Ensemble nuisette string Empress rouge noir, Lovehoney

My guilty pleasure is a chemise. They have to be my most favourite things. I love how floaty and pretty they are. So you can imagine how excited I was when I got my hands on the Empress chemise.

At first glance, the red and jet black combo is really striking and eye-catching. It gives me a little bit of a burlesque vibe and I love the red satin piece to the centre, it's a little bit different but it's really gorgeous and oh so sexy.

Starting with the bralette part, the majority of this is made from soft red satin and edged in the stunning floral lace and a tiny red tassel, the bra itself is padded and underwired (which is amazing if you love a push-up bra).

The rest of the chemise is made from the soft black material trimmed with the same beautiful lace and red panel to the front.

When it comes to sizing, I have gone for a medium, so you can get an idea I am a 10/12 and a 34E. I've had no issues with the fit of the chemise or bra cups, I always appreciate a little boost in the boob area too and I was really happy when I found out this was underwired.

The G-string is the perfect fit too. It's not my thing sadly, however, it's really nicely made, I also like the red strapping to it, just a shame it's not more of a knicker.

Summary

I absolutely adore this chemise, I don't think I own anything as lovely. The colours are such a good combination together and I feel totally sexy while wearing it but also very feminine at the same time.

It's lovely to wear too and feels so soft on my skin but also keeps everything in one place with the padding and underwiring of the cups, which is something I need being a larger size cup (but also who can say no to more boobies?).

I really can't wait to try this out for my husband this weekend, I'm super excited to try it on again for him now.

It's hard to look at the entire Empress range and not instantly be inspired by the power of the bold reds and blacks. Even if you are just looking at this one piece in particular, I would recommend you have a gander through the rest of the Empress range as it's such a uniquely built collection.

I typically wear more babydoll pieces than chemises but this one really caught my eye. Something about the red silk running from the hem up to the chest was like a red carpet waiting to be walked. Edged with beautiful lace, too almost just brought to mind some badass powerful women like Black Widow.

I have a bigger chest, so having an actual full cup support in this piece was a real treat, I'm typically a 34DD (but a little lopsided), so I sometimes find it tricky to find lingerie that doesn't make that too obvious. Having padded cups, let me manoeuvre a little to disguise that. Not that it's an issue in general, but it can be a sensitivity of mine.

Even with a decent amount of ribbing and lace, it is actually incredibly soft and comfortable. I didn't notice anything digging in anywhere or any discomfort from the underwire either. There was no exposed lace that rubbed or irritated sensitive skin, it was just downright comfortable.

This extended also to the underwear, which is a pretty common gripe with me in many lingerie reviews. They're actually unlike any I've had from any previous orders. They're perfectly tied into the lingerie, as in there is a red elasticated waist, identical to the shoulder straps of the main bodice. Down to the ability to adjust the length of the straps to adapt to wearers with wider or narrower hips - which helps so much to make them comfortable to wear. They're fairly high-waisted, on me at least, and where the red strap attaches to the black lacy part of the underwear, it's on a matching gold O-ring so you can adjust even where the straps fall, without affecting the integrity of the design or making the fabric fold.

It's actually one of the more intelligent designs I've seen in lingerie underwear especially. Plus it isn't too narrow to give you that real awful wedgie feeling.

Aside from the lace, the bra part is also adorned with tiny black bows by the strap and a lovely little tassel between the cups, which I honestly sort of adore. These little elements really soften the whole piece.

I'm 5'4 and the chemise falls just below my crotch. The shoulder straps are fully adjustable, and there are clasps at the back with three intervals to make up for different chest sizes just like a standard bra. I'm also typically somewhere between a 12 and 14 and opted for the large, and found it was a great fit for me, especially with how adjustable the different straps are on the piece.

The back is sheer and falls just above the bottom of my... ahem, bottom. And shows off the back of the underwear beautifully. It also hangs in cute little frills at the back especially.