Plus Size Party Look Book

Hey Owlets,

It’s getting towards that time of year where party invites are starting to mount up in my email so I thought it would be the perfect time to share some of my favourite go-to outfits to give you some style inspiration for any Christmas events you may have. I went through a phase a few years ago where I’d just started to get invited to press events, so every time I got an invite I bought a new dress. However since then my wardrobe has started overflowing with formalwear, so I’ve been making sure I wear what I already own instead of buying new, and some clear favourites have emerged. 

A Rule-Breaking Summer Lookbook

Hey Owlets,

Summer is just around the corner which means it’s nearly time to dust off those floaty dresses, mini skirts and jumpsuits. It’s the season that most people look forward to all year round, but if you’re not so confident, or worried about being plus size during the season of revealing clothes, it can feel like a nightmare. It’s totally understandable that it might feel easier to suffer through the heat in jeans, but you are worth so much more than that. Just in case you are struggling to decide what to wear, here’s some inspiration that breaks all the ridiculous “rules” about plus size clothes.

Inside the new Bristol Fashion Week

Hey Owlets,

One of my first ever "blog things" was a trip to Bristol Fashion Week way back in 2016 only months after I'd started The Owlet - I had basically no idea what I was doing and reading back now that post is an embarrassment, so feel free to go have a laugh at my expense. That was the first and last time I posted about the show, and there's a good reason for that. For years Mum and I had the tradition of going to the show together followed by dinner, but at no point when I was watching the array of perfect women walking down the catwalk did I feel represented. While the size 8-12 models looked beautiful no one looked like me, so we stopped going. This year, however, Bristol Fashion Week has had a makeover of it's own, promising that the new look "Bristol Fashion Week Festival" would bring equality and accessibility for all, so of course I had to go take a look.

How to Decode the Dress Code

How to be Body Confident

Hey Owlets,

Today I wanted to talk to you about something that I think affects a lot of us from time to time - a body confidence crash. I actually struggled with this when I was in Birmingham a few weeks ago,  after I attended an event where I felt like I was being judged purely on my weight, and someone on Twitter asked me how I dealt with it, so what kind of blogger would I be if I didn’t make a post out of it?

Why I'm Proud to Be Plus Size - #IWD18

Hey Owlets,

Happy International Women's Day! 

I wanted to do something confidence related today to celebrate and I've been wanting to write this post for a while so it was perfect timing.

The world is so full of ignorant people. Overflowing with small-minded haters passing judgement on situations that they know nothing about. I know there are many things in the firing line but one of those that I constantly come across is the attitude towards plus size girls. The idea that once you’re past a size 16 you’re just a blob of fat who’s opinions are invalid (not my words - this is a quote from a “fan”. I won’t give them the satisfaction of being named). But I’d like to tell you something. 

I’m proud to be plus size.

The Power of The Internet

Hey Owlets,

I’ve got a bit of a story and a thank you for you today.

If you were following me on Twitter around the start of November, you may have seen everything kick off, but since it happened I’ve had to retell the story so many times that my family have convinced me to write a blog post.

Back in November last year I was invited to attend an event in West London which I was ridiculously excited about as I’m always looking for an excuse to flex my Oyster card. When I got there however, things really weren’t how I expected. 

Style Files: What I Wore in Malaga

Hey Owlets!

I'm still in holiday mode and that's very much helped by the growing list of travel/fashion/ holiday content that I keep wanting to write. One of the things that I was really keen about was documenting what I wore in each new city, as when I was buying and packing for this trip, I was struggling to know what to wear (although I did wear almost everything I took with me!). I'm trying a new format today focusing on only one outfit, so let me know if you like it!

Summer Outfit Favourites: My Top 3

Hey Owlets,

I can't believe it's nearly September! I feel like every year someone pipes up and says "This year has gone so fast" but this time it's me saying that. I honestly don't know where the time has gone - it still feels like we're in July but instead we've already had the balloon fiesta, my birthday is long gone, I've graduated uni and everyone is harping on about how excited they are for Autumn. To be honest I absolutely love summer so I intend to hold on for it as long as possible, and what better to way than to look at all of the outfits you're sick of seeing on my social media? I think it's pretty evident that I had a few favourite pieces this season, so I thought it might be nice to have a run through my summer style.

Bicester Village: Pretty Woman for the Modern Age

As plus size women in 2017 we’re pretty remarkable - curves are cool and we have role models to remind us daily that we can do anything, regardless of the number on the label. But one of the things that still strikes fear into the hearts of many a larger lady is going shopping in “normal people territory”. 

You know the scene in Pretty Woman where she walks into a shop and the assistants tell her that nothing in the shop will fit her? If you don’t know it, I’ll link it but that’s pretty much what happened to me when I visited Bicester Village at the weekend. 

Bicester Village is an outlet shopping centre that carries more high end brands than your normal outlet, like Dior, Celine and Gucci. It’s long been held as the holy land of fashion, where no blogger could take themselves seriously if they’ve not made the pilgrimage at least once. So, of course, I had to go on the way home from visiting family in Milton Keynes but perhaps I should’ve taken note of the fact that all these bloggers excitedly singing the centre’s praises were not my demographic.

February Fashion Favourites

Hey Owlets,

So in case you haven't already noticed (seriously, how have you not?),  I've been absolutely loving talking about plus size fashion recently. Over the last few months I've started to write about what I really enjoy and I love hearing that I've inspired other curvy girls to be confident too. However, there's been a distinct lack of outfit posts on my Instagram recently, and that's entirely because I've gotten obsessed with a few pieces that I've worn almost every day.

Dress For Who You Are

Morning my loves,

I've got a bit of morning motivation for you today, and it's something that has taken me a long time to learn but not too long to master. 

I think, when you're a more curvy girl, there's a temptation to be a little "aspirational" when shopping,  especially if you're close to the boarder like me. If you're a size 18, there's always the temptation to think "I can fit in normal clothes", "I can shop in places like Primark" or things like that, but by trying to fit in to "normal" clothes you're actually doing yourself a dis service.

My Favourite Winter Fashion Accessory

Morning my lovelies,

It's February!!! We are officially out of the slump month, but to be honest other than having a lot of uni work to do, January's not been much of a slump at all.

If you've seen me anywhere on social media, there's been two jackets that I have worn over the last few months in basically every photo. It seems that recently, bomber jackets have been everything, but not so much for me.

When I was at Bath Christmas Market in December I came across a small (permanent) shop selling coats. I've never noticed them before but they had a display outside and a cape caught my eye. It was love at first sight, so I tried it on despite thinking I would look like Little Red Riding Hood's fat cousin. Oh how wrong can I be? 

Being Yourself Is Cool

Hey Owlets,

If you read my Letter To My Younger Self, then you’ll know that I was not the most socially adept teenager. I spent most of my teen years in a corner feeling awkward with the “fat cheerleader” feeling- trying to fit in, but no matter what you do it doesn’t quite work.

Growing up, the whole idea of “fitting in” was a corner stone. Whatever I did, it was a case of trying to be “cool”. I use quotes, because as I’ve gotten older some wisdom has trickled in, and I now realise that being cool is completely subjective. As I grew up I realised that the cool girls go for a safety in numbers principle. That was never going to be an option for the fat, spotty 15 year old Becky, and I started to realise that what’s cool in my mind is being individual and not following the crowd.

Lazy Sunday Style

Hey Owlets,

Let's get one thing straight - I can be super lazy. That means I detest doing my hair (usually because it doesn't obey me), I prefer jeans to dresses and my makeup is usually pretty lazy to boot. That said, I love Sundays because it's the only day of the week where if you don't make an effort, no one judges you.

This Sunday was part of the first weekend in ages that I've had some free time, and we decided to make the most of it with a late Sunday lunch and a wander through the nature reserve. As it was a Sunday I wanted to dress super comfy, but still wanted to look half decent so I thought I'd share the look with you!

I went shopping this week as I feel like I've been in a bit of rut style-wise. I only got two new tops but they've made all the difference to my confidence. This one was £10 from Tesco which I absolutely love! It's a sort of jersey fabric but it's not too hot so I can wear it the tail end of summer and into Autumn. 

I think too many of us are quick to head to the usual high street chains like New Look or Topshop where tops are upwards of £30, when shops like Tesco or Asda often copy the high street style at a fraction of the cost.

I haven't got a photo with my jacket on but I paired it with my favourite black biker style jacket to keep the relaxed look of the outfit (and you know, not freeze). I also paired it with my trusty jeans and Converses which is my favourite combination when I don't want to dress up.

It's absolutely no secret that I have a mild obsession with Forever 21 when it comes to jewellery. I think their pieces are always absolutely spot on for their market and classic but always on trend. I got this military style necklace from F21 Oxford Street two years ago and I still reach for it most days. I also, of course, wore this with my trusty B necklace which I've worn pretty much every day since I was about 12.

For makeup I wanted to keep it simple, and went with a natural but glowy look with a trusty swipe of winged liner. For base I used the Loreal Infallible foundation with Collection's Lasting Perfection Concealer. I used Makeup Revolution's Flawless eyeshadow palette then went back to Collection for eyeliner with the amazing (and completely under rated) 24 hour Extreme Liner. I used a mix Nyx illuminator and MUR's "Base" shadow for highlight and Nyx soft matte lip cream in Cannes with a little highlight dabbed in the centre.

I love dressing down for a lazy day. Being comfy is the best thing ever so if you can do that in a way that you still look decent, it's a bonus. Let me know your favourite way to spend a lazy day in the comments below.

Love and Feathers, 

 The Owlet 💜 

You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Bloglovin & Snapchat.

Follow Me To: M&S Blogging Party!

*gifted experience

I hope you haven't minded all the Bristol Fashion Week spam too much but so much happened that it's taken me a few posts to get through it all! Today I wanted to talk to you about the Marks and Spencer blogging party.

This was one of the first proper blogger parties I'd been to which was way too exciting!

The event was a preview to show off their spring/summer fashion (which, if you don't have time to read the post, was absolutely gorgeous) and some of the beauty brands they stock in store.

First of all, I loved the trends that were set out at the party. I was really surprised by how individual they were-  I felt like maybe they'd gone away from current trends just a little, which was interesting, but they'd done a great job of tying this in with some of the current trends like bright colours and mixed prints.

Photo Credit: Mall Cribbs Causeway

This green print seemed to be everywhere. It's not something I would personally wear as the colour isn't my favourite but the print is beautiful and I think it could be gorgeous if worn the right way. They had a few lighter floral prints which I thought were gorgeous, which were much more my thing.

I actually wore the same thing as I detailed in the Fashion Show post, as this was just after that event, so if you want links to everything then click here or above.

Shirt, headband,bracelets and bag: Primark

Jeans: M&S

Shoes: Converse

Photo Credit: Mall Cribbs Causeway

When we walked in we were greeted with food and drinks from their new summer picnic range (literally this would be the poshest picnic ever).

They had a few bits of summer home and garden decor out which was super cute too! We then got to wander round, have hand massages, a manicure and look at the beauty and fashion.

Photo Credit: Mall Cribbs Causeway

It's no secret that I've been crushing over the Rosie for Autograph collection since it came out. They eyeshadow palettes are stunning, as are the lipsticks and the strobe cream.... I just need it all, ok?

Photo Credit: Mall Cribbs Causeway

The thing that really surprised me was seeing Barry M and Bourjois. I've always seen M&S as the place to get premium beauty products, like with Debenhams and John Lewis where you can buy Pixi, Emma Hardie and Glam Glow. It just doesn't seem quite right them stocking more affordable brands, but I can definitely see the logic in it.

On the way out we were given a goody bag which had some amazing brands in like L'Occitane and the Phillip Kingsley Hair Elasticiser which I've been wanting to try for ages. 

I think it's fair to say I'm hooked on attending blogger events now; it's so nice meeting people like me that understand #BloggerProblems. I definitely want to go to more! Let me know what you've been up to this week in the comments below.

Love and Feathers, 

 The Owlet 💜 

You can find me on Twitter, Instagram, Bloglovin, Facebook & Pinterest

What I Wore: Bristol Fashion Week

Morning Owlets!

So today I wanted to talk about Fashion Week again (mostly because I'm an idiot and didn't include this on my post about the event, but there we are- extra content for you). You may have seen over on my Facebook page that I was included in a round up of what bloggers were wearing to fashion week from the mall.

Now it's a well known fact (or it should be!) that I literally never dress up, and for me this is being a bit dressed up.

My top is from Primark. I think it was about £8 and I absolutely love it. I've loved seeing the off the shoulder trend floating around recently, I think it's a great look and makes an outfit look much more styled but takes 0 effort. I also love the pattern of this- like a lot of people, I'm not brave enough to wear obviously bright colours, despite talking about them a lot. The flowers are bright yellow, but being on a white background they recede into the fabric so they don't stand out so much. 

I paired this with my old faithful Converses (yes, I do wear these with everything!) and my trusty black jeans from Marks and Spencer, but I wear those with pretty much everything. Super comfy and goes with most outfits.

The star of my outfit really is this beautiful bag. It looks so expensive, but its actually £10 from Primark. I love the nude tones- such a brilliant lighter alternative to my safe black handbag for summer. The only issue is that it came with a canvas strap which I couldn't stand, but this was removable so I took it off and swapped it for the strap on my grey handbag which looks like it was meant to be sold with my Primark bag. 

As you may be able to tell, I'm a Primark girl at heart....

I'm lazy, so I wore the same jewellery as I did to the Bloggers Hangout in London last week. Gold bracelets from Primark - £3 and my silver bracelet that Mum and Dad gave me for my 18th birthday. I still managed to make my pink nails from Monday last so I didn't change the polish.

I then wore this flower garland which I also wore at the Bloggers Hangout, which was again from Primark for £3. I know they've been everywhere over the last few years but they really are an amazing way to add a more dressy and more summery feel to a plain outfit.

So there we are- short but sweet and I hope you like it! Now it's coming towards spring/summer I'd love to hear about your fashion essentials in the comments below.

Love and Feathers, 

 The Owlet 💜 

You can find me on Twitter, Instagram, Bloglovin, Facebook & Pinterest