Debenhams – Celebrating 10 Years of Gorgeous Lingerie

Gorgeous Lingerie 10th Anniversary

The Debenhams Gorgeous range of lingerie is something that often gets overlooked. While we bigger busted girls run straight to Panache and Freya, we forget that actually there are some really lovely (and purse-friendly) other options available. Gorgeous do cater for the bigger bust, and I am impressed with their range of sizes and styles.

I saw a beautiful bra on their facebook page recently that really caught my eye. It was pink and girly and just overall exceptionally pretty.

Debenhams – Floral Dot Bra

The photo of this bra on their website doesn’t remotely do it justice. It really is a lovely set, and I can see it being very popular.
This particular style only goes up to a G-cup – which is still something considering most high street stores don’t even go that far.
But, don’t give up hope yet, they do have other styles in bigger cup sizes…

Some of the Gorgeous range bestsellers are actually their full-cup bras, and one of the best things about them, is they go all the way to a J-cup!
Don’t be put off by the fact they do not cater for a 28 band; their bands are actually very firm. I probably couldn’t fit into a 30 band in the Gorgeous range – I always find 32 just right.
However, I do hope at some point in the future as they expand, they will delve into the 28-band range – even though their bras are tight-fitting, there are still girls scouring the net for 26 bands.

The first bra I tried was the Gilda pink embroidered mesh full-cup bra.

Debenhams – Pink Embroidered Mesh Bra

It is unpadded and underwired, and has soft satin-like cups with a scalloped mesh trim. The straps are fully adjustable, but they’re also quite firm, so you won’t need to adjust them all that much. As I mentioned before, the band is very firm, so even the 32G was a nice sturdy fit on me. The cups are generous, I prefer to have a bigger cup for my larger side, so I wouldn’t size down, but some may prefer to.

Debenhams – Pink Embroidered Mesh Bra

It is a beautiful dusky pink colour, the shape it gives is perfectly rounded, with none of that tear-drop or pointy-ness that some unpadded bras can cause.

Debenhams – Pink Embroidered Mesh Bra & Brief Set

It comes with lovely matching briefs in the same style, with the satin-like finish on the front, and soft mesh at the back. I got a size 14 and found them pretty true to size, and very comfortable.

I can honestly say, this is one of the more comfortable bra sets I have tried. It is the kind of bra you could wear all day long, and completely forget it’s even there.

The next bra that I tried was the Provence white embroidered mesh full-cup bra.

Debenhams – White Embroidered Mesh Bra

Now while they are a similar style, the white bra has a full mesh cup with embroidered trim, rather than the satin-esque cup of the pink bra. This is just as lovely, especially as the detailing is beautiful, and it feels very cool to wear (which is brilliant for this warm weather we’re having!) The fit is much the same as the pink bra; fully adjustable straps, firm band and generous cups. It is another really comfortable and useful everyday bra.

Debenhams – White Embroidered Mesh Bra

I’m actually very impressed with these two hidden gems, they are going to make my days at work a lot more easy going

My only criticism isn’t about the bras themselves, but rather the fit on their models – on their website there are a lot of arched bands in the photographs, and I do have a little bit of concern regarding what their customers will assume a well-fitting bra looks like. In any case, I cannot fault their fabulous range.

Next time I’m in Debenhams I definitely won’t be racing to the branded section, I’m much more likely to be saving my pennies and checking out what other lingerie the Gorgeous range has to offer!

Click here to check out Georgina’s review of the Gorgeous range on Fuller Figure Fuller Bust.

Love

Sophia xxx

My Search for a Nieve that Fits

I have long been a fan of Freya and their beautiful selection of bras, so when I heard about the new Nieve bra, I could barely control my excitement!
It has a beautiful floral pattern which is both feminine and sexy, and there was a longline version – it sounded too good to be true…
I’d been waiting with baited breath for them to arrive in stores. Leia lingerie was my first choice to purchase the Nieve bra from, as they have always been both friendly and reliable, not to mention they come highly recommended by my good friend and fellow blogger Georgina Horne.

Freya Nieve Bra

Sadly, the longline Nieve bra (which was my favourite of the two) starts at a 30 band, and only goes up to a G cup. This is no good for me, as I usually wear 30GG in Freya, and occasionally 30H. So, I went for my second choice, the balcony Nieve unpadded – this version both starts at a 28 back, and goes up to a K cup.

A few days later, I was overjoyed to see the package waiting for me after work, but my happiness was short lived.

Freya Nieve Balcony Version - 30GG

I am of course used to Freya bras being slightly looser in the band than other brands, but I found this bra to be the loosest 30 band I have ever tried. It felt like a 34 band – even on the tightest hook I could pull it at least an inch away from my chest. Not only that, but I really felt the shape of the bra let me down, it both separated and barely gave any lift, so unfortunately I sent it back, and didn’t bother exchanging for a 28.

I was really quite miffed about all of this, and I felt cheated out of the beautiful supportive longline version of the Nieve that I had been dreaming about purchasing for so long. I decided that I would buy one anyway, just to at least try it and see what I was missing.

Nieve Longline Bra

Leia speedily sent me the longline bra in a 30G, a cup size down from my usual. Well, I have to say, this bra is beautiful! It is the polar opposite of the balcony version. It’s sleek, lightly padded, lifting, and with a very firm supportive band (it has 7 hooks!) I loved it the moment I put it on. Not only is it a great bra, but it looks a little like a crop top too. I felt it could even be worn under a loose shirt, so long as you don’t mind a bit of cleavage!

Freya Nieve Longline Version - 30G

Of course, the only blindingly obvious downside, is that it was too small in the cup for me, if ONLY I could have it a cup size up, then I wouldn’t have breast tissue bursting over the top and out the sides.

So why is it that Freya can make such a stunning bra, yet leave us bigger busted girls with a useless unsupportive balcony version? Well, I headed straight over to Freya’s facebook page to ask them for myself.

Before I even wrote anything, I was quite surprised to note that the model in their profile picture, was in fact wearing the balconette Nieve, and I can safely say it didn’t look anything like that on me! Not only that, but this model is at the very most a 28 band girl – there is no way it could have fitted her or given the support she appears to have in the photo.

Freya Fan Page Profile Photo

Here is what I asked Freya on their page:

“Dear Freya, I’m a 30GG and have been in love with the Nieve bra long before it was available. First I tried the balcony version in 30GG, and I couldn’t believe how loose the band was, it felt like a 34! Just for the hell of it I decided to try the longline version in a 30G – it is a stunning bra, with a much more realistic fit than the balcony version. Of course, it is too small for me, so I’m debating whether or not to keep it. Can you please tell me why the longline bra starts only at 30, and doesn’t go above a G cup? It’s such a shame for bigger busted or smaller-backed girls.”

Here is Freya’s reply:

“Hi Sophia, I am glad that you love Nieve. Regrading the sizes, the Freya design team found that the longline doesn’t give enough support above a G cup as the cups are based on our padded half cup shape so less covering than a balcony bra. Freya are always working on extending size ranges and collections. Love Freya”

However, they neglected to respond to my query about a smaller band size.

Following that, another girl commented on my post asking this:

“Will you perhaps be getting the Nieve longline bra in 28 sizes? I simply adored the style when I saw it online, but saw you only start from a 30. Is there a reason why you can’t make the longline in a 28? Would you perhaps consider making the style in that size?”

Again, Freya neglected to respond to her.

I have received an explanation now for why they don’t go above a G cup in the longline bra, but I’m not really satisfied with the answer. If the ‘design team’ found it doesn’t give enough support, then why haven’t they created one that does? Why not have another version of a longline bra specifically made for G cup and over? And why do they imply all G+ bras have to be balcony style? I have plenty of GG-H bras from Ewa Michalak in the half cup style!

In this day and age, with women continually finding out their correct bra size, and realising they need something entirely different to what is easily available on the high street, Freya should at least have the decency to give their customers an explanation. If your back size equals a UK size 8 or below, you will most likely need a 28 band or smaller, some need 26 bands or even 24. Not only are there plenty of women around of that size, but teenagers who need them too.
What are we to think when Freya are alienating big cups and small backs, but still using these 28/26 backed models to advertise bras that we know don’t fit them?

Freya have a lot to answer for, especially when other companies are continually advancing and trying to listen to their customer’s wants and needs.

On Panache Lingerie’s facebook page, a girl commented asking if they will be offering size 26 bands in the future.

Panache responded with the following status question for their customers:

“With the focus now being on fuller figure ranges and an increase in back sizes, is there also a need for smaller back sizes as per Izabela’s comment below?”

I was really impressed that they actually listened to one of their customers, then took the initiative to ask the rest of their fans and find out! That’s a sign of a lingerie company that really cares about the products they make, and the customers who buy them.