Shrinking Violet Home Kit Review

Okay be honest with me, if you could loose a few inches by slathering yourself in oil and putting on a rather interesting looking silver suit, would you do it? Even if you are a bit of a gym bunny, I think the idea of utilising your down time to the max is pretty tempting. This is the idea behind the Shrinking Violet home kit* (RRP £99). If you aren't already familiar with the brand, they are best known for the Shrinking Violet Professional Body Wrap that is used in salons around the country. They are really popular with celebrities and regular salon goers alike and now, they have branched out to the at-home market. 

I was contacted by the Get Shrinking team in mid August about a top secret launch. All of the information was strictly embargoed until September 15th and right until the kit arrived, I wasn't entirely sure what exactly was going to turn up! I am a sucker for good packaging and I must admit, the Shrinking Violet team have nailed it. A clean looking white box arrived packed with their innovative oil based solution, a measuring cup, a handy measuring tape to track the inches you have lost and of course, one very sexy shrink suit. 

The idea is that you rub the solution into any problem areas and then don the shrink suit for an hour which will help to increase your body temperature. This helps to encourage perspiration, allowing the body to start sweating out toxins and also claims to help break down fat cells. Whether you want to exercise with the suit on or just lounge around on the sofa is completely up to you as your temperature only needs to be raised by two degrees to start the treatment. Now, I have a lot of problem areas so I practically doused myself in the oil and put on my shrink suit, curious to see whether there would genuinely be any affect. 

The first thing I have to say about the experience is my god I felt ridiculous. I honestly looked like a sausage in foil...it was pretty horrifying. So from that, I'm sure you can gather that there will certainly not be any full body shots of this delightful ensemble but here are a few sneak peaks...

I chose to take the lazy route and see what inch loss could be achieved simply by chilling out with the suit on for the first attempt. In true Sod's Law style, after a good half hour of becoming delightfully sweaty (blogging is really not always glamorous guys!), there was a knock at my front door. In a bit of a panicked state, I chose to cover up my outfit by quickly chucking on my coat...not realising that it sort of looked like I was planning to go out...in my shiny silver trousers that were poking out from underneath. Needless to say I got a rather strange look from the poor guy at the door. Anyway, I digress but essentially, I will say that despite the instruction booklet saying you could wear this anywhere, even to the gym, it's certainly not something I'd like to be publicly seen in!

During the time I wore the suit my temperature definitely increased despite minimal activity, but not to the point of being uncomfortable. In addition it also felt quite itchy, particularly in areas where the oil was most heavily used but after a bit of research I've found that to be expected. It certainly wasn't a bad experience though and after an hour, I was very anxious to see the results. I took my measurements both before and after the treatment and overall I lost just over 3 inches. Not bad at all for just sitting on my sofa! 

Now I'm sure that the effects are mainly down to water loss and will be interested to see whether the inches will continue to drop if I keep using the suit on a regular basis. The kit that I received has enough for eight treatments so I will update you all once I have completed the course. So what are my thoughts after my initial try out? Well I wouldn't say it's one of those products that you need to have in your life. But it did do exactly what it said on the tin and if you have a spare £99 to spend, then go for it. I reckon it would be really handy to have around especially before a big event if you just wanted to be that little bit more svelte! As for the long term effects, I shall let you know!

*This post includes a PR sample, however all thoughts are entirely my own. To read my full disclaimer, please click here.

Do I really need to lose weight for my wedding day?

Would you ever just randomly ask your friend if they were planning to lose weight? Or, to make things even more awkward, would you ask someone who is practically a stranger? Unless you are one of the more socially forward types, I'm guessing the answer is no.

So why is it, that the second you have an engagement ring on your finger, this suddenly becomes the question that you get asked constantly? Literally...by everyone. From your closest friend to passing strangers, they all seem to want to know what your goal weight is for the big day. Perhaps it comes from a caring standpoint of wanting to help you feel your best on your wedding day and an assumption that shedding a few pounds will get you there. One would certainly like to think so. But I can't help but wonder why? Last time I checked, my fiance was aware that he was not asking a tall, willowy beauty to marry him but instead a chunky, short girl was his choice and he was okay with that. Well I certainly hope so otherwise the ring giving was probably slightly inappropriate! I also imagine that this is generally the case for all couples at this pinnacle moment. From this assumption we can guess that said other half does not hold the expectation or the want for their future bride to be panicking about losing weight before the big day. They love how they look at that moment. They are perfect, just the way they are...in full on Bridget Jones style.

Yet there seems to be such a huge expectation that all brides must be below a certain size for their wedding day. Personally I think the wedding industry itself plays a huge part in this. The fact that the average size of British women these days is a 16 yet the vast majority of bridal shops only carry sample wedding dresses in sizes 8-12 kind of says something. Now to make myself clear, I am not saying that it's wrong to want to lose weight for your wedding day or that bridal shops should only carry larger sizes instead. I simply think that at a time when you should be able to bask in the glow of being loved for exactly who you are, the absolute last thing you should feel is pressure to change how you look.

Now I wasn't one of those girls who always dreamed of her wedding dress. To be honest until my partner proposed I hadn't really even thought of what type of wedding I wanted. But I did at least have a picture in my mind of what the wedding dress search would be like. It would be all smiles and laughs, glasses of champagne and prancing around in an array of gorgeous dresses. Sadly my wedding dress search was a far more stressful experience. Dress after dress that I put on would barely fit over my ample arse, let alone do up. I was encouraged to "imagine" what it would look like but who wants to buy what is probably the most expensive dress you will ever wear based on imagining what it would look like? Not to mention how horribly soul destroying it is to not find a single thing in the shop that will actually fit you. As I have said, I am not the smallest of people but I am certainly not wildly outside of standard sizes. I buy my clothes in high street stores and I don't even need to go to plus size shops so I was utterly bewildered by the fact that I couldn't find a dress that would fit me.

I started to get incredibly worried that I would look awful on my wedding day if I didn't lose weight. I sat and planned what exercise regime I needed to follow, what I would eat for the next two years, how much I could theoretically lose in that time. I joined Weightwatchers and the lady who ran it pronounced that she could have me five dress sizes down before my wedding date. I was then left thinking...oh god, do I need to lose five dress sizes!? Needless to say it wasn't exactly the glowing feeling I was hoping for.

Fast forward a year and a half later and being the rather rubbish dieter that I am I haven't exactly made any huge difference to my weight. Certainly not the five dress sizes I supposedly needed. I had been putting off going for another wedding dress search for such a long time, thinking eventually I would be the size I needed to be before choosing. But then it dawned on me. I have 6 months till my wedding. It's pretty safe to say my body is not going to radically change in that time. Plus the rather obvious need to get a wedding dress on order...thinking of that initially made me panic but slowly I realised actually, screw this! I'm going to find my perfect dress and I'm going to look darn good on my wedding day, dress size be damned.

So in I strolled to a bridal shop. Once again the dresses didn't really fit but this time, smiles and laughter were most definitely present. My mum and my sister were the perfect cheerleaders and the presence of champagne was certainly a pleasant addition...and what happened? I found my perfect dress. Yes I had a momentary wobble that I might still be too big when I looked at the photos of me wearing it. But the more and more I look at these photos the more I think actually, I look pretty good. I think one of the main reasons for that is because I was enjoying myself. I was happy and not standing there thinking about how fat my arms are or how my waist should be smaller or the fact that I'm not the "perfect" size.

So yes, I will be a fat bride but you know what? Who the hell cares. That feeling of acceptance is so freeing. I suddenly feel so much more comfortable about how I will look on my wedding day and I think I will actually look even better for it. After all, what is more attractive than a person brimming with confidence and feeling their best? It doesn't matter what size you are, if you have that glow of happiness you will be a beautiful bride. So if you are reading this right now and have been agonizing over changes you "need" to make before the big day, stop. Just give yourself a second to remember that you do not need to be a certain number on the scale to be beautiful. And for me? The man who's opinion truly matters loves me for who I am and how I look right now and that means more to me than any sample size dress horror ever could.