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

Freya, Fantasie, Fauve, Elomi and Huit 8: Autumn/Winter 2012

Eveden Lingerie Group

I was absolutely thrilled to be invited to the Eveden Group Press Event, showcasing their upcoming Autumn/Winter collections out later this year. They had lots of eye-catching new lingerie, activewear and lounge wear to show, from brands Freya, Fantasie, Fauve, Elomi and Huit 8.

Surrounded by beautiful Swarovski crystals, the lingerie looked stunning. Eveden stated that the collections ‘took inspiration from the mesmerising hues of the Northern Lights, where ice cold skies of frosty blue and arctic mint green merge against warmer strokes of purple, red and gilded gold’. I couldn’t agree more, it was a wonderful display, which unbelievably, included a lingerie ice sculpture!

Freya and Fantasie are two of my favourite brands, so I was especially excited to see their new collections.

Freya:

Freya – Ginny

I liked the mix of blues, browns and whites to create a more vintage feel.

Freya – Carys Longline

Freya – Piper Longline

I was really pleased to see more longline bras, similar to the Nieve in their collection last year.

Freya – Piper

Freya – Taylor (this time in charcoal and teal!)

Freya – Rosie

Freya – Marina

I adored the colours on the Marina bra, it’s definitely one I found myself wanting to take home. This is the balcony bra which goes all the way up to a K cup! There will also be a half cup padded version available up to a G.

Freya

Freya – Gem

Freya – Dionne

This cute leaf print on the Dionne is going to be absolutely perfect for autumn. I can’t wait!

Freya

Freya

Freya – Deco Hatty

Freya – Martha

Freya

Freya – Deco Honey

I fell in love with the Honey Deco at first sight. The bright fiery red (which actually has a slight orange hue to it) matched with the delicate lace really adds something extra to a favourite staple bra. This is also the bra they chose for the ice sculpture, and it looked incredible.

Deco Honey Ice Sculpture

Deco Honey Ice Sculpture

Freya – Patsy

Freya – Ivy Longline

Another longline; the Ivy bra has a very autumn feel to it.

Freya – Ada

Freya – Ada

I LOVE the Ada bra. It has a really fun tattoo design with a ‘Freya’ motif, and goes up to an H cup. Definitely one for my wish list.

Freya – Deco Soft Cup

You’ll be very excited to hear that Freya have now brought out a soft cup version of the deco, and it comes in a 28 band. It might seem like a soft cup won’t give you that stunning cleavage that the deco is so well-known for, but check out their model wearing the Nude version. There’s plenty of cleavage there, and she mentioned it was one of her favourites to model.

Freya Active:

Freya Active – Underwired Sports Bra – Black Samba

Freya Active – Performance Wear – Sports Top and Capri Pant

As well as their ever popular sports bra, Freya Active have brought out their own Performance Wear now too. It uses a special polygiene technology that keeps the clothing odour free!

Freya Swim:

Freya Active Swim – Soft Suit – Ultramarine

Freya Swim

Freya Swim – Phoenix

The Phoenix was my favourite of the bikinis, the colours just look fabulous together, not to mention there is a matching kaftan.

Freya Swim – Kansas

Kansas is the perfect name for this style; it looks like Dorothy packed up her things and went on a tornado-free beach vacation!

Freya Lounge:

Freya Lounge Wear

Freya Lounge – Marina – Long Sleeve Top & Pant

Freya Lounge – Piper – Cami Top & Short

Fantasie:

Fantasie – Josephine

Fantasie – Susanna Basque

I adored this new Susanna Basque from Fantasie. It is an absolutely beautiful design with a sexy black lace overlay.

Fantasie Swim:

Fantasie Swim – Mauritius

This Mauritius set is especially versatile because it has all sorts of mix and match bikini briefs/tops/tankinis to go with it – both in black or the lovely bold dot print. It also has a sheer black (with dot print sleeves) matching Kaftan.

Fantasie Swim – Costa Rica

Fantasie Swim – St Lucia (left) and Trinidad (right)

Fauve:

Fauve

Fauve – Marla

Fauve – Coco

Fauve – Evangeline

The Evangeline set looked wonderful – the red and nude lace together works beautifully. It comes in both a padded half cup, and a moulded plunge bra too.

Fauve – Emmanuelle

Fauve – Sabine

Fauve – Marla

Fauve – Veronique

Fauve Lounge – Genevieve

A sexy lounge set from Fauve!

Elomi:

Elomi – Maggie Babydoll

Elomi – Maggie

Elomi – Valentina

Elomi – Paloma

Elomi – Briony

The pinks in the Briony are just lovely.

Elomi – Betty

Elomi Swim – Fiora

Huit 8:

Huit 8

Huit 8 formerly only catered up to a DD cup, they have now expanded their size range to an E. Here’s hoping that in the not too distant future they reach to G, and maybe even all the way to K! We can dream anyway .

Huit 8

Huit 8 – Equivoque

Huit 8 – Rumeur

Huit 8 – Rumeur

Huit 8 Swim:

Huit 8 Swim

Huit 8 Swim – Pepsy Pretty

Huit 8 Swim – Tropic Toffy

I am very excited about the upcoming collections, and impressed with everything on display. Freya do offer a little more than the other brands, but I loved the new Fantasie and Fauve lingerie too. Elomi caters specifically for the fuller figure which makes them both popular and unique, whereas Huit 8 is a timeless French style usually more suited to a slimmer figure.
It was also great to see that Freya are expanding their Active range even further, especially with the olympics coming up, it’s bound to be a big hit. It was a pleasure to meet the team behind the brands, (and they looked after us so well, I was especially fond of the cake!) and great to catch up with fellow bloggers; Fuller Figure Fuller Bust, Undercover Lingerista, Curvy Wordy and Lily Bo Bombs I’m sure we will all be saving our pennies to purchase some of this lovely lingerie later this year.

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.

The Possible Wonders of Wonderbra

I’m always looking for new versatile strapless bras, and so far, Freya’s strapless deco has been my favourite. I do however occasionally long for a little more cleavage in a strapless, something which appears to be quite a challenge to find.

After reading a great joint review – by two lovely busty ladies; Cheryl Warner and Becky Mount over at ‘Invest in your Chest‘ – on strapless bras (including Wonderbra’s ‘Ultimate Strapless’), I decided to test it out myself.
Unfortunately, this bra stops at an F-cup, so a 32F was the biggest I could get to try it out. Even though I swing between FF-G, I figured there was a possibility I could get away with F, as from time to time strapless bras can come up loose in the cup.

The ‘Ultimate Strapless’ comes in the colours ‘skin’ and black, however, I was pleased to see there was a little extra variety when it came to the style.

Option 1:

'Ultimate Strapless' - Plain smoothe cup in 'Skin'

Option 2:

'Ultimate Strapless' - Plain smoothe cup in Black

Option 3:

'Ultimate Strapless' - Nude lace overlay in 'Skin'

Option 4:

'Ultimate Strapless' - Black lace overlay in 'Skin'

I chose the ‘Skin’ coloured bra with the nude lace overlay, I thought it was actually a really delicate and beautiful twist, on what would normally just be a plain moulded cup.

The Ultimate Strapless

When my ‘Ultimate Strapless’ arrived, I have to say, I was very impressed. This bra feels like a piece of hardware! It’s very sturdy, and seems almost mechanical – but to be honest, that’s generally what I’m looking for in a strapless bra if it’s going to hold me up all day long!

Without a doubt, it gave me the best cleavage from a strapless bra yet, and it really is so close to being perfect.

Wonderbra 'Ultimate Strapless' - Nude Lace 32F

Alas, I can’t bring myself to wear a bra that is probably about one or two cup sizes too small for me. I’m a girl that struggles to contain the ‘sideboob’, and if that ‘sideboob’ can’t be contained, then unfortunately the bra has to be avoided like the plague.

I was quite surprised about two things: first, that the ‘Ultimate Strapless’ didn’t actually go beyond an F-cup, (because they do go beyond that in some of their other styles; one of which I will talk about presently), and second that it starts at a 30″ back band, and not 28″.
Now fair enough, often strapless bras are tighter than regular bras, but it seems as though Wonderbra don’t do anything with a 28″ back. This surprises me even further, because I can quite clearly see that some of their models, are indeed a 28″ back size or less.

Despite all of that, in my opinion, this bra is very worthy of its ‘Ultimate Strapless’ title, just… not for anyone over an F-cup or under a 30″ band. Other than that, I really would recommend it.

Now to review my second Wonderbra purchase, the ‘Embrace’ bra.

I liked the look of this bra immediately; it seems sturdy and beautiful all at the same time. It’s a lace covered moulded cup plunge bra, with velvet detailing.

It also comes in a range of colours, which I always approve of.

Option 1:

'Embrace' - Black lace overlay on nude

Option 2:

'Embrace' - White lace overlay on white cup

Option 3:

'Embrace' - Blue lace overlay on nude

Option 3:

'Embrace' - Purple lace overlay on nude

Option 4:

'Embrace' - Pink lace overlay on nude

This bra goes from an E-G cup, so I tried it in a 32G. I actually felt the cup came up a little big, so for an inbetweeny like myself, I would prefer to opt for my smaller size of 32FF.

Wonderbra 'Embrace' Blue - 32G

Again I found it was a great cleavage enhancing bra, and very sturdy. I also loved the look of the blue lace particularly, it’s very enticing as bras go.
While at least this one does go up to a G cup, I still think they should considering going bigger, and including a 28″ back. There seems to be a myth that busty women either don’t want or need a cleavage enhancing bra, and while, yes, some J-cup women I know wouldn’t dream of wearing a wonderbra, I can think of quite a few HH-cup women that really would like to. These kinds of bras can really flatter the figure, and keep your breasts lifted and in place all day long. Who doesn’t want that?

Love

Sophia xxx