Victorias secret Tropical Lace Bralette size S (D-DD)

*Additional pics can be found here.

I initially purchased these bralettes because I wanted the free blanket.

But I actually ended up liking the bralettes.

 

Thankfully these bralettes come in band AND cup sizes. Well, sort of. These are the sizes they come in:

XS (AA-B), S (AA-C), S (D-DD), M (A-C), M (D-DD), L (A-C), L (DD). So they don’t have the whole spectrum of sizes, but they have more sizes than regular bralettes. My preferred size would have been XS (D-DD), but they don’t make that size (yet), so I went with the S (D-DD). It was a good choice.

The fit:

It’s actually a good fit.

White:

 

Burgundy:

 

I did notice that after the first wear, it does seem to stretch out some– notice in the burgundy bra pics 3, 4, & 5, the bottom of the bralette isn’t touching my skin in certain spots. (The pics were taken on 2 different days)

The bralette is very comfortable. I wore it to work one day, and while I was at a red light, I started panicking because I thought I forgot to put a bra on. My breasts aren’t very big, and they’re self supporting, so I don’t know how well this bralette would work for someone with heavier/bigger breasts. I like this bra enough that I’d get more, but not for the $23 price. Not that $23 is a bad price, I just don’t want to pay that much for a bralette (or really a bra. I’m cheap like that.)

The bottom of the bra is actually very stretchy, so I really wouldn’t mind if they started making these bralettes in XS (D-DD).

Victoria’s Secret Green Padded Bralette size S

Color: Jade?

The bra:

Has a diagonal seam on the front.

The bottom has a triangular scalloping design

It’s a part of the pink line, so the inside of the cups are pink

This bra has a lot of padding 😣

A closeup of the wire- it is very short and isn’t the entire length of the bottom of the cup

There’s a small cute heart at the back.

The fit/review:

Yup, this is too small in the cups.

Small but sexy 😏

Even quadding on my smaller boob

 

This is the most comfortable ‘bra’ I own. This bralette and the other two like it are what got me through the 10 hour shifts at my job. As much as I love them, I’d only buy more when they go on clearance (I got this on clearance for around $15)

The two main issues with this bralette is 1- it is for shallow breasts. And 2- it stretches out A LOT. This is one of the few ‘bras’ that I will put in the dryer. I can’t not put them in the dryer. Every bralette I own I wear multiple times before washing (I’m sure that sounds gross, but I don’t actually sweat in them- when the really hot whether comes I may have to wash them after every wear). They stretch out to the point where it feels like they’re nipple covers, seriously. When it’s stretched I can feel the ‘band’ move as I move.

Love Claudette Dessous longline 30E + matching thong

I’ve wanted this bra, in this color, ever since I got the other Dessous longline. When I bought the other longline, I could not find this color at all. So I gave up looking. Around Black Friday I came across this branon brastop. It was on sale for like £13, but I didn’t buy it because I was hoping it would be cheaper on Cyber Monday. Well, I was wrong, on cyber Monday the price went to £17, and stayed that price until March (😭). I would check brastop often to see if the price went back down, also to see if this size sold out because it was the only 30E left. I really wanted 28F, but it wasn’t available. I ended up buying this when it went to £16, but I only bought it because I tweeted to brastop that I wanted to add something to my order, but I couldn’t find that bra (I didn’t look hard enough because I ended up finding it 2 days later). I didn’t want them to hold my order for nothing, so I asked for this and the matching panties.

I’m happy that I was able to finally get this set.

 

The gore was too wide for me. The gore measures a hair under 1 inch wide- 7/8s of an inch.

However, because it’s so high, it was sitting on breast tissue. I was able to push the wires down the channels at the gore, so there wasn’t any stabbing; pushing down the wires I was able to get 1/2 an inch of free space. The gore just got wider the further it went down, so the inner portion of the wires were sitting on breast tissue. It wasn’t painful, but just annoying because I was aware that the wires and the gore were raised.

I decided to alter the gore, otherwise the bras wasn’t really wearable. As I’ve said before, when I alter things these days, I don’t have a desire to be 100% accurate (nothing is getting cut), so I just pinned the fabric at the gore in place, and hand sewed to make the gore less wide. If you decide to too this to this particular bra, be forewarned that the material is mesh and this alteration will mess up the material if you make it too tight, or if your breasts are heavy and close set. I decided when I altered this, that I was going to sew and leave the extra fabric on the outside, instead of sewing it on the inner part of the bra. I like the way it looks, and tbh no one else is going to be looking at my bras.

 

One of the things I absolutely love about this bra, and the other Dessous longline that I have is that there is depth to this bra that the regular Dessous bras don’t seem to have. Initially I thought the depth was above the wire, but it’s really just in the lower portion of the cup. There is wrinkling in the fabric, but I think that’s because how wide {the entire length of} the gore is. My nipples are in the upper portion of the bra, so I’m getting a bit of in cup quadding. I do a reverse swoop and scoop after putting the bra on. Before I altered the gore, the reverse swoop and scoop didn’t do anything at all. It couldn’t because there was no where for it to stay. The wires on the inner portion of the cup wasn’t touching my skin. Taking in the gore did seem to open the cup at the top a bit.

Walmart selfie

I rarely mention this on my bra reviews, but the seams wear only very slightly visible. I do want to mention that this bra is about 3/4s of an inch deeper than the peacoat Dessous longline that’s a sister size down (28F).

 

I think if you have narrow or sloping shoulders the straps will be too wide set for you, for me the straps are fine. The straps are fully adjustable. Although the straps look brighter/more neon in the pics, in person it’s the same color as the polka dots.

 

The band stretches to 28 inches before the wires start to distort. Stretched the band feels comfortable. The closure is 3×3, and it’s actually easy to button up from the back (I usually find the 5 row longlines to be a struggle to close behind my back, or som unhook when I get others hooked)

The longline is pretty short on this bra. There’s about 1 inch of extra fabric underneath the cups. There is 2 small bones, and the top of them keep ending up below the cups (but I don’t feel it), because there’s a space, the bone isn’t as long as the channel. Realistically speaking, the space is like 3 mm at the most.

 

Thong

These are unremarkable. They fit. There was a small amount of extra fabric in the front, but not enough that I would size down. The elastic wasn’t bothersome. They were comfortable.

 

 

verdict: This is a bra that I’d wear on one of my longer days at work. It was actually very comfortable.

 

Do you own any of the Claudette Dessous longline bras?

Etsy Kente cloth bikini (Kentekini) review size S

I hate having my phone near water, so I has a clear cover over it, which contributed to the blurriness of the photo. I like the appearance.

I decided to buy this bikini because I wanted a Kente cloth print bikini.  As is the case these days, I have a thought, and then I forget about it. I wanted this for my trip to Miami, but I forgot until like 12 days before I was supposed to go. I looked on eBay, but didn’t see anything that was exactly what I wanted, so I googled, and was brought to etsy. The first bikini that I saw was $45, not too bad, considering it was going to be handmade, but when I emailed the seller she said it wouldn’t be shipped out for 2 weeks. Bummer. I looked around for a bit, until I came across this set. Well, I actually came across a similar set sold by the same seller, but the top & bottom were sold separately, and cost about $10/$15 more. I didn’t want to be THAT person, that asks for a cheaper price, so after emailing the seller, I settled for this suit. (I wasn’t a fan of the gold)

Before I get to the review, I do want to mention that the seller had 10 days to make, and ship this set, so I received it on time. However, I did ask her beforehand, and she said it wasn’t an issue…

With that said:

The construction of the bikini

In case you’re not aware, Kente cloth is a cotton fabric that has no stretch to it at all. So in order to wear this as a bikini, it had to be lined with a stretchy fabric. The outer fabric is the Kente cloth, and the lining is a stretchy black fabric.

Both the top and the bottoms use the same black fabric. On the top, the Kente cloth, and the lining are not sewn together. The gold ‘binding’ used on the bottoms is a stretchy fabric. The binding on the top is also stretchy. I can’t say what the actual lining fabric is  but I’d assume some sort of nylon/spandex/rayon blend.

 

When I first saw the bikini I was so happy. It was exactly what I thought I wanted. But then I really looked at it. And I’m not really happy with it, especially considering how much I paid for it ($112). I am not a seamstress, I’ve altered a few items  using a sewing machine (I can hem a pair of true religion jeans with little issue), however the sewing on this set is not good.

 

The stitching is often not straight from one part of the garment to the next. In this pic, there is a small amount of material above the stitching on the right side, but more fabric above the seam on the left side

It is like this throughout the top and bottom

The pink denotes where the stitching is. You can see on the right side the stitching is more towards the top, but on the left side it’s in the middle.

 

The upper piece and the lining of the top aren’t sewn together and it feels like there is too much of the gold fabric

 

The biggest issue I have with the quality of the sewing, is that there’s a piece of the top boning that isn’t attached to the inner part of the bikini top. This is something that should have been caught before the item was shipped out.

I’ve had this happen to me before when I would hem jeans. But I would always catch it, and I would also always take it out and redo it. If I would have gotten this set like, a month before I had to go on vacation, I would have returned it, but since I got it the day before,I decided to keep it.

 

The seam on the loops is visible, and I would have liked for it to be flipped over so that it wasn’t, but that isn’t something that effects the fit or appearance of the bottoms (unless you’re close enough to see it perhaps)

 

 

Fit

I wasn’t 100% in love with the fit. It’s high waisted, and y’all know how I feel about high waisted bottoms. But that’s me, and not the bikini. I do feel as though with the side lacing and the high waist, I look like I don’t have hips.

The crotch did seem to be on the wide side. But the back coverage was what I like.

Another thing I didn’t care for, was putting it on and taking it off. I had to lace it up, and unlaced it. So I tried to not use the bathroom too much. The loops did feel stable when I tightened the sides.

 

The gold fabric appears loose, and it’s especially loose on my smaller side. I wish the cup came up a little higher. I tried to tighten the straps but that didn’t help, because the cup is just too short. As you can see, a bit of my nipple is showing at the top of the cup

 

I dont love this set. I didn’t message the seller to tell her I wasn’t happy with the set. I didn’t ask for a refund (full or partial), because I’d already worn the suit.

I most likely won’t be paying this much for a set again. I don’t think the set was worth what I paid. I know that when you’re buying something from etsy, or something  that is handmade, you’re paying for the labor, as well as the cost of the materials.

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?