Pictured above can be found here for £6.90 and here for £5.89.
Aliexpress.com is a total treasure trove of adorable lingerie at some scarily cheap prices. From what i've gathered, Aliexpress works like an asian ebay where, as opposed to individuals, factories sell their mass produced wares direct at wholesale prices. It's a completely legitimate website and you as the buyer are protected from any potential scams or fraud but i thought i'd put together a little guide to make sure you're getting the best out of the website with regards to purchasing lingerie.
Pictured above can be found here for £7.03 and here for £7.58.
First off lingerie is situated under the intimates tag in the "Apparel and Accessories" category and if you're looking for the sets like those pictured in this post then you need to ensure you've clicked on the "bra & brief sets" sub category however just browsing through the entire intimates section can yield some great knickers and bras on their own. As per all sales websites, there are options to change the currency and to customise your search to narrow down the results. I like to put in a price range then sort the results with price low to high and then have a good browse. Just a heads up, there is the option to search by size but i've found it completely useless and it's really best to just set aside an hour to really have a thorough look through all that's available.
Pictured above can be found here for £5.84 and here for £5.68.
My best advice to you is that once you've found a set you really like, shop around, there's a good chance there's another factory selling the same set at a cheaper price. To shop on Aliexpress you have to make an account but once you do you have a wishlist option which i've found to be very helpful in saving listings to so i can compare prices later and not clutter up my browser window with open tabs. Some of the sets pictured and linked here are not the cheapest price i found but i chose to go for the listings that had AA cup as an option.
Flat out, don't fall for paying more for an AA cup, or in fact any cup size. It appears to me that most of these bras are a B cup as standard and really it's only the band size that varies. However, those with A cups up to C cups in each band size (and all the sister sizes, yes) can fit into these bras. It just won't be a perfect fit. Seemingly in the vast majority of asian designed bras, there's a truly champion amount of padding so they're either going to be slightly too large and gape or give you one hell of a cleavage.
Be aware of the shape of bra that suits your bust however, if you don't fill out balcony bras in western lingerie then you're still not going to fill them out in asian lingerie. The plunge styles personally work best for me and any real fit issues i've had with these bras has been the ones in styles that don't suit my shape.
The knickers that come with each set are only in one size, i would place it around a UK 6/8, and i've yet to find a listing for a bra & brief set where the buyer is offered a choice in the size of the knickers. It's worth remembering that these factories design and create this lingerie with an asian market in mind and so not to get upset if you do find the knickers a poor fit. These are great prices even just for the bras!
If there are reviews for the items available then check these but don't take no reviews as a sign of a bad product or seller, sometimes the listings are new and you can check the sellers complete feedback on their page.
Pay attention to shipping prices, most shops offer free shipping but lots will list an item at an impossibly low price and then set a higher shipping price to try and make a profit.
Pictured above can be found here for £3.91 and here for £6.21.
Once you've made your purchase, there's a few things you need to know. Make sure you opened your Aliexpress account with an email address you check often and a password you will remember. You need to familiarise yourself with your account on the website and make sure you know where and what everything is.
In order to protect the buyer Aliexpress has a few rules in place. The seller is only given a finite period of time to process and dispatch the order and if the item hasn't been marked as dispatched in this time then the order will fail and you will be fully refunded. You as the buyer can extend this processing time if you feel the seller needs a little bit longer, although it's always advisable to contact the seller and enquire first.
An email will be sent to you, once your item has been marked as dispatched and the seller will provide you with a tracking number which can be found if you click on the "view detail" option on your order and with this you'll be able to tell when the item is in your country and also when it has supposedly arrived at your address.
Once the item has been received you need to click the "confirm order received" option and follow through with the feedback process to complete the transaction. If for any reason you don't receive your item and all communications with the seller have failed, you are protected for up to 39 days after the item is dispatched and you can open a dispute and apply to get a full refund. Aliexpress has a very comprehensive and easy to understand help section which explains all of this in more detail, should you need it.
All in all, if you're precious about your money or you only want to own lingerie that fits like a glove, doesn't have a few loose threads or lace that won't sit flat, then Aliexpress lingerie isn't for you. For the price, what you're getting is phenomenal especially in quality but it's not perfect and you have to be prepared for the occasional dud that just doesn't fit at all.
Personally i love these additions to my lingerie collection and i have plans to continue buying. These are just too cute and i cannot resist.