In: Fashion & Beauty| Reviews
7 Jan 2010I 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!
I'm a fashion, beauty & lifestyle writer based in London. By day, I edit celeb shopping site The Nod. In my spare time, I run curvy style blog Big Girls Browse and contribute to sites like Domestic Sluttery and Dorkadore.
I also created Catwalk Queen, but please note I no longer contribute to it.
Gemma@GemmaCartwright.com
Twitter // @GemmaCartwright
4 Responses to Very.co.uk product review
Urbanvox
January 8th, 2010 at 2:52 pm
Not that bad once u add the belt!!!
Kat
January 8th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
Yeh Gems, it looks nice with the belt – flattering! Also, your hair – gorgeous.
Gemma
January 8th, 2010 at 5:55 pm
Thanks guys!
The hair…er…I washed it?!
Elle
January 10th, 2010 at 11:57 pm
Hmm the dress does look pretty shapeless in the first pic, but when you add the belt it looks completely different, and fantastic! I like the frills.