Handbag Heaven: A Review

I think I’ve spent long enough testing out the handbag I received (in a giveaway at Winona’s blog, as a lead-up to the release of her book) to write a fair review!

Shipping:

Shipping was via UPS (which I know some people have bad luck with, but I’ve never had a bad experience) & only took 3-4 days. It took either four or five days from me emailing HH with my preference to me opening the box at my house. Very fast! The handbag arrived neatly boxed, with an invoice inside. There was a very classy handbag bag (bag bag? cover bag? you get the drift), which really made it feel like I had received an incredibly luxe item. Or maybe I’m just easily impressed. Judge for yourself:

The Bag:

The bag itself is a hobo-shaped bag with a bow on one end, in deep purple faux leather. Let me say this: it does not look like faux leather. Once some time is spent feeling it, you can tell, but even Matt (who, by the way, prides himself on being able to tell) was shocked to find out that it was pleather.

There are two things I seriously take into consideration when I buy bags: size & pockets. No, seriously. If something is plain black leather but is big enough for my tastes (insert tasteless size queen joke here) & has enough pockets, I will probably buy it! Luckily for me, this bag has both in abundance:

(Here we have way too many lip products, keys with plastic discount givers, lotion, deodorant, wallet from Claire’s circa four years ago, birth control, measuing tape, iPod, business card holder, checkbooks, headphones, and Moleskine.)

I told you – I carry my life in there! That’s what’s in there this morning; sometimes there’s also my cell phone, planner, and/or a book. The bag holds it all with nary a complaint, and is comfortable carry as well. No back pain.There’s an outside zip pocket (which is what carries the ridiculous amount of lipstick/lipgloss), an inside zip pocket, two large areas partitioned by another zip pocket, and then cell phone holders on the side that doesn’t have the zip pocket. Lots of pockets!

My only real problem is that my cats absolutely love it for some reason. Wesley likes to play a game where she’ll find it on the floor and then sit inside of the straps and attack Giles. Which, as you can guess, results in some scratches. I tried to get a photo of this occurance for your viewing pleasure, but every time Wesley saw the camera she’d take off running. Oh well. At any rate, they’re all small scratches & the color under the top layer of purple is black, so they’re not too noticeable. The other quibble is that the bow comes undone an awful lot; I think it would work better if it was stitched in place. Small and easy to fix, and in the meantime I obtained mad bow-tyin’ skills.

(apologies for grainy photo; methinks it’s getting about time for a new camera)

Overall, I’d definitely give Handbag Heaven two thumbs up (even though I’m only giving them one thumb up in this photo). Everyone I’ve dealt with from there has been a pleasure, the bag is quality & looks much more expensive than it is, and shipping was super speedy!

Thank you, Handbag Heaven!