Ewa Michalak HM Finezja

It's been much too long since I last wrote a review and a lot has happened. As you're probably aware if you've read anything I've written in the last couple months, I've been trying to lose weight. So far, I've lost just short of 20 lbs with a about 7 more until I reach my goal weight. But that's not all! I'm also down to 30G/GG. Though I'm not expecting to lose much more in the boob department, I might end up settling into a "truer" 30G instead of being sort of in between. Maybe I'll even hit 30FF, but we'll see.

Somewhat blog related, I got a new camera - the Samsung wb350f. It's technically a downgrade from the DSLR I had before since it's just a point and shoot, but I don't have the desire or patience to learn all the functions of the DSLR and it was easy to mess things up if I tried to experiment.

On a completely unrelated note, I got married at the end of April. We didn't go all out or anything; just went to city hall to make it official. Since we've been together for 13 years and lived together for nearly all of it, we had already considered ourselves married, just without all the paperwork and financial type benefits. But ehh,  I won't bore you guys with all that...
On to the real reason for this post!

So I happened across a new, without tags 70G HM Finezja on eBay the other week. It's a bra I had seen on Bratabase but because it was before my time, I didn't think I'd manage to get my hands on one. I'm slightly torn about it because it's actually pretty damn comfortable but the fit is off enough to bug me. The fact that it's a looker does strengthen it's case, though.

At first it seemed like it was too small and too big at the same time. The gore was* (I'll get to that in a minute) a big ol' floater which is nothing new to me. It also had a bit of gaping along the very top of the cups. Luckily, when I pressed the gore flat, the cups filled out as perfectly as my short roots could manage, so to me, it came down to either one of two things - there wasn't enough room at the gore (read: shape mismatch) or the wires are too soft to compete with the weight of my center fullness. I think it's the latter and I'll explain why.

There's a considerable amount of bounce going on when I move with a purpose in this bra. Granted, the straps are of the stretchier variety, but the comfort of this bra reminds me of the fit of a Comexim padded plunge and those are known for their softer wires. Softer wires are insanely comfortable for me, but also compromise on fit and support which is what's happening here in the Finezja. Of course, the lack of quadding when pressing the gore flat, helps the argument.

I'd like to take a second to go on a tangent, here.
Of all the positives of losing weight, the thing that makes me unusually happy is that I feel my boobs are more in proportion to the rest of my body. BUT what I'm mostly referring to is sure, to me they're aesthetically more in line, but more specifically, bras are even fitting better because my boobs aren't so much bigger than my frame anymore.
Since shrinking back down, I rarely run into the annoyingly common problem I always had of wings being 4.3" to even 5" tall under the arms and thus poking and rubbing the hell out of me. Wings have been more in the sub 4" range, give or take a .1 or two... and I'm loving it. I will say that a lot of the stabby wire problem has to do with poor grading and just incompatibility with my body type/build, for sure, but if I'm never stabbed by another wire again, I'll be a happy camper.

My quick sewing job to test the viability of the alteration.

My quick sewing job to test the viability of the alteration.

Getting back on track, I tried narrowing the lower part of the gore and bent the wires in a little bit to try to minimize the floating. It helped almost enough to remove any doubt of keeping this, since I get a mostly soft tack going on instead. I would even classify it as a solid tack when I wear it under a form fitting top. Unfortunately, knowing how secure it feels to have firmly tacking wires makes me a little disappointed in the Finezja, but I'm coming to terms with not always having it all.

Another downside is that because this is an older design, it only has two hooks instead of three. It doesn't feel terrible since I don't have as much boob to support as I once did, but I still wish there were three. I do think three also looks better as it creates a smoother line and more uniform look instead of the slightly awkward bowish shape going on here. I'll admit to being biased though, since I'd love it if all my bras were longlines despite never trying one before. Hopefully that will change in the near future!

I find the design of the bra to be quite appealing. The embroidery is a little too light to completely disappear under a tight, white tank top, but it can pass under other light colors. The materials aren't itchy or scratchy and even the little ruffle on the front of the band isn't irritating. I'm not a big fan of the pom-poms that hang off the gore, but it is pretty unique when compared to the ever present, basic bow.

Update: After wearing this bra for a couple hours, I've come to the conclusion that while it's very comfortable, I can't get over the fit issues. I found myself constantly checking to see if the gore was tacking, only to find it wasn't. I've since removed the alteration and will be listing this for sale.