This was one of my very lucky finds, along with my Pixie Balconnet from Cleo. Size 28:4 non-padded bras from Cleo , are incredibly difficult to find. So, I scooped this one up the second I saw it. I LOVE this bra. I love how it fits. It's awesome. This one appears to have a stretchier band and less firm band then the Pixie had, but that may be just because this one was actually worn very lightly unlike the Pixie bra that was not worn at all. I only got to wear this bra around the house but I had to write about it, so I'll of course update this review after it's run at a ten hour shift.
First off, I really love the fabric of this bra. I'm not a huge fan of polka dots, but you can't always get it all. It is a very smooth, stiff, probably polyester fabric. There's no stretch, which makes this bra very good at shaping the breast. There is a small mesh section that is embroidered along the top edge. This mesh also does not stretch. The cup is also lined with what appears to be a non-stretch black mesh. I really can't say the fabric is soft and welcoming, but it's not scratchy, abrasive or uncomfortable in any way. This bra seems to be expecting short roots with a breast that projects out from the ribcage with no sloping. I have tall-ish roots. So, the mesh just sort of slides down my roots and the mesh part wrinkles. The embroidered edge lays flat. I find I can tuck the wrinkled mesh section under the cup and just have the pretty embroidered section showing. There is a picture that shows what happens when I try to force the mesh section to lay flat and sit the way it was originally intended to sit. Cuts into my like WOAH. The bra is a three section, cut and sew, non-padded balconnet bra. Very low-coverage and has really good projection. There is soft elastic along the outer edge of the cup. It starts where the straps connect to the cup and continues down to the underwire. Where it them becomes the top binding of the band. This bra does an excellent job at gathering the breast and projecting it forward, something polish bras a renowned for. I do not have a lot of outer fullness on my breasts and this bra does not seem to ask for it unlike the Pixie bra where you can obviously see (especially on my smaller side) that I do not have much outer fullness to fill the cup correctly. I am centre full (behind the nipple, not inner fullness), with some projection and a good bit of projection needed at the apex. This bra seems to fit me like a glove!
The straps are a bit larger than average straps. They have unnecessary detailing on the edges and down the middle of the strap. They feel like soft, fold over elastic. They are extremely hard to adjust because of all the detailing but can be fully adjusted. I have them fully let out. I am extremely fortunate that they are long enough because I could not get the Pixie bra straps to be as long as I needed them to be and it really messed up the fit of the bra.
This is the most narrow gore base I have come across thus far. The wires at touching at the top of the gore and remains fairly narrow all the way down the gore. This is amazing for me because it never seems to matter how narrow the gore is at the top they always get way to wide as the gore progresses and it forces the wires to sit on my larger breast tissue. I try to finagle the bra over towards my smaller side, but my smaller side is more projected than my larger side and no matter what I do, it forces the bra to sit correctly on my smaller side. Which always results in the wires sitting on my larger breast. I only have about a centimeters worth of space between my breasts when they are being properly supported. So, this may or may not be the first bra ever to not just have the left wire sitting on breast tissue (at least out of the bras that have actual gores).
The wires are about average I'd say and they fit me well. Others may call them narrow (see measurements). They are, of course it's a Cleo/Panache bra, pretty firm. They don't feel quite as firm as the Pixie bra, but the Pixie bra was never worn either. They have a bit of flex to them but are nothing like Comexim or other flexible wired bras. They're really comfortable to me, but I am not particularly sensitive when it comes to firm wires. They also seem to be padded some what, though that might be because the wire channels could be made of a thick cotton. The under wire channels are stitched with the words: "Crafted for fit. Styled for fun."
The band is really smooth and silky/satiny fabric. I quite like it, but it is not as firm as others. It will also stretch out faster than the soft, plush elastic binding the bra on the top and the bottom of the band. It definitely seems stretchier than the other Cleo bras I have tried, but still measures just as firm at under 28".
All in all, I'm so glad I got this bra. It's comfortable, the quality is high and I love that it's made mostly of smooth fabric and not mesh. I seem to prefer most fabrics over mesh. Even though I love the look of mesh bras. There's a slight shape mis-match here with the mesh panel expecting very short projected top roots, but this is not bothersome to me. It doesn't affect the fit or the style of the bra. The closed top just slides down my roots causes the mesh to crumple up. Fortunately it is half the size of the mesh panel on the Pixie bra so it is no where near as visible as it is with the Pixie bra. I don't seem to get this "side boob flattening" that others have mentioned in their reviews. But then again, I don't have a lot of outer fullness to begin with; especially on my smaller breast. The shape is gives me is pretty darn awesome too! When I wear it under a shirt and to work I'll post an update covering those topics. I look forward to hunting down more Cleo gems like this one!

B/W Polka Dot w/embroidered lace colorway

Updated on Feb 09, 2018 Flag this

• The shape looks perfect on you! I had a blue one in 30E but the cups were too wide and the straps were placed too far apart. Funny how they look much closer set in this cup size.

• Thank you aboobaccount , I didn't have much hope for this bra to fit well, so it was a nice surprise. I could definitely see the 30E bring too wide for you, with Cleo width seems to increase about a half inch for each band size. My 30D is about 5" wide, and my 28D Cleos are about 4.5".
  These straps are more narrow than my other 28D Cleo's. I do also have them angled in towards my neck a bit, lol.

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  I love the polka dots, personally. 😎 I’ve got my eye on this one but I’m trying to pin down my size a bit better before I order too much more. I seem to be vacillating between 30 and 32 bands, and I feel like I’m in between cup sizes as well as bands which makes it hard. But the more I try, the more I learn and can reference the knowledge in future purchases.

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  Well, Calluna , since you find that you're in between band sizes I would always recommend that you go with the 32 when it comes to Cleo/Panache, Claudette, Ewa & Comexim bands as they run on the smaller side. I went through your measurements and photos and decided that you'd be best with the 32E in this particular bra. Cleo non-padded bras run on the large side. I think you will find in the future that being between sizes will work out to your benefit as many brands run slightly small or slightly large. Brands like Freya and Curvy Kate run slightly large in the band, so you'll want a 30 band with them. And since your breasts are soft, they will easily mold to most bra shapes, that makes you very lucky! I'm between cup sizes as well and I typically find that sticking with the smaller size works best for for me. A tiny bit of quadding on your larger side is just fine so long as you don't feel like you're being squished to death and IMO, if it doesn't show through clothes it's fine. I don't think a millimeter of quadding is actually spillover or a sign that a bra is too small. It's such a small amount that it shouldn't matter unless it's terribly noticeable or uncomfortable. Also, no one has just ONE perfect bra size, I wear sizes 28D/DD/E/F & 30C/D/DD. That's my range of sizes and it looks to me that you've stumbled upon your range of sizes too! 30E/F & 32DD/E. I personally feel that you're wearing bras that are too small for your horizontal perimeter being 10". But there could be a lot of reasons for that, the more low coverage a bra is the less cup depth it could need to fit. I am center projected, so I need much projection at the apex (center full, not inner fullness by the gore) while others need projection at the wire. So if I'm in a super short cup that stops just above my nipple i will require a smaller cup depth than my horizontal perimeter compared to a fuller coverage bra that will contain my full breast, then I will require a cup depth equal to or slightly larger than my horizontal perimeter. Just remember that the shape of your breast is not how they are shaped without a bra on, the shape of your breast and what you need in a bra is how they are when being supported by a bra. Without a bra on I'm a bit wide set, splayed, and on the shallow side of "average". But with a bra, I am quite close set, centre full w/o much fullness anywhere else, some what conical and on the projected side of "average." There is some exception to this and that would be the firmness of the breast, if it's low/high set, and if you're pendulous or self-supporting. Sorry for the long rant, but i hope it was helpful to you!

• See now, I feel like the Curvy Kate Ellace is tight in the 30E. I can secure it ok the loosest hook, but it's tight and eventually causes pain behind the gore on my sternum, so I'm currently wearing it on the middle extender hook. I'm debating on getting it in the 32DD. And when I shared the pics of when I tried Marcie in 32E at Bravissimo, everyone commented that the cup looked big and one girl commented that the band looked big because it was not pulling the wire back enough for the tension of fabric between the wire and straps (but it might be a physical aspect of my shape and size rather than the bra). I would love to hear more of your thoughts on my shape and size and such as you were saying. Can you message me so that I don't guano this review thread? It sounds like you've got more of me figured out then I do.

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