Little Black Bag: The first haul

I've been taking peaks at the Little Black Bag website ever since I heard about it a few months ago. But there was never a product that got me so excited to take the plunge. With the help of a 10% promo I found online I decided to give in and realized Little Black Bag is the most addicting and fun new way to shop online!

What is Little Black Bag? Little Black Bag is a trading/shopping experience. It is loosely based on Japanese Lucky Bag Sales where retailers give out mystery bags filled with products and customers then trade with their friends. With Little Black Bag you get to pick one of the items that you want in your bag and Little Black Bag will choose at least 2 other items (sometimes 3 other items, depending on price of the first item).  Items featured range from purses, jewelry, sunglasses, scarves, hats, watches, tech accessories, and more. All from top brands (Betsey Johnson, CaseMate, Steve Madden, BGBG, etc).
Then you get to see what the stylist chose for you and start trading with other members. Trading lasts exactly 7 days and you can trade for as long as you like. You may start with 3 items valued at $125 and end up with 5+ items with a value over $200! You are not charged until your bag ships and if for any reason you are unsatisfied you can cancel your bag at any time or return items that shipped to you for a product credit. Plus for every friend you invite that buys their bag, you get an extra product in your next bag! Little Black Bag is a monthly club, but you can skip as often as you like. Click here to get started on your first bag!

Little Black Bag, The first haul
Let me tell you this website is ADDICTING!! I hadn't had so much fun shopping then my 7 days of trading. I started out with a Nila Anthony Green Mesh Satchel that I adored from the moment I saw it on the website. Little Black Bag chose the other two items for me, and I remember hating them! But trading was fairly easy to follow. I'd go to the gallery and choose the product I was interested in receiving and make a trade offer. I could offer any item I had (or multiple) and LBB sends out my trade offer to members with the specific item. At first I would make offers only for items I was interested in, but then I realized I'd keep my trades moving if I kept leveling my items up and up (higher value). Sometimes I'd have 40-50 offers out for one product in my bag. But it turned out to be successful as I started with 3 items and ended up with 6! At one point I had 8 items, but I made two item trades to get products that were hard to get. My only advice to new traders is to be patient, be proactive, and don't assume a trade will be denied.

The only complaint I have about the site is that trading can get very tedious. I wish there was an option to swiftly make trade offers, but currently you have to click the product page, click the make an offer page, select your item you want to trade, click trade, and then confirm your trade. If you are planning on making offers on many different items it gets time consuming! I also wish there was a way to lock down a few items. I was always scared I'd accidentally accept a trade on an item I didn't want to get rid of and it was annoying to not be able to filter out all the emails for those items. And trust me while you are trading you will get 100s of emails! You can opt to not receive instant email updates, but if someone makes you a good offer you have to get in quick to accept before someone else accepts their offer. It can also get frustrating at times when nobody is bidding on your items or nobody is accepting any of your offers. Plus, it turns out that a lot of the product pictures look nothing like the actual product (color and size wise) and for someone who only wears dainty jewelry that can be problematic. 

Let's take a look at what I ended up getting!

• Nila Anthony Green Mesh Satchel, Retail Value $72
• RoomMates Dandelion Wall Decal, Retail Value $21
• Case-Mate Samantha iPhone 4/4S Case, Retail Value $40
• Case-Mate Rain iPhone 4/4S Case, Retail Value $40
• Lydell NYC Small Drop Earrings, Retail Value $28
• R&Em Graffiti Pouch, Retail Value $18

Total Value of my Bag $219!!

Detailed Product Reviews:

Nila Anthony: Green Mesh Satchel, $72

This is the product that I opened my bag for. I got many trade offers from other members for this bag but I was never letting go of it. When I opened my LBB package I was greeted by a nasty smell. I thought it was just the PVC (faux leather) smell, but it turned out that one of the handles was growing mold!! I know I live in a humid city, but really? I will be returning this item to LBB for a product credit. Therefore, on my next bag I will automatically get an additional item on top of my original items valued at approximately $72. I am really sad that this bag was defective! And by the time I got my haul, the purse was sold out on their website.
eta: Little Black Bag let me keep the defective bag and still receive a product credit. I cut off the bad strap and will take it to a shoe repair and hope they can put on new handles for me. Sweet!

RoomMates: Dandelion Wall Decal, $21

I've never had wall decals before. I kind of thought they were juvenile, like having glow-in-the-dark stars on my ceiling or what not. But this floral dandelion pattern is fresh, sweet, and a bit more grown up than most decals. The pattern is huge! But that makes it kind of cool. I love shabby chic design mixed with modern finishes and I think this will fit right in. I'm about to move in with my Aunt, so I haven't put this up yet. I hope she will let me put this up on my wall in my new room! The bed I'll have doesn't have a headboard, so I think this would look cute as a wall feature behind the bed!

Case-Mates: Samantha and Rain iPhone Cases, $40 each
For the first few weeks that I get a new tech product (iphone, laptop, kindle, etc) I am extra careful with it and treat it like a baby, but after that new product feel wears off I get sloppy. I don't know how many times I've dropped my current iPhone. I broke the one I originally bought, but luckily it was still within the first year and Apple gave me a new phone. Now that I am waiting until iPhone 5 I am trying to be extra nice to my phone. Thus, I needed to trade out my cracked cases. LBB had so many cute options! I at first only wanted the Samantha case (left florals) but a few days before my trade period ended they released the Rain case (right retro). I couldn't decide and finally decided to get both! I had to trade a total of 4 items to get the 2 cases, but it was worth it! I'm so in love with them! I currently have Rain on my phone.

It comes with a hard, plastic outer shell that has the pattern and an inner, silicon piece that wraps around all of the edges of the phone. I'm very happy with the case. It is easy to put on, doesn't seem like it will be easy to crack, and I love the silicon piece to add some padding if it does somehow fall. 

Here you can see how the silicon piece wraps around and protects it even better! And yes, that is my adorable puppy! She's got a face only a mother could love!

Lydell NYC: Small Drop Earrings, $28
Surprisingly these earrings look very similar to the photo on the LBB website. I love how delicate they are and who doesn't love turquoise this season? Plus, the antique gold finish makes them unique. These earring may only be valued at $28, but there were only 3-4 pairs available while I was trading. I relentlessly tried to get them and finally on my last day of trading a 2 item trade worth $60 was a winner! I practically was jumping up for joy that I got them! And to make them even more special, I ended up wearing them at my graduation ceremony! Here's a small preview of me wearing them.

R&Em: Graffiti Pouch, $18
Why do I love collecting teeny little pouches? I've got so many beauty travel bags but this one was so cute!! I loved that it was made out of canvas and was so bright! I traded down, maybe $10, to get it and am so glad I did! It is so well constructed and is nice and thick with heavy, gold hardware. I've already used it twice since I got it. Once to store my nail polish remover, nail polish, base, and a top coat! And another day to store all of my wallet necessities when I was using a clutch. I saw R&Em featured on HauteLook and I love what I see. Maybe my next LBB bag I'll pick out an R&Em purse!

So there you have it! A total value of over $200! It was a fun experience and really energized me while I was trying to get through a trying week of schoolwork! But, it is time consuming! I spent so much time trading and checking up on the website. At first I thought $50 was too pricey, but I ended up getting a great deal of stuff I love! I don't plan on opening a bag every month but every so often when I see something special or I have a coupon ;)

What do you think of my first Little Black Bag haul? Was it worth the hassle of trading? Find out what is in your bag and start trading by clicking here to join!