Lululemon Bon Voyage Duffel

I got my Lululemon Bon Voyage Duffel today in ivy and lolo purple.  I couldn't decide which one I wanted from the pictures online so I ordered both!  But as soon as I saw them in person, I knew ivy was the one!  I mean lolo purple is very pretty too, but ivy is just gorgeous!  And so different from the other Lululemon bags I have that are bright feminine colors.  Ivy is also a lot greener than I thought it would be, which is great.  It's like a deep forest green.  I thought it would be more brownish-yellowish from the pictures.  Maybe it's just the resolution on my computer screen.  But I love the color so much more in person!  I also love the satiny material which makes the colors look more fluid and silky.

By the way, the shoulder strap for both of these are this camel colored strap, which looks pretty bad paired with the purple bag.  It's like they forgot to make matching straps for the bag and then just added it on at the last minute!  Would have made more sense to do it in black.  But the camel strap actually works fine with the ivy color since they are both military tones.  This is another reason I'm keeping the ivy one vs. purple.  If I were to keep the purple one, I would have no choice but to use a strap from another Lululemon bag.

See?  It works with the camel strap.

The bag itself is awesome!  I love the unique pleats on it, and the size is great!  I love big bags, and I always carry lots of stuff with me.  I usually go to the gym with 3 pairs of shoes (running shoes, spin shoes, heels, sometimes a pair of flip flops too!) along with different changes of clothes and hair stuff, so I need a big bag.  Plus it would be so great to travel with!  It's small enough to be a carry on, yet big enough to fit everything I'd need for a weekend trip.

I explored it more than I did when I saw it at Equinox last week and took some pictures.  By the way, the price tag at Equinox was $120 and it is $108 from the Lululemon website.  I didn't know Equinox marked items up.  Interesting.

Anyway, it's a huge bag!  And there are so many pockets.  I took pictures of the bag on me so it's easier to see how large it is.  I did it with the bag carried as a purse style with the handles as well as a gym bag style using the shoulder strap. I think it works either way depending on how much stuff is in it.  The pictures are taken with the bag empty, so if it was full, it would look even bigger!  The handles are pretty thick and comfortable.  I think it would be fine to wear it as a purse even with heavy items in it.

My yellow tint lighting really sucks for pictures, but not much I can do there...

And here are some pictures of the different compartments of the bag, taken earlier when the sun was still out:

The inside pocket of the main compartment, with the removable pouch folded in there

The removable pouch - not the two sided one they used to have with an elastic band, but still big enough as it covers most of the length of the bag itself

The mesh shoe pocket, there is one on each side inside of the main compartment

This is the pocket in front of the main compartment pocket.  It's also a huge pocket, with different mesh pockets for phone, music player, "chocolate", etc. as well as whatever else you want!

The vertical side zipper on the front of the bag opens up so you can store sweaty clothes in there.  It's huge and goes through to the other side of the bag.  There is also a zipper on the opposite side so you can access this pocket from either side.

The shoulder strap hardware

This is the back side of the bag - there is a little pocket for easy access

The large back pocket which is also a lap top holder.  It's big enough to hold my Mac.  Not as padded as a regular lap top bag, but it would be fine.

Side pocket on the outside of both sides of the bag

Ok I might have gone a little crazy taking all these picture, but I just love all the different pockets!  How many times did I say that?  Hehe.  Great bag!  It really might be "A gym bag so awesome you can kiss other bags good-bye"!  I still love my other Lulu bags though, and will use them all!  I rotate through all of them every week or so.  I have serious bag addictions, and I think Lulu bags are always well made with the cutest little details that are unrivaled by any other brand.  And the price is pretty reasonable too as far as bags go.  The large size of this bag is probably over kill for daily use when I'm not going to the gym, so maybe I should just go to the gym more often to get more use out of it!  What a great motivation hehe... Very excited to start using this!