Review: Freya "Ivy" and "Marina" balcony bras

 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.   

Review: Miss Mandalay 'Paige' in Lemon/Vanilla

I think coral is such a lovely colour, so when I saw this review by Miss Underpinnings, I just had to get one. I could only find the coral on the Miss Mandalay website, and I didn't want to pay £36 + £15.95 shipping for a bra that didn't even fit. Large Cup Lingerie also stocks the coral, but not in my size. So, I purchased two Paige bras in the yellow on sale at Bravissimo for £21 each, a 34GG and a 34H. I am usually a 32H, but I had heard that the Paige ran small in the band, and small in the cup for fuller on top girls.

Miss Mandalay "Paige" (from the Bravissimo website)

 The bra itself is very pretty. The colour isn't as bright as the Bravissimo picture. I was expecting something a bit more like my Cleo 'Lucy' (which is more of a canary yellow), but the Paige is more of a soft yellow, almost pastel but not quite. 

 

I didn't even notice the detailing on the straps until I took it off, but it is very pretty.

I liked the centre gore; it's not too high like some of my balconnettes, but not too low like some plunges that make me feel less secure. It sat completely flat and is just over 3 inches high. The back had 3 hooks as well, which I like in a bra.

Now for everything that was was wrong.

Now this could be a positive or a negative, really: The material is not very soft... it's actually pretty stiff. The band stretches to about 34 inches, if I pull as taut as possible, I get it to 35 inches. A 32 band, although it would have fit, would have been quite uncomfortable. The Paige also makes my boobs sit a little too far outwards for my liking. I generally prefer them to be a tad more front and centre, but not too cleavage-ey.

  This is my right breast, which the Paige fit.

 Extra fabric at the bottom of my left cup (happened on both). I fidgeted around with the cups to try get it to fit better, but it just wouldn't work. I'm not very full on bottom, so even though the volume of the cup itself would have been fine, it just wasn't the right shape.

 The wires are also quite high and weren't the most comfortable. They were alright when trying on, but I could tell that they would end up poking and causing discomfort.  

All in all, it makes me sad this didn't suit me, as I think it has potential... just not for girls with full-on-top breasts. It's pretty and I think the stiffer less-stretchy fabric could be a good solution for girls with smaller back sizes that find it hard to find firm bands. The stiffer fabric also helps retain the cup shape quite well, given that it's quite sheer. If any of the problems were fixable (such as making the centre gore narrower like I did for my Cleo Lucy), I would keep it as a nice, feminine, everyday bra... but it's just not for me. I'll be returning the bras to Bravissimo.

Review: Curvy Kate Tease Me in Cherry/Blush

Firstly, I'd like to mention that Curvy Kate is now stocked at David Jones! I'm over the moon about this. David Jones has stocked Fantasie for a while, but I'm not a huge fan of their shape and they only stock up to a G (I think). Myer stocks Freya, but only up to a G cup. I'm hoping Cleo by Panache makes it way to David Jones soon, as well.

I can't recall which Curvy Kate styles I saw at David Jones, but I know it includes the Smoothie, a couple of unpadded underwired bras (I think the Princess and Angel) and the Tease Me, which I made a beeline for.

 

The Tease Me retails for AUD$89.95. I purchased one last week, but even with staff discount, it was expensive... it came to around $70. I noticed that not every size was there, only up to an H cup. I purchased a 32H, as that is my size in a lot of the Cleo range and I hadn't tried Curvy Kate before. I had heard it ran small in the cup, and, alas, it's true. I may add a photo of it later, but there is a bit of quadboob, mainly on my larger left breast and the bra wasn't quite wearable. I could also do the band up on the tightest hook quite easily. This means I would probably need a 30J, which, to be honest, is a little scary for me.

 

I think my camera phone colour corrected it a bit, as it really is more of a cool-toned cherry red than the orange-red it seems in this picture! 

  

The inside of the cups is a super soft foamy material. So comfortable!

 

 

 You can see in this picture, the breast on the left side (my right breast) isn't that bad, but the breast on the right (my left breast) overflows a tad. My breasts are very close-set and full on top but my left breast is bigger than my right.

 

 Sorry for the bad image quality with this one (I have one mirror in my room and it's small!), but hopefully you can see here that the centre gore isn't sitting flat. It wouldn't bother me as much if it fit my left breast a bit better... if I wore this out, I'd constantly have to be fixing my left cup. A cup size up would be a perfect fit.


Having said that, the band can be pulled out quite a bit so I need to go down to a 30 (so really, I need a 30J), which is kind of scary. If I stretch this 32 band against my tape measure, I can get it up to 35-36 inches!

I could get away with this size as a bedroom set, but it's not well-fitting enough to wear out and about under clothes.  The good news is that this 32H bra is easily refundable and now I know what size I need. I purchased a 30J today on Amazon UK for £19 (about AUD$30), where most places online bra retailers are still selling it for £29 (about AUD$45).