Hugs for Your Jugs

We all know that it's important to scoop all tissue  from the outside of the bra *into* the cups, as well as positioning the wires correctly , but recently I have been thinking about an extension of the manoeuvre: The Outwards Scoop You may be thinking that this is just a way to make a too small cup look like it fits correctly , but I promise you it's more than that. What is the purpose of the scoop and swoop? To make sure that all tissue that was outside the wires is now inside the wires - of course, provided that the bra isn't too narrow overall. For those with soft tissue (and particuarly those with pendulous breasts and loose skin as well), or just a very projected shape simply scooping the traditional way can force tissue into the gore space *past* the root of your breast. This causes tissue to sit under the gore, either pushing it away or having the gore sit on breast tissue - not ideal!

Welcome to part two of my series on how band lengths are not always equal between cup sizes. Last time we had Cleo by Panache , now we're testing Freya's band lengths. I collected Bratabase data on the stretched and unstretched band lengths in a couple of band sizes of Freya bras - the ones with the most data. The results are as follows:

Comexim's designs don't often inspire me. However, as a connoisseur of all things fun - underwear or otherwise - I just had to buy this bra as soon as I saw it. A graffiti print longline? SIGN ME UP! I ordered the bra in a 55M with the "deeper cups" and "reduced cup height" alterations (though I have no way of telling if they were done or not). I paid 149 zloty for it, a little over £30, plus shipping. Design:   Sorry for the low quality image! My phone just wasn't cooperating with me today! Be still, my beating heart. I adore this print and the vibrant colours. Although the gore floats - LOOK AT THAT CLOCK CHARM! I love it! Plain bows are so overdone, give me a charm any day! While I really like the block of graffiti print below the cups, unfortunately, the rest of the band and the inside of the bra is just boring black, which does make me a bit sad. However, would adding more colour just bring it over the top?  ...

Just when  you thought bra fitting couldn't get any more complicated, it turns out that a 30 often isn't the same as a 30. It's commonly known that people with larger cup sizes tend to choose smaller bands over those with smaller cup sizes. But is this an organic decision or influenced by changing band lengths with cup sizes? I collected Bratabase data on the stretched and unstretched band lengths in a couple of band sizes of Cleo bras - the ones with the most data. The results were pretty interesting!

I adore how this bra looks, on the stock photos, and, to an extent, irl. It looks pretty basic from the front but it has some stunning design features that I will delve into later. However, in true Freya fashion, this bra only goes up to a 28G so it really doesn't fit me, which makes me sad. Onto the review...

I so wanted this bra to work. After the unprecedented success of Cleo Blake, I've been super willing to try more Cleos. Sadly, it just wasn't to be.

I feel like The Rock adequately sums up my feelings about this bra. I've waited for this bra for 9 months. That's how long it takes for a human to be made. From its first preview in Bras and Body Image's Cleo AW16 Preview post , my eye was caught. I must have this bra, I thought to myself. 9 months later and sadly, it was not to be.

I'm gonna admit to being a hipster here - I wanted to review this bra  before  it was cool! And then I ended up procrastinating in both buying the bra and reviewing it, go me. (I have procrastinated SO MUCH guys, I bought this bra in September and now it's November!) I snagged the Nichole off brastop for £15, found a discount code online which took off 11% from that, and paid £3.95 shipping, bringing the total to £17.30. Nice. However I have recently become aware of some really body shaming tweets made by brastop's twitter account so I will no longer be purchasing from that site. After seeing other people say how deep it runs, I went down to a 28G and I'm glad I did!

It's no secret: I love this bra. It fits great  - not perfectly, but that's to be expected -, gives me a really nice shape and I adore the aesthetic. I find myself reaching for it more often than all but one of my bras (and that's only because my Ewa Michalak CH Karmelki has a delightfully snug band). Cleo is a staple for the fuller bust crowd who want a more youthful aesthetic than a lot of brands have on offer. Add in the narrow wires, projection and immediate depth common in their unpadded bras and you basically have a match made in heaven for me! I just wish they made 26s... I snagged this off Poinsettia for £23 shipped which was a nice discount from its £28-£30 RRP (I'm all about discounts). I ordered the only colour available at the time, a bright pink described as cerise. After reading Big Cup's review I expected a more muted colour bra, perhaps a little reddish, and a bra without much immediate depth, potentially clashing with my shape and also being ...

The topic of bra storage comes up now and again and I thought it might be interesting to share how I upgraded my bra storage. It is a take on a well known hanger tree tutorial with a few improvements for my needs. The most important for me was shrinking the vertical space used as the result of that tutorial would fit seven bras from the top to the bottom of a wardrobe door which is somewhat inefficient, and it’s also uncomfortable to reach the bottom-most bras. I also don’t like that hanging bras from a regular hanger is somewhat unstable. Being able to hang sets with (more or less) matching knickers and overall having a polished look was also important for me. What you will need:

With the recent advent of increasing discussion on center fullness and outer fullness - including a gore alteration that increases center depth , and more and more people being confused as to what it all means, I thought I'd try and explain what these shapes are and why so many people struggle to figure out which they have. Fullness on top and bottom (or "vertical fullness distribution" as I like to pretentiously say) has been a staple of English-speaking bra fitting forums for years, but  horizontal  fullness distribution has only ever really been mentioned since about 2015, starting off with this amazing blog post by Brastic Measures. I'm noting now that as with top and bottom fullness, horizontal fullness is a spectrum. You can be extremely outer full, even, or extremely center full - or anything in between. Center fullness and outer fullness can both be mistaken for a splayed shape. Yup, two polar opposites can and are both mistaken for a third, unrelated,...

Buckle up folks, it's gonna be a wild ride. Honestly I've heard multiple people have success with Asos's Fuller Bust range but after my experience I'm utterly confused as to how that can happen. Apologies for the poor lighting! And yes those are plasters on my nipples that I coloured in with a felt tip to make them look less nipple-like.  I promise to invest in some proper ones soon! The good: This bra is cheap as heck at only £20 full price  with free shipping. Ordering from Asos is a doddle and their returns system is free and easy. I quite like the design, the lace is interesting and almost has a kind of art nouveau vibe to it. It comes in 28-38 DD-G.

Note: This post is operating under the premise that only the band size is being tested when checking a bra fits correctly. As too small cups can make a band feel too tight due to breast tissue not being fully contained/general constriction of the bust, I always advise checking band fit with the bra fastened backwards and/or upside down, as this removes the cup fit from the equation. A lot of bra resources on the internet (including Bustyresources, Bratabase, Boob or Bust, and so many company fitting guides) have ways of determining if a band fits you based on how far it stretches out. Here are the two most common variations of this rule: You should be able to stretch the band out 1" away from your ribcage (when fastened on the loosest hooks) You should be able to fit two fingers comfortably under the band (when fastened on the loosest hooks) While I don't deny that these rules can help people understand that a band is supposed to be snug, and can work in the extremes, ...

Oh, Asos. I understand you're a fashion brand. I understand this is your first foray into extended bra sizes. I understand your business is based on selling cheap items. I started with low expectations, but still, you disappoint me. Don't get me wrong, I applaud Asos for being one of the first cheap fashion brands to start selling these sizes, but that's one of the few positive things I can say in this review. So with that in mind, let's dive right in! I ordered the ASOS FULLER BUST Kendra Underwire Bra for £20 (and free shipping). That's right, this bra costs £20 at full price which is pretty darn good. The sad thing is that you don't really get what you pay for here. There's a pale pink version of this bra (could be a nude colour for a few skin tones) and this black version. I thought the black had a bit more... classical charm to it so that's what I went for. The bra is sold in 28-38 DD-G, so clearly they were going for a full bust thing here instea...

I ordered the Chloe Lace Balconette Bra in Coral  in UK 28G and the corresponding Lace Shorts in a UK 8.  This bra is priced at a very reasonable £24 and  there was a special offer running whereby you could buy the bra and knicker set for £25 - pretty genius deal in my opinion because I never usually buy matching underpants with my bras. The yellow tag is a small piece of ribbon with the size printed on it. Pretty useful if you're trying a bunch of bras on in a shop! Boux avenue has only recently started to venture outside of the bra size matrix (32-38 AA-DD, the sizes most commnly sold by UK and US retailers), so I wasn't expecting the bra to be scaled amazingly as I bought it - especially in their smallest band/largest cup combination of 28G. The bra is sold in sizes 28-36 A-G, 38 B-G.