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My experience ordering from Polish brand Kostar

Jul3

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.

Kostar bra 300 65E

Jul3

Color: Kwiaty

Style: padded plunge bra

The bra:

The floral pattern goes all the way around the back.

The size tag

The inner part of the bra is black and has thin padding (a lot thinner than a VS pink lightly lined bra)

The cups

Theres a small shiny black bow on the gore

As well as where the straps meet the cup

The straps are black and nice and thin

The quality of the bra is nice, but I did notice an area where the top of the lace isn’t completely stitched to the cup

I didn’t notice this this until after I went to take the bra off, but there’s a small rip in the fabric at the top of the cup. (Blue arrow) I don’t think I did that, but since I just noticed it, I can’t be 100% sure.

The review:

I made it a point to wear this bra today so that I could review it quickly. This bra doesn’t fit perfectly, but I love the print, so I decided to keep it anyway. On to the pics:

The areas where it doesn’t fit:

There’s about a finger width of space at the bottom of the cup. Oddly enough, I do think the bottom of my breast is where the wire is, but there is a space where my finger can fit.

Theres a little room where the lace is.

I don’t know if it’s my eyes, but when I look at the side of the bra, it’s ‘lumpy’ at the upper portion. The sides of the cup come up kind of high.

I love that the design goes around the back.

With a cami on.

After I took the bra off. Going based on the marks, it actually was at my IMF.

The wire wasn’t too wide at all

 

Initially putting this on, the bra felt okay. But towards the middle of my day (around 2pm) the bottom of the wires were really irritating my skin. The wires are a lot thinner/more bendable than Panache/Cleo/Curvy Kate/Freya bras. They’re very soft, where I wouldn’t be surprised if they were plastic (they’re not). That irritation came and went (but when it was there it lasted for at least 30 minutes).  After I got home I realized that the sides of the cup were irritating my skin.

The band seems like it’s a tts 30. The floral material is stretchy and tshirt like. Overall I’d contemplate getting the same bra in a smaller size (or perhaps a longline), of the shipping wasn’t so high.

Kostar bra 291 65E (Black)

Jul3

I thought I’d reviewed this a long time ago, but apparently I didn’t. The review is going to be how it currenly fits, not how it fit when I first got it. I believe the Kostar bras are the second set of unlined Polish bras that I ordered ( the first set being from Melissa Dessous). I initially wanted to try this bra, but I didn’t because it looked too much like Freya bras, and those don’t fit my shape.

 

The cups

There is a funny thing going on with the cup. The bottom of the cup seems like it doesnt really have enough depth for me. When I first got this bra it seems like the cups were a little too small, but I don’t believe there was any quadding or cutting it, it was just too small. Today, the cups are really small. I bought this bra back in March. There’s a good amount of quadding, so this is definitely too small.

The depth of this bra is only 7.25 inches (18.42 cm) (at least a full inch smaller that what I require in bras), and the width is 4.5 inches (11.43 cm), half an inch smaller than what I require I don’t think I would reorder this in a bigger size, as I think that this bra is best for someone shallow and/or someone that’s more even than I am. Plus, I don’t love it. The height of the up is nice and low, at 5.25 inches (13.34 cm).

The straps

I love how thin the straps are. I wish all bras (in my size) had straps this thin. They’re a hair under half an inch, and very reminiscent to the straps on VS bras. I miss thin straps. Most DD+ bras have traps that are really thick, even in the smaller sizes. Although I love the thinness of the straps, they are very stretchy and elastic. Stretchy to the point where its annoying and they feel tight. With adjusting they’r either too tight or too loose, there’s no in between.

The band

The band is firm. It stretches to 27.5 inches (69.85 cm). (I don’t know why the straps are adjusted to an uneven amount, so excuse the  lopsided band). The wings are nice and low, at 3.1 inches (7.87 cm).

The gore

I think the gore is a little too high for my tastes, even though it’s 2.5 inches (6.35 cm) high. It’s also .75 inches (1.91 cm) wide. I didn’t have the bra on long enough to say whether or not it would be pokey.

 

Wrinkling on my smaller side

 

You can can read my post on how to order fro Kostar here.

Kostar bra 290 65E

Jul3

I initially bought this bra because of the main image. I absolutely loved the way it looked- it was the sparkly color. Obviously the color looks better on the website-it’s not actually sparkling in person.

This bra, as well as the black bra, run small for the tagged size. Even though the bras are the same style (I think they have different codes because they’re dfferent colors), the black bra is a little smaller.

The straps

The straps are thin (.5 inches )and overly stretchy (much like the black)

The cups

The cups on this bra are too small for me, much like the black version. However the idth of the cups is 5 inches, (half an inche wider than the black bra. The depth of this bra is 7.75 inches, 3/4 inch smaller than what I need. I do feel as though the bottom of the cup is shallow, and there is some wrinkling. On my smaller breast I get orange in a glass effect. The shape of this bra is very pointy on me.

The band

The band is 28 inches stretched (a little bigger than the band on the black bra)

The gore

The height of the gore is 2.75 inches high, and the width is .75 inches. I get a oft tack with this bra.