The Tess Munster Meet-Up at Yours Clothing

Hello!

So just this week I was lucky enough to be able to take the day off work and go up to Birmingham to meet the lovely American plus size model, Tess Munster. I was really looking forward to it not only because I couldn't wait to finally meet Tess in person after years of following her on her rise to model awesomeness but also because I had never been into a Yours Clothing store, as there isn't one near me and I had also never been to Birmingham.

When I arrived I stood in line for a very short time before I ended up having a little chat and taking some photos of us together. The fabulous Yours girls had really prepped the event and it seemed to go off without a hitch and was a great time.

It's really nice to see someone from North America over here branching out and closing the gap between the two plus size industries. Back home in Canada (and the USA), the blogger-brand participation isn't at all the same and I will miss it immensely when I go back there so these little steps taken from brands over here make me very happy.

Over all the day was fantastic and I am so glad I went. After meeting Tess, the lovely Diane from Fat Girls Like Nice Clothes Too who I haven't hung out with properly since our weekend at Plus London 1, years ago, took me around the city on a lovely tour!

Birmingham city centre is lovely and the Christmas markets were in full swing, which made it even nicer.

Thanks to all the hard work everyone put in at Yours Clothing for making the day amazing and thanks Diane for showing me around. It really made the day trip complete and I am so glad I went. 

xxToodalooKatie

Weekly Wants!

Good morning everyone!

So it occurred to me that I am madly lusting over so many things for the Winter season. There are so many brands coming out with interesting and fun things at this time of year in anticipation of Christmas too. Here are some of my favourite things this week from brands and shops that make unique and special pieces.

Find these goodies here:

Modcloth As Grid as it Gets 

Domino Dollhouse Thigh High Leggings in Onyx

Candy Strike Long Sleeved Ghost Girl Maxi Dress

Irregular Choice State of Flux Shoes - these shoes light up!! OMG! Adult light up shoes!

These are all on my ever growing Christmas wish list... in case you were all wondering what to get me. I kid!

xxToodalooKatie

Dazzle For No Reason!

Hello my lovelies!

I am back with a post of one of my new favourite outfits! Sometimes it's just nice to dress up in sparkly shoes for no reason. After having my hair done at the Carnaby Street event the night before, I tried to keep the curls alive and wore it down - I think it's safe to say that I will do whatever it takes to make my hair look like this more often. Anyways, enough chit chat, check out these lovely photos taken by my amazing friend, Tara.

What I'm wearing:

Check Shirt - Old Navy (USA - last winter)

Skirt - New Look (standard size 18 - recent)

Shoes - Hush Puppies (via TK Maxx - old)

Thanks for popping by!

xxToodalooKatie

French Curves - Dentelle Mania

(English below)

Bonjour mes amis! 

Je suis de retour aujourd'hui avec mon challenge préféré - French Curves. Le thème de Novembre est dentelle mania, alors nous célébrons notre amour de la dentelle! Je ne dispose pas de beaucoup de pièces de dentelle dans mon placard, mais je viens de recevoir cette robe en dentelle Evans que j’ai choisis de House of Fraser la semaine dernière! 

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Hello my friends!
I am back today with my favourite blog challenge, French Curves. The theme for November was lace mania, so we are celebrating our love of lace! I realised that I didn't have a lot of lace pieces in my closet, but it was just my luck that I received this Evans lace dress that I picked out from House of Fraser last week! I am in love with this dress. 

Comme toujours, le thème a été choisi par l'incroyable Vanoue de Curvy and Curly Closet et tous les blog qui sont deja poster son super! 

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As always, the theme was chosen by the amazing Vanoue from The Curvy Curly Closet and all of the posts that have gone up look amazing!

J’adore la dentelle car ca ajoute une touche de féminité à toutes les tenues.

J’adore cette robe et je sais que je vais la porter beaucoup pendant l’hiver, sauf avec des collants.

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My favourite thing about lace is that it has made a big come back and become fashionable, vintage chic and also add a touch of femininity to any outfit.

Robe/Dress - Evans via House of Fraser

Heels - New Look

Sac/clutch - Candy Strike

Go and check out all the other posts below! 

xxToodalooKatie

The Big Carnaby Street Light Up!

Hello!

So last week I went out to the official lighting of the Christmas lights on Carnaby Street where they were also having one of their 20% events. I have been before, and it's always a fun evening, with free nibbles and drinks in plenty of shops and lots of places participate in the 20% off discount. Here is a little recap of all the fun!

In the registration centre for the event, they had the lovely people from Umberto Giannini doing hair, and I had mine curled up and made all lovely by @danylknox. Here he is working his magic! (He works in the Selfridges at the Bullring in Birmingham and he is wonderful).

And the finished look - I am in love:

I spent the rest of the evening walking around shops and looking at all the fun stuff, like this amazing watermelon print crop top from Abandon Ship:

I had cola made in Detroit by the brand, Shinola. They make incredible watches and bicycles, and lots of lovely leather things - very American as you would expect.  I really wanted everything in the shop for Mr Toodaloo.

My last stop was Illamasqua where I sat in on a quick lip demo. I had no idea that Illamasqua did courses in store so might book in after Christmas to learn some new beauty skills.

And most importantly, here is what I wore!

I wore my new Dorothy Perkins metallic skirt with my Simply Be - Kelly Brook collection fluffy top* and Primark shoes. I also had on a necklace from Littlewoods*.

If you get a chance to check out these events on Carnaby street, I highly recommend them! It's a lot of fun and really lets you browse shops you may not have been in before. Everyone is really friendly and happy to chat too!

xxToodalooKatie

Garden of Arcadia - Evans - SS15 Preview

Hello!

This past month has been absolutely full of amazing events, as the Spring/Summer 2015 ranges for all brands are rolling out for preview. These are so of my favourite events to attend as brands are really excited to show off what they have been toiling away at over the past year or so.

This past week I attended Garden of Arcadia to see what they had in store for us in SS15 - and they did not dissapoint. Not only was the event beautiful and magical but the clothes and accessories coming our way are to die for. Evans, in particular have hit the nail on the head so to speak.

Before getting to the previews we went through an amazing garden archway, followed by an amazing array of little potted succulents, no living on my boat. Next, after grabbing a cheeky cocktail, we went and made our own lavendar bah salts to take home in gorgeous glass bottles - which I will be saving for my vacation in the Winter, where I will have a bath tub.

Here's Hollie making her bath salts:

Evans have the most amazing pieces coming in the new year and further on into Spring. It was so great to see the famous "green dress" in person that we all fell in love with from the catwalk show. It is remarkable in person and must be mine!

 For Spring, fresh, crisp colours like whites and lilacs are coming in with loads of bling. I am in love with this little crop top and blinged out shoulder jacket. I also, took a quick snap of some sassy metallic shoes which are so me. 

To check out more photos from the event, other brands that I saw, and what else I have been up to, follow me on Instagram!

xxToodalooKatie

Lovely Lips - Barry M 145

Good morning lovelies!

Today I bring you a quick post about my favourite lip colour of the moment. I am loving the deep bolder shades that are popular at the moment and rather than being drawn to my usual million shades of red, I have been wearing pinks for a change.

I always love wearing Barry M as they really agree with my lips, stay on and feel nice and on top of all that, they have such a wide array of colours to choose from at a good price point.

I have found myself wearing this Barry M 145 - a bright but rich pink that packs a punch and always gets compliments.

You can find it anywhere that sells Barry M, like Superdrup, Boots or Topshop and it's less than £7, so very manageable!

I am looking to get a few new colours for all those fancy holiday parties coming up so I would love to hear what your favourite lip colours are at the moment! 

Share in the comments!

xxToodalooKatie

CUT for Evans - AW14 Launch Party

Happy Monday everyone!

So with the weekend over, it's back to work and a mega busy week ahead full of exciting bloggy things. Before all this begins, I want to tell you about the Cut for Evans AW14 launch party that I attended a couple of weeks ago.

This Cut collection is designed by 2 fashion design students, Ellie Northway and Eve Turley and has 11 pieces. There are a variety of fabrics, textures and colours and overall is a really lovely collection with something for everyone.

My two favourite items from the collection are:

 Bright Multicoloured Contrast Digital Print Dress

Purple Digital Print Bomber Jacket

Here I am trying on a few bits from the collection as well:

This jumpsuit looked cute on a lot of the girls but just wasn't my favourite cut.

And now for a few pictures from the event - where I saw so many of my favourite bloggers and tried on a few other items from Evans - I am loving all the gorgeous colours in store at the moment.

Here I am with Hollie from Pretty Big Butterflies and Nancy from Sugar Darling - Aren't they gorgeous?

This pink crepe jacket is a must now that I have tried it on -the fit and colour are perfect!

The lovely ladies from GlamourLipsUK were at the event doing glitter lips for everyone! I am in love with they way they look and will definitely be getting some for Christmas parties this year! 

Excuse the blurry photo - but this is my favourite little ensemble that I put together, all of the items are in store now.

Apologies for the long winded post - I just had so much to share with you! If you are in London, pop into the Evans at Marble Arch as the selection is great at the moment and well worth a browse.  I'd love to know what you all think of the new Cut collection!

xxToodalooKatie

Stories... by Kelly Osbourne - Chapter One - Part Two

 Good morning lovelies!

I am back again, with part two of Hollie and I's collaboration showcasing Kelly Osbourne's amazing new collection Stories... 

For those of you who follow my blog, you will know that I have always been a mega fan of Kelly Osbourne, her being my main inspiration for hair styles since I was about 13, and I have just always loved her attitude towards dressing how you like and not worrying about what others think. 
This is another one of the many reasons why I was so happy to be wearing pieces that Kelly designed herself. I love that I can tell where little things have been tweaked and thought about, like generous fitting in the arms or just the shape of the garments - it makes all the difference. 

Today's post has two different pieces from the collection that Hollie and I love so much.
 First up, I ordered the Green and Navy Plaid Button Front Jacket which is like a godsend, as I have always wanted a plaid jacket. The cut is lovely, but does run large, and in retrospect I would have ordered a size down. In my head I ordered up a size to account for room in the arms but you don't need to, this has already been done. I am wearing a 2x here but could have stuck with my usual 1x or even an XL for a more fitted look. Regardless, I do love the look of the jacket and the pocket details and buttons are cute and sophisticated.

This is my favourite single shot of the day:

Next up is Hollie wearing the Heather Grey Cotton Detachable Collar Crewneck Sweater which is so soft and looks amazing. The cut was lovely and the detachable collar can be changed form black to white to suit your outfit. I also loved how the collar wasn't tight, there is plenty of room to wear a statement necklace without getting all the fabric bunched up. It's also worth mentioning the length as it isn't too short and won't creep up when worn with trousers or jeans. I may be adding this on to my next order. Hollies is wearing a 3X. Be sure to check out Hollie's post about it for all her thoughts, as she is after-all, the one wearing it!

Here is a quick closeup of the collar too:

So there you have it, thank you to all those who have stopped by to check out this post, and most of all, thank you Kelly, for creating such a fun collection that we can all enjoy. 
To get the collection, check out Bluefly if you are international or HSN for the USA and it goes up to a size 24 US.

Find more of the collection by checking out @storiesbyko 

Follow us all here:

Katie- ToodalooKatie: Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Bloglovin

Hollie - Pretty Big Butterflies: Facebook / Twitter  / Instagram / Bloglovin

Tara - Blogger & Photographer: Twitter /  Blog 

Chapter One, Kelly Osbourne, Kelly O, Chapter two, Secret Garden, ToodalooKatie