Liz Lisa Fukubukuro (Lucky bags) 2014
We are only a few days away from 1 January 2014. It is not only the first day of the new year, but also the day that stores in Japan start to sell Fukubukuro (福袋), which are lucky bags containing (left-over) items worth a lot more than what you pay for them. It looks like a nice tradition to start your year with trying your luck with these. Even though you always get items worth a few times more than what you pay for, you will still have the risk that you get things that don't suit your taste or are not in your size. But sometimes, you can get lucky and get a really nice item for just a 1/4 of the price.
Some stores try to take your worries away by either showing partially or entirely what the contents are and producing items in large quantities especially for the fukubukuro, which means you won't be getting leftovers that nobody else wanted to buy. Although it kind of ruins the surprise, you are at least sure that you will get something worth while. One of those stores would be Liz Lisa and I have been wanting to buy a fukubukuro from them, since many years ago. I especially had a hard time not to get the pink luggage case that they released last year.
This year, they have one in the same vintage style, but with a lovely floral print: the Liz Lisa Rich Vintage Rose Carry. It also comes in a blue floral print with white leather belts and in a floral My Melody print. These cannot be bought online and are store exclusives. The sub-brand, JugeETTA, has a trunk in the same style, but then in white and with light brown belts.
For 9 Liz Lisa clothing pieces and the beautiful retro suitcase, you only need to pay 21,000 yen. I think that you normally already need to spend that much just to get a coat and a one-piece dress, so the rest would be almost for free. It is a really good bargain, but considering that the international shipping costs and the potential taxes would almost double the amount that I pay for it, I was able to convince myself not to get it. I will just wait until the opportunity arises that I can purchase this in Japan personally. I am not sure if by then, I am still able to wear such cute clothes though. ^_^
Some stores try to take your worries away by either showing partially or entirely what the contents are and producing items in large quantities especially for the fukubukuro, which means you won't be getting leftovers that nobody else wanted to buy. Although it kind of ruins the surprise, you are at least sure that you will get something worth while. One of those stores would be Liz Lisa and I have been wanting to buy a fukubukuro from them, since many years ago. I especially had a hard time not to get the pink luggage case that they released last year.
This year, they have one in the same vintage style, but with a lovely floral print: the Liz Lisa Rich Vintage Rose Carry. It also comes in a blue floral print with white leather belts and in a floral My Melody print. These cannot be bought online and are store exclusives. The sub-brand, JugeETTA, has a trunk in the same style, but then in white and with light brown belts.
For 9 Liz Lisa clothing pieces and the beautiful retro suitcase, you only need to pay 21,000 yen. I think that you normally already need to spend that much just to get a coat and a one-piece dress, so the rest would be almost for free. It is a really good bargain, but considering that the international shipping costs and the potential taxes would almost double the amount that I pay for it, I was able to convince myself not to get it. I will just wait until the opportunity arises that I can purchase this in Japan personally. I am not sure if by then, I am still able to wear such cute clothes though. ^_^
Just for reference, I will also introduce the other fukubukuro that the brand Liz Lisa has.
The Liz Lisa Classical Ribbon Tote (10,500 yen) and Classical Ribbon Boston (5,250 yen)
The Classical Ribbon Boston is the smaller bag containing 3 items and the Classical Ribbon Tote is the larger bag containing 5 items (4 clothing pieces and one cosmetic bag). There are two versions: the set of bags in pink and the ones in brown (see picture above). Sadly enough, the bags in pink are store-only, so when you order online, you can only get the brown bags.
Liz Lisa doll Brilliant Boston Bag (10,500 yen) and Brilliant Tote Bag (5,250 yen)
I think you might have noticed it already, but most brands release fukubukuro in two versions, one selling for 10,500 yen and a smaller one for 5,250 yen or even less. It is great that they also think about the people that have a smaller budget. I am impressed how they are able to give you a whole outfit for just 5,250 yen, which is around $50. You also get the large, useful bag, in which the clothes are stored in. The very sporty looking, blue Liz Lisa doll Brilliant Boston bag would be perfect to take to the gym.Penderie Dolly Stripe Bag (10,500 yen) and Dolly Classic Bag (5,250 yen)
Besides the Liz Lisa Rich Vintage Rose Carry, I was also interested in getting the Penderie Dolly Stripe Bag. I am only a bit concerned at how brown the coat is going to be. I like the rest of the items too, but it seems like a waste of my money if I don't like the coat and the skirt. Why couldn't they include the same skirt as in the Dolly Classic Bag? Then I would only have to worry about not liking one item out of the five.Tralala Happy Heart Bag (10,500 yen) and Happy Daisy Tote (5,250 yen)
This brand has created two version of both bags: a casual version and a sweet version. Since they didn't reveal what the contents were, right at the beginning, this could at least, give you a clue whether the clothes would suit your taste. I would have picked the bags of the sweet version and I really like both outfits. But actually, the casual version bags would have not disappointed me too. I like wearing casual clothing in my free time.
You can find better and close up pictures of contents of the lucky bags on the official Liz Lisa website
