This is the longest I've ever had something without reviewing it...one week today. Damn, I guess that tells you how unenthusiastic I was to write this, huh?

I originally wanted this cincher in black to go with most of my wardrobe, but the black was sold out in size small, and I thought hey, maybe red will be a pop of color amidst all of my black...
Well, I'm not disappointed...but more on that to come.

Packaging: The packaging on this was actually the one thing about the piece that was more than "meh." It came in a nice, thick plastic bag, sealed. No fanciness, frills, or fuss to it, but very sturdy and not cheap.

Appearance: Bright, satiny-finished red, exactly as pictured. For once, I was HOPING the picture was off a little bit, to make this a bit less bold, but eh. I can't be disappointed by it being true to the stock photos by any means! The bow is stupid, ugly, and GIANT. In the photos, it just looks a little oversized...in reality, it's about a foot long. I took mine off before even trying the waist cincher on, and I'm never putting it back. Yuck.
The garter straps are NOT removable, unless you cut them...and even though they're slightly adjustable, they're still too short for me. If you have a long torso, ladies, you might as well just cut them off. It's a pity, too, because they're actually pretty heavy-duty feeling and quite stretchy.

Size: I ordered a size small, to be on the safe side. I usually wear a small or medium in shirts, but since a) this is supposed to cinch your waist, b) it's underbust so I don't have to worry about my boobs not fitting in and c) I've had previous experiences where the smallest size was too big, I thought it better to go with the small over the medium.
I was definitely right. I have about a 28" waist and the size small fits perfectly. I tighten it as much as possible, to give the best shape, but I see no reason larger people couldn't order a size down. There's plenty of string to spare!

Does it do its job? Only sort of. While I get a slight cinch at my midsection, it's minimal for how tight I feel the strings are pulled. For metal bones, there sure isn't a lot of...support? Cinch? I wore this for several hours and the boning got all bent at the waist. Come to find out, the two bones that lay on your side? The metal is only in the bottom half of them! I know better than to expect a serious corset from this site, especially for about $40, but still...that just took off any additional points this piece would have gotten.

What really annoys me is that there's no front closure of any sort. You have to loosen all the laces and pull this either over your head, or up over your butt like I did. WTF? Poorly designed if I ever saw it.

I still can't find any use in this, sadly. It got all bent out of shape after 1 (half) day of use, and there seems to be no fixing it. Boo disappointment!