Beauty and the Beach

Before rushing out and buying the in-fashion bikinis you have had your eye on you have to first identify your body shape, then you can start selecting the best bikinis to highlight and enhance your assets and minimise those flaws- making you look like the ultimate beach babe.

Top Tips:

We all look at celebrities gallivanting around on the beach in glossy magazines or on the TV wishing we looked like them, well with the right bikini you can-without paying the celebrity price tags.

Apple, pear, cornet and lollipop...Do they sound delicious to you? That’s exactly what we should be thinking and embracing - our bodies are delicious no matter what shape and size they are. Renowned fashion experts Trinny and Susannah famously made known that there are many different body shapes. These include the ‘apple’ shape which by definition is basically round. Swimwear with a control panel is a great way of disguising those areas that you might not want to emphasise, so look for trendy one pieces with hidden or ruche support bands.

If you have a pear shaped body you should steer towards extenuating your best features and less towards the main weight distribution around the hips. The ideal swimwear for this fabulous figure is a bikini with a skirt, also known as a skirtini for those trendy girls who know all the latest fashion terms.

You can also categorise body shapes into being either small on top or big on top, the majority of women make fashion faux pas because they don’t know what the most flattering beach wear is for them. So if you're small on top, you may want to try swimsuits from Brazil as the Brazilian women are generally smaller on top - resulting in their swimsuits fitting there body type perfectly. If you want the bronzed Brazilian beauty look you should focus on bandeau bikini’s and splash a bit of colour for a bold look. An absolute no go for girls who are small on top are bikinis with too much fabric as they will drown a petite figure and hide the fantastic body underneath.

If you’re big on top then be proud of what you’ve got and choose a bikini that will draw attention to your best assets and away from other parts of your body. Halter-top bikinis can be a good choice by offering support and that can be tied around the neck will give you some lift. They also allow you to make adjustments for the perfect fit. A good tip is choose a bikini that you can buy the top and bottom separately as you may need a bigger top half than bottom, this will ensure you look in proportion and ready to hit the beach.

Hot or not?

Many celebrities struggle with finding the right bikini to make the most of their figure and often make mistakes in the process too, however with celebrity status comes celebrity pay checks so they can afford the best and latest beach trends. It may help to look at celebrities with similar body shape to you and ask yourself does that bikini show off the good bits and hide the not so good bits?

Celebrities like Cheryl Cole have an obvious boyish figure, boasting a tiny frame but with no real waist definition. This can be boosted by wearing a belted bikini, which generally comes in contrasting colour variations in order to provide a break up of top and bottom. As a result, this style of bikini will even out a boyish figure and provide balance to the body shape. We can’t change how we were made but we can utilize our strengths and camouflage our imperfections to make us look our best.   

When it comes to the perfect body shape, it seems women are on a learning curve. With so many body types it isn’t easy to shop for the best beach wear, but with a little help we can find out which styles emphasise the best parts and minimise the imperfections and give us the confidence to step out in style.

K.J.N.