It's Prom Season!

Prom season is here-my daughter is in full blown hysteria and her prom isn't for another 5 weeks. She's a size 2 and I'm not worried one bit about her finding a gorgeous and flattering dress for her big night-you can walk into any store and find something right off the rack. For someone larger than a size 14, it's a little tougher. I found some beautiful gowns to give you an idea of what's available and possibly spark some ideas for your own outfit.



This dress is from Sydneys Closet which is a great place to find gorgeous plus size formal and cruise wear. Right now this dress is on sale for $229.




This is a custom dress by Monif C a designer who has some seriously cute and unique clothes for plus sizes. It's pricey at $478, which is one issue I have with some plus size designers-but Monif C is almost always priced competitively for well made and stylish custom clothing, so it's not an unrealistic price. And my daughter's size 2 dress? That's going to set me back around $350, so $478 isn't out of the ball park.



I've included this dress because it's an EXACT copy of one my daughter fell in love with at Cache (which doesn't carry anything larger than a 12)-so you CAN wear the same styles and be just as fashionable as the teeny tiny girls at school! It's being sold at Sydney's Closet, beginning in a size 14 and going up.

The Newest Specials Goin' On

Right now, with any $85 purchase at Hips and Curves you receive a free Glamazons calendar! Don't know who the Glamazons are? Girl, please! These GORGEOUS burlesque queens have all the moxie and panache that every one of us plus size women need to dig down and find. Go check out Hips and Curves for all those sweet "unmentionables" that you think won't possibly come in your size-trust me, they do..

Avenue has 20% off your online purchases up to $100 or 25% off if you spend over $100. Use coupon code AV81120 at checkout-and hurry cause this expires April 17th!

Myshape currently has free shipping both ways (just in case you need to do a return) and $25 off your first purchase with coupon code FM1PURCH or you can take 15% off any purchase for the next 5 days (till April 14th) with coupon code 5DAY15.

Coldwater Creek has 50% off EVERYTHING until midnight April 12th. Use coupon code WXH3125 at check out.

Are You Aching For Spring?

Here in Florida we're having that annoying weather, rainy and in the 60's one day, then sunny and 87 the next. I'm loving that I can bring my capris and short sleeve shirts out now and I've found some super cute things just for plus sizes:

These pink capris from Avenue are perfect for spring and summer. They're a cotton/spandex sateen with a lower waist and cuffs, so they're dressy enough for the office with a more structured top but you can also put on a gauzy swing top and be perfectly dressed for dinner on the patio.



This gorgeous black and white print top from missphit, a boutique line out of LA is so adorable over jeans or crop pants. The rounded neckline is shows an expanse of skin (who doesn't want to elongate their neck?) while still being modest enough to wear to work. Made of a soft jersey material this is perfect for summer evenings, and at only $39, a very affordable way to add in this season's ethnic inspirations without breaking the bank!

Philosophy Makeup Optional Skincare

I'm pretty lucky, in that I hate hot weather, hate sweating and really hate sunburns. So, I live in Florida-go figure. The upside to this is that I rarely go outside, so at 41 I really have pretty good skin. My biggest problem are hereditary dark circles under my eyes and I've been rather laissez faire about washing my face and taking my makeup off at night. Suddenly I went into a little bit of shock and realized I need to actually take care of business, since I'm looking at 42 in a few months. After a lot of research on Makeupalley I went ahead and ordered the Philosophy makeup optional kit which is a combination of products that when used together promise to give you such amazing skin that obviously, makeup becomes optional. I ordered my kit from a website that has disturbingly seemed to not exactly disappear, but has changed to a static page with an 800 number to call if you have questions. I went with the Radiant Rewards program, which is an autodelivery system that gives you a monthly payment option.

The kit retails at Sephora for $78 and includes

8 ounce purity made simple one-step facial cleanser,
1 ounce when hope is not enough firming and lifting serum,
2 ounce hope in a jar world-famous moisturizer for all skin types,
.5 ounce hope in a tube eye and lip firming cream
3 week supply of the microdelivery peel

As a "gift" a full size jar of the mini peel pads was included. I received my box ironically on the day that I had a facial, including a peel-so I obviously couldn't try everything out the minute I opened the box. I'm such a girl that I jumped up and down in the living room with the box squealing to my daughter's friends about how I got my new cleanser and so I would soon be looking as young as they are. They're all theatre kids, so they're used to overly dramatic people-just not overly dramatic mothers. After the girls smiled politely and one of the boys got up and jumped around with me, I took the box upstairs and went through the very prettily packaged contents. The samples of Amazing Grace perfume and body wash were in a sweet white organza bag and all the full size products were nestled in a lavender plastic insert.

The Purity Made Simple cleanser is in a word, FANTASTIC. A yellow creamy liquid it takes off makeup (including my waterproof mascara) and leaves my skin feeling soft but not slimy. The directions say to use it morning and night, but I've begun using it only at night and rinsing my face in the mornings with plain water.

When Hope Is Not Enough firming serum is nice. I put 5 drops in my palm and smooth it over my face, letting it sink in. I'm not really sure if it's made any difference at this point, but it feels really luxurious and spa like when I massage it in, so I'm gonna keep doing it just for the hedonistic purposes of spoiling myself.

Hope In A Jar moisturizer is just plain horrible. It's heavy, greasy and smells terrible. I used it 4 nights in a row (I couldn't even put it on during the day, it was just too much for my normal skin) and tried to ignore the stench as I went to sleep. I developed a scattering of small pimples around my hairline and temples which I don't think are purging-so that's sitting on my shelf collecting dust.

The peel is another AMAZING part of the kit-it's the standard crystals and activator deal and it really does scrub off the gunky top layer, leaving my skin soft and bright-very bright-newborn infant bright. Which only makes the dark circles stand out more. Lovely. But I do like the way it makes my skin glow, so I'll tackle the dark cirles with something else.

The Savior Jean b & lu

Finding trendy plus size clothing isn't difficult-you can see that WalMart has even jumped into offering cargo capris and a little black dress. Finding interesting, fun and well crafted clothing in plus sizes is a little bit more difficult. While I love Lane Bryant, Torrid and Avenue, I gravitate towards smaller designers that have boutiques I can shop online. b & lu is one such designer that I fell in love with recently. I received my first order from them recently-the savior jean which was originally priced at $39 but is currently on sale for $19 plus shipping. I know my measurements and ordered a size 20, which according to the size chart should fit nearly perfectly. I'm not hung up on sizes, each designer cuts differently and even within a stack of jeans one size 18 may be as large as an inch or more off from another.

Shipping was reasonable, but it took nearly a week with priority mail to get my package. It was wrapped in tissue and mailed in a standard USPS priority envelope. The actual jeans, well-they didn't fit well. Being lower rise than I expected, they were a smidge tight to button, since my waist is significantly smaller than my abdomen (thanks to 4 pregnancies), and the boot cut was much closer to a flare. The 32 inch inseam makes heels necessary with these. b and lu does have a liberal 30 day return policy, minus shipping charges, but I am notoriously lazy about packing up and heading to the post office, so for now they're folded and back in the bag until I decide whether to try them on another day or just donate them.