After all these years, Curvy Kate still manages to be one of my favourite DD+ brands of all time. I am now leaning towards their more sultry styles, meaning the Scantilly collection, but I do love even their “everyday” sets for amazing comfort and cute styles. When team CK asked if I wanted to try something from their new SS16 collection, I was over the moon as I haven’t reviewed much from their core collection (ie non-Scantilly range) in a looooong while. I was offered the amazing Cabaret set, which is definitely one of my faves from their ss16 offering. Here’s how I liked the set!
The Design: I love how Curvy Kate is brave enough to do completely sheer styles even up to J-cup – not exactly what you can say of so many mainstream full-bust brands such as Freya! There is nothing more disappointing than to see a gorgeous see-through bra and then find out that all the sizes above G-cup are made with double-lining, which absolutely ruins the design. I would say CK is actually one of the first UK brands to toy with this design feature and they are absolutely rocking it! The style of Cabaret is otherwise quite simple and the black mesh is paired with scallop-y embroidery and a bright fuchsia-shade accents.
The shape of the bra is very similar to the Daisy Chain non-padded plunge I tried a couple of years back and liked a lot. Back then, I was super surprised to see CK doing such an uplifted shape but today I have come to expect it and was not disappointed – long gone are the days when Curvy Kate bras looked a bit downwards-pointing and frankly sad. To be completely honest, I think the shape of the bra would be better suited for someone with lower fullness but I think it works fairly well on my full-on-top boobs as well.
The Fit: I opted for sizes 30H and UK 10 with this set as they were the most recent sizes that have fitted me with Curvy Kate specifically. As I have stated in my previous blog posts, I am now right between two bands sizes, that is 30 and 32, but as CK bands tend to be a bit on the stretchier side, I can easily fit into the 30 band with them. The band is still snug so it’s definitely not a full band size big but is just quite stretchy and thus suits us girls who want more comfort when it comes to our bra bands. The band features three hooks and eyes so that makes it extra supportive and sit nicely on the torso without creating extra bulges that too-narrow bra bands can sometimes cause.
The cups fit very much true-to-size which is something I am used to with Curvy Kate bras. This is what makes the brand a solid choice for young women on a budget – CK prices are very affordable and it’s hard to go wrong with their sizing when you “find the one”. This is at least my experience with them! The shape and width of the cups is not the best for me personally as they are much too wide and a bit east-west for my liking but the cup depth is reasonably good, especially when comparing to the CK bras from a few years back. So if your breasts are both wide and full, Curvy Kate could be an excellent option for you!
Comfort: As always, the Cabaret is definitely a very comfortable set – nothing less than I expect from Curvy Kate! Both the straps and the bra band are nice and wide to keep the weight of my bust well-distributed and the wires are flexible enough to move comfortably with my my moving body. Even though the underwires are definitely too wide for my breast root, they do not poke me in the armpit uncomfortably. The bra straps are a bit too widely-placed for me personally but are sturdy enough to stay on my shoulders for most of the time – they are also fully-adjustable which is always a huge upside when it comes to making the bra suitable for women of many different heights!
The materials are a bit more stiff than with some of my other CK sets, meaning I would suggest sizing up with the bottoms if you are between sizes. I thought a 10 would be a good size for me as it is the one I wear with eg Carmen but apparently the mesh with this set is rigid enough to make me want to size up to 12. I can wear the 10 easily but I think a 12 would have been a more flattering look on me. As the size is a bit too small for me, I cannot really judge the co-ordinates (expect that they look gorgeous!) but usually CK underwear is some of the best out there and I have no doubts that these would feel amazing if they were just a smidge looser on me.
All in all I really love how sexy and yet still so practical the Cabaret set manages to be – not to mention its amazing size range of 28-38 D-J and the price point around £30 for the bra. If you would like to try it for yourself, Brastop has a decent selection of sizes left and a top price for the set. How do you like Cabaret? Let me know in the comments! xx
Two cakes on a plate 
I’ll note that “wide” is a little different than splayed. My breasts are on the wide side, but I can’t fill out the center of the CK unpadded plunges because they are placed more than two finger-widths apart. With the see-through there’s an obvious gap in the cup near the gore. I’m so happy CK have made sheer unpadded plunges, though!
I know what you mean but I think I mentioned that the bra is both wide ans splayed in my opinion. As you can see the wires reach into my armpit which is not necessary with my average breast root width. Maybe we mean different things with “wide” when it comes to bras? To me it means wide wires 🙂 xx
The wires are wide (the cups are on the wide/east-west side a bit), but I didn’t find them splayed enough for me, if that makes sense to you?
I bought this bra a few weeks ago and, have to say, I don’t love the shape. I really want to though. And, I agree, the undies fit quite small. I’d suggest going up one size at least in the bottoms, if not 2. The shape of the Scantilly Surrender is so much better than the Cabaret. As is the Peek a Boo, for that matter. I think Scantilly is just a better brand (and should be, given the higher price point). Scantilly bras are graded better and the silhouette reveals that.
I agree with you! The shape is not best for me either, but I do think it would look better on someone with a different breast shape. I think I am leaning more towards Scantilly as well but darn the higher price point! I would buy it all if I had the money, hehe. 😀