Little Black Bag March 2014

Little Black Bag 

Little Black Bag is a different monthly subscription service.  You sign up as a monthly member and pick a product each month that varies in price according to the picked item and suggested retail price.  The price you pay is always much less than the suggested retail price, even if you choose the bundle option.  You can choose just the product that you want to purchase or for a little more money you can choose to bundle the item.  This usually includes the main product chosen and in my experience one or two jewelry pieces.  

You can open the bag with various different products ranging from bags or jewelry to beauty products or shoes. Each month VIPS are offered the option to skip the month, or if you do not skip your credit card will be charged $10.00 that can be used in a later opened bag purchase.  Non VIPS are not able to skip months. 

This is one of the more expensive monthly subscription services, but with the option to skip each month and being guaranteed to know what you are getting before it ships, the price is justified for me. After you pick your item and depending on if you choose to bundle or not, the "Stylist Picks" are revealed after purchase.  Then you have a week to trade the products that you choose for other items.  Some people are really good at trading and are able to get really good boxes shipped out.  I wouldn't say that I'm one of those people, but I'm working on it!

Little Black Bag has recently merged with fashion app, Pose. The Little Black Bag name was thrown out and now it's just Pose. Before the merger there were several amazing sales for LBB to get rid of their stock. Here is the first of four orders that I recently received. 

Wanted 'Austwell' boots in grey

While I had an open bag, Little Black Bag had a sale. A huge selection of shoes were all $10.00. This wasn't something I could pass up, especially since I already had an open bag. I added these boots to my bag since I don't have a pair of grey boots. They are really comfortable and fit well. I didn't even need to break these shoes in - they were comfortable the moment I tried them on. The only issue that I have with these boots is that they scratch up really easily.  The first day that I wore these boots, I had black scuff marks all along the heels of the boots. 

Catherine Stein Designs Midi Ring set. 

This set included four midi rings. 

An open arrow

Star

Filigree

Flower

Jules Smith Lighting Bolt Earings in gold.

These earrings were bigger than I expected, but I still like them.  I think that these earrings would look better on someone in the second hole of the ears so that it lays nicer on the ear. I only have one hole in each ear so the lightning bolt hung a little lower than my ear. 

Jules Smith Open Heart cuff bracelet.

This is the item that I opened my bag with. I really liked the wooden hearts on this bracelet.

Lolita Jewelry Skull bracelet

Although Little Black Bag is currently closed, many of the same products and trading structure still exists through Pose. 

Little Black Bag February 2014

Little Black Bag

Little Black Bag is a different monthly subscription service.  You sign up as a monthly member and pick a product each month that varies in price according to the picked item and suggested retail price.  The price you pay is always much less than the suggested retail price, even if you choose the bundle option.  You can choose just the product that you want to purchase or for a little more money you can choose to bundle the item.  This usually includes the main product chosen and in my experience one or two jewelry pieces.  

You can open the bag with various different products ranging from bags or jewelry to beauty products or shoes. Each month VIPS are offered the option to skip the month, or if you do not skip your credit card will be charged $10.00 that can be used in a later opened bag purchase.  Non VIPS are not able to skip months. 

This is one of the more expensive monthly subscription services, but with the option to skip each month and being guaranteed to know what you are getting before it ships, the price is justified for me. After you pick your item and depending on if you choose to bundle or not, the "Stylist Picks" are revealed after purchase.  Then you have a week to trade the products that you choose for other items.  Some people are really good at trading and are able to get really good boxes shipped out.  I wouldn't say that I'm one of those people, but I'm working on it!

This month they had a flash sale that I couldn't pass up. LBB was having a buy one shoe, get two shoes free sale, this was on top of the bundle items that are added to the bag with the original purchased shoes. The free shoes were final sale. 

Item 1

These are the shoes that I opened with. 

Kelsi Dagger "Kolete" booties. 

These black leather ankle boots are really comfortable.  There is a zipper on the inside side of the boots. There is silver buckle detail on the face of the boots that are not functional. 

 I was surprised at how pointy the toes of these boots are. 

There are hard rubber soles and a slight heel. I am normally a size 6.5 in shoes and I ordered the same size. They fit well, I have a wide foot. the fit is a bit tight, but nothing I can't work in. 

Item 2

L.A.M.B. Dora pump
These black peep toe pumps were one of my free shoes. I was so surprised that these were added to my bag as the free shoe item. I knew that I wasn't going to trade them - despite some of the really good trades that people were offering. These black peep toes have a 4.5 inch heel and a curved back heel.  The heel is patent and shiny, the shoe is made  of a textured matte black material. The detail not the back and bottom of the peep toe is of a black and buttercream reptile print. 

The insoles are really padded for comfort. I was surprised with the padding when I tried these shoes on. I ordered a 6.5 and they fit tight - but I think the tightness is caused by the wide foot. I haven't worn these shoes out yet, but I already know that I will not be able to wear these for walking long distances or standing for extended periods of time. Just wearing these around the house and I already started feeling some strain on my arches. 

Item 3

Dolce Vita 'Oren' Loafer
This is the other free pair of shoes that was added to my bag. These shoes I was not initially happy with and attempted to trade them during the trading period. I wasn't getting any good trades so I ended up keeping the shoes and hoping to like them once they shipped. I do like these shoes more in person and like that they look a little like ballet pointe shoes. They are made of a black suede with cognac brown details on the toe, tassels, lining the opening, the stitching along the sides and the heel. 

These shoes have a cushioned rubber sole and in general are really comfortable. I didn't get any rubbing on my heels the first time I wore them. I got these in a 6.5.  The shoes are very narrow. These shoes are currently still for sale on the Little Black Bag site, in different colors. 

Item 4

Penny Loves Kenny "Alee" boot
These boots I didn't actually order and were accidentally sent to me. I decided to take pictures of the boots anyways. These boots look like glorified Dr. Martins - even down to the yellow lacing on the upper soles. I tried these boots on and they were fairly comfortable. The lacing up the face of the boot and the buckles along the sides were more for decoration. Although the laces could be done and undone to widen the boots fit around the calves.  There was a zipper on the inside of the boot to put them on. The laces on the very top needed to be laced and unlaced each time the boots were worn. I found this part to be a hassle, because the laces were so long it took some time to wrap the lace around the boot. When I tried these boots on I needed to loosen the laces on the face of the boot for my calves to fit. I do have wide calves. I was able to fit in these boots, but I'm unsure of the tongue of the boots during wear. I have a feeling that the tongue will shift with wear, exposing whatever is worn underneath. These boots were also for sale on the Little Black Bag site in black. 

The soles were made of a transparent brown/orange rubber. I thought that the weight of these shoes was fairly light - in comparison to Dr. Martin boots.

I contacted Little Black Bag customer service to return the boots. More on that below.

Item 5

Lolita Jewelry Arrow Bracelet

I traded for this bracelet with some pieces that were part of my bundle. I didn't like the bundle pieces and was able to trade up to get this bracelet.  The hardware and base of the arrow are in gold. The arrow has little rhinestone diamonds encrusted in them. The arrow is securely paced on a pink embossed leather wristlet. The bracelet is really light, but I thought that it looked a little cheap. Bundled up with other bracelets might make it look nicer, but alone it looked like something purchased at Claire's.

Item 6

All the Rage Arrow Necklace
I picked this necklace after checking my account and seeing that I had a $10.00 credit. During my trading period, LBB put out a "Happiness Guarantee" (more on that below).  All members received an extra $10.00 credit that expired at the end of February. I didn't think I was going to open another bag between that time frame so I just added a piece to my current bag. With tax this bag was added for $9.44, so I didn't have to pay anything extra for this to be added. I chose something that I liked, but that I thought that might have been a good trading item. I didn't receive any good trades (I only had 2 days from attaining the necklace and shipment). I was disappointed with how tiny the arrow was. 

Those are all the items that I received in my bag. I think that this bag was really good and I was satisfied with the items that I received. 

Now on to my experience with Little Black Bag this order.

The products: 

Every shoe box that I received had an added bonus of a nice layer of dust covering each box. Ew.

Customer Service: 

I guess that Little Black Bag has been having a lot of issues with their warehouse, so they went through a lot of improvements to their warehouse processes. They put out a program that they called the "Warehouse Guarantee".  

From the Little Black Bag Tumblr Page: 

"We feel so strongly about these improvements that if an item in your bag goes out of stock between February 19th through March 19th you will get merchandise credit for TEN TIMES the Add to Bag price of the out of stock item. Maximum of $500 credit. For example, if a necklace in your bag goes out of stock and the Add to Bag price of the necklace is $19.95 (before shipping and tax) you will receive $200 (10 x $19.95) in merchandise credit added to your account. "

One thing that should be noted is that the "Maximum of $500 credit" was slyly added after the guarantee was posted. I think that the guarantee was great and I liked that Little Black Bag offered this to amend the mistakes that they have made in the past - and that they were creating processes to ensure that mistakes were not made with future orders. I wish that they didn't add the maximum limit after the guarantee was announced - and to do it thinking none would notice. I understand the need to do it on a business sense, but how they added it made me wearily about trusting the company. 

You might be asking yourself, why this is relevant to this post. It's not like the guarantee is still valid -  well let me tell you a story.

Remember those Penny Loves Kenny boots above that I was sent my mistake? I contacted customer service on February 26th to let them know that I was shipped the incorrect order. I received a response from customer service two days later, asking for pictures of the box from the boots that were incorrectly shipped. I sent those pictures a day later - Saturday, March 1, 2014. Taking out the weekend, it took five days for a response. They stated that they would send me a prepaid return label and once the boots were on the way back, the warehouse would look for the boots that I originally ordered.  They said that if the boots could not be found, they would offer me an exchange from the exchange gallery. 

I responded the same day - March 9 stating that I would like to be sent the shipping label and that I would have thought that I should have received the Warehouse Guarantee that was mentioned on the Tumblr page, since everything was in the dates that were mentioned for the guarantee. It took two days for a response and the label to be shipped. The part of this customer service exchange that upset me was that the question on the warehouse guarantee was completely ignored. I ended up starting a bitchy response email to customer service, but deleted it, just waiting to see how everything played out. 

I shipped the boots back the next day and received an email when the boots made it to the warehouse. The picture that was sent with the email was supposedly the items that I shipped back - but it was actually the item that I ordered but wasn't shipped. It also said that my exchange gallery was created. According to the conversation that I was having with customer service - once the boots were shipped back, the warehouse would look for the correct shoes and send them out. 

I wrote customer service back letting them know about the picture issue in case that mattered for my return and to make sure that the warehouse was in fact looking for the boots that I originally ordered. I still wanted them! I also mentioned that my question about the warehouse guarantee was ignored in the last customer service response. 

While waiting for a response I got to thinking.  Maybe the boots I ordered were never in stock in the first place. Maybe they sent out the incorrect boots just to throw me off and so that they could trick the customer into accepting an exchange gallery item instead of the warehouse guarantee. The guarantee was never posted on the actual Little Black Bag site, so I'm sure that a lot of LBB customers did not know about the guarantee. So I'm sure that a lot of people would have accepted the exchange gallery option - completely unaware of the better offer. 

As the warehouse guarantee date loomed closer and closer I wondered if customer service would put off answering my question until the guarantee date was expired and thereby making the guarantee invalid. All these scenarios were running through my mind while waiting for a response. 

That response was received on March 14. The boots that I ordered were not in the warehouse and I would be getting the warehouse guarantee. I checked my Little Black Bag account and I do have a credit. 

In all I ended up being satisfied with Little Black Bag.  I will always have this experience in the back of my mind as I'm putting in an order though. I know that I need to be an informed customer and to ask questions. Hopefully I will not have another issue. 

Trading: 

Just in case you were wondering - I thought that trading was slow with this order. I wanted to trade my high price items for multiple items - with a similar price point. This just didn't happen. I trolled the chat room daily - leaving a link for my bag and stating that I would accept multiple times for my pair of shoes. I didn't get any good offers. I couldn't even make multiple offers on other people's bags - which is currently not offered through the trading process. 

Some MOST of the trade offers that I received on my products were hilariously bad. I was offered $6.00 nail polish on a $100+ pair of shoes. No! I will not trade with you. This might be explained by the Cupid program that they were having. I ordered around Valentines Day and there was a secret trader that would trade others for really good deals. So the $6.00 nail polish on a $100+ pair of shoes might have been a trade that Cupid would have accepted. However, when these trades are placed, the offer goes to all open bags that have the same product. A lot of offers that were put out for Cupid - were sent to people that were not going to lowball a trade like that. 

I also though that the Cupid account was made to help with the Warehouse Guarantee.  The company had a list of items that were on the list of missing in the warehouse. The Cupid trader probably traded  specifically for these items. Giving out really good trades so that the company could acquire the items on the list and delete them from the system. Thereby assuring that they didn't have to pay out the Warehouse Guarantee. A couple of dollars loss from trading is much better for the business than the hundreds of dollars they would have had to pay out for the guarantee if the trader kept the item.  I don't know if this is what actually happened, but I think it's a genius idea on LBB's part. 

After getting through this long post and you still want to sign up for your own subscription, please use my Referral Link. You will get 25% off your first order!

Little Black Bag August 2013

Little Black Bag haul. 

August 2013.

Little Black Bag is a different monthly subscription service.  You sign up as a monthly member pick a product each month that varies in price according to the picked item and suggested retail price.  The price you pay is always much less than the suggested retail price, even if you choose the bundle option.  You can choose just the product that you want to purchase or for a little more money you can choose to bundle the item.  This usually includes the main product chosen and in my experience one or two jewelry pieces.  

You can open the bag with various different products ranging from bags or jewelry to beauty products and recently added shoes. Each month VIPS are offered the option to skip the month, or if you do not skip your credit card will be charged $10.00 that can be used in a later opened bag purchase. 

This is one of the more expensive monthly subscription services, but with the option to skip each month and being guaranteed to know what you are getting before it ships, the price is justified for me. After you pick your item and depending on if you choose to bundle or not, the "Stylist Picks" are revealed after purchase.  Then you have a week to trade the products that you choose for other items.  Some people are really good at trading and are able to get really good boxes shipped out.  I wouldn't say that I'm one of those people, but I'm working on it!

This is the second LBB order that I have received and unfortunately I have not been totally satisfied with the products when I received them.  That comes with the territory with online shopping, it's often hard to really get a good understanding of each product when you are looking at pictures on a computer, such as quality or size.  Keep reading to see what surprised me this time.

Bag #1

LaTique 'Rio' Messenger 

I opened my bundle with this LaTique 'Rio' messenger bag.  I though that this would be great for work. I go to a lot of meetings and bring a lot of paperwork to these meetings. I was hoping that I could use this to make going to the meetings a little easier, but when I received this bag, I saw that it wasn't wide enough  to fit a filing folder without bending it to fit. I still like the bag, so I will be using this bag as a purse only. The straps on the front of the bag are for decoration only.  There are magnetic fasteners on the underside of the flap that is used to open and close the bag.  There is a long, adjustable cross body strap attached to each side of the bag.

Close up detail of the rhinestones and studs on the front flap of the bag. During the trading period of this opened bag a lot of people wanted to trade for this bag in this color or the other colors that it came in. I think I remember a yellow and a red version of this same bag on the Little Black Bag site. 

The interior is made out of a dark brown cloth. The inside of the bag has two large compartments separated by a zippered middle pocket.  There is a zippered pocket on the back side of the bag and two slots on the front part.  

The back of the bag has another zippered pocket.  I like the detail on the zipper, it makes it easier to grab when opening and closing the pocket. The bag is made out of black leather vinyl that was made to look like leather. 

I wasn't able to find a website for this brand, but found a link to a site where the bag in all the colors can be purchased. 

Bag #2

Lionel 'Marlene Tote

This bag I had to trade for. I had another tote that I chose for an exchange on the Nila Anthony 'Lace Structured Satchel' that I purchased in my last Little Black Bag Haul.  Link to the last haul blog post here. The hardware on the cross body strap broke so I sent the bag back and asked if I could return it also since I was disappointed in the bag in the first place.  LBB customer service was really nice and allowed me to return the bag. I received an exchange credit and I checked my exchange gallery everyday to see if there was a bag that I wanted to use my credits on.  Once I saw a bag that I liked, I picked it and it went into trading rotation with the Latique Messenger bag above.  I was able to trade that bag and the other items in my bundle to get this bag. I was so happy to have received this bag!

 Close up of the gold studs on both side of the tote.  The bag is made out of faux leather, so its a great vegan bag. Each side of the bag has different textures of the faux leather.  the front side has a softer, almost suede-like feel. The back part of the bag has a zippered pocket and more of a textured leather feel and look. 

The interior is made out of a shiny cloth with one big compartment.  The back side has the Lionel label in metal and a zippered pocket.  The front has two slit pockets.  The top of the bag has a zippered closure, which is great for swaying pickpockets and keeping everything from falling out. 

Little Black Bag usually has promotions on their website with each purchase.  This time it was a sample of a Michael Todd 'Pumpkin Mask'.  I have heard some really great things about the Michael Todd product line, specifically the mask that I received. You could have received this 'Pumpkin Mask' or the 'Jojoba Charcoal Scrub'.  I would have been happy to get either product, but wanted the 'Pumpkin Mask' a little more than the scrub.  I forgot to take a picture of the mask, but this is what it looks like from the  Michael Todd website. I used this already and above all loved the smell of the product.  The mask smelt like I had just smashed my face into a Thanksgiving pumpkin pie.  I looked at the ingredient list and saw why it smelt like Thanksgiving - nutmeg is a product that was added to this mask. I have to keep using the mask before developing an opinion on it, but so far the smell alone makes me really like this mask. Currently there is a promotion for a free Raj Imports headband with every VIB order.

Despite the disappointments on this order, they are not enough for me to want to return the bags.  I have used both bags already and have received numerous compliments on each of them.  I will continue to be a Little Black Bag subscriber and when I can afford it or see a product that I must have I will be ordering again. The trading period is really addicting.  LBB has recently rebranded their site and company and I have heard a lot of complaints that the trading has slowed down and become disappointing since the change.  I did notice a lot less trading this time around, but I was satisfied with the end product that was shipped out.

If you want to try out Little Black Bag for yourself, please use my Referral Link.

Little Black Bag March 2013

Little Black Bag


Price: Varies according to 1st pick purchase you choose

Ships out: You have until the 5th of the month to skip that month. Once you pick your 1st pick you have seven days to trade with other Little Black Bag members. This is where it gets addictive. If you bundle you receive your 1st pick, plus two "stylist picks" You have the seven days to offer or accept trades from others to receive what you want. I originally picked one bag and received two necklaces, a pair of earrings and a hairspray as my stylist picks. They were having a deal so I received the two extra stylist picks.  I was able to trade away everything but the original bag I picked and received another bag.

Extras: Little Black Bag usually has a deal going on at all times, if they don't currently have one, they probably will soon. Just wait to get that deal.

This was my original first pick. The Nila Anthony Lace Structured Satchel. Retail value: $76.00. When I received this in the mail, I was slightly disappointed with the bag.  It wasn't really what I had expected. The lace is glued on the bag so that it looks like it was etched into the leather. I wish the lace was thicker so that it actually looked like the lace was overlaid on the bag. I thought about returning this item, but ended up deciding to keep it. There are so many pockets on/in this bag. I'm an organization freak so I like having all the different pockets for different things. 

 This is the item that I traded for, the Olivia and Joy Knick Knack Satchel. I really needed a new purse, because my go to purses are falling apart on me. I was not going to have my box ship out without at least two purses. I put out a trade offer on this bag, not expecting anyone to actually accept it, but someone did! The retail value of this bag was $92.00.  After I accepted this bag I started looking at it and was scared that the bag was smaller than what I wanted, so I went on a mission of attempting to trade this bag away for something larger. I trolled the chat rooms seeing if anyone would trade with me and thought that I might have some offers because the bag has a high retail value, but I didn't have any takers. After actually getting this bag I'm so glad that no one wanted to trade with me! I actually like this bag better than the 1st pick bag. This bag has a lot of pockets also. I'm currently using this bag as my everyday bag. 
I have gotten so many compliments on this bag! At least once a week someone will tell me they like it!

I skipped the month of April because I'm trying to save my money for a trip that I'm planning on taking.  I will probably be purchasing from this site again.  The trading to so addicting and fun.  I love that you can skip a month. If you don't skip by the 5th of the month you will receive credits for future use.

Do a girl a favor and use my referral link.