Tag: confidence

Cute Outfits And New Purchases.

Cute Outfits And New Purchases.

by Victoria ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello my loves, I hope you’re having a fabulous July so far! This month I finally got my last few assignments signed off for my level 4 in digital marketing which I’ve been looking forward to for what feels like the longest time. And now that my college work is all finished, I’ve got something new to look forward to – a trip away at the beginning of August! So, to prep for my little trip away next month I started having a think about all of the cute outfits I could bring along with me; which brings me to today post, some of my current favourite outfits and new purchases!

Over the last year and a half I’ve expanded my wardrobe and style so so much and that’s because I finally found the most essential item you need in your wardrobe..

CONFIDENCE!!

It sounds cheesy I know, but it’s true, having confidence and feeling great makes anything look good. Just over a year ago I was so self-conscious about how I looked and continually put my body down, and since then I’ve been on a huge self-love journey and I’m happy to say that 9 days out of 10 I have a good body love day, and on the day that I’m not feeling as great about my body as usual, I still accept my body and thank it for what it does for me.

So, now that you know that confidence is the best item in your wardrobe, here’s some cute outfits that I love to wear that I wouldn’t dream of wearing before! A lot of my favourite crop tops are from Shein because your girl is on a budget, but I’ve also got some really cute trousers and other pieces from sustainable brands like Lucy and Yak.

(Just an FYI – I’m not sponsored by any of the brands mentioned in this post but I’ve included the links to each item so you can find them easily if you wanted to get yourself any of the pieces below!)

First up we’ve got some super cute crop tops from Shein. The first four pictured are a similar shape which I found comfy and surprisingly supportive for bigger chested people (I’m an E cup for reference in case you’re wanting to pick any of these tops up) and then the two gingham tops are backless – strappy back tops which are very supportive because you can adjust the straps as you wish.

Next up we’ve got some more crop tops from Shein and two from Pretty Little Thing, the first four are Shein and the last two are Pretty Little Thing. The Shein ones are just super comfy and crop tops paired with comfy high waisted jeans and trousers are now an everyday go-to for me, and the other two are super cute for dressing up or down. I especially love the blue and white corset top because it looks so nice tucked into my jeans and gives you a really nice shape whilst still being super comfy to wear so it’s great for going out to drinks and dinner because it’s still comfy after you’ve eaten!

You know when you love a print so much that you want everything in it? Yeah, that’s how I felt when I saw this green spongebob-esk print so naturally I got it in 3 different tops! Each one is so cute and makes me feel fab everytime I wear them. (These are also Shein!).

Onto dresses! If you know me well, you know I’m not really a dress kind of gal, mainly because I always feel like I’m going to flash everyone and I struggle to find ones that I like on me due to being petite (length is usually an issue), but after buying these on a whim to continue getting out of my comfort zone I found that the different shapes and lengths these dresses are look great on! The first two are Shein and the last one is Pretty Little Thing. My personal favourite out of these three is the second one because it’s extremely supportive for big chests and is fitted in all the right places, oh and it’s lined!!

Next up we’ve got my collection of gorgeous trousers and dungarees from Lucy and Yak! They are one of my all time favourite clothing brands because not only do all their clothes fit and feel super comfortable, they’re also a smaller business who are all about sustainable clothing! And do I even need to mention how beautiful their prints are?!? And also if you were wondering, the blue mom jeans featured in my other outfits are also from Lucy and Yak and they are the comfiest best fitting jeans I’ve every bought – they’re actually high waisted rather than high rise so they sit at just the right place. The clothes are a bit pricier than other brands but 1000% worth it in my mind!

Finally we’ve got some cycle shorts and tee’s combos! I always though I couldn’t pull off the cute bike shorts and tee combos, but after debating it I bought some and now I’ve managed to gather a collection of around 8 pairs of cute patterned/coloured shorts with tee’s that look really cute with them (they’re currently in the wash but I’ve got a blue gingham pair, lilac gingham pair, black and white checked pair, pink pair, two black pairs and the two shown below). My personal favourite of these is the green gingham outfit because it’s just so cute! All of my cycle short outfits make me feel so badass and as a bonus they’re incredibly comfy!! Plus these are perfect for these really hot days where you just want to be comfy. And plus plus, you don’t get chub rub with cycle shorts!! (The Bambi tee is H&M, the green gingham shorts and cherry shorts are Asos and the Coca Cola tee is Primark!).

And that’s all of my cute outfits that I’ve got to show you for today! Maybe in a future post I’ll give you a rundown of all the cute outfits I decide to take with me on my upcoming trip away so you can see how I plan on packing for a week away in the UK during Summer (I’m pretty much 100% sure I’ll be over-packing so it’ll be interesting to see if I can keep my packing light!).

What’s your favourite piece or outfit from today’s post? Let me know in the comments below!

And remember, it doesn’t really matter what you’re wearing as long as you feel good. Your opinion about yourself is what matters, so go out, treat the world as your runway and wear what makes you feel good.

Have a fab day my lovelies!

Love,

Victoria Signature
Cute Outfits and New Purchases Pin

I Shaved My Head.

I Shaved My Head.

by Victoria ♥ 10 Comments

Hello my lovelies!! I hope your week hasn’t been too bad with everything going on outside our homes. To fight the boredom of staying home non-stop for a few days a lot of us are coming up with creative ways to spend the time, creating games, making art, and video chatting more people than ever before. And some people are wanting to get their hair cut so bad that they are cutting it themselves!

I am one of those people.

And as you can tell from the title of today’s post, I shaved my head! It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, but have been way too scared to actually do it.

But since we’re in quarantine until further notice.. I figured that if I hated it, I’ve got a few weeks to figure something out at least.

So, how did this all go down?

Well, on Monday I had decided that I wanted to get a pixie cut. And that afternoon the lockdown in the UK started.. so going to the hairdressers was no longer an option.

( I should note now that none of my family or myself are hairdressers in any form.. I just have experience with doing my own hair at home so I do the odd trim and colour here and there)

Undercut

So, me being the careless person when it comes to hair in the family, figured I’d get my mum to give cutting my hair a go. We decided to begin with cutting a reasonable amount off with scissors, and then we decided to do an undercut, so we could get closer to a pixie bob to begin with.

Then, about a day later I decided that we should increase the undercut and have it go from my temples, which essentially made it just shaved everywhere apart from the top layer of my hair.

Now, I will say now, that I was debating shaving my hair off whilst we kept cutting shorter and shorter, but the fear kept getting to me.

So, by this point I had what looked like a blunt bob because you couldn’t see my undercut/shaved head. I will say here that my hair was extremely damaged from going blonde (I don’t regret it, but I do wish my hair wasn’t damaged) so cutting off more and more made my hair feel a whole let better immediately!

Pixie Bob
Half shaved

Two days the went by, and I had then cut even more length off my hair, to the point where I now did have the pixie bob I was after, and I managed to style it and it did look kinda cute.

That night I was watching YouTube and a video popped up by the amazing Rifenstine!! And you can check out her video about her shaving her head below:

And I loved her hair so much and the fact that it was so healthy now!

Even after watching the video (and several others by this point) I was still super unsure and nervous about shaving my head. Then when I woke up the next day, something still niggled at me so around lunchtime I finally plucked up the courage and put the clippers to the rest of my hair.

And I am extremely happy to say that I love it so so much!!

  • Shaved head
  • Shaved head
  • Shaved head

It’s the most freeing experience when it comes to beauty that I have never experienced before, and I feel like I am truly myself! Which is weird and saying a lot coming from someone who has always made a big effort with my hair! And now I finally get it when people who have shaved their hair say that everyone should shave their head at some-point in their lives.

I can’t wait to discover what my fully healthy hair will be like (if I grow it out, but right now I’m loving it like this so we’ll see) and how I express myself probably even more through my clothes and makeup!

I’m also getting some hair paint delivered soon, because even though I want my hair to be the healthiest it’s ever been, I still want to be able to play with hair colours; and hair paint is the perfect way to play with colour without any damage or commitment!

Another thing that I love is that it takes me about 2 minutes to wash and dry my hair (without having to touch a hairdryer) and my hair is ready to go!

So, would I recommend shaving your hair off? Absolutely. Just be prepared for a big change, and don’t worry about how short it will actually be. Your hair will grow back, and you never know, your confidence might grow even more too.

Have a great weekend and stay safe everyone!

Lots of love,

Victoria Blog Signature
Shaved head
Having Confidence To Be Yourself.

Having Confidence To Be Yourself.

by Victoria ♥ 4 Comments

Hello my lovelies! I hope you had a good week! This week has been super busy as usual, but I did manage to have a little time to see my sister, niece and nephew! And with seeing them, my sister brought me some funky new earrings that I absolutely adore. Which leads me to today’s post, having confidence to be yourself, no matter what others think.

Lucy and Yaks Dungarees

So, this week I decided to talk to you about confidence. Specifically in having confidence in being yourself regardless of other people’s opinions.

For me, I can remember being tiny and having absolutely zero self-esteem issues and having complete confidence in myself and giving no fucks. And I can also remember when I began giving all of the fucks to what people thought about me and my appearance.

Sadly that day came in primary school when all of the year 6 girls (myself included) got to wear their Brownie uniforms to school. I had no care in the world about how I looked, I was just happy I got to wear something other than my usual uniform; and then came a comment from one of the kids in my class, it was something along the lines of: “why are you wearing those pants? You look stupid”.

And poof. Insecurities as far as the eyes could see.

Several years of bullying throughout school later, all I wanted was to fit in. And then a few years working in two different jobs types, and spending some time working on myself away from negative people.

dungarees balloon sleeve top

As time went on, my confidence has grown quite a lot, and I think that is partly due to ‘The Weight Of My Worlds’! I say partly but I think that’s actually a huge factor for me.

Something just clicked in me one day and I decided that from then on I was going to be completely apologetically myself. Regardless of what other people think, because someone who’s worth spending your time with will only lift you up and not put you down.

My tips for building confidence in yourself are:

  1. Looking at yourself in the mirror, as you are, without makeup, without fancy clothes, just as you are. Get used to you and your appearance.
  2. Don’t be afraid to be weird when you’re by yourself, be as weird as you want to be by yourself so much so that when you’re with your loved ones you start being yourself more because you’re more comfortable with yourself.
  3. Fake it til you make it! I love this phrase because it’s something that I’ve done for a long time and it definitely helped me in my early days trying to build my confidence. It’s also a good one for anxiety!
  4. Wear whatever you want to. Wanna wear a skirt? Wear a skirt. Wanna wear a suit? Wear a suit. Wanna wear crazy patterns. Wear em. Wear what makes you happy!
  5. Do a complete detox. Anything that doesn’t make you feel good, get rid! Social media was a big one for me, so I unfollowed all of the accounts that made me feel bad about myself and followed loads of positive ones that made me feel good.

So, what’re some things that I do now that I wouldn’t before?

Well, for a start, I now don’t care about what people think of my appearance or personality anymore; because I am me and guess what? I’m pretty great as I am.

How else do I know I’m more confident than before? Well, I would never pose or do photoshoots where other people could see me, and now I am not afraid to strike a pose in public!

Gumball earrings

Another thing that’s changed is that I’m not afraid to wear whatever wacky, weird and quirky things I want. At the moment I’m really into crazy shoes and jewellery! My sister gave me these awesome gumball machine earrings that I can’t get enough of!

So, that’s a bit about how my confidence has gone through ups and downs and ups again and how I have improved my confidence! Have you got any tips and tricks that make you feel more confident? Let me know in the comments!

And remember, you are perfect just as you are. Be apologetically yourself because you’re incredible! Be bright, be bold, be you!

Have a great weekend my lovelies!

Love,

Victoria Blog Signature
Confidence In Yourself pin
I Hate My Belly, So I Got My Belly Button Pierced.

I Hate My Belly, So I Got My Belly Button Pierced.

by Victoria ♥ 8 Comments

Hello my lovelies!! It’s Saturday again, and you know what that means… blog post! And this week I’m talking about something I never thought I’d do. As an experiment I decided to get my belly button pierced in order to learn to love my stomach.Belly button

I’ve wouldn’t say I’ve had a love-hate relationship with my stomach. It’s pretty much always been more of a hate-hate relationship. And it wasn’t until recently, when I was having a chat with my mum about my relationship with my body image that she told me about how having her belly button pierced years ago that it’s helped her to love her stomach.

It’s funny to me to think that my mum has issues with her stomach, because she looks incredible, and I can’t see any flaws with her stomach, she’s had 4 kids and still looks amazing!! She told me that when she got her belly button pierced, it made her focus go to the piercing, and not all of the little things she thought were flaws. And voila, she now doesn’t hate her stomach!

Also, I would just like to add in here, you haven’t got to have a flat stomach to have a naval piercing that looks great. They look great on anyone, especially if you have confidence! So don’t think that you shouldn’t get a piercing because you haven’t necessarily seen a photo anyone of someone with your body type with one, because that’s what I thought. And guess what? I was wrong!

So.. After umming and ahhing over whether or not I like belly button piercings and whether or not I would look good with one (I don’t know why I tried to work out if it would look good on me.. as someone who doesn’t like her belly, in my mind, of course I wouldn’t suit it!); I decided that I should just do it!

After all, what’s the worst that could happen? I could hate my stomach still, or I could love it! Lucky for me, it was the latter.

One thing I will say is that if you do decide to go and get a piercing or any kind of body modification, please do your research! I personally watched the video below and spoke to lots of people who had it done and checked out reviews from tattoo and piercing shops. Once I’d done all of that, I felt a lot better about getting pierced because I knew what I was getting myself into!

Pre-warning: if you’re a little squeamish, skip past the video!

It’s been a week now since I got my stomach pierced and safe to say, I absolutely LOVE it! And for those out there wondering if it hurt, I won’t lie, it did; but it only hurt for the few seconds it was being done and after that I didn’t feel any pain.

Two things I would recommend if you ever get a naval piercing is to one – make sure you’re cleaning it well (I used rock salt water twice a day) and to wear loose clothes around your stomach or wear crop tops whilst it’s healing! For me this meant for the past week I’ve been living in leggings and oversized tops during the work day and then crop tops when I’m home; which I’m not mad at because I love oversized stuff!

So, here’s what my belly looks like now! And as you can see from my face in these, I feel great about my stomach now and am loving my body a lot more than before!!

img_7093
My Belly Button Piercing
My Belly Button Piercing
My Belly Button Piercing

It’ll be a few more weeks until I can change the jewellery, but I’ll probably keep it in a lot longer before I change it to be safe! But I am looking forward to some warmer weather so I can go out in more crop tops and not freeze! Here’s some new crop tops I bought recently:

Yellow Crop Top
White Crop Top
Blue Crop Top
Barbie Crop Top

Since having my piercing I have found a new love for crop tops, as I am now not worried about my stomach showing and having to constantly pull my top down! I understand that some people might say that I should just accept and love my stomach the way it is, without a piercing, but I just needed that little extra something to give me a hand. And that’s okay.

Moral of the story, love your body, we’re all on our own journey’s to loving ourselves and being positive about our bodies is a great step. All of those little things that you think are flaws, really aren’t! They are just part of how your body is telling your life story and that’s a beautiful thing.

Well, that’s it from me for today! Have you got any piercings? What about your belly button? Or has this made you think about getting yours done? Let me know in the comments, I always love interacting with you! Have a great week lovelies!!

Love,

Victoria Blog Signature

Birthday Reflections.

Birthday Reflections.

by Victoria ♥ 11 Comments

Thursday was my birthday!! Which means I ate cake, got pampered and did a bit of reflecting on what I want for the next year of my life. I guess it’s a little like new years resolutions but without the guilt if you break them. Reflecting on what I want for myself in the next months is something I’ve never really done before, but the time just feels right.

So, lets get into it!

1 . I am learning (and loving) how to be unapologetically myself.

2 . I want to wear whatever I want, no matter how wacky, weird or boring without fear of being judged, because my opinion is the only one that matters when it comes to my appearance!

Birthday Outfit

How cute was my birthday outfit?! I love that jumper and accessories so much!

3 . Not feeling guilty for any food I eat or workouts that I don’t do.

4 . Be proud of myself for my little achievements.

5 . I want to schedule away at least one day a month for a selfcare day.

6 . Continue to push myself out of my comfort zone and try more new things.

7 . I want to read more books, I love reading but struggle to find stories I get sucked into, so I am on a mission to find some new books!

8 . Learning to love my hair when it’s natural and style it without heat.

9 . Continue blogging as it has brought me so much joy, and I love being creative!

10 . Giving people compliments when I like something about them, whether it’s a piece of clothing, their personality, attitude and/or anything really. It’s always nice bringing a smile to someone’s face, and you never know how much of a difference it can make to someone’s day.

Well, that’s what I’m going to be doing for this upcoming year, and I can’t wait to see what it’s going to throw at me! And I cant wait to see where I’m at in another years time.

So here’s to being another year older, wiser, happier and more comfortable in my own skin. Have a great weekend everyone!!

Love,

Victoria Blog Signature

 

 

Why I’m Refusing To Make New Years Resolutions About My Body.

Why I’m Refusing To Make New Years Resolutions About My Body.

by Victoria ♥ 8 Comments

Hello my lovelies! I hope you have all had a happy Christmas and a very peaceful few days in the lead up to the end of the year! And of course, because we’re coming up to the New Year, New Years resolutions are popping up all over the place.

Which brings me to this post. For as long as I can remember, I have made New Years resolutions each year; and EVERY SINGLE ONE has been about how my body looks and my weight. It’s always along the lines of: I will lose weight, I will drop a dress size, I will change my body, I will go to the gym 6 times a week, I will stop eating certain foods etc. etc. etc.

This year I REFUSE to make a resolution about changing my body.

Now, some of you who are subscribed to my blog will know that I have spoken out about my body image issues and having suffered with Anorexia (see my previous post about it here!). Well, this past year I have been lucky enough to get some help and support and I am happy to announce that I am in recovery!

Writing this post came from seeing everyone’s resolutions on social media, with the majority of them being about their bodies and how they want them to look; and before I started my recovery journey, mine would have been like that too. I started thinking about what I want for the new year ahead and for the first time in.. well forever, I don’t know what my resolution should be if it isn’t about my appearance.

Here’s why I’m refusing to make my new years resolutions about my body:

  • My body does NOT need to change to be beautiful. It already is.
  • Resolving to eat less food/calories is stupid, food is fuel and we need energy to do all the amazing things we want to accomplish.
  • Food is not ‘good’ or ‘bad’ it’s just food.
  • Taking up less space does NOT mean I am a better human being.
  • Losing weight does not solve all your problems.
  • Spending hours in the gym trying to make my body into something it’s naturally not supposed to be is useless. And boring!

Here’s when it’s okay to make a new years resolution about your body:

  • Deciding to get help with a medical condition or something you’ve been struggling with.
  • Deciding to love your body.
  • Resolving to develop a healthy relationship with food and exercise. And no I don’t mean deciding to go on a so-called ‘healthy’ diet that makes you hate yourself and feel guilty for eating!!

So, because I am not making any resolutions to do with changing my body here are some resolutions that I AM making:

  • Riding my bike to work instead of driving so I become more confident in cycling. (I just got my first bike this Christmas!)
  • Read more.
  • Continue writing my blog, it’s by far one of the best things I decided to do this past year and I absolutely love it!
  • Learning to love my body more for everything it is and does.
  • Wearing clothes that I feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of what other people think.
  • Raise some money for charity. (you can check out my JustGiving page for MIND here if you want to!)

Those are just a few of my many resolutions for the new year; and I just want to share with you how much I truly appreciate every single one of you for reading, commenting, liking and interacting with me on here. You have made my year so happy and I can’t thank you enough for all of your support! What’re your new years resolutions? Let me know if the comments!!

I hope you all have a great New Years Eve and a very Happy New Year! Love,

Victoria Blog Signature

P.S. Thank you for voting for me and all of the other amazing bloggers nominated in the UKBloggerAwards!!

May Affirmations

May Affirmations

by Victoria ♥ 3 Comments
You may be wondering why I am writing this post. Well, the reason I’m writing this is because within the past few months I have realised that my self esteem is pretty low. Having anxiety and an eating disorder will do that to you unfortunately. This is why I’ve decided to write down a something nice to tell myself each day for the entire month to see how it can improve my self esteem. If it works out well, it may become a monthly thing! After all, the more self care the better nowadays!
So, lets get started:
  1. I believe in me.
  2. I am not my anxiety.
  3. I am not my eating disorder.
  4. I am worthy.
  5. I choose to be happy.
  6. I am beautiful.
  7. I am not my past mistakes.
  8. I am strong.
  9. I will achieve my goals.
  10. I am lovable and loved.
  11. My past does not define my future.
  12. Today will be a good day.
  13. You are pretty.
  14. You have a great smile.
  15. I am unique.
  16. Today I will replace ‘I must’, ‘I should’ and ‘I have to’ with ‘I choose’.
  17. The number on the scales does not define my self worth.
  18. Inhale confidence. Exhale fear.
  19. I am creative.
  20. I have a good life.
  21. However hard the struggle gets, I can do it.
  22. Without struggle comes no progress.
  23. Feelings are just visitors and I choose to let them go.
  24. The worst days do not last forever.
  25. I am lucky.
  26. I have a beautiful strong body.
  27. I will not be afraid of what could go wrong, instead I will be excited by what could go right.
  28. No bad thoughts will last forever.
  29. I am getting healthier.
  30. I deserve life.
  31. I am enough.
I intend to write one a day on a post it or on my mirror so I see it when I am getting ready in the morning. I think it’s important to have some aspect of self-care at least once a day, after all, we all need to look after ourselves in this day and age. With all the photoshop, perfect instagrams, magazines and stuff like that out there it is easy to not feel good enough. I feel like these are a bit cheesy (well, a lot cheesy) but hopefully by the end of the month I will begin to believe them and it won’t feel as awkward saying them.
That’s all from me for today! Have a great weekend my lovelies!!
Love,
Victoria x Blog Signature