Melissa Beth Designs Review & Giveaway!

I carry my laptop around almost everywhere I go. Whether it is for school, on trips, etc., I usually have my laptop in tow. Therefore, finding a laptop case or bag that allows me to carry it with me, while reflecting my personality, is important. I love finding new styles of laptop bags that deliver a pop of color (trailing away from the traditional black laptop case), ample storage, and optimal protection.

Melissa Beth Designs is a company that offers all that and more. Besides other laptop totes and sleeves, they also offer makeup cases, lifestyle bags and more! Melissa Beth Designs believes in providing women with bags that spice up their lives, get them noticed, and include many great colors. Did you know that “Melissa Beth was one of the first to introduce stylish women’s laptop totes and laptop sleeves?” Today, Melissa Beth Designs prides itself in offering a large assortment of stylish laptop cases that fit both small and large laptops!


Review
Melissa, owner of Melissa Beth Designs, gave me the chance to try out one of their stylish laptop sleeves: the Luxe Funk-tional Compartment in Purpleheart. When I first saw the picture of this laptop sleeve on the Melissa Beth website, I couldn’t wait to receive it. This is honestly the most unique laptop sleeve I have ever seen. When I received it, I was beyond impressed. The laptop sleeve I received is even more beautiful than the one in the picture. I absolutely love the vibrant colors and pattern of this laptop sleeve, both inside and out. The inside of this laptop sleeve is made with the same fabric (a satin brocade material), but in a different color, that compliments the outside fabric wonderfully.

Besides the lovely design of this laptop sleeve, one of the aspects that impressed me most was the amount of protection this case provides. According to the Melissa Beth website, this laptop sleeve has “Extra protective foam.” From observing this bag first hand, I realized this claim to be 100% true! This laptop sleeve includes thick padding on the front and back, to ensure your laptop is protected. In addition, I believe that the type of fabric they use, because it is so thick, adds to the protection and stability of the laptop sleeve.

This laptop sleeve is very easy to open and close and comes with a top loading opening that zippers closed. The zipper seems to be a bit larger than conventional zippers. I think this is great because it will likely hold up for a longer period of time. Finally, I think this zipper is extremely cute and unique. The pull on the zipper looks like a tiny handbag and is monogrammed with MB for Melissa Beth. This detail shows the amount of time Melissa Beth Designs takes in planning out their designs.

Unfortunately, I ran into one issue when attempting to use this laptop sleeve; it was too small. Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed. The Melissa Beth website states that this laptop sleeve is 15”L x 12”H and fits most 14” – 15.4” laptops. Since my laptop is 15.4”, I just assumed it would fit. However, I should have considered measuring my laptop before agreeing to review this sleeve. Since my laptop is a few years older (a Dell Inspiron 1300), it is slightly larger than the newer models. My laptop measures 14”L x 10.5” H and it is 1.5” in depth. The 1.5” in depth is what caused the laptop sleeve to be too small.

Live and Learn Lesson: For anyone looking to purchase this laptop sleeve, or any other for that matter (especially online), remember to measure your laptop carefully and compare that with the dimensions of the laptop case you are interested in, to ensure it will fit. For me, this is a lesson learned. I hope that all of you will learn from my mistake and not make the same one when looking for a laptop case.

Overall, I thought the design of this laptop case was great! The only thing I would add would be handles. Because this case has such thick padding, I think it would make a great bag on it’s own. One option would be to offer this bag with or without handles. That way, it would appeal to a wider range of people. However, this is just a suggestion. Right now, the bag as it is, is fantastic!

What can you win? One winner will receive a Luxe Laptop Sleeve in their choice of color from Melissa Beth Designs (ARV $48 US).

To enter, visit Melissa Beth Designs, then come back here, and tell me the name of a product (and color) that you would love to own. This question must be answered to gain an entry in the giveaway.

Each of the following will give you one extra entry in the giveaway. Please make sure to leave a separate comment for each thing you do:
-Telling me the name of one Press source that Melissa Beth Designs was featured in, in 2008. This information can be found here.
-Telling me the name of one store that you can purchase Melissa Beth products in your area. Please ensure to state, which province or state you selected to find the information. A list of retail locations can be found here.
-Entering a giveaway at Everything ‘In the Kitchen’ Up Close. You can enter as many of the giveaways as you like but it will be worth a maximum of one bonus entry. Please tell me which giveaway you entered to gain an extra entry.
-Subscribing to my blog via email.
-Adding my main button to your blog sidebar.
-Following me on Twitter (ihchicky). Please leave your Twitter name.
-Tweeting about this giveaway (with a link to this page) on Twitter. Please leave a link to your tweet. You can do this once a day.
-Blogging about this giveaway on your blog. Please leave a link to your blog post in your comment.

Important Entry Details: The above entries (main and bonus) can only submitted once per person (except for the tweet entry, which can be done daily). Please do not use more than one blogger account or add additional anonymous comments to gain extra entries. This is not fair to everyone else and this practice is strictly prohibited. If a person is found to be using more than one account to enter the same giveaway, they will be disqualified from that particular giveaway, as well as all future giveaways.

This giveaway will end on Wednesday, April 8th at 11:59pm (Central Standard Time). After the giveaway has ended, the winner will be picked randomly using random.org. EMAIL RULES: In order to win, you must provide a valid email. I will be notifying the winner by email only. Please make sure your blog profile includes your email address and make sure that it is visible. If you do not have a blogger account, please make sure you have included your email address in your post. If there is no email address provided, to contact the winner, another person will be chosen. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to the winning email notification with their complete mailing address (I will be forwarding all this information to the sponsor), If this information is not received within 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is open to residents of Canada and the US only!

Good Luck!