Review: Ewa Michalak HM Cukiereczek in 80G

Ahh, Polish bras, They're often recommended to people who have trouble with UK bras (requiring more depth or narrow wires than UK bras generally have), or to people who simply want something that's different. I've been testing the waters with them over the past six months or so, and so far, it's been a mostly enjoyable experience.

Thus far, my experiences have been only with Ewa Michalak. I haven't hit success every time, but in the process I have learned a lot about my breast shape! So far the best luck I've had is with the CHP cut - a padded half-cup. Half-cups tend to work well with my shape, but it's full summer where I live, and it's simply far too hot to wear padded bras. So, recently, I decided to throw caution to the wind and order a bra in the HM cut, the Cukiereczek. This one was a big risk - namely, because the largest size HM comes in should, by all means, be far too small for me. I tend to wear 36HH in UK bras - HM maxes out at 80G, which is roughly a 36G. But, on the other hand, my best fit in CHP is an 80GG, so I figured it was worth a try.

First of all, this bra is gorgeous. It's a light beige with cups in a very thin mesh material, decorated with lovely bright pink floral embroidery all over it. Like, I simply cannot get over how pretty it is. This is the sort of beautiful bra I thought I'd never own.

Just look at that detail. The embroidery will likely be visible under a thin shirt, but who cares. It's too pretty for me to be bothered about such a thing. The sides of the bra and gore are made of a sturdier, solid fabric, that's rather satiny and still very comfortable. The straps are fully adjustable and are not overly stretchy. The gore and straps also have bright pink bows, that match the rose embroidery.

Basically, what I'm saying is, this bra is the daintiest, prettiest garment I have ever held or worn.

But how does it fit? Actually, surprisingly well! It's not a perfect fit, but it's certainly much better than I thought it'd be!

I only have a phone camera for pictures, so apologies for the selfie angles.

The cups are just about the right height for my short boobs. That said, the cups are just *very* slightly too tall, while also being just *very* slightly too shallow, so it gives me some...not quite quadboob, but not quite...not? I feel like my breasts bubble over the top edge just slightly more than they should, while the top edge doesn't lay 100% flat. That said, it's quite likely that the bubble-top is simply how this design functions, since it seems to be common in model pics of EM bras.

The bra is shockingly comfortable to wear. General advice for Polish bras is to order a band size up from what you normally wear, as they run tight. I am not finding that to be the case; the ones I've ordered in 85s always feel too stretchy and loose to me and pretty close to true 38s. My 80GG CHP Lawenda is basically a perfect fit in every way, so I decided to get this in a 80 as well (the fact that there was an 80G available to be shipped out immediately helped). And I'm glad I did. I measured the band to just about 36.5" stretched, so it runs true to band size. My snug underbust sits just under 36" these days, so I'm going to stick with 80 bands from EM from here on out.

The big surprise is the mesh material the cup is made of. It's very lightweight and thin - it's the same thinness as the mesh my Cleo Lucy is made of, except only in one layer instead of two. It has a soft feel to the touch, and feels like nothing on. I had not expected it to feel so comfortable on.

Also, with the cups being made of such a soft, lightweight material, I'm surprised at the amount of support that they give. You would not think, at a glance, that a bra made like this could actually properly support breasts, especially ones as large, heavy, and unwieldy as mine. But, through some sort of bra magic, it does.

The HM cut also seems to give me quite a different look, in comparison to CHP. CHP brings my breasts very front and center, pushing them out. HM feels like it gathers my breasts in closer to my chest, instead going up instead of out. It also means that I get a bit of an east-west look, which I certainly don't dislike, but it is different than I had expected. It's certainly a look that's somehow both uplifted while slightly more natural (at least, for me). I assume this is due to the fact that the cup is just two pieces, with a single seam as well as a dart near the gore, and fewer seams mean less shaping. 

That said, it's not a perfect bra. I don't get a hard tack on the gore - it floats just barely off of my sternum. It only floats about a quarter inch off, however, so I'm not too concerned about it. I do like how the wires slightly overlap at the top of the gore, which makes it very thin at the top - I tend to have trouble with gores that are too wide.

Also, as beautiful as the light mesh cups are, I feel like it could do with some stabilization on the sides - wearing the bra, my breasts seem to prefer to remain their splayed selves, instead of being pushed more to the center. Though I suppose I can't complain too much about this, being as I'm wearing a bra that's designed for smaller cup sizes, and it's not really noticeable - only when I'm looking down at it.

Still, that said, I'd love to see unlined half-cups for larger cup sizes that have a side panel to help push boobs more to the center. It would be my perfect bra.

Overall, am I pleased? Yes, certainly. Will I order another HM bra? Well, it's certainly possible! I love half-cups, and I prefer unlined bras to padded. So that depends entirely upon what designs become available. Am I glad I took the risk on this one? Definitely.

And I will never fail to be amused and perplexed about how my breasts defy the rules when it comes to EM bras.

Welcome and, yes, that IS a real size!

So, who am I, and what is this?

I'll answer the second one first. This blog is for me to discuss and review bras! You see, for a long time (read: forever) I had been wearing bras that just...weren't right. I was never quite sure what was wrong with them, but I knew there was something wrong. I hated buying bras and I hated wearing them.

Then last year I found A Bra That Fits, learned how to properly measure myself, and the rest is history.

I post on Bratabase as overthestars. I do post on ABTF but under a different name. For my own safety, I will not be giving that info here. My usual size in UK bras is 36H/HH - depending on the brand and the bra - with 36HH being the size I default to if I'm not sure about the sizing of something. As far as Polish bras go, I've only really tried Ewa Michalak so far, and my sizing there tends to be "throw something at a dartboard and try whatever it hits".

I've decided to start this blog because I like talking about bras, a lot. I've also noticed that the size range I fall into tends to be one that there is little info about, and I hope to try and fix that a bit.