You know that way your boobs sat during yesteryear, wearing a tight pressed tank top or dress braless. A very sloped sort of look from the side at the very top to middle, followed by the weight or majority of the fullness supporting your breast at the bottom. A bit pointy one might say. It's an entirely different shape to the half global, spherical, circular, whatever you want to call it, cup protrusion that is offered normally by padded pushup bras. While the padding on the inside is not equally distributed on the usual padded bra, the outside shape of the cup usually gives the illusion that it's evenly distributed. NOT so here.
As I was bumbling on about @ the start, it seems like the idea of this bra is to have a sort of hybrid shaping that is somewhere between trying to look like the average padded bra and the "madonna bra". It almost looks like it's made to replicate a dramatized no bra look. It still looks so obviously and wildly apparent I'm wearing a bra, but the shape is like a perkier, more puffed up "surgically enhanced" version of the natural sloping to resting breasts. I don't really care about what people think about me on the day to day (in regards to if someone can tell my natural size from enhanced because they WILL tell based on the shape alone), and plan on having breast augmentation in the future, so this was a fantastic middle ground to see if I would enjoy how implants might sit after they "drop".
Based on reviews, I sized up on both band and cup, and I myself am probably going to order again in my usual band size with sized up cup. Going strapless with upsized band does make it slip and slide quite a bit if I don't tighten it up to the smallest it can go. Consistency issues make it hard to tell without ordering multiples what is the best size to choose, these are inexpensive enough that I'm comfortable doing that. The padding is so heavily focused on the lower part of the breast, it's easy to have too much of yourself spilling out at the top, and this shape is simply not made for that to look good like it might for the more traditional push-up bras. So sizing is a crucial factor to how it will look and I'm sure would dramatically change if someone might enjoy this more so than standard shapes. Upsizing the cup for me made the fill just fine, no unfortunate-looking "muffin top" breast from the cusped top of the cup, and was still pushed up and supported enough to have sizeable cleavage. If you are wearing without straps and have the funds for it, it might be wise to do what I'm doing and order one accurately sized band, and one sized up band (along with sized up cup).
The material of the bra was far above satisfactory, I wasn't expecting it to feel so good based on what I'm used to paying for bras and how low cost this was. I'm going to be more delicate about washing as I don't want to press my luck.
Know what you're getting before you get it, if you are wanting a very specific uniform even shaping, you won't find it here. If you want a unique bra, where the fullness is mostly at the bottom and cup is thinner and pulls in more so at the top to create a slightly pointed look, well, you found a winner.
