Essentials Magazine - I'm on the magazine stand now...

On Thursday the 1st of March, earlier this week, the April issue of Essentials magazine landed on the shelves.

Turn to page 20 and you'll see none other than yours truly!

I was asked to model as hour glass figure for their 'dress for your body shape' fashion feature. I was delighted to be asked, despite the fact I am a model and this issue is 'no celebs or models' as it was celebrating real women. Even though I am technically a model I do believe I represent a true womanly shape which I think is important to publicise when kids this day and age think curves are disgusting and abnormal.

This feature shows that whatever our figure, large or small, we can look fabulous!

Which outfit and look do you like the most?

Becky x

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Lingerie Love - Ohhh Lulu!

Those of you who I've worked with or follow my blog will know all too well about my love of lingerie.  I couldn't tell you when it all started; my obsession with coveting beautifully made under garments; but it probably didn't help when I really got in to lingerie modelling.

There are so many design houses and brands of lingerie that it can be easy to fall into the mainstream retailers with their run of the mill bras when really if we want to appreciate the smaller things in life we should be heading in the direction of our independent designers.  These are the people who have this same passion as ours, possibly even more obsessed!  They are the ones who dedicate their time and precious energy into creating the best lingerie there is.

Take Ohhh Lulu, one of the most prettyful independent lingerie names there is on the interweb!  Based a hop and a skip over from my English land, Sarah of Ohhh Lulu squirrels away creating her delightful vintage inspired lingerie and loungewear in Ontario, Canada.  If you want beautiful and uniquely handcrafted personal smalls, you really must check out Ohhh Lulus range over on Etsy, where there's actually a sample sale on right now.

My current favourites are:  the Red and Blue Cherry Blossom bra and High Waisted Panties set and the Amethyst Floral Jersey and Velvet Ruffle Bloomers.  They are both so pretty and luxurious. <3

Red & Blue Cherry Blossom Bra and High Waisted Panties set

Amethyst Floral Jersey & Velvet Ruffle Bloomers

Becky x

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Lingerie and Religion

Today I read on LingerieInsight.com that a Victoria's Secret model, Kylie Bisutti, has decided not to model for the lingerie big name any more because of her religion.  She says that being a Christian it is not right for her to model lingerie when she has young girls looking up to her as inspiration.

As much as Kylie is entitled to her own beliefs and do as she wishes with her life, I can't help but feel profusely frustrated with where she's coming from.

I am a Christian myself but I am also a lingerie model.  I feel my religion is in no way conflicting with my choice to model, because lingerie is not a sin and I don't believe it right that any woman should feel she is doing wrong just by wearing it.  Lingerie is more often that not worn for the better of the woman.  Lingerie makes you feel great when you wear it.  Lingerie has a purpose!

God made women as we are, we have boobs, you can't argue with that.  Some people don't mind their bosoms flapping about their chest freely but I, like millions of women out there, like to keep ours under control.  For this you need a bra.  How and where do you buy a bra?  A shop on the high street, internet, mail order catalogue, all of which require stock from lingerie manufacturers to actually sell you a bra.  These suppliers need pictures to show off the bra to the best of it's ability, to get you to choose their bra over the next manufacturer.  Simple.  Someone has to be the woman that wears those bras whose pictures need to be taken of them to be put on the box.  How can anyone say that being one of these women is living in sin?

Aside from necessity, there's the self appreciation factor.  A bra that looks beautiful, is well made and constructed with love and with the loveliest of materials, makes you feel great when you wear it.  There is nothing wrong with appreciating this feeling, the sense of self loving, that gives you confidence.  What helps you love your body, which God gave you, is not a sin.

Then there's those 'naughty' lingerie pieces.  Are they really naughty?  Naughty is a word for wrong doing, acting with ill meaning. But if we're wearing them with our partners with whom we dedicate our lives and souls too, are we really doing wrong?  Is it wrong to enjoy our bodies and to nurture a close loving bond with our life partners?  No, I don't agree that that is a sin.

If we are being honest with ourselves, enjoying ourselves and feeling good all from the pleasure of lingerie, whether we be wearing it or looking at it, it can not be bad.  And being a model, a person who wears a piece of clothing to encourage you to buy the product can not be wrong.  Wearing something that is completely natural, a bra, can not be seen as wrong.

We are what we are on the inside, and this is not what's shared outside our relationships.  What we share with our partners is not just our bodies because what we truly are is inside us.  A model does nothing to share this exclusivity with viewers of a product catalogue.

Women are too often made to feel ashamed of our bodies in this world and it's time we realised this and put an end to it.  Lingerie is not a dirty word and it exists to make us learn to love what we have, whatever our size.

Like I said, I do have a Christian faith and hand on heart believe I am not doing anything myself that is wrong or contradictory to my beliefs.  Some people may say that modelling is not a job for Christians but I contest this.  I was made a woman, I'm proud of what I am and love what my body is, and believe above all that anything that is done with the best intentions and generates good feelings can only be good.

Long live the good lingerie model!

Oh, and I'll take Kylie's job at VS if there's no objections... ;-D


Becky x

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Essentials Magazine Photo Shoot

Yesterday I made the excitingly epic journey down to London for a photo shoot with Essentials magazine.

Essentials asked me if I would take part in a fashion shoot for the magazine after I'd emailed them telling them a bit about myself.  Apparently they're going to do a fashion feature for different body types and they chose me for the hour glass figure.  I was honoured to be asked and very keen to participate so delightedly I said I would.

Both Sean (fiance/photographer) and I booked our tickets to land in at Kings Cross station for noon.  Our train was slightly delayed coming into Darlington and I couldn't move quick enough when it arrived.  It was bitterly cold sitting on the platform even with all my layers and double scarves!

Me waiting for the train

Me on the train - make up free!

The journey wasn't too bad and the three hours passed by relatively quickly with the help of my Grazia mag.  We pulled into Kings Cross just about on time, jumped into a Hackney cab and quickly descended onto the studio in East London where the Essentials team were already conducting the days shoots.

There were four other girls there modelling for the day.  I first tried on a range of outfits that were set aside for me and had quick snaps taken so the fashion team could decide which to go for on me.  The day was slow moving while the assistants and photographer worked through the modelling girls and gradually through the day I had my nails painted, hair styled and make up applied.  It wasn't until around half past four that my time came and I was kitted out in my freshly steamed clothes.

My fabulous curlers!

My first outfit was a fuschia pink peplum dress which looked fantastic on the hanger but at an impossibly small size 8 sample was too small for me.  From what I saw coming off the camera I look stylishly-presentably-hot but what you won't see is my butt sticking out of the unzipped and pinned up back!  As I'm more used to lingerie shoots, I didn't give a hoot that my pants were on full display to the room which is a good attitude to adopt in the modelling industry.  You can't be too precious about modesty!

My first shooting

On the plus side my hair had been amazingly blowdried and back combed so it had oomph and sex appeal and I loved the floral shoes.  I don't remember who made them and now I wish I took a photo of them.

My second outfit I admit not falling in love with.  In all honesty, I would say the skirt, cami and jacket combo was on the frumpy side.  I'm going to be a thirty year old, not turning 50!  Hopefully the photos will look a lot better than my mind had me thinking.  My hair had been put up with a huge quiff-like bouffant and pinned to the side, so the whole look may be more modern in the finished image, but 'chav-like' was what came to me!  It was fun though.

My second look hair

The shoes were orange velveteen heels by Chockers.  They didn't really feel anything like the floral heels I wore in the first look and the tips looked indented and felt like they were poking my toes.  I won't be looking for them in the shops when they come out.

By the time my shoot was over it was almost time to leave so I grabbed a bottle of water and had a quick change into my own clothes before saying our quick goodbyes.  Essentials had called a taxi to take us back to the station where we literally ran with our tickets onto our platform 2 Darlington bound train.  Despite my worry that I wouldn't have time to shoot in the end, we'd made it in perfect time.  The train left London at seven on the dot and got back to Darlington by half nine.

It had been an eventful day, very productive but it was satisfying to return home.  A long shower and scrub up, relax in front of the tv with a bit of food then bed.  Sleep o'clock it was!

Becky

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What's been going on at Boudoir headquarters...

I spend so much of my time over at my modelling page on Facebook then all the modelling websites that I need to remind myself sometime that I do have here to come too!  I have to stop and think sometimes because it's so easy to get taken away with everything that goes on, so it's nice when I get a moment to talk about what I've been up to.

I've been in the paper again which was great!  The Daily Mail published an image of me with my acting (and real life) other half on one of their articles online.  I love the images taken by Chris Rout because they're so random and varied and you never know when an image will be used or where it'll appear.  This one was hilariously published under the heading 'G-spot still not found by scientists after 60 years' with the tag line 'missed the spot?'.  There's me in a huff giving my content partner daggers!  Oh the joys of acting!  ha ha

I'm currently in the short list for Corsets UK's Facebook competition.  They are holding monthly competitions where they are wanting images containing their corsets to be uploaded for the chance to be their main page image.  This month is competing for the February 'Valentines' seat so I entered my image taken by Kim at Madame Boudoir as I wore a white underbust corset of theirs.  This photo is actually my very favourite currently and I think it's really suited to the theme for this month's competition.  (It's also my birthday next month which I think should score me extra points!!)  I'm really hoping to win this because it'll be a great opportunity of exposure.  I'm not sure if it's decided by votes or not but a good amount of 'like's can certainly do no harm.  So please do show your support, pop along and give me a thumbs up!  Thank you so much!

This is the one to vote for!  :-D

Becky x

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Pin Up!

Wow, it feels like it's been ages since I last blogged on here.  I haven't been on since last year...!  He he, a joke is a good way to start the year.  I've been a busy bee with lots of things going on so thought I'd best give you the low down on my most recent pictures.

It was actually at the very beginning of December that I did a pin up shoot.  I was to model some uniquely fantastic nipple pasties that came all the way from Canada to be graced upon my boobies!  Susan from Sex on a Stitch made two sets of her handcrafted pasties to my personal measurements, using her signature crochet talents.  In her own words, it's 'Risque Crochet'.  Not something you'd typically put together which is why it works so blooming well!  They're absolutely stunning and so cute, I didn't even need to put them on before falling in love with them.  They truly are little works of art, and you too can own a pair for very little money by popping along to Susan's store.

The first pair I wore were the 'Nipply Crocheted' nipple pasties, which you can actually get in different shades, and I opted for the bright pink tone.  They basically look like crocheted nipples.  A light pink crochet trimmed with pink sequins around the edge with a deeper pink 'nipple'.  They have the option for 'piercing' which I went for and had faux piercings in both.  They're not for the faint hearted but definitely a naughty bit of fun.  I wore the pasties with a pair of cute and frilly suspender shortie knickers with some baby pink stockings.  The whole look is girly and innocent but still cheeky.  You can see the finished image now in Susan's Etsy shop.

I wanted to work with a photographer I'd not worked with before to get a different kind of look I usually have in my images so I chose James from the The Studio by Jaymz.  They do a lot of pin up photography so this partnership was ideal.  James had lots of different coloured backgrounds appropriate for pin up looks and so for this look we went with the purple backdrop to compliment the pink pasties.  Susan wanted to present the pasties in a jovial and fun way so pouting was not an option.  Thankfully I'm a natural smiler anyway so I took it all with ease.  The finished look is simple but presents the pasties well, which is the most important part.

The 'Nipply Crocheted Nipple Pasties

For the second pair of pasties I kept the frilly knickers and stockings on and included a pair of lilac platform heels.  They fitted in with the colour scheme because there's lilac in the pasties.  These pasties were a pink crocheted base topped with a pretty embroidered flower embellishment.  They look very tropical and Hawaiian and the detail in them is just amazing.  They really are a pretty pair of pasties so if you like anything floral and want to keep your bedroom theme very feminine, you'll love these. To see them and purchase your own pair, just pop along and treat yourself!

In this picture I had part of my hair put up into a quiff like bouffant to make it all a bit more exotic.  A girly pink chair made for a cute prop.  

I really enjoyed this shoot, it was fun and girly and meant I could have a play around with the whole look.  I love doing lingerie and boudoir stuff at the best of times and getting to wear tassels and pasties is always that little bit more playful and edgy.  

What do you like or dislike about this shoot?  I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Becky x

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Christmas is coming... the goose is getting fat!

Or maybe that's me come the end of the year!

Yes, can you believe it, it's that time of year again?! It doesn't seem two minutes ago we were ringing in 2011. Now we have less than a month to go and we'll be in 2012. Then I'll be 30 in February! Shocking, isn't it?!

I've had this blog going a little while now and I felt like it needed a change. I wanted it to be feminine and cute, not too childish but not old fashioned. I think the template I found in the end kinda fits me to a T. What do you think of it?

I've had a busy week so I'm looking forward to deserved really long lie in tomorrow. I've assisted on set of a fashion shoot and today had a pin up shoot of my own where I got to model some nipple pasties on behalf of a Canadian designer. It was great to get into the swing of what I love modelling most, and I was honored to be wearing what can only be described as such cute and intricately made pieces of art. Now being back home the old 'feeling entirely knackered and ripped apart' sensation comes back to take me into it's lair. Marvelous. But, after a good long sleep and rest I'll be back!

Nighty night!

Becky x

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