Primark Studded Foldover Bag

First, allow me to wish you all a happy Apocalypse day! We're still alive, and I'm still alive to sit here watching Fellowship of the Ring like my life depends on it. Was I the only girl reading the LOTR books as a kid that convinced myself I was going to marry Samwise Gamgee? Even when the movies came out, I knew he had to be mine. 

There's still time.

Anyway, the purpose of this post is a quick review of a bag I bought from Primark, although my version of 'quick' doesn't correlate with anyone else's.

Seeing this on the shelf, I was attracted first to the excess of studs. I seem to own everything from Primark this season that sports more studs and spikes than is necessary to avoid injury. 

Then I saw it's compactness, and the way it can be folded over should you not need the extra space. Too long have I relied upon bags befitting of Mary Poppins, I figured this Christmas I could use a bag that would control my baggage. I can fit all my essentials in here, with a zip pocket inside (that I only discovered on the bus into town, true story) and phone and pen pockets stitched into the lining. I managed to fit this much in:

Umbrella (ella ella, eh, eh, eh...) ♠ Gloves ♠ Body spray ♠ Scarf ♠ Purse ♠ Chewing gum pack ♠ Spare socks

Powder ♠ Powder brush ♠ Concealer ♠ Lipstick ♠ Compact

Third factor that attracted my attention in store was the price tag. £6. In the moment when I was in desperate need of Primark therapy, I thought it was a great deal, but I paid the same for a bag twice as big a few months ago.

Once I got it home, however, I noticed how long the strap was, of course I didn't want to break the packaging in store so I had no idea beforehand. Perhaps I'm a midget but this hits just above my knees even when crossed over my body, not the greatest place to have a bag swinging while you're walking around town. I'm used to shoulder bags that offer the utmost security for me, the paranoid shopper that's convinced everyone else is an Oliver Twist.

My security concerns soon proved to be quashed after a few failed attempts of opening the zip and retrieving things from inside, caused by the combination of a jammy zip and gloved hands.

Taking a look at the strap again, you can see where they are attached to the bag, halfway down, should you prefer to wear it folded over. After a few attempts of folding it back over every time I left a shop, I chose to give up and leave it upright, and of course this meant gravity issues for the bag which did a twisting double salco every time I moved. I can only be grateful none of my bag contents were prone to seasickness.

I gave this bag a test drive on a day out with friends from uni yesterday and I can safely say it won't be leaving the house with me again. From the disobedient zip to the disoriented straps, I thought it couldn't get much worse.

It did.

I opened the bag this morning to find everything inside smelt of fish. Fish nonetheless. As if I'd come home with an errant salmon I wasn't aware of. I noticed no problems during the day but perhaps that was because I wasn't really expecting to open my bag to retrieve money at a bar to be greeted by the stench of a school of fish. I can only put this down to the plastic it's made from reacting with the rain that day, but I have plenty of Primark bags from the same material that have never caused this. Even though it wasn't a torrential downpour, all the bag's contents were soaking wet. Even the notes in my purse were damp. I've lived with Primark bags for a few years and the only one that has damaged my contents that badly was without a zip, that I could understand, but this one I can't quite fathom. I'm just grateful I didn't keep my bus pass in there or that would've been ruined beyond repair.

So thanks, but no thanks, Primark, if I could return this bag I would, if anyone is better versed in consumer rights than I, I'd love to know if I actually could return this, even though I don't have the price tag, original packaging and it's been water damaged thanks to the rain. I seriously doubt there would be any way, but I'm quite annoyed I've wasted £6 on something completely useless after one use.

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