Like most of you surely know, I am from Finland, and I moved to London in August 2009.. and I remember the first time I heard about the event that is Royal Ascot. I was picking up at ticket at London Waterloo station, and I don’t think I have EVER felt that out of place in anywhere, haha. I wore some slouchy summer dress and pink flip flops, and everyone else was looking amazing in their dresses, suits and hats. YES, the hats! Hats and fascinators are a big part of the fashion of Royal Ascot, if not the biggest.

So yeah, Royal Ascot is definitely one of the traditions here in the UK that has been really different for me to see as a Finn. I think it’s amazing that it is still an occasion that requires formal day dress. Occasions like that don’t really exist back home, so I love this about the UK. Royals, high society and movie stars and celebrities attend Royal Ascot, including the most important guest: Her Majesty The Queen.

What if I could attend then? What on earth would I wear? So, for obvious reasons I wanted to start my outfit search from headwear, and I found an amazing fascinator from Accessorize – I’d love to wear this number! After that I had look at all my favourite retailers, and this is the outfit that I came up with:

Dress: Simply Be | Fascinator: Accessorize | Clutch: ASOS | Heels: Bank | Bracelets: Dorothy Perkins

I absolutely love mint green this season, so teaming that with black and gold makes up a stylish and elegant outfit, and the fascinator finalises it for Ascot.

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** written in association with Ladbrokes **

Once again it’s Wednesday, and I’m sure you know it’s Fatshion Faceoff time! If you’re new to the blog, please see here what Fatshion Faceoff is about :). This week’s item was chosen by Olivia, and she chose a Peter Pan collar.

I own two items with Peter Pan collars, so I didn’t have much choice ;). I decided to go with this gorgeous Scarlett & Jo dress, and I made the look more casual with my wedge sneakers and baseball jacket. This jacket was my sale find from New Look, I had been eyeing it up since they came online, but couldn’t really afford one. Seeing this baby on sale for £9 was like a best present ever, haha! There was only size 20 left, but with that price tag I had to take a risk, and it works fine :)

This was just too silly NOT to include ;)

Dress*: 24, Scarlett & Jo at Evans | Jacket: 20, New Look Inspire (random sizes still available in navy: New Look, ASOS) | Wedges: Matalan (light grey ones at ASOS) | Glasses: Select Specs | Lippy: Maybelline Colorsensational Vivids, Hot Plum (UK link, US link)

Remember to check out my babes… :)

Dani: DIY Fatshion (USA)
Mhairi: Lilybobombs Lovely Lumps (UK)
Mouna: Brussels Fatshion (Belgium)
Olivia: Wait Until The Sunset (Australia)

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* denotes a gifted item

I have previously written about comments I got on Facebook about my pale legs.. I didn’t really care about that, as I’m not one who’d ever use fake tan or such. I do like to look tanned, but somehow my legs never catch the rays. This spring I have decided to bare my legs more, and maybe that will help.. the sun just needs to start shining SOON.

bonprix kindly sent me these gorgeous blazer (I’m a HUGE fan of their blazers, you’ve seen the floral one before) and skirt, and I teamed them up with a – SHOCK, HORROR – a bandeau top! I am totally aware that this outfit would look better if I was tanned, but I decided to be proudly pale ;)

Blazer*: 24, bonprix | Bandeau top: 18, Primark (similar by Chubby Cartwheels, main range ones at New Look and ASOS) | Skirt*: 24, bonprix (random sizes available in different colours) | Shoes*: Simply Be | Necklace: Primark (floral necklace at Topshop) | Glasses: Select Specs | Lippy: Natural Collection Moisture Shine in Rose Bud – available in Boots (similar by MAC)

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* denotes a gifted item

I came across a new fashion search engine, Style In View, and wanted to share my thoughts with you. The site brings fashion from retailers’ sites to one place, which makes looking for specific items much easier. It definitely saves time to look for many retailers items on one site, rather than going to see all of the retailers sites separately. And you might spot stuff from retailers who you had completely forgotten about!

But let me start with the look of the site.. The digital designer in me really loves the layout of the site. It’s clean and has a lot of white space, and the typography is really nice. I like it when sites use dark text on white, but accent headlines or details with white text on black. In general, I just love black, white and grey when it comes to webdesign and retailers sites – makes it so much easier for eyes to navigate :).

The searching itself is easy. I wanted to take a look at some plus size dresses and check what kind of filters the search engine has. Obviously I chose plus size for the fit, and wanted to see what kind of cobalt dresses there was available. You can also add more filters like size, type of dress, price, and even the stores that you want to include in your search. Like I said in the beginning of the post – I think this search engine is helpful if you are looking for something specific, like a brown skater dress or a grey handbag. It’s really great to get options from different stores on one screen and compare them there. As a negative point I’d say that I hope they will get more retailers on board, especially when it comes to plus-sizes.. for example Evans and Simply Be aren’t in it, and they are the biggest plus-size retailers in the UK. I still do think this is a very useful tool.

And lastly.. my favourite bit of the site: Get the look. The main page has collages of trends, celeb inspired looks, lingerie.. and when you click them you will see a selection of clothes that would fit into each of these categories. There isn’t plus-size items there, BUT the pages are really amazing for inspiration for different looks and outfits – love it!

ps. You should totally follow them on Twitter – they tweet lovely discount codes among other things ;)

** this has been a sponsored post **

Once again it’s Wednesday, and I’m sure you know it’s Fatshion Faceoff time! If you’re new to the blog, please see here what Fatshion Faceoff is about :). This week’s item was chosen by Dani, and she chose wedge sandals.

I LOVE this Eloquii blazer to death, like you might have noticed already.. haha, but it goes really well with the Dorothy Perkins wedges. And also.. the Fatshion Faceoff birthdays continue tomorrow – HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Olivia :)!!!

Wedges: Dorothy Perkins (similar at Evans, similar at Simply Be) | Blazer: 18W US, Eloquii (similar at Macys, similar at Forever 21+ US) | Dress: 24, ASOS Curve | Bag: Forever 21 (similar at ASOS, similar at Forever 21) | Glasses: Select Specs | Lippy: Maybelline Colorsensational Vivids, Electric Orange (UK link, US link)

Now click to see what kind of wedge sandals the other girls wore!

Dani: DIY Fatshion (USA)
Mhairi: Lilybobombs Lovely Lumps (UK)
Mouna: Brussels Fatshion (Belgium)
Olivia: Wait Until The Sunset (Australia)

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A few weeks ago I was invited to a bloggers event held by So Fabulous – the plus-size range for online shops like Very and Littlewoods. They wanted us to see pieces of the current and upcoming range, and of course wanted to hear our opinions on plus-size fashion in general and who is doing it right etc. I had a crazy day at work, so sadly I was late for the event, but when I walked into the room I saw my gorgeous fellow bloggers checking out the pretty clothes on the rails, enjoying cupcakes and chatting happily. It was great to see some bloggers who I don’t have a chance to see that often (and meet new ones), and the So Fabulous team and their PR team were lovely and eager to hear our thoughts.

Some of the lovely nibbles.. I LOVED those cupcakes ;)

Us bloggers and the So Fabulous-team chatting

We also got to try on any of the clothes on the rails, and believe me, we did! I tried a gorgeous sequin dress, and an amazing military coat. That dress is definitely one of the most daring pieces of clothing that I have tried, I loved how I felt in it… and it definitely is on my wish/consideration list for Full Figured Fashion Week!

The military coat which I love (size 24)

The amaze sequin dress (size 24)

I’ve also been wanting to try peplum for a while since I was sure that it wouldn’t work for me.. so since I saw a peplum dress there, I gave it a try. And it was bad.. so that’s why there isn’t photographic proof of that ;). I loved the dress and the purple colour, it just wasn’t right for my apple-bodyshape.

Picking up the peplum dress

All the lovely blogger ladies who attended (l-r): Betty, Becky, me and my awkward pose (didn’t think that I’d be too tall for anything, haha), Kirsty, Toni, Naomi, Callie, Lauren and Mel

All in all it was a really lovely event, and hope there’s more to come! And can’t wait to see new So Fabulous collections, it sounded like they have amazing stuff coming in the future.

**photos c/o So Fabulous**

If you have followed my blog for a while, I’m sure you know that I love bargains and voucher codes. A while ago I came across a site that I haven’t heard of before, My Favourite Voucher Codes, and they are a bit different to what I have seen on other sites, which is definitely refreshing.

They have an amazing app that you can install to Firefox or Chrome, and it sits on the top right of your browser window. And why is it so amazing? Well when you are on some online shop’s site, the app will automatically show you how many codes there are available for that retailer. That definitely makes it easier to remember to use a code and save some money (possibly for extra purchases if you are the same kind of a shopper than me… haha).

I was searching amongst the hundreds of retailers for some voucher codes that would interest me (and you my readers), and found some great ones. I have found an Evans voucher code that saves 20% off shoes…. and they have FAB shoes this summer. Here are my favourite picks from their current shoe collection.

Those mint sandals and wedges.. LOOOOOVE, serious LOVE. I actually have 3 pairs of these already (monochrome flatforms, and  the two black heels in the bottom corner), but yeah, I’m sure at least 3 more pairs will find their way to my shoe collection.. and with 20% off, it’s ok, isn’t it? ;)

I have also found this great AX Paris voucher code that saves you 20% off your first order. Now I can’t use this myself since I have ordered from them before, but if you haven’t – take this chance! My favourite pics from their Curve range would be these.

I absolutely adore that PU skirt. I have seen it on a few fabulous bloggers, like Becky. Gorgeous skirt! The disco leggings are funky, and would look great with that long floral top for example. Sigh, now I really wish that I could use this discount myself!

But yes, there’s one more thing that I want to tell you about. When you use codes from My Favourite Voucher Codes you get money off your shopping, but they also get a small amount themselves when you use their codes. BUT what makes them different is that they donate 20% of their net earnings to charity. They have a poll on the right sidebar of their site, and each month the visitors can choose the charity where this 20% goes to. I really love this fact about the site – it definitely makes them different.

**this has been a sponsored post**

It is Sunday and it’s time for Double Vision again! In this challenge my amazing friend Dani and I are choosing a theme, item, movie character.. whatever we come up with basically, and style those our own way and post at the same time, more about the challenge here. This week’s theme was chosen by Dani, and she chose ‘Something new, something old’.

As I have old brown shoes and accessories that I LOVE, I wanted to wear them with something new. Now this ASOS Curve dress is just amazing. I had seen pictures of it, seen other bloggers talk about it, lusted after it.. but I didn’t order because of two reasons: the price, and the fact that I was sure that it wouldn’t work with my apple-shape. Then I saw it was part of ASOS 50% off 50 items Bank Holiday promotion, which meant the pricetag was only £30, and I decided to take the plunge. And you know what, I’m so happy I did! I was right that it looks wrong on my bodyshape.. I sized up to 26 to ensure that my belly would fit in the fitted shape, and that meant the dress was way too long and the waist was way too low and looked ‘interesting’. BUT when I added a belt and got the extra fabric from the length as a ‘bubble’ over the belt the look of the dress totally changed. I absolutely adore this dress, and I’m sure in some of my FFFW photos you will see a dressed up version of it. In this post I dressed it down with these old accessories, and I realised how versatile this dress is. And once again I was proved wrong.. I think almost anything could work for any body shape, you just need to find ways to make it work. In this case adding a belt changed everything.

Dress: 26, ASOS Curve | Belt: XL, Dorothy Perkins (similar at Dorothy Perkins) | Booties: Jones Bootmaker – thrifted (similar at Dorothy Perkins) | Bag: H&M (similar at Accessorize) | Glasses: Select Specs | Lippy: Maybelline Color Sensational Vivids in Electric Orange (UK link, US link)

The dress isn’t the only new thing in this post either.. I got two new pairs of glasses from Select Specs a few weeks ago. It’s the same frame that I have gotten from then before in matte black, but in two new colours.. tortoiseshell and shiny black. I love this shape, and the brown tones of this frame makes my face look ‘softer’ somehow. I can’t believe that I paid only £10 a pair for these!

Ok, enough about me and my outfit.. let’s go see what new and old stuff Dani decided to wear – click to DIY Fatshion!

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Once again it’s Wednesday, and I’m sure you know it’s Fatshion Faceoff time! If you’re new to the blog, please see here what Fatshion Faceoff is about :). This week’s item was chosen by me, and I chose a button-up blouse with a necklace. This is one of my favourite styles, and I have worn a lot of different types lately.. but I wanted to do something new with this look, so I dressed it up as most of my looks have been quite casual. Dressing up in this post is a good thing, as two of the Fatshion Faceoff ladies have a birthday this week – Mhairi yesterday and Mouna tomorrow. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABES :)!!!

Shirt: 3X, Xhilaration at Target – gift from Dani (similar at ASOS Curve) | Skirt: 20 US, Mossimo at Target – gift from Dani | Heels*: Evans | Necklace*: Olivia Accessories | Lippy: Maybelline Colorsensational Vivids 910, Shocking Coral (UK link, US link)

Now let’s go see what kind of blouses and necklaces the other girls wore. I bet they’re total babes like usually :)!

Dani: DIY Fatshion (USA)
Mhairi: Lilybobombs Lovely Lumps (UK)
Mouna: Brussels Fatshion (Belgium)
Olivia: Wait Until The Sunset (Australia)

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* denotes a gifted item