One day, my friends, I hope to be able to walk into a Nordstrom, nonchalantly pick out a few lingerie sets that strike my fancy (and a silk chemise, of course), and take them home with me in a big Nordstrom bag. Life goals!

But that is not this day. I am simply too poor, and too obsessed with many bras, to justify not having to discount search for bras online.

Nonetheless, I had a very nice trip to Nordstrom yesterday, and was able to try on a lot of bras I have not yet been able to try! I will share my experience of these new bras in the next few posts. For today, I will start with a new offering from Panache Black, Panache’s “luxury” brand, and a new colorway of a well-known style from Panache: the Panache Black Esme and the Panache Clara respectively.

Panache Black is the new label for Panache’s former luxury line Masquerade. I had never tried a Masquerade bra, but did enjoy trying and reviewing the Panache Black Loren on the blog last Spring: Link here

Panache Esme is super cool and sophisticated in its styling. Panache describes the bra in the following way: “Using the same shape as Panache favourite Jasmine, the Esme balconnet features French designed delicate lace, layered over Nude mesh with a beautiful velvet bow and gold trinket detail featuring a black rhinestone for a subtle touch of extavagance.”

Was this bra like the Jasmine as they claim? We shall see.

Below is size 32F (they did not have 30FF at my Nordstrom).



This non-padded bra is made out of a very soft, stretchy fabric. The stretchiness makes the bra very comfortable. However, the stretchiness also makes the bra less supportive – and hence gives a more natural shape. This is very different from Jasmine, which is very supportive and uplifting – likely due to the stiffer fabric used.

The bra is also not great if you are full on top – unlike the Jasmine which has stretch lace on top to accommodate upper fullness. I think the cup size here would be great for me as long as the bra were more open on top. Unfortunately, the top of the bra instead cuts in and gives me quadboob:



The shape is not too pointy, but it is rather projected. In fact, there is some good immediate projection in this bra. This bra, I think, would be lovely if you are full on bottom! In this size (32F), the wires seem surprisingly narrow, too. Jasmine also has narrower wires, so there is at least one similarity.

I decided to try up a cup size, 32FF. This cup size fits well, but there is more cup than I generally need in a bra, and because the cups are so stretchy, there is even less of the tension required to hold my boobs up! – so I am getting even less support or uplift (in retrospect, I am wondering if a tighter band would mitigate the issues with support). It still looks rather nice though:



This is definitely one to buy the matching panty for! The high-waisted panty is sheer with the same cool pattern as the bra, and sheer all the way through the back (sexy!). It gives a cheeky fit in the back, to boot.

Below, we see clearly no quadboob, but little uplift. The wires are also wider in size 32FF.



The band is true to size for 32FF, so it is riding up on me:



Seriously awesome panty!



Aesthetically, I’m also really digging the black lines throughout the whole set, conjoined with the visible seams.

Well, I do hope someone else can enjoy these beauties. As they say, Get thee to a Nordstrom! Oh wait… they don’t say that?

.

Next, I have for you Panache Clara in the new Navy/Jade colorway. I have tried and reviewed (on the blog) the Clara in the Gold/Black colorway (Link here) – with mixed results – but I was so enamoured in the current mermaid colors that I had to try it on again:



Above, the bra in 32F (they did not have 30FF). Compared to the Gold/Black colorway in 30FF, this one is giving more quadboob. I am not sure if there is a slight difference in sizing between the colorways, or whether my boobs have changed since last Spring!



Good view of the quadboob:



I couldn’t, of course, deny the beauty of this bra. The colors and lace are amazing here. Stop being so damn shallow, please!

I decided to try one cup size up – 32FF. Now, the quadboob issue is resolved, but there is again a lot more cup and less uplift, as well as a lack of the cleavage that I prefer in bras. I can definitely use a narrower gore, less shallow cups (especially on the bottom), and narrower wires.





Even though Clara is definitely not the best fit on me, I do not think I’ll be able to stop myself from trying the Red and Duck Blue colorways Spring is offering!

More to come from my Nordstrom trip soon – including Fantasie, Freya, Cleo, and an amazing new Chantelle.