SPANX VS SKIMS

Maybe you put on a few pounds during the pandemic, maybe you’re on the road to your new body but you’re not quite there yet and you need a little help. Insert shapewear, actually insert SPANX or SKIMS. If you are at all confused (for my male readers) as to what a SPANX or a SKIMS are, it’s just shapewear (body smoothing/slimming under garments for the ladies). Pay attention gentlemen you might just learn something.

SPANX VS SKIMS

Gone are the days of the bone crushing girdles (ask you’re grandmothers and aunties about it, this post is only but so long…lol) we have now reached much a more civilized place in society where we squeeze and smooth our unwanted fat in what amounts to high-tech elastic.

SPANX totally reset the bar on body shaping under garments. If Spanx reset the bar, it’s probably fair to say SKIMS made it prettier, more popular, and dare I say a bit more functional. One should expect nothing less from the pop-culture icon Kim Kardashian. SKIMS is Kim K.’s creation.

To be completely fair, this isn’t an apples to apples comparison. Being a novice to the shapewear game I unwittingly purchased a bodysuit from each brand thinking they would be comparable in fit considering they were comparable in price and I thought design as well; I was wrong. Gentlemen keep reading if you still care at this point.

SPANX

Let’s start with the OG, SPANX. I purchased the Thinstinct Thing Bodysuit from Spanx. It’s definitely thin, they got that part right. The bodysuit is described as follows: “…the Thinstincts® Thong Bodysuit is the perfect smoothing, lightweight layering piece.” It’s definitely light weight, great piece for layering, but it doesn’t quite check the box in the smoothing department; at least not for me.

When you say smoothing to me I’m expecting something on my body, my baby belly, to be smoothed out or something close to that. Sadly there was no smoothing. Now to be fair the finer details (which I didn’t read) did say “Non-compression bust provides a smoosh-free fit.” Smoosh free in the bust, I get, but just sitting there looking/feeling like a camisole isn’t what I expected. A more accurate description would be the material itself is smooth, extremely soft to the touch. It feels amazing on, I will say that, but to retail at $68 US dollars, in today’s world, where all my coins are precious to me, I’m gonna need a bit more. Sadly it ends up being a really nice (really expensive) camisole for me.

SKIMS

Now for the new kid on the block, SKIMS. I’m a sucker for presentation. The bodysuit came in the cutest box (made of recycled materials to boot) featuring a whole lotta brown bodies. If Kim K. don’t do nothing else, she definitely paints a pretty picture like nobody else. Even if she has to photoshop a whole person in to the shot to get the picture just right that’s what she does…lol SKIMS also excels in the their diversity. They feature a variety of products in various shades to match the skin tones for all the colors of the rainbow. By comparison, Spanx is somewhat limited in that regard, i.e. the Thinstincts bodysuit only came in two shades; soft nude and black.

If it wasn’t obvious I’m a black girl and I’d like my shape-wear to melt into my blackness (brownness if we’re being literal) just like I want my fat to melt away but that’s another story for another day. I ordered the Sculpting Bodysuit w/ Snaps in the shade Sienna. Sienna even sounds more fun than soft nude…lol

Bay-beeeee this body suit sculpted like it was suppose to sculpt. Even Laila (my baby girl, unpaid intern, and impromptu photographer) noticed the difference immediately. The SKIMS bodysuit comes with snaps, which makes going to the ladies room less like an acrobatic feat. I don’t know about you but completely disrobing in public restrooms is not my idea of fun. Unfortunately Spanx misses the mark here too, no snaps on the Thinstincts bodysuit. It’s a total strip tease with that one and if you are in fact layering as suggested in the description, that’s even more of a hassle, all the clothes have to come off. Oh to be a woman.

And the winner is…

So you may have guessed which brand I’m liking more right now, it’s SKIMS. For a lot of reasons, see the comparison chart below. I’m not writing SPANX off, that would be foolish (they could sponsor me one day, wink, wink) but for this review SKIMS has my vote. Kimmy doesn’t need anymore of our money but she’s done something pretty cool in the shapewear game and I’m here for it. And she was instrumental in brining awareness to the Cyntonia Brown case and a number of other causes that affect black and brown people; for that alone I’ll toss her a few coins. I’m mostly here for the fashion but I do have layers, I’m evolved like that…lol

SPANX VS SKIMS

The Category Is…	SPANX	SKIMS	Comments
Price	X	XX	Both bodysuits are set at a “fair” market price (how much does it really cost to make shapewear honestly), however SKIMS gives you more bang for your buck given the features (snaps in the lady parts area and it actually sucks in the fat).
Fit/Feel	XX	X	Both bodysuits are soft to the touch and feel great on. SPANX feels like you’re wearing your own skin. They win in the feels department.
Color	X	XXX	SKIMS wins hands down for its diversity in color and skin tone matching.
Packaging	X	XX	I love a well packaged product; it says you thought about this and you care. Spanks came well packaged but boring. Kimmy did it better.
Total	5	8	SKIMS wins!!!

Until next time,

Xoxo

Andrea