July Little Black Bag Review

I bought my first Little Black Bag in June, and I loved it so much that I wanted to open up another one for July.  After this I'm going to skip a month or two, because it is a little pricey.  If you've found my blog, you've probably found other posts and vlogs about LBB, but just in case you haven't here's a quick rundown: It costs $49.95 a month to open a bag, or $59.95 (I think) to try it once.  Monthly subscribers have the option to skip their bag each month if they want, and you can also cancel your bag if you aren't happy with your items.  You choose one item from the gallery to open with, and LBB picks 2-3 others for you that are revealed after you buy.  You then have 7 days to trade your items with other members if you so choose.  After tax (because I live in NY, also applicable for CA residents) and shipping, my LBB costs $59.

I had a referral credit this month (thanks to everyone who signed up and shipped a bag through my referral link!), so I had an extra item in my bag.  It was pretty lame, one of those ugly green picture frames, but at least it was something I could trade.  LBB also did a promo for July where everyone who opened a bag got a deluxe Redken sample while supplies lasted.  I received five items total in this bag, including the sample.

The item I chose to open with was this awesome Street Level Tote, which is more of a messenger bag in my opinion.  I had seen it on the site in June and thought it was something I would like, but I liked the Melie Bianco bag I had better so I didn't try to trade for it.  When I got the notification on the 1st that I had a new bag ready, I intended on skipping it, but then I saw that this bag was back and I snatched it up right away.  I believe the retail price was $78, but I couldn't find it anywhere else (nor could I find a website for Street Level), so I couldn't really verify that.

I wish I had this bag while I was in college.  It's huge and perfect for carrying around notebooks and my laptop.  Unfortunately I don't know how much use it will get now since I rarely carry my laptop anywhere, but I'm still glad I have it and I'll find some way to use it.  The other items I got were:

• ncla Nail Wraps in Hi-Fi Stereo ($16) - I thought the pattern on these was really pretty and I've been wanting to try them for a while, so when someone offered me these in a trade I accepted.  I think I traded an ncla nail lacquer for them.  I'm glad I tried them because now I know, but I have to say they are pretty crappy.  They're basically stickers, and the pattern itself looks like it was printed off of some ink-jet printer from the 90s.  I know that's a weird description, but I have a close-up photo that I'll post to better show what I mean.  Aside from the bad quality of the print, they don't apply well and they just look bad.
• ncla Nail Lacquer in Miss Sunset Strip ($16) - While I don't recommend the nail wraps, I do really like this nail polish.  It's a purple glitter that I was really excited to get, because all of the swatches of it that I found looked really nice.  I'm happy I didn't trade this item away.
• All The Rage Snake Bracelet ($22) - This bracelet is totally not something I would imagine myself liking, but as soon as I saw it in the LBB gallery I wanted it really badly!  There was also a tiger one which I liked a little bit more, but no one was willing to trade me for that.  In the end, though, I really like this snake design because it's really fun.
• Redken Align 12 Straightening Lotion - I think these extra samples were a nice addition, but I wish that they were only tradeable amongst themselves.  I was getting really annoyed at people who were trying to offer me a $0 value, 1 oz. sample for my items.  I know that some people were able to trade their samples for nail polishes, etc., but I personally just wasn't willing to part with one of my valued items for a free sample.

The total value of my July bag was $132.  I like to choose purses for my main item because then I feel like I'm really getting my money's worth.  If I was to choose a necklace that cost $80, it wouldn't really feel like I was getting as good of a deal because I wouldn't get as much use out of a tiny necklace, and could probably find a comparable one for less than that at Target.

Bottom Line: I am 100% happy with my July Little Black Bag, but I'm going to hold off on purchasing another one for a little while because I'd like to use the $60 elsewhere.  If you'd like to give it a try, I'd love if you could use my referral link!

More photos of my items are after the read more!

*Disclaimer: I purchased this bag with my own money and was not asked to review it. The honest opinions here are entirely my own.