I've had my eye on the Ivy and Marina balcony bras since before they were released, so I had to snap them up from figleaves when they were both on sale. I went with my usual size, 32H.
I hadn't tried Freya unpadded underwires before, only their half cups (and some swimwear), so I was going in somewhat blind (I couldn't try them on at Myer first as they only stocked the half cups).
The bands (for both Ivy and Marina) measure 27/28 inches unstretched, 34-36 inches stretched. If you like a comfortable band, your usual band size should be fine, but if you want it to be snug and get a longer life out of your bra, I recommend going down a band size. Both of these bras do up via 3 sets of 3 hooks.
Also, though I didn't take a picture of it, the patterns continue around to the wing and the back of the bra, which is always a nice touch!
THE "IVY"
The centre gore is quite narrow, which is great, but it does come up fairly high for me.
My boobs just look sad in this bra. It's plain awful on me.
There's both quadboob going on and wrinkling at the bottom of the cup (also some wrinkling on the seam, which you can kind of see on the left boob in the photo below).
The centre gore won't sit flat. The cup is clearly too small (but too big at the bottom where I get the wrinkling). Going up a cup size isn't really an option as it would make the wires too wide. Despite usually wearing Cleo bras, I don't find these Freya bras that narrow.
The picture post scooping and swooping is just so horrible, I can't post it. :(
The centre gore sits ON the breast tissue. This picture makes my breasts look bigger than they are, probably because of the quadboob going on in this picture, but it's pretty clear that there is no salvaging this one - It's probably two cup sizes too small, but I couldn't go any wider in the wires, so any other size would still be an awful fit.
Along the top seam, I had that wrinkle. No matter how I fidgeted with my boobs, I couldn't get rid of this wrinkle.
THE "MARINA"
The Marina is just so lovely. I adore purple and the print on this reminds me of a watercolour painting's brush strokes.
Since the Marina and the Ivy balcony bras have the same 3 part construction and are made of the same material, I had the same issues with both bras. Quadboob, centre gore poking out, wrinkling at the bottom of the cups and that odd centre wrinkle that started from the strap and ended on the other side of my nipple.
The centre wrinkle is apparent in this picture.
This is the worst bra I have ever tried on. This is not to say it won't be awesome on someone else, but for me, this is a terrible fit and style and I was really just hoping for the best as I really love the colours.
This style just isn't right for those with full-on-top breasts. Even if I went up a cup size for a 32HH or 30J in these, the wires will be way too wide and not give the front-and-centre look that I get with my Cleos. These two bras are definitely more suited to full-on-bottom breasts.
The Ivy balcony bra is back up to full price on figleaves, but the Marina is now on sale for £18.
