How To Buy: Swimsuits for Bootyliscious Babes

Picking the right swimsuit for your shape can seem like an insurmountable task. Should you pair a dark-colored top with a light-colored bottom? Should you match a patterned tankini top with a solid-colored sarong? Should you just scrap the whole summer and stay indoors? With more and more designers throwing their hats into the swimwear ring, and with good old technology brining us figure-fixing fabrics galore, it's tough to feel like you're making the most informed decision. So let SheFinds break it down for you, with a list of shopping goals, shape-enhancing solutions, and a few foolproof picks of our own.

Today, we'll focus on the pear shaped ladies out there. If you're smaller on top with a little extra padding around your hips and bottom, you're considered pear shaped. When picking a figure-flattering and confidence-boosting swimsuit, consider these goals:

• Balance out your proportions
• Give your bust a boost
• Cover up without going overboard

Solution 1—Let their eyes play tricks on them: There are a few illusion-creating tricks to making your top half match your bottom half proportionally. First, you could choose a suit with a high, horizontal neckline. This will make your shoulders appear broader. ShapeFX's high-neck tank ($39) pulls a double whammy of widening your top half and minimizing your lower half with a slimming white and black contrast.

You can also be strategic in pattern-picking. Keep the eye moving by pairing a busy patterned top with a darker, solid colored bottom, or opt for vertical stripes that create the look of an hourglass figure. Gottex's Iris one piece ($168) is a veritable optical mastermind: bright, busy violet-colored flowers draw the eyes upwards, while slimming stems come down and to a point, giving the illusion that you're actually an inverted triangle shape. Get a little extra coverage from Gottex's matching Iris pareo ($158), a lightweight option that won't weigh your look down.

Solution 2—Pump up the volume up top: Have you always yearned to use the line "Um, my eyes are up here"? Give the girls a lift with help from the bust-boosting masters at Victoria's Secret. Mix-and-match their Miracle Bra push-up tankini top ($44) in a bright, eye-catching scroll pattern with booty-downplaying high-waist bottoms ($28) in solid chocolate. Or make the most of your minimal chest: wear a bandeau top that more top-heavy girls couldn't dream of pulling off. Calvin Klein's yarn dyed striped bandeau ($68) adds virtual volume by stretching horizontal stripes straight across your chest, while matching Perfect Fit bottoms ($52) in basic black downplays your derriere.

Solution 3—Balance concealing and revealing: Finally, you may feel most comfortable with a little extra fabric to hide your figure flaws. But that doesn't mean you have to wear a bulky, old-fashioned swim dress a la grandma. Pick something with a retro vibe and just enough coverage, like Anne Cole Swimwear's Mio one-piece ($118). It covers your rump enough to keep you from feeling over-exposed, but it doesn't attract attention where you don't want it. Remember: more fabric equals more volume, so frilly skirts or boy-cut bottoms aren't a good idea.