Loving the Lace! Pepperberry review

I have a few fancy event coming up, so I was on the look out for a fancy dress.

When I saw Lace Jacquard Full Skirt Dress at Pepperberry, it certainly fit the bill!

This was one of the few items made in the "Super Duper Curvy" size, which allows 5cm extra at the bust. Going by my last orders, this seemed like a good idea! So when the dress was put on sale, I snatched it up in 18 Super Duper Curvy.

Isn't it beautiful? But, too large - everywhere. I had to tie the ribbon tight to get waist definition, which made the thick fabric of the dress bulky - the stiffness of the skirt also made all the excess fabric stick out a lot. But, good news I suppose, it also seemed large at the bust! Which meant I could get a 16 Super Duper Curvy!

I'm so happy with the fit of this!

The waist-to-bust ratio of this is actually perfect for me! As you can see, I don't have to wear the ribbon at all to get the more nipped in look:

And the bust is perfect! I think if it was any smaller, it would make the waist ride up, but I would say this has the shape of rather 'pointy' breasts, so the apex had a bit extra fabric, whereas the top of my boobs was a nudge small-ish, but I suppose that is just the question of which bra you are wearing.
I have quite large upper-arms, so cap-sleeves are my enemy - both for the aestatic reason (which is easily solved by my matching shrug - I did as CurvyWordy and bulk-bought shrugs in every color off eBay!), but they also so often cut in and are too small. Not in this dress! They definitely had room enough, and stood out in a very flattering way - if the weather turned too hot for a shrug, I wouldn't mind exposing those :)
The fabric is quite heavy and structured, which means there's abseloutly no cling. There is a separate lining, which I honestly don't see the need for in this type fabric, and since the contrast between the nice, thick, lace fabric and the cheap, synthetic-feeling fabric of the lining, I think it would have felt like a nice dress if it wasn't there at all, but that might just be me.

I think this could be an appropriate dress for lots of occasions, it could even be a casual dress if you had a bit more dressed up style than me. For a party dress for a young person such as myself, I do feel like the neckline could have been just a tad lower (this was my mothers input as well!) but I suppose for family or non-evening do's it's quite nice in this way, and I'm definitely looking forward to wearing it!

But oh, a splinter in my joy of this dress is, that Pepperberry no longer makes this size :( On the phone, they told me that Super Duper Curvy was a test run to see how it sold, and seeing as there aren't any new SDC's, I guess they wrote that project off. Pepperberry, please don't! Another thing I noted is, that this dress doesn't show up when searching by the size - I wonder what other goodies are not showing up? :o We could miss out on some of the best items, eek!

*EDIT: As pointed out to me on my facebook, you can find more Super Duper Curvy items at this link!

Showing off!

This is little outfit post that's basically just me showing off, hehe :b

My parents recently went to Vietnam, and having been told that there are lots of good tailors in Hoi An, they brought along my measurements to see if they could bring me home something custom-made.

My mother ordered a dress, a tunic and a suit jacket for me.
The suit jacket was....... bad. The fit was not all bad, better than a store-bought, but still not quite tailored (the bust-to-waist ratio was off) and I just really, really didn't like the style, but fortuneatly my grandmother did, so I quickly passed it to her.
Next up was the dress:

It's quite wonderfully made- the patterned fabric is very thin and transparent - a brown silk lining is sewn under the whole body, and is a skirt from the waist-band down - it's left transparent at the sleeves, and is reinforced with a thicker, more textured fabric at the neckline and sleeve-hems.

The shape is created from princess seams, and the back is also made of 4 panels.
The fit was off a bit in a weird way - it seemed like the piece between the shoulders and waist-band was too long - I fear they may have made room for boobs on the back as well. Luckily this was an easy fix (for my mom - I can't sew!), despite the interesting way the back-zipper is set up: It doesn't zip up the neck!

I really think this is a beautiful dress, though I think it gives me a quite different body-shape! It's a little tight in bust area, in a rather minimizing way, and the rather skimmed lower body (it was a little snug on the lower belly when I got it, though it appears I've gotten a bit smaller since...) gives me a smaller, straighter figure.

Then we have the tunic:

Isn't it lovely? I rather like the length, as I don't mind going short to a club etc. It's obviously not fitted, but it still manages to define some of my figure. The style is very much me overall, so I have to give my mother credit on this one :b It's also very easy to accessorize!
It is rather clingy, however, and transparent for that matter, so I need to wear something under it, which I don't mind - makes me a bit more dressed than just wearing a flowy tunic and tights.

This was also a bit too large all over, but we took it in at the waist a bit, which actually worked well:

I really like how both things have some common elements - the middle panel and the collar for example, which does give it a bit of eastern feel, without looking out of place.

My parents got abseloutly amazing clothes made - since they could go back for a second fitting, they got truly perfect tailored clothing. And very beautiful pieces at that, I've wanted to sneak a couple of those things in my weekend bag after visiting them!

Well, that was me for showing off :b I've got a whole stack of things I want to write about and review, but was a bit lazy this week, so expect it later xD

Is Paradiso Plume paradise?

When the first spring news come out in Bravissimo's site, the Paradiso Plume really caught my eye. I've been whining about that there aren't many half cups anywhere near my size, so this was like an answer to my prayers: It came up to J! I was still a bit sceptical however, since in most of Bravissimos bras (except full-cups) I'm probably more like a 34JJ, than a J, so I called Bravissimo, and they said that this was based on their other half-cups, but just extended the size range a bit (hope this trends continues!), but should be much like their other bras size wise, aka. not running bigger, which was what I had hoped for. I think they also said that the wires were a bit more stable, which has been a peeve with a half cups like the Demi Diva, so at least that's some good news.
I gave it a shot in 34J

Oh, isn't it just *sigh* - despite it being too small for my larger breast (I see that on this picture it isn't actually that obvious.... Darn, I must have hunched my shoulder forward or something... You'll have to take my word for it!), I decided to keep it. I was just about to pick off the label, when I leaned forward, and when I stood back up, my boob had practically fallen out of the cup - which means it is way to small to make do :(

Not giving up, I ordered a 36J - the 34band was quite good, and I didn't need larger at all, but in desperate times, I would make do with closing it on the inner-most hook, and altering it when it stretched out. So without further ado, here it is in 36J:

I seriously think the difference between my boobs is bigger!

So different in size O.o

Much better! On my larger breast, it has that nice "filled to the brim" look (and it's not just a look, it is indeed very filled). It's also a purple-shape, in the sense that it's slightly minimized from the side, but very nice and round.

The fabric is quite stiff, which I felt was very supportive. It's a 4 part cup, with the 'bulky' part of the seams made on the inside:

I do feel like the panels closest to the middle should have been made to allow a bit more volume there, perhaps by being more curved. The outermost panel is connected up in the strap, which helps get a narrower shape.
The wires are definitely more stable than on a lot of other Bravissimo half cups, so that's really good - they are only slightly wider at the top than at the bottom.
The gore is as narrow as it can be, and is pretty high as is typical for half-cups, which also means it's a little difficult to get it to tack on me.
The band is on the stretchy side, but I think the seams are more stretchy than the mesh, which I think works well to prevent it cutting in. The straps are nice and wide, and fully adjustable

A fan of the vibrant print, and the sheer band, I decided to get the matching thong in 2XL for the complete look.

The set is quite nicely done - all details of the bra is mirrored on the bottoms:

  Print, obviously, pink trims, and front bow.

Bow on back og thong and on the bra straps.

Sheer band and loops as trim. Regarding the sheerness, you can see it's not quite the same - the thongs mesh is much thinner, and much stretchier - I appreciate that the bra is made of a more stable fabric, since it actually has to carry the weight of more than the garment it self.

I've never actually bought sets, so this is new for me, and I have to say, I love it :b I feel very dressed up, even though I'm, you know, almost naked xD Without further ado, I nervously present the full set to you: