♥ Who are you?
♡ You can call me Lamb. I'm an almost 23 year old female with a very small bust. I'm from northern England. I'm a feminist. I have a masters degree in astrophysics. I'm happily in a relationship with someone who supports my lingerie blogging and occasionally plays photographer. I collect comic books and like freshly cut flowers. I'm anxiety ridden and socially awkward. This blog is only one small part of my life, the side you see of me is only one part of a much larger story.
♥ Why don't you show/why do you hide your face?
♡ I'm diagnosed with having phobic reactions to images of my face. Which is basically a therapist's fancy way of saying that seeing photographs of my face scares and upsets me because i can't recognise myself. It's slightly more complex than that (like i'm semi okay when i can see myself posing and stuff, like a webcam because i have time to recognise myself in motion) but you get the gist that whilst i enjoy the anonymity not having my face associated with my blog affords me, i also couldn't handle sifting through endless photos of my face for every post (it's difficult enough when i accidentally capture it in photos). That and even if i was okay with it, i'm a total derp and no one wants to see that...
♥ I don't like you/that thing you do/that thing you said.
♡ Cool. This blog isn't really about me as a person, occasionally I foray into more personal posts and I suppose this falls into that category but I'm not looking to find validation in who I am from strangers. So if you do find the small peeks of my personality and life are not to your taste then i'm sure there's another blogger out there who can meet all your needs.
♥ How do you afford your lingerie?
♡ Contrary to what you might think i am not a rich person. In the first 2.5 years of this blog I was a university student and worked two part time jobs to afford my collection. Now, I work a full time job and whilst I'm not earning minimum wage, I'm not making bank either. After bills, taxes, food and rent I'm left with maybe 20% of my income as 'disposable'. I find having two bank accounts, one for necessities and one for luxuries helps me save for high ticket lingerie purchases. I also buy during sales, engage in mailing lists and brand social media accounts to obtain discount codes distributed to consumers and occasionally dip into my larger savings (inherited from family members who have sadly passed away) treating them like a credit card where I can slowly pay the money back to myself if I truly am too impatient to wait. I'm also lucky to have a Beau, mother and friends who will consider buying me lingerie within their budgets as birthday/Christmas presents.
♥ Do you actually wear your expensive lingerie for anything other than taking pictures/sex/etc?
♡ The short answer is yes. I buy pieces I feel I can incorporate into my wardrobe or are hardy enough to wear on the regular. Sometimes i plan my outfits around my lingerie, other times i plan my lingerie around my outfits. I just don't like owning lingerie that I can't/don't wear (it takes up space) so it usually gets rehomed leaving me with a collection in regular rotation. To me, lingerie is for wearing and it serves a practical purpose as well as an aesthetic one. The items I guess I wear least are my suspenders belts purely because I wear very short skirts that don't cover the tops of stockings and most days I'm too damn lazy to deal with the public's reaction to visible stockings and suspenders (not to mention I can't wear them to work so that's 5 days out of 7 they're out of the picture).
♥ How/why did you start lingerie blogging?
♡ I started this blog when I was 19. 11 months earlier I'd managed to finally make some peace with having a small bust and I'd just started my foray into finding lingerie that actually fit me and made me finally feel good about my body. I'd been lingerie obsessed since I was a pre teen (having asked my mother for an Agent Provocateur set for my 18th birthday, about 6 years shy of it) and never developing a core size bust had been a huge blow to me as i'd wrongfully assumed that if you were sub core size, you weren't busty enough for any lingerie. As i found this wasn't necessarily the case i looked to find a platform where i could further my education and share my journey with others who were in a similar mindset. The landscape of lingerie blogging was entirely different back then and I'd seen countless fashion blogs but never encountered a lingerie blog so I was able to grow and learn in a much less saturated community, one that cared about fit and education.
♡ As for starting a blog, I just founded this blogspot, posted a few things and started promoting myself through the community I'd found. There was no Instagram in those days so I had to promote myself more through words than photos. It's been a slog to build up a readership and I've seen many good blogs disappear in my time. But I'm lucky that when I started, the community was so sparse that other blogs and brands took note of newcomers and supported them. People happily retweeted me or mentioned me in their blog rolls. I don't feel like I'm an authority or particularly successful in blogging but I'm happy in my little niche, I have made genuine friends and built up relationships with brands I care about and occasionally someone gets in touch to thank me for helping them with their body confidence or small bust struggles. So the hard work has been wholly worth it.
♡ If you're thinking about starting an actual lingerie blog then my advice is to start your blog before indulging in social media. Building a genuine readership is much more important to the success of a blog than having many followers on social media whose interactions never go beyond likes. It's hard to tempt people to view your writings when you've gained them solely because of your photos. So reach out to the lingerie blogging community online through engaging on others blogs, dedicated reddits, etc. before reaching out to those interested in lingerie visuals on social media.
♥ How do you store your lingerie?
♡ Many ways and probably not in the most space efficient way. I have a hand painted vintage suitcase/trunk (thanks Ma!) for my Agent Provocateur and some other luxury pieces. I used to store all my Agent Provocateur in their individual boxes but the trunk overflowed massively and i just ended up with a huge pile of pink boxes in my living room. So now i divide my Agent Provocateur into 4 boxes, one for bras i wear at least once a week, one for knickers/suspenders/waspies i wear at least once a week, and the other two for pieces on slightly less of a regular rotation. I then have two big white boxes for other luxury pieces that need to be stored delicately, one for knickers and suspenders, the other for bras. My Creepyyeha and Agashi by Christina O live in the garment bags they came in. Luxury pieces that don't fit in said trunk and come in their own boxes are stored on shelves about my apartment. Baby dolls and bodysuits I want to keep nice are hung on my wall. Non luxury throwaway (we're talking low quality fast fashion like Topshop, etc) or lower price point pieces are stored in a chest of drawers where I have a drawer for bras and a drawer for knickers. I regularly clear these drawers out, disposing of any old pieces that aren't in the best condition (i hate when elastic fibres begin to show or colour fades) and giving away pieces that I just never wear.
♥ How do you wash your lingerie?
♡ Believe it or not I don't own a washing machine. I wish I did but my apartment is perfect in every way to me and therefore I'm not moving just to have one. So I've had to hand wash all my expensive delicates and my everyday pieces the way my mother taught me to since i moved in 3 years ago. I use Ecover Delicate detergent in warm water, gently rinsing and removing any dirt/secretions and then rinsing in cold water until there's no soap residue left. I then either dry flat or on a clothes horse. My non delicates (I.e. cheap stuff) just go in a washing machine when I get the chance to use one (laundromat or my darling mother's). I don't really see the point of laundry bags, if i'm anal enough about a piece to worry about washing it then it gets hand washed.
♥ What's your creative process for photos?
♡ I guess I wrote a blog post on this a while back: Tips From an Amateur Photographer. But it's probably a tad outdated and really I just try to create photos I can look at 50+ times and not loathe. I aim to not have photos that are monotonous. I think it's lovely to have a style and recurring theme in photos but I can't bare to have the same setting, the same set-up in consecutive blog posts. I'm always trying to utilise my apartment in ways that provide a different backdrop and really if I get semi decent photos then it's all pure fluke. What I see in my head never ever translates to camera and I'm a shite model so I guess my creative process is just 'don't fuck up'.
♥ How do you pick the pieces you buy?
♡ I have a distinct personal taste, like everyone does. So of course my interest is always piqued by aesthetics first, but then I get practical. Small busts experience a wide variety of fit issues and so if I know it's going to look shit on me or not fit because of the shape then I don't buy (like 98% of the time, sometimes i'm irrational and stupid). I also have a mental list of priorities, I know what I want asap and I know what I can handle waiting a year or even more for. Sometimes this is set by how limited a particular style is, sometime's it's set by my knowledge of the brand's annual sales, sometimes it's set by me waiting to see if anyone else is going to take the time to review it so i get an idea of the fit, sometimes it's set by me wanting to review the pieces myself. Nowadays I ask myself about ethics, quality and most recent design origin before a purchase too. Those are important factors to me, things I've grown to care a lot about. You can keep your Dita Von Tease, For Love and Lemons, Victoria Secret lines (except seamless thongs, give me all of their seamless thongs forever) because I've seen nearly every design from someone else before and i'd rather support the indies they've been influenced by.
♥ How do you keep your lingerie in good condition if you wear it regularly?
♡ Don't wear it with anything that could damage it, wash it gently, try not to put your nails through the lace, just be careful. As with all material things, there will be wear and tear over its lifetime before it inevitably becomes too ruined to wear. It's just the laws of entropy man, order has to tend towards chaos and I'd rather spend the lifetime of my lingerie enjoying it than leaving it in its box, too scared to accidentally damage it.
♥ Is your Creepyyeha comfortable to wear?
♡ I get asked this a lot and i guess the answer is a personal one. Any lingerie with a decent amount of hardware on it is going to have some weight to it. The strength of your upper body and core muscles will dictate how long you feel comfortable carrying around that extra weight. I personally find that with a bandeau underneath to protect my piercings, i can wear my Creepyyeha Uri set for 6 to 7 hours with only mild discomfort towards the end. But i weight train twice a week and consider myself to be above average in strength, not by much but probably more than people who don't engage their muscles by strength training often. I guess if you're hell bent on owning it then you'll find ways to make it work for you.
♥ Why do you get mad when people sexualise your photos?
♡ I believe that there is nothing inherently sexual about skin. It is not a sex organ. We do not view all skin as sexual, we do not view children's skin as sexual, we do not view skin that is no longer attached to the human body as sexual. If i removed all my skin and presented it to someone, i'm sure they'd agree with me that in itself, skin is not sexual. There's a distinction between a human body, that yes exists in a naked state and a human body in a sexual situation. That distinction is consent. The reason many human beings fail to understand this is because of years of misogyny that's been ingrained into society that presents female bodies as objects that exist to appeal. Objects that have been over sexualised time and time again. I do not present my body in a sexual manner here. Lingerie is not inherently sexual (it was born from practical need) and i do not consent to having my body viewed as an object that only exists to arouse someone who does not respect me enough to determine my lack of consent. If i am able to detach my sexuality from my everyday perceptions then so can you.That's all for now folks, i tried to answer the questions that people ask the most but if you have any more burning questions, feel free to leave them in a comment and i'll get back to you asap!