Category Archives: body confidence

Top Tips to Help You Feel More Confident at the Beach

Top Tips to Help You Feel More Confident at the Beach


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When summer comes around, it is normal to feel apprehensive. It is a season where you want to spend more time at the beach or go on holiday. While this is great fun, it also comes with dressing differently which can bring about more worries and a lack of confidence, especially if you struggle with your body image. 

Beach days can be a lot of fun and a place where you can create lifelong memories with your friends and family, so it is important that you don’t let your lack of confidence get in the way. 

Fortunately, confidence is something that you can work on and develop. Here are some top tips that can help you feel more confident at the beach. 

#1 Understand your insecurities

Everyone has insecurities, and unfortunately, you can’t always change what they are. However, you can work on why you are insecure and reframe your thinking and your mindset. Start by reviewing why you are not confident at the beach, what your securities are and where they have come from. Remove any comparison to other people, and just focus on yourself. When you know where your insecurities have come from, you can slowly start to work on them and repair your relationship with yourself. You should also think about all the things you do like about yourself, and play to your strengths. Perhaps there are some features about yourself or your body that you love. Make sure you embrace these and take pride in yourself. 

#2 Look after yourself

While many turn to diet and exercise to lose weight, that is not always necessary. However, having a good routine of regular exercise and good nutrition is vital in making you feel better about yourself. If you live a very sedentary lifestyle and eat a diet high in fast food, you are going to feel lethargic, stressed, anxious, and unhappy. If you can get outside to exercise regularly, and fuel your body with the nutrients it needs to thrive, you are going to feel much happier, have a lot more energy, motivation and feel more confident overall. 

#3 Don’t compare yourself to others

You will ruin your holiday or weekends at the beach if you focus on what other people are doing, wearing or thinking. Every time you notice you are paying more attention to other people, just keep reminding yourself that you need to focus on yourself. When you aren’t worried about others, you are able to be in the present moment and have fun with what you are doing. It won’t solve your worries, but it can certainly allow you to have more fun, embrace the moments and enjoy your day. 

#4 Wear clothes you feel comfortable in

Clothes are powerful. If you are forcing yourself to wear something that you don’t feel comfortable in, you are going to change your body language, and you are going to heighten your worries and insecurities. However, if you wear something that you love and you feel comfortable in, you are more likely to hold your head high and feel happier with yourself. This will reflect well on how you are feeling, and how you go about your day at the beach. 

This is especially important when it comes to swimwear. Swimwear involves more skin and therefore, a lot more vulnerability. Take some time before the summer to figure out what type of clothes and swimwear you like, and what you feel most comfortable in. Don’t worry about the latest trends, for now, just focus on how clothes make you feel. Find a swimwear boutique that offers the type of summer clothes that you enjoy wearing, and fits your body shape. You can also opt for cover-ups and other items of clothing that might make you feel more comfortable at the beach. Make sure you focus on pleasing yourself, and not other people. If you can do this, you will find you feel a lot more confident in the clothes and swimwear you purchase. 

Not feeling confident in yourself or with your body can be hard. It can be especially daunting when the summer months come around and you want to spend time at the beach with your friends and family, but find your insecurities always get in the way. You don’t have to keep living like that, instead, you can work on your insecurities if you are willing to do so, and build your confidence up so you can live a happier, more fulfilling life. Follow these top tips to help you get started.

Are you ready for the party season? I am!

Its the start of December and in my eyes we have officially hit party season with so many festive events coming up I have been preparing all my outfits for each event.

Two weeks ago I received a Party Survival pack from Fashion World and I when I opened it I thought all the little items were such a good idea for party handbag essentials and it made me think about what other extras us ladies might need over the party season aside from the perfect dress and shoes.

I think my idea of what is essential in a night out bag maybe very different to some of you but I will let you know what my essentials are anyway…

Items I will not leave my house without when off on a night out, besides the obvious, keys and money etc;

  • Tissues
  • Lip balm and lipstick
  • Compact Mirror
  • Spare hairband
  • Comfy flats (How big is my bag, I know right!)

The Fashion World part survival pack consists of hair pins, hair spray, emery boards, vaseline and body tape. I love how small each of the items are so you can fit all, or whichever you need, comfortably into a small party bag.

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Fashion World have also created an online Party Season Survival Guide that is full of hints and tips and suggestions for ways to get through the party season without a hitch.

An item that I have been introduced to recently is Wingz, which when I first saw them I figured they would be every plus size woman’s dream.  No more falling in love with a dress and having to bypass it because it doesn’t have sleeves. Wingz have a wide range of arm covering piece that don’t effect the overall look of your outfit aside from covering your arms.  They have different lengths and materials so you don’t have to cover your entire arm if you don’t want to.

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They have plain stretch sleeves that can be worn with everyday outfits and loads of different material, colours and patterns to suit what you are looking for. Perfect for the party season they have more dressy Wingz to complement you party dresses. w1 w2

Personally I am a fan of the lace Wingz, I love a bit of lace! lol

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*Excuse the makeupless face, I just wanted to show what the Wingz look like on me*

Half sleeve Wingz, Full sleeve Wingz

I love the lace Wingz, I love that I can cover my arms without covering up a pretty dress. I prefer the look of the long sleeve lace sleeves but the short sleeve ones are more comfortable for be because I have really large arms, I have however heard on the grapevine that they are going to being introducing a larger size (size 4) for trial in March next year which is very exciting news,

As you can see from the pics I have the short sleeved lace and the long sleeved lace Wingz, I’m thinking of getting the plain stretch Wingz so that I can wear more of my vest tops in the colder weather and just for throwing on under jumpers because I’m always cold.

These are something I wish I knew about a few years ago as I hated having my arms on display, they really are a great item to have as yo can literally wear them with anything.

I know I mentioned this a little earlier but I always carry a pair of comfortable flats in my handbag on a night out. I know some companies to small foldable shoes made specifically for carrying around with you but I always find them really uncomfortable. I have found that Primark always have sooooooo many cute little dolly shoes in these days and their wide fit section just keeps getting better and better.

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These are the Primark wide fit flats that I have most recently been chucking into my oversized clutch bags.

There must be a ton of places to pick up cute flats but for a pair that’s just for chilling in your handbag for ‘just in case’ times I think Primark is excellent for little cheapies.

Do you have any tips for me for the party season or anything a little bit different that you always keep on you just in case? I would love to hear them 🙂

*Wingz were very kindly gifted to me for review*

Lucia Laid Bare

I, like a lot of women, love to get all dressed up… prettying up my face and put on something cute.
I love experimenting with my hair and changing up my make-up looks to suit my mood/the occasion.
But I wanted to to a blog post that was basically just me stripped back from all the extras saying… Look, This is me… The real me.
No make-up and No extra hair

This is my natural hair, The hair that I was born with. No straightening techniques, no hair managing products, just my hair as it grows out of my head. I love braids and weaves and wearing my hair straight etc… but I also love my natural hair. My hair is big and wild and difficult to manage just like me!

I have poor vision so I need glasses, and I love those too lol, I like the way I look in glasses and  think everyone can look good in the right pair of frames. Day to day when I’m out running errands and such I don’t wear any make-up and I kind feel a bit like a fraud when in all my blog posts I’m all made up. So this blog post is just basically a short post showing you all the real me.

All the dressing up is so fun but I always strip back to ‘Me’ and have recently realised that that is just as great.

Also if anyone is interested in me doing any hair posts just let me know x

A message to my sisters (That means all of you!)

If you read anything I have ever written, please let it be this xxx

Today I heard a big beautiful girl talking about how she wants her daughter to have more opportunities than she had, she wants her to have an easier life… which is fair enough and I expect most people would want the same for their children, then I heard her say something that absolutely stunned me.. She wants her daughter to be beautiful so that she can have that better, easier life,
Now it is often said that pretty girls have things easy but I would have to disagree. Just because you deem a person to be pretty/attractive this does not mean they have ‘things’ any easier than you do.
My heart hurts when I think about young girls who have been told by friends, family and/or society that they are not beautiful, whether that be told directly or indirectly.
I think instilling confidence into young people is the key to them being able to achieve all the things they want out of life.
This morning after hearing this I put up a Facebook status that read
                   
                       If I had a magic power it would be to make all the girls (and women) in the world know how beautiful they are, it breaks my heart when I see/hear a beautiful young women who truly doesn’t know her worth. Feeling beautiful and having confidence is truly one of the most powerful things in the world! I believe this more than any of you will ever know.” – Lucia Morris

This status was liked by many of my friends and family but I had so much more to say on the topic hence this blog post. 
I have a beautiful 18 year old sister and it made me think about how she sees herself, and it would kill me to think she sees herself as anything less than the amazing, bright and beautiful young woman that I have watched her grow into so through tears I sent her this message through Whatsapp;

                    “you are one of the most beautiful people on this planet, inside and out. I love you more than you will ever know. I hope to god you value yourself as much as I and everyone else who knows you does. x”

We continued to have a very mushy conversation, which I will refrain from adding here, It was so lovely and heart warming to hear how much my impromptu message meant to her and made me wonder if had had a confident plus size influence when I was that age would I have viewed myself differently and in turn had a better experience growing up as a extra plus size girl. 
My sister is not a big girl, she is a size 16 and extremely beautiful but by her own admission has some issues with body confidence (as I am sure many girls do at that age). I don’t want a lack of confidence to prevent her (or anyone else for that matter) from accomplishing anything at all that she wishes.


I have two sisters and it goes for them both. 
Me and my two sisters <3

I want my sisters to love themselves from right now, not when they get older and develop an IDGAF attitude, going into new social situations like starting university and work, self confidence is the foundation of the amazing people they are going to be.

I don’t usually talk much about confidence on my blog but I think this is a massive issue in the plus size community, I don’t want to continuously write about pretty dresses, yes I do think its very important for people to see that a woman my size has many clothing options and I also think it is important to show that you can be as big as I am, be confident and be happy. These are the things I wish I had known at a much younger age and I feel like I would be doing a disservice having this platform and not reaching out and saying YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL. 

I’m going to be honest and say I have no idea what the point of this blog post is but I just feel so strongly about young girls knowing their worth and feeling beautiful. I think a confident girl will become a confident woman and a confident woman can accomplish anything. I don’t think people realise the power of self confidence and I know it is something I have only discovered in the last three years or so, But I know now that it is something that I want to share with everyone that I can.



Plus Confidence in ME!

“I really wish a confident size 32 woman didn’t evoke amazement, it needs to just be normal.” – Me 🙂

There has been some blogger involvement requested by an organisation that I have been behind and have been following from the start, as soon as I heard about this I was very excited about getting involved and getting the word out.
As bloggers we have been asked to write a bit about the times we feel most confident, I feel like this is a great opportunity for my readers to learn a little bit about me and for me to learn some about the other bloggers taking part. If you want to see more of the contributions to this blog challenge look for the #plusconfidence2014 hastag.

I love posting pictures of myself on my blog, I love pushing fashion boundaries and wearing what that society says a fat girl cant wear, I love that women can see these images and feel my confidence and I have had enough feedback through my blog to know that I am making a small impact and making people reevaluate the ideas that have been forced on them that tells them that they should only be wearing this and that.
My blog is a space for me to express myself however I please and if I want to show my fat body in a crop top or a super tight dress that is exactly what I am going to do. I receive messages from girls and women who have come across my blog and are amazed at my confidence but I really wish a confident size 32 woman didn’t evoke amazement, it needs to just be normal.

Another thing that I feel gives me confidence is knowing that I am a nice person. I do my best to be a person I can be proud of. what my body looks like does not define the person that I am. I am confident in my decisions, I am confident that I am a good friend, I am confident that I can say without bending the truth that behind all the clothes and makeup I am the person that I want to be and that gives me more confidence than anything else.
This confidence post could not have come at a better time as I am at my most confident right now, I don’t mean today, I mean at this particular time of my life. I am 29 years old, I have been a lot bigger than I am now and I have also been smaller than I am now and I have discovered that no matter what size I am there will always be something that challenges my confidence. Acceptance has been a massive deal for me. I am very content in the body that I am in.

I believe that even if you are on a journey to change yourself you can still enjoy life and be confident in yourself while on your way to what you are trying to achieve.
I don’t believe in hiding away or trying to make yourself invisible until you are your perfect you, I think being at peace with who you are makes you perfect for you.
I am going to leave you with the images that I have submitted to the Plus Confidence campaign – These three images sprung to mind when I was asked for images of my personal confidence and I will explain why..

This is one of my favourite pictures from my blog. It was a night out and I wanted to do something a little different, I mixed floral print, leopard print and stripes, It was the first time I wore a crop top out and I bursting wit confidence all night. It is still one of my favourite outfits.
This is a size 18 crop top (I’m a size UK32), Like i said before playing with fashion that isn’t meant for me makes me happy and  I love showing people that they have a lot more to work with than they know.
This is a picture that was taken at a plus size event at the end of last year.
 I AM FAT, I AM SEXY, I AM HAPPY, I AM CONFIDENT AND THAT IS HOW IT SHOULD BE!!!!

“Plus Confidence, is working on creating an explosive, eye opening, breath taking art exhibition around body confidence. The artwork will be of plus size women not the U.K average size, creating high glossy images.”
To find out more about Plus Confidence their details are all below;

 Plus Confidence http://plusconfidenceinyou.wix.com/anita-bellamy

Putting on my big girls pants.

A company that I love, that offer plus size women great quality and an extensive range of hosiery and under garments are The Big Bloomers Company.
They have pieces in their range that start at a size 12 and go all the way up to a size 42
Being at the larger end of plus size this is perfect for me.

A problem a lot of women have, not just plus size women, but also women with large thighs, is chafing. The big Bloomers Company sent me a pair of their Anti-Chafing Knickers to try out and I was pleasantly surprised. I chose the long leg version in black as I wanted something a little longer so I would be able to wear skirts without leggings and not worry so much about the wind showing everyone my secrets lol.

 I could argue these are more like an anti chafing cycling short as I wore them with knickers underneath.

The material is super stretchy and super comfortable, you could even size down if you wanted a little support.

not the best pic but you can get an idea of the length on me. (and they are pulled all the way up over my tummy)

I am a shorty, standing at a pint sized 5ft 2″ so these came up quite long on me but the fabric allows for manipulation so I ended pulling the legs up a bit and they were still totally comfortable.

I love that I can wear these under a skirt in the summer without them showing and still avoid ‘chub rub’ but i wont be embarrassed if the wind does blow up my floaty skirts and dresses.
These are going to come in so handy for the summer, the material is so comfortable between the thighs.
If you are a shorty like me I suggest getting the short legged version.
Have you tried any of their other products? Do you have any recommendations?
Thanks for reading guys xxx

Its Hammer Time! Love these trousers.

Its Hammer Time!
I have been seeing a lot of people embracing the ‘Boyfriend’ style, jeans and blazers etc…
Being a size 30/32 its near impossible to have anything that is oversized and baggy, even items that are sold as ‘oversize’ are still just a tad close fitting when you are not able to size up at all.
I recently discovered that Yours Clothing have expanded their range and now have over 200 items available up to a size 36!
This have given me the opportunity to size up in items that I would like to have more room in.
Yours clothing have kindly gifted me a couple of items for me to share with you that I have sized up in to create looks that I would normally be unable to achieve.
The first item I want to show you is a pair of Cotton roll up crop trousers.
I chose these for a couple if reasons, Firstly I wanted to be able to wear a dressed up ‘Boyfriend’ look and also because summer if fast approaching and I like that these trousers are so light and airy.
 Here I wore them with a simple white camisole and a denim men’s shirt that I got on eBay a year ago and added silver collar tips to.
I love how big and baggy these trousers are, It feels a little like Hammer Time lol
 These trouser have a drawstring tie at the waist so I can have it secure on the waist and super loose everywhere else. These are a great trouser for people who are concerned about our good old VBO (Visible belly outline)
I am wearing my new white Lo Converse all stars.
I tied the shirt up to make the look a little more feminine but I really like it either way.
 
 I am showing two looks that I like with these trousers because I think they are so versatile, they really are a nice wardrobe staple that can be worn for any occasion.
I wanted to show that these casual trousers can also be dressed up and look amazing.
 I wanted to show that you create altogether new look, suitable for evening with the casual trousers and the same camisole but adding heels and a blazer.
I personally love this look and I think the laid back casualness of the trousers is what makes it. I love the whole ‘I just threw this on but still look great’ kinda look.
 I have on a pair of black suedette heels from New look and an oversized grey New look Inspire blazer. I changed the costume jewellery that I had on also and I really like the all together look.
I will definitely be getting a lot of wear out of these trousers this summer and another great thing is that they are only £15!
There are so many different ways that these trousers can be styled and i am definitely looking forward to playing around with them.
Thanks for reading guys!

 

My Primark Treasures!!! VIDEO!!

Good day ladies 🙂
People always seem really surprised when I say I buy clothes from Primark… not because its Primark but because I wear a UK size 30/32 and Primark do clothes up to a size 20!
I have made a Plus Size Primark Haul Video!

I would really like it if you would watch the video but I’m going to put up a few pics of some of the tops that I picked up over the last week just so you can see that there are some things that we women at the bigger end of plus size can pick up for fantastic prices that are still super on trend <3
I’m going to start with my favourite Primark Purchase
 
Black floaty Crop top, UK size 18!!!
They have this in black, Cream and Pink
£3 in Primark.
I love how girly a floaty this top is, its really fun and swishy
This is an oversized loungy crop top that has super droopy arm holes, 
This is a size 20! and is also £3 in Primark at the moment, 
They have this one is Black, white, purple and a neon orange.
Guns N Roses oversized T dress. 
This is a long Tee that I have put a midi skirt over. 
This is a UK size 20 and sells for £8
I don’t want to go into too much detail about these items as I plan to blog about them individually in outfit posts at some point.
I just want to show that there are a lot of options available to bigger girls in stores that don’t stock our size. 
It really is all about just going in and have a good look and a good feel of fabrics and knowing your body well enough to know what will and won’t work for you. 
I literally go into Primark and give the clothes a good pull and stretch and I always find items that work. 
I hope you find this post helpful and I hope you like the items that I picked up.
If I had to recommend one item I would say definitely pick up that floaty crop top as it is sooooo lovely and its only Three squids!!!!! 
You can see what else I picked up in my haul video if you haven’t already.
Thanks for reading guys…. 

Giving me Butterflies.

Heeellllllooooooo 🙂
So I went into the Evans flagship store in marble arch and to be honest I wasn’t sure what I was looking for and in the end I picked up a couple of dresses the first one being this… the Evans Navy Crinkle Midi dress It does not look like a dress that I would normally pick up as I am not a fan of butterfly print, I do feel though that this dress has enough going on, print wise, that you almost don’t notice the butterflies. I wanted a couple of dresses in colours that I don’t already have and that are nice fabrics for the summer (this dress is cotton)
This dress is available in both Midi and Maxi lengths. I have a couple of maxi dresses for this summer so I opted for the midi, (looks like I will be getting the old cankles out)
I’m not sure how I feel about the dress without the jacket as I feel like it whispers ‘Grandma’ but again I love the colours, the print and the fabric so I will be getting a lot of wear out of this dress.
I really like the colours in this dress and picked it up with my denim jacket in mind, due to all the different shades of blue in this dress I knew it would be lovely with any shade of denim.
I picked up these really cute shoes in Primark this week and I absolutely love them, so much so in fact I plan on going back to get the pair they have in electric blue (and any other colour I can find)
They are wide fit and are so comfortable and I just love the wide strap and buckle.
This week I will show you guys the second dress I picked up too… Its super cute!
Thanks for reading 🙂

Casual Lucia in a lovely swap jacket.

How I potter about day to day!!!
I don’t wear makeup everyday and I wear glasses so I can see stuff haha.
This is a really random post, but I kinda wanted to show what I look like and what I wear when I am not doing an actual outfit post.
Converse, Jeans and an Oversized Tee!
Pretty much sums me up when I’m working or popping out to run errands.
I had to do a post about this Jacket as it is something I picked up at the clothes swap that a few of us bloggers went to, I love it so much, I never noticed how popular they are until I wore it the first time and felt like everyone and their cat had a similar jacket on lol.
Its a Khaki Combat style jacket with PU sleeves.
Its a new Look jacket and its a size 26 So I cant actually button it up but as the weather is improving I find its perfect to just chuck on and I still feel rather trendy even though I have made no effort at all.