Curvy Kate Showgirl Collection, Part I – Tease Me

During Brastop’s huge sale this past month, I managed to snatch up the Tempt Me in a 28J, the Tease Me in a 28J, and the Thrill Me in a 28HH, so those reviews are all coming shortly! First up, the Tease Me in a 28J, in the Silver/Black colorway.

From the front- definitely “cakes on a platter” look going on here!

From an angle- cleavage even more apparent!

Ok, I have to say it. I have fallen in bra love. I want to buy this bra in every color they ever make ever (especially this one in pink and white!) because it is exactly what I want in a bra. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before on here, but I actually really like having big boobs. I don’t want to make them look smaller, I want them to look the size that they are (or even a little tiiiiiiny bit bigger is ok, like as much as a thinly padded bra might add), and this bra ACCOMPLISHES! And it does it while still being comfortable enough to be worn to work, and after work, for a total of around 15 hours without me feeling scratched or uncomfortable.

Something else that I love about this bra is that it is extremely low cut. If they made this bra in a 28JJ though, I would get it, because while wearing it with tank tops I am occasionally concerned about a nip slip in this 28J, and also I get slight double boob if I don’t occasionally readjust. The benefit to wearing a 28J however is that the spaghetti strap tank tops that I wear almost religiously during the hot summer months aren’t ruined by a collarbone high bra (like the Panache Tango, which I also loved, but for different reasons).

View under a tank top from the front- slightly cleavagey, but not too much!

View from side in tank top- definitely not minimizing! (Please excuse the double boob, which is caused by the shirt, not the bra. Yes I still wear things like this in real life despite the breast conflictions 😛 )

A last note on the fit- it’s widely told that Showgirl bras have a very loose and stretchy band, but I didn’t find this to be the case. I measure between 28.5 and 29 underbust, depending on the time of the month, my weight, etc., and find this band to be as firm if not firmer than some of my other 28s!

I’m trying really hard to think of some complaints with this bra besides it’s limited size range… and… I can’t think of any! If I could get this in a 28JJ for the days when I wanted my cleavage a little less in-your-face, it would probably be my ideal bra. Also if Curvy Kate would make this exact shape into a basic bra in continuity colors with minimum embellishment… that would be more than ok with me! 🙂

Panache Tango II Balconette- a Surprise Favorite

Hello! I’m finally back with another review!

As I mentioned, I received 5 bras this past week, and one of the ones I got was the Tango II Balconette in a 28J. When I was recently sized, I was diagnosed as a 28HH, though some styles I feel I would have felt more comfortable in a J, so when I saw the Tango on ebay for $21, including BOTH the matching thong AND briefs… I had to go for it.

Ok, looks wise… This is not something I would wear for sexy-times. Absolutely not. It takes up a lot of my chest and is definitely the highest cut bra that I own, not to mention that even though it’s a “balconette”, it is cut like a full-cup bra, with the top section connecting to the strap as opposed to the usual bottom section connecting to it. On, this bra gives great lift, although a slightly pointy silhouette. This bothers others more than it bothers me, and under clothes this pointyness is less pronounced.

As far as fit goes, I know that technically it is not perfect, but it gives me great support and that’s the most important part of a bra as far as I’m concerned! The band feels very comfortable, and fits nicely on the tightest hook, but the cups take up too much of the band area, reaching back about an inch past where my breasts end. I toyed with the idea that going down a cup size would help, or going up a band size, but a looser band would definitely need to be fastened on the tightest hook, and a smaller cup would cut into the front of my breasts, where the J cup currently fits very well.

From the front, before performing slight strap adjustment (which does away with the slight wrinkling in the bottom)

Angle, showing pointier shape and the wrinkling in the bottom.

As the first caption mentions, the straps on this were too long for my petite (around 5’3″) frame. They are only half adjustable, but once I shortened them there was no wrinkling in the cups except for on the side where the cups are too wide. I’m writing this review at a moment where I can’t take more pictures, but hopefully I’ll be able to update this review soon with the fixed straps and pictures of the too wide cups from a straight on side shot!

Like I said earlier, I found this bra very comfortable! I work as a waitress, and broke one of the cardinal rules of bra wearing in order to wear this during my 12 hour shift- that’s right, I wore it two days in a row! The only thing I can complain about is that the center gore is too high for my close set breasts. Only one of the wires will lay flat at a time, while the other pushes up and tries to go on top of the other one in order to form a more narrow gore. This is pretty common for me in balconette bras, but unfortunately very few plunges are made in my size range.

Overall, although I considered it a risky buy at the time because of the slightly larger than usual size, and “meh” to negative reviews I’d read about it, this bra was a surprise winner for me!