American Eagle zip front sports bra size S

I cames across these bras one day, when someone on bratabase posted that Aerie was having a $10 bra & bralette sale. I haven’t bought a bra from Aerie since I started really wearing the correct size. Earlier on in my journey, I did get a 30D bra from Aerie (that I apparently never reviewed), but I knew it didn’t fit.

Anyway, so I came across this zipper front sports bra, as well as some other sports bras that I had no interest in. When looking for sports bras I’m mainly looking for non racerback, non cross back, regular strapped bras. While searching for sports bras, I’ve noticed a majority of them are some sort of racerback style, which I don’t want to buy. I had a 25% off coupon on AE/aerie, so that, the $10 price, and the regular straps, it just made sense to buy them. For $7.50 each, I decided to buy 3.

 

SIZE	BRA SIZE
XS	30B, 30C, 32A, 32B, 30D
S	32B, 32C, 34A, 34B, 32D, 30D
M	32D, 32DD, 34B, 34C, 34D, 36A
L	34D, 34DD, 36B, 36C, 36D, 38C, 36A
XL	36DD, 38B, 38C, 38D, 40C, 40D

I didn’t look at their size chart, but I’d tried on a bralette a few weeks prior, and I knew the M was too big in the band, so I went with a small for this. But looking at their size chart I’d technically need a M. Well, technically I’d need a small band and a medium cup, but no such size exists.

 

Before I talk about the fit, I’ll talk about the bra. These are compression sports bras, where you end up getting a “monoboob” look. Everything gets smushed closer to your body. They have a zipper front, and there’s a hidden hook at the upper portion that is supposed to keep the zipper from coming down. The sides of the bra, and front of the straps are a mesh material. There is also a small piece of fabric at the bottom that covers the bottom of the zipper.

 

I wanted to love these sports bra, but I don’t. They’re not a good fit.

I have tall roots, and the top of the cups on these do not cover my breasts completely. This probably shouldn’t be an issue, but when I swoop and scoop, you can see my breast tissue over the cups. When I do the “stomach chest chin” exercises at the gym, my chin is literally resting on my boobs. It feels weird. So when I wear it, everything gets pushed up and in. I’d imagine on someone with shorter roots they wouldn’t feel their boobs on their chin.

 

When I put this on, the back actually rides up. And surprisingly it feels comfortable that way. I can pull it down so the band goes straight across, but I’ve noticed after an hour or so I start feeling some pulling on my shoulders. The stretched band measurement is about 30 inches, and it feels nice and firm. The straps go straight up and down. No rings, sliders or j-hooks. The straps seem somewhat centered, so I think they would work for people with narrow shoulders.

 

Now let’s talk about the zipper… I thought the idea of a zipper front bra was cool. It zippers in the front, so you don’t have to worry about pulling it over your head. I always feel like when you have a bra that you have to pull over your head the band gets stretched out more and more. When I first put the red one on, the zipper immediately unzipped. And then it kept happening. I noticed when I had the hook closed, the bra didn’t unzip all the way, but it did unzip.  I personally believe that the little extra piece of fabric at the bottom of the zipper should be at the top, and maybe it’ll prevent the zipper from going down as you wear it.

But who knows since sports bras don’t have that. I did wear this bra to the gym, on my Tuesday class, and surprisingly the zipper stayed in place the whole time. Until, I wore it today. I don’t why it unzipped. But I was literally sitting in my car waiting for my parents to meet up with me. I was browsing the internet and I felt the zipper slowly go down.

Even the hook was barely hanging on

The blue and the green versions don’t behave like that, once the zipper is up, it’s up. The issue with these two is that it is really hard to get the zipper up. It almost feels like I have too much boob. The 2 pieces don’t connect easily; It would be easier if I had a second pair of hands- one set to hold the 2 pieces together, and the other set to actually zip up the bra.

 

With all of the bras, the hook does get in the way of zipping it up. I have to push the hook in, when I get to it.

Aerie has this bra listed under the ‘Move’ category, but I don’t believe it is very good at constricting the movement. I jump up and down, and I can feel/see movement. I don’t have big/heavy breasts, so it isn’t painful.

 

I went to AE once, and came across this bra in a medium. Of course I tried it on just to compare the fit. I loved how the cups fit. They seemed taller, although I didn’t measure them, and I probably still had some breast tissue that wasn’t completely covered. I don’t recall having any issue with the zipper, but again, I only had the bra on for at most 5 minutes. The band and the straps were too loose. If I bought this bra I wouldn’t have been properly supported.

 

 

Have you tried any zip front bras? How do you like them?

Ewa MIchalak unlined bras comparison– 3DM vs BM

I recently purchased a BM Chaberek (from bratabase), and a custom 3DM Malinowy. Right after I got the BM Chaberek, I decided there needs to be a comparison post for the 2 cuts from Ewa. I own both bras in 70DD.

I own:

3DM Malinowy

3DM Burek

3DM Rożówa Mgiełka

3DM Amorek

&

BM Naomi

BM Chaberek

BM Tajemniczy Ozgród

 

I chose these 2 bras because they’re similar in material (the Amorek, Rozowa Mgiełka, and Burek all are made of stiff fabric. The Ozgród is a totally different fabric).  The biggest difference between these 2 bras, is that the BM is lined, and the 3DM is not. With the Chaberek, the lining is a stretchy beige fabric.

 

The measurements of the bras:

As you see some of the measurements of the bras are similar, with the BM being .2 inches wider; the 3DM being .2 inches deeper; both the strap width and the cup separation is exactly the same .6 inches; the wings only have .1 inch difference. The 2 biggest differences (and for me, the most important) are the wire length, the BM being .8 inches longer, and the gore of the BM being .7 inches higher.

These are important for me, because I have close set breasts, and Ewa’s wires tend to be too hard for me, so the 3DM is okay, because the gore is only 1.6 inches (short enough to not bother me), but the BM’s gore is 2.25 inches. That extra height definitely causes the gore in the BM to be painful for me, and the outer wires tend to poke me, and leave marks. Surprisingly, the cup height on both is 5.5 inches.

 

You can better see in this closeup the difference in gore height.

 

 

The technical differences that will hopefully be of use to someone:

 

One of the things I think is interesting to note is that the nipple to neck measurement is .5-.75 inches higher in the bras, than me being braless. I think it’s interesting because when I measured my breasts from IMF to nipple, in all 3 scenarios it was the same measurement (3.5 inches). So there is some ‘pushing up’ of my breasts, but the bottom isn’t effected.

For the breast perimeter of both breasts, I measured from the outer portion where my breasts end. This shows that with both bras on my breast tissue gets narrower.

 

Ewa has said she won’t make a bra that comes as BM into a 3DM, but I don’t see why, because the BM literally only has 1 extra layer of fabric, that if removed would make the BM (fabric wise) exactly the same as the 3DM. I will point out that I don’t have the BM styles that are half lace, like the BM scarlet, so I can’t say how the fabric difference is on that.

 

More pics

 

Victorias Secret VSX Sports Bra Size 32DD

At the end of April, I decided I was going to start going to the gym.  My normal ‘bradrobe’ consists of regular bras and bralettes, but nothing that I could wear to the gym, and workout with. If did buy a few ‘regular ‘ sports bras, but quickly realized that they’re not for me. (I may review all of them together in one post later). This VS sports bra isn’t the first bra sized sports bra that I bought, but it is the first I want to review.

I bought this on eBay, because I loved the color, and the fact that it wasn’t a racerback, which I don’t care for. Unfortunately for me this bra doesn’t fit. I sized up from my other bra sized sports bra (even though they’re different brands), and this ended up being too big. So in this review, I can’t talk about how well it’ll work when working out.

 

For a 32 band it is pretty firm. Relaxed it’s about 24.75 inches, stretches its about 29.5 inches. It’s bigger than my underbust measurement, but it does not feel loose at all. There is a thick elastic band that goes across the whole length of the bra. It feels very comfortable. I’d be happy if all VS 32 bands fit like this. There is also 4 rows of eye closures.

 

The straps are part of the reason I bought this bra. There seems to be a lot more racerback , or criss cross back style sports bras, than regular strapped sports bra. These straps are only partially adjustable, and they can be clipped into a cross cross, which may help those that need shorter straps. The printed part of the straps are fairly wide, at 1.125″ wide, and they’re also somewhat padded.

 

I’m not 100% sure if this bra has wires or not. There is  something that feels hard, so it’s either a thin plastic wire, or just all of the material. The ‘wire’ is in the shape of a half moon, so I think that’s why the cup measures as wide as it does.

 

The cups on this bra are too big. When buying this, I forgot that when I’ve bought the padded D-DD bralettes from VS they were too big, and this bra seems to have the same characteristics as those.

The cup is too wide; it measures 7.5 across in width. The sides of the cup definitely come up too high. If I were to put this bra on before putting deodorant on, I’d definitely get some on the bra. It’s definitely in the area where hair grows. The height of the cup/bra, is actually perfect. It covers my tall roots, which no other sports bra seems to do. However, the cups are also too deep. I’d say there’s about an inch of space between my nipple and the apex of the cup. There’s space on the inner part of the cup, as well as above my breasts. There are 2 separate cups, so this isn’t a bra I’d wear to the gym (or anywhere really). If I wore this to the gym, it wouldn’t control any bounce.  I do think this bra would be best for those with tall roots.

 

The cups are so big on this, I wasn’t sure if I should go down 1 size or 2 when buying another one. I ultimately decided to go down one size (because I found it cheap on eBay).

Do do you own any VS spots bras?