Cleo "Marcie" Review

You may remember from this post that I have had my eye on the Cleo Marcie for awhile. Cleo is my favorite brand, the brand that I trust most to give a great shape, and the brand that works best for my particular boobs. So I was really excited to see that they were doing a red bra, especially one with all the cute bells and whistles and bows and buttons and polka dots. So I went ahead and ordered it, without even waiting for it to go on sale, from Figleaves. Their price was extremely reasonable, and I figured I didn't want to miss out on it.

In fact, the size I wanted to order (30H) was already sold out. Fortunately, I have a stockpile of two-hook bra extenders in a variety of colors, so I decided to order the sister size of 28HH and use my red extender. (If you want bra extenders, just head over to eBay and search "two hook bra extender" or "three hook bra extender", sort by price, and look for the color you want. They are VERY cheap.)

The 28HH with the extender was a perfect fit. Although I need a 30HH in Curvy Kate and some Freya, I can just about always fit a 30H in Cleo.

The Marcie is similar in cup shape to the Lucy (see my review here), but the structure is different. The Marcie has a full band that extends underneath the cups--this part:

Full band

The Lucy, on the other hand, doesn't have a band that continues under the cups, but rather the underwires form the bottom of the band, like so:

Partial band

The purpose of the full band on the Marcie is to stop the underwires from stretching and distorting with the band. Although I personally don't really care if this full band is present or not, those people who prefer narrower underwires will appreciate it.

The Marcie is also, for related reasons, a lot narrower in the center gore than the Lucy. I take in the center gore on my Lucy, and with a taken-in center gore, the Lucy is the same as the Marcie. But if you have a Lucy and haven't taken in the gore, keep in mind that the Marcie is narrower there. Pull the cups closer together, and you'll get a good idea of how the Marcie would fit on you.

Because of the closer center gore and the lack of a tight lace detail on the top edge of the cup, the Marcie also runs a little bigger than the Lucy. Those with boobs that are fuller on the bottom and less full on top may want to consider sizing down in this bra to avoid gaping at the top edge. You can see here that even I had some gaping if I pushed my shoulders way forward.

Normally, I'm fighting to avoid quadraboob, which is the opposite of gaping. So my point is that this bra is extremely open on the top, even more so than most of Cleo's bras. Although I haven't tried the floral Cleo Chloe, I  am convinced that this bra was equally open on top, which is why I heard a lot of people saying they needed to size down in it.

The straps have an interesting texture.

The shape from the side is very round:

 It's also a little bit strange, though. You can see that the front of my boob looks almost flattened, like it is pushed against a window. This isn't very noticeable under clothing, but was part of the reason why I was just a little bit underwhelmed by the Marcie, especially after having waited so long to buy it. Don't get me wrong, it's still a much better fit on me than the red Freya Antoinette, reviewed here, which I was replacing, and which is better suited for boobs that are fuller on the bottom than mine. Yet, I was expecting the Marcie to become my new favorite bra, one that I would continue to buy in every available color. But because of the slightly flattened shape, I have to say that I still prefer the Lucy for its perfectly round shape, even though the Marcie has a narrower center gore and the full band in front. It would be great to have some sort of hybrid of the two.

In general, though, I continue to be really impressed by Cleo's progress as a brand and I have very high hopes for what they bring out in future seasons. I'm never afraid of getting a pointy shape in Cleo bras, which is such a relief. When I was first fitted into the right size bra, Cleo didn't even exist yet. My first Cleo bra, the Frances, was a revelation, and I've loved and trusted their bras ever since. I really recommend Cleo bras, especially for those with a full-on-top shape.

HerRoom Punches Back

You might remember my post from a few weeks back aboutHerRoom.com’s bra shape quiz. I was offended and bothered by several features of the quiz—the lack of diversity of skin color in their illustrations; the use of loaded language to discuss body features that could be discussed neutrally; and their recommendations for my shape, which I felt were misleading and inaccurate based on my own knowledge and experience.

I recently received an email from a representative of HerRoom requesting that I take down the images from their site as my use of them was a violation of their copyright. Not being sure of who was in the right, and not wanting to put myself or my blog at risk, I quickly complied, removing the images and sending an email of apology to the representative.

However, I then took the time to become more familiar with the laws surrounding copyright infringement. My understanding now is that my use of their images was not an infringement of their copyright, as criticism falls under Fair Use.

However, I am a college student and I do not have time to be sued by online retailers, and so I find it prudent to choose my battles and attempt to create my own images that will get my point across without putting myself at risk. I also, and perhaps this may not be apparent, honestly do not want to hurt anyone’s feelings, and I do not enjoy doing so. Although I stand by every word in my original post, I don’t take pleasure in spreading hatred, nor was that the original point of my post. That is why I chose to be polite in my response to the representative, even though it is my opinion that she was not as polite as she could have been in her original communication with me. I am torn on whether or not it would be appropriate to reproduce the email I received here. Although I don’t believe I could be legally attacked for publishing her words, I do think that it would mean crossing my own ethical boundaries because the message was sent to me privately. Suffice it to say that the email criticized my blog for taking a harsh and negative tone in general, a view which I feel may have been formed more from my (somewhat ill-advised) blog title rather than the actual content. The representative also seemed to believe that I was struggling to find bras that fit me, which is not the case.

I respect the right of HerRoom to defend their work, and therefore I will respect their request that I not use their images. I also believe that the company meant the quiz to be helpful. However, I want to also mention that I still find a couple of the implications of our communication upsetting.

One is the fact that the representative did not respond to my comment in my original blog post that all the many images in their quiz are of white women. I would have expected that once this fact had been drawn to her attention, they would alter those images to reflect more diversity. To me, that seems the only reasonable response. I don’t like to think that the whitewashing was purposeful, and I can’t image that Herroom would want us to think that it was. I believe this is something that could use work.

Second, I find myself wondering if HerRoom, or any other site for that matter, would never have cared about my use of their images if I had posted a glowing review of their content. I accept that it was legally ambiguous and ill-advised to use the images without their permission, even if it turns out that I am correct that it fell under Fair Use. In fact, I was unsure about using the images at the time. But, if I am right that they would not have asked me to take the images down if my post had promoted their site, then that DOES amount to the suppression of negative feedback. I find that morally wrong. I am not directly or specifically accusing HerRoom of this, as I have no proof that this is the case. However, I would like to examine these ideas further.

There seems to be a growing sense among companies that bloggers exist to provide free advertisement for them. I have witnessed repeated incidents of outrage from companies when they feel they are being unfairly criticized and having their sales damaged by bloggers expressing their opinions. On the other hand, these same companies often publish links on their social media pages to positive reviews. So if they believe that the positive reviews by bloggers are credible, why should they shame and attack the same bloggers when they speak a truth that is simply less palatable to these companies? I view blogging as an offshoot of the press, and I believe that the press should be neutral. I see no legal or ethical reason why bloggers should not feel free to share their opinions and honest experiences with their readers. Using others’ images is of questionable morality, and I will not make that mistake again. But even beyond this, receiving an email with a threatening tone from a company I have negatively reviewed, even if I am legally in the right, makes me hesitant to do such a post again. But it would be wrong not to continue to do negative or critical reviews where I find they are warranted. Blogs and reviews exist for this very reason—they are not driven by the companies’ own advertising and marketing. In the end I do not care if sales of a product increase or decrease because of what I write. Rather, I believe that companies will succeed by producing products (and a public image) that are to the liking of their customers, not by suppressing any negative feedback. Good press will naturally follow good products and services. It does not need to be any more complicated than that. 

Busting Some Busty Myths

Warning--I don't really WANT to link to this absurdly stupid article on Jezebel because it's, well, absurdly stupid and also INCREDIBLY triggering for anyone with big boobs who has struggled with body image. But, if you want to see it, there it is.

The reason I feel compelled to post about this is that the internet is still chock full of unpleasant and inaccurate stereotypes about having big boobs. These myths are not only damaging and upsetting, but they also really frustrate me because they have such simple solutions. Yes, having big boobs is possibly, but not certainly, a little bit more complicated than having small or average-sized boobs. But every body type has its own challenges and I absolutely do not believe that a busty body type is any harder to dress or live with than any other body type.

If you disagree, or if you want something to link to when you read 126 comments on an article saying how weird and horrible big boobs are, here is a list of the most common complaints about big boobs, and the reasons that I don't buy into them.

"The only thing big boobs get you is unwanted attention from men." 

Sadly, just about everybody will find they get unwanted attention at some point in their life due to some feature or other, or due to absolutely nothing at all. This is an unacceptable phenomenon that we should fight against. And it does not have much to do with breast size. Some women with big boobs get lots of negative attention, others never get any attention (negative or positive) for it. Claiming that harassment follows from bust size is insulting to everyone of every bust size and clouds the real problem--which is harassment.

Big boobs are also not a guarantee of positive attention or any attention at all. They're a single part of a body. Perhaps you have received a lot of attention for having a big bust, or a small bust, but that is not the case for everyone.

"Bras for big boobs are SO EXPENSIVE! It's so annoying!" 

This makes my head explode with frustration. I usually pay about $30-$40 for a bra. When I wore smaller cup sizes, I paid about...wait for it... $30-$40 for a bra. Victoria's Secret bras (which larger-busted women usually avoid like the plague) cost about $40-$50 typically. Yes, if you buy a Freya or Panache or Curvy Kate bra at full price from certain American retailers, it may run you about $70. In a boutique, maybe up to $120 or even more. But that's generally the case for EVERY size.

Brand new bras are widely available on eBay; all you have to do is search "bra" and your size and filter the results to Worldwide. If you're not sure of your size, make sure that returns are accepted and all you're risking is about $10-$15 in shipping costs--still well below the markup you'll pay at a boutique.

Brastop offers many bras at sale prices that convert to about $15-$20, shipping to the US is about $12. They occasionally offer half price international shipping.

What's more, the US Figleaves site has been offering a good number of Panache, Cleo, etc bras at prices no higher, occasionally even lower, than the equivalent UK price. I just bought a brand-new Cleo Marcie for $38. That's the most expensive bra I've bought in a year. Doesn't really hold up to the myth--does it?

For more tips on finding bargain bras in large cup sizes, check out my post "If Your Boobs Are Bigger Than Your Budget".

"Big boobs are hideous/grotesque/absurd/disgusting." 

This commonly repeated trope really, really saddens me. It is simply body dysmorphia, but it is generally not identified as this. One of the worst offenders I've seen is this abhorrent article on The Hairpin (MAJOR TRIGGER WARNING). I could link to more articles like that, but I really don't want to give them more traffic. The only reason I'm mentioning that Hairpin article at all is because a lot of the outraged comments were quite eloquent:

'This totally bugged me too. My breasts look like that, and I'm tired of things like this that make me feel like I'm not supposed to like them or there is something wrong with them that needs correcting.'

'Yeah, this made made me really sad as well. I hated my breasts for years, and it's only been in the past few years that I realized that they're actually kind of awesome and the only reason I thought they looked so shitty was that I was wearing minimizers and sports bras that were two sizes too small. Yeah, it sucks when Cheerios fall into my cleavage at breakfast, and it does mean shopping is a pain, and sometimes I wish they were perkier, but I don't think chopping them off would make me happier. I don't know.'

'Different strokes for different folks - my bf loves my breasts as they are. Does that mean he is weird or abnormal?'

'I don't mind one woman sharing her obviously painful journey of self-acceptance. The body dysmorphia screams out through every line, though, and that is unfortunate. I would think Hairpin might know a little better than to perpetuate the idea that X, Y or C cup is 'normal' and preferable.'

'I too had a woman's body when I was too young to know how to deal with it. I had to deal with boys/men thinking they could treat me in a certain way because I looked like some kind of female fertility goddess when I was 12. I was self conscious and hunched over and hoped no one would notice me. But I'm not so sure that 90% of the girls in my middle and high schools weren't feeling the same way for one reason or another.'

I think those women said it about as well as anyone ever could.

Finally, the last myth I'd like to bust:

"My boobs are a 34E/36DDD/28H/etc and they are SO HUGE!!!!!!"

The reason this upsets me is not necessarily that it's not true (some people in the world do have larger breasts than others, factually speaking) but because of the assumptions it makes about other people. If a women with a particular size finds her size to be large or challenging, I would never deny her right to discuss that feeling, but I question the decision to include a size as though the shock factor of the number or letter will help to get the point across. If a woman of so-and-so size expresses her disgust with the "hugeness" of her boobs, how is a woman with a larger bust size supposed to interpret that? If a woman of so-and-so size expresses her disgust with the "smallness" of her boobs, how is a woman with smaller boobs supposed to interpret that? I understand the impulse to vent about body insecurities, which we all most certainly have, but statements like those just spread misery; they do not diminish it. 

And THAT, my friends, is why I write a blog on lingerie and clothing for bustier women. I would like to think that there will be a growing number of blogs focusing on particular body types and each one's individual joys and challenges. Big boobs, like ANY other body type, are not "normal" or "abnormal", they are simply a fact of life. They need not cause anyone undue physical, emotional, or financial strain.  I hope my blog, and the blogs in my blogroll to the right, will help us all to move towards that goal. 

Clothes For Boobs, Budget Edition: Dumpster Sweaters & Giant Baggy Sweatshirts

Being somewhat ambivalent about the clothes from companies that design specifically for a busty figure, I tend to take a different tack with dressing myself. I've already posted about tailoring clothes that you have to wear that are absurdly ill-suited to big boobs and a smaller waist, but now let's look at this from a different angle. Specifically, I'd like to sing the praises of specifically seeking out giant shapeless clothes for the purpose of taking them in to perfectly fit your body. It's the cheapest way EVER to get a custom fit.

First: Dumpster sweaters. This is my affectionate term for sweaters that I have literally gotten for free from a town dump. Some towns have a section of their dump where people can drop off things that are still usable, usually called a "Swap Shop" or "Swap Shack". Residents of the town can then go in and take whatever they like. Whenever I've found myself in one of these places, I tend to grab all the men's sweaters I can find in colors I like. Obviously these sweaters are going to be very large and shapeless on me, but because they are free, I can fearlessly alter them however I like. Although not every town dump has a Swap Shop, you can also get large men's (or women's) sweaters for very cheap at Goodwill/Salvation Army/charity shops. Think $4 or so.

The process for this is just as I have described in my post on taking in my shapeless work polos: lay out the sweater flat, trace a sweater that fits you onto it, sew along the traced lines, and cut off the excess. And voila. I don't have any photos of me in my dumpster sweaters before I took them in, but here they are "After":

Not bad for the low, low price of $0.00! These still don't look quite as good as sweaters that are simply small enough to fit my waist, and stretchy enough to fit my boobs and hips, like this one:

But again, this is a sweater that I had to buy at a normal price ($25 or so, from H&M) whereas the dumpster sweaters were free. So it's a great way to triple your wardrobe if you're on a budget.

Next up: today's project of taking in a very large sweatshirt. If you're anything like me, you've probably acquired a sizable stack of oversized t-shirts that you get for free from races, companies, promotions, college acceptances, blah blah blah. I usually take in these t-shirts to get cute, longer t-shirts to work out in. But I've also had, for ages, this giant sweatshirt that I was given as a gift years ago. I finally decided it was  time to make it wearable, so I decided to try my hand at altering a zip-up hoodie. Here's what it looked like to start with:

Text blurred out to keep it secret where I go to school :)

I laid it out inside out and traced my purple dumpster sweater (which is a perfect custom fit for my body) onto it. Note that this sweatshirt is so much too big for me that I need to take in the sleeves, too, so I continued tracing the line onto the sleeves. But I didn't want to take in the cuffs, so I split the difference. This way, the finished product will have slightly oversized sleeves and an oversized hood, which will add up to cuteness when juxtaposed with the fitted body.

Next, I sewed up the sides.

If you're worried about testing the fit before you cut off the excess fabric, with something like this where you've taken in such a massive amount of fabric, your best best is to try it on inside out to make sure it's not too small. This looks pretty hilarious, but will give you a good idea of whether you need to take in more, or rip out the seams and re-do it a bit bigger. If it seems like a good fit, cut off the excess. Here's the finished product:

All the sewing described in this post was done on a sewing machine (I have a Baby Lock "Anna" which I love). But it could also all be done by hand, since these are just simple straight seams. It would just take a little longer, that's all.

I hope I've inspired you to feel as though you don't need to pay a lot for clothing, even if you have a tricky body type and want a custom fit. Let me know in the comments if you try a project like this!

HerRoom.Com Makes Me Want To Punch A Seagull

Note: Readers, I've just found an email I received from Herroom asking me to remove the copyrighted images from this post, as I did not receive permission to use them. I regret not checking my blog email account more often, as I would have found their message sooner. I had intended to show the images for what they are, as they are useful and well done in certain ways (albeit offensive in others), while taking issue with Herroom's phrasing. Legally, I do have the right to use their images without permission in a post that is critical of them. It is not as though I did not mention the source of the images. But it was my mistake to not realize they would react strongly and go on the offensive. The images are removed for now. I'm going to replace them with images of my own that explain what I'm trying to get across. For now, there will just be spaces there--hopefully I'll be able to replace the images with my own images soon.

*Note about the title. I asked my sister if it was a weird title and she said yes. My boyfriend gets really annoyed about noise pollution when he's studying and once said "If I hear another saxophone I am going to punch a seagull." I thought it was hilarious so I'm using it now in my moment of rage. I actually think seagulls are awesome and will not be punching any. I might punch my computer screen, though. Read on to see why:

On a reader's suggestion, I just went to Herroom.com to try out their new "Know Your Breasts" feature. You can check it out here if you're feeling like you've got a thick skin today and can handle some bizarre textual insults about features you never knew you needed to be insecure about.

On the surface, this is an awesome idea--a website that sells bras teaches you how to identify your shape and what works for that shape, and then directs you to those bras. Of course, they are just doing it to try to raise sales for themselves--they obviously don't link you to the cheapest source for a bra, or to better bras that they don't carry, but still. I was actually kind of miffed at first because it would have sort of negated the whole purpose of my blog if it had worked, ha ha. This freaking thing was apparently even featured in the New York Times. Well, BEWARE, girls! We still need blogs because bra sellers and manufacturers STILL don't understand how boobs work! Rage courses through my veins!

To start with I'm going to just go through the problems with the results I got for my shape. I will go into further detail about the results for different shapes later... hopefully with help from you guys, if you do try it out.

The first thing I should mention is that at first I was super impressed by the quiz! They asked a lot of pertinent questions in the first part of the quiz and the illustrations are AWESOME. They show the differences between full-on-top and full-on-bottom better than I could, plus hopefully it will bring those concepts to a wider audience (and help people to realize that full-on-top is NOT a synonym for perky). Of course, the images were all extremely nipply, so here's my slightly less NSFW censorship to show how well they did with these images:

(Image removed)

The boobs on the top left are the shape I consider "full on top". These images are a pretty similar, but more detailed, less teal version of the images I drew in my post on how to figure out the shape of your boobs:

There's a reason I made my image teal, too, by the way... Humans don't have just one skin color, and since none of us have teal skin, I figured it would apply to all of us equally. HerRoom didn't do the same... why are all their boobs white? ALL of them?

My next prickling of discomfort came when, instead of calling full-on-top boobs "full-on-top", they chose to go with "oversized upper breasts."

(Image Removed)

As you might know from my blog, I really hate terms like "oversized," "huge", "abnormal", etc. Seriously, HerRoom, why not just say "FULL upper breasts?" After all, that's what you MEANT--and that doesn't carry a connotation that there is an ideal "normal-sized upper breast" and I fall outside of that golden category. This sort of linguistic subtlety is pretty basic, folks, especially when you're writing about boobs and trying to convince women to pay your high prices.

After establishing your shape, the quiz then goes through some more questions with varying degrees of interest and relevance. Some of the questions regard things I never thought about before, like protruding versus inverted collarbones, and loose skin near the armpit which apparently is common in older women. Some of the other stuff just seemed kind of awkward and unecessary. Do not even ask me why they need to know whether or not you have "large areolas." That affects the fit of a bra how??? It sort of seemed like it was just another opportunity for Herroom to draw attention to "normal" versus "abnormal" features. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't see how an areola of any size or shape would have any effect on bra fit. It's just skin that's a different color, really not a big deal at all.

They make you enter an email address to get your results. I fortunately have an email account that I use just for spammy things like this, so I used that--I'd advise doing the same unless you want Herroom to be your newest pen pal. I was still pretty hopeful about my results at this point--not hopeful because I need help, since I know what works for me, but hopeful that the quiz would be awesome and I could recommend it to people.

NOPE!

The bra styles they suggested for my full-on-top boobs (which are NOT oversized, thank you very much) were the total OPPOSITE of what works for me. They are, for the most part the bras I would suggest for someone who has lower fullness. Not one of the shapes they suggested would work for me. Let's examine.

(Image removed)

So first, they give your "very personal results", which are actually just a summary of all the things YOU selected in the quiz... things you already knew. (This also includes a flash of the other thing I LOATHE about HerRoom, their pathetic "Universal Cup Sizing" initiative. Post on that coming later on.)

(Image removed)

 First off, seamless bras. Okay, seamless bras could, in theory, work for full-on-top boobs, but in my general experience, they don't. That's because they are generally made with a lot of space in the apex that is either evenly distributed between the bottom and top of the cup (leaving full-on-top girls looking pointy because they can only fill out the top, and vice versa) or mostly at the bottom, meaning epic quad-boob. Not their worst suggestion (just wait) but a slightly odd one.

(Image removed)

 Multi-what under-who? I assume by this they just mean "seamed bras." Okay... seamed bras can work for every shape, but it is the seam PATTERN that makes or breaks the fit on a particular shape. In the upper sizes, seamed bras are just about all there is, so this suggestion doesn't exactly narrow it down for someone who might be looking for guidance.

(Image removed)

 Say what? Bandeau bras? HerRoom declares that strapless bras will be difficult for me because of my "bountiful upper breast". Okay, "bountiful" is better than "oversized," but a kinda pervy word. It's true, by the way, that strapless bras are tricky. They're tricky for ALL shapes, just for different reasons. Strapless bras are tricky for full-on-top boobs because there is so much weight pushing down from the top, it tends to push the bra into a torpedo/football shape. Strapless bras are difficult for boobs with lower fullness because it is hard to lift the weight at the bottom. I guess I just don't think that a bandeau bra would be any better, or even any different, really. I will also bet you a million dollars that HerRoom doesn't sell any bandeau bras in my size.

(Image removed)

 Okay, that one is basically the same as the first suggestion. I'm baffled by their description, though. These bras "will provide modesty and help mask your lower apex"? Um, NO. You don't "mask" a lower apex--that would mean squashing your boobs down and pretending the apex is somewhere else, which is really bad for your breast tissue and will increase sagging over the years. Instead, you should seek a bra that is lower-cut and hence has an apex that more closely matches your own. (By 'apex', HerRoom and I both essentially mean "where the nipples hit", by the way.) Bras that have less volume in the cup can also help for some people, but that's not true for everyone.

(Image removed)

This gave me a bit of a laugh. Nipple concealers? This was after I had selected "No" to the question about whether I struggled with nipple show-through. So.. not really in need of this "smooth look", but thanks anyway.

And finally, THE ULTIMATE WORST ADVICE I'VE EVER HEARD:

(Image removed)

 HerRoom suggests full-coverage bras. For full-on-top boobs. THE WORST PAIRING EVER. Full-coverage bras will basically NEVER work for full-on-top boobs because they are DESIGNED to cover and contain all of your upper breast tissue. Those of us with upper fullness will always struggle to find a good fit in full coverage bras like this because there just isn't enough space for our "bountiful", "oversized" upper breast tissue. Full-coverage + full-on-top = horrible quad boob. Just... never. Not even. No.

Because HerRoom failed so spectacularly at giving any reasonable advice, I'm going to give my own. I've given these same tips before, but not all in the same place, so here they are.

The most important thing to note is that these styles are the OPPOSITE of what works well for boobs with lower fullness! The bras I've pictured, especially the vertical-seam bras, often can give a ton of gaping on full-on-the-bottom boobs. I'll do another post later where I check out what HerRoom has to say about boobs with lower fullness.

One thing I'm glad HerRoom brought up, though, is the question of distance between boobs. I do best with the bra styles I've pictured above, but I don't have a lot of space between my boobs, and several of those bras have very wide gores. That's why I alter my center gores. Distance between boobs is definitely a topic deserving its own post later!

A Mystery Bra Appears On eBay!

Ladies, I have an interesting tidbit of "bra gossip" for you. Remember the great fanfare for the Curvy Kate Smoothie, the "first ever molded bra up to a J-cup"? Well--looks like there's something else floating around out there. Behold:

That's a not a picture of me, by the way. (I WISH I was that tan...) Instead, this is the photo accompanying an eBay listing of a MOLDED bra that goes up to a J cup... just like the Smoothie, except this one goes up to a J cup in more band sizes (and up to a HH in a 40 band). Here's the link to the listing. There doesn't seem to be any risk that these are "US Sizes" and thus smaller than they sound, because it's a British listing.

At this point we're all scratching our heads and saying "What on earth is this bra and who makes it and why haven't we heard about it?" The brand is listed as Full-filled. I have a few theories about this brand, which has popped up here and there. One of the bras I've commonly seen by Full-filled is this one, the "Angel Sweet", which I've seen on Brastop and eBay:

A Curvy Kate model, Laura Butler, is pictured in a Full-Filled bra--the plot thickens. Of course, Laura also models for Brastop so the plot doesn't really thicken that much. Except... it looks a heck of a lot like the Flirtelle "Divine" with the colors reversed:

Now, in case you're losing me here, Flirtelle is Curvy Kate's "sister brand"... more or less exactly the same thing as Curvy Kate, but less marketed and sold only at Brastop at lower prices. I'm not really sure why they do that but hey, why complain if it means continuity colors at lower prices? My theory is that Full-filled is either an old name for Flirtelle, or an even lower link on the food chain... a brand through which Flirtelle/Curvy Kate can test out prototypes without putting a bigger name on the line, or a brand through which they can sell off the bras that they aren't going to market.

See where I'm going with this? I'm curious if this molded-up-to-a-J-cup dark horse Full-filled bra is some kind of prototype for the Curvy Kate Smoothie. And, since the Smoothie hasn't even come out yet, I'm kind of fascinated. Hmmm....

Hmmm...

Of course, my theory could be totally wrong. And even if I'm right, this bra could be a much lesser version of the Smoothie, like an original, flawed version. But... it's pretty cheap. And it ships internationally. And I am JUST SO CURIOUS. I'm not planning to buy this bra because I'm trying NOT to buy any more new bras (of course, I know you are all going to try to convince me otherwise in the comments! Comment away and we'll see how strong my willpower is). But I didn't want it to pass by without my loyal readers being aware of this option, in case anyone wants to take the risk and try it out (the seller accepts returns). If you do try it, let us all know how it goes in the comments!

Updated to add: I just looked at my archives and noticed that every post I've done this month has an exclamation point at the end. I guess it's been an exciting month!

Masquerade Rhea Review--At Last!

In my April review of Bravissimo bras, I first documented my love affair with the Masquerade Rhea. I’d tried it on in a 30H and found it a perfect fit and perfect shape for me. But it’s a very expensive bra at full price, so I was holding out to find it on sale. I searched high and low but none of the cheap sources of the Rhea ever had it in a 30H or even a 32GG. I never quite succeeded in finding the low price I’d hoped to find, but I did eventually find a burgundy Rhea in 30H at a lowISH price, so I figured it was best to take that opportunity while it was there.

First, a disclaimer. I don’t really like padded bras. I wear them in the winter because otherwise my boobs go numb (giggles), hence why I bought four Curvy Kate Showgirl bras, three of which are reviewed here, this winter. I’ve since decided to sell two of those four, as well as selling my Masquerade Delphi. I loved the shape of the Delphi, reviewed here, and it fit me well, but I wasn’t crazy about the thick straps (as comfy as they were) or the color. It made more sense to sell it and get a Rhea, which was what I’d really wanted in the first place. Along with the Cleo Rihanna that I reviewed recently, my collection of padded bras will still consist of four, but four that fit and suit me better. That will be adequate to get me through the cold months.

Anyway, here’s the Rhea!

I don’t think this color is as epic as the continuity mauve shade, this:

…but I like it combined with the gray, and the color suits me, even if it’s not my favorite color. (Royal blue is my favorite color, if you wanted to know.)

The shape from the side is good. It’s a little squashed, but not quite to the point where it would stop looking round and start looking square.

This shape is actually fairly similar to the shape I get in the Curvy Kate Showgirl bras, but a bit more lifted, and the underwire feels more firm and sits closer to my body.

The back band is sort of the WORST, though. I love the back bands on the Curvy Kate Showgirl bras,  as they are so wide and stretchy and comfortable. The Masquerade Rhea, on the other hand, has a very thin, very stiff back band with just two hooks. It’s also angled up a little bit so it looks almost like it is riding up even when it isn’t.

The straps are great—narrow but not too thin, and the same width all the way up. So unlike with the Delphi, these straps will look normal under strappy tops.

The inside of the cups is a sort of cotton fabric, the kind of fabric you would find in a t-shirt, which I know will please some readers who seek breathable fabric.

The thick lace along the top of the cups shows a little bit under tight tops, but not a ton. The Rhea is a good bra, and I’m glad to finally own one. I would recommend it, especially for those with full-on-top boobs who are fans of a rounded shape, and for those who like padded bras and a touch of luxury.