I wear this bra at least twice a week, but I have a love-hate relationship with it.

When I got fitted at a local store (I told the whole saga in my review of 34GG - Panache » Clara Full Cup Bra (7255) ), they told me I was a 32HH in Panache bras. After some trial and error, I found the aforementioned Clara fit me well in a 34GG. I wanted to try the Envy I'd heard so many good things about, so I found a brand new 34GG Envy on eBay for cheap. I've actually had it for about 2 months, but I couldn't really bring myself to write the review until now.

First, this particular bra was, at some point before I got it, professionally converted into a nursing bra. This is actually totally fine with me, as I'm still nursing my 2 kids (and this is why I wear it twice a week despite the issues described below), but I was a bit miffed that it wasn't in the description. However - the straps are too short now! I'm not sure what went wrong during the conversion process, I've converted many bras by hand and never lost that much strap length... but even with my super short torso I can't make the straps long enough. They're close, but I could use maybe 1" more.

Next, there is an issue going on in the cups that I'm not 100% sure about. I think (and this is really just a guess) the cup might be too large. Now, the cup is filled perfectly, the stretch lace is flat across the top of my breast, it's all perfect... except the apex. It's like I get in-cup quadding, but only at a very specific spot at the seam junction/apex. Really it just makes giant wrinkles across my nipples. I'm sure the description sounds like the cup might just have more projection at the apex than my breast does, but it's not quite like that; it's very tough to describe. It almost looks like something is "off" with the tension in that spot, and for a few weeks I assumed it had something to do with the short strap/conversion issue. I do have a 34G Envy en route to me, so I should know within a few days if a smaller cup really helps this issue or not.

I'm in the process of changing the sling part of the nursing bra conversion; the original conversion used beige cotton in a crescent shape sewn into the actual mesh at the edge of the cup, which was affecting the depth/projection I get there. I am replacing that sling with just a piece of elastic sewn into the edge of the underwire channel, as this is the kind of sling I prefer for my nursing bras and it will hopefully fix some of the strange shape issues I'm getting.

I'll also say I'm a bit disappointed in the looks of this particular Panache bra. Now that I've found Bras That Fit, I find myself less willing to settle for bras I don't find beautiful, and I'm just not sold on this one. It's not a very pretty bra, to me, especially compared to my Panache Clara (linked above). The houndstooth pattern is too subtle and the floral is too matronly and the combo just looks like a hot mess to me. I'd overlook it if this gave me a great shape under clothes, but it doesn't, so at the moment the only reason I keep it around is to have an underwired nursing bra for the weekends.

Beige colorway

Updated on Oct 27, 2016 Flag this

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