Product for this post was sent gratis for review purposes from ThirdLove and the content includes affiliate links. All opinions are my own.
If you haven’t noticed, lingerie and underwear have been making a more prominent appearance on Broke & Beautiful because, well, I care more about high quality undergarments more now than I ever have before.
It’s a combination of my cheapness, and my general boredom with lingerie. I’m fine having a staple of really nice basics, but for the days that I want to be fancy from absolute top to bottom – I want an upgrade. Without, of course, spending a lot of money.
ThirdLove is a company who understands my plea. Their whole schtick is affordability with a high luxury quotient.
Aside from European fabrics and memory foam cups (!), ThirdLove is all about fit. 50-80% of women are wearing the wrong size (actual percentage varies from outlet to outlet, of course). They have designed a Fit Finder to help you perfectly match yourself with a ThirdLove bra.
I tried the app, and I was impressed with how thorough it was. It has you take a front and a side mirror photo while in your most supportive bra (and/or optional tight tank top). The app actually verbally guides you through the placement of your hands so you don’t have to look at the phone when you take a picture. Pretty incredible!
As for the fit – it spit out a size for me that I’ve never worn, but has suspected might be my new size since I dropped a bunch of weight last year (one band size down). I have been in the wrong size forever, so I ordered the 24/7 T-Shirt Bra with Pleated Straps in my regular size, courtesy of ThirdLove, and then purchased another bra, the Lace Balconet using the size that they gave me.
Lace Balconet Bra in Gray & White (E-G cups), $64 $49
How beautiful is this bra? Sadly, the size the app suggested was the wrong cup size, but the right band size! I’ll be returning it for the correct size. (Their return process has been a delightful experience so far, by the way.)
The 24/7 T-Shirt bra I received in the size I usually wear (pre-weight loss) was predictably too large – but only in the band! And maybe a half-cup too large, if I’m being picky.
Oh, did I mention that ThirdLove offers cups in half sizes? Now, you really can get your perfect fit!
24/7 T-Shirt Bra with Pleated Straps, $64
I am able to wear the bra that’s slightly too large – particularly when I am bloated (then it fits perfectly) or just want to be extra comfortable. The odd thing is that when I ordered the smaller size, the cup seemed to be the same size, though I didn’t change the cup size (so it should have gotten smaller with the band size reduction). Either way, it didn’t not fit, so I was alright.
The color of this bra is much more beige/tan in person. It’s still has a slight pink tint, but it is less rosey than the photo on the site depicts. Since it’s a t-shirt bra, as long as the color is neutral and light, it doesn’t matter much to me.
My favorite part of this bra is the pleated straps. They take what is a good, standard foundation of a bra and raise it up to a pretty, luxury bra level just with a few tiny details.
Or maybe my favorite part of this bra is the memory foam cups. With all my bitching and moaning about bras, I’ve never even thought about combining the most comfortable material ever with a bra. Embarrassing but I don’t care because I’m wearing one right now and it’s fabulous. The material is still very thin, but the feel is undeniably more luxurious.
That being said, the memory foam cups certainly don’t hug anything, and it frequently gaps. The feeling is great, but as soon as I need to bend over for something, everything is falling out. I’ve tried two different sizes in this style and both did the same thing. Sadly, this makes it imperfect as a t-shirt bra, and thus it doesn’t get used that way.
Something I love about ThirdLove bras: the underwires are nickel-free. This is a big deal for me because I am extremely allergic to nickel. The fact that I can actually see right in the product description that this product is green-and-red-inflamed-skin-free makes me feel really, really good about buying it.
ThirdLove bras come in an impressive range of sizes, which is why I agreed to review them. I rarely find a luxurious but affordable bra that comes in my size – small band, large cup. ThirdLove offers sizes 30-40 A-G (E = DD, G = DDDD). That’s a pretty accommodating size range when it comes to beautiful bras!
After a handful of months trying to wear these bras, I eventually shelved them. My shape requires something that holds me in a bit better than this bra, and despite its comfort, the amount of readjusting required made them less convenient for me to wear.
I’ve tried their t-shirt bra, obviously, but they have tons of styles including plunge bras, full coverage bras, strapless bras, bralettes/wireless bras, convertible, push-up, blah blah blah. What I’m saying is they have everything.
As for the price range, I think it’s a little high. My whole life I have been stuck paying almost twice as much as my smaller-chested counterparts because I happen to be busty. $64 for a bra that should be everyday-wearable and comfortable It’s still $15 less than I paid for the least comfortable strapless bra I’ve ever had.
That being said, when ThirdLove has sales, they have sales. That’s actually where I picked up my other ThirdLove bra – in the New Year’s sale where I snagged it for $36 shipped! Not too bad for a beautiful bra designed with perfect fit in mind.
Now – let me be fully clear when I say that I think this bra style was simply a bad fit for my body shape, not a fault of ThirdLove. I think ThirdLove’s materials are extremely nice and high quality, and their designs are beautiful. I can see from the fit on the models (all with smaller busts than mine) that the bra I reviewed in this post fit them incredibly well. This may be a better choice for people with Ds or smaller.