Hermes Mini Roulis Review

Wow. I have my first Hermes bag. Hermes is known for its craftsmanship and being the pinnacle of luxury handbags. A DREAM of mine is to own an Hermes Kelly someday, but until then, I’ll add to my collection with “non-quota bags…” starting with my new mini Roulis. My boyfriend surprised me with this bag recently and I thought I was going to break out into hives LOL.

Come along as I share a bit about the bag, the leather, the story, and how much it costs in 2024.

The Roulis comes in two sizes: 23 cm and 18 cm (called “the mini”), and typically comes in swift or evercolor leather, though other leather types are available, including some exotic leathers. It has one strap, but it has an adjustable toggle on the end of it so you’re able to set it in 4 different ways: crossbody, longer shoulder, shorter shoulder, or clutch. I prefer crossbody or the longer shoulder bag options personally

Hermes offers another crossbody, the Constance, and is considered a “quota bag,” which makes it much more difficult to buy. I’m truly surprised the Roulis isn’t the more popular option as the Constance has a giant “H” across the front of it and the Roulis is much more understated, with an elongated Chaine d’ancre to hold the leather flap, which is very much an “if you know, you know” for Hermes lovers.

For context, Hermes has a variety of handbags, but offers 3 that are considered “quota bags,” meaning you can only buy 2 a year and they are the most difficult handbags to get your hands on in the market. These bags are: the Birkin, the Kelly, and the Constance.

Hermes gets itself into hot water at times because you can’t simply walk into a store and ask to buy one of their bags - especially the quota bags. There are stories of “prespend,” meaning you have to spend an unknown amount of money before being offered one of their holy trinity, though this amount is not disclosed and they’ve said this is not the case (it typically is). It is also virtually unheard of to be able to go into one of their stores and buy any of their bags without dropping a bit of cash - even then, you might not get the exact color, hardware, or leather you’d like. This leads to inflated prices on the secondhand or pre-loved market.

My boyfriend went to Detroit for work and I asked him to visit the Hermes store just to check it out. He wanted a coffee mug, and I texted him a “JUST IN CASE” with 3 bags (Picotin 18, Herbag, and Roulis) with 2 colors I’d like for each bag, knowing a Kelly would never be offered, and the Picotin and Herbag being more the “easily accessible” bags for your first few visits. The Roulis was an absolute longshot since they seem to be pretty rare in stock, and it is my second favorite bag option they offer at Hermes. I read once that the USA only had 5 in stock at one point.

Imagine my shock when he texts me the very next day and says he was offered a Roulis in one of the exact colors I mentioned! I told him to pass on it though since it was expensive and I really did not expect him to get the offer. He ended up surprising me with the bag randomly 2 weeks later :)

My specific Roulis is in Nata (a warm, rich off-white named after the Portuguese pastry), Swift leather (very soft to the touch with virtually no grain or veining) and gold hardware. I love her.

Inside the Roulis, there are 2 larger compartments, a sleeve in the middle, and a pocket on the back. It does not fit too much, and I’m hesitant to stuff it so I don’t warp the leather, but it fits just enough. It fits an iPhone Pro, but not a Pro Max (in the 18 at least), and I took my ID and cards out to put in the middle sleeve instead of putting my entire card holder in it. I’ve also fit 3 lipsticks, my toothbrush/mini toothpaste and retainer holder (currently going through Invisalign LOL), and my keys that I keep in the smaller dustbag the bag came with so they don’t scratch the leather.

I have 2 hesitations for this bag so far: the color and the delicateness of the leather. With it being an off-white, I am so nervous about color transfer so I will have to be careful with what I wear when carrying the bag. Also with the leather, I get nervous about humidity, (being in the southern US), heat, and just general wear and tear on the bag. HOWEVER, the bag was not inexpensive, ann incredibly thoughtful gift, and is “just a bag,” so I will be using it and loving it!

The bag was $8550 before taxes, making it the most expensive non-quota bag Hermes offers; however, you can find them on resale sites for a bit less expensive.

I hopefully will add a couple more of these to my collection over the years, as I truly do love this bag so so much and can’t wait for when these inevitably get the recognition they deserve!