We Tried All the Swimsuits at Left on Friday
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Ever since actressMegan Fergusontold us about the Left on Friday one-piece that “lifted all that could be lifted” while still allowing room for snacks, we can’t seem to escape the brand’s suits.Yeehawt’sMacKinley Jade Lutes-Adlhochtold us she swims laps in her LoF one-piece, and brand consultantLucy Litmanlikes that the brand’s bottoms stay in place — exactly as they should. EvenStrategist writer Arielle Avilacounts the bikinis among her favorite swimsuits for surfing and swimming. Given Left on Friday’s extensive fan club, we thought it was time to give the swimsuit line a proper test.
Between the two of us, we tried 16 of Left on Friday’s swimsuits and two cover-ups. In general, we found the suits were formfitting and thick, so thick that it took water several seconds to breach the fabric. Another feature worth mentioning: None of the suits are padded in the chest, so you’ll want to wear waterproof pasties if you’re worried about any, well, nipple appearances. Many of the suits are available in upwards of 15 colors, so this isn’t as much of a concern with the darker colors. As for sizing, many Left on Friday enthusiasts recommend sizing up. For context, Bella, who is five-three with a short torso and is usually an extra small or small, tried the suits in a small. Liza, who is five-seven and usually wears a size medium for tops and medium or large for bottoms, tried them in a medium.
Below, our thoughts on each suit.
Our Top Picks
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The rash-guard-style one-piece protects from the sun and kept Bella warm in the water.
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Reinforced seams on this top give it extra support and a bit of flair.
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A curve-accentuating one-piece that isn’t too skimpy.
Left on Friday Sunday Suit
Bella:WhenMegan Fergusonwaxed poetic about this suit last summer, I seriously considered buying it for myself, but I waited too long and missed swimming weather. Now that I’ve tried it, I can confirm it was worth the wait. Despite the skinny straps, the suit never felt like it was going to budge when I was doing a breaststroke or backstroke. The straps also didn’t twist as much as some of the other suits I tested, but I had to do a fair amount of adjusting to prevent the suit’s lining from bunching and sticking to my sweaty midsection. (It turns out wiggling into one-piece after one-piece is quite the workout.) Especially in black, the suit accentuated my curves without revealing too much in the bikini area. The dark color even made it so I didn’t feel obligated to wear pasties at my family’s country club.
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Liza:Like Bella, I have been wanting to try out a Left on Friday one-piece swimsuit since last year but never got around to buying one in time. I tried the Sunday Suit in a lovely burgundy color called Jam, and it did not disappoint. I was tempted by some of the other brighter and lighter colors, but since I purposely don’t tan, I found that gem tones and rich neutrals work best for my skin tone, which is fair with yellow undertones. I liked the cut of the suit and I felt well supported and contained both on top and on bottom. Like a lot of women, I have a C-section scar that has left my lower belly area with a slight bulge. It’s something I am self-conscious about and that makes it uncomfortable for me to wear low-cut underwear or swimsuit bottoms. So I appreciate the compression of this suit that helps me feel more confident but isn’t aggressive. There’s a good amount of coverage in the back, which I like, but it is not the most flattering butt fit of the one-pieces I tried. The straps kept twisting and rolling down my shoulders; I think from being too short/tight, so I think I might have benefited from sizing up in this suit or trying it out in the tall fit of the same size medium. I would be curious to see if the suit shows less of my body textures in a size large as well. And I’m getting a lot of puckering at the side boob, which kind of ruins the look of the suit. I wonder if that’s because I don’t have enough boobs to fill the suit or if, again, a bigger size would fix it.
Left on Friday Streamline Suit
Bella: The Streamline reminds me of my old swim-team suits with the same high-cut leg but more personality in the back — rather than the classic Speedo racer-back, it has uncrossed straps and a cut that reveals about half of my back. While I was doing the backstroke and breaststroke, it felt the most secure out of all the suits I tested thanks to the thick straps and square neckline. I’d recommend it to anyone looking to swim their morning laps in something slightly more fashionable than a performance suit.
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Liza:Overall, this suit fit me very well and had the right amount of compression to make me feel contained, but not squished. I love the square neckline and wide straps that make it look dressy and expensive. And I really like the amount of coverage in the back booty area. As far as complaints go, I don’t like that the straps twist and pucker a bit and don’t lay perfectly flat. I also feel as though it could benefit from an internal shelf bra or very light padding just for a bit of support. I’m not all that concerned with how it looks, but while swimming, I would like to have more help to hold my boobs up. I took a chance requesting this neutral, warm, brownish purple color because I feel like it could easily go wrong and is difficult to translate via photograph, but it’s quite nice and compliments my skin tone very well. I also like the high back, and the scoop in the back is pretty too. The suit would look great under a skirt or a pair of shorts and is the best option of everything I tried on for day-to-night or if I wanted to wear the suit to a café after swimming or out to get a drink with friends after a day at the beach.
Left on Friday Weekender Suit
Bella:The rhubarblike color this suit came in definitely contributed to my love for it. In person, it looks less orange than it does on Left on Friday’s site and more like a raspberry in peak season. It’s just as plunging (complimentary) as the Sunday Suit and has a cut leg that lengthens my legs without revealing too much in the front or back. I only wish the straps didn’t twist so much in the back, especially when I was sweaty. Despite that, I never felt like the swimsuit was going to fall off my shoulders while I was swimming.
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Left on Friday Shoreline Suit
Bella:This suit is best for chaise longue people and pool-float enthusiasts — as in, the singular strap isn’t secure enough for peace-of-mind swimming. Especially when I was reaching or doing strokes with my right arm, the suit felt like it was shifting. If I had a bigger chest, I’d be worried about flashing people. At the bottom, it didn’t feel any less secure than the other suits. It’s billed as a high-cut leg (rather than mid-cut for the Weekender and Sunday suits), but the difference is imperceptible on my hips.
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Liza:I feel very Wonder Woman andBaywatch-esque in this suit thanks to the bright-red color and the asymmetrical single strap. It’s not something that I would previously have chosen for myself, but I do like how it looks and feel like it’s doing nice things for my shoulders and arms, making them look muscular. And I don’t normally wear bright cherry red, but the shade is very flattering. There’s much less puckering around the side boobs on this suit than on the Sunday Suit; that said, the fit on the chest feels a little weird because the amount of compression on one breast is different than on the other. So that’s something to get used to, but otherwise it’s very comfortable, and I will definitely be wearing it this summer. Also it is my husband’s favorite of the bunch.
Left on Friday Reef Suit
Bella:Since this suit’s straps can be worn in so many different ways (normally, crisscross, and crossed over either shoulder), you can almost think of it as four suits in one. Next time I go snorkeling, I’ll definitely wear this suit, since it’s secure enough for the breaststroke and freestyle. I just wish the cups were slightly bigger, since I needed to adjust the suit every once in a while to prevent underboob.
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Left on Friday Rays Suit
Bella:Since I tried this suit in a bright cherry red, I wondered if I’d be mistaken for a lifeguard when I was testing it out — and honestly, if I actually was sitting in a chair all day on lifeguard duty, I’d wear this suit to save myself from unnecessary sunburn. The suit felt protective in the water: It took several seconds for water to penetrate the fabric, and once it did, I actually was warm in the water. (I usually find pools too cold, so this was a welcome surprise.) When I started swimming, I was worried about the zipper coming undone, but it didn’t budge whether I was doing the breaststroke, backstroke, or freestyle.
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Liza:I’ve been curious about this style of one-piece for a while: a rash guard on top of regular one-piece bottom. As I get older, I want to protect my skin more from the sun, and this suit does that while still looking nice and sexy. It has a long zipper that goes almost all the way to my belly button and can be worn fully zipped up or fully unzipped without any nip slip. I think it looks best with the zipper zipped up about a third of the way. I chose to try it out in black and am glad that I did because it’s a lot of fabric and might be overwhelming in a bright color. The butt of the suit is my ideal amount of coverage, a tiny bit cheeky, but still holding me all the way in, and it doesn’t ride up when I move around. The sleeve length is generous but still loose enough that I can scrunch them up a bit if I want or pull the cuffs all the way down over my wrists. The material is cut off with a raw edge at the end of each sleeve, and I wonder if over time it will start to fray or curl. I also like that it has a little bit of a mock-neck collar that, when I have the zipper undone, lays kind of like a polo shirt. And where some of the other suits took real effort to put on and take off because of the level of compression of the fabric, this suit is very easy to wrangle because of the zipper.
Left on Friday Hi Tide Bottom
Bella:These bottoms have the same cut as the Weekender and Sunday suits — mid-cut leg and medium bum — but they provided even more coverage. I’m usually worried about not having enough coverage in the front of a suit, but these had too much coverage for my taste. Unless I was worried about shimmying back into my one-piece after a bathroom break, I’d choose a one-piece over these since they provide similar coverage.
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Liza:The high tide bottoms cover me and support me all the way up to and over my belly button and provide a nice amount of tummy tuck without feeling like shapewear. They are full coverage in the back and comfortable for long periods of time, but I still feel sexy and cute in them. I got the Evergreen color, which is again a nice, rich gem-tone green.
Left on Friday Hi Hi Bottoms
Bella:These are the skimpier version of the bottoms above. They hit my stomach ever so slightly lower and had a similar high-cut leg to the Reef and Shoreline suits. I only wish I didn’t have to spend so much time adjusting the suit when I put it on to prevent the fabric from bunching or rolling. Still, it’ll be a welcome addition to my swimsuit collection when I’m feeling bloated this summer.
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Liza:I was surprised by how much I liked these bottoms. They do a nice job of containing my tummy, and they have a flattering amount of cheekiness to the back. They’re very waist defining, and the leg openings are generous, giving me lots of range of movement and making my legs look longer. They’re unexpectedly comfortable for something that is so compressive, but they do cut into my hip chub a little bit and show a lot of butt in a way that might keep me from wearing them out in public or in a family setting.
Left on Friday Wear to Bottom
Bella:As far as classic bikini bottoms goes, this one felt very secure. I was able to push myself up and out of the deep end without worrying that my bottoms would come off, and they weren’t too cheeky in the back or revealing in the front. As a bonus: It has the least fabric, so it requires the least adjusting.
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Left on Friday Pool Days Top
Bella:There’s nothingtrulyspecial about this top. It feels like a sports bra I can swim in and has the coverage and support to match. If I surfed, I imagine it would look great with a pair ofswim shorts.
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Liza:This is a nice, basic bikini top. It’s cute, but it’s not as comfortable as the Club top, and the straps feel a little too short. I don’t have very big boobs, but this feels like it’s squishing mine flat, so I can’t imagine how somebody with larger breasts might feel. That said, I could probably run or play beach volleyball without any boob bouncing at all.
Left on Friday La Plage Top
Bella:I was intrigued by the sweetheart neckline and wide straps on this suit. When I was putting on the suit on a humid day, though, the straps disappointed me; they stuck to my sweaty shoulders, making it hard to get them flat. The neckline, however, added some personality to an otherwise unassuming black suit. Still, it was plenty secure while I swam.
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Liza:I appreciate the idea of this top, but I don’t think it’s achieving its purpose. Of all the suits I tried on, this one looks the cheapest, and like the Pool Days top, it kind of flattened my boobs instead of pushing them up. I wish that the two layers of strap material were sewn together so they wouldn’t bunch and twist on themselves.
Left on Friday Sunday Top
Bella:The Sunday top has the same plunging yet flattering neckline as the one-piece above, but the straps somehow twisted less when I was wearing the suit. Still, I preferred the one-piece since it looked more streamlined.
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Left on Friday CJ Suit
Liza:I love the cut of this suit and the slight side cleavage that it creates, but the medium is too small/short for my torso and too cheeky in the back for my taste. Because of this, it cuts into my hip fat in an unflattering way. It also doesn’t have any shelf bra or padding, and there is quite a lot of puckering at the sides next to my boobs that doesn’t look intentional. I wonder if a size large would fix this. I would be pretty committed to making it work because I like the shape and color a lot. It just feels like there’s something off.
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Left on Friday Club Top
Liza:I love the reinforced seams (like boning) and darts on this top that give it shape and create a bit of support. It has a bit of a bra-top vibe, which makes it my favorite of the bikini tops I tried. And the straps are much more comfortable and feel a bit longer than the similar spaghetti straps on the Pool Days top and Sunday suit. I like this top so much, I would order it again in another color.
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Left on Friday Coco Top
Liza:Again, this top is very cute, but it feels like the sizing is smaller than a medium, as it is holding me in very tightly. The straps feel a bit short and are doing that thing where they twist and roll down a little. I do like the shape and details of the design, and there is zero puckering on the sides, but it’s still missing the mark for me.
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Left on Friday Barrel Bottom
Liza:These are classic boy shorts that are quite cheeky but very comfortable. They’re not as high-waisted as the other bottoms I tried and hit me right below my belly button. I think they’re pretty flattering, maybe more revealing than I would usually wear, but I don’t think they look bad and I like the color.
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Other Left on Friday pieces that caught our eye:
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