Little Black Bag!

Hey guys! I finished my trading on Little Black Bag, and I wanted to show you guys what I got. I'm really happy with what I got, so I thought I'd share, and give you an intro to LBB, in case you're interested.

If you don't know what Little Black Bag is, I highly suggest trying it out! (Here is a link to the site.) 

Here's how it works:

You start off by filling out a quiz, they will use your choices later to fill your bag. (Take this part seriously, that way you'll end up with items you're more likely to want.) You get to pick an item that you like from their gallery, then you purchase your "bag". **see below about bags** The stylists on the site choose two other items that they think you will like, based on your quiz answers. You then have 3 days to trade the items that you have in your bag with other people. You can both make trade offers or wait for others to offer trades for your items. (You can also trade more than one item for another item, so for instance if you had two necklaces each worth $45 retail, but you don't like them, you can find another item, and it adds the worth together, so you would able to make a 2 for 1 trade for something around $90.)

Bags:

There's two sizes of bags, the $30 one and the $50 one. I purchased the smaller, because I'm not made of money right now. A warning though: if you're only trying it once, it will go up to $40. Then with shipping it comes to almost exactly $45. So, it's up to you which one you want to get. You have the option to become a member and open a bag monthly. You will get $10 dollars off your first bag if you join. Then your bags really are $30 and $50 from there on out. (That sounded pretty awesome to me, but I can't guarantee that I will have the money each month.) Obviously the choice is up to you, and it's different for everybody. You also have the option of opting out at the beginning of each month, if you don't want to do a bag that month. Meaning you don't have to do it every single month. You can be selective. I decided to just try it out, and pay the $45.

My experience:

Like I said, I bought the smaller sized bag. All that really means is that the items you can choose from for your first item are worth a little less than the $50 bag items. For that reason, I did my best to trade up, meaning trade for something worth slightly more than your item, because I didn't get super great items at first. I traded until I got three things that looked nice and were worth enough to trade for a handbag, because that's what I originally wanted. I made quite a few offers and finally someone took my offer for all three of the items in my bag and I ended up with a handbag. I traded a few more times, and finally settling on this bag. I wasn't getting any more offers worth taking on the third day, and because I traded all three of my items for one, I only had one item to trade with in the end. I ended up ending it a little bit before my 36 hours, and telling them to ship my bag to me, because I was happy with what I got and saw no point to keep trading. So, it's really up to you how it's going to work out. There's not just jewelry and bags either. There's hair products, hats, headphones, things for the home, candles etc. They have a wide range, so even if you don't like what you get at first, or jewelry isn't your thing, no worries. You have choices.

I got the Box Top Handle Satchel from Street Level. I really like the bright orange color, I think it will give some of my darker outfits a splash of color. Also, I really like the box-yness. I have mostly slouchy bags, and I wanted some variety, so I'm really happy with this one. It is $64 at retail price, and I got it for $45. Saving $19 on a bag is pretty good in my opinion, and even if it wasn't a great price, I'm really happy with it, so it's worth it.

What do you guys think? Do you guys have other ways to get good prices on fashionable things? How do you do it? Where do you go? Put your answers in the comments, I'd really like to hear them!

(If you want to try LBB, please use the link I provided above, as it is personalized to this site.)

Thanks fashionistas! Shine on!

<3

Thrift Store Haul!

My mom and I decided to have a night on the town last week so we went out to eat at a local restaurant and went to Arc's Value Village! They have four locations in MN. What I love about Arc is that every week they have one color of tag on sale. They have about 4-5 colors and last week everything with a yellow tag was 50% off. They have a lot of stuff to go through and quite a range of sizes so there's something there for everybody. They don't just sell clothes, they sell furniture, books, handbags, shoes, jewelry, random nicknacks... We were there for about two hours and we had barely even scratched the surface of what they had there. It was so much fun!

My plan for about half of this stuff is to alter it into other things or other pieces of clothing or just make them my size. The other half is just things that I think I needed as staples for my wardrobe that I was severely lacking.

Alteration Piece #1: Giant Circle Colorful Thing

This one was a great find. I love the colors and the design, and the folds intrigue me. It's basically a rounded rectangle of fabric with two side seams to keep it together. The neck is a simple drawstring, so I can really do anything I like with it.

Alteration Piece #2: Zebra Print Vest

This one was also a good find, I like the print and the fabric isn't too rough for me. (I don't like scratchy fabric, AT ALL.) My plan for this one is to shorten it and tailor it in to fit me. It's going to be much more of a fashion vest when I'm done with it.

Alteration Piece #3: Embroidered Vest

This one caught my eye right away because of the beautiful colorful stitching on the front. The embroidery is simply incredible and I could instantly see the front as a clutch. (Or two, there's enough of it.) The back of the vest is made of a simple striped fabric that I could use for the lining. I'm super excited about this one, I just know it's going to be awesome!

Extra Piece #1: Sleeveless Sweater Vest

I liked the front of this, with the fabric pulled back into fabric closures. It is grey, which is a color I try to avoid because so much of my wardrobe is grey and black already, but I really liked it, and everything else I bought was colorful, so I let myself get this one. I think it's a non-staple but a very good piece for layering and switching from casual to fancy or semi-casual. I couldn't get a good picture of it because it's hard to see it on a hanger.

Extra Piece #2: Flowered Sundress

I really liked this one, the flowers are bright enough to pull themselves out of the black. This one fits me really well and it's very comfortable. Made of cotton.

Staple Pieces #1 & #2: Long sleeved Tee's
Just two basic tees, a teal blue and magenta. Simple, but great staples for a wardrobe.