A ♥ Bag ♥ For ♥ All ♥ Seasons ♥ ! (Nica Scoop Shoulder Bag)

Member Name: malibu_jenny

Product:	Nica Scoop Shoulder Bag
Date:	15/05/09 (141 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Durable, detailed and goes with everything.

Disadvantages: Writing this made me feel a bit 'sensible'.

It was a centrally heated afternoon in February and I was poking around the make-up counters in Debenhams on my lunch break. I wasn't feeling glossy enough to buy from the gleaming glass shelves and I wandered further back in the shop to see if there were any cheap leftover gifts from Christmas. Unexpectedly the range of Nica bags caught my eye and I swapped my threadbare Jane Norman for a beautiful dusky pink leather bag. Ordinarily my handbag price range is between £5 and £10. I buy on impulse, fill them with rubbish and dirty them on the pavement at bus stops or the sticky tops of bar counters. This bag was £49, and heralded a new era of buying things I genuinely love and want to look after.

My Nica has the style of a slightly slouchy Jimmy Choo bag. Rounded, with a scoop top under the shoulder strap, it sits just on my waist, giving a neat silhouette. Any higher and it would be an armpit warming curiosity; any lower and filling it up would make it just another bulky shoulder bag. There were other colours; a sort of grey and a khaki green, but the dusky pink is a subtly fun colour which looks brilliant with blue jeans and my grey furry rocket dog boots and even breaks up and feminises boring black work outfits. It's not just the appearance though, this bag has a pocket on each side (one for my phone, one for my keys) and a long elasticated pocket which runs across the front (to put small items of shopping and your purse) making it all round practical. The strong zip along the top of the central compartment stops thieving fingers and nosy bystanders and makes the zip up pocket inside doubly secure. Overall the bag is soft and easy to load but nothing in it gets wet, damaged or broken due to the thickness and sturdiness.

Everything about this bag has attention to detail and looking at it after I bought it, I was overjoyed to find it had a slightly paler pink pattern just below the strap and above the pockets. Every little brass coloured stud is embossed with a flower and the magnetic fastenings on the outer pockets are surprisingly secure. Three months on, the bag has been on holiday with me, to work every day and to parties, pubs and barbeques. Capacity is impressive and the thickness of the strap means that it doesn't cut into my shoulders, even when I'm wearing a vest top and carrying spare pyjamas in it.

The zip is fine despite loading it up and the flat bottom is unscuffed (although there are a couple of grubby marks sustained, water seems to get them off just fine). Amazingly, the interior lining is still intact (I would have expected my keys, birthday badges or some sharp piece of work paraphernalia to tear it) and I have never tired of carrying it. Coming into summer, this looks just as good with shorts and tights or a floaty dress and flip flops as it did with a wool coat.

So, is there anything I don't like about it? Initially I didn't love the brass colour of the fittings and I would perhaps have preferred a shiny silver, but a creeping realisation that that would be too bling has caused them to grow on me. The bag came with a cloth label and a flower attachment and I hope these weren't intended to stay as they came apart in the carrier bag on the way back to the office. (In any case, I swiftly replaced the flower with a large enamel bag charm to personalise the bag a bit and add feature) For once the price of the bag is not a disadvantage - spending a bit more on it is no issue when you look at the quality. This comes with a dustbag and the look of an 'it' bag without the ridiculous price tags or faddish following and in my mind remains a bargain.

Shockingly, this is the item that made me realise how much I would save if I just spent a little more on initial outlay. Cheap and throwaway only works when you have time to shop and money to burn, while a decent item like this means a lasting saving and fewer tatty odds and ends on the bedroom floor. I'm not saying that I will never again buy anything neon or covered in sequins, or stagger through Camden Market loaded up with the results of afternoon drinking and payday, but this is grown-up, smart and sexy - I'd buy it again for sure.

Summary: A lesson to us all......