Armani Jeans Snakeskin Clutch

I attended the grand opening of the new Diffusion store in Wolverhampton a year ago, which involved a bit of mingling, but mainly salivating over the new lines and their range of Armani Jeans bags, with a glass of champagne stopping me from picking up more than one at a time.

I saw this gorgeous, brown leather, across body bag staring back at me on a shelf, and instead of taking full advantage of the 15% discount being offered on the night, I let my boss persuade me that I didn’t ‘need’ to spend £115 on a bag that doesn’t look like it would fit anything inside.

Well, my theory is that if you like something and aren’t 100% at the time, sleep on it. If you’re still thinking about it a day later than just go for it! So I went to my local Diffusion store and picked it up, without the tempting discount though, huff.

The quality of the leather is good, however the corners have started to wear and I’ll be honest, I don’t really use it all that much as I do have a lot to choose from! The snakeskin effect gives it an edge from the usual tan leather bags, and I think the metal bar with the brand name engraved looks clean and classy.

As I predicted, it holds my usual purse but rather too snugly, and as long as you’re good at Tetris you can squeeze the rest of your essentials in. The width gives you more room to play with but as there’s no depth to the bag so it is more of a dinner bag rather than one to take shopping. 

One of the most annoying things about the bag is the clasps that attach the strap. The hooks are slightly too far down meaning that the clasps hang in the way of the top and get pushed in as you’re strutting around. There’s been a few times where I’ve had to make ninja moves to catch it before its fallen to the floor! Personally I think with names like Armani Jeans, I’d expect better, that’s all.

All in all, I do love it. It goes with so many outfits and the snakeskin leather looks fab. But its not the most practical option so its all about the look with this number.


Let me know if you found my review useful, leave me a comment or tweet me @bagsofstyleblog :) 

H&M Gold Straw Beach Bag

*yawns*
So I made it back from the Benidorm hen weekend in one piece having had an eventful few days as Maid of Honour and organiser of the girlie trip. Unfortunately we didn't get as much sun as we'd hoped so I didn't get that much use out of my new beach bag, but I managed to get the gist of it on our brief beach visit.

 
Having already bought the gold clutch from H&M, review here, I knew I loved the fabric and I knew the colour would match a whole range of outfits, so I chose this as my one beach bag to accompany me.

The fabric isn't anywhere near as rigid as the clutch so its easy to fit in your case, and even though I had to bend the handles a little to get it in, they bounced back into shape when I got it out at the other end. Inside, it has two pockets side by side, conveniently phone-sized, but there's no zipped pockets. I think I'd miss this as I usually like to have a larger, secure pockets to be able to keep a few things separate from my sandy towel. The bag does have a zip right across the top, which is definitely useful in somewhere like Benidorm as the inside pockets are fairly high up and you could find yourself phoneless pretty easily!

Overall, I'd definitely recommend this as a beach bag and you can buy it here. Its only £14.99 and it fits so well with holiday outfits like tropical prints, monochromes and brights. So have fun mixing and matching and make sure you have an amazing holiday wherever you're going!

If you've found this useful, please leave me a comment and share before you run off to H&M to grab your bag.