I dyed the Portia/Princess hybrid

Original post can be found here.

I used Rit Dye in the purple color. As the water was boiling, I read the side of the bottle that says not to use it on polyester fabrics. I already had my mind set, so I was going to do it anyway. But I had a feeling that it was going to dye, because I the dyed a white dress with pink Rit Dye, and the back of it that had mesh, didn’t dye. So I crossed my fingers. I probably used more dye than I needed to, but I wanted to make sure that the bra came out dark. I really wanted to dye it brown, but I forgot to go to the dye section when I was there yesterday.

On to the pictures:

In the above picture it looks blackish, but it’s not. It’s very purple.

I believe the polyester warning on the Rit dye bottle was for the stitching, in my dress the stitching stayed the original color. And as you can see the thread is still white, as is the floral design and the lacing. Well it actually got tinted somewhat.

I don’t know if this occurred because I used hot water & dye on the bra, but the lacing is comIng undone form one area on both of the cups. Oddly enough, on both cups it’s on the right side (when looking at it).

Inner part of the cup

Band

The floral design

Underneath the floral design

The fit:

I don’t know if it was the dye, or it was the scorching hot water, but the bra shrunk. From my experience being a denim addict, I know that really hot water (too hot to touch) can shrink jeans.

so yeah, it shrunk, a good amount. Before I needed to alter the bra, now I don’t think there’s enough room to alter it. It shrunk enough that now it fits. The band, however feels really tight. I ordered some new extenders, so I’ll probably wait to wear this until those come in. Enough blabbering.

Right side

Left side

No gapping.

A little space in the upper panel on smaller breast.

Side view

I initially was going to make this a two part post, with the dye being one post, and the actual alteration another post, but I’m not going to alter it now.

What do you think?

Cleo Marcie 30dd yellow

Color: yellow

The bra:

It is a beautiful summer yellow.

There are the signature embroidered dots throughout the bra.

There is a fucshia bow at the gore with a button in the middle

Unlike most unlined bras, this does not have any bows where the cup and the straps meet

Embroidery on the lace

I didn’t realize until I was taking pictures that there’s little bows embroidered on the top of the cup

The straps

 

The review:

I love absolutely everything about this bra.

The side profile I so round. But that is something Cleo bras are known for. There is literally no flaws in this bra. No stabby gores, no space in the fabric. NOTHING.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t shocked when I first put this bra on. How could a bra that us for FOT, fit me? Someone that is FOB? Wearing this bra (as well as Panache Jasmin) made me realize that I am most likely even, with tall roots, so I function as FOT. Or more correctly, {some} FOT bras work with my shape.

Here are some pics I took from when I first got the bra (excuse the color)

 

So I got this bra as an exchange from a bratabase member. She contacted me and asked if I was willing to trade my new CK Princess bra (which I am one realizing I never reviewed ) in 30dd for this bra> Cleo Marcie 30dd. I wasn’t too sure at first because at the time I preferred to wear 28e, as that was the size that mainly fit me (I know 28e and 30dd are sister sizes, but the tightness of the band in 28s seem to make the bras fit better). But then I realized the curvy Kate didn’t fit me anyway, so I said yes to the exchange. And I’m so glad I did!

Claudette cool cotton 30e update

I wore the Love Claudette 30e bra today at work. The original post can be found here.

I decided to wear this bra because my freya ignite (currently my decorate bra) was going to show through, and for some reason I can’t seem to find my freya Arabella. I haven’t worn that bra yet, but it’s not with my other bras. It was driving me crazy, but I didn’t have time to look for it this morning. And I didn’t particularly care to wear another dress. Plus the top of the bra was low enough that it wouldn’t accidentally peek through the top.

This is how the bra looked with my dress on.

This is how I wanted the bra to look. (I pulled the strap tighter)

This is how I looked without a bra on. (Very similar to the first pic, but less full on top)

Thankfully the bra wasn’t visible when worn with this dress.

However, at point during the day, I looked at my smaller breast and I noticed you could see where my areola was. Kind of like this:

Periodically throughout the day, the wire was digging in around my armpits. It wasn’t a constant thing, which was odd. It dug in on both sides.

Closeup

There is some irritation from previous ill fitting VS bras (at the top).

I knew when I put it on, that there was a possibility that it was going to bother me whenever I raised/moved my arms forward because the straps are too wide set. I could have pushed them in forward, but my dress was very wide set at the top, so I left them as is. You can see in the pics below how close to my armpit the straps/cups are.

And last but not least… For some reason after I came back from my lunch break the paper size tag started irritating my skin. I’m sure it was because it was a paper tag and not a fabric tag like most bras. It irritated the hell out of me! I had one of my coworkers come and fix it, because I thought the tag was wrinkled. But about 5 minutes after she fixed it, I felt the irritation again. Since I was wearing a dress, there was no way for me to fix it without taking off both the dress and the bra. And once that bra came off, it wasn’t going back on, so I didn’t try to fix it. I have to decide if I’m going to keep the bra before I cut the tag off.

You can’t really see any irritation, but I felt it.

Claudette Cool Cotton 30E

Color: American tan

About the bra:

It has a low scooped neckline. It’s supposed to be an everyday bra meant to be worn under t-shirts & tank tops.
American tan is a brown color.

It is actually light and airy, like it’s made of t-shirt material. There is a small button at the gore where the wires meet.

There is one vertical seam that goes down the center of the bra.

There is also some sort of side panel on the inner part of the bra, which is visible when worn. 😕

It really is a simple everyday bra.
The review:

Since the 30dd was too small (Review here), and I decided to order the pink dessous and the leopard dessous, I decided to add this bra as well. I didn’t think it would fit nicely. But the 30E, seems to fit nicely.  It’s cute, and comfortable- for the most part. I would love to try a 28E/F in this bra though.

so this is how the bra looks when I first put it on, no swooping and scooping. As you can see there’s a gapping where the strap and the cup meets. And that’s on use bigger side.

But that’s fixed when I swoop and scoop.

Side view. The wrinkling flattens out when I pull the band down.

You can slightly see the side panel. The vertical seam puckers a little bit, but there isn’t any space there.

With a cami:

I think in this pic below, you can see the size difference in my breasts. 😔

I don’t like that the vertical seam is visible. If you were to look quickly, it looks like my nipple.

In this pic it looks like you can see the outline of my areola.

Side view:

I think this is probably the only sift cup bra that gives me the best shape in clothing. If seems to be the closest to my old VS molded bras. I gave t actually wore this bra yet, but I may tomorrow. The only possible issue I see, is that the side of the cup comes up a little high, and irritates my bigger breast. But it doesn’t irritate my smaller breast. It may go away if I lengthen the strap. As of right now I have the straps at the shortest setting (which is how I received the bra). The vertical seam bothers me as well

you

Victoria’s Secret multiway biofit bra size 32c

I was going to write this review, yesterday, as I wore this bra, but I had a really bad headache after I got off work, and I basically went to bed after eating dinner.

Color: Miami tan

About the bra:

The Miami tan color is a very rich shade of brown. (Not as dark as the photo below)

It features a very very small gore (which is one thing I love about VS bras)

The inside of the bra is a beige suede-like material.

This bra is older than dirt. Lol. I bought this years ago, when VS first brought out the ‘multiway’ bra, and still sold the biofit style.

The inner part of the cups feature two places for the straps to attach, the normal area near the shoulder, as well as one close to the gore. This bra came with both clear and brown straps.

On the wing there is boning

The actual band of the bra has a bunch of ‘cut out’ areas for the strap to hook into, so that it can be worn with a variety of tops.

Close up of the band

The review:

I obviously knew this bra wasn’t going to fit. But I wore it anyway, because the dress I wanted to wear called for a strapless bra. And this is the closest thing I have to a fitting strapless bra. I figured if I wore it on the tightest setting it would be ‘okay’. It wasn’t.

this is how I looked when I got home:

Pas you can see, the wire is way below my IMF. The band was on the tightest setting, but the bra did keep sliding down.

I lifted it up, and S&S’ed

Beautiful cleavage. But that’s not what I was going for, because the top of my dress wasn’t low cut. The wire wasn’t completely in my IMF, if I put it all the way up there, I had some boob slipping out the bottom. So that was as high as it could go.

I had the issue of having space between my breast and the wire, but that was to be expected.

The gore obviously didn’t tack. It was a lot worse when I didn’t S&S.

Angle view

Side view

This bra was simultaneously too tight and too loose at the same time. I don’t know how that was possible. It kept sliding down throughout the day, even though it was on the tightest setting. And I think because it was on the tightest setting, it was too tight on my ribs. It would hurt a little when I inhaled. That was also probably due to the daft that the wires were on my ribs, and not in my IMF.

I was planning on keeping this bra (I listed 16 VS push-up bras on eBay), because I love the color (it’s my nude), and because it’s a strapless, but I think it may have to go into my ‘to sell’ pile. 😥

Freya Arabella 28e

Color: black

About the bra:

This bra is completely sheer. It is also very sexy. I can’t even describe it, I have to just show pictures.

There’s a rather long bow at the gore.

The cute design at the top of the cup

a close up

The cup is completely sheer, there’s no double layer on the bottom part of the cups.

There is a pink small bow where the cups meet the straps

The design on the straps

I really love that the pink on this bra is a very light pink.

The review:

This bra… It fits but it doesn’t. I’m not really sure, lol. When initially swooped and scooped, there was still a little bit of room on my smaller breast, where the upper sheer part was, but not on the entire part. But when I scooped in my ‘underarm fat’, it made the bra fit, but kind of cut the tissue in the middle of my chest.

#1

Bigger breast

Smaller breast

Bigger breast

Smaller breast

When I lean over there’s gapping (I’m only mentioning this because it annoys me).

With a cami on

From the side

#2

Side view

A few things about this bra. The band is tight! I’ve read that freya bands are loose-looser than Cleo’s, but this band is almost uncomfortable. And the gore is slightly irritating me. I think it’s because the band is too tight, and the gore is higher than what I’d like. Also, when I do the second S&S, it makes the sides of the cup higher than normal, so it’s slightly irritating.

When I first got on bratabase and asked for a fit check Arabella was one of the freya bras recommended for me, as well as Siren and Oh la la. I found this on eBay for a low price. So I’m glad I was able to get it.

Correctly fitting bras.

So, before I get to talking about bras (the ones I own/tried on), I just want to make it clear that at the moment, I have not yet found a bra that fits me correctly.

And when I say ‘correctly’ I mean it meets the following criteria:

-The middle part of the bra that joins the two cups together (the gore) touches my skin.*

-The straps don’t dig in my shoulders.

-The band isn’t too big/loose (or too small/tight) If the band isn’t straight across your back, that means the band is too big.

-There’s no side boob, or double boob. (That means the cup is too small)

-The wire completely encompasses my breast tissue. It’s not too long, and not too short. It’s not sitting on my breast tissue.

-There isn’t excess space in the cup. (the cup is too big)

-The wires sit at my inframammary fold, not below it.  (that means the cup is too shallow)

IMF is at the dotted line.

Claudette dessous 30E (pink)

Color: pink

About the bra:

Like all of the dessous Bras from Love. Claudette, this bra is made of sheer mesh. This particular bra, is a very stretchy mesh. Too stretchy actually.

The bra is a brighter pink than what I was expecting.

The top of the cup is one layer of fabric, while the bottom is lined.

There is a black ribbon bow at the center gore.

As well as where the straps meet the cup

Around the bra, there is black frilly detailing.

The review:

The band on this bra is so stretchy. Its not big per se, but it’s just very stretchy. Stretchy enough, that if I had bigger breasts that needed support, I don’t think I would get it unless I sized down. I would have sized down in the band, if Claudette had a 28 available in this particular bra, but they didn’t. As I predicted, the cups are tall- tallest gain what I’d like. I do however, think that I have a tall root. That is, I believe my breast tissue starts at a higher point than on some people. There is some room in the cups, but not enough to size down comfortably, in my opinion.

As you can see, there’s some wrinkling in the cup on my smaller breast.

Smaller breast

Larger breast

The gore tacks at the top,

But not at the bottom. I’m not entirely sure why that is, but I suspect it’s because the band is so stretchy.

The side view is okay. Slightly pointy, but not too much.

As with basically all the Claudette bras, except cool cotton, my nipples are above the apex of the bra. This bra is cute, but I don’t love it. It is going to be a bra, that if I keep, I’ll definitely have to alter the band someway. I think if I alter the band, the cups won’t have so much wrinkling in them. I do however wish the cups weren’t so tall. I’ve been wondering, if I got a different size, would I be able to have smaller cups. The size I was thinking, was either a 32C, or a 32D. I think to get a cup as low as it is on the models, I’d need a bra that I’d have to adjust the straps as long as they could go or close to it.

I kind of wish I’d bought one of these 30E Dessous bras in a 30DD, so that I could compare it to the Dessous Sucre, and also, so I could see if the cup size dictates the stretch ones of the band.

Freya Ignite 28dd

Color: yellow

About the bra: This is one of the bras I got from a member of A bra that fits, she purchased them for me from Debenhams. Every time I’ve seen this bra on a website, I’ve always looked at it as being a yellow bra with black clusters on it.

But in actuality, there are colors other than black.

There are a few shades of pink, a blue, and a pale greenish blue color

There’s a black bow at the top of the gore.

There is also a black bow where the cup meets the straps.

The beautiful top portion

The straps

There is some sort of stitching detail throughout the bra.

I just want to mention, that while this bra is a bright yellow, my pictures make it look brighter than it actually is. The picture of the bow by the straps, is the most accurate in color, since I didn’t have the flash on. The fabric has four way stretch, but it’s not overly stretchy.

The review:

When I first saw this bra in person, I thought, ‘oh my goodness, this is so cute, I’m glad I ordered it’. And then I tried it on and realized the cups were too small, 😥 I think I have a fear of buying E cups, since my breasts aren’t particularly big. And given the fact that some of my 30DDs are too big, I always think that E cups will be too big. But with this bra, I definitely should have gotten a 28E. I did have both sizes in my cart initially, but I decided to go with the DD. It’s not grossly too small but I do quad in it. I am in the process of trading with an ‘a bra that fits’ member for the 28E.

Larger breast

Smaller breast

An aerial view of the quadding. It even quads on my smaller breasts. So I know it’s too small.

Its so pointy from the side. Hopefully the 28E is less pointy.

View of the back. This is one of the few bras where I have a picture of the back. It’s so hard to take that pic by myself. I just wanted to show that I think the straps are adjusted too long, because the band looks so low on my back.

I can’t wait to get the 28E. I want to see hoe the fit of that differed from this. With this particular bra, I think the strap is very tight. I don’t know if it’s because the cups are too small or not. But if I were to keep this bra, I would definitely need to wear an extender with it.

Cleo Meg 28e

Click here to see the original post about this bra.

Color: dark blue with red mesh, and blue and white

The bra:

There is only one bow in this bra, and it had a small bird ornament hanging from it

**pics of the bra after it was thoroughly washed**

The review:

There is some wrinkling on the band

As well as throughout the cups

At the top

The bottom

Even though there is some space/wrinkling, I do consider this to be a bra that fits.

The gore tacks

I initially thought the wires were a little wide, so I took pictures after I took the bra off to see.

As you can see the gore does sit on my breast tissue somewhat, but all my bras do.  I think I need a gore where one wire sits on top of the other.

My breasts no longer look like this. I have dark marks from stabby gores. 😓

Pics when I wore the bra to work.

Beautiful. 😍

 

1 month later

Overall there seems to be less wrinkling/more filing out the cup.

There is still some wrinkling on the bottom, but it looks like there’s not as much as before

Another day when I wore this to work. It was undetectable under my shirt.

 

At some point since I joined bratabase/abrathatfits my measurements changed slightly. So the pictures could be before and after.

I’ve worn this bra a handful of times since getting it off poshmark. I don’t recall having any complaints with the wires. The only time the wires bothered me was when I wore a few uncomfortable bras consecutive days for like a week, then when I got to this bra, the gore bothered me after a few hours.

*The first set of pics was taken 09/15/15, the second set 10/15/15