I’m sure most of us have seen the following body positive mantra by now:

“To get a bikini body….put a bikini on your body!”

It’s something I’ve really taken to heart these past few months, and last year I bought my very first bikini and totally rocked it.  Here I am, looking like a total babe…

I decided that for when the summer months get here, it would be nice to have a choice of more than one, so four sets were acquired from Simply Be for trying on and assessing.

The lovely Megan of My Spoonie Life who I live with very kindly offered to buy the one I decided to keep as a birthday present for me. She’s so amazingly sweet! 🙂

So, the sets were ordered and arrived, and so began the trying on session!

Bikini 1: “Simply Yours Tankini Set: Turquoise Floral”

So this is the first one I tried on, and yes I know….it’s a tankini, not a bikini.  I love the print so wanted to give it a go.

Pros:  The top fit me really well, especially around the bust.  I felt very supported.  As a rather small busted woman, this is something that was important to me.  Although, anyone with a sizeable bust might struggle.  Megan also tried this one and it looked very tight on her and the straps didn’t seem to sit right.

The print is GORGEOUS.  I seriously love it.

Cons:  Whereas the top felt secure, the briefs did not.  I have a very ample behind, so they might suit someone with a little less butt and hip than me more.

The top did want to ride up a bit as I moved around. Although this didn’t bother me when trying it on, it might become a bit of a pain when wearing it for more than a few minutes.

Verdict:  I loved this set, but it wasn’t to be for me personally, with my particular body shape.

Here are rest of the pictures of me in this.  I ordered a size 26 (all sizes UK), and it is available here.

Bikini 2: “Simply Yours Bikini Set: Turquoise Floral”

This is from the same range as the tankini above and uses the same print and colours but slightly differently.  Here’s the picture of me in it from the front:

Pros:  Like with the tankini,  I absolutely fell in love with the colours and print.

The briefs fit me so much better than the tankini ones did.  I felt much more supported by them, and I loved how far up my butt they went.

Cons:  I have the opposite problem with this than I did with the tankini.  The halter neck bra looked amazing, but the cups are absolutely huge.  As a small chested big girl, I had no support whatsoever.  I purposely tried to select sets that were not separates so I didn’t have to worry about bra size.  As a 46B, I find it very hard to find bras that fit, so I thought a generic size 26 might be better.  I was proven wrong.

Here is what happened when I bent over slightly…

You should be able to get the idea of just how I no where near filled the bra from this.

Verdict:  Just like with the tankini, I loved this set so much but once again, my particular body shape meant it wasn’t for me.

If you are a bigger lady with an ample chest, BUY THIS.  It’s absolutely gorgeous.

If only I could have put the tankini top together with the bikini briefs….that would be perfection for me!

Here are the rest of the photos.  I ordered a size 26 and the set is available here.

Bikini 3: “Together Bikini Set: Tropical”

This was my exception to the “no seperates” rule I placed on myself.  I loved the design of the bra and the print.  So I ignored my rule and ordered it.

Frontal view looked a little something like this:

Pros:  Once again, the print.  So gorgeous!

The bra felt so supportive.  The cups are well molded and I didn’t feel like I was going to fall out of it.  The fact it was specifically sized was very obvious in the fit.

Cons:  I feel bad listing this as a con, but I guess for me it was?  If you’ve read the rest of my posts, you’ll know that my breasts are more uneven than the average woman’s.  This makes bra buying even harder (as mentioned above, my size also contributes).  This bra top fit the bigger of my breasts absolutely PERFECTLY.  Seriously, my boob as never looked so good in a piece of attire.  Sadly, because my other boob did not fill out the other cup, that side just looked so wrong.

Megan and I considered if there was any way we could alter it to fit better, but as the cup was padded and molded, it would take a lot of work that I ultimately thought would be too much.

Here are some pictures to demonstrate the difference:

Verdict:  If your breasts are not significantly different, this is a gorgeous bikini and you would totally rock it.  If like me, your boobs are rather uneven (like, a cup size or more different from one another), then this isn’t the choice for you.  The cups are so well constructed and molded, it doesn’t work well when there isn’t enough boob to fill them; they collapse in on themselves.

Here is the rear end view of this one.  I ordered the briefs in a size 26, available here, and the bra in a 46B, available here.

Bikini 4: “Liz McClaron Bikini Set: Watermelon”

The final one….surely I would have better luck with this one?

Pros:  The bra is more what I was hoping for….more amenable to a smaller chest.  How you tie up the halter neck allows you to alter how well covered your assets are covered.  As you’ll see from the above photo, the cup of the bra on my right size rises higher than on my left.  There is some slight padding in the cup, but not enough to make the cup of the bra look too big for what it’s covering.

And for the forth time now….the print!  It’s absolutely gorgeous and striking.  Plus I love watermelon!

Cons:  The padding is actually my only con.  As I said before it doesn’t make the fit look bad…what is does do however is slip around inside, so when putting the bra on at first, some adjusting is needed.  Once on, it is fine however.

Verdict:  I kept it, yay!  The padding issue is workable, and everything else was a win.  What more can I say.

Here are the rest of the pictures of me in this one…I got Megan to snap a few more as this was the keeper.

I ordered a size 26, and it is available here.

(Ignore the fact I left my socks on!)

With the warmer months approaching, I am looking forward to seeing women of all shapes and sizes rocking what they’ve got in a bikini.  All bodies are good bodies, and absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.  I know that the media and culture that we grow up and live in would totally have us believe otherwise, but honestly.  Life is too short to spend it trying to confirm to beauty standards so strict practically impossible to achieve.  We are beautiful, and we all deserve to love ourselves exactly as we are.

Til next time,

Lindsay

❤