Swimwear shopping picks and tips for the big busted gal!

Hi guys,
Shopping for swimwear when you're fuller busted is a mini nightmare. I would go as far as to say it is my least favourite thing about going on holiday: and I love shopping!  It's also more expensive than shopping for a 'normal' bikini: there's no popping to Primark or George at Asda and picking up a couple of swimsuits for less than a tenner when your boobs need proper support.

Luckily, Bravissimo is my swimwear saviour. Not only do they stock their own brand of cupped and sized bikinis, they also stock all of the other huge fuller busted brands such as Triumph, Freya, and Panache. If you're rocking boobies bigger than a D cup then I think swimwear that is cupped for proper support is essential, and worth the extra money you have to pay. Here are some of my picks from Bravissimo's current range: Haiti tankini top £45, bottoms £23.
Stella bikini top by Panache, £31. Bottoms, £15.50
Belize tankini top £36, bottoms £18.
Madame butterfly bikini top by Freya £34, bottoms £23.

The tankini style is perfect if you have a slightly jiggly tummy - or new mummy stretch marks like me! I think you look slimmer the less flesh you show, so I'm a big fan of the tankini. I love the first Haiti tankini here: the blue band at the top of the bikini bottoms breaks the smooth line of the pattern of the tankini. This isn't great if you have hips, curves, or an hourglass figure. But it's perfect if you are slim with fuller boobs as it will create curves at your hips and draw attention away from the boobs.

The only problem with this tankini? It has halter straps! If you have very heavy boobs then you will find that when a halter bikini gets wet the weight of your boobs will cause friction and pain on the strap around the back of your neck -  I'm talking from experience here!! Wide flat shoulder straps are much more comfortable, and that's what I would recommend you look for.

I've included the blue Belize tankini here because that's the tankini I'm wearing right now: mine is in coral though, which was the colour Bravissimo made this in last summer.

I only have one swimsuit in my armoury (these are so expensive!) but I think its better to have one that fits properly than ten cheaper ones that don't. I've you're going on holiday and want lots of different swimwear looks but don't have a lot of money then my advice would be to buy one well fitting bikini top in a classic colour or pattern (I would opt for plain black but the nautical stripes shown above would also work). Then head somewhere much cheaper -  I'm thinking Primark - and pick up some contrasting mix and match bottoms and sarongs so you have lots of options and never get bored of your swimwear looks. This is what I did for my honeymoon and it worked really well!

Have you picked out your new season swimwear yet? And fuller busted girls, do you have any more bikini finding tips to share?

Love Tor xx

Bravissimo launches Pepperberry: Boobs of the world rejoice!

Hi guys,
Yesterday evening I went for a sneak preview of Pepperberry: the new fashion line offering from the wonderful folks at Bravissimo. Bravissimo have always done clothes (I had one of their plain white button-up shirts for my first work experience job!) but they've never been very exciting: simple pieces to solve the problem of gaping buttons more than anything else! Enter Pepperberry: this new range will solve all the problems the Bravissimo line did, but in a more exciting and fashion forward way:


Pepperberry product director, Beverley Latchford-Brown talked us through each piece in the collection, detailing where the inspiration came from, and how each piece had been slightly adapted to accomodate a larger bust. The range comes in normal sizes (8-18) but each piece is available in curvy, very curvy, and super curvy: curvy is similar to a normal highstreet bust size, whilst the very and super curvy are for the bigger boobed gals, and sized accordingly.

We were shown all of the inspiration boards for both the Spring/Summer and the High Summer collections. I love to see the inspiration boards along side the final pieces: its a great insight into how products evolve, and why they end up looking the way they do!

Jenny of The Style PA and Reena of Fashion Daydreams were also at the event, giving me the perfect excuse for gossiping and eating mini cupcakes!

This is my favourite dress from the collection: a subtle and more wearable take on this season's neon trend. It lands in high summer, and would be perfect for a summer wedding/fancy garden party (I've never been to a garden party, but I imagine this is what I would wear!) The straps are ajustable to make sure it fits you properly and the staps on their dresses are all wide enough that you can wear a proper bra underneath (fuller busted bras generally have thicker straps) This would be a life saver for me, as in the summer, visable bra straps are the bane of my life!

The collection launches on 21st March, and as soon as it does, i'll be there trying on the full range, and bringing you guys all the pictures. I'm ridiculously excited about the possibility of owning shirt and wrap dresses that don't pull or gape at the bust!

Love, Tor xx

Brilliant Bravissimo: A review

Hi guys,

Last week I was invited to Bravissimo for a bra fitting. I've always hated having my bra fitted: it's usually an uncomfortable experience, especially the fitting I had at La Senza, where when they realised they didn't do a cup big enough the woman insisted on putting me up 2 band sizes to get cup to fit and told me that was my correct bra size. I wore my bras like that for months, until I had a lovely fitting at Debenhams, where they put my in a proper sized bra. But the best fitting i've ever had was last week, at Bravissimo.

I think a lot of that was down to Michelle, my fitter, who was lovely and put me completely at ease, whilst chatting about anything and everything whilst we tried on hundreds of bras. Bravissimo fitters don't use tape measures, they fit by eye, and Michelle was amazing at choosing my size and finding something I would be comfortable with. I think that I was completely at ease whilst standing topless in front of a stranger says everything.

Because I have a large cup size but a comparatively narrow back width, it is usually really difficult to buy pretty underwear: my choice is usually "do I buy the black set or the white set". But not in Bravissimo. The range and amount of choice was a revelation! There were even padded bras available in my cup size! (Although I didn't get one, that's still a big wow!)

I opted for a very pretty set in black with a 1920s-style art deco pattern on it, in purple and mustard. More so than the pattern though, I love the fit: my boobs are lifted and separated whilst being supported better than they ever have before, and the extra lift means my clothes look and fit better too: since I got this new bra, putting on any of my old ones has felt like a disappointment. I'm going to make a big investment in the New Year and replace all my old badly fitting underwear with new Bravissimo stuff: the new bra makes it look like i've lost inches off my waist, and that's got to be worth a few quid on new underwear!! (That's how i'm justifying it to myself, anyway!)

I wished i'd taken some photos of the process, and better ones of the lovely relaxing changing rooms, but when your standing around wearing nothing but your knickers and tights, it's hard to remember to get your camera out as well! Still, if you're bigger busted and you want a bra that fits properly and looks amazing, it's definitely worth heading down to find out how great Bravissimo is for yourself.

Love, Tor xx

R is for Roasting...

....As in hot hot hot!!!

According to those reliable folks at the BBC weather centre, today has been the hottest day of the year so far. And once i'd finally escaped the office that meant hours of wandering around the city centre in the sun sucking on a mint magnum and hunting for the perfect red bikini top. It seemed like the perfect way to spend a sunny afternoon. However that red top was not to be found!

A fortnight ago I went to visit my sister in southampton with my parents, and we decided to do a spot of discount outlet shopping while we were there (and why not!) Pickings were slim apart from a lovely mustard shift dress from next of all places (!?) until we went into oasis and I found these:

Because what everyone wants to see right now is grainy shots of my lumpy bum and my appalingly untidy room.....

These Odille bikini bottoms were reduced from £26 each to just £1 a pair! A bargainalicious bargain I thought to myself as I snapped them up. The tops didn't come in cupped sizes and as I can't wear a standard sized top I decided to leave them on the shelf. However with the red polka dots and the red ditsy flowers I figured a plain red top would be perfect for both bottoms and be mix and match-able for my summer holiday. But now the last laugh is on me: I can't find a "fuller bust" (I hate that phrase!) red bikini top anywhere- even my old swimwear faithful Marks and Spencers has let me down! (Although I do almost quite like this design from their new DD+ collection, which consists of only 4 designs in my size. Sigh!):

As Roy Walker would say to Mr Chips, its good but its not the one. If anyone has any ideas on where i'll find the top I crave they are gratefully recieved. Otherwise i'm throwing caution to the wind and my £2 investment down the drain and splurging on this bad boy from bravissimo that comes in at just over £50 instead:

This seasons swimwear trends of bright colours, cut outs and one pieces are not for me (too eye catching, too figure revealing, and really unflattering, in that order) but looking like a 1950s bathing beauty/potential beach goddess? That I think i'm prepared to have a go at!

Lots of love,

Tor x