Botanica Workshop organic cotton Aya bralette and Astra briefs (both in size large) | Gift from the designer to review
I figured out a good way to keep salad dressing off my white shirt…
I didn’t wear it like this, I promise
(with Rachel Comey slim legion jeans & Birkenstock EVA sandals)
If you’re thinking “I can’t believe she’s posting pictures of herself in her BRA on the internet,” just pretend it’s a bikini top. I mean, so many bikinis are WAY skimpier than this! That just made me think of my grandmother – she used to walk around the house in her bra (not skimpy!) and shorts because she was so hot 🙂 I miss her…
Anyway, a few weeks ago Misa from Botanica Workshop reached out to me and asked if we could work together. Of course I agreed, so she sent me the bra and briefs to review for you.*
I’ve had them for a couple weeks and wear the bra pretty much non-stop. No joke. I’ve washed it a few times, but just always end up wanting to throw it on. I wear it with everything, including white tops; I love how it shows a little brightness under semi-sheer white shirts! I’ve worn the briefs lots of times too, but since I wash them every time I wear them, I don’t get to reach for them as often, sadly.
Incidentally, how often do you wear your bras in between washes? I’ve sort of always defaulted to twice, and I’ve heard that’s enough before the elastic needs to be “bounced back,” so that’s usually been my limit, but maybe that’s an old wives tale??
Anyway, in Misa’s wisdom she sent me larges in both of these to try. I think I might have been okay with a medium for the bralette, but then again, I have a wide ribcage (I’m usually a 36a) and I HATE HATE HATE it when bands feel too tight, so the large is perfect in that regard, and there’s no extra room in the cups either, which I really appreciate. I am really pleased with how this fits me and that it provides enough support (just so the girls don’t sag) to give me the shape I want while at the same time allowing me to feel like I’m wearing nothing at all…
And absolutely I needed the large for the briefs; they fit beautifully around my hips/butt, and the elastic is just right, not too tight anywhere. I’ve been wearing high-waisted panties almost all the time lately, and I can’t get enough of them, so I’m really pleased to have these added to the mix. (I also have 4-5 pairs by Only Hearts in rotation, and I love them, but they are not as sturdy as the Botanica Workshop pair by a longshot).
Now, you ladies with c-cups or higher are probably thinking there’s no way you can wear the bralette, and you’re probably right; bralettes are absolutely better for smaller busts. Like I said, I’m most comfortable in a 36a sized bra, but to be honest, I don’t wear underwire or “sized” bras much anymore, I tend to live in bralettes lately. I don’t need the support of an underwire, and more and more I really don’t care about coverage; I have breasts. And nipples. So what? I’m not going to run around flashing everyone, but I’m not going to be overly concerned about hiding my body anymore either.
I highly recommend this bralette and if you’re relatively small-ish and want to try an American, independent brand. Obviously the briefs seem to fit small/medium sizes better also – this is just the way many of these very small, new underwear brands tend to skew nowadays. Only Hearts fits “normally” if you’re a medium or large FYI. I’m also going to seek out more accommodating organic cotton underwear lines and follow-up on that next week. Off hand, there’s also Pact (sold at Whole Foods), but I really disliked their boyshorts.
These Native Goods has some really beautiful photos wearing a few items also. I love the swimsuit!
If you’re interested in trying anything, use code GRECHEN15 for 15% off your first order at Botanica Workshop. And if you do, please let us know what you try and what you think!
*I agreed to review these two items at no charge, and with no specific expectations of a positive review, only that I get to keep the items. I have not received any other compensation, besides the items, for this post, and every single word, photo, etc., is MINE. This is not a sponsored post.
So cute! I’m so sad – there are so many bralettes around now, I’ll just sit over here in my comfortable granny bra with 4 clasps and padded straps 😉 I typically wear 2 bras for the week (one black, one nude – rotating depending on what I’m wearing that day) and laundry day is Saturday. But I have a lot of bras so I rotate all the time – they never wear out at the same time. Which is philosophically the opposite of my husband, who apparently WANTS all his socks and underwear to wear out at the same time. Oh well.
Also, I’m anti-padding. Yeah, I have nipples, but I also have DDD boobs and I do not need an extra cm of padding at all to camouflage that fact…..
oh my gosh. my husband…he hates buying new clothes anyway, but i swear, it’s the same, everything at once!!
i myself have probably two dozen pairs of underwear and 5-6 bras, so i’m like you, i have enough so that any one thing doesn’t wear out very fast. and i like it that way…
I sometimes wait, like, two weeks before washing my bra, which I know is gross. But I hand wash mine and don’t dry them in the dryer and often that means I have no clean bras. Oops.
I air dry but gave up on handwashing – I guess it’s because a) I have a handwash cycle on my washer that’s pretty gently; and b) I don’t buy really expensive bras (it’s much easier to lose a $20 Bali than a $200 La Perla or such…that’s my rationale at least).
I seriously hoard underwear & bras. I probably have 20 bras in active rotation and 40 prs underwear? (again, I’ve not been buying the expensive lingerie….) I think this is because of boarding school when I never did laundry – I needed to be able to NOT do laundry and still have clean underwear 😉
Yep, my bras take at least two days to completely air dry, so I wear one for about 4-5 days. I’ll wash them more frequently in the summer because it gets so hot and I get sweaty. I actually read recently (can’t remember where ), that it’s best to wash bras as infrequently as possible. Not sure if that’s true or not. I’ve also read that the trick to not having your bra show under a white blouse is to wear a red bra, but I’ve never tried it. This set is so pretty and looks very much like swimwear.
Victoria’s Secret used to make an all-cotton underwire no-padding bra that went up to a size 40D. I loved it because I need all those features: cotton, underwire, no padding. They would wear out fairly quick but they were cheap and easy to replace. But they seem to have discontinued that bra line, and I have also gained weight so now I would need 42D (too big for VS!). If you or anyone reading this knows of a similar bra in larger sizes, please comment. I need cotton to breathe, and I don’t want extra padding or a stiff cup. (If I need nipple coverage, I slip in a thin silicone petal.) Most importantly, I don’t want a uniboob, meaning no compression-type bras. I need a valley between the girls, so that probably means underwire for support, which I’m fine with. But I just cannot find a bra that meets these criteria. Does anyone else have this issue? It’s so frustrating!
Wish I could help. I actual got a little obsessive about trying to find a cotton underwire bra last month, but they are apparently quite rare these days, and when I could find one the sizes range was limited (32-38 and a-c cup…occasionally maybe a d cup). If I was in the offered range I would just get a cute cotton bralette (I’m on the other side of the band size spectrum and with a largish cup size….I assume most women are either being crushed by bras or they are just sliding around given the limited band sizes offered). I love my natural fibers, but the only bra I can seem to find is sports bras…and uni-boob chaffing isn’t worth. There is probably something out there, maybe from Europe (I assume Danes, who are tall and have athletic builds might have some large band size options, just like France has smaller band sizes…but then you have to be willing to gamble $100 plus on bra that you probably can’t return). I feel like we should get a tax credit for the time and money we spend on breasts (they do seem to be a high ranking interest for most American men after all!).
Thank you for this. So it is not my imagination that cotton underwire bras in larger sizes are really hard to find!
I have a couple but can’t remember what brand – I will look tonight and post! They are cotton, no padding, underwire….I wanna say playtex, maybe Olga or Bali, but my searches online aren’t coming up with anything that looks right….(mine would be 40DDD probably, which means- hopefully- they’d have your size if that bra is still being made….)
I’ve been wearing Fruit of the Loom Extreme Comfort bras for several years. They are cotton with underwires and no padding. Simple and comfortable and cheap.
I will try to link to Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002TW57V4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Replying here to Meg’s comment below because there was no reply link there — the Fruit of the Loom Extreme Comfort look like exactly what I was looking for! I’m going to try them. Thank you!
Playtex t273 says the tag of my cotton underwire 40dd bra 😉
I like that fruit of the loom but it doesn’t look available in my size – I’ll Pin it and see if I can find elsewhere/in the future. Thanks!
Have you tried Pansy Co. braletts and panties? They are organic cotton and made by women in CA. They are my favorite and have multiple styles and lots of sizes from xs-xxl. They couldn’t be more easy to care for as you can wash and dry them. Of course, we have ’em at Seven Sisters. Shameless plug!
I wish the small designer intimates designers would brand to ladies with larger chests! I would love to wear a cute unlined bra (and support a smaller designer) but no one seems to be able to design something that doesn’t make your boobs look terrible! I am curious about Land of Women as they have a full cup unlined bra which always seems to be sold out.
Bras in general are too obsessed with LIFT. I want a little bit of containment, but I don’t need my D-cup breasts to be sticking straight out. With larger breasts, that requires a lot of tightness and uncomfortable bra technology. And since I don’t wear an hourglass silhouette very often, having my boobs lifted way up makes me look larger than I am all over–i.e., the tent effect. Some sag is natural and more comfortable AND looks better, in my opinion. LET US SAG.