Even though I just got back from the fabulous Las Vegas, I feel like I recently hopped on the Subway in New York City! I had the honor of reviewing another bag from I-Ella.com and with its edgy New York theme, it was hard not to feel like I was in the middle of the Big Apple!
If you don’t recall from when we first took a look at I-Ella.com in February, I-Ella.com is a website where you can buy, sell, or borrow high-end clothing and accessories. They also sell a curated bag/box subscription they call “The List”. Every month, The List is made with a different theme and can be purchased in 3 different sizes: “Starter Bag” for $59 a month, “Soho Bag” for $129 a month and the “St. Barth’s Bag” for $389 a month. With each bag you receive approximately double the value in specially selected products. Before you make your fist purchase, you take an extensive questionnaire to give the ladies behind i-Ella a true sense of your fashion style. They take great care to send you products you truly love!
Once my review order was put in (for the Soho Bag), the i-Ella team got to work selecting what would be in my bag. I had my bag in about 5 days from the time it shipped! It came in a USPS priority box and everything was perfectly wrapped! I’ll be honest, I was SO excited that I didn’t spend much time photographing the delicate wrapping job! You’ll have to take my word on it, it was nice! Each bag comes wrapped up and ready for gifting if you so choose.
Up first is a sample from the curl experts, Miss Jessie’s. While this sample isn’t for everyone, I do have wavy, curl prone hair. Miss Jessie’s is a real authority in curly hair solutions and I’ve loved everything I’ve tried from this line in the past. This is a really generous 1oz sample. I’ll have to get a small bottle to pour the content into because this will be 3+ uses on my hair. This wasn’t given a sample value and is considered a bit of a “freebie.” On the Miss Jessie’s site, anyone can sign up to receive 2 samples of their choice! This is the newest sample available on the website so I love that I got it here first! If you’re interested in getting your two free Miss Jessie’s samples, click HERE. (Shipping is $1)
Next, I received 5 Herban Essentials Lavender Towelettes. These are calming and sanitizing and smell SO nice! I love to keep little hand towelettes around for myself and the littles because you just never know when you’re going to need something like this! We’ve been stocked up on Wet Ones these days and loving it, but I love having these as a more girly option for myself! All Herban Essentials towelettes are distilled with 100% pure, therapeutic grade, steam or cold pressed essential oils. A bag of 20 of these retails for $16, making this a sample value of $4.80
This time around, I received a nail polish, yay! I love to paint my nails and this summer is a great time to try out a bright neon color like this one! What’s better is this polish is from Priti NYC Polish. This company products vegan, 5-free polish. I also noticed that this polish was lower odor than many of the other polish brands I own. I’d chalk that up to it being 5-free but it even smells less than some of the other popular chemical free polishes like Julep or Zoya. With a spouse who’s sensitive to the smell of my addiction, I’m all over low odor, chemical free polish!
I wasn’t able to find this particular color on the Priti NYC site, but most bottles retail for $13.50 and are all are currently on sale for $9.95.
Some “sample” I received that I’m really excited about are these Comodynes “Easy Peeling” face and body peel wipes. These wipes sound like more of an exfoliant than a hard core “peel” to me, but honestly, I’m a fan of both! I love the idea of smooth skin in an easy to use wipe. I’m familiar with Comodynes as a brand because last summer I tried out their tanning wipes. I enjoyed those so I’m anticipating liking these too! 8 of these wipes retails for $12.99 making this a sample value of $8.12
Now on to the real fun! The FASHION ITEMS! First, I received this beautiful shawl/scarf. It’s really big (approximately 6’x4′) so I’m sure there are 100 uses and ways to wear this one! I love the colors and the stripes blue with hot pink ends. I will say it’s very thin, which is fine because I live in Texas and it’s almost never hot enough for a “heavy-duty” scarf. BUT because it’s so thin, it is a bit fragile. I caught my nail on it a few times and I already have some runners. I have stow this away for a special occasion and be very careful. This scarf retails for $62 and was featured recently in another monthly subscription box and was welcome with rave reviews!
Lastly, my favorite piece! Last time I got to review a bag from i-Ella, I received gorgeous should and while I loved them, I was really hoping for a bag this time! My wish was granted with this Kooba dust bag! Let’s see what’s inside!
I try to avoid saying this, but pictures just do not do this adorable Layla Crossbody by Kooba justice! I was at dinner with a girlfriend last night when I had to rave about this bag. Trying to explain this yellow was a bit difficult. It’s bright, because it’s yellow, but it’s really the PERFECT yellow. It’s not got too much brown or green in it, but it’s not loud or obnoxious either. It really is just right.
The bag does come with a nice strap and has a good range of cute little pockets on the inside! This bag is genuine leather and the leather is soft, well put together and something I could spend all day petting. (Don’t judge!). If you recall, I was send the “Soho Bag” which costs $129 and this bag on its own has a suggested retail value of $198. (Note that this particular bag and color is currently on sale for $129.60, but sales come and go and it doesn’t look at all like they are clearing out this line of bags!) The ONLY negative this I could say about this bag is that I saw one subscriber receive a leopard print version of this bag! In my details to the company I talked about how much I adore leopard print so I have slight bag envy in that regard!
Overall, this bag was a REAL hit for me! Everything in here will be used and well loved! The overall value of the products I received was a whopping $285.42 or $214.47 if you calculate in the current price of the bag and nail polish. Either way you want to slice it, I think i-Ella’s subscription service is fun and I’d recommend it to any fashionista looking for a grab bag that is sure to give you a higher value that you’ve spent! If you’re looking for a fun delivery to your door every month, be sure and check out i-Ella HERE.
