A Tale of Two Babydolls: Curvy Kate "Lola" and "Ritzy" Review

Last week I posted about my tendency to wear wired bras to bed. With the recent WONDERFUL explosion of babydolls on the full bust market, it was a natural and fun transition to begin wearing these to bed. The babydoll phenomenon really did happen all at once, and suddenly I went from having zero options to having four. Curvy Kate put out two babydolls, the Lola:

and the Ritzy:

Cleo also produced a babydoll version of their Marcie bra:

 

  

Because they inexplicably decided to make this babydoll totally open in the butt, it's fairly useless for my purposes (to use as a nightgown) and therefore I'll be skipping it permanently.

The fourth option is Parfait's Alexis babydoll, which I have not yet tried:

Curvy Kate's Lola was the first to make it to my home. The structure of the cups is a padded version of their normal balconette shape, which makes it the same as the Daily Boost. Now, I knew I was taking a bit of a risk here. Curvy Kate's balconettes tend to fit me well but not give me a great shape. However, since the shape usually looks decent at first and slowly degrades throughout the day, I thought I would be totally fine with a nightwear item, which just needs to look half-decent on its own--no issues with the look under clothing. However, I thought wrong:

WAUGH! UGH! CURVY KATE WHY!!!!

 

The cups on this bra are So. Pointy. when combined with my full-on-top shape. Now, I am sure some readers take no issue with getting this look in a bra, but I also know that I am NOT okay with it and that many of my readers join me in attempting to avoid this shape. I encourage these readers to refer to my post "Why Do Full-On-Top Boobs Look Pointy in Full-Cup Bras?" to answer the pressing question "WHY IS THIS HAPPENING??" This Lola has balconette cups, not a full-cup structure. Even so, the graphics in that post will help to explain why this bra looks like crazy sauce on me, but will likely look totally normal on ladies with less upper fullness than me. If not exactly rounded, these cups will at least probably be 'good pointy', the cute retro look, on those who don't share my shape. Anyone who has boobs as full-on-top as mine knows that the sun will rise in the west and set in the east before our boobs can ever get that shape.........

In any case, my natural first thought was to perform the alteration described in my post "How To Make a Pointy Bra Round." To my consternation, the alteration DID NOT HELP. These cups remained stubbornly just as pointy as ever. Shortening/lengthening the straps also made no difference.

This was a tragic turn of events because the Lola babydoll is so perfect in every other way. The body is made of a soft, high-quality mesh and the hem is finished with a gorgeous wide stretch satin trim. Because it came so close to being wonderful (and yet so, so far) I decided to keep it, wear it to bed, and just avoid ever standing in direct profile in the vicinity of my boyfriend or a mirror.

For sizing reference, I got the Lola babydoll in a 32H. The cups and band run the same as other Curvy Kate balconettes. My hip measurement is about 2 inches smaller than my bust measurement, and I found that with the notch in the babydoll section where the band meets, I am able to step into it and pull it up over my hips with no difficulty. Judging from other reviews, if your hip measurement is larger than your bust, you will need to shimmy it on over your head.

Following my disappointment with the Lola babydoll, I decided to have another try with the Ritzy babydoll. This cup structure, being a half-cup, is innately much more full-on-top friendly, so I had no worries that it would work perfectly for me in the same size I'd tried in the Lola (32H). Behold:

The Ritzy is a regular old half-cup style with two vertical seams. I originally thought that Curvy Kate had experimented with a single-verticle-seam half-cup structure similar to Tutti Rouge's Betty, because you can only see one vertical seam on the cup overlay. However, the inside of the cup reveals there are two seams. This means the cup shape is the same as Curvy Kate's Tease Me and Thrill Me styles. The one difference is that the Ritzy runs larger in the cups than the later iterations of Tease Me and Thrill Me (which got smaller as the seasons went along). I only *just* squeeze into the Thrill Me in a 32H, but I get slight gapping in the Ritzy in 32H when lying down. Ladies with less upper fullness can possibly fit into a size smaller in the Ritzy than they would need in the Thrill Me and Tease Me. The band is also tighter on the Ritzy babydoll. I know some people felt that the Showgirl bands were a little too loose, so this will be good news for them.

The body section of the Ritzy babydoll was at first less to my taste than the Lola's body section. The body section is more clingy, almost as though it was static-y. It also lacks the satin trim of the Lola and is much less substantial-feeling. I prefer the Lola's body section, but I feel that Curvy Kate may have made the Ritzy's body section in this way to deal with the worries some women have about having their body swamped in a babydoll. It's a fairly classic full-bust dilemma to wish you could cut apart the sections of various items to create one that is perfect. Failing that, the Ritzy is the stronger  option for now. And it will be coming out in red for Autumn/Winter '14:

Of course, I still prefer the Lola colorway for AW14:

However, since the number of babydolls available has increased vastly from the previous zero, I'm not going to grumble too much.

Curvy Kate, Flirtelle, and the "Upside-Down Seven" Shape

I started this blog about two years ago with a huge pile of Curvy Kate bra reviews. At the time, the brand seemed like the best new hope for full-busted women--a fun brand with a great social media presence, cool contests, great colors, and a cheaper sister brand, Flirtelle. Yet now, even though all of those things are still true, I feel let down by Curvy Kate--particularly their unpadded balconette bras. I don't mean to suggest their unpadded balconettes don't work for anyone. That's far from true. But there are pervasive problems, which tend to intensify in the bigger cup sizes. The specific problem I want to address now is an issue of fabric tension. It is, I believe, largely responsible for the fabled "upside-down seven" shape.

What's the upside-down seven shape? It's a phrase that was coined by Bras and Body Image in this post and quickly entered the lexicon on Bratabase and other forums. It essentially refers to a shape where the upper curve of the breast takes on an extra angle where the bra ends. The profile in the bra beneath points too far down as a result.

Now, the tricky thing with the upside-down seven shape in Curvy Kate/Flirtelle is that there are two different stages where it can occur. The first stage occurs when trying a cup size that is too small in these brands. A large number of people will always get this shape if their cup is too small.

Upside-Down Seven Shape in a too-small Curvy Kate

So what's the next step? Size up and shorten the straps. And, to some extent, this works. That's why my initial reviews of Curvy Kate's unpadded bras were so positive once I found my size. I bought a ton of them and happily wore them... UNTIL...

Do you ever catch a glimpse of yourself in a mirror when you're not expecting it and suddenly realize "I NEED TO GET RID OF ALL MY BRAS"? That's what happened to me. Midway through the day, my Curvy Kate balconette had lost its lovely morning shape and my boobs were pointing at the ground.

What is behind this mysterious loss of shape throughout the day?

Bras and Body Image had it right on when she commented "It seems like the bottom section of the cup is not large enough to really give a well-rounded shape." Flipping this around, I believe the problem is that the upper section of the cups is TOO BIG. The top section is responsible for some shaping, but the bottom sections do the lion's share of the lifting. That's why bras where the bottom sections connect to the strap give better lift than bras where only the top section connects. When the bottom sections of a bra end too low, particularly if they end below the apex of the breast, the resulting vast expanse of fabric in the upper section often fails to achieve the desired lifting and shaping results.

With Curvy Kate and Flirtelle, though, there's more to it than that. The crux of the issue is their use of a fabric that DOES NOT STRETCH but CAN DISTORT. Let's get our terms straight here. When you grab the fabric in the top of a Curvy Kate balconette, you'll find that it can 'stretch' in all directions (along each grain and also diagonally to the grain). However, this isn't really stretch because there's no elastic in the fabric. That means it can change shape... but it can't change back. By contrast, the stretchy fabric in the top section of the Panache Andorra or Jasmine stretches, but it has the elastic to be able to bounce back and hold its shape even while adjusting to your shape. Other bras have no ability to stretch or distort in the top section. This tends to result in a trickier fit as it has to be perfect, but once you've found it, these bras won't change shape throughout the day. But fabric that distorts, but doesn't stretch, will embark each morning on a slow march toward loss of support. That's why you sometimes find a bra that looks great at first, but stops looking good later. It's not that you were temporarily deluded, it's that the bra actually changed.

For Curvy Kate and Flirtelle balconettes, the distorting fabric combined with the too-large top section means that these factors become a huge problem. For me, it's been enough to put me off these balconettes altogether. Let's look at how the shape changes on a Flirtelle Dahlia balconette.

At first, it's looking good:

Still looking pretty good:

Starting to look a little weird:

Not looking so good now:

By the last photo, I'm in full-on upside-down seven mode. And this is just after a few MINUTES of vigorously leaping around to simulate the effects of a day of walking and living life. In my opinion, it's really a shame that this issue with Curvy Kate and Flirtelle balconettes has persisted so long, so maybe it's time we start talking about it. These balconettes need firmer fabric that doesn't distort, or a little bit of elastic to fight those effects; or failing that, an upper section that is cut smaller. Please comment if you've had this problem with Curvy Kate. Was it solved by sizing up or did you find it persisted? I'm also curious to know if this problem is unique to full-on-top (FOT) boobs or is also experience by full-on-bottom (FOB) and balanced boobs.

Curvy Kate "Desire" Multiway Bra Review

Due to the miserable lack of options for multiway bras above a G cup, I was understandably excited to see Curvy Kate coming out with a bra that can be worn as a halter or cross-back. When I found the Desire for sale cheaply in a 28J, I decided to try it out.

I knew I would need an extender with the 28 back as I am more like a 30HH or 32H in Curvy Kate now. Even with an extender, this is a small 28 band.

The bra doesn't come with an additional strap to become the halter strap. Rather, the normal straps are long enough so that one can be made into a halter strap. Although I worried the straps were too easily adjustable and thus would slide out of shape, I didn't find that to be a problem.

The bra is very low in the armpits, which I know some of you will like, and others will dislike.

Beyond these factors, though, I'm very sorry to say that the Desire is disastrous. And not just disastrous on me; the bra itself has a MAJOR issue that will need to be corrected before this bra can be remotely marketable.

You can see from the front that the bra looks to be a pretty good fit. The gore is nice and low but lies flat.

The issue arises when you look at the side view. Somehow the foam in the padding is distorted. It squishes in about an inch from the top edge, and then flares out. Even with my aggressive upper fullness, my boobs can't fill that huge flare at the top when they are being squished in just an inch underneath.

Indicating the place where the foam squishes inward

A better view of the edge flaring out

The best photo I captured of the overall distorted shape

I'm pretty baffled by this shape snafu. I'm sure this is not how Curvy Kate INTENDED for the cups to be shaped, because this is not a shape that will work for anyone. Check out another review of this bra from a blogger with a completely different shape to witness how problematic this issue is. It also suggests that I didn't just get a 'dud', but rather than this is a persistent issue--at least in the upper cup size range. I'm really hopeful that Curvy Kate will take quick steps to resolve this. As is, I can't even re-sell the bra in good conscience because I very much doubt it will work for anyone. Instead, I'm going to try to do some alterations on the bra to make it work. I still really want a halter bra just to have the pressure moved to a different place on my shoulders on some days, and I'm wondering if taking a dart in the top of the cup could help with the shape. I'll update when I've figured something out.

Has anyone else tried this bra? Has anyone tried it and NOT had this issue? Let us know in the comments.

Curvy Kate "Smoothie" Review

After all the hoopla surrounding the release of the first J-cup (in two band sizes) molded bra, I knew I had to try it so I could review it for this blog. I don’t really wear padded or molded bras much, so it wasn’t a must-have for me, but the review does seem necessary.

I ordered the Smoothie from Brastop in size 28J. I would have preferred a 30HH rather than a 28J, as I don’t like super-tight bands, but Brastop was already sold out of that size. They have it on US Figleaves now at just $44, so I would recommend buying it from there if you're in the US to save a few bucks on shipping. Last I checked, they still have all the sizes in stock there. As to the cup size, I wanted to try either the 30HH, 28J, or 32H—those sister sizes are the same as the cup size that fits me in Curvy Kate’s unpadded balconette bras. By trying the same size that fits me in other Curvy Kate bras, I can accurately compare the differences in fit.

My first impression of the Smoothie is that it’s very different from the Freya Deco! The molding is thinner and a bit stiffer than the molding in the Deco. It is therefore less bulky, but also less soft. The center gore is also higher—the Smoothie has occasionally been listed as a plunge bra, but I wouldn’t really consider it a plunge. The center gore is neither very high nor very low.

The 28J was a perfect fit on me in the cups. The cup shape is very nice—round, but more natural than the almost-square look a lot of us get in super-round bras like the Masquerade Rhea, Cleo Juna, and Curvy Kate Tease Me/Thrill Me. I think this is a perfect shape to suit all preferences.

The cup shape is also very even. It fit my full-on-top boobs without cutting in, but it isn’t so open as to gape on boobs with less upper fullness, as the Freya Deco often does. I did have a little empty space in the bottom of the cup, as you can see here:

Likewise, those with full-on-the-bottom boobs might find they have a little extra space at the top of the cup. This is the classic issue with molded bras—they don’t have as much ability to take on the shape of the breast as non-padded bras. But I think the Smoothie has basically surmounted this issue by providing a shape that is in the middle and thus appropriate for most different shapes. Of course, this is just my guess; we will be able to see if it’s true as more and more people of different shapes try the Smoothie, but here’s Cheryl’s review at Invest in Your Chest. She has a very different shape from me and the Smoothie looks great on her. Brood at Brood’s Big Bras reviewed the Smoothie too and said that it seemed to be running big on everyone--apparently that is a consistent issue with the Australian shipments of the Smoothie, so if you're buying from an Australian retailer, you'll want to take that into account. For others, although lot of people are used to sizing up to  fit the Thrill Me and Tease Me, the Smoothie definitely is more forgiving in its shape, and has more space, than those bras. I would recommend going with your Curvy Kate unpadded size rather than your Showgirl size when trying the Smoothie.

The band felt like an average 28 band—not as loose as the Showgirl bras, nor as tight as the Angel, but about the same as the other Curvy Kate unpadded balconettes.

The print on the Smoothie is very subtle. It shows up a lot in flash photos, but when you are just looking at the bra in normal light, it’s less noticeable. That could be good or bad depending on what you’re looking for.

Although I don’t like molded bras myself, I’m really impressed by the Smoothie. It’s a big step forward for the full-bust market and I really hope that Curvy Kate brings it out in a wider range of cup sizes in the larger band sizes so it can serve the market more fully. I would whole-heartedly recommend the Smoothie for people who seek molded bras.  

What Does Curvy Kate Have to Offer? (Brand Overview)

After a great response to my posts describing different styles of bras offered by Panache/Cleo and Freya, I’m now moving on to the third titan of full-bust brands: Curvy Kate!

Are you as excited as them?!?

If you’ve been reading my blog since the early days (in which case I’m blushing!), you may have seen my initial reviews after I did a massive order of most of the Curvy Kate styles. Since I was just starting out, those reviews were a little less thorough than the kind I like to do now. I’ve since updated most of them, and I also hope that this overview will fill in any gaps that remain.

Luckily for me, Curvy Kate is quite a new brand! So unlike the dim and misty past of Panache and Freya, the whole history of Curvy Kate is within my grasp and I should be able to cover all the styles they’ve done. I will also talk about Brastop’s Flirtelle range because those bras are made by the same people and cut to the same shapes so they essentially function as part of the same brand, just available more cheaply.

One really outstanding feature of Curvy Kate is that they find all their models through contests entered by, and voted on, by their actual customers. So it is MUCH easier to see what Curvy Kate bras will look like on a variety of sizes, including the bigger sizes, in contrast to many other brands that only use models on the smaller end of the size range. Curvy Kate's UK Star In A Bra winner for this year was just revealed today--the beautiful Sophie Morgan! 

Sophie Morgan, Star In A Bra winner 2012!

Finding Your Size

The most important thing to understand about Curvy Kate is how the sizing works. Although some people find they can wear the same size in Curvy Kate that they would wear in other brands, plenty of others find they need to go up one or two cup sizes from what they would wear in other brands—this is especially likely if your boobs are tall/high or full on top. Personally, although I can usually get away with a 30H in Panache/Cleo/Freya, I can NEVER wear that in Curvy Kate. I will always need at least a 30HH, sometimes a 30J.

A common complaint with Curvy Kate’s unpadded balconettes is a somewhat triangular/square shape, that looks like this:

Too-small Curvy Kate shape.

This shape means your Curvy Kate is TOO SMALL! Don’t despair and give up, thinking this is just the shape Curvy Kate gives—it’s not! You’ll get a much nicer look in the right size. Try going up one or two sizes, and shorten the straps to take out any slack in the cup. For a lot of people, this is enough to make Curvy Kate bras successful for them. For some people, it might be that you cannot shorten the straps enough to get the right lift in the big-enough cup size, and this unfortunately means that you will either have to alter the straps, or simply move on to a different brand (or just stick to Curvy Kate's padded styles).

Also, all of Curvy Kate’s unpadded balconette bras are cut with the same shape, so you can wear the same size in all of them—SORT OF. The different fabric and laces used do make a noticeable difference between the fit of some of the styles, and I’ve tried to specify that here. Knowing your size in one Curvy Kate balconette is an excellent starting point, but you still might need to tweak the size a bit when you try other styles.

The sizing of the padded bras is different, and I will talk about that when I describe the individual styles.

Portia

The Portia is one of the styles that’s been with Curvy Kate since the beginning. Way back when, it used to come in colors…

…but for the past few seasons they’ve just had it in continuity colors of black/pink and white/pink, plus an exclusive magenta color for Simply Be.

                                                   

The Portia is a good basic and seems to run pretty much in the middle of Curvy Kate sizes. The ribbon across the top is not tight in the newer runs; in fact, it is looser than the fabric surrounding it.

Criss Cross

This is an older style that Curvy Kate don’t make anymore. From my experience trying it once, it seems to run about average in sizing.  However, I do know there are some differences between the colors; the purplish-pink one seems to run a little smaller, for instance, though not enough to need a different cup size unless you are already between sizes.

Since this bra is discontinued, it’s one of the few that you can get at cheap prices in black and white.

Angel

The Angel runs a little tighter than other Curvy Kate styles. It has the same all-over diagonal stitching as the Portia, but on the Angel the lace at the top edge (though not the actual ribbon) is tighter, which gives the cup a smaller fit overall. I personally find that I would ideally wear one cup size up in the Angel (30J) compared to the size I wear in the Portia/Emily/Ella (30HH).

The back on the Angel runs tighter as well, as the criss-crossed ribbon adds some stability to it.

Princess

The Princess is the hardest fit of all the Curvy Kate unpadded bras. Like the Angel, it also runs a bit tighter than other Curvy Kate styles, but it is also the only one that does not have fully adjustable straps; the floral lace covers the front half of the strap. Remember when I said that you will need to go up in the cup size and shorten the straps more to get the right lift and shape in Curvy Kate? That’s much less possible in the Princess because the straps just do not adjust enough. It's too bad that it's a trickier fit, because it's so cute!

Check here for the barrage of alterations I performed to make my Princess somewhat serviceable. The fact is that it’s just not as easy to fit into as other Curvy Kates.

Emily/Ella/Romance

The Emily is, in my opinion, probably the best Curvy Kate bra. The top section is more stretchy and so it is an easier fit than the other styles that have stiff lace or ribbon there. 

So if you find the Angel or Princess squash you no matter how high you go in cup size, the Emily is a better bet. With my full-on-top boobs, I definitely find I get the best shape in the Emily.

The Romance that came out recently is very similar to the Emily, with that same little bit of give in it. I’m really excited by the Romance and I think it is a really promising style. 

If you’ve seen the behind-the-scenes photos of Curvy Kate’s Star In A Bra competition, you may have noticed how truly amazing the Romance looks in a K-cup! (Not all of Curvy Kate’s bras look as beautiful in the highest sizes.)

The Ella is discontinued but also shares the feature of being more stretchy in the top section, though not quite as much as the Emily. 

If you can’t find the Ella on Brastop, the Flirtelle Dahlia style is the exact same bra as the Curvy Kate Ella, but in continuity colors.

Lottie

This is another newer style, one whose popularity has surprised me a bit. I personally don’t think it is as flattering as the other styles; the huge sheer section doesn’t look nearly as nice in the highest cup sizes as it does in the smaller cup sizes.

The people I know who have tried the Lottie (I haven’t, since I don’t really like how it looks) have mixed reactions. Some love it, some find it gives an east-west look.

The fabric on the bottom sections of the Lottie is thick and firm, similar to the fabric on the bottom sections of the Flirtelle Sublime.

Tease Me/Thrill Me/Fleurty

These bras are constructed to give a really round shape. The size ranges are not as inclusive as the unpadded bras, but it’s still a great deal better than the miniscule size ranges other brands offer in padded bras. These bras are not marketed for everyday use (they're meant to be 'bedroom' bras), but lots of people (including myself) use them as T-shirt bras. I'm still hoping for a day when all the bra companies realize that the Thrill Me and Tease Me are exactly what many of us want for everyday use--colorful, cute, padded bras that give a round shape and don't cost and arm and a leg. 

Check out my posts here and here for my reviews of Showgirl bras.

Although those with full-on-top boobs are more likely to need to size up in the balconettes I talked about earlier, those with boobs that are fuller on the bottom are more likely to need to size up in these Showgirl half-cup styles because there is so much lift from the bottom. In general, the older colors of Thrill Me and Tease Me ran bigger than the more recent colors. This article "Thrill Me, Tease Me, Explain Me" on the Bratabase blog is useful for explaining these size differences.

The Fleurty is a new style, and so far the verdict I’ve heard is that it fits similarly to the Thrill Me and Tease Me, but maybe just a hair smaller—so if you’re close to busting out of your Thrill Me/Tease Me, you may want to get the next size up in Fleurty if it’s available.

The upcoming Entice style also is based on this same seam pattern.

Elegance/Tempt Me/Wild

The Elegance padded plunge bra was added to Curvy Kate’s continuity lines a few seasons back and I reviewed it here. Despite my failure to get a good fit in it, I remain fascinated by the Elegance. There is something about it that makes me want to buy it over and over. I think in a lot of ways, the Elegance represents the way in which Curvy Kate is truly superior to other brands at pushing the market and giving women who wear higher cup sizes the things that we really need and want. I guess I was surprised that the Elegance wasn't very hyped up and I haven't seen as many reviews of it as I would have expected, though there are a couple out there--Invest In Your Chest mentions it here, and A Sophisticated Pair did a detailed review.

The Showgirl Tempt Me and the upcoming Wild bra also have a similar shape.

Tempt Me

Tempt Me

Wild

The sizing for these plunge bras is challenging and weird. It seems like just about everyone, with any shape, needs to go up at least one cup size, maybe two or even three to fit in the Elegance or Tempt Me.

These plunges are also very wide-set and therefore better suited to people whose boobs have a bit more space between them. I personally found the Elegance dragged my boobs apart because it was just too wide-set for me. If I try again, I’ll try in a 30J (the biggest available size) and try to take in the center gore.

Daily Boost

This is a new style and unfortunately I haven’t tried it yet. It is different from the other padded bras in that the shape is based exactly on the shape of the unpadded bras so the seams follow a balconette shape.

I sort of fear this bra, personally—I worry that the padding would exacerbate the problems I’ve experienced in the tighter styles like Angel and Princess. If I do try it, I may size up in the cup to a 30J. You can see other bloggers’ reviews at Invest In Your Chest and Brood's Big Bras Blog.

Smoothie

This style won’t be available until July, but I wanted to mention it here because it is a totally new style. It’s not seamed like Curvy Kate’s other padded bras, but molded like the Freya Deco. 

I really like the animal print and I have a suspicion that this bra will sell fast if it is any good. I’ll definitely be getting one—I plan to try it in both 30HH and 30J and I will do a full review at that time.