As I mentioned in June, this bag purchase was the one that broke the camel’s back so to speak and led me to do a No Buy July challenge. But I have to say I’m glad I bought the Polene Beri bag and that no buy challenge was worth it. Surprisingly this little number has quickly become a favorite when I need an easy hands-free bag.
{Wearing: Olive Clothing top, Everlane 90’s Cheeky Straight Jeans, Birkenstocks, Polene Beri bag}
If you’re a long-time reader, you can recall that I had a pretty bad time with Polene customer service when I returned their Numero Uno Mini bag (which I returned due to some shoddy work on their logo, but also because it was just too small). I was basically out $65, got no help from Polene when the bag didn’t show up to their manufacturers in Spain, and then only got a refund 3 weeks after the bag was delivered when I emailed them about it. These kinds of issues (ie poor quality control and communication) can occur when the bags don’t ship directly from the seller. I thought that would be my last purchase from them, but nope I couldn’t resist trying out their Numero Onze bag. Polene’s designs gets me every time even if their customer service is quite… Parisian. And at least this time there’s no embossed logo to mess up 🤷🏻♀️. And there’s usually no issues if you don’t have to do a return.
But in the end I’m glad I went back to Polene (thanks for some enabling from my fellow blogger Kristy on this one) because this bag is quickly becoming one of my favorites (and you know I have a lot of bags lol). I love that this bag is super lightweight (it weighs about 12 oz.) but is big enough to hold all my essentials (cardcase, phone, keys, sunglasses). I also really like the adjustable crossbody strap (a must!) and the handles that can slide open to allow easier access to your stuff inside. But I do sometimes forget to slide it back together and then the bag ends up looking a little wonky like in the picture at the bottom. But I haven’t really seen any bag with this innovative design and cute dumpling shape.
As you can see, all the essentials fit into the purse but there’s not much room to spare. Also I should note that the patch pocket inside is pretty much useless unless you only want to carry just your ID or credit card (though I would be afraid to carry it loosely like that in a pocket in case it somehow falls out). Unfortunately my card case doesn’t fit in there but it’s not a big deal since everything is so easy to see once you open the purse all the way up.
Anyway the quality of leather and construction of this bag is good (like my first Polene purchase was). So if you’re looking for a unique yet practical leather crossbody (that’s also reasonably priced), I highly recommend checking out the numero onze!
{Update: So very soon after I wrote this post, it looks like Polene changed the name of the bag from Numero Onze (Eleven) to Beri.}
{February 2022: Here is a quick video of what fits into my Polene Beri bag.}
[March 2025: I still have this bag though I rarely use it since I carry a lot more things now. Back then I was still relying on a stroller to carry a diaper bag of stuff so I could get away with a small crossbody. Anyway I just wanted to hop on here to let you know that Polene is being faked these days (I’ve seen it with their popular numero neuf and cyme tote bags). So buyer beware. Honestly even though the prices have been creeping up (new bags come out in the $600-$700 range these days) I would go for a new one from their online shop just to be safe. That or purchase from someone you know buys authentic bags. I wouldn’t go with the RealReal or eBay since I don’t think their authentication process will catch these fakes necessarily. Also I watch a Japanese bag making brother duo on YouTube channel, and they recently compared a known fake (they purchased it fake) of a numero dix (it’s the orangey looking one that’s on the blue-shirt brother’s side) and compared it with the real deal. Sorry there’s no subtitles but they point out the differences and honestly they’re pretty subtle. So buyer beware when purchasing secondhand.]
And lastly you can find all my other Polene reviews here.