Lingerie Review: Curvy Kate “Tease” Cami in 30H + GIVEAWAY

There are certain styles in the full-bust bra market that will always hold their place in my heart and one of them is the infamous Curvy Kate “Tease” ie the former Showgirl range style Tease Me. Tease Me in cherry/blush was my first extremely well-fitting bra and it made me feel fabulous as well – I had never felt so sexy as I felt in that set. All the ruffles and the delicious colour combo that was actually recently brought back by Curvy Kate, last season to be exact. With the Tease bra set, they also launched the Tease Cami which is lovely ruffly version of the classic romantic balconette style bra. Today I am teaming up with the folks of Curvy, an Australian D+ online retailer, who offered me to try the new Tease Cami in Berry/Black and have also promised to gift two of my lovely readers a set of their choice from the Curvy store selection. Here’s how I liked my old, renewed favourite!

Design: As always, the Tease design is absolutely beautiful and I love all the beautiful ruffles, embroidery and jewel-tone colour combos it comes in. The new cami version is cut open at the front in a way some Disney princesses have their skirts (hehe) and the edge of the hem is adorned with a flowy ruffle. I would perhaps prefer this style in a longer babydoll cut but I do like this one as well. Also the hem part could be a be a bit more voluminous to create more creases and thus be more covering. The colour combo of the new season Tease is quite dark for a summer season but it is created for “bedroom purposes”, so it fits the bill.

The style of the cups is a true padded balconette which is constructed of three pieces and two vertical seams. I have always liked this cup construction and it gives me the perfect Marie Antoinette sort of cleavage. The former Tease bras have been very open at the top making them perfect for FOT breasts but I can see a slight change in the pattern with this particular colourway – it’s a bit more closed at top, meaning it will suit more full-on-bottom shaped breasts now (with me, it seems to create a slight quadboob on my bigger breast).

Fit: I opted for size 30H with the Tease Cami as it is my regular Curvy Kate size – however, I do still have a ss14 Tease in my bradrobe which still fits me at 30GG. I have to report a few differences with these two products, so you can make the right choice with the Cami, if you are thinking of buying one! First of all, the band of the Cami is significantly smaller than the regular CK bands I have tried in the past. Even the Scantilly Peek-a-Boo which is a newer model from the CK sister range fits like all of my previous CK bras – so this is not something they have changed with all of their bras, I think it’s more of a one-off style that happens to run smaller ie more true-to-size in the band. Curvy Kate has been infamous for making quite stretchy bands so far, so all of you petite girls go and buy this beauty right now if you are a CK fan!

The cups are also quite a bit smaller than with most of my CK bras – which I own a plenty! Most of my Curvy Kate bras fit me perfectly in either 30GG or 30H, I would even go and say they are quite generous in cups these days. However, this time the cups proved to be quite small! I would even say they run a full cup size small, so definitely size up with these. If I had tried these in store, I would have loved to have tried a 30HH or a 32H, as I prefer my bands comfortable when lounging (as let’s be honest, this is not a bra for everyday wear at work). Also, as said above, the cups are quite a bit closed at top and the centre of cups is rather shallow, so people with less fullness on top and the centre might enjoy this style more than my boobs. The wires of the Tease are actually pretty decent on me and don’t reach far in my armpit like most of my non-padded CK bras.

Comfort: I believe I have said before here on 2COP that CK Tease has always been my go-to bra for comfort – its soft padding and stretchy band make it easy to wear even around house or being a bit more active than usual. As the Tease Cami provides a firmer bra band than usual, it’s not as comfortable as my Tease bra but still feels good on to wear for lounging purposes. I like this style more than the classic Ritzy babydoll as its wires sit on a better spot for me personally and thus they don’t poke me in the armpits.

What I really like about Curvy Kate is that they make their boudoir style pieces with the same comfort level as their regular everyday bras – who says you can’t be comfy when lounging around or getting frisky in the bedroom?! I refuse to compromise with my comfort level no matter the scenario, so I appreciate CK’s dedication to make all of their sets both beautiful and extremely comfortable.

If you would like to try the Curvy Kate Tease Cami (up to J-cup!) for yourself, the Curvy online store has it on sale for 72 AUD which is a great price. I also really appreciate Australian full-bust shops as they are working in an incredibly demanding field in their country – so show Curvy some love, will you! Curvy would also like to show their love to you and gift two lingerie sets for a raffle! Here comes the important rule: there is one raffle for international readers ie all of you and another for my Australian 2COP readers. 

Here’s a link to the international raffle: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b3aac76b17/?

And here to the Australian one: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b3aac76b18/?

The raffle is open from now on to 15th of July 0:00 GMT and the prize is subject to availability. If you win, you can choose any two piece lingerie set you wish, excluding Primadonna and Scantilly sets. Please complete the tasks in the Rafflecopter widget to gain as many entries as you can! There will be two mandatory entries: commenting on this blog post by answering a question stated in the widget (which set would you choose from Curvy’s selection?) and also by subscribing to Two Cakes on a Plate. Other entries are optional but will increase your chance to win! The winners will be contacted by me soon after the raffle and if the winner(s) fail to reply to my email after a week’s time, another winner will be drawn. Good luck everyone – get entering 😉

Sleepwear Worth of Sleeping Beauty – Review of Gossard “Elegance”

When it comes to sleepwear, there are occasions when I see something really pretty, get my hopes up but unfortunately my boobies turn out to be a bit too big for the beauties I have laid my eyes on. This is exactly what happened with the “Elegance” sleepwear range that Gossard sent me a few weeks ago – what pretty pink shades, what a lovely rose petal print! And when the parcel arrived at my door and the skivvies were on, I huffed and puffed for a moment because the garments just didn’t fit my 30GG/H bust. What a bummer! In these occasions I usually always do the same thing – I ring my friend Jo to “help” me (aka release me from the agony of owning too small pretty things) and there again she was, turning something that didn’t work on me into pure magic. Here are a few notes and pics of the lovely Gossard “Elegance” slip, cami and the french knicker which are part of the Gossard SS15 collection.

  
To start off we perhaps need to mention Jo’s bra size which is usually something around 28F or 30E (with the expception of Gossard bras fitting in 30DD). She is quite tiny all over and wears a UK size 8 (EU 34, US 4) with underbust measurement of roughly around 28″. The Elegance comes in UK sizing, sizes 8-16 which translates roughly to 34-42 in EU sizes (excluding France, Spain and Italy). Even though I am usually a size 10 and Jo a size 8, I did feel the Elegance sleep range does run a bit small so the 10 fitted Jo quite comfortably without much extra looseness. The fabric (which is mostly polyester and elastane) is rather stretchy so you might get away with your regular UK size but just be aware that this way it will be quite clingy!

The bust area of the Cami and the Slip feature lovely stretch lace which is very soft and forgiving for different bust sizes but with size 10, I wouldn’t recommend anyone with above 30F wearing this, unless you don’t mind a very odd shape to your bust line. Even with the stretch lace, the top part squishes a bigger bust to very sad droopy boobs and this is definitely not ideal for support nor aesthetics! This however, is not the fault of the product but something that us GG+ have to get used to now and then. Up to F though, the slip and the cami should do their job fine and the bust area certainly looks great with Jo’s 28F full-on-bottom breasts.

The colour scheme of the set is very pale but even with our Finnish practically white skin tones, it does work pretty anyways. Some people are convinced that pink and red/ginger hair don’t go well together but I disagree on that too – I think the pale pink is a marvelous companion to Jo’s light ginger bob! The print is very unique and on-trend considering that water-colour and painting-like prints have been really “in” for a couple of years or so. Nevertheless, the print is by no means restless and seems like a pretty suitable option for someone wanting either pretty bedroom or loungewear.

When it comes to practicality, the Elegance range does seem to suit boudoir or lounge purposes better than actually sleeping in. Both of us sleep pretty much butt naked or in old longjohn’s (yap, I said it) so for actually sleeping in, these wouldn’t be neither of us’ first choice. However, if you are in a mood of looking/feeling a bit prettier in the morning/evening and feel like slipping into something luxurious, Elegance is a very good quality choice for an affordable price. The slip retails for £32, the cami for £28 and the french knicker for £21. As opposed to some other high-end or even pricier high street brands, this is a fair price for something a bit more special for your loungewear. However, the range does include a lovely plunge bra up to E-cup and some skimpier bottom choices as well, so if you love the print but are not a big fan of sleep/loungewear, you can invest in something a bit more practical as well 😉

What do you think of the Elegance range? Do you wear pretty sleepwear on regular or is it just an occasion-kinda-thing? Let me know in the comments!

Tackling the Cold Nights With Charnos – The Cocoon Thermal-Wear Review

As I mentioned in my yesterday’s post, the weather is getting pretty damn cold where I live and to be honest, our heating system literally sucks. The heat is monitored by some random person who controls the heating of the whole building. So either we are all freezing or melting here and at the moment, it’s the first-mentioned. Luckily the lovely people at Charnos (a sister label to Lepel) offered to send me some of their awesome thermal-wear for me to test out and I have been enjoying these garments for a few weeks now! I have honestly worn them everyday when at home and slept in them every single night as the nights get really cold here. Here’s how I liked the Cocoon thermal leggings, camisole and the long-sleeved top…

Y’all, these are bloody amazing! Cocoon range offers the ultimate comfort with a mixture of modal, silk and elastane. The range is available in three basic colours black, white and the mink. I think the set would look cute in a fashion colourway too – think pale pink or mint green. I went for the Mink as it reminds me of my mom – this is definitely a colour combo she would love for herself.

I went for a size Small as that is my usual size and I find the set to run true-to-size. They come in a size range of S, M and L but stretch a lot if needed. I think the Small would be a good choice for someone who usually wears a UK size 8-12. As I wear size 10 most of the time, I would say the set fits me spot-on!

 
I am about 5’6 meaning I am about the average height at least compared to other Finns. The leggings and the sleeved top are just the right length for me and this way look and feel fantastic on.  I also like the materials a lot – they feel super silky on and are not too warm even though are meant to be thermal-wear. During my days at home studying on my computer I usually wear the long-sleeved top as it keeps me warm in our cold flat but when I go to sleep I do fine with the cami as I can’t sleep without a thick blanket anyway. I am also pretty sure the Cocoon range would make a could underwear staple as well, if you feel like you need a good pair of longjohns or a cami under your regular clothing.

Besides being comfy and well-fitting (even on my rather curvy figure) the Cocoon set looks rather cute too. Even though the set comes in basic colours, Charnos has done well with trimming the sleeves and and necklines with lovely contrasting lace and little cute bows. The Mink colourway is matched with a pale pink lace which makes it look even more romantic and cutesy.

Even though Charnos is best known for their grown-up affordable lingerie I would highly recommend taking a look at their loungewear as well. I am truly impressed with Cocoon range and it’s actually quite affordable with the prices ranging from £25 to £35. If you want to get a set of your own or just a piece of it, I would recommend Charnos’ own online store or Figleaves which also has a US site.

Is it yet cold where you live? What kind of sleepwear do you like and wear? Let me know in the comments, love! xx