today so awesome, Yesterday gets jealous"

Yesterday will definitely get jealous if I wear either of these tops today!!!

#harlowlove #harlowlife #womenwhorock

Pho Sizzle Again!

Late November I bought this unique skirt from Australian brand Pho Sizzle. I previously blogged about the Gone Fishin' skirt I bought from them here and here. This skirt is called the Deep Sea skirt and I love it just as much! If not more because it's more suited to Summer.

I love the pattern & colours on this fabric. The fish are cool and always make me think of the Angler Fish on Finding Nemo... Except this one is less scary!! The colours are so me and matches my blue City Chic peplum to a tea!

I mentioned earlier this skirt is more suited to the Summer; well where the Gone Fishin' skirt was an African wax material, this fabric is much more lightweight and softer and feels breezy in the gentle summer wind.

The length is great. Not too long, not too short. And fits bike shorts underneath without them being visible. And again Pho Sizzle have pleased me by adding these handy pockets, Yes real pockets! Which are so convenient!

In regards to sizing I would probably size down. I’m around a size 22 on the bottom and the size 20 fits me well but I still could've sized down to an 18 to make it sit on my waist better.

I paid $65 for this skirt which included the quick postage within Australia. Personally I think $65 for a skirt without having to pay extra for postage is excellent! I don't think there are many Australian labels that have such unique, good quality skirts for that price, so I'm impressed... once again!!