August Little Black Bag Review

I haven't posted a Little Black Bag in a long time.  I actually received a shipment in June or July, but I just never wrote a blog post about it.  LBB is definitely a lot less exciting than it used to be.  A lot of us in the LBB Traders group agree that trading is so painfully slow that the fun is pretty much gone.  I was able to get my best bag yet for August, but only because I had it open while they were moving their warehouse so I had a full two week's worth of trading.  I have one more bag being shipped to me, and then I probably won't open any more unless there is a purse I absolutely MUST have.

I ended up with seven items total in this bag, including the beauty bonus and the Big Buddha handbag that's not pictured above.  I think at one point I had 10 items in my bag, which is way more than I've ever been able to amass before, so it gave me a lot more wiggle room when it came to trading.  Aside from the two weeks of trading, I was also successful because I simply got lucky on a few trades.  For example, I had a Nila Anthony clutch at one point that was only worth $60 or $70 and someone offered me a $120+ multi so I snatched that up right away!

Before I get into reviewing my items, I want to talk about this new warehouse business.  LBB previously shipped from California, which was probably great for those on the west coast, but I'm in New York and it used to take forever for my bags to get to me, even when I paid for the faster shipping.  I had just accepted that fate, though, because it was worth it to get such good deals on merchandise.  There were a lot of customer complaints about poor shipping practices and broken items upon arrival, so LBB moved their warehouse to Ohio.  I'm happy about this because now it (in theory) shouldn't take so long for my boxes to get to me!  The actual packaging of my items didn't seem any different to me, other than that they included about 200 times more paper than was necessary (which really bothered me, because it's so wasteful).  This bag did get to me within three days, but it took a whole week to leave their warehouse because they were backed up with orders.  I could understand that it would take longer to ship out everything after the move, but in that case don't "promise" everyone that their box would leave the new place within 48 hours.

So, moving on.  My favorite item in this shipment was the Big Buddha Granada Hobo ($95).  This bag is huge and wonderful and I absolutely love it!  The retail value seems a bit overpriced to me, but I've seen it on flash sale sites and at Marshall's for anywhere from $50-$70 (so I definitely still got a good deal).  The braided detail is really pretty and I think this is a great bag for fall and winter.  I'm also a big purse girl, so this one is just perfect for me!  LBB made a mistake and released these as a bonus item with an add-to-bag price of $20, so they got snatched up really quickly.  I didn't add-to-bag, but I was able to trade for it and I'm very happy that I did.

The item I opened with was the Hello Kitty Vintage Apples Tote ($70).  This wasn't popular on the site, but I had had my eye on it for a while and I finally just decided to buy it because it was too cute to pass up, plus I needed a new tote bag.  It's much nicer quality in person than I was expecting.  On the site the vinyl handles looked a little cheap, but they're actually pretty sturdy.  My favorite part about this bag is the cute little drawings that make up the background.  I proudly carry this to work, I don't care if I'm "too old" for HK!

I also got another Deux Lux Skipper Wristlet ($40) in green/pink.  I already have the blue one with pink sequins, which I bought from someone on LBB Traders, but I accepted a trade on this because I just love DL and I kind of wanted another.  I had an Izzy & Ali clutch that I was never going to use, so I figured I'd trade down for something I actually liked.  These wristlets are a great size and I think the sequin details are so fun.

My last few items were jewelry and miscellaneous.  I traded for the Bindy Wrap Bracelet ($24) in pink/silver and the Geranium Leaf Drop Earrings ($23), both of which I really like.  I actually ended up selling the Bindy to someone on Traders because she really wanted it and I liked it but could part with it, and I haven't worn the earrings yet.  They're really pretty up-close (sorry that the photo above is a little blurry) and are an interesting design.

I also got a pack of the peach set of the Jolie 3 Pack of Hair Ties ($24), which you can see in the first photo I posted, just because I was curious to see if they were strong enough to hold my thick, Asian hair.  They're decent, but not something I would buy more of.  If I was to get more, I'd probably just buy the fabric and make some myself.  Lastly, the beauty bonus I received was the Michael Todd True Organics Pumpkin Mask.  I kept refreshing my stylist picks to get the pumpkin mask because I already have a ton of scrubs and I didn't need the jojoba scrub.  I like this mask a lot, and I like the Michael Todd brand.  It actually contains real pumpkin, which I know sounds dumb of me to say, but the only other experience I have with a "pumpkin" mask didn't have that as the first ingredient.  It's nicely exfoliating and I would definitely recommend it.

Bottom Line: I'm happy with this LBB.  I got $252 worth of product (not including the mask sample) for around $55.  I also forgot to mention that I opened with a $100 referral credit, so that helped, too.  So far I am impressed with their faster shipping, and I'll consider the week it took for my bag to leave the warehouse a fluke because of their recent move.  This is probably one of my last bags for a while, though, just because the site is not what it used to be.

Check out more photos of my items after the read more.

*Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post.

Exterior pocket on the Big Buddha Granada

Other side of the Hello Kitty tote