There will always be someone out there ready to tell you what you are or what you aren’t to them. A lot of times it’s some variation of not enough or too much. The only opinion that really ever matters though is the one that you have of yourself. Self love can be really difficult when the world seems to always feel the need to imprint its opinions of you. For me being bigger than everyone since birth (10lbs y’all) it’s been a constant stream of comments and opinions. I have always been made aware of people’s feelings about the way that I look. With that being said, since I can remember I have always been so passionate about makeup and fashion. Makeup has always been a great outlet for me because makeup doesn’t size discriminate. Fashion on the other hand welllllll, it was difficult to say the least. All of my friends were smaller than me growing up and shopping for cute clothes was pretty much  impossible with stores like 5-7-9 around. The fashion that was in my size was matronly and quite frankly BASIC, not in the good way. It really wasn’t until a few years ago that the whole plus size fashion industry started to skyrocket and offer trendy fashionable clothes across the board. Guess who was hype???! I started going to plus size fashion events ready to catch up on all of the shopping I had missed out on growing up. Finally, the current fashions in sizes that would fit me. Likeminded women with the same issues finding clothes with a passion for fashion! So far the fashion has not disappointed, every season that passses it has gotten better. What I was surprised to find though were women that tried to shut me out and tell me that I’m not plus size and question my inclusion. I can honestly say that was one of the more difficult things for me to process in my entire self love journey. I’ve always felt excluded from the smaller fashion community my whole life and to me it was the norm. I had always hoped for a community of women in my same boat to share with when trendy plus fashion finally became available in the mass market, only to be made to feel like I don’t belong. I thought, well where do I belong then, I’m not straight sized or plus sized? So I’m too curvy… but not curvy enough? I’ve always been secure and confident in my self but that had me a little in my feelings. It’s human nature to want to belong but I checked myself real quick. My self love trumps everyone else’s opinions of what I am, and yours should too. The fact is that I am not defined by A SIZE, no one is. Wear what you like regardless of public opinion, size charts, and labels. At the end of the day we will all always be too much or not enough of something to someone.

• Hamsa top: Kohl’s Size Large
• Lounge Pant: Forever21 Size Large 
• FAVE eyeliner: Sephora Matte Black
• Liquid Lipstick: Kat Von D in Lolita