Sparkles make me happy (or so I thought)

Sometimes, when I'm down, I look at sparkly things on the internet.

It doesn't matter whether it's bags, shoes, or jewelry, they all make me feel better when I'm having an off day or just feeling like I'm in a slump. There's something about a little reflectiveness that reminds me of the beauty in so many aspects of life. That and, someone once told me there's biology behind liking shiny things: something to do with them indicating a potential water source and therefore triggering a hard-wired happiness.

To your relief, I'm not here to debate the validity of that statement, but rather to talk about some of my recent experiences with sparkly things (both good and bad). Hopefully these stories will help illuminate (ba-dum-cha) some potentially great investment pieces, as well as things to be wary of when shopping for sparkly things online.

The sparkly bag

Recently, I received a 20% coupon from Saks Fifth Avenue, as I do on occasion, which has recently become a very sneaky yet effective way for them to remind of their presence. Either way, I found myself browing the handbag sale section, since it's getting to that time of the year and I have been on the hunt for a holiday bag with some sparkle. In what felt like a truly magical moment, I stumbled upon the Benedetta Bruzziches (say that 3x fast) Vitty La Mignon bag in the color Gli Amanti In Grigio, which is a beautiful silvery white. It was already on sale from nearly a thousand dollars to less than half, in which I had an additional 20% off. It felt like a match made in heaven, so I decided to give it a try.

Let me tell you...this little one did not disappoint. The way the light hits it is spectacular and it is the PERFECT evening bag. I've already taken it for a spin, to possibly the most perfect location ever. My mom and I recently when to New York City for a couple days to see the sights and do some New York City-ing. We went to the MET, ate some bagels, strolled down fifth avenue, and visited the 9/11 memorial, which was incredibly moving. On one of the nights, we went to see The Great Gatsby on Broadway, which was the perfect chance to take little Vitty out, and what a joy. This bag was made for Broadway in New York City, or maybe it's the other way around? The way the city lights twinkled off of it solidified that my purchase was a great one. For anybody looking for a great holiday bag that is small, packs a punch, but is still relatively practical, Benedetta Bruzziches just might be your gal.

To give a little bit more detail on the bag itself, it's pretty small, but still managed to fit what I needed. It fit my phone (I have an iPhone 15), a card holder, a lip balm, and a pocket hand sanitizer. Since the bag is a sparkly mesh overlayed on top of a silk satin, it's really light. The bag also has a shoulder strap, so it's more convenient than a traditional clutch which you have to carry by hand or under your arm. Hopefully soon I'll be able to post a collection of photos of each bag so you can get a visualization, but you can find this bag online in the meantime.

The jewelry set (and why Bloomingdales is cancelled)

I've recently come to the unfortunate realization that, if you really want an investment, jewelry is probably the way to go. And I don't mean costume jewelry, I mean fine jewelry, which generally refers to jewelry composed of precious metals (gold, platinum, silver on occasion) and gemstones. The really beautiful pieces with gems you can actually see are in the order of thousands, tens of thousands, or, yes, hundreds of thousands. Maybe you're not surprised, but I was. I started to do some research on both gold and gemstones, and I decided to start looking at fine jewelry as an investment opportunity. Since I know there's generally a very high markup on fine jewelry, I began scanning for any deals on pieces I actually liked that I also thought would be a good investment.

One day, I found a set of gorgeous emerald earrings on the Bloomingdales website, and noticed there was a matching necklace available. The pieces were quite unique and stood out to me due to the relatively large gemstones, good looking quality, and huge discount. I kept the set in the back of my mind for a couple of weeks while I continued looking around, but couldn't find anything I liked that seemed like a reasonable price, so I set forth and purchased the earrings and necklace from Bloomingdales Fine Collection for a bit over $10,000.

I waited excitedly for my purchase to arrive, and finally it came. I opened it to find, well, they were just kind of "meh." Very pretty, but not nearly as brilliant as the picture made them look. Maybe that was my fault for setting my expectations too high, but the next part was the real kicker. NO PAPERWORK. Now, anybody that knows anything about fine jewelry probably knows that, even when you buy a relatively inexpensive item that contains diamonds or other gemstones, they generally come with certificates of authenticity. For something of such high value to not come with any documentation, I was not only shocked, but pretty let down.

I thought there might be some issue, so I called customer service to try and figure out the issue. No luck there, but I managed to get the phone number of the store that sent the item so I called to try and get an answer. To my surprise, they told me that only in-store purchases come with documentation (no answer as to why they don't send anything for online orders). To make it weirder, the person I spoke with said they could ship paperwork if a customer called and requested it directly, which I proceeded to do (obviously). She took my address and order info down, told me I should receive it in a week, and I figured there might be hope. Even if the jewelry wasn't as jaw-dropping as I had initially thought, I figured it was still an incredible deal and worthwhile investment if I had the paperwork to vouch for the validity and quality of the gems.

After one week, I called back as I hadn't received any documentation in the mail. I was told "oh, sorry, I forgot to call you back. I talked to my boss and she said that we only provide this type of paperwork to customers who purchase in store." Wow. Just wow.

I then proceeded to let her know twofold: 1) that I didn't appreciate the lack of communication, given that she had spoken to her boss the next day and simply "forgot" to let me know, leaving me hanging and never intending to do anything unless I reached back out, and 2) that I would be promptly returning my items. She then began to stutter about a "QR code" which "could virtually show the documentation of the items" as a potential replacement for paperwork. At that point, honestly, the sales person had completely lost my trust and I was no longer interested in any consolation "virtual" paperwork, the jewelry, or continuing the conversation. I politely declined, let her know her store would be receiving my $10K+ worth of jewelry, and hung up the phone.

Needless to say, I returned the necklace and earrings to Bloomingdales and wrote a strongly-worded review on both items on the Bloomingdales website. I believe the earrings are out-of-stock, but the last time I checked, the review of the necklace was available and I was happy to see that dozens of people had marked the review as "helpful", meaning I had hopefully saved others from running into the same pointless pit that I had. At least that was something.

The moral of the story is this: sparkles are magical. They can make an outfit, lift your spirit, and just add a little bit of something special as you go about your day. They can also be a headache, and it's good to do your research. I know the day will come where I will come across that special find I won't be returning...and I can't wait to update you all once I do.