Being happy with your body isn't something that you can just switch on or off, if only it was that easy! Since I've started blogging I've become much more confident not necessarily in my body itself but in the clothes I wear, some of the clothes I wear now are clothes that I wouldn't have worn 2 years ago, at least not without some amendments. It was only earlier this year that I got my legs out without wearing tights as part of Flash the Flesh, the dress I wore is one that 2 years ago I would have paired with jeans or a pair of leggings, now I'm happy to wear it and bare my legs.
I always find that one of the things you have to remember most when being so brave in pubic is not to take comments to heart, the people that make them don't know you and are probably the kind of people you don't want to know if they are going to make such remarks to strangers! However not taking comments to heart is one of the hardest things, I know I dwell on them and then I begin to believe them, so I'll have days where I'd rather hide in jeans and a t-shirt. I luckily have some of the best friends who won't let me spend too much time dwelling on comments that strangers make, and since blogging I feel I've developed a thicker skin but it's still as hurtful when someone I know makes a comment. I don't think it ever stops hurting when people you know make comments, and it's especially hard when it's your closest friends or family. The comments I get tend to be about the clothes I'm wearing rather than about me personally, which some people might take as a positive.
I have days where the first outfit I put on looks great, and I feel great, but I also have days where I can be constantly swapping and changing outfits in the hope of feeling great, and it always seems to be those days when someone makes a comment.
I've since found a great place to find inspiration from, and that's BeauCoo* a great website which allows people like me and you to upload our outfits. The aspect I love most is that you can enter your measurements, which are kept hidden but you can then choose to search for outfits that people with similar measurements to you are wearing. I love this feature because it allows me to see outfits that I love but would never have worn myself because I didn't think it would suit me. I think we all fall into the trap of wearing the clothes that we are used to and we might not branch out as far as we could do but now I have somewhere to go and look to see if a style I like may look good on me.
I mainly use BeauCoo for looking at what other people are wearing, however if you create an account you can upload your own outfits to share with other people what you are wearing, and what looks great on you. I think I'm going to start sharing my outfits more because someone else may see them and find the inspiration to try on something a little different even if it's only in the shop changing rooms! When you spot an outfit you like on BeauCoo you can choose to like it or mark it as something you want, when you then visit your profile page it shows you the outfits you've liked, and the outfits you want.
Outfits I like and want
Setting up an account is really easy, you can download the app for Android and Iphone, which means taking and uploading outfits on the go couldn't be easier. You can also sign up for an account on the website, which you can't currently upload outfits from but it will hopefully be introduced in the future and once it is I'm sure I'll backdate a lot of my blog outfits! When setting up my account I didn't encounter any difficulty it was really straight forward only took a few minutes, the difficult part is getting your measurements, so I'd advise making note of those beforehand. Once you have got your account set up and want to start looking at outfits you can choose to view by fit match which will allow you to see outfits from people with similar measurements to you, or you can turn fit match off to see outfits from people of all sizes. You can also choose to view outfits from friends where you can see the outfits from the people you are following, or you can choose to view everyone which allows you to see outfits from everyone.
If you decide you do want to add an outfit, again it is really simple and straight forward. You choose the photo you wish to upload, you then choose whether it’s a top, bottoms, or dress, before adding the brand and store. You can also choose to add a description about the item you are adding. I’ve added a photo of my tea dress, and mentioned in the description that it runs small, so that people know it may be better for them to size up or order both sizes to try.
BeauCoo have also introduce the #BoPo which if you visit the feed on twitter will allow you to see tweets about body positivity, and some of those tweets may link you to articles or blog posts which are about body positivity.
You can find me on BeauCoo here.
Will you be looking to BeauCoo for outfit inspiration?
Tink x
*This is a sponsored post