I am going to review my experience with the Polish bra company Kostar. There isn’t very many posts about the company. So this is going to be pretty long as I would like to make it as detailed as possible.
One day recently I was browsing through the Polish guide on ABTF & I decided I wanted a bra that Kostar was selling. Their prices were very reasonable. (I’m cheap, so I’m always looking for the cheapest option– which is a part of the reason I haven’t tried Comexim or Ewa)
But not only were their bras inexpensive, they also had a few unlined bras, which is what caught my attention. It wasn’t a crazy amount of unlined bras, but it was 13 bras out of about 30.
Their bras don’t have names, they just have numbers. With some of the bras, the different colors have different numbers, but with some the different colors have the same number. The white bra above, was #302, but the same bra in black was #304. The black/white bra that I did guy were both #301.
They do sell bra sized bralettes, as well as matching panties & thongs, and maternity bras.
I couldn’t find any information on their site about shipping to the US, so I had to send them an email. First, I sent them an email through their site (thurs 2/18). I didn’t get a response, or an email letting me know that the message was received, so the next day (fri 2/19), I sent an email directly to the email listed on their site. Biuro.kostar@wp.pl. The email I sent was both in English, and in Polish. I received a response two days later, 2/22, it was in both English, and Polish as well.
I took it upon myself to ask some questions, before it placed my order:
*what are the sizing increments between the cups?
*does a particular bra that they have on their site listed as ‘push-up’ also cone in a non push-up version?
*are the bands very stretchy?
This was Paula’s response:
This is the sizing chart she was referencing:
The the third paragraph in that email kind of confused me, so I just decided to go with 65e. I did keep my previous order from Melissa Dessous in mind (those bras were too small in 60e)
I asked her about the shipping price she quoted (60€, which converts to $66). Her response was that the shipping costs were expensive, but there wasn’t anything she could do about that.
Shipping tangent:
I went to the UPS, Fedex, and USPS websites to calculate the shipping from Poland to NY, because $66USD is a lot. (I’ve ordered from China before, and with 3 day shipping through FedEx, I only paid about $25-$35.) This is what I got:
I assume the prices on UPS and Fedex are in zł, and USPS is in dollars. (I could be wrong though). So UPS cost a lot more than what I was chargeds $206-$141. FedEx has around what I paid, and the post office has a little less than what I paid (again assuming the post office is in dollars)
So I asked around, and a few people stated I paid a lot. I noticed in the email I was quoted a weight of 1-2kg, which is about 2-4 pounds. No way is three bras going to weight 2 pounds. So I checked the amount with the correct weight .3kg (what is in the actual UPS tracking info page)
Still comes up to more than what I paid, so I decided not to email Paula asking about that.
She sent me a summary of my costs, before I paid, and the shipping came to 227PLN. For everything all together, I paid about $115. Not a bad price for three Polish bras, but literally half of it was shipping. I sent payment thurs 2/25, and the bras were shipped out fri 2/26. According to UPS, they should be delivered by the end of the day mon 2/29 (as of right now, 10:25pm 2/28 the last destination it shows is arriving at Warsaw on 2/27 5:39am. So hopefully I get it mon– this will be posted when I actually get the package to complete the experience)
These are the bras I ordered:
I can’t even remember if I ordered the white or the black, but it’s the same bra.
This is the initial bra I saw that made me want to purchase with Kostar
This is a picture that comes up on the same listing for that bra, but hopefully it looks like the above pic. If it looks like the pic below, I will dye it brown
This is the bra that I saw that was pushup that I wanted in a non push-up version
I love foal, so it caught my eye. This is the version I actually bought. It is padded. And it cost more than the push-up version. This bra isn’t actually on the site.
The below are another bra that I was interested in getting, but the more I looked at it, it reminded me of Cleo Lucy or a freya bra, and I think it would have the potential to cut in at the top. I really wanted the white one, but it was sold out.
Sadly through no fault of Kostar, I still have not received my bras yet (3/1)
The original deliver date was 2/29
The package was stuck in Warsaw for 2 days. So I knew I wasn’t getting it on time. 😥 The date was rescheduled for 3/1 (the next day) by 3pm.
But by 9:41pm 3/1, I still have not received the package.
At 6am it was in the next state over.
It is so annoying to be expecting a package one day (2/29), and to still not have it the next day. Especially when you pay so much.
I wake up to this: 😒😒
I’d contacted UPS, and they stated it was “stuck in customs”. I don’t know how customs work, but the tracking info never said anything about customs (or ICS)… The package was delivered today at 5pm. I couldn’t get to it, because I was at work.
I get home and see it. 😍
Pits heavily taped with Kostar’s own tape. If this went to customs, it was not opened. There’s no way they opened it and replaced the Kostar tape…
Inside the wrapping was a Kostar box
Inside that box was a smaller Kostar box (how cute)
And the invoice:
A closeup view. I was charged VAT (prices listed in Euros)
The bras were inside the little box (they were not wrapped in tissue paper-not a problem for me)
As of right now I haven’t tried any of the bras on. But going based on the way they look, I’ll say I think the floral bra may be too big, being that it’s a plunge, it may be okay. It does remind me of the Cleo Darcy (which isn’t a plunge), so the wires may be wide. I can’t tell with the other two bras, but I think one may fit, and the other would be either too big or too small. The beige looks bigger than the black bra. The quality of the bras seem very good.
Is there there anything that I left out that you want to know? Comment in the message section.
the musings of Renzilla 