Kobi Jae's Blogiversary Giveaway!

Hello darlings!

I absolutely adore blogging. Not only does it allow me the creative freedom to come up with fun outfits to share with you all and let me show off my personal style, but the blogging world has also allowed me to connect with and meet so many rad babes from across the world. I count myself truly blessed to have been able to form some of the awesome friendships I have with people in the online community of #bodypositivity and #fatshion. 

One such babe that I met years ago by following on Instagram is the beautiful Kobi Jae. For those of you that aren't familiar with her work, Kobi is an Australian plus-size blogging babe that works tirelessly to promote body positivity and takes a strong stand against the mainstream fashion industry and a lack of diversity and representation in public media campaigns. In other words, my kinda woman!  

The babe herself!

Kobi's been on the blogging scene since early 2014 and recently celebrated her 2nd blog anniversary (congratulations, sweetie!) As part of her celebrations, she kindly launched a blog giveaway- offering fabulous prizes from small indie designers such as Re/dress and Size Queen Clothing (two amazing brands that were completely unknown to me prior to this. I just LOVE finding exciting new designers and clothing companies to lust over!) 

Well, lo and behold - yours truly won one of the prize draws! Fast Forward a few weeks and a very exciting package from overseas was shipping its way to my door. I hastily opened it (I posted my reactions to everything over on my snapchat - @ivorylovelust if you wanna be my snap pal!) and got to thinking about all of the beautiful bits and pieces contained and how I could style them up into a fun outfit! 

So, what was in the package?! 

First up, this amazing little "sweet tooth" necklace! The beautiful jewels that I won in Kobi's giveaway come from a fabulous Australian designer known as Miss-A-Ree Guts Creations and you can find them over on Etsy. This necklace is incredibly cute; a pastel colour palette and sweet little candy decorations make this a firm favourite of mine. The chain is a lovely length too- one of my pet peeves with jewellery is that it's either
a) far too long and the decorations slip awkwardly into your cleavage or
b) they aren't fat friendly and the chains are too short, cutting off your circulation! This is thankfully neither, and sits at just the right place on me.  

Next up, Kobi- being the sweetheart that she is decided to pop some Australian candies in my package! Having never visited Australia before I was not familiar with the deliciousness of Caramello Koalas, but they're incredibly similar to the UK's caramel freddos (aka freakin' delicious!) Kobi was also kind enough to pop a wee card into my parcel thanking me for entering the giveaway. Can you believe the kindness of this gesture? Believe me, the pleasure was all mine! 

 

 

The sweetest message!

Finally (and this is the real piece de resistance) was this AMAZING frend ring. Made again by the wonderful Miss-A-Ree Guts, these rings are just entirely too cute for words. As soon as I opened my package from Kobi and seen this beautiful wee gem I was screaming with excitement- it's just so perfect!! I absolutely had to style a fun wee outfit around this amazingness- how couldn't I?!  

Got my eyes on you!

Below are some impromptu photos from a fun day out I had recently where I decided to wear all of my Kobi Jae Giveaway goodies at once. I hope you enjoy them- I think the jewels go especially well with this fun & colourful outfit!

Outfit Details 

Dress: Joe Browns
Hair Flower: Alternate Normality 
Sunglasses: Beyond Retro
Jewellery: Miss-A-Ree Guts 
Petticoat: Oh My Honey!
Tights: New Look
Shoes: Primark

What do you think of Miss-A-Ree Guts? I'm personally over the moon to have discovered such a sweet little independent designer, and I'm so thankful to Kobi for introducing me to them!

For now my loves, that's all from me. 
See you all soon! 

Lovelustloves x0

Jump-suiting for joy!

Hello beautiful humans!   

I do hope that this blog post finds you all well. I've recently been hit with a huge burst of fashion inspiration and I've felt compelled to get my creative hat on and start thinking about fun topics and clothing to write about. For today's post I'll be focusing on something that until a few weeks ago was completely alien to me and lacking entirely from my wardrobe- the jumpsuit.

Jumpsuits are something that I've always admired, but never thought I could make work for my body shape. I've envied and coveted the likes of plus-size fashion bloggers ArchedEyebrow and Callie Thorpe rocking their beautiful jumpsuits, full of confidence and pride and wishing I too could find something so fabulous to fulfil my wishes. 

Enter, the retro jumpsuit from River Island: 

When I first stumbled upon this pretty little number in my local River Island, I actually didn't realise it was a jumpsuit. I had been in the market to pick up a fun printed shirt-dress for work and thought this might just do the trick; little did I know it would be the answer my prayers and put a quick end to my jumpsuit woes! 

There are many things that I really love about this wee gem of a jumpsuit, from the short shorts that are just the right length between modest and risqué, the printed belt that cinches the waist and the tiny gold buttons that add just the right amount of glam factor. One thing really stood out for me though....

The print. 
Isn't it simply divine?!
 I'm not usually one to be a fan of browns and beige shades, but the vibrancy of the 60's inspired print completely overrules any colour choices in my book! The large floral motifs read really nicely both closer up and farther away, giving this jumpsuit an interesting appeal.

If you read my blog regularly or know me either online or in real life, you'll know that I'm pretty much obsessed with prints. The stranger and more unusual the better! This ticked all of those boxes and more for me.

 

In regards to sizing, I'm wearing a UK size 16 here. Now- full disclaimer- I am definitely not a size 16. This jumpsuit is very generously sized and aside from a little gaping around the chest area, it fits more of less like a glove. I was very impressed with the generosity of sizing, particularly in the bum area as this is one region in which I am particularly blessed! 

If you're thinking of making a purchase of this lovely item (and why shouldn't you- it's currently on sale!) I'd recommend trying this on for size if that's an option for you, but if not I'd argue that you would be safe to size down. I've included a wee link to purchase at the end of this post for any interested parties!

 

Oh, and just in case you were wondering- it looks just as good (arguably if not better!) from behind:

To properly show off this beautiful outfit in all it's glory, I decided to enlist the help of my beautiful friend Leigh to organise a little impromptu photoshoot in my living room. We chose to go for a "you better werk" vibe which basically translates to me looking sassy as hell and channelling my inner bad-ass boss bitch- something that works really well with this jumpsuit! 

We were both overjoyed with the results, and hope that you like them too:

 

 

Outfit Details 

Hair Flower: George @ ASDA

Jumpsuit: River Island

Tights: H&M

Shoes: Primark

Et voilà! I hope you've enjoyed seeing my jumpsuit joy - is this something you'd wear, or do you have another wardrobe lust you're looking for? Let me know!

I've recently been fortunate enough to be blessed with something of a rarity for me these days- free time! So if you read and keep up to date with my blog you'll be seeing more of my face around- I promise! I've been involved with a few really exciting projects lately, including a collaboration with the beautiful Leyah Shanks of The Body Confidence Revolution which I'm hoping to post about soon! 

Until next time my darlings
Love and kisses, 
Lovelustloves xo

Spotlight on... Atomic Mingo

Hello kittens! 

I hope that today's blog post finds everyone well. I'm keeping true to my word from my last post and trying to blog on a much more frequent basis and today I'm shedding a little spotlight on a new business that's not long been established but has already gained somewhat of a cult following across social media- it's the delightful Atomic Mingo!

Many of you will already be familiar with the adorable Miss Lixie Lou or CreepyLittleThings on Instagram who is a pinup mama and blogging queen over at misslixxielou.blogspot.com. She is the brainchild behind the fantastic new brooch brand that I'll be discussing today and is truly a woman after my own heart! She has a deep affinity for all things girly and kitsch- sound like anyone you know? Haha! 

A little selection of the gorgeous brooches for offer at Atomic Mingo 

It's no secret that brooches are a common accessory choice within the pinup and rockabilly communities- with brands like Erstwilder becoming increasingly popular it seems as though everyone is after a sweet pin to complete their vintage inspired ensembles. Atomic Mingo however are offering something truly beautiful and unique within the realms of kitsch brooches. Their designs are perfection. Not only do they create sweet little trinkets such as cats, pineapples and milkshakes but now they are carving a real name for themselves making famous cult film characters into wearable art! 

At the time of writing this blog post Atomic Mingo have six film characters that have made their way into brooch form- Rizzo and Frenchie from Grease, Edward Scissorhands and (perhaps my favourite of all) Wade Walker, Hatchet Face and Wanda Woodward from Cry Baby!! 

Now anyone who knows me at all knows of my keen love of all things kitsch, bright and film-related - all of these are elements that I try my best to incorporate into my everyday style as much as I can! Ever since the first designs were released I've been desperate to get my hands on some Atomic Mingo goodies which has proven to be no mean feat- these designs are incredibly popular so be aware that they sell out fairly quickly! 

So many pretty things!

After a bit of time however, I was finally able to make my first order to Atomic Mingo. I had been jonesing on the Frenchie brooch (she is my pastel pink 50's doppelgänger) however she had sold out almost instantaneously so I instead opted for the Rizzo and Cry Baby brooches (Rizzo is a gift for a dear friend, so will be passed on to her after I've styled her into a few gorgeous outfits!). 

Once I had placed my order direct from the Atomic Mingo Etsy store (linked at the bottom of this post) my parcel arrived in Scotland from Australia after about 9 days, which I believe to be a completely reasonable time frame to wait for beautiful things. The brooches arrived wrapped individually and neatly in bubble wrap with some adorable business cards tucked in beside them. After factoring in the current exchange rate and international shipping costs, these brooches cost around £13 each which I think again is completely reasonable for the great quality and craftsmanship you're getting.  

One of the features that I love about these brooches is that they're individually numbered on the back, so you can see where they were made in the batch (mine are 59/60 and 37/60 respectively). It's these little touches that make me such a fan of small businesses - it's lovely to see where your things come from and to see that they've been created with love and care!

My gorgeous brooches 

These brooches are absolutely divine, they are durable, made of solid wood and completely gorgeous and so naturally I had to come up with a sweet outfit to showcase them off to the best of their ability! With the help of my lovely friends Leigh and Melody we jaunted into some local woods to play dress-up and have a little photoshoot fun.

I decided to take influence from the decade that both Grease and Cry Baby are set in, in keeping with the brooch theme and channelled my inner 50's pinup princess to come up with the following look, made complete by the addition of my lovely new trinkets:

Feeling like Snow White

Cry Baby is always close to my heart 

For this outfit, as well as showcasing my brooches I was also desperate to display my new Mary Blair trains skirt from my old favourites Pinupgirlclothing. This is easily one of my favourite items in my wardrobe and I cannot believe how long it's taken me to become a fan of the Jenny skirt! I've seen pinups from various forums rave about how magnificent these skirts are and seen the #JennyJanuary and #JennyJuly tags across websites such as Tumblr and Instagram and still not been convinced that this would work for me, in part due to the sheer volume I was concerned that the skirt would make me look much bigger than I am. I'm pleased to say however that I was happily mistaken! This skirt fits like a dream and the volume is perfect for prancing around the woods (for reference here I'm wearing my usual size of 2x which fits like a dream on my 36" waist).

I'm also absolutely in love with the story behind this skirt- Mary Blair was an American Artist who worked for Disney back in the 1940s and 50s and was responsible for creating concept art for the original animated features of classic films such as Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. Moreover, Blair stuck her head up above the parapet using her drive to succeed in a male-oriented world of illustration  and her love of unusual artistic elements to create truly unique and beautiful works of art - a true feminist hero!

After her passing in 1978, Mary Blair is still regaled as an original Disney master, which made her artwork the subject of much interest to Pinupgirlclothing's creative director Micheline Pitt. Working in conjunction with the estate of Mary Blair, Pinupgirlclothing were able to create a capsule collection of beautiful clothing inspired by Blair's whimsical and kitschy prints and designs and this trains print skirt is only one example of this. You can find the entire collection here to swoon after if you so desire!

 

Mary Blair's signature on her train print 

 

I switched brooches to show off my gorgeous Rizzo from Atomic Mingo here

"Eat your Heart Out!"

I feel like these brooches work absolutely perfectly with the little outfit that I came up with. I wanted my colour scheme to be bright and bold with lots of colour co-ordination but to still make my  brooches the star of the show. 

What I also found great about this outfit is that I could switch brooches halfway through our woodland shoot and both the Rizzo & Cry Baby brooches worked equally well! The colours are bold, but not so much so that they overpower the rest of the outfit. These brooches also fasten with a simple pin at the back so there's no need to worry about them leaving holes in any of your favourite clothes either  - another added bonus!  

Alison from Cry Baby or Sandra Dee from Grease- either way I'm channelling my best 50's good girl vibes here! 

Lakeside with Wade "Cry Baby" Walker- can you think of anything better?!

 

Sweet little details 

After wearing these gorgeous brooches about all day I can honestly say that I am completely in love with them! (As I strongly suspected I would be!) I would full-heartedly recommend these to anyone who was considering making a purchase and I cannot wait until payday so that I can get my hands on more of these fantastic designs and style them up with a variety of cute outfits!

Outfit Details:

Top: Dorothy Perkins (size 16) 

Belt: New Look (L)

Hair Flower: Pinupgirl Clothing 

Brooches: Atomic Mingo

Skirt: Pinupgirl Clothing (size 2x)

Stockings: What Katie Did (size M/L)

Shoes: BHS (customized by me)

What do you lovely readers think of Atomic Mingo brooches? I'd love to hear your thoughts! 

Until next time jitterbugs, 

Lovelustloves x0