Lingerie Review: Fauve Isla Padded Half Cup in 32D

Hello my dear friends. I received my bra trades today and I am very pleased! I was getting a yellow Marcie (30E) and a Fauve Isla (32D) – now, having prior experience with Marcie, I wasn’t particularly curious how it would work (it worked as I thought it would, really). My real curiosity was with the Isla. I have never tried Fauve, but always loved their designs and was eager to get my hands on a bra by them. This 32D’s stats looked like it would be a fit, so I went for it.

By the way, I’ve changed up my whole site and I’ve decided to change how I present the bras. What do y’all think? I think it’s nifty, personally. Maybe the logo is a little occult-like, but I accept that and think it’s kind of funny, considering that the logo is a dog with a bunch of bras floating behind it.

Now, before we go on, I gotta warn you that it is NOT a perfect fit. It seems that my concern is no longer what truly fits, but what I am willing to accept. With that in mind, the 32D is too large in the band and too small in the cup, but it is actually a much better fit than I anticipated, considering that it is 2 cup sizes down and one band size up.

From the front, you can see that Larger Boob is escaping a lil while Littler Boob is behaving (as she always does). Look at the tulle bows in the center and where the straps hit! This is a dainty ass bra.

What is striking about Isla is that it’s almost obnoxiously princess-y, but it’s not…REALLY obnoxious. Actually, it’s pretty elegant. It easily could have looked busy, but it doesn’t. I’m a huge fan of the embroidery on the cups and the various details. Fauve, if you were still basically around, I would be an eager fan. As it stands, you are no longer really in business, so I’ll just sadly salute you from here.

As a plus, this seems like an actual half cup – meaning that, on my body, it isn’t quite a half cup (I have very “short” boobs), but I think it would be kind enough not to stick out of my shirts/be a nuisance in that way.

Plus I’m adding accessories to my shoots! And I have a tripod! It’s like I’m a grown up brog!

The Isla is a half cup bra with vertical seams – two seams up the middle, as you can see from the front. It is lightly padded. I think the padding is actually comparable with Comexim in that it isn’t molding the bra to a certain shape, just sort of..solidifying the structure. I am not a bra scientist and I am sorry.

Considering all the ways that this shouldn’t fit as well as it does, this leads me to some conclusions about this bra in particular: the cups run at least half a cup size big, and Fauve has fantastic construction. This feels like a super solid bra. It’s comfortable and I am really impressed with the quality.

This combo of faint pink, ivory, and the golden embroidery is actually stunning. I loves. (You can also see my quad right here, as this is Larger Boob…)

Of course, this is not a perfect fit. I am slightly quadding out from my larger boob. I’ve learned that I prefer not to follow one of those basic tenants of Bra Fitting world (fitting to the larger boob) – I’m more comfortable fitting to my smaller size. Something about gaping just makes me feel inadequate. Does anyone else feel the same? When I fit to my larger boob, too, cups are usually more in my armpits, so it’s also a comfort thing.

I’ll also note that this is sort of odd at the gore. It tacks up top, but does not sit flush with my body at the bottom – rather, it’s sort of floating above it. I’ve pinched the gore at the bottom, which eliminates this, so I’m attributing it to the gore being too wide at the bottom (plus, small cups and bigger band, you get it). This leads me to think that if I was really fed up, I could alter this.

What an excellent profile! Obviously not a perfect fit, but I’m real pleased. It also matches with this little cardigan thing that literally matches nothing in my closet, so there’s that.

With all of this in mind, the Isla makes me feel very regal. I feel like an actual princess in this. I feel like my boobs look smaller than they normally do (something I personally welcome – you don’t always want your boobs looking a certain way, right? I like variety). Despite the very frilly design, it also does not make me feel like I’m a little kid in a frilly ass princess bra, but a decadent aristocrat who’s surrounded by little Italian greyhounds (I associate them with royalty, I guess because I’ve seen lots of paintings of them from the past centuries).

Alright. Let us rate Isla!

Appearance of bra itself (10/10)—This is beautiful and very pastel in design. I am enthralled by the gold embroidery. This is a very frilly bra that doesn’t feel super frilly. It makes me feel like a princess!

Appearance of bra on my body (8/10)—It is actually pretty good in appearance, however the band is loose (as expected) and the cups cut in on my soft tissue (also expected). Despite that, I’m getting great lift and as a person who has the complexion of toilet paper, the pastel look is a fabulous match.

Comfort of…

Straps (10/10)—I have no issue with these straps. They have tulle going up the middle! So cute! They are very stretchy, however, so I have to tighten them more than I might for less elastic straps. They are very very plush.

Band (8/10)—As a 32 band, I got what I expected. It sort of wants to travel up my body and I can hook it most comfortably on the tightest straps. Currently, it’s on the loosest ones because I don’t necessarily mind a looser band at times, but I can sense that its desire to travel up will be annoying.

Gore (10/10)—While the tacking situation isn’t ideal, the gore is extremely comfortable. I don’t feel irritated by it at all, which is excellent, considering that most of my discomfort in a bra comes from cups in my armpits and painful gores.

Underwire (8/10)—These underwires are not particularly soft OR hard, so they fit a pleasant middle ground. The casing around them feels amazing.

Cups (7/10)—The cups, as we have seen, are not a perfect fit. They cut in a little. As well as this, they are getting around Armpit Land because the band wants to ride up. I think this could be remedied by tightening or altering the band. As I have not worn this for a long enough time to properly judge, I can’t say if Isla will bother the shit out of my pits, but I hope it won’t because it’s so darn pretty.

What did Isla get? The Fauve Isla Padded Half Cup (32D) gets…

87% – That’s a pretty good score! I think it makes sense. Isla is ALMOST an A, but not quite. (Study harder next time…)