Goldentote Mystery Tote

I am not good at shopping. I get overwhelmed. Too much to stimulation. Too many choices. I also have no fashion sense, so my closet is full of the same things. I have been using another clothing subscription service and liked it, but it has the potential to be pricey. 

I heard about GoldenTote and thought I would give it a try.

This is from their site: Golden Tote is the ultimate 'Surprise Grab Bag' filled with clothing and accessories for women. Working with carefully selected fashion brands and designing our own fashion favorites, we curate an eclectic assortment of treasures and package them all up in a custom tote bag for one amazing price. Think of us as your personal shoppers, stylists, and designers that are scoring you some major fashion finds for an incredible price.

I loved my first tote in December and thought it was a home run. I heard about mystery totes in January. Sounded really fun. For $60 (plus shipping), each tote would include 4 items: 1 previous "chosen" item that wasn't chosen, 1 "new" special item from Puella made specifically for the mystery tote, and 2 past "surprise" items that weren't shipped. How could I go wrong? So, as soon as the Small totes became available on-line, I ordered. One of my friends received her tote the same day I received mine. We shared pictures and had very similar responses to what we received. We had seen reviews already and were excited. There are no returns on the mystery totes but I wasn't worried. 

OK ... I'm not even sure what this is. Dress? Waaaay to short? Blouse? Strange fit with too much length on the bottom. Would be a decent pool cover-up, but it has multiple layers and isn't a breezy fabric. The sleeves are adjustable lengths with a tab to make short sleeved and they were just bunched up. Better when folded. And, I know it's a small, but it is really snug in all the wrong places without any stretch? And the color? UGH!!! My friend also received something this color and wondered "what is with all the hot pink." Charity, here you go!!

OK ... from too snug to massive!!! This dress is humongeous!!! And horizontal stripes? What are they thinking. I tried it with leggings and it looked huge and boxy. I tried belting it, but there was sooooo very much fabric on top that it made me look super top-heavy, which I am not. One more item for charity. 

The Puella top in grey isn't terrible. But, horizontal stripes again? Not wide high-contrast stripes, so not too terrible. It is comfortable, but not the softest of fabrics. It does look OK with skinny  jeans, but I wouldn't have purchased it myself. Before GoldenTote, I hadn't heard of Puella, so I looked them up. Seems some people are totally raving about the designs. Sold by Antrhopologie and Made in the USA (yea!!!). I'm not so sure if they are my style. I like flowy, but from what I've seen so far, just a little too unshapely.  It's hard to describe, but I like a fitted flow ... if that makes sense

 Final item was this boxy T-shirt. Maybe I don't have style, but I didn't think Paisley was still considered stylish. It's really soft and comfortable and really really big. I might wear it around the house as loungewear, but probably wouldn't wear it out. 

My friend who received her Mystery Tote the same day, had similar thoughts. NOT CUTE like some of the reviews we had already seen. Her take on it was that "it was worth the $60 to share a good laugh with you about it." I don't think I'll be ordering a Mystery Tote next year. I think I will stick with chosen totes that I can return if they are a bust.