Freya Siren Bikini Review

I recently become aware that the site Large Cup Lingeriealways has free international shipping, plus they have a great outlet section.They mostly just sell Freya and Fantasie items, but I was on the lookout for another bikini, and I was thrilled to see how low their prices were for Freya’s Siren bikini.

I’d had my eye on this bikini for awhile, having tried it on in a shop once and loved it. I am also pretty picky when it comes to swimwear designs, and this is one of the rare patterns that catches my eye.

The bikini top has a plunge shape and is constructed with two sections and a vertical seam—similar to Cleo’s Juna bra and several other Freya bikinis with the same plunge shape, including the Fusion, Fontana, Waves, etc.

Freya Fusion Bikini Top

Freya Fontana Bikini Top

Freya Waves Bikini Top

I think vertical seams are one of the best ways to construct a bra, especially for giving a round shape. I got the bikini top in a 32GG. It only goes up to GG, but as the equivalent of a 30H (the smaller of the two cup sizes I normally wear) I hoped this size would fit fine. You might remember that I don’t worry as much about a tight band when it comes to swimwear since I usually just lie out and read a book in my bikinis.

Don't make my mistakes--remember to reapply your sunscreen.

The 32GG ended up being perfect in the cup, which means it runs a little bigger than I was expecting. If you're sized out by just a half size or a single size, you might be able to squeeze into this one. It was big for me in the band, but I guess that’s no surprise since I cheated and got a 32. This one runs true to size in the band, unlike many swimsuits which run smaller because of all the Lycra. I will need to take in the band to feel more stable in it. I think the band runs a little bigger than the band on the Fantasie Ibiza bikini I reviewed earlier, since I felt that the 32 was an okay fit in that one.

The shape from the side is really great—very round.

I also like the fact that it is a bit lower-cut. Since it’s a bright white shade with sassy animal print, I was always intending this to be a flirtier, sexier bikini than my Fantasie Ibiza, and the extra cleavage plays into that. The gore also sits flat, which is a pleasant surprise considering the band is too big.

The biggest annoyance I have with the Siren top is that the seams are pretty bulky. It's not padded at all, but there seems to be a lot of stuff going on in that seam. It shows under tops and I noticed the seam became very prominent when I was lying down on the beach. I wonder if the cups were even too big for me and that's why the seam was taking on a mind of its own because it wasn't being pulled against my body. However, the cups are spot on when I'm standing so I wouldn't want to try a smaller cup size--although I find myself tempted by the notion that I MIGHT fit into a 30GG in this style of Freya plunge bikini, as I do in the Deco. I think the 30GG bikini would be about a half size too small, though. 

As for the bottoms, I was a little unsure what size to order. I normally need a medium for my hips, but a small for my butt. I didn’t want any cutting in on the sides, so I chose the medium. 

I think either size would have had some problems. If I got the small I would have had visible love handles. But with the medium, it is definitely too big on my butt. Swimwear also gets even bigger when it gets wet, so I’m going to have to work some magic to ensure I won’t find myself pantsless after a wave washes over me. The trick I usually use when I have this problem is to take in the crotch section a bit. This pulls down the back of the briefs so they sit where my diminutive butt is and won’t get baggy. Doing that also makes the briefs sit a bit lower on the hips, which I like. I think for people with a more average sized butt in relation to their hips, going with your normal bottoms size should be fine.

It’s hard to tell in photos, but the leopard print on the Siren actually has a border of silver glitter on each spot. 

I hadn’t realized that when I ordered it, but honestly, I’m down with it. I’d recommend this bikini if you want a bit of shimmer and glitz this summer. It really makes me feel gorgeous, which is pretty important when you’re half-naked on a beach, if you ask me!

Freya "Antoinette" and "Amy" Review

I have a lot of reviews to do as I’ve had a bit of a bra shopping spree. I’ll be leaving the UK to go back to the US in three weeks, and of course it will be more difficult to access good bargains, so I’ve been taking them where I can find them over the past month. I’ll try to space out the posts a bit, but I do want to try to get them all up soon to help others who are trying to order online.

Freya’s Antoinette bra is an older style that they don’t make any more. I used to own it in these pink patterned and blue/black patterned colorways, but those are very rare and difficult to find anymore.

However, there is pretty good availability of the black, red, and nude Antoinettes on Brastop and eBay at really good prices.

I got the red Antoinette in 30H. As you may remember, I’ve started wearing 30 bands recently because my 28s were aggravating me. The band on the Antoinette is very firm and feels a lot tighter than other 30 bands, especially compared to Freya’s more recent styles. (I’ve found it is more or less true in general that Freya’s older styles had much tighter bands than the new ones, but not across the board. For instance Freya’s older Arabella and Jolie bras always had bands that ran looser.)

The shape I get in the Antoinette is quite good. It’s not mind-blowingly round like the shape I get from my Panache Sienna or the Masquerade Rhea I tried a few weeks ago, but it is fairly round and actually make my boobs look smaller than the Panache bras I've clung to for years. In addition, it gives more support from the top without totally squashing my full-on-top boobs so it reduces bounce a lot more than the Panache Sienna/Confetti and is therefore a better everyday bra in the long run. (Yes, I admit it.)

I also got this bra in black, again in 30H.

Obviously these bras are both somewhat plain, but in a pleasant minimalist way, I think. They are well-suited to being T-shirt bras due to the lack of any decorations sticking off them. The Antoinette doesn’t work very well with sleeveless or strappy tops though. I’m accustomed to wearing my bras with thin camisole tops, and I don’t mind having my straps showing, but the straps on the Antoinette are not only extremely thick, but really ugly. They have the criss-crossed rope detail I mocked in this old-school post and, although they are very comfortable on my shoulders, I do really wish they were thinner or at least prettier.

I also picked up Freya’s Amy bra in a 30HH.

For all intents and purposes, this is the exact same bra as the Antoinette (as opposed to bras like the Clarissa, Pippa, etc that are very similar but have tiny differences). The obvious difference here is that I got it in a size up from my Antoinettes simply because that’s what was available in this long-discontinued style. I’m including it in this review mostly to show the difference between the two cup sizes, not because I expect many people will stumble upon this older style for sale. Because I’m between sizes in the Antoinette/Amy, both sizes fit. In the 30H it is just almost cutting in at the top edge, while the 30HH Amy is a better fit and gives a slightly nicer shape but covers too much skin, making it more difficult to wear under tops. If I was choosing which size to get, I’d probably go with the 30H. I’m finding that in most cases where I am between sizes, I do prefer to go with the smaller possible size because in the larger size it often seems as though the whole frame of the bra is just slightly out of scale for my body.

The pattern on the Amy is pretty ugly, let’s be honest. I always had thought from product photos that it was a feather pattern, but up close it’s a tacky, dated floral:

However, the shape I get in the Amy is really superb so I am willing to overlook this...

Similarly, I am willing to overlook the clunky straps on the Amy and Antoinette bras just because I find this bra a really easy fit. It’s one of the few styles of bras that I haven’t had any need to alter at all, and I’ve found myself reaching for these bras over and over in the morning. The Antoinette is a really simple choice and a great bra. It’s also versatile. My best friend has boobs with the opposite shape to mine and the Antoinette is her favorite bra. It’s one of my favorites too.

What Freya Has To Offer (Brand Overview)

What is Freya good for? A lot, in fact. I’ve given them a lot of crap in this blog, but it’s silly not to acknowedge their strong points and the fact that they’re the best brand for many people. As part of my section “Starting Points”, I want to go over some of the ups and downs of the brand and hopefully provide direction for those who haven’t tried them before. Since it’s been a couple years since I wore Freya regularly, I’m not quite as updated as I could be on their most recent styles, though I’ve tried many of them in stores. So if you have knowledge that I lack, please add it in the comments!

Freya’s classic balconette are easy to wear, and give good shape for medium-sized boobs and full-on-the-bottom boobs of any size. They also seem to be a good fit for various other shapes but these classic balconettes are often not the best for full-on-top boobs, though it’s possible to make it work.

Freya’s unpadded bras tend to come up higher in the cup, which for larger cup sizes can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming visually. I’m beginning to come around to the fact, though, that the look isn’t bad, there’s just more fabric. It’s actually a bit retro without the pointy shape. Compare my 28J Freya Clarissa to my 28J Panache Confetti to see what I mean—the Freya clearly covers more of my chest, and makes my boobs look bigger, but it still looks cute, just different.

Freya Clarissa, left; Panache Confetti, right.

These higher-cut bras also tend to go hand in hand with higher center gores, but this is more true of the older styles than the newer ones. Some of Freya’s newer styles, like the Trudie and Beau, have center gores that sit a bit lower.

The extra coverage makes Freya bras a bit more reliable than other options, actually. These balconettes will reduce bounce you might get in lower-cut bras while walking around—something that I find embarrassing, so I’ve been reaching for my Clarissa a lot during this heat wave to reduce bounce in warm-weather clothes. The downside of the higher-cut cups is that they will show under low-cut (or in my case, even medium-low-cut) tops. This is actually something that I find cute and flirty for casual situations, but I can see how it would be a bit of a bummer for more serious or businesslike occasions.

One of Freya’s best shapes can be found in the bras modeled after the Antoinette—the Clarissa, Charlotte, Katie, Adele, Lucy, Pippa, and Claudia. 

Antoinette

Clarissa

Claudia

Lucy

Katie

Pippa

All of these bras are discontinued, but you can still occasionally find them, especially the Antoinette, on eBay. The shape given by this bra is very round. Full-on-tops may need to size up or the top edge will cut in. I’m personally not sure which newer Freya bras, if any, follow this model, but I haven’t tried any on in shops that are identical. (I find myself wondering if the current Daphne style is similar?) Because these bras have the same fabric on all three parts of the cup, I find that they remain flattering even in the biggest cup sizes, whereas the bras with lacy upper sections sometimes grow unflattering as the cups grow.

The balconettes with the upper lace section (Pollyanna, Estelle, Latisha, Nancy, Faye, Edith, Luisa, Naomi, etc) are a very similar fit to the Antoinette-esque shapes for full-on-bottoms and will give a similarly good shape. 

Latisha

Naomi

Estelle

Pollyanna

These styles are also generally more forgiving for full-on-tops because the lace has a tiny bit of stretch, so sizing up may not be necessary. The Zara, Tara and Beau bras with the stripes instead of lace also fit fairly similarly to these, in my experience. 

Zara

Tara

Beau

When I tried the Sadie, it also gave a similar shape though the upper section is mesh rather than lace. This one reminds me of their older Mimi style, with a butterfly pattern, from way back when. The Mimi gave excellent shape, so I'm happy they've revived it. If you liked the Mimi, you may also like the Sadie!

Sadie

Mimi

The older Greta was also similar and was one of my favorite bras at the time that I owned it. 

Greta

The Lauren is yet another style that fits similarly. 

Lauren

In my opinion, the biggest drawback to these upper-lace-section styles and the similar designs is that they have a tendency to look less flattering on bigger cup sizes, in contrast to certain Panache balconettes and the Curvy Kate Showgirl bras, which tend to look fairly similar across sizes. Because the lace on these Freya bras is usually a different color or texture, and that section gets expanded hugely in the bigger sizes, it tends to maximize the appearance of your boobs if you are just looking in a mirror with the bra on. Obviously not everyone will care about this, but it was always a big disappointment for me when I saw how different my bras looked from how they looked on the model. Because of this, in my Freya heydey I tended to prefer to seek out the styles that had the same fabric all over the cup. I want to note that the Lauren, although it looks sort of like the same fabric all over the cup, actually isn’t—the texture isn’t continued on the upper section, and I found it looked a bit silly on my larger size because of that. (I’ve seen it looking beautiful on others of a similar size, though, so maybe the style just didn’t suit me for other reasons.)

Another category of Freya bra is their padded half-cups. A lot of their balconettes come with a padded half-cup version that has three vertical sections on the bottom and an upper section, but since the sizing is much more limited, I've never been able to try one. They seem pretty promising for those who can fit them.

Padded Half-Cup Naomi

Padded Half-cup Lauren

Then there is the Arabella bra and its knockoffs—Lyla and Eleanor. These bras are sheer in the smaller cup sizes and have only a sheer upper section in the larger cup sizes. 

Arabella

Eleanor

Lyla

There are also some semi-sheer bras that are similar in shape, such as Eloise, Roxanne, Nina, Halle, and Alexa.

Roxanne

Alexa

Eloise

Nina

Halle

The Arabella and the bras like it often don't work as well for full-on-top boobs because the upper section is just too tight and tends to cut in unless you size up. Those whose boobs are fuller on the bottom, though, however, will get a really nice, perky, uplifted shape in these.

The Jolie bra is fuller-coverage and the cups go up higher towards the straps. It is popular among those who wear it as a basic bra and it has come in some pretty cute colors over the years, some of which you can still find on sale. I’ve never tried it myself, but I have heard from others that the band can run a bit big.

 Jolie

Finally, the Deco family is one of Freya’s strongest offerings. This may be the bra with the most universal popularity in the D+ community.

Deco

Frida

Lydia

Carly 

Taylor

The regular Deco bras run about a cup size big, as do the Frida and Lydia versions, but the other versions (Carly, Crystal, Taylor, Ashlee) run truer to size, so a bit smaller than the regular Deco. The Deco also has a frustratingly limited size range. It only goes up to a GG, and it seems like everyone who wears a size above that just tries to cram themself in, or buys a bigger band size and takes in the band. Personally, I would hope to see the Deco developed up to a J, but I don’t see much action from Freya towards this. The massive fanfare surrounding the addition of the 28GG (ONE more cup size in ONE band size) proves that any sizing changes for the Deco are probably going to be miniscule and rare, which is really a shame. I’m lucky enough to actually fit perfectly in a 30GG Deco even though I usually wear a 28HH/28J, but I know many people who would really benefit from expanded sizes (and I’d probably get a 28H if they made one. Decos are almost always full price, rarely go on sale, and the colors do tend to sell out; if you want one, you typically have to invest. They are also subject to some tearing of the foam cups near the center gore after lots of wear. The bands are very well made, though, and don’t seem to stretch out much even with daily wear. These bras will typically give a lot of cleavage, which can be good or bad depending on what you’re looking for.

It’s good to know that Freya bras sometimes get a bit dodgy after HH cup, when they do go up that high. The underwires get weak, the whole structure seems off. This is especially true in their recent Nieve balconette style, which is the same as the current Edina. (The Nieve and Edina longline styles are more like the padded half-cups I mentioned above.)

Nieve balconette

Edina

I have tried both of these bras and found that they gave a pretty good shape, similar to the shape given by the upper-lace-section styles. I liked the Edina better than the Nieve but I agreed with the general feeling that they weren’t the strongest bras nor the most supportive for higher cup sizes.

In general, though, Freya doesn’t really make any bras that are actually dowdy, and it’s pretty simple to see if the cup is too small (unlike Curvy Kate, where it is the shape that indicates whether you’re in the right size, as I’ll write about in a later post). So even if you don’t get your Freya fit spot on at first, you still won’t feel like a granny or hate yourself. For this reason Freya is probably the best starter brand and should be investigated by anyone who has just learned their size. The sizing is relatively similar between Freya and Panache, so it’s pretty easy to move between the two. The biggest difference in terms of fit is that Freya center gores are generally narrow while Panache center gores are generally wide. Freya is a better option for closer-set boobs.

Freya bras are a often harder to find at sale price than Panache or Curvy Kate. Leia Lingerie’s Outlet section is the best source for sales, and their regular section has one of the best selections of current-season styles. For those not in the UK, Figleaves tends to stock current Freya styles, and in the US you can sometimes find them at Nordstrom.

Of course many of the bras I've written about have subtle differences that will cause them to fit people in different ways, but I still hope this can at least serve as a starting point to send people in the right direction. I've also been unable to include anywhere near every bra Freya has made, but hopefully seeing which bras are similar will be helpful.