Disclaimer: Apera Bags sent me a Sling Tote free of charge to review, they were not guaranteed a positive review, all opinions are my own.
Recently, I was reading Kristin Armstrong’s book, “Work in Progress, an Unfinished Women’s Guide to Grace”. She mentioned something that really struck me, she said (this is not a quote) that if you want to improve your self esteem, never pick up, look at, or subscribe to a fashion magazine ever again. I completely get her point. How are we supposed to live up to a false set of standards without crushing our souls?
You know the series of articles, in those fashion magazines that ask stars to tell us, “what’s in your purse?” You know the ones I’m talking about, right? Stars show us things like La Perla lingerie, Chanel lipstick, Clive Christian perfume, an imported persian rug, an albino Capuchin Monkey. Do stars not have the same thing as us commoners?
With Ms. Armstrong’s words on my mind, I have to say, I don’t make a habit of comparing the contents of my purse or anything else to a fashion magazine, but for pure comical reasons, let’s have fun with this. I think many of you will relate–we don’t have anything all that interesting or special in our purses! To give you the full shocking truth, I dumped my purse out on demand, I did not fluff this up in anyway, so here lies the dirty truth.
Fortunately for me, the very classy, very philanthropic, and generous people at Apera Bags sent me one of their Sling Totes to try. This bag has every right to be in the hands of a celebrity and in fashion magazines across the globe. The first thing I noticed when I unwrapped it was how roomy this athletic bag is! So roomy that my 6 year old daughter fits in it with no problems (now those celebrities have nothing on me! they can never have a more beautiful or valuable treasure than my lil’ wee one!).
I also noticed the high quality materials and stitching. Their bag materials, inside and outside, are treated with antimicrobial product protection which works continuously, 24/7, to help prevent the growth of bacterial odors on the bag. As you can see, for me this is the ideal bag; I’ve got a petri dish of bacteria growing in my purse from dirty socks, to old Dum Dum sticks. I used this tote as a purse, but they are really made for the gym — either way, they’ve got the bacteria issue covered. As a mother, and germ-a-phobe, I love this feature.
To take a quiz and find out what bacteria you are, visit the hilarious GiGi Eats Celebrities right HERE
They also give back: they donate one bag to a Special Olympics athlete for every three bags they sell.
They come with an insert where you can stash wet or sweaty items until you can get home to wash them– or, in my case, until I find them, old and moldy, while cleaning yogurt handprints off the back of the Suburban after having forgotten about them for a week. No problem, because the bag has the anti-microbial properties. Mothers and athletes rejoice!
I’d love to say there are some crummy things about this bag, but there aren’t any–it really is the perfect tote. It’s roomy, high quality, great colors, functional, and a is not going to break the bank like a Chanel Bag would. I will definitely be using my Sling Tote at bag check for my next race-it could easily fit a change of clothes, your post race meal, and anything else you might need after a long run.
Did I mention they offer free shipping and no hassle returns? Yep, nothing worse than having to deal with shabby customer service. Plus having something delivered to your front door step is so much better than shlepping yourself to the mall, trying to find parking, only to find out the store doesn’t have the color or size you want. Right?
In addition to being a cool bag, Apera holds a giveaway each month. All anyone needs to do is sign up for their email newsletter at the bottom of their website. Then, at the conclusion of each month, they randomly draw a name from their subscribers to select the winner. A free Sling Tote (like the one I reviewed) is the bag for March. Every month they change the style. By mentioning this, my hope is that one of you might have a chance at winning your own bag.
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WAIT! Before you go! In the comments below tell me: What’s the grossest or weirdest thing you’ve had in your purse?
