Valentine’s Day Pick! Cleo Maddie in Candy Pink

Hey everyone! This is my first bra review of the year, the Cleo Maddie in Candy Pink. This is my bra pick for Valentine’s Day, with Cleo being my brand pick. There are a few reasons why, but mostly candy pink. Cleo has a few bras available in pink (Fall 2013’s Marcie), and this summer will have the Neve in hot pink. There are past bras in pink, like the Lucy, variations of pink in the Zia’s dots, or flowered pinks. Let’s not forget the Cleo swim line, with the pink Dolly. Most people think Valentine’s Day and go for red, but not me. Having auburn hair red is a hard match for me, so I tend to skip it.
Unfortunately living in Alaska my lighting options are horrible right now. These images are not true to color, they are more yellow. The stock images are much more true to color. The color is what drew me to this bra. I do not think I have ever had a pink bra, even as a teen. I did try on a pink Marcie, and while I’d love to have it the style just doesn’t quite work for me. The Maddie doesn’t come close to perfect, but it fills a huge need in my wardrobe.

The aqua button. I love how the colors tie together with the other parts of the collection. I see the aqua Marcie right here. Makes me wonder if I could take this bra and matching it with the aqua Marcie bottoms.

The Maddie is a moulded cup bra and comes up to an H cup. This is something that I was in serious need of. The interior of the cups are smooth and soft, but not as silky feeling as the outside of the cups.

The back has the Cleo standard two hooks and eyes, something I usually prefer. But this bra is a case in which I do not prefer it. This is directly tied to a fit issue that I’ll talk about in a bit.

The cup material is a lightly striped material that is completely visible under clothing. I think it is cute, I find it appealing in a sea of fabrics that I do not usually care for. I like a touch of detail, but I’m not a fan of the very busy prints you can find.

I don’t usually buy matching underwear as the cost is too high for what I’d like to spend on something covering my cheeks. But I wanted the matching set. It’s the same light striped material with the same cute aqua button.

The back does have a seam, something that I am not a fan of. But it doesn’t show through clothing. But if I am going to have a seam in my butt cheeks I’d like it to at least do something for the fit and shaping. I went with a UK 8 (xs) which fit fine. They are lightly stretchy, but will catch right in the love handle area. Which unfortunately they do on me.

Now on to the fit. This bra does not fit me. No matter how much I want it to it is not going to. The cups are too shallow for my shape. I cannot settle into fill the bottom of the cups. The cups are also slightly too small, give a bubble boob out the top. I have no problems dealing with this at all. I don’t really care if it pushes my boobs up and makes them a bit more fake looking.

From the side the bubble boob is not too bad. It looks wearable. The wires a touch wide, but not nearly as wide as the Marcie was on me. You can start to see the big problem I have with the band. Because the cups are too shallow I have a lot of pressure pushing the cups forward. This pulls the band tight at the back allowing the elastic at the bottom of the band to dig into the soft tissue of my back. The dreaded back fat! More about that below, I’ll show you exactly what it looks like in clothes and why some many women in the US hate it.

I bought this set shortly before Thanksgiving (I know, a while ago, sorry!). During Black Friday shopping I came across these socks and the ones below. I don’t know anyone that matches their bra/panties to their socks, but these were perfect and fun! I had to buy them.

I looked for the Maddie for a while before I finally found it. I even asked on Bratabase to see if the ladies there could help me find it. There was no one in the US that had a 28H in stock and ordering from the UK was not cost affective with shipping. So I asked Panache on twitter to point me in the direction of a retailer that had the Maddie in a 28H. They pointed me to My Smarty Pants, a UK based retailer. Again, shipping is not cheap, but MSP did knock down the shipping costs for me. This brought the set to the price I would pay in the US. Perfect!

Here’s the Maddie under a plane T. Again, horrible lighting, but hopefully the pink bra is visible under blue. Even with the light ribbed material you cannot see it through the top. It’s not a plunge, but as I wear a lot of gray scoop neck tops a pink moulded is just perfect. Pink + gray = Happy me. I love the color combination.

Outside the obvious fit issues that I have made the choice to deal with, this is my one bone to pick with the bra. The back band pulling and digging in the soft tissue on the back. Almost every woman has this soft tissue. In a shirt it creates a “fat roll” look that most of us do not find flattering. Now this is a very thin shirt, it does not show as much in a t-shirt that is the normal thickness. Something to be aware of if you want to purchase this bra. If you do not have as much projection as what I do this may not be as much of an issue for you.

The next color Maddie is a come back color Maddie Aqua. Anyone that loved the Marcie in aqua will want to look at the Maddie. I’ll probably order this in a 30H and alter the band.

The Maddie was available in patterned styles.This post is a great comparison between the patterned styles and the continuity style.

The Maddie is also available in a “nude” and black color. Do check out the other pink options from Cleo for your Valentine’s Day shopping.

• Posted in: Random
• Tagged: 28H, Cleo by Panache, Cleo Maddie, Cleo Maddie pink, t-shirt bra