You know how they say it takes a village to raise a child? Sometimes I feel like my village was my swim team family. Most days of my life, for like 18 years, I was with my team. So, basically, I lived in my swim suit and had wet hair every day—which, honestly, I didn’t even know wasn’t really socially acceptable until a couple years ago.
Anyway, my point is, that swim suits are important to me. I wore exclusively swim team practice suits up until my freshman year of college, when I learned (late, of course) that people don’t do that. Everyone wears those cute fashion suits and stuff. I never liked those though because they weren’t functional. I mean, why wear a suit you can’t play in?! I never understood that—though I do now because I really do like to just take naps by the pool and get in just to cool off. I did my research though, and the styles have changed, and now I have a good collection going!
My swim suit collection started a few years ago when I moved to Hawaii. I loved playing in the ocean as well as laying out on the beach. I needed a suit I could do both in. But I also needed suits that I could body surf in without exposing myself to the entire island. I ALSO needed my suits to not be a million dollars. That one’s pretty important to me. I need a few quality suits (often the more expensive ones) but I’m totally fine with the rest of my suits being cheaper as long as I can rely on them to get me through my beach festivities.
I’m kind of picky when it comes to the suits I buy, just because I’m a swimmer and I think that’s made me particular for certain styles. My suit requirements are: low back, cheeky, lower neckline (I can’t have the suits that go to the neck because I tan super easily and I don’t want a white chest and black arms. Not cute.), secure top (to avoid embarrassing accidents), simplistic/minimal design, solid colors/stripes, and flattering. Oh, and one piece. I see lots of women in bikinis but I’m a one piece kind of girl! Luckily though, the list I’ve compiled below has options for whatever your fancy!
OK. Here’s a list of my favorite places to get suits, according to price and quality. Most of these sites have sales for swimsuits right now as summer is soon upon us… YAY!
Expensive but worth it for great quality and durability:
Jolyn.com (practice suits, but just came out with some cuuuute lounging suits)
* Most swimsuits on these sites do not have padding, so read the descriptions carefully if you want it. But to combat the no padding issue in swimsuits, I never buy a suit without padding if it doesn’t have a pattern. It’s gotta at least have some stripes or lil flowers or something.
Sidenote. I won’t ever buy suits from websites like Cupshe and Romwe, etc. Any of those sites where it takes more than a month to get to you, and they all sell the same suits. The cheap price isn’t worth the gamble of: if it’ll fit, if it’ll arrive, and if the fabric isn’t paper thin. You never know, and I’ve wasted enough money on those sites to know that I’ll never go back.
I think I have about 15 swim suits in my possession right now, and every year I get more (someone teach me self-control, please). But I know there are so many places I haven’t even looked. So, if you have any secret swimsuit sites in mind, let me know!
