Petite Bloggers & TLBC

Last night, I got a chance to hang out with a couple other petite bloggers at The Little Bra Company's Holiday Open House.  They'd just opened a new office/showroom in downtown L.A., and invited us over for a little holiday gathering with cookies and eggnog.

We were treated to a preview of the new styles they'll be introducing, including ones that will be available in C cups.  They also showed us several styles from their upcoming swimwear line which I'm so excited about!  Here's the adorable Britni from their "A-team" who showed us the goods, posing with their bestselling Lucia bra:

A whole rack of lovely bras to check out:

 The awesome petite bloggers I met, Kelly of AlterationsNeeded and Jess of Stylepint:

I also got to meet the founder of the company, Emily Lau, and she was so nice!  We all took pics together, but all of my pics with her turned out blurry so I'll defer to Kelly or Jess for nicer pics from the DSLRs they both brought versus my ghetto point-and-shoot.  But here's the one shot of us three petite bloggers that turned out the least blurry:

Notice how we're all roughly the same height!  Well, we were all wearing heels, but same difference lol.  It was so nice to meet with these gals in person, and it was pretty neat to realize how well I've come to know so many lovely ladies over the past year.  I can't wait to finally see Jean of ExtraPetite at the end of the month!

The Amazing Angela & Other TLBC Bras

After my last post about how to find your correct bra size, I've been on the lookout for bras that fit right, and on the top of my list to try was The Little Bra Company (TLBC).  They specialize in making bras specifically designed for women with smaller band (28-36) and smaller cup (A-B) sizes.  They've been featured and loved by great petite bloggers like ExtraPetite and AlterationsNeeded.  So imagine my surprise when TLBC recently contacted me and offered to send me some sample bras to try!  I was more than delighted to take them up on their offer, since I had failed in my last attempt to find them at a local store. 

When I received their package, it was literally like Christmas in July... and boy, they did not disappoint!  Now keep in mind, I'm definitely not as genetically blessed with great proportions like PAG and others.  But for what I've got to work with, trust me when I say that this is as good as it gets! :)

My absolute favorite in terms of push-up potential is definitely Angela, which is one of their bestsellers:

I don't know how they figured out the perfect cup placement, but I was pretty surprised at the difference it made:

Left: Lily of France True Match in 32A

Right: TLBC Angela in 30A

AE dress in size 00

Having cleavage was never one of my aspirations, but I do like how this makes me look less, well, bony in front.  And to date, no other department store or Victoria Secret bra has managed this feat!  But the best part about Angela (other than the push-up of course) is absolutely NO GAPS.  Not even I tried to make it gap by hunching my shoulders and leaning forward, it doesn't!  I think it was AN who once said that putting on a well-fitting (and flattering) bra for the first time is almost like a religious experience, and I couldn't agree more!  As soon as I put this on, I seriously wanted to throw out all my other bras and start over.

In addition to a good push-up bra, another essential undergarment that was missing in my wardrobe was a good strapless.  Like many other petites, I don't own a single one that doesn't slip and slide like it's nobody's business.  This is another area that I think TLBC shines in.  Their strapless Sascha comes in band sizes that go down to a tiny 28, which may even be equivalent to a 26 in regular non-petite bra sizing.  It feels super tight and secure on, no silicone strips needed!

But in addition to staying up, it's also important that a strapless doesn't flatten me out like many that I've tried.  Although it doesn't have as much push-up as Angela, the Sascha is still padded enough to give me a nice shape under clothes:

Left: Lily of France True Match in 32A

Right: TLBC Sascha in 28A

TLBC had also sent me the Lucia to try, but I'd already ordered my own during the recent ideeli 50% off sale.  I think it's such a gorgeous bra, and I love that they make not just functional push-ups but pretty lingerie-worthy styles as well.

The Lucia in 30A fits me pretty well with no gaps, but in comparison to Angela in the same size, I'd say that the band is not as tight (I could probably go down a band size).  The cups are also not as angled and close-set, therefore the amount of push-up is not as impressive.  But it looks very pretty on, and comes in ivory which I think would be great as bridal or honeymoon lingerie.

Their price point is a little higher than I'm used to, but comparable to Victoria Secret bras at retail and definitely worth it to me because they fit so well.  If possible, I really recommend trying on their bras in different sizes to find what fits you.  Even special petite bras won't fit if you don't try the right size... and once you do, I think you'll be amazed too!  If you're not sure where to start, try this bra size calculator (measure in cm).  And since TLBC offers free shipping for orders $100+, it's easy to order the style(s) you want in different sizes, and returns shouldn't be too bad since bras are light.  Alternatively, they're also sold by other online retailers and carried in select stores - the full listing can be found here.

They have an ongoing 15% off promotion with the code ANBRIDE15, which expires on 10/10/10.  But that's not all!  TLBC has graciously offered to sponsor a giveaway for readers... so stay tuned to see how you can win a free TLBC bra of your own!!

Last but not least, don't forget to scoop! :)

Disclosure: Sample bras were provided for review purposes only and they will be sent back.  TLBC has offered for me to keep one as a courtesy.

TLBC & How To Find Your Proper Bra Size

I've been wanting to try The Little Bra Company for a while now since they offer petite-friendly bras in very small sizes.  I finally stopped by one of the lingerie stores that carry them today, but unfortunately they only carry one kind (Lucia) and the smallest size they had was a 32A:

I currently wear 32A bras, but only because that's the smallest that I can (easily) find, and more often than not the cups would gape.  The cups on this one actually do fit, but the band was still too loose, even though TLBC recommends going up a band size on their website.  There's another store in my area that carries TLBC, but I'm afraid they probably won't have the smaller band sizes either, so I think I will probably have to order online if I want to find one that fits.

Lately I've been looking into proper bra fitting.  To find your band size, the usual recommended method is to measure under the breasts and add 5", or measure above the breasts.  I'm not sure how accurate that method is though, because adding 5" makes me a 32 and I'm pretty sure I'm not.  The sales lady at this particular store measured me over the fullest part of the chest, told me that's my band size (30), and the difference between this measurement and the under-the-breast measurement is my cup size, which is another way that I haven't heard of.  She then proceeded to marvel at how tiny I was and suggested I try children's bras (just what a full-grown woman wants to hear lol).

I recently ran across this website which had a lot of interesting information.  For example, I didn't know that cup sizes actually change with band sizes.  Here a DD cup on a smaller band size is much much smaller than a DD cup on a larger band size:

And even though these two bras look exactly the same:

One is a 38A and the other is actually a 32DD!  Can you tell which is which?  I think the take-home point here is that when a bra doesn't fit, you have to take into consideration that is it the cup or the band that's ill-fitting?

For proper band fit, you shouldn't be able to stretch it more than 2" from your body:

(All my bras failed this test, so I definitely should be wearing a smaller band size!) 

For proper cup fit, the underwire should not be sitting on any breast tissue on the side, like this:

And if it does, over time your breast tissue will "migrate" into the armpit and even to your back!  So if you wear a correctly sized bra and properly scoop back all the "escaped" breast:

Then apparently "most girls reported that their cup size increased within a few weeks to a couple months after getting the right bra size."  I definitely would not mind some of that!  Even more incentive to get a properly fitted bra :)

Another thing I didn't know is that if the cup wrinkles at the top, it's too big... but if it wrinkles at the tip (or nipple area), that actually means it's too small!  Something about 'orange in a glass effect' and you should actually go up a cup size (and down a band size if needed).

But by far the most useful thing I found on the website is this bra size calculator.  You need to measure:

• underneath the breasts after full exhalation
• around the fullest part of your chest

Plug in the numbers (in cm), and not only will it tell you your size, it'll also tell you what to get if you need to go down a cup or a band size.  For example, I'm a 30A according to the calculator.  If I try on a 30A bra and the cup fits but the band size is too big, I should actually go down to a 28C (instead of a 28A, since cup size changes with band size as I showed before).

Hopefully some of that was useful information for you.  I definitely learned a lot and now I just need to find the bra that's right for me!