This bikini has a lovely, retro style with light foam padding. It's fairly full coverage, and narrow with a lot of apex projection. I would prefer a lower coverage top. Quality of this seems lovely, and the band and cups are true to size.
This top is wonderfully made (especially for the cheap price). It has graduated push-up padding and thus is very shallow on the bottom. It's not a great technical fit, but I still love the way it looks. Great bikini for cleavage, and the underwires make it supportive enough that I'm not afraid of a nip-slip. Band runs a size small.
Full review (and how to turn a bra bikini into a halter bikini) on the blog! https://d28qt14g3opchh.cloudfront.net/smileys/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" />
This bra runs very small. The brand Boux Avenue does tend to run small, in my experience, but this bra, the 30E - Boux Avenue » Phoebe Balconette Bra (101639) is just ridiculous. I have always experienced bras with a lot of padding being too small for me in the cups even when I go several cup sizes up but this bra is way too small everywhere, except the straps. Well it is a halter so its not exactly straps but the halter neck part is too long and the neck doesn't tighten small enough. It is a very cute bra, just definitely much smaller than what it says it is.
Yeeep, my experience with them too! They can run up to 2 cup sizes too small, and that's just in our size range! Can't imagine how far off it is in larger cup sizes haha. Plus, I've tried the Chloe and Lizzie balconettes and they're crazy shallow in the bottom half while being widly open on top. Can't imagine the breast shape it would fit! Then again... I have another balconette from them, the Myah, and it was a part of the "full support" line and it ran HUGE in the cups and super deep and round in shape. All balconettes were 30E but very different from one another, and even different from the 30E Chloe plunge. I guess Boux Avenue is just all over the place? Maybe try a Chloe plunge, as there's more info for them on Bratabase, and good luck!
My fit needs: projected, immediately projected, slightly narrow, fob with tall roots (functionally even), very close set, very center full. So this bikini doesn't fit me anymore but it was perfect depth wise when I was a 26FF and iirc although the band rode up a little bit, it was still pretty tight (27"). Really good for cleavage, moderate projection and width (but outstanding for a moulded bikini especially in comparison to cleo and freya). It also has push up pads at the bottom. I would love to get this in a 30G since it's such a cute bikini. Definitely more for tanning and lounging around than swimming lol.
Oddly full-coverage for a plunge bra (top edge sticks above edges of tank tops). Inner edge would be too closed to create good cleavage without quadding. Wires a bit too wide but not bothersome. Fabrics are REALLY pretty and that rose in the middle is awesome!! Straps are a good width, but are itchy by end of day. Cup seams make the cup a bit pointy but looks fine under clothing; also lined with itchy fabric and seam binding. Apex is filled, only a tiny bit empty space at bottom and sides, only a tiny bit gappy when slouching, so great shape for me. Band is REALLY tight ...for a 30; a max stretch of 28.5" is a bit tight on me, with an underbust of about 28," but I find this a trend in Boux Avenue. Gore is nice and low, no stabby stabby into sternum.
Overall, it's pretty, and fulfills my desire to have cheaper sexy/cute/lacy bras like I had before I properly fit myself. https://d28qt14g3opchh.cloudfront.net/smileys/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" />
*Edit, Oct 6th, 2016* The band fabric has stretched out quite a bit already. (I wear it every 2-3 days usually.) I guess I shouldn't be surprised since the price is low and quality not necessarily the best out there! Now the unstretched measurement is 24 inches, and stretched 31 inches!!! That's QUITE a difference in one month! My new advisement is to get the size you usually do, rather than sister size up, and just use an extender until the fabrics relax. Read more 147 more words
As usual, super pretty fabric, but not perfect fit. Straps too wide, cup edge wants to curl back and stick out making the cups too open (what is with their manufacturing process?! It seems like they stretch the upper edge while sewing the lace to the foam!!), wires too wide, bottom edge of cup a bit too shallow... BUT I WANT IT TO WORK!!! SO PRETTY!!! And SO expensive to return!! ($65 to return in original packaging?! Waaaaht?!) I noticed something very strange, and it's quite apparent in the pictures... the right cup upper edge is even MORE stretched open than the left. So annoying to deal with. ...Again, inner cup fabric is itchy, but exterior fabrics are beautiful. My phone cannot capture the beauty. Could potentially fix by moving straps in. Seems the too-wide straps of the balconettes contribute partially to the cup gapping on top, but they are very clearly stretched out probably while sewing. In summary, to fit into Boux Avenue's regular bras, you need to have very shallow, slightly wide, and tall/FOT breasts. I am very FOT and have quite tall roots, but this STILL is too open. What??? Read more 83 more words
THIS IS SO PRETTY. WHY DON'T YOU FIT?!?! The Beautiful by Boux is a line made specifically for DD+ cup sizes. Oddly enough, it is slightly narrow and a lot more projected than their regular line of bras. Being a quarter of an inch narrower in wire than their popular Chloe balconette, and an entire three-quarters of an inch deeper, and an overall more rounded shape (their popular blaconette is flat and shallow overall), it definitely fits 1-2 cup sizes larger than the other 30E bras. Like the others, fits like a 28 or tight 30 (max stretch of 30 is pushing it comfort-wise). It has a gothic arch ...in the middle, but the wires come up so high and for some reason are even more firm (feels like punched steel wires), so the gore is SUPER painful. I added a picture to show how much they were pressing into my sternum. Straps are too wide, and inner cup fabric is itchy, but exterior fabrics and findings are soooo pretty!! This is a very center-heavy bra, and more closed-on-top than their other bras (which are strangely TOO open on top while also being flat and shallow), is slightly less shallow at the bottom of the cup, and has a deep and slightly pointed apex (when I filled in the space with push-up pads, it rounded out.) So although the left side of the bra doesn't gap, the cups are still too big and are definitely empty in the apex. (A weird trend that I noticed with all three balconettes I received: the right edge is longer/looser than the left.) I'd say that this fits closer to a full and round 28FF, or slightly smaller 28G. (In comparison, I consider myself to be a more pointy, less full 28F.) I could potentially make this fit by moving the straps in, because they are WAY too wide, but I would still need to somehow take a wedge out of the inner top cup edge. Boux Avenue doesn't do international exchanges, so I would have to pay anywhere between $22 and $65 to return this bra within the given time range, and then pay full price and shipping to get the next size down. I would love to try this in a 30DD, but that is WAY too much money. So either I have to adjust it, or sell it, and see the beauty go. :,( Read more 294 more words
This is such a beautiful bra, the pictures don't do the blush and ivory and details justice.... WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE SUCH A STRANGE SHAPE?! It's wide, extremely shallow, and super open on top. I don't know if the tension of the fabrics is off, or they're manufacturing these bras so quickly and cheaply that the top edges get stretched while adding the upper laces, but for some reason the edge of this bra was curling back so that it stuck out. On me, there's a lot of empty space in the sides and bottom, and my breasts are exploding out the top in a cakes-on-a-plate way, ...which would look really awesome if only the top edge of the cups didn't stick out like they do!! A complete shape mis-match, and even more shallow than their popular Chloe balconette, but the usual way-too-wide straps. The inner cup fabric is WAY softer than the other bras, which inner cup seam binding and cup fabrics are really itchy. SO pretty. Not sure I could fix this one to make it fit. :/ Move the straps in? I dunno. Read more 78 more words
That is a really cute bikini.