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Free Underwear Alert! And a Peek at My Work-at-Home Mom Uniform

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Special thanks to TrueandCo.com for providing a Uniform bra for review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

This post was originally published on July 11, 2014. I am re-publishing it now because True & Co. just released a $25 off coupon (with no minimum purchase!) for first time shoppers. Hop on that deal right this second, ladies (free underwear link!)!!! Free underwear, or super rockin’ bras at a super sweet price! 🙂 

True & Co. (read my first True & Co. review here) may just have done one of the best crowd-sourcing initiatives in recent history. They took information from over 500,000 women in an effort to create a line of bras that would become a welcome addition to the uniforms that we all put on every day, wildly varied though they may be based on the woman, or even just based on the day of the week or the time of day.

I really loved reading their blog post showing the self-selected uniforms of some of the employees at the company, as well as of some of their customers. You can see individual personalities coming out, as well as degrees of formality. Some of you who read this are in pantyhose and high heels every day at the office. Many of you are rocking yoga pants (shout out!). And there are thousand of points along the spectrum in between where your look might fall. But whatever you wear, you want to be comfortable and feel like yourself. And you certainly don’t want your bra to be something that you dread putting on!

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I thought it would be fun to show you a recent example of my daily uniform, which my daughter actually helped me pick out for the day (more on that later). I love wearing my Uniform collection bra, which in my case is the Contour. It is absolutely the first one I reach for when I have a pile of clean laundry. I won’t go as far as to say that I forget that I’m wearing a bra when I have it on, but I will say that it feels about as comfortable as it possibly could while still providing the support I need. I REALLY like it! I particularly like the feel of the material (microfiber) and the extra lining around the wire. It makes a big difference in the comfort level, for sure.

Want to know what else I like? The price. The contour bra is $48, which does not make it the world’s cheapest bra, but it also doesn’t make it the most expensive, either. That’s right around the price I usually pay for bras at VS, only I like this bra a lot more. You can tell when you wear it that the design is really thoughtful.

So about my uniform: I am a work-at-home mama, and I spend my day going back and forth between sessions and the computer and play sessions with my girls. So I keep it pretty casual. I’m totally living in this pair of jeans from Stitch Fix this summer, rolled up a bit to make them not quite so warm (I love this trend!). And my blue and silver sparkly shirt (found on ThredUP!) is one of my daughter’s favorites, because she thinks it makes me look like  a water fairy (we play fairies ALL THE TIME around here). You’ll also find me sporting curlier hair these days, or perhaps with the rollers still in my hair, as I tend to let them sit there for an hour or so while I do other stuff. I’m also wearing my “freedom” necklace (it’s a bird with that word printed on it). It is my daily reminder that while having the freedom to be my own boss, and while the freedom to be home with my kids isn’t easy, it is SUCH a blessing. And to help me get through my days balancing fairy games and blog posts I have my bottle of En-R-G essential oils; it keeps me rolling without those slumps in the day. You can read all about my journey with essential oils (as a total skeptic) if you like. Finally, I don’t put on much makeup if I don’t have several errands to run, but I always grab my Honest Company lip shimmer. It was a limited run product, and I don’t like to think about how I’m going to feel when it’s all used up!

Two Ways to Shop at True & Co.

Ok, so there are two ways to shop with True & Co. The first is a very traditional route: find items you like, put them in your cart, purchase them, and wait for them to arrive. You can send back what you don’t like, but you’ll pay for shipping to return the items. I have actually ordered this way, but only for underwear because I knew for sure that I was going to keep it.

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The second way to shop is by going through the Home Try-On program. You will be sent 4-5 bras, and if you so desire, a selection of underwear as well. You will have 5 days to try on the bras in the comfort of your own home and decide what you want to keep. Postage both ways is complimentary. AND…you take a 5 minute fit quiz before you get your box and you receive a personalized shop based on suggestions from the experts. They may suggest that you tweak your size based on your responses (that’s what happened with me) and I think that is so cool, because you have absolutely nothing to lose by at least trying their suggestions. Since you get a personalized shop filled with items that will fit you, you also aren’t going all over the site looking at every single bra, and then feeling disappointed when one you like is out of your size. They make it as easy for you as possible. And best of all, no having to go to the store to try on bras. HECK YES!!! Seriously, this is the best bra shopping experience I have ever had. Pretty close to effortless; love it!

Want $25?

I’ve got a $25 coupon just for you if you are new to True & Co. With most bras in the $50 range, this will save you quite a bit! If you redeem the coupon yours truly also gets a $25 credit, so you’ll be helping yourself out, as well as a fellow mom who could use some pretty new dainties! I can already tell you that I’ll be putting that credit toward another Contour bra in the Uniform collection. I want to own at least one more!

 Which of their uniform pieces do you think would work best for you? Don’t forget to take their fit quiz to get personalized recommendations! You’re gonna love it, friends! 

Dainties Delivered Straight to Your Door: True & Co. Review

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I received a complimentary gift card in exchange for providing my honest opinions, which I have done (as always!). This post contains affiliate links. 

I’m not stranger to the joys of shopping online and doing all your “trying on” from the privacy of your own home. As a mom with two little ones, it is a very convenient way for me to shop when I am am able to (usually around 4am, no exaggeration). And if there is a service where someone who knows what they are doing can help me make the right selections, well that’s a REALLY big bonus! I love when the guess work is taken away from me and I am presented with options that are ideal for my body type and my personal style.

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This is the concept behind True & Co, which is a company seeking to totally revolutionize the way women shop for bras. I usually avoid shopping for bras until I absolutely HAVE to, and I am quite loyal to one particular brand simply because I know how it will fit and I know that they don’t have itchy tags all over the place making it impossible to try on. It’s about as streamlined as I could possibly make the process. But True & Co. gives me the opportunity to answer some questions for them about how my current bras are (or aren’t) working for me, and makes particular suggestions based on my answers.

Perhaps what surprised me the most about filling out the form was that the company suggested that I try a different size bra based on my responses. It has never occurred to me to try on a different size, and I haven’t been sized in several years, so I decided to follow their advice and have bras sent in their recommended size instead of in the size that I always buy. I also had the option to include a selection of underwear to check out. Since the box comes with complimentary shipping both ways, I decided to go for it. Here’s what arrived:

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My Thoughts on True & Co.’s Selections

First, let’s talk about the underwear. The underwear all came individually packaged in plastic. The information I received (which I read prior to touching everything, thank goodness) stated that if the plastic was open on the underwear, it could not be returned. At first I found this to be extremely annoying. There’s no way I’m going to buy a pair of underwear that I can’t at least feel to see if I like the fabric.

The more I thought about it, though, the more I understood True & Co.’s policy. What other way do they have to make sure people don’t try on the underwear before sending it back? That would certainly be unsanitary. I think there needs to be a middle path on this issue, though. They need to come up with a way that the customer can at least touch the underwear to help with the decision-making process. Since the underwear was on the expensive-side (many of my bottoms were around $20 each), the fact that I couldn’t even touch them made it a no-brainer for me; back in the return bag they all went. If I were to order another True & Co. box I’d totally skip over the underwear next time.

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Now for the bras. I was sent some really cute and also really practical bras. The polka-dot bra would have been a HECK YES for me were it not for the fact that it wasn’t padded at all. More power to you if you don’t feel the need to wear a lightly padded bra, but I definitely don’t feel that way. When I was making my bra selections from their recommended list, I didn’t make a point of checking that all the bras were lined, so I take a bit of the blame here. But on the other hand, I also included in my profile that I filled out that I wear lightly padded bras only, so I wasn’t expecting a bra without any sort of lining to be included in my offerings. Such a bummer…you’ll just have to trust me that it was adorable on!

Two of the remaining 3 bras, all of which were in the larger size they recommended, were too big, just as I feared they would be. I’m glad I tried their suggestion, though, since there was absolutely no risk in doing so (remember, free shipping both ways!). And the fourth bra in the mix fit beautifully and I decided to keep it.

When your box from True & Co. arrives, you have 5 days total to try on your bras, complete feedback on what was sent to you, and get it back in the mail. If you return the items without completing the feedback about what you are keeping, and what you are returning, you will be charged a $20 convenience fee. I think that sort of charge is a first for me with these types of boxes, but I understand why they do it. In order to provide you with excellent recommendations, they really do need to get to know your likes and dislikes better so that every box can improve and delight you even more. If they don’t know why you returned items, they won’t learn!

One other thing that I’d like to see them do is to go ahead and have the return label adhered to the return bag. It was just a bit of an inconvenience to have to cut and tape the label on myself; I suppose I’ve been spoiled by other companies who have the bag totally ready to go and all I have to do is add the products. Not a big issue, just one small thing that will make the process a bit easier for the customer.

 Want To Try True & Co.?

While I wasn’t head-over-heels with True & Co., I will say that I think it is a great concept and totally worth trying out. I’ve got a SWEET True & Co. coupon for $25 off your first purchase! Prices for bras vary from brand to brand, but most of mine were right around $50, so a $15 will bring the price down quite nicely. It could also net you a free (or close to free!) pair of underwear! Just take 5 minutes to fill out the quiz and you’ll be on your way to your personalized boutique of options! And get this, friends: once you are signed up, you get your own referral code so that you can give your friends a $15 off coupon, and when they use it, YOU get a $15 credit to the shop, too! Free underwear for everyone! 😉

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And speaking of free underwear, if you post a picture of your box on their facebook page, they will send you a coupon for a free pair of underwear with your next purchase. Woo hoo!

What do you think? Does this sound like a service you would use?