Brands In Focus: Curvy Kate!

For the first of my occasional Brands In Focus series, I'm looking at the relatively new brand for the bigger bust; Curvy Kate!

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll know that I'm a big fan of this particular brand, which I only recently discovered this year by taking part in their Star In A Bra competition. More about that later. 

Admittedly I only have 'real life' experience of two Curvy Kate styles, Thrill Me and Tease Me, but boy do I adore them!

Firstly, Thrill Me, a balcony bra with soft satin cups and oodles of detailing from Curvy Kate's Showgirl collection. Curvy Kate always seem to choose beautiful colours and contrasting trims. I have four Thrill Me's so far, a collection I'm hoping to add to. The uplift you get with this style is spectacular, often giving good cleavage too, although I don't tend to get this for some reason! The only problem I have with the Thrill Me bra is that the sizes aren't exactly spot on; back down, 2 cups up for me. I usually wear a 30G, and in the Thrill Me bra I wear a 28H. With the shorts, I tend to buy a 14 as the 16's are too large in the butt. The 16's are perfect on the waist though, so this is also a little niggle I have with the Thrill Me. The shorts have a sheer back, with ruffles at the top, trimmed with contrasting thread. I also LOVE the fact that they have suspenders attached. Anyway, on to the photos...Ahhhh, the ruffles, the colours, the bows, the lacy trim...LUSH!

Next, my other Curvy Kate favourite again from their Showgirl collection, Tease Me! Deliciously burlesque, this Balcony bra set is sure to wow whoever you're trying to impress. The Tease Me is available in a variety of colours, but only with a black overlay at the minute, something which will be thrown out of the window at Curvy Kate's HQ for their Spring/summer collection, with pretty spring inspired pastels. The basic structure of the cups is the same as the Thrill Me, thus gives the same shape. Again, Curvy Kate have paid a great amount of attention to detail, with bows, ribbons and ruffles. The shorts fit slightly differently in the Tease Me, which suits me down to the ground to be honest! The 16's are perfect on me, as with the thong. Again the shorts have attached suspenders and a sheer back with a row of ruffles, but no contrasting trim this time. I have to say, the Tease Me is a knockout set. I love it! Take a look...

So my love of Curvy Kate came earlier this year when I discovered they were running their annual Star In A Bra competition. Admittedly I didn't know a lot about the brand, just that their bras cost more than I liked to pay back then. I entered the competition on a whim, and incredibly got through to the top 10, which involved me travelling down to London for a photoshoot and leaving with a goodie bag! It all seems like a very unreal, distant memory, but I'm so glad I entered or I would never have discovered this fabulous brand, or made fabulous friends along the way. Since then I've been involved in a few photo shoots for my local newspaper, The Sentinel, and a local magazine, The North Staffordshire Magazine, and I hope they continue to consider me for any future features they may want to run. My next feature with them was shot last Thursday and will be in this week's Sentinel Magazine which comes with the Saturday Newspaper, so if you're from Staffordshire, look out for it!

Aside from the super sexy styles above, Curvy Kate also do a huge range of unpadded bras in cups D-K, backs 28-40. I was lucky enough at the Star In A Bra photoshoot to try out the Lottie, which hadn't yet been released at the time. The Lottie was the 2010 Create A Curvy Kate winner for De Montford University, another competition run by Curvy Kate. I LOVE how Curvy Kate involve their customers so much, it really helps me and others warm to the brand. Here's me in the Lottie, photographed by the fantastic Alison Webster. I'm sure you'll agree the colours and fit are stunning!

Ladies, if you're a D-K cup, you really should give Curvy Kate a try. Check the store locator to see where you can buy their fabulous lingerie. Go on, treat yourself ;)