How to buy lingerie for your Girlfriend/Wife

Whether you’re in a new relationship or have been with your girl for a while, buying her nice underwear is an excellent way to keep the attraction alive. Plus, beautiful lingerie is up there with spa days and Chanel nail polish as fool-proof she-will-love-them-every time presents…if done right,that is.
Women’s underwear is oftentimes a “no-man’s land,” riddled with cheap diamantes and itchy synthetic gussets, so if you can get the subtle art of the matching set down, there are many, many rewards for those brave enough to try.
Our “brief” pointers will help you navigate the lingerie section and possibly emerge as the Patron Saint of Panties (a moniker not to be uttered in public).

What You Want Vs. What She Wants

There are one or two brands of lingerie who have carved a niche as “women’s lingerie men can buy.” However, most of this stuff will make your girlfriend feel too skinny, too fat, halfway between a discount stripper-gram and a badly wrapped Christmas present.
Sure, you are made to feel like you are welcome in those stores, but there’s a big difference between underwear men find sexy and underwear that women find sexy.
Women are admittedly complicated, they can tell precisely what you bought for them, and what you really just bought for yourself, and guess which one she’s going to appreciate more? Sacrifice reaps its own rewards my friend. 

You Get What You Pay For

Unfortunately, lingerie is like jewelry in that without exception, the pricier it is, the better. Women are not materialistic, it’s just that unfortunately most of them have a lot of garbage body issues that can be triggered by crappy cuts and cheap materials.
On the other hand, super high-end women’s lingerie has a magical effect on the feminine silhouette, kind of like beer goggles but classier. It will make your girl look shapely, proportionate, supported and like the very sexiest version of herself. And because that makes her feel really good, soon you’ll understand the true meaning of “sexy underwear.”

The 3-to-1 Ratio

Unlike the inside out forwards/back wards rule that gives men up to four wears before they wash their underwear (or so we heard), women rotate theirs on a daily basis. On the other hand, bras get a few more wears.
To make a set last and to look like The Most Insightful Man In The World, buy her three matching pairs of panties for every bra. This isn’t more ‘Sensitive New Age Guy’ than remembering her mum’s birthday, but is definitely more likely to get you laid.

Ask the Experts

No one thinks you look like a pervert shopping for women’s underwear. If anything, you’ll look all sensitive and switched-on and emotionally sophisticated.
Ask the salesperson for help, she has dealt with guys in your situation before and is another lifeline in your quest to buy something your girl will really love, which you will then of course love for altogether different reasons.

Figure Out What Fits

How? By looking at the size tags on her lingerie before you go. For her bra size, you will need a number and a letter: The number for her size around the chest (it should be about the same as her t-shirt size) and the letter for her actual breast/”cup” size.
Thankfully, women’s underwear sizing actually has some coherence in between brands, so if she’s a size 12 in the butt and a 10B in the cup, that’s all you need to look for, no holding it up and squinting required.

Pick Based On Her Personality

The trickiest part is choosing a style that you are both going to find attractive. Again, this is where high-end stores will increase your success rate because most of their stuff is catnip to females.
You still have to put some thought into your girls’ personal style when choosing though. If she’s a girly-girl, stick with the bows, frills and polka dots kind of stuff. If she’s an alternative kind of girl, take some cues from the “boudoir”-style choices of burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese. If she’s the dark, mysterious type, try some secret-agent style garters and corsets in black lace.
Most people look at clothes in stores the same as they already have, so if you know she has a favorite, you can always use this style as a guide to choose a similar design and play it on the safe side.

Do’s & Don’ts

Here are some tips only a woman can tell you:

• Don’t buy a big girl a tiny thong.
• Check out the negligees while you’re there.
• Don’t buy anything with cheeky slogans printed on them.
• Anything with bells or ornaments or “costume” lingerie as it’s called, is incredibly impractical for daily wear: buy at your own risk.
• Do take stores up on any offers of free gift-wrapping.
• Don’t buy anything that doesn’t have a cotton gusset (you don’t want to know why).
• Do ask for advice from the saleswomen (we already said this but really, it’s iron-clad).

Keep The Receipt

This one should be obvious. ‘Cause it is such an intimate item, there’s always the chance that it might not fit, and don’t be offended if she just plain doesn’t like it.
You should still get brownie points for making the effort (if you don’t, perhaps you should find someone else to buy lingerie for), and when she goes to exchange it, you get a first-hand opportunity to see what she would pick for herself.

Summary

While buying lingerie for your girlfriend has bonus points for you, to be effective, it really needs to be about your girl. Think of it as, by buying them for her, you’ll effectively be buying them for yourself, if that’s any help. So be sensitive to what your girl already likes, get her size right and stick to the nice stuff.
Most of all, your most fail-proof rule of thumb should be to choose something as beautiful as she is, then you’ll most likely be handsomely rewarded.