There have been some interesting developments in the breast form market since I last visited it. The biggest changes are in the lower end of the market. The "Pour some silicone in that baggie and ship it!" attitude of the low-end manufacturer has completely disappeared. The middle range market has also improved, with a few new players and some nice innovations. For the high-end market, RealGurl continues to be the only player
High End Breast Forms
Real Breast
These are by the RealGurl company (Real Gurl Website). RealGurl is an interesting company. It is a subsidiary of Abyss Creations, the company that started the famous RealDolls robotic life-sized sex dolls for men and women. They've been the subject of movies and documentaries. Very interesting. They are currently not accepting orders as they relocate to Las Vegas, Nevada, but they will re-open at some point.
RealGurl applies the lessons and experiences from their Real Doll work to make products for male-to-female trans and crossdressers, and the results are spectacular. When properly applied, these breast forms seem to me to be indistinguishable from actual breasts. The client can customize the breast forms to their liking, selects the skin tones, and sends pictures of their skin in different lighting so the artist can get as close a match as possible. You can customize the nipple type, and they offer an airbrush option that adds veins, moles, and freckles. Take a look at the gallery on their website and prepare to be impressed. Reviews by customers are also uniformly positive. I own their breastplate and wrote about it here.
The rub is that "properly applied" will be achievable by very few. The picture of Raja on their website is awe-inspiring, and the breastplate was undoubtedly properly applied by a team of experts. After several hours of work, I achieved a look close to that only once. While practice would bring that time down, I don't think it would ever reach a point where it is practical. I remain a fan of RealGurl products and endorse them. But I think someone purchasing them needs to be realistic about how they will look when they wear them.
They use new silicone that does not need the "plastic bag" found on traditional breast forms. It is matte and has a very realistic feel. Not only does this look better, but it also eliminates the biggest single point of failure in traditional breast forms: the bag. Another innovation is what they call the "vanishing edge ." The vanishing edge is an option and is just what it sounds like: an extremely thin edge on the breast form, which makes it easier to blend with your skin, but has the downside of being more fragile. The standard edge is more durable. The shape is asymmetrical, with a realistic "droop" and a concave back.
All this comes at a price. The forms start at USD 750. If you add a few more desirable options, you could easily spend over USD 1000 on one of these. As with most breast forms, there are no returns once you've removed the adhesive backing to try them on. Before making a purchase decision, I suggest you read my detailed review.
Each RealGurl product is made to order, and the wait time is typically many months. Currently, they are not accepting any orders as they are relocating their facilities to Las Vegas, Nevada.
Middle Range Breast Forms
The Divine Collection
The Divine Collection is a Canadian company whose flagship product, the Athena Breastforms, I once owned. They are a terrific company and very nice people, and it's wonderful to see that they have grown so much. They have gone from being the new kid on the block to a dominant position in the mid-range breast form niche. Their Athena breast forms were the first quality breast forms I owned, and you can read about my experiences here.
They have dramatically diversified their product line since then. They now have several different models of breast forms, a set of nipples that should attach to any manufacturer's breast forms, and a breastplate (I discuss that a bit here). They've expanded beyond breast prosthetics to hip padding and a labia prosthetic.
While I'm always happy to see people who deserve success get it, I wish they had also expanded the skin tone range of their products. Everything they make comes in the same three tones they started with years ago: ivory, caramel, and chocolate. And the designs have not evolved in any significant way.
This is an example of a more general problem. While there has been a lot of innovation in the lower end of the market, I feel the mid and upper ranges have stagnated. Divine Collections has diversified its product line, but it has not innovated. The products are not bad, but they could be much better. I feel the same is true of RealGurl.
But until that happens, they make good products worth your consideration. I gave up on my Athena's mostly because they didn't make a good color match with my skin. I also wanted better cleavage than you can get with individual breasts. But there are wonderful things about them that could work for you. Pricing for these starts at $500 and goes up to $735, but they are typically available for $100 less than this. Many people I know use these and are very happy with them.
Divine Collection Breastshirt
I wrote about this in my RealGurl breastplate review. Please see that article for more information.
DressTech Breast Forms
Dress Tech is a new entrant to the breast form market. The owner of Dress Tech is an engineer and a crossdresser herself. They make the "Proform Silicone Breast Plate. Diana has used her engineering expertise and passion for cross-dressing to create a pretty innovative product. She used 3D scanning technology that considers the size of the male torso to develop the design. She claims breast form designers copy their designs from female mannequins, which is why they don't work well for men. It's clear this product was born out of Diana's frustration in searching for a breast form that worked for her.
It is also available in five colors, which is a nice improvement. Another interesting feature is silicone liquid rather than silicone gel as a filler which increases the "jiggle factor" of the breast form. Jiggly breasts seem to be a growing trend in breast form design. I've seen quite a few advertisements touting this as an advantage. The advantage is realism. It's perhaps a bit early to find out if there are any durability issues.
I think it's an interesting design, and I applaud Diana for breaking new ground, but I have some reservations about the neck design. If you watch her in the movie she made about it, it's obvious that she is wearing a prosthetic; you can easily see the gap. I've seen several of these neck designs, and none of them are convincing. This design is not any worse than the rest, but it's also not better. The pricing is amazing, which at USD 350 is less expensive than the Divine Collection single forms and available in more colors. Breastplates are usually priced much higher. If I were in the market for a new breastplate, I would seriously consider this one
Amolux Diamond, Ruby and Crystal
These are made by the famous and respected manufacturer Amoena. They've been in the breast form business for a long time. These use high-quality German silicone, and while they have the traditional 'bag,' the finish looks very matte, so it's more realistic than you might think. The back is concave, and you can't return them because they are self-adhesive. When I first wrote this, only the Diamond model was available in the U.S. and had limited sizes. Now all sizes are available in all their models, and all the models are improved. The most interesting to me is the Diamond, but the others have their good points. No color variations are available in any of the Amolux products. That's reasonable for breast forms worn under clothing.
Pricing is lower than the Divine Collection, starting at $300 (for small size 4) to $350 for the largest size.
Gold Seal Breast Forms
Gold Seal has some interesting-looking offerings. I think they are a tad over-priced for what you get, particularly regarding appearance, but I get mail from many satisfied Gold Seal owners. They also have some breastplate offerings. The breast forms look good and are more examples of the "jiggly" breast form trend. Like the Amolux products, they are intended to be worn under clothing and only offered in one color.
They also make some breastplates, which look interesting. These are "jiggly" breastplates and come in two colors. They have a high neck design, which I find unconvincing. They are also enormous. I find it hard to imagine these lasting for any reasonable period, even with care. Gold Seal warns about the weight of the breastplate and cautions about using it without support due to durability issues. I will add that I do enjoy having large breasts, but these are too big for even me to consider.
Another interesting product from Gold Seal is a body suit. The suit has breasts, a vagina, and labia. They claim the vagina is fully functional, allowing a male partner to penetrate the vagina and have 'normal' intercourse. A suit like this is not something I have ever wanted, but I certainly know people who do. It would be wonderful if this would work for them, and since I'm applauding innovation today, kudos to Gold Seal for this.
Low End Breast Forms
There has been a complete change in the low end of the breast form market. It's wonderful to see how improved everything is. There are way too many products to mention here, and I don't see any clear market leaders. But the prices have dropped so much that mistakes are much less painful. And they are available everywhere, from Amazon to Walmart.
Hope this was helpful!
If you have any questions or comments, or want to say something nice, feel free to get in touch!