I own this in the old-school parrot print colourway.

QUALITY: It's nice! Maybe not as luxe as some other $$$ bra brands out there, but it feels sturdy, there's no loose threads or unfinished, itchy corners (cough, Freya), and the elastic holds over over time admirably. It was designed with a real person wearing real shirts in mind, and the seams aren't obtrusive under shirts - even the flashy pink stripe at the top of the cup is just sheer fabric, not ribbon, so it doesn't poke out or interfere with the rest of the cup construction. The fabric is a little acrylic and stiff, which is weird ... when you first put it on, but as your tissue relaxes into it, it becomes a perfect and secure fit.
COMFORT/FIT: This is the best fit in a bra I've ever had. The gore doesn't dig, the band is just snug enough, and while I get some puckering at the top of the cups, it disappears after a few minutes of wear. I wish the wires were padded up just a little more - the wires can dig in the underbust after a long day. I highly recommend this bra for people with close-set boobs and with centered/evenly full tissue.
APPEARANCE: I'm so down for these parrots. The print is kind of busy, but as long as it doesn't interfere with the bra's functionality, I truly don't care. The pink ribbon at the top makes your boobs look like luminous, perfect spheres through the power of forced perspective, and the shape this bra gives under shirts is great - rounded, lifted, and unlike many other unlined bras, your nipples aren't the center of attention when it's cool out.
IDEAL USES: Boppin' around town, lookin' cute, day-to-day boob business
KEY AESTHETICS: Modern Independent Woman, Abbi From Broad City, Cold Brew & Cults Concerts, I Own A Succulent Garden And Also I Do My Own Taxes, I Have A Record Collection But I'm Not Going To Be A Douche About It
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Updated on Mar 13, 2016 Flag this

I wrote a massive, and I do mean massive, review last night for this bra. I knew that my phone was low on battery power, so I plugged it into the backup battery I had. Little did I know that the backup battery was also low on juice, and I was nearly done with my review and my phone died. I was so engrossed with finishing the review, that I didn’t see the battery power begin declining once the backup was done. And everything was lost, as I had been typing in the site as I always do, but hadn’t thought about copying the text at “save points” ... in case something happened. So here I am again, trying to see what I can recall from last night.

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Warning: this is going to be long. Like really really really long. For the tldr, skip way to the bottom. Like WAAAY to the bottom. Sorry...

This review begins with teenage Calluna, in the early 90s, shopping for bras at Victoria’s Secret with my bestie, as you did. I think that this may very well have been the peak, or start of the peak when VS was really popular with teenage girls. Like any and all 5’ tall 100 lb girls, I was put into a 34A/B (*snort* because you all know it is true). I remember having this beautiful white eyelet bra, one of my first underwire bras. I don’t know why I remember that one, but I do. I think that my friend might have also had the same, or she had really liked it. Anyway, I’d often complain about the straps slipping from my shoulders and would be told it was because I was so petite. Later I would be remeasured and told that I was a 32 band. Think that I listened? Ha ha, you’re right, I didn’t. I think that for me, the idea of a 34A/B seemed hugely normal for someone like me that was hugely abnormal in my eyes. I have a lazy eye for a start, and at the time, I’d already had 2 surgeries as a kid and my muscles grew and my eye would go out again. As mentioned, I was tiny. I still am tiny. And I look young. Nobody believes that I’m 44. I have size 4.5 feet that come with their own set of problems, my ears were huge and stuck out so much that my parents opted for me to have surgery, and I was very smart in class (except for math). Socially, a bit awkward too. I was so very abnormal on so many levels, that fitting what seemed to be a normal size was a comfort, so being told that I was not what I thought in my mind was normal went in and out of my ears so fast. At the time, I had very little knowledge about bras or even the social myths and misconceptions or anything about size.

I do recall that sometime after high school, I would submit and accept my 32 fate, and would you know it, my straps felt better and slipped less. I was still tightening them a lot.

At one point, I went on the pill, and every underwire bra irritated the crap out of me, and I lived in that kind of pullover lounge bra that had the wide elastic band at the bottom and was ribbed like a tank top on top. It was also VS. I eventually realized that I it looked crap under clothes and I was starting my first office job that was business casual and so I found some wireless bras that worked. I can’t recall if this is when I adopted the 32 bands or if it was pre pill, but that’s not important.

One day I realized that my 32C Chantelle wireless bra was not fitting anymore. I consulted with my best friend (different one from high school) because frankly, she has a much larger chest than I do, and we’re super close and have no TMI issues. I mean, we met in the IUD Divas group on live journal and discussed our insertions which were both the same day. So yeah, discussing the plastic T in your uterus is pretty open and revealing. She gave me so many resources. I learned about Fig Leaves, Bare Necessities, and Bravissimo, along with the basics of bra fitting via the sites and her. I ordered the first round of bras, took pics with my phone and emailed, and she suggested I try one size higher...32DD. That seemed to work, and I had two Fantastie bras and a Panache Tango Plunge which I ended up getting in a 32E. I actually have the two bras from Fantasie still, and I even have one in my bras here (Rimini), but mostly because I wanted to add data. I have not worn them a decade, but have put them on over the years as my weight has shifted and affected my size...I used them to gage size. I later got a Freya Pollyanna which I liked even more. I still have that too, and I used it for data here as well when I first started. I got rid of the Panache plunge, because gorgeous as it was being a Bravissimo exclusive colourway option, it was a love hate relationship. It took a while to readjust to wearing underwire...I weaned slowly. The Fantasie bras were more comfortable than the department store ones.

And thus began my long affair with 32DD and feeling like I was more educated on bras than the average person. At one point, I tried a t shirt bra at Gap Body after resisting them (I don’t remember why), and realized I was getting a nice shape, and while I still wore my Fantasies and Freya, I was beginning to realize that I had a bit of a pointy shape.

I started to wear molded cups, even with a few size fluctuations. I was now in Canada and La Senza was my go to, and once I sized out of the Cotton ones, I switched to the So Free Lightly Lined Balconette. I’ve had soo many of them over the last several years. At some point around 2014/2015, I am trying bras at the newly discovered specialist shop and told on more than one occasion that I should be wearing 30s, but of course you know that I resisted. Right? https://d28qt14g3opchh.cloudfront.net/smileys/icon_wink.gif" alt=";)" /> I’d admitted that the 32s from La Senza were feeling a bit loose and stretched out fast, but 30s felt too tight and I didn’t want to use any extenders.

Flash forward to two years ago...October 2016. It’s our 20th wedding anniversary, and we’re headed to England. Our honeymoon was there, and it seemed only natural to go back for this. And you all know what this meant. BRAVISSIMO!!! My plan was to visit as many as I could. Screw the rest of the vacation, I wanted to go to Bra Mecca on pilgrimage.

Side note:

Dear Apple,

Thanks for putting your stores close to Bravissimo stores so that hubby can be babysat while I try bras. Lol!

Grateful,
Calluna

Anyway, I got to TWO different Bravissimo stores...Birmingham and Oxford Street (?) and had tried to get to more. At the Birmingham shop, I went in hoping to try a Freya Patsy Half Cup. Asked for a 32DD. Tried it and it was huge. Like, it was just ginormous! Everywhere. Seriously. Band and cups. I tried a 30E and 30DD...the former was gapping a bit, but the latter was too small. I wanted it so much but I was not having luck with the fit.

After trying on different bras and then explaining what I liked about the one I was wearing, I was brought a 30E Lepel Lilly. She had said that it was a stretchier band and people were sizing down which was why the 30E sister size. I really liked it...the shape was good, and I absolutely loved the bird print. I’m also a sucker for navy blue. The strap had a weird thing about it but it was discounted as a result, so then I called my hubby to come meet me to buy the set for me. Matching briefs, oh yeah! I was ecstatic and over the moon! For whatever reason, the 30 bands felt fine at this point. Maybe because they ran big? The Lilly was a little bit tight, but I was able to manage.

Later in the trip, at the other store, they had no 32DDs in anything I wanted, but as I was just scouting out sizes and fits of the bras and clothes for potential web orders back home, I opted to try a few 32Es. At first I thought that they were too large. And then I was reminded to swoop and scoop from the fitter, which I had not done in ages! Surprise! The 32Es fit. Well sorta. I had some shape issues going on (I’m looking at you Envy and Jasmine!) but this is when I fell in love with Marcie. Only I was pretty broke upon returning home after such an expensive trip, and I never had a chance to get it...I was relegated to only buying the La Senza ones on major clearance. But Marcie would pop in my head periodically.

I bet you are all wondering where this is all leading, but it is leading somewhere, I promise. I swear.

Flash forward to the beginning of the year, maaaaybe the tippy toe end of last year. I co-admin a group on Facebook thats focus is wavy hair (we’re the hair type that no one knows how to handle because it’s not straight, exhibits elements of curly hair, but isn’t inherently curly either). We often allow the occasional off topic post and someone was asking about bras and that opened up the rabbit hole and so many people commented. I think that she was looking for places to buy and suggestions. I think that it had 200-300 comments. Now at this point, I’ve been in 32DD mostly, and feeling like I was pretty educated on bras and sizes and fits. Only a bunch of really smart and intelligent ladies piped up and brought up things like A Bra That Fits, this site, Polish bras (say whaat?), breast shape, and so on. Suddenly, I felt very very dumb about bras and boobs.

After reading a ton of the links and guides and getting totally lost and confused even further from figuring out my breasts, lcl0706 came to my rescue. She helped me out and was soooooo instrumental in my learning and understanding what my breast shape was and what the characteristics were, as well as what I needed to look for in a bra that would fit. I’m hugely grateful for all her help answering my questions, often more than once. We determined that we were actually pretty close in size and shape, so that when she sold her crimson Ellace, she offered it to me first. In trying to figure out whether or not it would fit, she told me to get my best fitting bra and she taught me how to measure that bra over Facebook messenger as she was measuring the Ellace. We determined that it would probably fit and that it might be a little small so she included an extender. Anyway, along the way, she was suggesting that I try Polish bras because they had been her best fit. If I wanted basketball boobs and a molded cup, I really needed to go Polish to obtain the depth at the wire that I needed. What did I do? Naturally, as has been shown is my nature over decades, I was resistant! To be fair, it was a lot of unknowns on my end, and ordering cheap UK bras from Amazon was hitting the right buttons at the time, but spoiler alert: she was totally right about Ewas and Comexim being best for me. But in the meantime, I was working with the UK brands because they were more accessible to me, and less mysterious and unknown. Among one of the many discussions, she had said that the ones that fit her best (aside from Polish) was Curvy Kate Ellace and a few Cleos. She’d said that Cleo Lily was amazing and although it is discontinued, should I ever find it somewhere in my size, that I should snap it up, because it’s become one of the mythical unicorn bras. She thought it would give me a great shape and lift and so on the way it did for her. It’s everything that I needed and was looking for. I saw the reviews on her blog and I just about died when I saw the parrot print. I swooned! Well, try as I might, I could not find my size anywhere. I checked eBay regularly. At one point I found a 32E parrot print on braswap for a good price, but the band was super stretched out to over 32” iirc. So I passed on it with hopes of finding one a bit closer to my size. Nope nopity nope. I waited and watched and searched and mythical unicorn bra was indeed mythical unicorn bra.

Then I spotted this one, right here in the listings, for $3. Wait...what? What? Really? Now this was at the time when I was starting to fit my Marcie better from weight gain and although it was the same size, it was a smaller cup depth (9.4 vs 9.8), and I worried about it not fitting. I wavered back and forth on it but decided to go for it, with the hopes that maybe I could at least wear it for low tide...but I was still super concerned with it likely not fitting in high tide. I knew that I had to at least try it, and if it was not going to fit, I would not be out a lot of money. And thus, my first package from Norway was sent.

Fun fact: my aunt sent me my grandma’s cameo brooch on November 5th from Texas, and this was sent out from Norway a week later on the 12th, yet I received both the same day. 🤔

I was super happy to see it. Not only did it have a super adorable small glass jar of Formosa Dong Ting oolong tea, a favourite of hers, but the bubble gum ice cream blue and cotton candy pink brightened my day as it was cold, grey, and rainy, and the bra was like a ray of sunshine. You can see the little jar of tea in one of the pics. It smells so amazing, and I am going to have some soon...

Now we can get to the proper review...

My shape tends to be narrowish and tallish roots, though they are vertically shallow or deflated and therefore are functionally short. My tissue is soft and malleable, pendulous, center full and close set, and even to fob vertical fullness. I’m still learning about my shape and suspect that it’s slightly changed from the beginning of the year.

The shape of this bra is amazing. So round! The band feels great on the loosest hooks*, and the cup height is great on my shorter roots. I spill a little at the center, but that’s pretty consistent with my bras in general right now. The material is soft and light and although I would prefer the parrot print, this one is super fun. I don’t even mind that it is a little bit cutesy and girly. Straps are thin and comfortable, as is the gore, which I was also nervous about after my experience with Marcie, and the wires are just at the edge of too wide. I can do narrower with my soft tissue, but this is as best I can tolerate.

With all the excitement of this getting this bra, I definitely have a few quibbles with the fit. The first is cup depth. I was worried about it when I got it, and I was right to be. I’m getting a little bit of cutting in at the top on my larger breast, and to a lesser extent on my smaller side. Loosening the straps seems to have helped a bit, but I still have minor quad boobs and some in cup quadding. It’s not *too* bad, but it’s not perfect. I’m also getting wrinkles near the the gore. I’m guessing not enough depth at the gore. On one side I have wrinkles in the fabric from where it attaches to the straps. It’s definitely not a problem from the band being too loose;not enough wire tension, as I have the same thing if I use the tightest hooks. I’m guessing it’s expecting more tissue to fill it out than I have there, given the center fullness. I have been wearing the bra today for the first time, but *while I was totally comfortable with the band on the loosest hooks, I could feel the bra wanting to slide down my rib cage out of my IMF. I could feel the gap between wire and boob. I moved the hooks in one to the middle and I think that was ok. I think that the bra in general is designed for projected breasts, but that maybe it’s a size issue more than shape that’s making it artificially too shallow for me. That maybe it’s because my boobs are fighting for space at the apex and pushing it down the same way it does in my 65F SM Wrozka. Given the minor quadding, center gore wrinkles, and this, I wonder if the 30FF were to be a better fit (were I ever to come across more mythical unicorns).

I also wonder if this means that the 28G/30FF Lucy/Kali would fit based on this one. The 28FF/30F depth is about the same as this, and it is more closed in on top.

Anyway, I very much like the bra, but being honest, it’s got a few flaws with the fit. I’m sure that it’s going to be ok for now, as long as I don’t grow anymore or try to wear it in high tide. But for now, it’s minor fit issues and nothing is major. If I lose weight, it’s probably going to work better.

I’d love to have some feedback on this.

Thanks lovelies!

If you read this whole thing, comment with “cotton candy pink” 😂
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Updated on Nov 28, 2018 Flag this

The Cleo Lily is an old classic and an old favorite, but this bra is a little tired now. It looks cute as ever and I wish I had this in Brand New condition with some matching briefs!

The band sometimes rides up a bit and the gore doesn't tack, and I have some quadboob so I'd say the band is too big and the cups aren't big or deep enough.

The aquamarine/pink colorway is really sweet and definitely a clear sign of that the Cleo line is marketed towards younger women. The classic Cleo bow in the middle is cute and the frills at the top of the cup and the straps are nice little details.

Blue/pink colorway

This bra is not owned any more

Updated on Oct 11, 2018 Flag this

I'm finding lately I'm a 28G or so in molded cups, and a 28FF in most unlined bras. Is it common to be a size down in unlineds? Works the same for the Freya unlined bra I tried vs their padded half cups or Decos. Anyways, I searched high and low for a 28FF swan print and couldn't find it anywhere, and since I wanted to try this bra so bad and was so in love with the swan print, I settled on a sister size and prayed the band would run tight.

Well, it's not a tight band, but I've worn worse. It's on the ... middle set of hooks. I think the swan print is a love/hate thing - either it's your thing or it's not. I think it's quirky and cute and different.

I really, really, really like this bra. Even though it's not perfect, I like it a million times better than the Lucy, because it's not mesh and not lace and doesn't itch! At all! That's huge for my sensitive skin. I like it enough I've worn it the last two days.

There's wrinkling at the top in my smaller breast and minor quadding in my bigger breast when freshly scooped. I swear that's a problem in every single bra. My right boob would be swimming in a 28G or 30FF though. The quadding goes away as my boob "settles" - someone on ABTF mentioned it could be because I have soft tissue and it's easy to over-scoop tissue into a bra that isn't really breast tissue, and since my tissue is soft it settles down quickly. It made sense.

This is the narrowest cup width I've tried to date, measuring 5.25. It's not uncomfortable, although I feel like maybe the wings and/or wire come up a bit short on my left & bigger side. I took my 5.5" wide Deco off a couple nights ago and took pictures of the wire indentation marks and they're spaced away from where I believe my root is, and also below my IMF, so I really think narrower and more projection is better for me, assuming I've correctly identified my actual root.

When I raise my arm, there's a vertical wrinkle all up the side of the cup, I have no clue why. This is the first bra I've ever owned that brings my boobs to the center and into my frame. It's crazy! It feels like a very uplifted, rounded, centered shape, and it's good enough that I might hunt around for another one.
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Swan print colorway

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Updated on Jun 11, 2015 Flag this

lcl0706

6302 reputation

165 bras

I think this bra (Cleo Lily (7351)) is a good, sturdy bra. My only complaint is that I've grown out of the band, and if I use a band extender, the cups get too big. It's a very good, comfortable bra for those boobs who are wide set and heavy on bottom. The straps were slightly uncomfortable for me and dug into my shoulders a bit, but I do have low set boobs. I think if the band was not so tight, this would definitely be my go to bra!

Updated on Apr 19, 2017 Flag this

I love the Cleo Lily. See my other reviews for more info. I searched high and low for this swan print in my size, but I'm shrinking, and by the time this international order came in, it was already too big. I wore it once, but the sternum stabbed me because I didn't fully fill out the cups. For whatever reason, it arrived to me "new" with the Cleo tag cut out, but the size tag intact. For reference, this "charcoal" color is like the "soft black" color in hosiery.

This bra is not owned any more

Updated on Jul 09, 2016 Flag this

The Lily is my dream-fit bra. I sized up to a 32E in the aqua/pink colour way, since that was so tight in the band; this colour way appears to be looser in the band (and is pre-loved) so it's pretty much perfect on the loosest set of hooks straight away.

Gives the most glorious rounded, front-and-centre shape, and even rounds out my smaller breast despite the large discrepancy in cup size between the two. Much as I never really warmed to Lily's colour ways, I'm devastated that this one has been discontinued. The only thing that could possibly make it more perfect for me is if the wires overlapped down the length of the gore; other than that I don't have a single quibble.

Updated on Aug 06, 2015 Flag this

This bra has been a work horse. I've worn it probably every week for the last year and a bit and I've just moved it to the second set of hooks. I like the centered rounded shape and the print is cute. I wish cleo could put out something I could wear under light tees but at least this one works under darks. I get a bit of over spill the wrong time of the month but otherwise this fits well.

Updated on May 23, 2015 Flag this

Very good for even shapes. Something about this particular one makes in-cup quads way more obvious, but I do think my shape is changing or my girls are growing (hard to tell). I will always love the Lily. It has a slightly minimizing effect but one of the best "lifts"! Doesn't have enough immediate projection, though.

Okay, let me start off with something: when I like a bra, I will get as many col

https://brogwithadog.wordpress.com/2015/05/17/cleo-review-the-lily/

Updated on May 17, 2015 Flag this

kerniss

1402 reputation

91 bras

This was the second bra I tried in my true size journey.
I'm not a big fan of the super bright blue and pink color scheme, but hey it was cheap on zulily so I thought I'd give it a go! This is probably one of the most comfortable bras I've tried yet. I find it very supportive and decent compatibility with my shape (FOB, close set, narrow, maybe short root?) if not a tad bit pointy profile from the side. Does give a very front and center appearance as with most cleos. It is kind of closed off on top which might be a problem for ... people with more upper fullness and/or taller root. I found the band to run on the smaller side of a 30.
I think my only real complaints is the gore being a bit too wide and that I could probably benefit from going up a size to a 30FF or maybe even a 28G due to some slight quadding and escaping tissue on the sides. I figure a size up would give longer wires to prevent that from happening.
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This bra is not owned any more

Updated on Apr 17, 2015 Flag this