The Golden Tote: Stylist in a Bag

Earlier today, I had one of those mornings when I killed at least 20 minutes staring at my closet thinking: “This is one of those days when I just wish I had a personal stylist.”

Someone to make the decisions for you, you know?

If you’re nodding, today’s post is for you. (And, really, if you like shopping at all, you’ll want to read this.)

About a week ago, I was introduced to Golden Tote — an online boutique that’s part shopping, part surprise. More specifically, it’s a service that sends you up to seven items of clothing based on your personal style and specific interests. It’s kind of like a stylist-in-a-bag.

Here’s how it works:

You sign up online, answer a few questions that describe your style and pick one of these options:

Then, you pick 1-2 inspiration pieces (based on your budget and preferences) and the Golden Tote team will send you a personalized tote bag. As shown above, you can choose to receive up to three items in your tote for $49 (up to a $200 value) or up to seven items for $149 (up to $600 value).

Golden Tote asked me if I’d like to try out their service, and since it seemed like a great value proposition, I happily obliged.

I signed up, picked my size (Medium) and chose two items — today’s striped vest and a pretty patterned jacket, shown below. I took five minutes to type in my personal style preferences — including things I’d never wear and colors I don’t like. I hit submit and resorted to stalking my mailman.

My items arrived within 72 hours, and overall, I was really happy with the contents. I’ve been wearing four out of the five items sent in my bag on the reg, all of which are pictured below. The piece I didn’t love is that pretty dress on the left — it’s super-cute, but didn’t fit me right.

Here’s a bit more of my thoughts on the service:

• Pro: That vest! I’m obsessed. I’ve been styling it a variety of ways (more photos to share with you tomorrow), but mainly with my favorite straight-leg skinny jeans and black-and-white booties.
• Pro: You can pick your preference — $49 (2-3 items) or $149 (6-7 items). It’s kind of like a grown-up version of Puppy Surprise. Isn’t it? (TELL ME you remember Puppy Surprise.)
• Pro: It’s not one of those automatically-deducts-from-your-credit-card gigs. You can sign up once or manually every month, when a new collection of pieces are debuted.
• Pro: It’s not a ‘hit or miss’ situation, as you’ll for sure get 1-2 items you love and select yourself.
• Good-to-know: My vest had all sizes left, luckily, but some items sell out quickly. Act fast!
• Con: If you don’t like one or two things in your bag, you can’t return them or send them back; however, Golden Tote does have a Facebook group where members can trade and exchange their items. I love this idea!

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Intrigued? Questions? Let me know in the comments below. You can also click over to Golden Tote’s website to learn more or to sign up for your own Tote.

*In this post:

Striped vest c/o Golden Tote (sign up for yours here)
Paige denim ‘Skyline’ skinny jeans (on sale)
Ann Taylor calf-hair booties (sold out, similar styles/love this pair)
Street Level reversible tote bag
Tory Burch sunglasses
NARS velvet matte lip pencil in ‘Dragon Girl’

*Click to shop: Golden Tote | quilted/puffer vests
This post (below):

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Lydia Hudgens Photography