I've been a big fan of the Ciao Bella Balconette for a while, as I wore the 30DD last winter as my primary "sweater bra" under thicker clothing. The 30DD has been too small for me since the beginning of the year, so this year I started picking up the 30DDD instead, which now fits me very well at 28E/28F. This is one of the few styles where I find a 30 band very comfortable as it is snug but not tight.

When I first tried 30DDD back in March 2020, I was a smaller 28E, so while the cups were a close fit, they were still slightly too large and I experienced problems with the outer edge of the cup digging in to the underarm area. However, 30DD was clearly too small at this point, so I decided to switch to the larger size anyway. Now that I am a larger 28E/28F, this discomfort has pretty much gone away as I fill out the cup better.

Some people consider this bra shallow, but I disagree. I would say that this runs about a half cup small, so you should order a cup size larger unless you're on the small end of your range. I think the 2HC cut and sew construction is actually quite projected as long as you are in the right size! In the correct size, this should give you a very smooth and rounded shape, not a pointy shape, and the fullness of the cup will be correctly distributed vertically (if the cup is too small, the fullest point will seem to sit too low).

After wearing this bra for an entire season, I have been very happy with the quality and comfort of the bra. The cups have not lost their shape and the band hasn't stretched out. This is an easily accessible and very affordable bra that comes in many lovely colors, and I would recommend this to anyone who needs wider wires and isn't extremely projected, as long as you fall within the size range. It won't be suitable for anyone with very narrow roots or larger than a true F cup as you will be sized out (unless you can sister size up a band size).

After trying the sister size of 32DD, I can confirm that the cups do fit true to size in the sister size, and the band size increase is rather small, so sister sizing is a great option.

Marlin is a beautiful lilac-tinged grey-blue that looks great on my cool skintone. Certain shades of blue bras suit me well, and B. Tempt'd by Wacoal does blue quite well (they have many pinks and blues in the range). The center bow is a sheer cool pink that is similar in tone to the nude underlay of the foam cups.

I like this particular bra so much that I purchased 3, intending to keep the best-fitting one (sometimes these have sewing issues causing them to fit less than ideally), but I've decided to keep two out of the three! This will definitely be in my winter rotation this year.

Marlin colorway

Updated on Nov 07, 2020 Flag this

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