a. I love a bargain
b. Apparently I'm addicted to these sample programs
c. Variety is the spice of life?
So, I signed up. This is quite a bit more expensive than your average sample programs. It's $49.99 a month and it involves handbags, makeup, some skincare items and jewelry. As with any of these sites, you select your style. Each month (unless you skip by the 5th of the month) you pick out the one item that you'd definitely like in your shipment. Stylists pick out the other two. You can pick out things that are as inexpensive as $10 or some items that retail for over $100, just know that the price of the item will generally impact the other items that the stylists pick (if you pick out a $140 necklace you're probably not going to get another $100 item selected for you).
So, the idea of that was ok. What made this something I actually wanted to spend money on is trading. Everyone on the site can see other members' items. And you can offer to trade for items you want and people can offer trades for items they want. Trading is how I wound up with all this loot. I started off with the standard 3 items, but then someone would trade me 2 items for one of mine and I eventually worked up to a nice set of stuff. Trading lasts for a week and the items you have can change drastically. One piece of advise is don't ship your bag right away. You never know what someone will offer up! Granted, now receiving the bag, I'm not thrilled with everything but more on that later.
One thing I want to stress, is the prices listed on Little Black Bag are manufacturers suggested prices. You may be able to find something cheaper on a site such as Amazon, Ebay or Zappos or stores like Marshalls and TJmaxx. However, even though I found the necklace below for $75 on Zappos, I still paid way under that in combination with the other items in my bag. Also, no going through piles of scattered purses in TJmaxx (you have to be in the mood for bargain shopping). Another thing is some of the brands are from wholesalers. It isn't bad in theory but something to keep in mind while you're trading.
Kenneth Jay Lane Leatherneck necklace, this was my 1 pick (found for $74.99 on Zappos)
Steven Madden earrings
Danielle Nicole mini jelly purse* ($48 on the Danielle Nicole site)
Sanrio Hello Kitty Watch
Cargo Triple Action Mascara ($20 at ULTA)
Cargo High Pigment Pencil ($16 at Beauty.com)
Umbra Wallflutter Wall Decor
* I now need the willpower to carry less stuff to actually use this everyday this summer!
I really love the necklace, the purse and the 2 makeup items. I am not digging the earrings (they seemed a lot smaller online). Honestly, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the other things. As we speak, I am learning more about their exchange/return program because technically, they do allow exchanges in a way:
"Exchange Credit for similarly priced items
Return your merchandise and you will receive an automatic Exchange Credit for a new and different item of approximately the same retail value. Simply mail back your items to the address listed below. We will email you when your return has been processed and the Exchange Credit will automatically be applied to your account upon receipt of your return and we will select a similarly priced item to put in your next bag."
But so far I'm quite pleased. I'm not sure if I'm going to do this every month. $50 is a lot of money and my husband gave me one of those looks when he carried the box inside today. Nonetheless, so far I would highly recommend this program and I am totally addicted to trading. I have a bag going right now and I'm obsessively clicking refresh refresh refresh.
Little Black Bag is only currently available in the US.
Feel free to leave any questions below!
Disclosure: I paid my hard earned cash for this bag but I did include my referral link in this post.
