You know I'm a huge bag lady so when Everlane came out with a line of new leather bags, of course I had to try it out and review it.  Well if you're looking for a luxurious and sumptuous leather simple crossbody then I think you might really like this one.  And I would say for $30 more, Everlane's foldover crossbody is a better choice than Cuyana's crossbody pouch, especially if you need to carry a bit more than the essentials.

So let's talk about this beautiful bag.  First off, the leather is amazing!  Super buttery and soft.  This leather is different from Everlane's Petra line of leather bags since these bags were made in Spain while the Petra bags were made in Italy.  The Spanish leather feels softer and more porous and not quite as hardy as the Italian leather, but it does feel more luxurious and probably won't have the same problem of stiffening up over time that the Petra leather has.  This does mean though that the crossbody might be more prone to scratching and color transfer (for the natural color one specifically).

The bag itself is super lightweight but still large enough to fit your essentials and then some.  In the pictures below I'm carrying my sunglass case, wallet, and keys.  And even though it may look bulky from the back, it looks good from the front because the foldover flap hides much of the bulk (and this is why it's better than Cuyana's crossbody pouch IMHO).  I like that you can access items from the zipper under the flap, instead of having to use the top zipper and reaching down into the bag every time you want to grab something (Everlane's video of the bag shows the functionality of the 2 zippers).  The strap of the crossbody is also easily adjustable (though not removable, which would have been a cool feature to allow it to become a clutch as well as a crossbody).

In the end though I returned this particular purse because for the life of me, I will not be able to keep this purse from getting dirty.  However if you do like the natural color, I reviewed several leather cleaners and protectors for Mansur Gavriel bags and it might be a good resource on how to protect this crossbody.  Also just to note that this leather is more like the calf-skin than the vegetable-tanned leather that Mansur Gavriel uses.  

Anyway I'm still in love with this bag and I think I'll get it in the navy leather.  But first I need to take an audit of all my bags (actually Grechen has really inspired me to take a closet audit in general).  So until then I'm going to hold off on repurchasing this bag.  But if you're interested in this beautiful leather bag (and really it's amazing).  You can find all my other Everlane reviews here.

{2018 Update: I actually repurchased this in the oxblood/burgundy color and love it!  It's my go-to travel bag since it can lie flat but still hold a lot of things if you need it to.  You can see me wear it around Europe here during my winter 10x10 challenge}