When The Right Size Is Still Wrong (Curvy Kate Tempt Me Review)

Curvy Kate Tempt Me 30FF

Yay! My first Curvy Kate! It’s gorgeous! It fits! And I have to let it go because it just doesn’t work for me.

Looks good from the front, right? I’ve got all of the markers of a good fit here. My breasts are filling the cups without any spillover. They’re properly lifted. The straps aren’t too tight or too loose. I can comfortably fasten the band on the first hook.

The gore is tacking beautifully.

So what’s my problem? I’m not an expert, but I’m pretty sure that my boobs just do not like plunge styles.

Plunges are bras that have a v-shaped neckline, and they tend to have a lower center gore. Great design, very popular, very common (check out Victoria’s Secret; almost exclusively plunges), works with tons of different shirts, great at creating cleavage. But not so great for soft breasts. And I definitely have soft breasts. They’ve always been on the softer side and two pregnancies have killed any firmness I might have had. Basically, my boobs are cats.

Yep, just like my boobs.

There is also the problem of gravity. This isn’t a problem in balcony-type bras, but plunges by their very nature have more open space by the gore. Space for my boobs to slide down and out. Essentially, anywhere my breasts can plop downward, they will. So the first problem with this bra is the empty space at the top of the cup.

I doodled some red on there to show where the fabric on the inside of the cup is visible.

Because there is space for my breasts to slide to the center they, well, are. Which leaves that empty space at the top. This isn’t a big problem in and of itself (space happens sometimes) but because of the low positioning of the gore my boobs have plenty of room to make an escape. Look what happens when I lean over:

“Well, don’t do that!” Right, but I move around all day long. I lift and bend and twist. Which means every few minutes I have to tuck at least one of my boobs back into the proper place. That’s not fun. One of my favorite things about figuring out my correct bra size is that the amount of throughout-the-day boob adjusting has gone way, way down. Actually, funny story: My husband noticed this perk before I did. I had just finished washing dishes on the first day I had a bra that actually fit. I walked away from the sink and he said, in a pretty shocked voice, “you didn’t have to put your boobs back in!” Pretty sure that’s when he was totally convinced about this whole “bra fitting” stuff I had been chattering about. Anyway…

Second problem with this bra? I think the gore is too wide for me. Check out the empty space I have on the side of the cup:

Fingers are marking the edge of my breast tissue.

“Maybe the cup is too big!” Yeah, I wondered that too. After all, this is a 30FF. That’s one band size down and one cup volume up from what I usually wear, after all. But the Tempt Me, by almost all accounts, runs small. This is the size I ordered after reading every single review on Bratabase, and I’m pretty confident that it’s correct. I’m afraid that if I downsize in the cup I’ll be just quadboobing all over the place. I was curious about my too-wide gore theory, so I simply used my hand to scoot the cup about 1/2 an inch more towards center.

Well now, that looks much better. No empty space anywhere, and no spillage. Though I image that even with a better cup position that I’d spill towards the gore eventually. It would just take a bit longer. Now, there is a method to correct a wide center gore (check out this tutorial from Boobiusmaximus, or this one from By Baby’s Rules) but I’m afraid of sewing. Anyway, I found another Bratabase user who’s willing to trade me for a 30F Curvy Kate Thrill Me! Yay for Bratabase!

I don’t want this review to come across like I hate this bra. I don’t. It’s beautiful. The lace overlay is lovely. Tempt Me has fully adjustable straps, which are always a plus. The cup is majorly shallow, which while that doesn’t work for everyone it was a big selling point for me. And for such an obviously sexy bra it’s really comfortable (spillage notwithstanding.) The band is secure and pleasantly thick. The inside of the cups are lined with a felt-like material that is super soft.

Inside of the cup

This would be a fantastic bra for someone with firm, shallow, widely-space breasts. But that someone unfortunately isn’t me.

My only other beef with the Tempt Me (and I understand it’s a problem with Curvy Kate’s entire Showgirl line) is the sizing. I really wish that bra companies as a whole would try harder to maintain a universal sizing system.

Where can I buy this?
Curvy Kate appears to be done with the Showgirl Collection as of Spring/Summer 2013, but it is still available at Figleaves and
Bare Necessities in limited colorways and sizes. It can also be found through Amazon and on Ebay.

I want a second opinion!
Check out these other reviews of the Tempt Me:
Busts 4 Justice
Curvy Wordy
Undressed to Impress