Lingerie Review: Cleo Marcie (black) in 30DD

Yet again, my dear friends, we find ourselves looking at another Marcie review. “Why?” you ask. “Why can’t she stop getting Marcies?” you wonder. “Seriously, why?” you mourn. So, yeah. Back to Marcie, my one true love, my tried and true, my old faithful friend and occasional enemy…

Today, we’re looking at the black color way in a 30DD. I took the advice of others (thank you guys!!) and tested the next size down. Spoiler alert, it was a great idea, and I am really glad I did it! It went down from $55 on Amazon to $30, so I snagged it.

I would say it’s definitely worth the money – it isn’t even expensive! (Also featured: an odd lingerie skirt I found on extreme clearance.)

At this point, I have tried many different sizes in the Marcie. Like, an extraordinary amount, honestly. To be honest, the amount of Marcies I have owned are probably indicative of an unhealthy obsessive at this point, but it is truly my favorite shape in a bra, so I can’t resist…

My first Marcie was a 32E (then I had 2 other 32E Marcies to join it). After some time, I sold them. I don’t even remember why I sold them, but I did. Then I got a 28FF Marcie. It was awful and possibly the most uncomfortable bra I tried on, ever (#ArmpitGate2016). Then I got 2 30F Marcies—and I still have one, actually, in the pink color way. Then, I had my first sizing crisis and went down to a 30E. Then I got 5 30E Marcies (blue, beige, burgundy, raspberry, and yellow). Yeah, I literally got 5, like a lunatic (3 of 5 were highly discounted). Now, I have a 30DD, have an altered 32D on the way, and as I write this, I realize that I have had—pardon me—a shitload of Marcies. As of right now, I have owned 12 separate Marcies, and soon that number will jump to 13. Wow.

I think I have explained why I love the Marcie so much, so we’re going to skip that part and go straight to the review.

I was actually a bit nervous about this Marcie. After the construction errors I faced in the beige and burgundy color ways—the poor seam construction which led to an obvious crease/quad, no matter how tight or loose the band or straps are—I fretted that this would be a repeat. After all, the black color way came out right around the same time as the beige and burgundy ones. I am pleased to say that I did not have that issue in the black color way!

Undies are actually from Avocado, and they’re a great match.

I am extremely happy with the 30DD. On my littler boob, I have MILD gaping (yes, there is still some empty space at the bottom and a small amount of gaping at the top that I can fix by adjusting the straps). On my bigger boob, there is no gaping, but a slight in-cup quad. I found that I could reduce the quad by loosening the straps. This is the loosest I have ever worn straps on the Marcie, so that’s a good sign.

The profile/shaping is pretty much on point for me—this is a shape I really do like, and I’ve found that the shaping is consistent regardless of the size I try. Each Marcie I’ve owned gives me the same exact shape. They just various in levels of comfort, gaping, and so on. If I could change just one small thing about the Marcie, I would like it to actually minimize and center my boobs a little bit more, but I am happy with the Marcie anyway (if my 12 Marcies are any indication).

Bigger boob is furthest from us, and you can see the slight in-cup quad I talked about. You can also see where the cup is relative to my armpits. 😦

Now that we’ve discussed the good, it’s time to discuss the bad!

I don’t know why, but these wires are bugging me more than usual (granted, whenever I think “I am wearing a bra, how are the wires?” I immediately notice the wires more than I would if I wasn’t thinking about them). The width is pretty spot on, cup-wise, but it feels like the wires are trying to bruise me. The gore is especially angry with my body, and I had to bend them outward pretty much immediately after I put the Marcie on. Generally speaking, this is something I have done with all Marcies, but it usually takes a few hours of wear before I remember to do it. Maybe Cleo is using different wires?

Next, the band. Now, I ordered the 30DD. I wish I ordered the 32D instead, but I am doing just fine with an extender. For these pictures, I took it off, but now that I’m typing this review, it’s back on! This band thing isn’t the Marcie’s fault, but mine. On the bright side, seeing how my old 30F Lily’s band has stretched to a perfect 31”, I am hopeful that this one will follow suit.

Obviously, I can still wear it without an extender, but I would rather not.

Finally, armpits. While this bra really shouldn’t bother my armpits, it sort of does, anyway. This is becoming old news, dear friends, because my armpits are apparently villains and bras want to defeat them. Typing, now, I feel slight chafing at the pits. This is less pronounced with the extender on, thankfully.

So, TLDR, everything that I think is bad about the Marcie is in terms of comfort. I am a complete baby and I’m sensitive to how things fit—possibly more sensitive than the average person—so…keep that in mind. I still LOVE the Marcie and it is the reason I have strong feelings about Cleo in general.

 

Let’s rate.

Aesthetics (25/25): This is meant to be a basic bra. It is a basic bra. However, not TOO basic, as it has the patterned mesh and a little polka-dot bow on the gore. I like.

Comfort (20/25): For the reasons above, this doesn’t get a 25/25. The underwires are bothersome, the gore feels too high/ouch, and where the cups meet the straps, my armpits are unhappy.

Fit (23/25): Nearly a perfect fit, I would say, with a few points off for the gaping and in-cup quad aspect.

ArmpitGate2016 (20/25): This doesn’t get 25/25 for the whole chafing thing. It isn’t The Worst, but it isn’t the best.

 

Overall, the black Marcie (30DD) gets an 88, or a high B, and I just can’t keep away…