The B. Tempt'd Ciao Bella has been one of my favorite bras over the last 6 months. It's relatively easy to find, very inexpensive, comes in lots of pretty colors, and has a snug 30 band that actually works for me. As I have progressed along my bra journey, I have been going up in cup size in this style. To date, I've tried 30D (never fit, too small), 30DD (fit well up until now), and 30DDD, my newest acquisition and current best fit.

The important thing I've realized about the Ciao Bella Balconette is that even though it is cut and sew, it functions very similarly to a molded cup bra. Not the shallow t-shirt bras you find on the racks at Target and major department stores, but a style that is relatively projected through the middle and closed at the top. While the foam cups do have some stretch, you are still essentially limited by the shape of the cup. This is not a flat, shallow cup that will just smush down extra tissue and minimize you--trying to squeeze yourself into a smaller cup size in this case will give you a lumpy and distorted shape.

I've heard this bra described as "shallow" in reviews, but I disagree. To me, a shallow bra is one where there is not a lot of difference between the fullest part of the cup and the area nearest the wire and the top of the cup, i.e. the shape is less convex than standard. I find this cup shape to be fairly standard but leaning towards FOB-friendly. It is not ideal for FOT or tall rooted shapes since the top edge is relatively closed. You still need to have enough projection to fill out the middle of the cup, so shallow shapes will end up with the orange-in-a-glass effect. The cup size runs about half a cup small.

The 30D has always been too small, but I have been wearing the 30DD for a while (and collecting more!). In 30DD, I consistently wear this style with the straps fully shortened, and I have complained that the straps don't get any shorter. After receiving my newest 30DD, I realized that this is because the cups are actually too small for me right now by at least half a size. The cups do stretch a bit over time to mold to your shape better, as the 30DD I have been wearing for the last 4 months still fits pretty well. However, in general the 30DD cups are too short for me, causing the seams to sometimes sit weirdly and look pointy on me. The fullest part of the cup also tends to sit too low on my body despite the straps being fully shortened.

Switching to the 30DDD made a huge difference in the shape of the cup. By sizing up to the correct cup size, the appearance of the seams has been eliminated, and the vertical distribution of fullness is now correctly proportioned to my body. I love the shape that this gives me as it's so much more flattering than in the smaller sizes.

The one caveat is that as the cups get deeper and taller, the outer edge of the cup also gets taller, and since my breast tissue goes up into the armpit, the cup now follows. I am petite and have no room between where my breasts end and where the armpit starts, so unfortunately this results in chafing up in that area that's very uncomfortable. In order to remedy the fit, I've released the straps from their fully-shortened position to give myself 1" of extra length compared to how I wear the 30DD. The 30DDD has a triple ribbon strap and wider strap elastic compared to the 30DD and smaller sizes, but I haven't noticed too much functional difference. I think ideally shortening the cup height by 1 cm would make this fit me better.

Like I've experienced with some other bras that correctly fit my larger side (Parfait Charlotte 28E), the 30DDD fits my larger side perfectly but gaps a bit on my smaller side, with this being pretty apparent when moving. I feel that right now I am right between 30DD and 30DDD in terms of the ideal cup size that would fit both sides, but it's good to have a few bras that run a bit larger for hormonal fluctuations.

As I wrote in my reviews for 30DD, the cut and sew foam is sometimes not sewn very neatly at the center seam, so it's best to try it on in person before purchasing, or order from a returnable source. Even if the measurements are the same, the seam shaping can make the bra look pointy rather than smooth depending on how well it is sewn. Other than this, I think this is an excellent, affordable bra that can suit a lot of people, but you may need to try a couple of sizes to find your best fit as there are pretty big differences in fit depending on which size you try.

Winsome Orchid is a lovely light pink that functions as a nude on my light skintone.

Winsome Orchid colorway

Updated on Jul 29, 2020 Flag this

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