I am really upset that Cleo seems to only offer size 28D in padded and moulded cup bras. So far I have not been a huge fan of them even though they're comfortable and look pretty good. I really like the low coverage of this bra, but it was not designed for a bust like mine. I think this bra was supposed to have a fuller coverage like your average moulded cup; only cut balcony style. It sort of follows the natural shape of my breast. I'm not shallow at the bottom of my breast, but most my tissue falls in the center of my breast making ... it so I need the most room at the apex. This bra has a VERY shallow bottom and very open top, my nipples aren't far below the top edge of the bra. So, it 'fit' and it made my bust look voluminous and rounded.
The straps are your typical "elastic" style straps and these are fully adjustable. These straps appear to made of two separate "elastic" fabrics,l. The top fabric is covered in tight horizontal lines that are bit hard to stretch and the bottom looks like a more typical cotton elastic. They're also set very wide. Oddly enough, the way the straps are attached the cups they do no go straight up like usual, but the seem to angle away from the body. So far I have not had an issue with straps falling off of my broad shoulders. I spent the whole night slipping the left strap (but not the right strap for whatever reason) back onto my shoulder. Boy that was annoying.
This is a used bra and as such the band stretched to 29" without the cups distorting (not that they could easily distort with the shape of the under wire). Which, IMO, is really not too stretched out for a well loved bra. So, it's still reasonably firm. I wore the bra on the loosest hook and should've worn on middle or tightest hook as the bra was not very stable on me, but the band did not ride up either. It was juuuust gripping me. It's made of an interesting fabric that is quite soft and smooth. If you hold it up to the light you can see faint columns in the fabric with horizontal lines going through them. It's an interesting pattern. The fabric is still fairly firm, but no where near as firm as the elastic remains. The elastic is thicker/denser on the bottom of the band than the top of the band. The visible side of the bra has the elastic covered by the band fabric while the inside of the bra has the elastic on display. The bottom elastic feels a lot more plush than the top elastic which feels more like that elastic that has a tendency to dig in. It's nice and grippy and managed to stay put even though it was just barely wrapping my rib cage. The elastic of the band continues across the whole bra and is attached underneath the cups. I wish the band was wider on this particular bra.
These under wires have a very different shape compared to all the bras I've seen so far. Most the bras I've looked at have a familiar 'U' or 'C' shape to them. These under wires are shaped for like a slightly curved line . They come down in the typical 'C' fashion from the gore, but then the other side straightens out. I hope the pictures assist with my description. Because the wires are shaped like this and are fairly short, it allows my breasts to try and escape out the sides. I felt the need to pull my breast back into the cup fairly frequently. These wires are very firm and do not flex. Although they do seem to have some padding between the wires and your skin. Which may have been the only reason they did not dig in on me. The wires almost touch at the top of the gore and remain fairly narrow towards the bottom of the gore. Normally this would be great for me, but because of where the bra sits on me this gore is too wide and as you can see in my frontal picture, it's obviously sitting on tissue and would be an overall better fit if the gore was more narrow than it is. It is really narrow compared to most bras I've seen. Fortunately, if have this issue with many bras and my inner tissue is shallow enough that it hardly ever bothers me that the wires are sitting on it.
The cups are made of a seamless moulded foam and covered in the same fabric used in the band. There is also some edging details (maybe lace?) on the top half inch of the cup that causes the cup to curl in some. It's not closed in enough to affect anyone whom runs away from bras that have closed top. In fact it is still very open on top and would not work for those whom need a closed edge. The lightly closed edge works well for me as it prevents any gaping I might have gotten from this moulded cup bra. This moulded cup is shaped completely differently from any other moulded cup I have come across. While I appreciate this, it does not hold my breast in very well. The bottom of the cup feels like it is squeezing the bottom of my breast instead of lifting and supporting it; while the top of the cup is just resting around my breast instead of holding it in and continuing the bras job of support. The outer edge of the cup does not seem like it's designed to pull your bust the center of the chest and hold it there. It seems like the whole cup is just designed to boost the bust up and allow it to sit there, unsecured.
All in all; I really do love the way this bra makes my bust look under clothes even though you can clearly see the top edge of the cups through clothes. Perhaps it would not show through a very thick fabric, but it easily showed through my ribbed knit tank and thin cami's/tee's. It pretty d**n comfortable to wear but gives me no cleavage. I think this bra could do wonders for those whom are fairly shallow or women with FOB breast without a lot of "at the wire" projection needed. And I don't see any issues for those with FOT breasts. Tall and short roots alike should get along well with this bra as there is nothing to cut in and yet the cups are a much shorter height compared to the majority of the moulded cup bras out there. This certainly wouldn't work for close whom need closed top bras or those with ample amounts of projection. If you have loads of inner fullness and need lots of space at the gore, you may not get along with this bra. The same is true with those whom have ample amounts of outer fullness, although you may find this bra puts all that outer fullness front and center. I wanted more from this bra, but alas, it just barely fits.
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Updated on Jan 25, 2018 Flag this
Thanks for the feedback, what can I do to improve this review?