Thursday 28 June 2012

Comfy Undies!

'Foundation' garments are extremely important.  At the very least, most of us will wear a bra & knickers every day.  Choose wrongly, and you will spend the day suffering from any combination of:



  • wedgie plucking - because the pants are badly cut and just will not stay in place!
  • VPL - caused by knickers that have been over-enthusiastically elasticated.
  • strap marks - a poorly constructed bra can dig into your shoulders leaving you with painful impressions
  • 'hooking' - where the hooks on the strap aren't properly padded and end up digging into the skin of your back.
  • impalement on underwires that aren't properly sewn into the bra, or just come up too high under your armpits.
  • scratching of your, ahem, delicate areas because the material the undies are constructed from just isn't soft enough.

Ouchie!


I'm not talking about wearing the wrong size here.  I'm just talking about underwear that is always going to be uncomfortable, no matter what size you wear, because they are simply badly designed and made.


Sadly in my experience, cheap underwear just doesn't cut it.  I have never, and I do mean never, bought a set from La Senza or equivalent high street store that I haven't chucked in the bin out of frustration after two wears.


I tend to shop at House of Fraser for underwear, as well as a few small local boutiques.  (I also shop online at What Katie Did for shapewear & Secrets in Lace for undies & shapewear, but this post is just about your standard bra & pants).


I know which bra brands work for me, and I'm quite loyal to them.  My favourite brand is Lejaby.  The shaping of their bras just really suits my body, they make both romantic & practical ranges, and so I often make a beeline straight for them when underwear shopping.  Recently I allowed myself a little browse however, and I discovered the what I have dubbed worlds most comfortable bra.


I have never bought a Triumph bra before, but when I tried on this style I was hooked.  It is like wearing butter!!  Behold, the Amourette 300:

Triumph Amourette 300 Padded Underwired bra

Amourette 300 Maxi knickers

There are several bra's available in the Amourette range, including non-wired, wired, and 3 different types of padded.  Unless doing sport, I always wear an underwired bra.  I don't always like padded bras, but the Amourette padding in the style shown above is very light, and the lace has a great amount of stretch.  The straps are super comforable, as they are a decent width.  The knickers are available in string, tai, maxi & hipster.  I like the Maxi knickers shown above - they provide decent coverage, give no VPL, and there's no possibility of your bum munching them.


(As an aside, I am anti string panties.  Every pair in existence turns eventually to cheese-wire, your butt cheeks get cold, and who wants to see imperfect bum skin when they take off their clothes? Unless you are a burlesque superstar being lit by a professional, there's just no excuse for wearing them).


Obviously, the Amourette set is not suitable for every occasion.  It's lacy for starters, so wear anything tight and the lace is going to show.  But under most everyday clothing, it's a winner.  I'll definitely be expanding my underwear brand horizon in future.


Sunday 10 June 2012

Red Carpet Runners -The Greensand Way 2012 Party

My husband and 3 friends have recently completed a truly staggering feat.


Last weekend, over 4 days, they ran the whole of the Greensand Way - a 108 mile footpath stretching from Hamstreet in Kent to Haslemere in Surrey.  They did this to raise money for Tansania 2012 - a joint Guide and Scout expedition to build a medical centre in a remote area of Tanzania.  You can read all about their exploits in their extremely funny blog here


To celebrate completing the event, they held an 'after party', last night.  The excellent Royal Oak Pub in Guildford kindly provided the venue & food. 


The theme for the party was 'Red Carpet Runners'.  An opportunity to inject some glamour into an extremely unglamorous sport was presented!


I wore a recently purchased black lace wiggle dress from Monsoon, some retro-styled crystal earrings, trainers & a fetching sweatband.  Mr G wore a vintage black velvet jacket and a vintage evening shirt, paired with his compression running tights & trainers!



Various party games were on hand to entertain:
30 second Jelly Baby massacre (Jelly Babies are the fuel of runners everywhere) .  I managed only 5!  It's actually quite hard work chewing a jelly baby before swallowing & chomping on the next one...

KT tape has been indespensible to the Greensand Way Team throughout training

Never pass up a photo opportunity!


Local skiffle hero's The Charley Farley Sunday Four provided some wonderful entertainment (ably supported by Genevieve & the Zut Alors!

Excellent french band GATZA performed. Anna Nas (on the left) who looks remarkably like me, is wearing a  lovely Collectif Clothing dress

The Farley Brothers in action
It was a brilliant night.  I met the very lovely Tigerlea, who is a follower of this blog, and who was the essence of charm & beauty.  I hope to meet her again soon.


The evening ended with a raffle of some fantastic prizes, including various items donated by sponsors McAllister Thomas Fine Art.  

Runners Lee (Mr G) and Claire giving out Thank You's before the raffle
The Fundraising Grand Total has today been announced at £4136.93 (including Gift Aid) - just over the £4000 target.  Fantastic news!


Well done to the four intrepid runners for completing their epic journey, and for raising such a lot of money for a fantastic cause.