It’s rare that I actually purchase a brand-new bra, but when The Big Bra Bar announced that they were having a massive clear-out sale, I jumped at the chance to snag a 28H Ewa Michalak Toffik bra in the CH style. Normally this bra would be a custom order for me through Ewa Michalak (base bra price + custom size fee + Paypal fees + shipping from Poland would come out to at least $60), but the sale price on the BBB + shipping from the UK made my total cost for the bra about $36. Yay for bargains!
Before the CH Toffik, the only other Ewa Michalak bras I’d tried were my two in the PL(plunge) style, both 30H’s altered down to be 28HH’s. The CH, on the other hand, is a “halfcup” style. I find the site descriptions of the differences in styles a bit confusing, but basically, the the PL bras have more of the “plunging” shape and construction, while the CH bras have vertical seams and more forward/open cups. Because the CH cups are more open on top, it’s generally fairly flexible in regards to what breast shapes it’ll work for, i.e. full-on-bottom or full-on-top.
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| PL Style (image from Ewa Michalak) |
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| CH Style (image from Ewa Michalak) |
On to the review! First off, this is just a lovely and well-constructed bra (as EM bras generally are!). It still manages to feel delicate even in the larger cup sizes.
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| CH Toffik 60(28)H |
Ewa Michalak bands tend to be notoriously random in regards to how tight they run; however, I’ve personally found so far that they run on the tight side. The 28H CH Toffik was no exception for me; while I could hook it on the loosest hook when I got it, I prefer to wear it with an extender currently until I get a few wears/washes in and the band stretches a bit.
The tops of the cups are more open than the PL style, giving a rather different shape than what I’m used to – the classic Polish-brand “cakes on a plate” look (for more on Polish bra construction, see Miss Underpinning’s interesting post on the subject). For a girl that’s used to PL/plunge styles, I was pleasantly surprised! Definitely some extra lift going on with this bra. The front profile shape I get is a tiny bit wider than the more close-set look I get with plunge styles, but not in a bad way at all.
Sizewise, I’d say the cups are just a little small for me (especially when I have the band and straps fastened firmly and my boobs have “settled” into the cups); a 28HH might’ve been better. Still, the 28H is totally workable. To top it off, the bra material is really comfy (a biggie for me as I have sensitive skin). And, although the color isn’t really close to my skin tone, it’s still quite usable as a basic “nude” bra.
The PL, CH, and strapless Toffik bras are available from Ewa Michalak’s site; if you don’t see your size listed in the drop-down, you can always request a custom order. For a description of the various EM styles, see Curvy Wordy’s helpful post.