After trying at least a dozen Fantasie unpadded styles, I decided to give some of their padded half cups a go. The Fantasie website recommends their padded half cups for people like me with asymmetry, but up until now I haven't been able to find one of these styles in my size on Amazon as it is my go-to source for trying out returnable bras. I found two padded half cups in my size on eBay though, and decided to just go for them. Mae is one of these bras, and while I wasn't familiar with this style before, it was super cheap so I ... grabbed it. Unfortunately, both of these styles were very poor fits on me and had similar issues.
Both Mae and Marianna's cups are constructed as 3HC and are the wrong shape for me, and the main problem is that the cups are designed to be very wide and somewhat outer-full. I found that both bras had wires that are short and narrow for the cups, but the cup fabric is very wide, so at least 1" of empty cup wraps under my armpit. While I have a lot of side tissue, the location of the underwire is simply ridiculous. The measurements of the two bras are very similar, and it appears that they share the same wires. My problem with these wires is that they are very hard, but they also flex too much horizontally, so when you wear the band snug, the wires become distorted and dig into the sternum and sides. The hardness of the wires prevents them from curving in to follow the ribcage. Unfortunately, the wires make both of these bras incredibly uncomfortable on me. Mae's wires also feel too deep along the outer bottom edge, and I found that I couldn't fill out this bottom portion of the cup, which is a pretty uncommon problem for me.
In addition, the lined cups are very soft and feel like they are made from batting rather than foam, as there is no shape or structure to the cup material. This means the cups are soft and flexible, but it means they are also too flexible. Unless you have plenty of tissue in that area (and as we discussed above, due to the cup width, I don't), the straps will pull on the fabric at that point and cause a pull line to distort the cup. While Mae and Marianna measure very similarly, I found this problem to be much more obvious on Marianna than Mae, probably because Mae's cups feel more roomy on me. Because of the roomy cups on this style, I also get gapping at the upper cup because it's so open and projected at the top, while Marianna's cups actually fit a little too small on me. It's hard for me to figure out what shape this suits, but I think it's for rounded shapes that have a little more outer fullness than I have, since that's the portion of the cup that I can't fill out. Definitely not for narrow and projected shapes!
This style has a firm band, so while it measures large for a 30, it stayed in place on me without riding up. Although I prefer a truly snug band, any tighter would cause the wires to distort further, so you will want to be careful when selecting bands in this style. The wings are made from very thick stretch fabric that I would love to see on other Fantasie bras.
In terms of styling, this bra is opulent, but somehow I feel that it looks a bit "cheap." Perhaps it's because of the bright fuchsia color, or my general distaste for velour. The cups are topped with mesh with a design of flocked strawberries, roses, and mixed botanicals. The lace upper edge and cradle is quite lovely and intricate. The straps are my favorite type, ribbed satin with scalloped edges, topped with lace at the front. Sweet satin bows and a small crystal teardrop decorate the gore. All of these elements are individually lovely, except the flocking, but the overall appearance of this bra just reminds me of something from a store private label brand, or from a cheesy lingerie store. I think a different color and switching out the cup fabric for sheer lace would make this look much classier and more expensive. Another thing I dislike about the velour is that the fibers grip onto clothing, so it makes it a bit more difficult to get dressed around this bra. The seams and trims are also a bit visible and lumpy under clothing. Maybe something nice to wear under a sweater, but not suitable for lightweight clothing.
Based on my experiences with these two padded half cups, I think I'll be sticking with Fantasie's unlined styles from now on. Unfortunately due to the short cup height, I can't even "hack" these with foam pads as I usually can for bras that have fit issues.
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Updated on May 20, 2020 Flag this