Image courtesy of Forever 21
This bikini reminded me of the lovely Megan of Body Posi Panda - these colours are 100% her!
I ordered both the top and bottoms in a 1X, which is labelled as a UK 20 but in my opinion it fits more like a UK 16-18.
I know I have said this about quite a few of the swimwear pieces I have tried this year, but LOOK AT HOW PRETTY IT IS!!!
The pastel hues are simply sublime and look good on my pasty untanned (naturally or otherwise) skin. I can only imagine how fabulous they would look if I had a tan - this bikini is definitely one for every skintone.
The bikini is made from a soft almost jersey-like material. It's super stretchy and very comfortable to wear. The top has no formal support at all and is simply a bandeau bikini with attached off-the-shoulder sleeves. It has removable modesty pads in the bust area, which of course I took out straight away because I find them nothing but trouble as they seem to move around or fold over at will.
The top has no fastenings at all so it's pretty easy to pull on and then slip off after a hard day soaking up the sun.
The 1X top was a good fit overall, but of course I had my ever-present gripe of there not being enough boob room for me. Please don't judge boob room based on my reviews unless you are as busty as me - this bikini top would be perfect for the majority of plus sized women. It's just that I am awkward with my 34LL boobs, so very few off the shelf items will fit me properly or even sufficiently well. This top really only needed a couple of extra inches to fit me well enough, so I believe it will be a good fit for most others.
I love that the bikini bottoms are comfortable but don't have too much coverage. They follow the cut of many F21+ swimwear bottoms this year - they sit below the waist on the front, come up high enough at the back, and are cut quite cheekily across the backside. Perfect!
The off-the-shoulder sleeves on the bikini top are a feature I've never tried before and I loved how they looked when I saw these photos. However, I did have a bit of a problem with the top...
As much as I loved the aesthetic of this bikini I felt like it was a constant struggle to stop the top from falling down and the sleeves from rolling down. I suspect this would not be an issue for someone less busty than me, but due to the absence of any shoulder straps my heavy boobs had a great time trying to pop out to say hello!!
So it was with regret that I returned this bikini...and ever since I have often lusted over it on the F21 website. I just hope some other plus size babes buy this one so that I can live vicariously through them instead.
The top and the bottoms are £16 each and you can buy them here.
