Review // Nikki Blackketter season 2

There are many things I enjoy in life; my dog bopping me for attention, a large box(es) of Hotel Chocolat chocolate, and decent gym wear which doesn’t flash my backside to the world through rubbish material.

Step in the season 2 Nikki B range.

As I mentioned in another post, I hopped off to Covent Garden for the release of the season 1 line of Nikki B back in the summer. I fell in love with the colour and the shape the leggings gave me – I did not fall in love with the sheer compression or the price, however. (Ergo, I had to wiggle furiously to get in to the leggings which I felt was a workout in itself).

When season 2 was announced, I was slightly wary. Would I be stuck shimmying my way around my bedroom whilst trying to get in to them? Would they be sheer like the flex leggings were?

Still, those worries clearly didn’t bother me that much as I was online at 2:55pm eagerly hitting the refresh button on the Gymshark site. I had decided against the bright print leggings of the range, purely for the reason that they were £5 more expensive, and didn’t seem to suit some of the models as much as others.

After watching a few videos, I purchased the light blue leggings in a small, and the sports bra in a medium. They were delivered pretty quickly, which is always hit and miss with Gymshark, and I excitedly skipped home with them to try on before heading out to the gym (note the nightmare I had with the sheer flex leggings? Yeah, wasn’t in private that I noticed they were sheer – it’s safe to say I daren’t return to my gym for a while, for fear of being ‘the flasher’).

First thing to mention is the material. I don’t know what they changed within this version of the leggings, but they are thankfully so much stretchier than the previous line, meaning I’m not left bright red by the end of it. The leggings do however appear to be longer than all of my other leggings. My legs are not short by any means, but I found myself having an excess amount of material down by my shins which required pulling from time to time. I am happy to confirm however that these are definitely squat proof (I checked in the mirror, and then got someone else to check whilst I dropped it low), and they seem to be pretty sweat proof too – okay, so I didn’t sweat that much when I exercised in them, but they did well, so I am giving it a plus. 

I always find it hard to talk about sports bras on here, as my breasts are not the ones I was born with, and were enhanced a few years ago. This usually doesn’t have an impact on my bra choices, however with tight material such as the Adidas sports bras, I find myself having to push my implant down, or readjust every so often. Usually I don’t buy sports bras online, as my size changes so much from brand to brand, that I don’t like to risk it. However, due to the colour of my very fancy new leggings, I decided to treat myself, and give it a ‘hope and pray’ tap to the screen before ordering.

Now, this may be because of the above, but I find the sports bra doesn’t tend to sit correctly, meaning I can only do certain weight training exercises whilst wearing it. I’m not sure if it’s the overlay design, but I find myself constantly having to check myself between each set or each sprint, which I fear is nudging me towards another nickname within the gym. I picked a medium for cup size, however in the back I do find it quite slippy. I am a UK 8/10, with a 32 size back, and I found that I had to keep pulling the top half of the back down to support me, which is no fun when you’re trying to do bent over rows.

Overall, I am pretty pleased with my purchases. The material is definitely much improved on this range, and they offer a very flattering fit whilst not making you feel like you’re about to lose blood supply to your limbs. I probably wouldn’t buy another sports bra of this design again, just due to the limiting nature of the style.

The order basket came to £85, which is definitely above my weekly budget, but I like to think these will make me run faster – maybe.