SWAK Designs:Crystal Halter Dress

Hey fam!

A feverish old me is reporting in the midst of dinner and copious amount of water consumption. But blogging beckons, and I love blogging so here I am. I hope you’re in much better health than I am this weekend!

This is the second outfit from my mini-haul from SWAK Designs, and just like the previous look it isn’t something You will typically see me wear and its a print I have always  wanted to try!

THE LOOK

Crystal Halter Dress, SWAK Designs in size 1X

statement necklace, Lovisa 

As a lover of all things prints, I’d never worn a houndstooth print before. Its a much coveted print for me and I was wondering when the right outfit would come along. Jumped at the chance to nab this wrap dress.

Wrap dresses are a personal favourite. I have a number of sleeved wrap dresses that I wear for casual nights out, really simple and without prints, very comfortable. I don’t wear halter neck tops or dresses much though, I think I’m still self-conscious about how I look in them. But then I thought to myself, really Aarti? you wear swimsuits and bandeau tops. This is just an old insecurity talking. So I made that leap, and I am glad I did.

LITTLE DETAILS

Since this dress seems a lot like a classy evening number, I glitzed and glamoured it up with some silver eyeshadow and a silver necklace.

For some reason I felt a glossy purple lipstick would complement the look, I’m still discovering makeup so I could be wrong but ah well!

The ruching on this skirt is so pretty! Its a nice touch.

Thats me for now, I will be putting up a post in a day or two to elaborate on the blog carnival (see previous post) I was a part of. For now, I send you my love and remind you that style can be had at any size. So no matter your age, size, height – have fun with fashion! xx

SWAK Designs : The Juliet Dress

Heya fam!

I hope you have been keeping well. Today’s post is my first of a mini-SWAK Designs haul I have planned. This look is really different from what I normally wear, its a very girly girl look and sweet. Always open to trying something new!

The Look

SWAK Designs Juliet dress in Peach  in size 1X

Beaded necklace, bought in Bangkok’s infamous Chatuchak market 

Off-white kitten heels, thrifted

What I love the Most about the outfits I have from the store is how amazingly soft their fabrics are! So incredibly soft and like second skin, and it was such a sweltering humid day .. while my face was sweating buckets, the dress kept me so comfortable.

I do wear dresses often but this one is especially ladylike and I can see why its called the Juliet dress because of its ruching at the chest, like the medieval times. I can totally see this jazzed up for a medieval cos play look, don’t you? Its also a lovely dress for occasions like an afternoon wedding, high tea or date night.

Little Details

I opted for a splash of purple to go with the warm peach of the dress, and as you can see, makeup was kept very simple.

For the life of me I cannot recall where these shoes are from, but I thought off white would be a sweet touch.

Aside from light brown on the upper and lower eyelids, I had a hint of coral lipstick and a Benefit blusher to bring a flush to the cheeks.

Thats a wrap for this post! I will be updating the blog real soon with more from the SWAK Designs mini-haul so see you then! Much Love xx

the LWD

So this is the extended version of the post I did for Already Pretty over the weekend! 

So this is another variation of the type of summer dress I enjoy wearing. I frankly don’t care for whether the LBD or LWD are ‘in season’ because for me they are classic wardrobe staples. Same goes for anything in animal prints or tan shades. 

I only started wearing white outfits – pants, jeans, dresses – in my 30s because I was under the misconception that white just wasn’t suited for someone of my size. Now, I love wearing all white ensembles or white outfits because well vainly speaking, they bring out my natural tanned hue very nicely 🙂 

The Look

  

  
little white dress – boohoo.com 

pink wedge heels – Rubi 

statement necklace – Lovisa 

I love everything about this dress: the texture, the cut, the fit and flare style. It’s comfortable, elegant and easy to transition from workwear to a night about town. 

   
   
Little Details

   

The cool thing about the belt is it’s detachable, and I’ve used it for other looks. You can belt this dress up with another if you wish. 

  This necklace. How do I describe it? It’s stunning! 

 
  
Makeup had a pink tinge with some pink glitter on the eyes and matte pink lippie. Hair was inspired by my friend Luanne of Weesha’s World from this post. I cannot carry off the exact style she has because it does Not look good on me at all but yeah I pinned some of the hair back :p 

Is the LWD something that transcends all seasons for you or do you prefer it in the warmer seasons? 

There has been an influx of fashion posts which have been so fun to do! But it’s time to get real with some body positive issues as I mentioned in my previous post. So I’ll be working on those for now. 

Have yourself a great new week ahead! Just a little thought before you start the week proper : So many of us undervalue what we are and overvalue what we are not. So be kinder to yourself when you hit a low note alright? 

Sending you all my love, 

xxxo Aarti Olivia 

casual chic Saturday

Hello loves! 

It’s the weekend and thank goodness for it. I hope you’ve been keeping well and had a decent week. And if you didn’t, then I hope you have yourself a chillaxing weekend 🙂 

So I have started on the tests at the gynae, so far nothing has come up except for a sizeable ovarian cyst. I do however want to get an appt with a gastroenterologist just to see if it’s an intestinal issue, since I do seem to have pain flares and gastritis after eating certain foods. So we’ll see how that pans out over the weeks to come. 

It wasn’t an eventful Saturday, just a jaunt to a nearby cafe and a movie at home. So I wore something I have a lot of in my wardrobe: a summer dress. 

The Look

  

  

 

For casual outings, I tend to have on light maxi dresses or midi summer dresses like this one and accessorise simply with loafers or plimsolls. 

My time of the month decided to grace me with its presence with no warning of course and I really wasn’t in the mood for a night in town. I wasn’t even in the mood to shoot for the blog but I’m trying to get back into the habit of at least once weekly fashion posts. Not a bad habit to have! 

  
summer dress – Dorothy Perkins 

plimsolls – Rubi 

choker – Lovisa 

When I chanced upon this dress in the store, it brought a wide smile to my face because I had a sleeved chiffon maxi dress just like this one when I was 13. I remember wearing it with clunky boots and a choker so I consider this dress a blast from the 90s 🙂 

Back then, I was escorted shopping with my folks and it was really only after 12 that I was even allowed to pick my own clothing. So I do not take responsibility for my clothes before that age! My mom used to think it was cute to dress my younger sister and I in identical clothing. Oy what a nightmare. You have to remember, my sister was 4 years my junior and we have completely different body shapes so I Haaaaated having to wear what she was wearing. She was so much more feminine. I was the antithesis of feminine. I could have lived through my childhood in a tank top and Bermudas. 

Anyway, I digress! 

  
I loved my fashion sense after 13 because I had a pretty good idea of how I wanted to be dressed and did not have my folks to stop me anymore. 

This is a pretty simple dress and the fit is good. My only complaint is the weird way the sleeves are cut and that tends to happen a lot here because the majority population is petite. Given that this was created for a plus sized body however, it made no sense that they’d have a weird gap at the sleeve only to draw attention to the armpits. So I tug at the sleeves often when I wear it :p 

  

Little Details

There’s a cute little bow above the cutout at the back of the dress. You know me, I like the little things 😉

  
I decided to make this even more of an homage to the 90s by wearing an elastic choker with an interesting pattern. 

  
You cannot go wrong with denim plimsolls. I’m just saying! 

  
I was honestly too bloated and cramping badly thanks to the time of the month to apply makeup, so it was just a little dab of concealer under the tired eyes and a Dior lip gloss in coral. 

  
So that’s me for now! I have a few body positive posts coming up that I just need to fine tune. Also, I did a fashion post for my friend Sally’s blog at Already Pretty that will be out tomorrow. I will be sure to share that soon. 

Sending you all my love, 

xxxo Aarti Olivia 

Inspired: The Matrix

  
The Matrix movie series arrived at a pivotal point of my life – the turbulent period of existentialist dilemmas called my 20s. 

I was walking the path that was not chosen by me. I had to get ahead in life and knew however that gaining an education in the old-fashioned way was a necessary evil. So I completed my BSC in Psychology, followed by a Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology and finally the Masters in Psychotherapy. 

Studying psychology brought about an internal awareness that I previously only scratched the surface of. Along the way I also studied philosophy, anthropology and sociology as was demanded from the curriculum which only made me ask more questions about society as a whole and humanity. 

When my friends first watched the movie the general reaction was “Whoa. How cool was this movie? All those stunts! That bullet dodging scene!” 

Yes I felt the same way but also, I left the cinema saying “Holy Shit. This is profound. This is a sci-fi adventure into our psyche. Neo is the everyday person who one day, gets the opportunity to see his existence beyond the confinements of his human realm. He is asking questions. He wants to get out of the system. He wants to rebel”. 

  
  
  
Now I can go on and on about the theories and books and philosophers and religions that inspired this series. That would have been great in my once upon a time blog that spoke about these things. But this is not the place, I think. Not unless you’re actually interested to read my ramblings on topics aside from body positivity and fashion. 

Some of you will recall my inspired fashion look from last year based on the television series American Horror Story: Coven. I had such fun putting the look together. I Still get raves from my friends and followers alike for that “witchy woman” ensemble! 

I love to play dress up as a character. Not in the sense of how the awesome people of Comic Con or Cos play..but within the peripheral ballpark. 

So I came up with a look that isn’t your average Curves Become Her fashion post based on fashion from the Matrix series and I hope you like it. 

The Look

  

  
duster top – Forever 21 Plus 

leather leggings – Cotton On 

boots – H&M 

sunglasses and necklace – Forever 21

The Matrix was all about long trench coats, leather, black vinyl, sunglasses that were beyond cool. A minimalist aesthetic with clean, straight lines. 

   
    
 
the Only time you saw outfits meant to hug curves were on the gorgeous Monica Bellucci. What a stunner. 

   
 
I went with the less curved-up look because that stays faithful to the main characters of the movies. 

   
 
Now in Matrix Reloaded, the city of Zion saw more risqué clothing along with the very basic pared-down pullovers. So I layered inside as an homage to the sexy people of Zion. 

   
  

This has got to be a plus size bloggers’ and girl’s fav bikini top from Forever 21 Plus because I have seen it on So Many of my friends!! So when I got it months ago and everyone wore this, I was like “Oh man. I don’t want to look like a clone.” So I bid my time to wear this beauty. This IS my favourite bikini set from the store for the summer of 2015. 

Little Details

   

 
The word to describe how it felt donning this look: Powerful. This long duster top is a first and I really like it. 

  
I played around with Lip colours for this although the photograph does not do it justice. I lined the lips with a darker shade, almost black. Filled in the rest with my matte red Revlon lipstick and added some gold shimmer in the middle to make it glisten. 

Playing a character comes naturally to me. Acting is and always will be in my blood, even if I am not part of that world anymore. For a few moments you can suspend reality and transform yourself into a completely different persona. 

I hope my loves have a good start to the week, I am signing off now but before I do so here are some wise words from the Matrix 

  
All my love, 

Aarti Olivia xxxo 

P.S: I did this shoot with a very angry, bloated, muscle-spasmy stomach but survived! Recovery is ongoing. Thank you so much for the advice and the kind words. It means so much to me.