You look positively Blooming!!!

I have heard that quite a lot during my pregnancy and I'm sure thousands of other women do too so to have a maternity/baby store called Blooming Marvellous is genius in my opinion. I was not actually aware of this store until I became pregnant when my next door neighbour gave me one of their catalogues. They also have some physical stores around the country but because there was not one near when I lived I did not know of its existence and to be honest before this whole adventure I probably had no need to know it was there and would have ignored it on the high street anyway!

According to their website Blooming Marvellous was founded 25 years ago. They go on to say that a fruitless search for a pair of maternity jeans that fitted and looked like normal jeans prompted them to begin. I can imagine that 25 years ago this was probably quite a big deal although now I have to say that there are quite a few places that do some great maternity jeans, this store included. Blooming Marvellous are now the UK's leading specialist brand for everything maternity/babies and pre-school children. I have to say that it is nice to have a dedicated shop that just caters to this type of clientele. You do have stores like TopShop/Dorothy Perkins etc that have a maternity section but it's nice to go to a store with just clothes that will fit your big belly.

In my opinion I would probably rank Blooming Marvellous in between Mothercare at the lower end and Mamas and Papas at the top end in terms of price, quality, overall impression etc. In fact, they do say on their website that, "Women don't lose their style and their individuality, just because they become pregnant. They want to look chic and fashionable - regardless of their ever increasing bump. Our design team understands this and is expert in developing collections that are refreshingly modern."

I was impressed when I looked through their catalogue as I found quite a lot of nice fashionable outfits that I really do not find at Mothercare. They do a very nice range of party dresses, dressy clothes that I find Mothercare don't do. On the back of this I decided to go to one of their stores to have a look around, try on the things I liked in the catalogue and hopefully make some purchases. I went to the store in St Albans but they also have them located in Bath, Bluewater, Fulham, Guildford, Leamington Spa, Marlow, Norwich, Richmond, Wandsworth and Winchester. The store was not that huge and did not have that great a selection. I was looking for specific things from the catalogue and in fact they only had one item on the shelves. This didn't deter me too much because I thought I could try on similar things and get an idea of what my size was and then order from the catalogue when I got home. I ended up buying a basic white top with elastic at the sides so it expands when you get bigger, a basic black over the bump skirt and also two bump bands which allows you to wear your regular tops and have a bump cover up to stretch over your clothes.

I think they do a very good range of basics and I found the price of these quite reasonable. I think the top was around £20 as was the skirt. The bump bands were under £10. I have pretty much worn these all the time since I bought them and been impressed at their versatility. They do go with anything and have been very helpful. They will last throughout the pregnancy which is nice. I was however, not entirely impressed with the lasting quality of the fabric. Both the top and the skirt have bobbled a bit and I don't expect this after only a few months. They did it fairly soon after I bought them and although they will be ok for this pregnancy I was hoping that they would last until the next one but I think by then they will look very old and that I will probably have to buy new ones. This has unfortunately put e off buying anything more from Blooming Marvellous or anything that is a bit more expensive as I am not sure how well it will last. It's a shame because I do really like their range and their baby clothes look very cute.

In addition to maternity clothes they also do maternity lingerie, breastfeeding accessories, bags and accessories, baby clothes, items for nurseries and toys and gifts.