Charnos Transparent v M&S Bare - Battle of the 7 denier tights!

by Smoov

I received a pair of Charnos Transparent tights (in 'Champagne') in the post today and was very keen to see how they compared to my current favourites, M&S Bare 7 denier tights (in 'Nude'). Here are my observations.

The Charnos Transparent tights are sheer to waist, with just some reinforcement around the seams. You'd think from the girly design woven into the 2" wide reinforced area below the waistband that these tights were aimed at a female market. Shows how much they know! The toes are also sheer, and the tights have a cotton gusset. They are supposed to be fully boarded, but this was not well done on these tights, and one leg was badly wrinkled over half of it's length. As discussed by Geraden a couple of days ago though, this is purely presentational and not an issue once they are on.

They were a REAL struggle to get on! I moisturised my hands very thoroughly to help avoid rough skin causing any snagging, and went into battle. They are MUCH tighter than my M&S Bare 7 denier tights. I had to pull them to the limits of their stretch to get them on, and I have to say I was not comfortable. After taking them off, I inspected them and have to report that they didn't enjoy the experience either. They have two long runs running down one leg from the top of the thigh area!

Geraden sings the praises of these tights highly, and it is my understanding that he is of roughly similar size around the waist to me, and 4 inches taller. Unless the wrong size were put in my packet (which is clearly marked 'Ex-large') I find it hard to believe that we are talking about the same tights!

I did a comparative visibility test, with one leg in the M&S tights, and one leg in the Charnos tights. There is not a great deal to choose in the shade of the tights. Both would look fairly natural, but I was also interested to see if the Charnos had a sheen to them, as they had been recommended to me by Geraden as having less sheen than, for example, the Oroblu Master tights I was also considering. The fact is that they did have a sheen, especially under indoor light, which made them considerably more obvious that the M&S tights. It seemed to me that the Charnos tights gathered the reflected light into a central band running down the leg, while the M&S tights seemed to diffuse the light more and spread it over the leg more widely, and in a less obvious fashion. This is presumably down to the structure of the yarn. The fibres of the Charnos tights were also generally more visible at close range than on the M&S tights.

There was little to choose between the feel on the tights on the fingers. As you would expect for 7 denier tights they both felt very smooth to the touch.

If you like your tights to grip you, and you are smaller than me, you may prefer the Charnos Transparent 7 denier tights, but for me at least, the M&S 'Bare' 7 denier tights are a hands-down winner.

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