Wednesday 15 August 2012

My First Ewa Michalak Bra!


I happened to come upon a very inexpensive Ewa Michalak bra recently and figured this was my best chance to give the brand a shot. I’ve hesitated to ever order from the Polish bra company for four reasons—first, although the bras themselves are relatively normal in price, the shipping is steep and the bras rarely really go on sale. Second, most of their bras are padded, and I prefer non-padded bras. Third, I was just never really inspired by any of the designs. Cleo by Panache is more my style and most of the Ewa Michalak bras I’ve seen just look kind of plain to me. Fourth, the Ewa Michalak shape is extremely lifted and projected—it makes people’s boobs look great, but not in the way that I prefer. I like a rounder, subtler, almost minimized shape.

That’s why I’d always figured that if I tried any Ewa Michalak, I would have to try the “HM” shape, seen in the Granotowy Motyl, the Gold, the Magnolia, the Burgund, and a few others.








Long story short, the “PL” bras are a plunge shape, the “HP” are padded half cups, and the “HM” are unpadded half cups. The HM bras are known to give a sort of flattened, almost-too-round-to-be-round shape, in contrast to the PL, CH, HP, etc etc which give a more uplifted and out-there shape (this is a gross under-simplification, so like I said, check out Curvy Wordy's post if you are curious for more information).

The Ewa Michalak bra that I found at a low price (£5 because it was heavily used) was the Granotowy Motyl in a size 30GG. For comparison, 30GG is the size I wear in the Freya Deco, but I need a 30H in many other bras, a 30HH in others, and a 30J in the Panache Sienna. So I was counting on this bra running big, as shapes that are so open on top often do for full-on-top boobs. And it did… kind of.


This bra was still nearly a cup size too small for me, but because of the cut, I didn’t get any weird bulges, so this size is still wearable. It is, however, a lot lower-cut than the way most bras would sit on me.



I really like how the band on this bra is angled to sit a bit lower on the back. Some bras have the band angled up a bit so that they feel as though they are riding up even when they are way too tight—a lot of Cleo and Panache bras do that. But the Granotowy Motyl has a nice, wide band that sits perfectly. It’s a 30 band, but the woman who sold it to me said it was stretched to a 32 due to being heavily used. I actually found that the band felt very firm to me, like a normal new 30 band, so I think maybe a 32 band would be best for me in Ewa Michalak (or at least ones that are like this style) if I decided to buy a new one in the future.


The straps are very thin on this bra. They have a ruched, non-stretch ribbon along the front half, and also feature this bizarre butterfly embellishment:


I will probably make an attempt to remove this winged creature lest I give my boyfriend night terrors.

The cups on this bra are totally sheer, made of the same firm, non-stretch mesh you’ll find on the Freya Arabella. You can tell how sheer the cups are from this photo, where you can see my feet through the cup where it hangs off the edge of the sink. This gave me a laugh when I saw how the photo came out.


Finally, Ewa Michalak bras are famous for having narrow underwires. I don’t actually like narrow underwires—I like to have all my breast tissue inside the cup and I don’t like underwires to sit on the front of my ribcage—but these weren’t horrible. I do end up with some tissue outside the cup, though.


So there you have it—my first experience with Ewa Michalak. I am reasonably satisfied with this bra. I continue to believe that the HM shape is the only Ewa Michalak shape I will love. I know I need to go up a cup size in this cut, so next time I’d try out a 30H or 32GG.

14 comments:

  1. This is one of the Ewa bras that caught my attention, I LOVE the color and the butterfly on the strap.

    Where were you able to find it at such a cheap price? I can't order it directly from them because it's too expensive, I usually seek out bras on eBay but Ewa bras are unheard of on there. (Although I managed to score a BNWT Rhea bra $ thong set for $18 US... that's including shipping!! *sighs happily*)

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    1. I just bought if from a friend from the UK. It really is a shame that EM bras never show up on eBay... I can only imagine that will change as they get more and more popular here. Bratabase also has bra listings and there are often EM bras listed there, so I would try looking at what is for sale there as well as eBay.

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  2. This bra is absolutely gorgeous. I will look for it on bratabase. It's a long shot, but if someone were selling one in my size in that particular color, I would be willing to risk the narrow underwires.

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  3. Yay! Glad you liked it. I suggest you try the 32GG. I think you will be very happy when you find your correct size. I loved my Ewas even when I wore 3 cup sizes too small EM's! :D I believe the narrowness of the underwire might be solved with the next cup up since I had the same problem and now in the correct size the wire is perfect. I had massive sideboob going on, even when I didn't bulge out much on the top. :-)

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  4. Oh, this is so useful. I could definitely tell the wires looked narrow on you. Really really gorgeous bra.

    I keep looking at Ewa bras too, but I also prefer wide underwires and have to walk that thin line between fit and width. So I'm a little nervous about getting my fit right, especially as I'm between sizes on bands and the cup (I'm a large GG, but it always looks like an H would be too big... so I deal with a slight bit of bulging.)

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  5. Uh oh, now I'm worried about the two Ewa bras I bought recently after much coveting online. (They haven't arrived yet, twelve days after they shipped.) I like Panache's wider underwires, and I'm thinking the two HMs I got are going to cause side bulge like my one Freya bra (the Antoinette). That's going to be disappointing.

    By the way, what does, "I don’t actually like narrow underwires...I don’t like underwires to sit on the front of my ribcage" mean? Aren't underwires supposed to sit on the front of your ribcage, right where the breast tissue meets the chest wall?

    Are you at all worried that wearing this Ewa bra will cause breast tissue migration on the sides where they shut out some breast tissue?

    I'm not picking on you; the bra is gorgeous on you. I'm just wondering how I'm going to deal with mine when I get them. Thanks for your review!

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    1. I second this question: "By the way, what does, "I don’t actually like narrow underwires...I don’t like underwires to sit on the front of my ribcage" mean? Aren't underwires supposed to sit on the front of your ribcage, right where the breast tissue meets the chest wall?"

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    2. Ah, should have explained more. I don't like underwires to sit on the front of my ribcage because my boobs don't actually end on the front of my ribcage. Basically the base of my boobs is wider than the front of my ribs--hence why I like to have wider underwires, and then bend them so they comfortably wrap around and sit just under my armpits. I think for a lot of people narrow underwires are better, especially people who don't want to bend their underwires, because underwires that are wider than the front of the ribcage and aren't bent to fit the body will cause lacerations and pain until they painstakingly become "broken in"--aka they have finally bent to your body.

      In answer to Anon, I would worry about tissue migration if I was going to wear this bra a lot, like most days. As it is, I don't think it will be a problem because I have many other bras with wider underwires.

      I know Ewa Michalak orders can take a lot of time to arrive so hang in there! I hope the ones you ordered fit you!

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  6. Do you think sizing up 1 cup will be enough to get a fit? I recently bought my first Ewa (the ch toffik, though) in 32FF (actually bought 4 sizes and returned 3) but I clearly was too focused on which one I should keep instead of admitting that they all were too small. The difference between 32F and 32FF wasn't huge so I'm actually wondering if sizing up just 1 cup would be enough for me but when I look at your photo (side shot) it looks rather like me in my 32FF. Do you get quadro boob after a while, can't really see it in the pictures.

    (always look forward to your posts, your blog was the first lingerie blog I ever came across, and I opened my eyes to a whole new world. I'll never by another bra before reading reviews)

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    1. First of all, THANKS! What a great compliment :)

      Secondly--I don't get quadraboob in this bra at all, which was a big surprise to me. I expected that it would shift and start getting bulgy. It did shift, but it didn't bulge on top--instead, as I went about my business throughout the day, my left boob sort of folded under. Basically, the bra began to smash my boobs down to my chest rather than lifting them off my chest. This is not a new thing for me, I always got that in my Panache Confettis (just on the left boob, it's my bigger one) and it's happened in other bras as well. A bit of lifting and tucking whenever I go to the bathroom is enough to sort it out, but it's obviously not ideal.

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  7. After re-reading this post and looking at some other bloggers' recent Ewa Michalak reviews, I'm thinking I might try EM again. I tried two different HM styles, but the underwires were too narrow and caused side bulges (cue sobbing). I'm wondering if I got a too big band size, I could shorten the band in back and get wide enough underwires in the process. At least I can save on shipping by buying from Big Bra Bar. So I'll be very interested to find out how 32 bands work for you in the HM style, since that's what I want. I am just crazy about unpadded half cup styles! There is a 70J CHP for sale on Bratabase, but that's not your style or size, is it?

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  8. I'm confused about the sizing. I generally wear 32G in Cleo Lucy and all my Panache bras. Should I get a 32G in this, or do you recommend bigger or smaller? Thanks so much! I love this blog!

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  9. I read your blog and I love it. I need help with Ewa bras. I sent you an email. I want to order Ewa but need help with sizing and which model to order. I want the round projected push up look. Which one should I order. I wear a 34G in UK bras. Can you make a recommendation on sizing and which model to order, ch?

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