All right! Here comes the actual reviews of the things
I told you I got from
Pepperberry!
I do think this dress looks like it could be rather matronly, and a lot of people probably won’t like it for that – but it also has sort of a country-vibe that I thought looked rather cute, plus it looked very comfortable. So I gave it a shot.
When I tried it on, I was really surprised by how much I liked it!
As you can see, it has a little zipper in the side that makes the fitted part slip over your boobies, and it’s quite easy to work, and is nicely concealed still when it’s worn. This is 100% viscose, which truly is a wonderful fabric – I should know by now that whenever I think “Oh, this feels lovely, I wonder what it is”, then it’s probably viscose
It had room for my lower half, but without adding volume to it, so it gave a very nice ‘natural’ silhouette. And as far as the top half goes, it was a pretty good fit too! If I pulled my arms back or something like that, it did feel a little tight, but nothing that would make me worry about the buttons or anything.
The underbust is highlighted with a wider panel that is more fitted than the rest of the dress, which looks quite lovely. As you can see that it is actually possible to place it much in the way
I explained I wanted it – though it was a bit looser than what would be ideal, and combined that the top part was a bit smaller than ideal, it had a tendency to ride up the boob a little. But nothing too bad, if it scored high on all other accounts, I would look past that!
As for the style, I definitely got that country feel that I liked it for, and I felt so very comfortable in it.
In fact, I had decided I would definitely keep it.
But, then I remembered the price: Originally, it had been £69, but I got it on sale for £41 – which is still a lot! So I took a second look at it, and tried to picture how much value I would get for that.
I’m not much of a dress-girl, though I do throw on a short jersey pencil-skirt under a tunic every once in a while as my everyday wear, but I felt like this dress wasn't really something I’d wear to uni – I think the long sleeves has a tendency to throw off the casual-ness. It isn't a sexy/young/smart dress either, so I wouldn't wear it to clubs or parties of that sort. And it isn't really formal enough to wear to a wedding etc. (for my personal style, anyways) – So I was left with very few options to actually wear it. Which is not a deal breaker, if there is a great piece you want to wear, you can make the occasion. But, now the situation looked like a) not enough occasions to wear it b) not a perfect fit and c) overpriced.
If just one of those factors had been a little better, I would have kept it, but in the end, I decided not to.
I had looked very much forward to this one, as it seemed very useful as everyday wear for me. But, oh, I was sourly disappointed!
The fit is completely off! I have located the problem to be that the neckline is super tight – if you compare with the profile shot in the previous dress, you can see that my boobs start to curve out pretty high up – higher than this neckline. But here, the neckline lays completely flat, forcing my boobs to only take up the space between neckline and empire-cut, which just won’t do! I measured, there are only 18cm there, and I then measured my boobs in similar way:
 |
| I remeasured, since I'm holding it a little high here |
And they measured 27cm! So naturally, the empire-tie was sitting on top of my boobs, making the rest of the top stick out from my body as you see. You should definitely size up in the curvy-ness of this! It’s too bad, as I really think I could have gotten some use out of this – the length (though shorter on me, due to a bit extra vertical length, and a lot more horizontal :b ) makes it appropriate for leggings, and could therefore be used as a little casual party dress, and also as a comfy top over jeans. A shame that it won’t be for me!
Oh my goodness, this is so my style. Well, white is not so much my preferred color, but the shape, the style, ahh, I loved it.
Isn’t it lovely? The fitted underbust is the tightest and widest of them all (which is a good thing!) and the neck-line is so super flattering. I love the small knots for buttons, and the material (100% cotton) feels so right for the style. It seems pretty sturdy, but still sheer (but still could be done with a nude bra) and lightweight. Sigh. The bottom hem is a little more fitted than the rest of the body, which I was surprised by actually liking – it skimmed quite nicely over my rounder lower belly.
Ok, wake-up call, because I didn’t actually keep this top. It’s too small. You can see the wrinkles by the buttons and generally on the top half of my boobs that it is straining, meaning that the otherwise pretty tight underbust was forced up on my boobs a bit. But the arms were the true deal breaker: You can really see that they are tight, and I had to unbutton them to move my arms properly (unfortunately, I also loved the look of the rolled up sleeve – it was pretty hard to part with this top!).
Added to that comes that it bagged weirdly on the back of my shoulders
Such a shame, as I sure would have loved this! Had there been a size 20SC (or SDC), then I’d be willing to pay full price, even!
Ok, I just said I didn’t prefer white tops, and yet here’s another (and quite lovely too!). Though I must say, this delicate chiffon would be reserved for fancy occasions for me, and thus I wish it had been darker, to work better for evenings.
This one is most definitely sheer, but it comes with a nice little cami:
I quite like this little top – it’s super soft (so of course, it’s viscose again!), and a lovely cream color. I like the fact that you can see even on such a simple garment that Pepperberry really do keep boobs in mind – the straps are fully adjustable, and you can see the side seam that allows the boob room is much longer than on standard sized strappy tops: Pepperberry could have easily ‘cheated out’ by just getting a very stretchy standard top, but they made the fit throughout
So, here it is in its entirety:
You can sort of see that yes, it is again riding up a bit in the front – too small boob space and too large empire, but again, not too bad. The tie-around had four small hoops to put the band through, but since I wanted to have it seem a bit lower, I left it out of those, and it still looked quite good, as the hoops are quite discrete (in fact, they are rather difficult to even see, aren’t they?)
I think the slit sleeves are quite well done too – I was worried that it would look like a cape from my armpit to my wrist, but it is truly only my elbow that sticks out, which is a rather good look, I think. The slit only goes from mid-upper-arm, then it is closed at mid-lower arm and then finally has the little clothed button at the wrist (which is rather tight btw. I think a lot of people would have to unbutton them to get over their hands).
The lower half on this was the most fitted of the tops, and in the end, that’s what meant I didn’t keep it – though it was quite flattering to have it that fitted, the non-stretchy material also meant that this would be the type of top where I’d have to worry about what to wear on my bottom half – as you may have noticed in some of my previous posts, all my jeans are quite bulky in the waist-area, and there just wouldn’t be room for that extra bulk on this top (I’m wearing leggings here). So, getting down-votes due to color as well as combination-options, was enough for me to send it back.
I love these burnt/earthy colors! And again, this is so very much my style, very casual, a bit of a country vibe
And here’s how it fit:
I don’t think this is supposed to be a very fitted top – I think it’s a flattering alternative for “jeans and a T-shirt”-look for the busty. The fact that it didn’t have zippers or anything also made the fit much different – the empire was definitely the loosest of them all. Surprisingly it wasn’t that small in the bust though- being a combi of ‘really curvy’ and ‘super curvy’, I had thought the fit would have been smaller, but it didn’t seem to be. So, for sizing on this, I’d probably suggest going down a body-size, and keep it on the smaller of your curvy-sizes.
It’s quite stretchy, with 35% elastane, and 65% viscose (ahh, nice and soft) and it has sort of mottled pattern which nicely softened the color.
The sleeves are perfect for me – just the right length, a little longer than my elbow, so they look good when pushed up an inch, and they are stretchy enough that it’s completely comfortable, but fitted enough not to add anything to my large arms!
I had a bit of think about how I felt about the way the wrap over was done – it looks a bit like they made it a bit too wide, and decided to pin it, but on further thinking, I think it’s done quite nice: Had it wrapped much further over, the non-stretchy decorated hem would have gone across the boob, thus likely to sit and look weird. But had they not stitched it, it would be very low and wide cut. So I think was a nice solution.
Speaking of low cut – this is pretty cleavagy for some (you’ll need a plunge bra). I rather like a bit of décolletage, but I snapped some pictures of likely positions that would expose most cleavage (aka. sitting, arms forward, leaning moderately over, seen from a higher angle – as when working on a computer, writing at a desk etc.) vs. least cleavage (aka. standing straight, arms down side, from a normal angle)– I found it a good balance for my taste!
All in all, this top didn’t have many down-points – the fit isn’t figure-hugging, no, but I don’t think it’s meant to. I like (and need) super casual tops too, and thus this fits the bill. So this had the honor of staying with me, yay! I’ve worn it out a few times already, and gotten compliments, so I’d say it is quite flattering even in all its casual-ness!
This top caught my eye due to the nice square-ish neckline, a very flattering shape on me, and the long sleeves – it’s so darn cold here! So I hoped this warm color would do as an everyday top:
But oh, the fit is off: Much like the Side Tie Leaf top, the neckline seemed oddly tight! You can see how it cuts into my upper-boob, pushing them down, flattened! This didn't have an empire cut of any kind, so it didn't look as disastrous, as they actually had room when pushed lower, but still quite an awful fit: I’d get better from standard sized!
Naturally, this meant it was going off the list of things to be considered for me, but I still made some notes on it:
The sleeves were a bit tight too – the thick cotton didn't have so much give, so I’d suggest sizing up if you think you may be in the upper range of your size.
The waist is defined by a small gathering on the back, which unfortunately doesn't show up on my pictures, due to the back of the shoulders being so loose, it bags over it. Nor is this detail mentioned on the site, even though this could be a pretty crucial point for a lot of people to either convince them of getting it, or for them to decide not to.
It was very generous on waist and hips too – in fact, it felt just like a large standard size.
So, this was what I got from Pepperberry this time around! Hit and miss, though mostly ‘miss’ and ‘almost’.
I've made two more purchases as my exchange order that I am now waiting to arrive:
Hope it works out!
