Tuesday Treat - Good Jeans

If you're anything like me, a good pair of jeans are hard to find, especially as it seems like as soon as I find a decent pair I'm shrinking out of them (not that I'm complaining!). So when I was asked by Daxon (you may have spotted the button in the sidebar) if I'd like to review an item from their new plus size range I jumped at the chance. I'd never heard of Daxon before, but apparently Daxon is part of Redcats, which is the 3rd largest home shopping organisation in the world. I'm all for a bit of home shopping! I chose this pair of indigo straight leg jeans by Celaia in a size 18 (they go from a 10 to a 24), which were £37 (more than I'd usually spend, but currently reduced to £22) and waited anxiously for them to come. I didn't have to wait long and was pleasantly surprised when they arrived.

The problem I have with jeans is that I have a small waist, big tummy and short legs. So to get jeans that fit in all these places is near on impossible. Most of my jeans are way too long, and this isn't helped by the fact that as I have to get a size that will be comfortable on my tummy they will then slip down because they're too big on the waist. These jeans are a perfect leg length for me, and I can wear them with heels or flat shoes without treading on the hem. If you are taller than 5'2" you might want to go for a longer length though. I went for straight leg, where I usually chose bootleg or similar because I can tuck them into boots that way too. Perfect. They are a little snug around the tummy and waist, which I was disappointed in. I almost ordered a size 16, since all my other size 18 jeans are almost too big for me now, but I'm glad I didn't. Going by the measurements on the Daxon website, I would be a 26 though! Another thing I like about these is that they don't have any elastic in the waistband. I'm not a fan of elasticated waists on jeans, but in plus sizes they seem to be the norm. 

I can tuck them into my Uggs...

I can wear them with flats...

 ...or with heels...

...although probably best that it's not at the same time...

They're made by Celaia, another brand I had no previous knowledge of, but a quick google tells me they're a French brand who also supplies to LaRedoute. I was impressed to discover that they guarantee their clothing for a year, which goes to show the quality. And also means that when I inevitably break the zip (I seem to be heavy on zips...) they'll replace it.

Daxon currently only deliver to the UK, Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, Northern Ireland and BFPO Germany, and charge £2.95 for standard delivery. If you spend over £60 at the moment you can get free delivery with the code 8024.

All in all, I would definitely recommend Daxon, and will be shopping with them again. I've got my eye on this swimsuit...now to just get some pennies from somewhere! Did I mention it's my birthday tomorrow...

Hx

Item provided for review consideration. Opinions 100% my own. Please see disclosure policy for more information.

Tuesday Treat - Looking after the tatas

Yeah it's Wednesday....oops

Apologies to my male followers, this post is one for the ladies! Well, there will be pictures of breasticles (not mine!) so you may want to keep reading...

One thing that doesn't seem to have shrunk like the rest of me are my boobs. When I last did my measurements around a month ago (I will be doing them again some time this week) the only place where I hadn't lost inches was around the bust. Although my back size is now smaller, and they need more support now...boobs are after all mostly just fat. I have always been, ahem, rather busty, and got my first proper bra at the tender age of 9. Yes, 9 ladies and gents, you can thank my Grandmother for that apparently. Before I started this weight loss journey I wore a bra around a 40F-FF, and now, realistically I'm about a 36-38E-F. Why so vague, Helly, I hear you cry. Well, because I desperately need to get the girls measured. I know that ALL of my current bras are the wrong size, the straps slide down, the wires dig in, the clasps are done up as tight as they'll go and things still aren't right. I also need a decent sports bra, as my current combination of normal bra plus super tight compression sports top isn't going to cut it much longer. So, with a boob in each hand (er, wut?) after Chrimbo I'll be marching down to a department store near you (or near me...) and getting these bad boys accounted for. Here are some of the over the shoulder boulder holders I've got my eye on...

Tango by Panache from Bravissimo £20, down from £25, 28-38 DD-H

Limited Edition Padded Spot Bra from Marks and Spencer £16, 30-36 DD-GG, Thong £6 Size 6-18

(Sorry about the teeny pic, click the link to see it better)

Showgirl Tempt Me Bra by Curvy Kate from Brastop.com £18.95 28-38 DD-GG

Tease me Bra by Curvy Kate from Brastop.com £14.20 28-38 DD-GG

Lola Luxe Basque from Bravissimo £50 28-38 DD-K

Rawr.

And a couple of sports bras. Your funbags need support while you're working out, or, in the words of Bangs and a Bun, they'll turn into sandbags. Click the link for an awesome post about sports bras!

Shock Absorber Max Support Level 4 Bra from Brastop.com £30 28-40 D-HH

Max Sports Bra Top by Shock Absorber from Bravissimo £24 down from £30 28-40 D-HH

All of the sites linked to ship internationally, and even better, have sales at the moment :) I can particularly recommend Bravissimo as they're just so helpful. Whenever I've asked them a question about absolutely anything, they've been really prompt with their answer, friendly and I just feel comfortable talking to them about my hooters.

So, will you be treating your tatas this Christmas? After all, they are your breast friends....

Hx

Tuesday Treat!

I don't have a specific Tuesday treat for you today, but I found this on Pinterest and thought I'd share it. It made me laugh out loud! Thanks Cyn!

If you use Pinterest, you can follow me here (and leave your links for me to follow you too!) or just ask if you want an invite - my contact details are in the right side bar.

Have you got a collection of inspirational images or quotes? Pinterest is fast becoming my new obsession!

Hx

Tuesday Treat - simple pleasures

Today's treat is a simple one, but something I don't often do. Buy yourself a magazine...and read it! I quite often buy mags for the freebies, recipes or interesting articles, but I rarely get the chance to read it. So, when my other half is at his second job on Friday evening and the kids are in bed I am going to turn off the telly, my phone and my laptop and sit down and read. If the magazine has a freebie with it, all the better! This month's Glamour has a free Nails Inc polish worth £11 if you're in the UK. As you can imagine I was all over that like a dieter on cake... ;)

What's your treat of the week?

Hx

Tuesday Treat - Say it with...

Flowers! A simple way to perk yourself up if you've had a bad week, are feeling down or to celebrate a good week. You can spend as much or as little as you like and every time you look at them you'll be reminded of your success overall and spurred on to keep going! I haven't treated myself yet today, but I'm hoping Mr F-G-S has got the (numerous and heavy handed) hints I've been dropping!

Interflora £29.99

Tesco Flowers £19.99

Bloomin Delightful £13.99

iFlorist £69.90 (we can dream, right girls?)

Of course, your £5 bunch from your local supermarket will do too :) Mr F-G-S has just walked in flowerless, so I'll have to dream on...

What will you be treating yourself to this week?

Hx

Weekly Weigh In - not as bad as I thought it would be!

By some miracle I managed to lose another pound! I cannot believe it one bit, after the week I had last week. I will not get complacent about it though, and this week I'm going to attack it with renewed vigour. I only need to lose anther pound to reach 2 stone stince I started WW, and it will be mine this week!

I'll be back later with a Tuesday Treat and will update you on my Operation Fit and Fabulous progress later in the week.

How have you all done lately?

Hx

Tuesday Treat! Lush goodies review

Hi! Tuesday treat on a Wednesday for you!

As part of Operation Fit and Fabulous I was sent some Lush goodies to review. I'm a huge Lush lover and love their bath bombs and bubble bars as an affordable treat every now and then. Even my boys love an Ickle Baby Bot bath fizzer, and Ollie always asks for a robot when we pass the shop. So you can imagine my delight when a package of three new products to try was handed to me by the postman last Tuesday.

The three things I was sent were a Phoenix Rising bath ballistic, a Rose Jam Bubbleroon and a Friends with Benefits massage bar.

Rose Jam Bubbleroon - £3.50 each

The first thing I chose to try out was the bubbleroon. Up until recently I've stuck to bath ballistics on my trips to Lush, but I got given a bubble bar for my birthday this year and haven't looked back! You crumble them under running water for an amazing bubbly bath that smells divine. Lush describes Bubbleroons as macaroon inspired bubble bars with a shea butter and coconut oil base and a coconut oil cream centre. Unfortunately mine arrived crumbly but it didn't matter as you crumble them into the water anyway, and if you were clever you could save half for another time ;)

I not usually a huge fan of rose or floral smells, but this wasn't overpowering at all, and actually made me feel really girly sitting there in a pink bath surrounded by 11tybillion bubbles smelling of roses!

I wouldn't say my skin felt overly moisturised, but it was by no means dry at all, unlike some bubble baths I've never found a Lush bubble bar drying on the skin.

Friends with Benefits massage bar - £6.50 for 65g
Getting a massage from my other half is about as likely as George Clooney landing his helicopter in my street, knocking on my door with a rose between his teeth, whisking me off to a 5 star Parisian hotel and having his wicked way with me, and then feeding me deep fried Mars bars in the morning. Ok, so that's an overly long analogy, but you get the picture! So, I had to resort to using the massage bar on myself.

Lush say it is a sexy massage bar with a chocolate orange scent for enjoying with your very best friends. The smell of tagetes, the essential oil from African marigolds, has notes of chocolate to it.  So here we blended it in a fragrance with cooca absolute, then put that in our lovely fair trade organic cocoa butter, which has its own strong chocolate notes too. 

The result is a massage bar with benefits: cocoa butter and shea butters to give your body a moisturised glow, tagetes to help sore, red or damaged skin and a posh chocolate fragrance that leaves you smelling irresistible to everyone around you. All you have to do is reap the rewards. 

The scent to me reminds me of those yoghurt coated raisins you get - sort of creamy but with a definite sharpness to it. I started by rubbing the bars on my thighs and as the bar warmed up it melted and glided over my skin, leaving a film of shea butter. It wasn't sticky at all but would be too much for everyday moisturising

- although perfect for it's intended use if your partner is more amenable than mine! I rubbed in the residue and my skin was left soft and hydrated, and I can (only) imagine how nice it would be when used for a proper massage.

Phoenix Rising Bath Ballistic - £2.95 for 100g

Bath Ballistics are my favourite of all the Lush goodies, my favourites being Mrs Whippy, Honey Bee, Butterball and Vanilla Fountain - if you know Lush you'll know these are all quite similar, creamy, vanillary scented bath bombs. So Phoenix Rising was quite different for me, as Lush says he'll release gentle shea butter, cocoa butter and jojoba oil to leave your skin feather soft, and exotic essential oils of fruit and spices, which take your mind on a flight of fancy to distant shores where you are lying on a beach drinking spiced rum. I'm not usually a fan of spiced scents, but this is a very delicate spiciness, and it's so pretty! The outside of the bomb is a lovely purple colour, with gold lustre sparkles which float around in the bath making it look all potion like and mystical. Then when you get to the middle of the bathbomb it turns green, which turns the vivid purple murkier and somehow even more mythical. Every now and then the piece of cinnamon bark that was on top of the bomb emerges from the depths and it will be great for cold days when you need warming up! My only complaint was the colour it turned my bath afterwards...but I can live with that!

Overall, I would completely recommend these products, or any Lush goodies, to anyone who'll listen to me rambling on about them. My favourite was the Bubbleroon, and I'll be checking out the other "flavours" Green, and Yuzu & Cocoa next time I get to a Lush store. Go for Phoenix Rising if you're a fan of spice, or if you're not and want something different. The massage bar wasn't for me, at least until I trade the old man in for a newer model, but if your better half is more willing definitely give it a go. You can buy these online at www.Lush.co.uk now and in Lush stores from 15th October.

How will you be treating yourself this week?

Hx

PR sample provided for review. Opinions are my own and 100% honest.

Tuesday Treat!

I'm back, two posts in one day. I think I'm coming down with something!

I know this is odd, and I know I'm waaaay too old for it but I really want a name necklace! I was never allowed one as a girl because my lovely Mum was worried about weirdos and perverts, but now I'm almost 30 and live in a (mostly) leafy suburb I think I'm safe. What do you think? Shall I treat myself?

My name's not Carla, by the way, it's Helen. You know, just in case someone wants to buy me one...

What will you be treating yourself to today?

Hx

Tuesday Treat!

Hello!

It feels much later in the week than only Tuesday, I think it's because the OH has been off work so every day blends into the next and the weekend was no different to the rest of the week! Not good for the diet...

Anyway, on to this week's Tuesday treat! You can see the link in the sidebar to my other blog, Nail Newbie which gives you a clue to my other obsession! I paint my nails 3 or 4 times a week and have collected about 150 nail polishes (don't tell the OH). It actually helps with the weight loss, as instead of picking at snacks in the evening I paint my nails and that way I can't eat without ruining them! Or that's my excuse anyway...

Anyway, as a real treat a few weeks ago I ordered this polish from American brand O.P.I on ebay. O.P.I polishes are hard to come by in shops here (I think some department stores and salons might sell them) and the new collection retail usually for around £10 a bottle. But by being a bit savvy and shopping around on places like ebay, amazon and discount cosmetic websites you can pick them up for around half that. This polish is from a brand new collection by O.P.I called Nice Stems, which contains 3 other pink polishes and this one, I Lily Love You, which is meant to layer over the others to create different looks. I have a LOT of pink polishes, so I just added I Lily Love You to my vast collection.

How pretty?

A nail polish is a fab non-food treat or pick-me-up, especially for an addict like me!

What will you be treating yourself to?

Hx

PS if you want to see pictures of this polish in action, so to speak, check out my blog tomorrow!

Tuesday Treat

Hello!

I'm celebrating this Tuesday - as I said in my previous post I've now lost a stone following the Weight Watchers ProPoints plan. So, I treated myself today to a few nail polishes, and a product I've wanted to try for a while: Superdrug Vitamin E Hot Cloth Cleanser.

(Image from www.superdrug.com)

This product has set the beauty blogging world all a flutter. Priced at just £3.99 (although currently on offer for £2.99) it is a cheaper alternative to more premium skin care brands. It comes with a soft muslin cloth (although any will work just as well) and smells gorgeous! A real treat for your skin, without adding any inches to your waistline (or taking too many pounds from your purse!)

What are you treating yourself with this week?

Hx

Tuesday Treat!

Ok, so I know it's Wednesday but my internet connection was funny all day yesterday so I didn't get to post :( BUT the idea is every Tuesday (which is the day I get weighed) I will share with you a non-food treat to either celebrate a loss, spur me on, or cheer me up after a bad week! This week it's a mixture - I am celebrating a loss, but it was only half a pound which I am a little disappointed with since I felt I'd had a good week. So, my pick me up this week is a fruity little number! I love fresh scented bath products and Those Lemonade Days Bath and Shower Gel by Treacle Moon fits the bill perfectly. It's lemon scented but not overpowering, and doesn't leave my skin dry or irritated. And at only £2 from Tesco, it's an affordable treat too!

How was your weight loss this week? What will you be treating yourself with?

Hx