The fact I’m a bigger girl means I write a lot about more voluptuous women. Does this mean my body image is warped? Do I not ’see’ fat people any more?

Perhaps. Because I’m at a loss as to what kind of mad brainwashing would cause people to make ridiculous comments like this…

“As gorgeous as she is – she is overweight. Double standards here. I doubt we would ever hear you say, “XXX looks amazing with her protruding collar bone”. No wonder women are confused about what weight / shape is healthy.”

That comment was in response to this…

Now I know I’m at risk of turning this blog into a Christina Hendricks shrine at the moment, but seriously, that comment is just beyond my comprehension. The reaction to her Golden Globes dress I could at least try to understand. It was a risky choice, a fairly unflattering colour and it was fussy, which some people might argue is a bad choice for someone who’s not Hollywood slim.

But to call her unhealthy and overweight? Talk about going too far. In what possible way is this woman even close being overweight? Christina Hendricks is 5′8. To be even slightly overweight (going by the Body Mass Index, which is also what my doctor’s surgery relies on) she’d have to weigh 168lbs – that’s 12 stone. I can pretty much guarantee you she doesn’t weigh anywhere near that. One website lists her measurements as 36-32-36. I’m sure her waist is much smaller than that, given than mine is 32 inches. But either way, that makes her about a size 12. Hardly obese, is it?!

There’s only one saving grace in this for me. The place where I found the comment was actually The Daily Mail website, which we all know has its fair share of resident morons. The site allows other users to vote on people’s comments. The comment above is the worst rated comment, and for once, I totally agree with the 300 people (and counting) who think ‘FK’ from London needs to get a grip on reality.

When size 12 is fat, we’re all in trouble.

Once upon a time I used to blog about high street fashion every day. I’ve clearly lost the knack. But nevertheless, here are some of my current favourites. Shop away…

Black gladiator sandals £38 and multicoloured tribal sandals £45 both Next

Can you believe these shoes are from Next? For the first time I might actually understand why people feel the need to queue in the early hours for the sale if this is what they’re bashing out now. Their Spring / Summer collection is absolutely chock full of amazing catwalk inspired styles, and the shoes are some of the best. These over the top numbers are my faves (the tribal sandals are a dead ringer for last Summer’s Louis Vuitton ‘Spicy’ shoes) but also check out the occasionwear styles for diamante studded heels and sandals.

Metallic lime parka £75 Butterfly by Matthew Williamson

I have a weird, inexplicable obsession with shiny parkas. It all stems from a graduate collection I saw a few years ago, where models wore slinky raincoats over floaty tropical print dresses and skirts. It was very ‘gap year’ – the idea of being caught in a rainstorm in some exotic location and throwing on your boyfriend’s coat – and I fell in love with the look. Matthew Williamson did something similar a couple of years ago, and now he’s bought it down to his diffusion line. Score!

Skater dresses £30 each Dorothy Perkins

There’s been a hilarious string of angry conversations via social media for high street brands recently, and it’s all thanks to the fact these jersey dresses are being described as ’skater dresses’. “What is skater about THAT?!” screams angry emo girl #498. Of course, they mean ice skater, in reference to the leotard-style top and flippy skirt. I’m considering a couple of these to see me through the next few months. They’ll look just as good now with tights and a cardi as they will in 6 months with sandals and the sleeves rolled up. And they’re only thirty squids.

Bouquet crepe wrap dress £95 Cath Kidson & Home Front dancing dress £68 Tara Starlet.

Tea dresses may have been done to death recently, but I can’t help but still love them. Queen of twee Cath Kidston is ever-reliable for vintage style dresses, and this season she’s really pulled out all the stops. Meanwhile, retro designer Tara Starlet has a geat 40s inspired dress in everything from pretty florals to functional, practical grey. I like these two because they really look like they might have been unearthen from the back of grandma’s closet, but unlike vintage, they come in more than one size.

I was meant to be looking at the couture fashion week photos to admire the clothes, but instead, I found myself loving the hair. Now this is what you call a victory roll!

Above is at Eric Tibusch, but a couple of days earlier at Chanel, it was the same story and then some…

It’s kind of Varga girl meets Lily Munster. With BOWS. I love it.

Time for a totally self-indulgent WANT WANT WANT post (my blog, my rules).

My beloved Marc by Marc Jacobs handbag finally died yesterday. With a bit of clever sewing I can probably salvage it and carry it for a few more months, but given that I’ve carried it almost every day since October 2006, I think I’ve had my money’s worth out of it and it’s time to move on.

So it’s serendipitous that while researching for work (no, really), I stumbled across Linea Pelle. The brand is fairly unknown in this country, but the bags are carried by various Hollywood PYT’s and girls from The Hills, thus they all have a price tag of over $400. Ouch.

Sadly it’s too late for rational thinking. I have my heart set on one of these babies. I love the way all these bags from the ‘Dylan’ line have the shoulder straps folded over when you’re using the longer cross-body strap. I’ve got my heart set on something with a long detachable strap because I’m fed up of bags slipping off my shoulders all the time (I have crap posture). I like big, slouchy bags with lots of pockets and zips, and I like decent leather that’ll get better with age. These have all of that, plus no obvious branding or logos. I like quality, but I don’t want an ‘it’ bag because it’ll date so much faster.

Sadly, once international shipping and customs charges are lumped on top of the already high price, these babies are completely out of the realms of possibility, so for now I’ll have to continue to look at them wistfully and search UK retailers for something remotely similar. If you know of anything, please do let me know. I don’t care if it’s from Topshop or Temperley, so long as it’s leather, has a detachable cross body strap and looks exactly like the bags above. Not a big ask, right?!

I wish I was Hilary Duff. I bet she got hers for free…

I am convinced that Christina Hendricks is not human. She is a fembot, based on Jessica Rabbit and made specifically to appeal to men and fat women who wish they looked like her (*cough*). Look at that waist! Waists like that just don’t exist any more! I also love her hair slightly longer and straighter. It’s enough to make me reach for the Nice ‘n’ Easy. I have the same pale skin…maybe I could pull it off*?

Speaking of pale skin, I actually don’t think much of the colour of this Christian Siriano gown (what is it with celebs wearing nothing but black or washed-out nudes and peaches?) but I love the shape, I love the ruching and I love Christina for wearing something so dramatic and not just going for slimming black jersey or something. Unsurprisingly, she wins the Golden Globes fight for me.

Anna Paquin came a close second in Stella McCartney, but her shoes were all kinds of wrong.

Highly commended awards go to Drew Barrymore, Sigourney Weaver and Diane Kruger. I spent all morning putting lots more pics on The Nod if you’re interested.

*I couldn’t.

Luella may be gone, but it’s far from forgotten, as Boohoo have proven with their latest additions…

They’re selling half a dozen different dresses with heart-shaped cutouts on the neck, as well as a few variations of the black and silver polka dot print from Luella’s Spring 2010 collection. I’d advocate a good old moan and groan about this under normal circumstances, but given the fact the Luella collection will never see the light of day, it’s the closest we’re gonna get.

Polka dot strapless dress £20 and black heart cut-out dress £20 both from Boohoo.com. More variations here, here and here.

I recently signed up to the Littlewoods fashion blog partner program. Unfortunately there were a few problems sorting out my product and it didn’t work out. Luckily Very.co.uk – which sells the same stuff under a different name (and with added Fearne Cotton) – swooped in to be my knight in shining armour and offered to send me an outfit instead.

True to their word, stuff arrived a couple of days later, so thank you Very for sorting me out.

The dress they chose for me is unfortunately not really my kind of thing. It’s a semi-fitted A-line shape, which makes me look like a barrel. As you can see in the left pic, I’m not too impressed! I added a belt to cinch it in a bit, but it still does very little for my shape and would be better on someone with smaller hips.

That said, the frills on the top are surprisingly pretty and flattering for a bigger bust. Reading the customer reviews on the site, it seems to be a hit with women who’re bigger up top. I found I liked the neckline much more when I pulled it down to an off-the-shoulder shape.

The dress is well made and fully-lined, and its now in the sale for only £12, making it quite a bargain.

Print-wise, snakeskin is not really something I’d wear normally, and I think a better bet would be the plain coloured version of the same shape with a tie belt for £49, which is part of Holly Willoughby’s collection for Very.

More successful were the accessories they picked out for me.

The bag, which I love, is by Dune and is now £22. It’s satin with a hard frame, a detatchable snake chain strap and a hard diamante bow. It’s much prettier in real life than it looks in the pictures. I carried it on New Year’s Eve, and it was big enough to hold all the essentials. There are even matching shoes.

While we’re on the subject, the shoes Very sent me are from the So Fabulous collection aimed at larger women, thus they’re wide fit. I’ll review them in more detail on Big Girls Browse shortly, but to sum up, they’re comfortable, they’re timeless, they’ll go with most outfits, but they’re a bit too wide for my size 6 feet!

This is stolen from Jenni, though I’ve seen plenty of people do it over recent days. I’ve not filled out one of these blog memes in years, so I thought I’d reminisce, albeit a few days late.

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?
Ate snails. Wore (fake) ugg boots. Moved in with a boy.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next this year?
I didn’t make new year’s resolutions, but I did make a bunch on my 25th birthday. Out of ten, I’ve managed to keep two of them. This is why I haven’t made any this year.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yep! Cecily was born in December. She’s gorgeous, just like her parents.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No, I got off lightly this year.

5. What countries did you visit?
America.

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
More time to do all the stuff I want to do. More money to fund it. More holidays to forget about all of it for a bit.

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
For very selfish reasons; April 10th (my last day at Shiny Media), April 20th (my first day at The Nod) and August 10th, the day we got the keys to the new flat.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Surviving the first half of the year.

9. What was your biggest failure?
I left a lot of things unfinished, especially my own projects. That said, I think after so many years of living for my work, I quite enjoyed having a bit of time away from the computer, even if a lot of it was just spent lazing in front of the telly.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nope, nothing major.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Tough one. It’s a tie between the sofa and the bed. Both get plenty of use!

12. Where did most of your money go?
See above! Also the trip to Vegas, and plenty of clothes along the way.

13. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Going to Vegas, mainly!

14. What song will always remind you of 2009?
‘I’m Yours’ by Jason Mraz. I first heard him perform it about four years ago, but in 2009 you couldn’t move without hearing it. Apparently it spent the whole year in the top 100 singles chart, so that’ll be why.

15. Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) happier or sadder?
A lot happier. I was massively stressed this time last year.

b) thinner or fatter?
I don’t think there’s much in it. I’ve managed to stay just on the wrong side of chubby all year.

c) richer or poorer?
Richer. For now! Clearing my credit card in November debt was a big accomplishment!

16. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Working on my own stuff, writing my ill-fated novel, spending time with friends.

17. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Worrying about stuff that’s not my problem.

18. Did you fall in love in 2009?
I was already in love.

19. What was your favourite TV program?
There were a few I loved: Castle, Misfits, the Torchwood 5-parter, and I finally started watching The Wire.

20. What was the best book you read?
Daphne DuMaurier’s Jamaica Inn. Hilariously over the top Gothic fabulousness I should have read years ago.

21. What was your favorite film of this year?
For unashamed action fun, Star Trek and the accidentally hilarious 2012. I also really enjoyed In The Loop and 500 Days of Summer.

22. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was 26, and I didn’t do very much at all, just dinner with some Very Important People In My Life.

23. What kept you sane?
Fab friends, amazing family, lovely boyfriend.

24. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I had a bit of a thing for Aidan Turner. Why? Um…just look at him!

25. Who did you miss?
Kim. I miss Kim and I WANT HER BACK. For those who don’t know, Kim worked on Catwalk Queen with me (and continues to edit it now) but she now does so from Australia. Lucky Australia.

26. Who was the best new person you met?
I met loads of lovely people this year, but I will single out the team behind Domestic Sluttery. What an amazing, talented bunch of women.

Have a fantastic 2010, everyone. I hope this year is bigger and better than ever.

I’m not making any resolutions this year, and I won’t talk of plans and schemes and big ideas for the next 12 months because right now I’m just enjoying a bit of time off and not thinking about all that.

But all that will change soon enough…

With everyone doing their top ten lists in the rundown to the end of the noughties, I though it was only right I stuck my oar in with some lists of my own. I’m starting with an easy one – beauty products. Though a few of these may have gone on sale before 2000, it was in the last decade that I discovered them for the first time. This is my ultimate top ten of the last ten years…and believe me I had a tough time choosing.

10. B Never Too Busy To Be Beautiful eyeshadow in ‘Beach’ £8.30

With the news that Lush’s sister perfumerie / makeup emporium will be closing at the end of the year, this is very much a product of the Noughties. B started to get popular around the time I was working for Lush, and I definitely took advantage the staff discount during that time! There were a lot of products I likesd, but this is the one  I’ve continued to use constantly. Compared to other bold, bright, glittery offerings from the brand, it’s a pretty innocuous looking shimmery nude shadow, but it’s the perfect shade for highlighting, blending and creating a natural look on fair skin. It’s also ethical, long-lasting and packaged in a pretty jewelled pot. I’ve already stocked up for when the shops finally shut.

9. St Tropez Everyday Gradual Tan Body £14

I’ve tried dozens of fake tans and gradual tanners in the last couple of years. What I learned is what I secretly knew all along. St Tropez is the best. Perhaps not for everyone, but definitely for me and probably for a lot of you. The results are natural, noticeable and never orange. I use both the mousse formula self tan, and this new gradual tanner and matching face moisturiser (in medium / dark, oddly, considering my super-pasty skin). Both give amazing results, fade without too many streaks, and don’t make me smell (too much) like roast chicken and digestive biscuits while the colour is developing. After a disappointing experience with a spray tan (black feet for three days, anyone?) I now know I’m much better at DIY!

8. Max Factor Masterpiece Max Mascara £9.99

To be honest this list could just be my top ten mascaras, given how devoted I am to finding the perfect one. But when choosing my favourite mascara of the noughties, I considered three things: affordability, practicality and innovation, and this (just) topped the list. It has it all – it costs less than £10, it’s easy to apply, it lasts all day and it has something new and cool about it.  The 2000’s were all about newfangled mascara brushes, but unlike some of the other offerings that could be tricky to get used to (huge fat bristles, oscillating heads, combs, fans and ball shaped heads) this new plastic bristle brush actually made applying mascara easier. The flexible bristles grabbed lashes, coated them evenly and didn’t clump. The result was noticeable but natural. As a day to day mascara for someone who doesn’t want to fuss about, this is the ultimate.

7. Philosophy Amazing Grace Fragrance £32

As a rule I tend to go for slightly stronger, more unusual perfumes, but this has to make my 2000’s top list because it’s an amazing, unusual modern classic. What you’re essentially paying for is a perfume that smells clean and soapy…like the bubble baths you had as a kid, and you’d be surprised how appealing that is. In a world of sickeningly sweet celebrity fragrances and musky, mumsy scents, there is nothing else like this. It’s subtle, simple and addictive. I’m a huge fan of the matching 3-in-1 shampoo / shower / bath cream which comes in a huge bottle and last forever.

6. Sleek Makeup I-Divine eye makeup palettes £4.99

I’ve been lucky enough over recent years to have easy access to loads of expensive beauty products, and it’s very easy to become spoilt. But that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate a bargain too. Sleek’s range of eye palettes are tremendously good value, coming in at less than £5 but just as good, if not better, than things that cost £20+. It’s no wonder the limited edition ones sell out before most of us can get hold of them. The more shimmery shadows have a tendency to crumble a bit , but they blend well, the pigments are amazing for the price, and the palette is slim and sleek (natch) with a big mirror.

5. Origins Modern Friction face scrub £28

Most face scrubs are either sandpaper-rough or so mild they don’t feel like they’re doing anything. This is the perfect happy medium, with tiny but hardworking grains in a really rich creamy base. A little goes a long way, which makes the price tag a bit easier to bear, too. When I’m having bad skin days (which happen frequently) this always helps to sort it out, it’s particularly good for those irritating blocked pores around the chin and nose.

4. Nars blusher in Orgasm £18.50

As predictable as it is to include this, I had to. Magazines, experts and websites don’t rave about it for nothing. Somehow, Nars really have created the ‘does it all’ blusher. Not only is the shade universally flattering, but it gives an amazing ‘light from within’ look to the skin. I love this shade so much I don’t just have the blusher, I have the Multiple stick and a compact with a matching Laguna bronzer in as well. In the pan it looks incredibly shimmery and peachy, but it’s so finely milled and soft that on the cheeks it’s just incredibly natural and pretty. Worthy of all the praise it gets, this is a must-have.

3. Bumble & Bumble Thickening Spray £20

I tried some Bumble & Bumble shampoo and conditioner recently and it was, for want of  a better word, crap. The products did absolutely nothing for my hair and I was really disappointed. So it’s ironic that when it comes to styling products, I rarely use anything but B&B. From hairspray to defrizzer, they seem to do everything well, but the real wonder product is this thickening, volumising, mattifying spray. I like my hair big – be it straight, curly or roller-set – and this stops the roots from going flat and gives amazing texture without being sticky. It also seems to stop my hair getting greasy quite so quickly, making it perfect for a second day refresh on long hair. Just spritz it in, tip the head upside down and blast with the hairdryer!

2. Estee Lauder Idealist Pore Minimizing Skin Refinisher £49

I can spend £50 on a bottle of this without blinking – that’s how much I love it. A friend recommended it years ago for the way it’d helped with milia – those little white dots that many people get around the eyes. But it seems to do a bit of everything; it refines and smooths skin, it reduces the appearance of pores, acne scars and so on, and generally just makes skin look better.  When they changed the packaging and renamed it, for a minute I thought my favourite product was gone forever, but the new noughties version is just as brilliant and I will happily continue to splash out on it!

1. Batiste Dry Shampoo £2

I’ve said before that I should be on commission given the amount of times I’ve raved about Batiste. But I’ll do it one more time – this stuff is brilliant. It’s cheap, cheerful and a total lifesaver. A quick spray and rub into the roots of the hair adds body, soaks up oil and generally refreshes hair in between washes. I probably use this more than I should, but when you have long, super-thick hair that takes forever to wash and dry, a quick squirt of this stuff saves a whole lot of hassle. I like the new(ish) pink blush scent in the traditional white powder, but a lot of you will be happy to know there are now black and brunette versions for only a few pennies more.

Highly Commended: Benefit Dallas (for a great ‘I work outside, honestly’ glow), Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish (the best cleanser in the world?) Lush Daddy O (purple, violet scented shampoo for fabulous fair hair), Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb (a truly unusual ‘what does that remind you of?’ scent) Stila Smudge Pots (amazing gel eyeliner in loads of natural shades), Maybelline The Collossal (Who needs expensive Diorshow when you have this yellow devil?), Aussie Dual Personality shine serum (affordable and amazingly scented shine enhancer), Stila eyeshadow in Golightly (the perfect bronze / brown for day) & Gillette Venus (the first women’s razor that’s actually better than a man’s razor – just ask my boyfriend!).

So what are yours?!