Happy National Cleavage Day!

Today is the 10th anniversary of National Cleavage Day so be sure to celebrate womanhood in style and push up those boobies!  With the unbelievably gorgeous weather we've had all week it's been hard not to wear something pretty revealing so a fabulous bra that gives you a great rack is what's needed.

National Cleavage Day is the birth child of Wonderbra which was dreamt up in 2002.  Wonderbra are renowned for their fantastic boob boosting lingerie but not so known for their wide range of sizes.  Sadly Wonderbras only reach a 30G in some styles so there's not much choice for women with bigger boobs, and/or require a slightly smaller back, like me.  In an ideal world a 28GG or 28H would be my perfect fit but I do appreciate sizing across brands and even styles are far from consistent.  The last Wonderbra I wore was the one in the picture above and that I believe was an E or an F cup.   So I am intrigued to see how their 30G would fit.


National Cleavage Day is just a bit of fun and I herald the concept behind it which means we celebrate whatever size boobs we have.


My favourite celebrity and girl crush is Katy Perry (and anyone who follows my personal blog, Diary of a Cavygirl knows that already.)  I love her punchy music as much as her image; she's playful with her girly and womanly sides and isn't afraid to say what she thinks and dresses however she pleases.  Katy Perry is definitely a great advocate for the National Cleavage Day philosophy, don't you agree?

Becky x

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Bra Review - Freya Ashlee

At the beginning of the month I spoke about some of my favourite new bras of the season.  Spring arrives and it makes you want to overhaul your dank winter wardrobe with some really fresh and pretty clothing, and your lingerie is no exception.

I love my lingerie to be colourful at the best of times anyway.  Beyond the need for white and black bras, and maybe a nude one for conspicuous clothing, I don't see much of a point for it.  That doesn't mean any coloured bra makes me weak at the knees though.  But one certain bra recently did exactly that to me.  And that was the Ashlee by Freya.

I was giddy like a child overdosed on Swizzles when a little package arrived containing the Ashlee bra.  I cooed over it just via the internet so to see and feel the real thing was a dream.  To say Ashlee's a gorgeous bra doesn't half describe it!

The funky hot pink Freya bag and inner Freya tissue paper

Freya Ashlee Bra 30GG

The Ashlee is actually conceived by the same concept that is the best selling Deco bra, which is renowned for giving a fantastic cleavage.  This time round the beauty that is Ashlee has been given a truly prettifying makeover, in every way possible.

The fabric of the Ashlee is a polyester mix that gives the touch similar to microfibre; it feels soft and silky, a pleasurable feel on the skin.  The cups are fully moulded (meaning they are lightly padded) for a smoothing t-shirt effect making it a really good option for a seam-free finish under clothing.  I love the fact that it doesn't show ugly pattern imprint from beneath my t shirts, because that is one way to spoil the look of what you're wearing.

The cups are edged with a silky cream ribbon with a dainty embroidered picot trim and cute bows to the centre gore and the front of the straps, which aren't ridiculously wide and frumpy.

The bow at the centre gore

The cream satin and embroidery trim

The back of the bra

The colour is called Sorbet and reminds me of bonbons, or strawberry milkshake topped with cream.  It looks mouth wateringly delectable, reminiscent of childhood ice creams in summer.  This is one yummy looking bra!

Being a bigger cupped girl I do struggle to find bras that match up to my taste.  Many people tell me of particular brands that apparently produce in my size.  But I often feel like what I'd really love in a bra rarely gets made, or even to my knowledge.  Freya is a consistently easy to source bra brand and I don't think I've coveted after a bra in such a way for quite a while.

Bras for larger busts are quite often unpadded and predictable lacy numbers so it's refreshing to see a bra like this one that breaks all the boundaries.  It's padded, gorgeous and girly and gives a fab cleavage.  I love that it's so modern and young looking.  I turned 30 this year and thought it was time for me to 'grow up and act my age' whatever that meant.  Wearing this bra reminds me of when I used to wear push up bras in my smaller boobed days, and it's a fun feeling.

This bra in particular is the plunge style, which basically gives a good cleavage like the old 'hello boys' effect.  You can get this also in a half cup but it only goes up to an F.  My bra here is a 30GG.  If I had the choice and it was made in a bigger cup I probably would have gone for the half cup, but now I have the plunge I am happy.  The only issue I would say is that the 28" back only goes up to the G cup, with the smallest back for a GG starting at a 30".  The 30GG was the best size available to me and did feel big enough though I felt I would have been more confident had it been 28".  After a good day's wear I did have a couple of sore marks which were beneath my armpit.  I don't know if it's because the 30" is making the cups move further out than they need to be?

You can also buy matching briefs in a choice of short, thong or high waisted brief, and I have the brief. It's not usually a style I'd wear but it's a fantastic fit!  I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it being such a high waisted fashion.  The material is the same soft and slinky feel as the bra so is super comfy.

The high waisted brief (mine's small)

The complete matching set

Overall I love the Ashlee.  It's modern and pretty, gives a great shape and blends beautifully under tops.  I just need Freya to make the 28" back available for the next cup up and I'll be a very happy spring bunny indeed!

This is the video review I made earlier:

Are you a fan of Freya's new Ashlee?  A loyal Deco wearer wondering what the Ashlee's like?  Let me know what you think about it.

Becky x

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Madame Boudoir Gorgeousness

It was great to see a recent update to the website of Madame Boudoir who I had a fantastic shoot with late last year.  It's a privilege to see that some of the images produced from that day have been used within the site, including the main home page.

Madame Boudoir who are based between Leeds and Bradford are a photography company I can honestly highly recommend.  Principle photographer Kim Nicholls is a dab hand with the old camera and is such a down to earth, easy to get along with woman.  I couldn't pick a more fitting person to do the job of producing beautiful images working with women.  If you're thinking about having some gorgeous pictures to commemorate a special birthday or celebrate with the girls in style this is a really worthwhile activity.  Treat your boyfriend or just yourself.  The results are amazing and you'll cherish them, I promise.

Becky x

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The MisEducation of Bra Sizes

My last post regarding the Curvy Kate competition, Star in a Bra, was well received.  Well, maybe not as positively as some people may have liked it, but it certainly hit some nerves.  That wasn't exactly my intention but I definitely wanted people to sit up and listen.  I do think that my comments were misconstrued and that quite a few people missed my point.  I think I need to clarify.

I have been battling the conquest to find the right bra size for some years now.  I've been wearing a bra since I was 13 - that's seventeen years ago! - and I've never felt I've quite got to grips with my true size until this year.  My first bra was a 34B.  How wrong that was!

In the past year I've been wearing a 32F but in recent months (even weeks) it's been established that I'm actually a 28GG-H.  To know that all these years I've been cluelessly buying wrong sizes that the simple math to finding one's real size is hugely in part down to not 'plus fouring' is amazingly simple.  Yet this little piece of information is not channeling its way through our bra manufacturers to our stockists to our women.  We are still measuring wrongly and wearing totally out of proportion sizes and that can only affect the national averages of sizes.

One massive problem is down to the sizes stores stock.  What sizes a manufacturer will produce is a matter in it's own, but what help is it if a brand physically makes a wide variety of sizes if the shops aren't stocking them?  The effect of the non stocking of smaller back sizes means fitting consultants are fitting to what the shop has rather than what the customer needs, and hence the cycle continues.

Referring back to my comments on Star in a Bra, I said slim girls with big boobs are not being represented.  By this I mean girls who are not carrying excess weight, they're slender and healthy and they have big boobs (maybe even hips).  When I said smaller back sizes need to be publicised more, by result of re-educating of the proper way to fit a bra, so many people across the world would find that they aren't indeed the 32 or 34 back size they believed, and more realistically a 26, 28, or 30.  So there's the mis-education of bra fitting and then there's a specific body type - slim with big boobs - to push home to the public.  But the arguement further complicates with the fact that even someone with a small back size can be carrying more body fat than is right for the body.  (And coming from a model's perspective, you have to have a fit body for your shape.) Simply labeling all women with big boobs as curvy is really not the way to go about it, but this is what some people can not understand when I say it.

Many of the comments in response to my controversial post said I was being negative toward larger body types when an attack on larger women is not what I intended.  I am not a hater.  I am purely saying slim girls with big boobs are not being represented.  Skinny people can be curvy too (see blog Thin and Curvy); the term 'curvy' is not a descriptor for 'larger woman'.  Curvy Kate's own model, Laura Butler (runner up in the first Star in a Bra competition in 2009) made a comment on Curvy Kate's Facebook page proving my point that it's still not being heard and understood, saying 'And you say skinny girls are judged and put down... well welcome to the past 20 odd years of curvy girls being put down'.  This basically means skinny girls are in one corner, curvy, or larger women, are in the other.  Skinny can be curvy too!!

Referring back to my comment yesterday that skinny girls in the media are chastised and larger women are now heralded as the true curvy woman, again CK's Laura Butler commented saying of the said slim girl with big boobs that 'that is not wanted by the public'. I disagree.  As I keep saying about proper fitting, if more girls knew their proper bra size then there would be bigger demand for the smaller back bras.  If women don't know they don't ask and they don't have an opinion.  There are lots of girls out there who fall into the category of 'slim girl with big boobs' without knowing it.

My point, or arguement if you will, still stands: the word curvy is not just associated with the larger woman but includes slim girls too.  The Curvy in the Curvy Kate should embrace these girls more because with excellent education through the huge publicity Star in a Bra draws, they would be onto a winner and redefining the larger cup industry.

Becky x

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Curvy Kate's Star in a Bra - My Thoughts

I had a dream last night that I was looking at the top 30 selected girls for the Curvy Kate competition, Star in a Bra, and vividly saw myself in the line up but needless to say in reality I didn't make it.  Today they made the list of potential model wannabes live on their Facebook application and I was gutted I wasn't there, although part of me wasn't too surprised (just very disappointed).

The Curvy Kate brand is targeted at women who wear a D+ bra, and as the name suggests, women with a curvy figure.  The word curvy is a highly debatable definition.

To me, curves are boobs and bum.  A woman with an hourglass figure perhaps, because the body line draws out at the boobs, in at the waist, and out again at the hips, creating that curvy line.  I definitely don't like the term curvy being lumped into the same category as overweight women.  I'm not a body shape hater but I believe all too often the larger woman is heralded as the perfect 'curvalicious' woman while the slimmer woman is knocked for being too thin, labeled as anorexic and tarnished as a bad role model to girls.  The fact is that even though there are women who naturally have a smaller frame, and yes some may have a weight related illness, in today's age it's all the more common for the bigger figure, and yes, many times it is down to being overweight, or obesity.  Society has made it okay to bully skinny girls but protect and lavish big women.

Following the Curvy Kate Star in a Bra brand since it's advent in 2009 I've not seen a woman representing the company with a skinny figure but with big boobs.  I'm not saying their models are obese, the Curvy Kate girls have fantastic figures, but there's a continuing trend in the fuller cup market for the models to be bigger all over, not just in the bra department.  There are girls out there who have big busts and skinny waists but where are they in the media?

The only time I noticed a change was when the Star in a Bra competition was launched for the first time in Australia and the winner was petite size 8 FF cup Julia McLean.  This is the kind of woman we need more of.

Australia's Star in a Bra, Julia McLean

Browsing the Star in a Bra top 30 list of images I find myself seeing the same typecast fuller figure.  There are some stunning girls though and I very much wish these girls get ahead of the game and represent the slimmer girl with a bigger bust.  Good luck girls!


Becky x

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Big Beautiful Bras for Sale!

I have a confession to make.  I am a bra-o-holic.  I am addicted to buying lingerie and have a buying online obsession.

Sometimes buying online brings its own dangers, and not just of the plastic fantastic kind.  My debit card and Paypal account is pretty adept to abuse but my boobs aren't.  I have LOTS of bras I need to get rid off.

So here it is, the big 'eBay Sale' plug!  By result of my habitual bra buying I have many bras, mostly brand new and unworn, in dire need of a new home.  So if you fancy a big cup bargain slam down your bids now!

I have quite a few different sizes and styles up for auction so do check them out.  Here's some of what I've got listed and ending soon:

Brand New!
Gossard Reverie 32F Bra and L 12-14 Brief

Brand New!
Freya Rio 30FF

Brand New!
M&S Ceriso 30E Bra and size 10 Brief

Brand New!
Gossard 32F Bra

All sales fund the Becky's Boudoir addiction and group therapy!  ;-D  (or rather more bras and more bras!)

Becky x

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Professional Bra Fitting - How Not To Do It

I was asked to be professionally fitted for some reviews I'll be doing shortly so I know the exact size/s I'll need. I've been wearing 32F bras for a long time and only recently switched to wearing a couple of 30G bras, although I've been sceptical that even this was right. The last time I was fitted was by M&S in Darlington when they said I'm a 32G but I decided later that same day that the 32 back was way too big for me. So I was actually looking forward to getting fitted again.

The first stockist I was suggested I try in Darlington that supplied Freya bras was Lady J Lingerie, a small boutique shop in the town centre, so I went into there.

It's only a small shop and when I walked inside there weren't that so many racks of bras, but I quickly located the Freya section situated directly opposite the sales counter. The assistant was already speaking to a customer, coincidentally also about what Freya bras they had in their size. (I overheard the lady say she was after a 34E and noting her petite frame I couldn't help but think to myself, I bet you're not love).

I quickly scanned the bras for the sizes I was hoping to play around with; the 30G, maybe a 30GG or a 28 back in the same cups. I didn't see any 28s but decided I would have to ask. I actually felt really awkward just standing in the shop. I hadn't been acknowledged that I was even there, received no hello of any sort since entering the shop, so I just hung around next to the Freyas. I had a look in the sale rack in the window to see if I'd have any luck finding one of the sizes in there, but didn't. I wandered back over to the counter and thought 'this is ridiculous, someone's gonna have to speak first!'.

I looked at the lady behind the counter, caught her sight and asked if they stocked 28 backs. I tried to explain I was wearing a 30G but wasn't sure if the size was right for me. She said they can order them in, when I explained I was looking for a fitting first, and that I was going to be doing a review on some Freya bras. I had my email from Freya in hand which was to remind me of the types of bras I should try on, which the lady took upon herself to take from my hand to read. I thought that was quite rude because my email was none of her business but I hastened to say anything.

She took me further into the shop where there were a couple of fitting rooms. Normally when I've been fitted in the past I would go into the cubicle, undress and wait for the assistant to come in or pass through the curtain some bras to try on. Not in this case. The lady came right in with me and stood there barely inches away from me watching me undress! I'm pretty sure this isn't the done practice nor would be appreciated by any other customer. I'm a model and fairly used to dressing and undressing in front of people for fittings etc but this would appall so many people not used to it. Heck, I was appalled!

Then she asked me “are you looking to buy today?”. So much for no obligation fittings...

She seemed disinterested to deal with me because I wasn't buying a bra on that occasion. Needless to say there were no bras I could try on so the lady simply told me where the bra I was wearing wasn't serving me well; the 30 back was too generous and the G cup could do with being bigger. It was agreed a 28GG would be the best size for me.

She told me to get dressed so she could show me the Freya catalogue. (A reason to get me dressed, passed the counter and out.) At first the lady was adamant Freya don't make 28 back GG cups but upon looking through the catalogue she backtracked saying “oh they must have started to do them now..”

I thanked her for her time and advice and said I may be back when she gets some 28 backs in. It might be a while yet...

Have you had any uncomfortable experiences getting professionally fitted? Have you found a really good fitter in your area?

Becky x

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That time of year again... Curvy Kate Star in a Bra 2012!

It's Spring and it's March and that can mean only one thing:  Curvy Kate is back with their annual Star in a Bra competition for 2012!

Curvy Kate is a relatively new brand to the lingerie market having only been on the scene for a few years but their impact has been phenomenal.  For a long time women who need larger sized bras have been crying out for a new direction and Curvy Kate's bi-annual collections definitely deliver, continuing to push out great looking bras at reasonable prices and by making their range accessible for most larger cupped girls, including the notoriously difficult to pin down 28" back.

The Star in a Bra competition's aim is to find a fabulous real woman to model the bras and show that what is commonly considered as 'what make's a model' is simply a load of balls.  The competition is open to any woman who's a D or above cup bra, no matter what your figure is, so there's no excuse not to enter if you're a fuller bust like me!

This time last year when I applied I was a 32F.  Now I'm a 30G and armed with my fabulous lingerie, including a Curvy Kate bra.

I kept my hair naturally wavy to emphasise my natural look and I look confident and proud to be curvy in the photos.  I've just submitted my entry so hopefully it will be approved!

Here's a sneak peek at one of the photos that I submitted:

In this picture I'm wearing my new peach and aqua colour Freya bra and a pair of frilly Miso briefs which I'd not got round to wearing until now.

But this is me totally untweaked and unedited.  I just hope my confidence and playful attitude come across to the judges!

What do you think of my photo?  Have you yourself just submitted your entry?

Becky x

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Spring DD+ Lingerie Love

I'm in a window shopping mood and finding some seriously fierce DD+ bras!  I seem to be in a constant state of bra ogling, lusting over spankingly beautiful pieces that not only look super fine but feel super comfy too.

That's the problem with needing a larger cupped bra, yes it's great an' all to be blessed with amazing 'bangers' as Gok like's to call them, but bigger boobed girls do have to consider functionality along with gorgeous appeal.  Unfortunately you can not gauge whether a bra will fit nicely until you actually try it on.


So, fittings aside, all for the pretties, here's my 5 Spring favourites for you to coo over with me:

Freya Ashlee Sorbet Moulded Plunge Bra

 28-38 B-GG £34.00 RRP

Figleaves Sophina Vintage Rose Full Cup Bra

32-38 D-G £30.00

Curvy Kate Angel, Bluebell White Balconette Bra

28-40 D-K £28.50

Miss Mandalay Paige, Coral Balconette Bra

28-38 D-GG £36.00

Cleo Lucy, Yellow Balconette Bra

28-28 D-J £25.00

What do you think of my Spring-like choices?

Do you like a pretty soft colour bra?  Or do you prefer your lingerie wardrobe to be dark and sensual?  Or just the basic white, black and nude?

Becky x

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Essentials Magazine - I'm on the magazine stand now...

On Thursday the 1st of March, earlier this week, the April issue of Essentials magazine landed on the shelves.

Turn to page 20 and you'll see none other than yours truly!

I was asked to model as hour glass figure for their 'dress for your body shape' fashion feature. I was delighted to be asked, despite the fact I am a model and this issue is 'no celebs or models' as it was celebrating real women. Even though I am technically a model I do believe I represent a true womanly shape which I think is important to publicise when kids this day and age think curves are disgusting and abnormal.

This feature shows that whatever our figure, large or small, we can look fabulous!

Which outfit and look do you like the most?

Becky x

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