Samanta Mintaka A122 in 65G

I love Samanta's bras. I think they're gorgeous and very luxurious looking. Unfortunately for me, they do not ship directly to the US and I've been having issues finding retailers that do ship to the US that carry them. My options are therefore limited to second hand purchases, and even more limited because very few come up in both my sizes and a style I love. I loved the Mintaka the moment I laid eyes on it. It comes in two different color-ways and a 5 cuts (push-up, full coverage semi-padded, full coverage un-padded, un-padded balconette, and padded balconette). I love the cream color way best but beggars can't be choosers. I wish I had done my research on this style number before I purchased because I would have realized early on it would not have worked and saved myself the heartache. Because of my petite stature, full-coverage anything usually does not work in one way or another simply because of 'too much'-too much cup, too much width, too much wing height etc.

A122 is Samanta's full coverage un-padded style. To quote Samanta's description: This bra is designed for women with larger breasts. It collects the bust to the cleavage. Lifts it giving it strong support and comfort. Hidden supports inside the bra offer additional support.The cups cover 80% of the bust. I would have done better in their un-padded baclonette or padded balconette styles. This is a gorgeous lacey sheer bra. It is a 3 part cup with side sling. The straps are fully detachable which means that you can wear this bra racer-back if you so need. These straps were unfortunately wide-set which was sadly the deal breaker for me. I was lucky enough to receive the matching underwear to this bra however these were a major disappointment. They were almost entirely made out of the band material (which, granted, was super soft) with barely any of the beautiful lace on them. I purchased this bra in an EU 65G, which translates to a UK 30F. I believe this to be the best size for me.

This bra has a lot going on. There's two different kinds of lace on the cups. The lace on the gore is the lace that is on the top of the cups while the straps are embroidered with a completely different floral pattern. On top of all that lace the bow is double layer of ribbon with the top being velvety. The band is purple knit and super soft. It gives an east-west appearance. It is a lot of boob. There's not much immediate projection-it pretty much goes up like this / with the littlest bit of a curve. 

I love this shape, surprisingly. I didn't think I'd love a pointy bra but I do! I believe the reason behind the east-west shape is because the seams on the bottom cup are not located on the apex but to the side. You can see how deep that top part is. This is not only what makes it full coverage but what contributes to the pointy shape too. Let's see if I can explain this. I'll compare it to one of my SM's. The SM has a deeper bottom part and a shorter top part. That means that it's a rounder more minimized shape because there's a flatter angle when the longer bottom part is connected to the shorter part (I hope that makes sense!) while on this bra they are coming together at a sharper angle because the top and bottom are pretty much the same length. Please let me know if this needs to be explained better. I created a diagram which I hope helps with the explaining. The SM is in black and the Mintaka is the purple:

Hopefully you can see what I mean by the SM connecting at a flatter angle then the Mintaka does-picture the SM coming together at a 110 degree angle while the Mintaka comes together at a 90 degree angle (give or take).

I'm not entirely certain if these slings do anything but they weren't uncomfortable. From the side, you can see how far out the bottom seam sits. I find that this bra fits perfectly true to size depth wise with the wires being on the wider side of average. The wires were originally too wide so I bent them in by .25 inches.

The band runs perfectly true to size. The straps are half-adjustable and for the first time I don't have issues with half-adjustable straps not being able to be shortened enough.

I had wrinkling in the bottom of both cups. I assume this is due to the fact that this bra isn't quite immediate projection friendly.

This is why I gave the bra up. Although it looks fine in photos and on paper, for some reason the outer edge of the cups/straps dug into my armpit area and super-chafed. It was very uncomfortable. I hoped that by narrowing the wires a little bit it would help. It did, but not enough to justify keeping this bra.

The tag is super cute. It's the brand name Samanta as a piece of stand-alone embroidery.

The lace on the gore and top of the cups was mirrored but the lace on the bottom parts were not. I don't mind this: it was mirrored where it would be the most noticeable and that's all I care about.

The straps are super cute embroidered flowers.

This is the short-style bottom in a size large (it fits like a medium). Very comfy but super disappointing. I feel like Samanta half-assed this. I would much rather they used the laces from the bra in the brief instead of making it mainly of knit. That feels very lazy to me.

Overall, this bra felt very high quality. I would love to purchase more sets directly from Samanta so that I can pick what style I want instead of waiting to see what comes my way. Unfortunately, their shipping to the States is prohibitively offensive so if anyone knows of any stockists that ship to the US please let me know! Samanta has some gorgeous gorgeous stuff and I envy anyone that gets a chance to try them. I'd love one from each season! I hope I can continue to explore Samanta's options and ranges in the future.