My First Little Black Bag: August 2013

A couple of days ago I received my first box from Little Black Bag. If you are unfamiliar with LBB, I will try to explain it the best I can. When you go to the Little Black Bag website, you choose an item. This is called "opening a bag". Once you've "placed" that item in your bag, the LBB stylists will then choose 1-3 items to place in your bag with the item that you chose. You may then go ahead and close your bag by clicking the tab that says "ship my bag" or, here's where the fun begins, you may start trading items with other members. You have up to 7 days to trade, then your bag is closed and shipped out. I think this is a really neat concept in case you don't care for the items that are chosen for you. Say you choose a nice handbag and there are 2 pairs of earrings and a beauty item that are placed in your bag. If those items just aren't your cup of tea then you can trade one or all of them or accept trades from other members.

You can do a one-time purchase of the item you chose or you can become a VIP member. I actually decided to do this. VIP membership is $9.95/month. As a VIP member you get the lowest prices on their merchandise of up to 70% or more. VIP members also get free gifts with their purchases each month. As a VIP member you can skip any month by the 5th or on the 6th of the month you are granted a $10.00 credit to spend or you can let them accumulate for a later purchase. So basically you are making a nickle each month. It's not much, but hey, at least you're pretty much making your money back.

I decided I would start out with a smaller purchase to see how I liked the site and the shopping experience.

Here's what my box looked like when it arrived and after I opened it.

I signed up for LBB after receiving a promo code in my email worth $15.00 off my purchase, so I wanted to find an item that was as close to that price as possible. That is when I came across the adorable mustache necklace pictured on the left below. The piece is by K. Kreative, which I am not very familiar with, but I just had to get it for my 12-year-old because she is obsessed with the whole mustache fad right now. This necklace retails for $16.00. After I placed that item in my "bag", LBB stylist chose some earrings that were sort of meh. I tried to trade them for days, then finally someone accepted my trade and I acquired some really cute blue filigree earrings. Right before it was time to close my bag, someone offered to trade for those really cute earrings that are shown in the picture. I had seen these on the site and really loved them because of the starfish. The earrings are Robert Rose brand and they retail for $22.00.

I'm pretty excited at how well I did with this purchase. Together the items retail at $38.00. By using the promo code and the VIP discount I got for joining, I was able to get both items for $5.95 which is the shipping cost.

Right now you can join Little Black Bag and receive 25% off your first purchase. Just click THIS LINK to get started!

Do you subscribe to Little Black Bag? If so, what are your thoughts? What kind of items have you received? I would love to hear from you...just comment below.

See all of my favorite subscription boxes HERE