Wednesday 29 December 2010

Glittersniffer

I'm super late to this so the majority of you will probably have read this info somewhere else, but I still thought it was very important to post so the information is available to as many people as possible.
Glittersniffer Cosmetics is a (seemingly freakishly popular) indie mineral makeup company that has been going for a couple of years. I first heard of the company from a blog post of Phyrras where she suspected that some of the colours she had bought were repackaged so rolled my eyes and decided not to buy any pigments from the company. However I did check back on the company now and then as some of their other products (foiling mediums, toilletries etc) intrigued me. Luckilly I never bought anything.

Anyway I didn't hear anything about them and didn't look at their site for a while, until a few days ago when I saw a post on my dashboard and was absolutely horrified by what I found out from subsequent posts:
http://pa1nt3d-pr1nc3ss.blogspot.com/2010/12/glittersniffer-links-of-awesome.html

http://kirafayescorner.blogspot.com/2010/12/glitter-sniffer-closing-for-good.html

I probably can't say anything more than the bloggers I've linked to have already said but here's a breief synopsis of what this company has been up to:
  • Repackaging
  • Selling non-vegan products while claiming to be an all vegan company
  • Taking months to ship orders and not replying to emails
  • using money raised for charity to pay her own expenses
  • possibly packing and handling products in unsanitary conditions
  • and selling items that are not safe for cosmetic use and not disclosing it.

The whole thing is just appalling. Everytime I thought it couldn't get worse something even more terrible would come up!

The are complaints left and right of orders taking months to arrive, or not arriving at all. Or of people having half their order replaced substitutions without notice. Of pigments arriving with chunks where it hasn't been mixed properly, or their lids coming off in transit  making the product spill everywhere.
There are photos on face book of the owner and her employees cutting soap and handling jars of pigment on what appears to just be a kitchen table, without gloves or masks.

The owner Lela admits that she was given money for charity but is spending it on refunds and will have to re-raise the money (I certainly hope she means that the money will be raised from her own pockets, not that she will hold more raffles or drives to get others to contribute the money but i suspect with disgust that she means the latter). This is utterly despicable. If you have been given money for a charity, no matter what the situation is, it is NOT YOURS to spend. It belongs either to the charity or the people who donated it. I can only imagine my fury if I donated money and then discovered it was funding refunds for shoddy, unsafe products, instead of helping the cause it was meant for.

The vegan thing is not cut-and-dry as I have seen comments from her saying (though only when asked directly) that some red shades contain carmine, the ingredients were not disclosed on the site and Glittersniffer claimed to be an entirely vegan friendly company, so many people could have been duped into using non-vegan products because they did not specifically enquire whether they contained carmine.

There's a list as long as my arm of products that are being recalled because they contaim unsafe ingredients. Lela has said that every pigment that was unsafe for eyes was labelled as such, but you can see from the screenshot here that that was not the case. Her the Neon 80s collection, which was not only unsafe for eyes but not suitable for any cosmetic use as it contains soap dyes, not only fails to mention that it shouldn't be used in cosmetic applications but actually suggests using it as as eyeliner, shadow or lipgloss. Also the times Lela did admit that the item she was selling was not safe for use on the eyes and to use it as shadow would be at your own risk she would always follow it up by saying that she and others had used it many times with no harm. While that may be true she should not have said it as it implication is that the product almost definately will do no harm, and could be seen as suggestive that others should follow her example and ignore the silly safety rules.
Finally Lela made a statement about all the problems her company has been having. While it's good that she admitted fault it doesn't excuse anything. Her 'taking a chance' by using soap dyes in cosmetic products appears to have caused several people to develop eye and skin problems. And there's a weird undercurrent of her seeming to blame her customers, people were asking for neons so she was FORCED to sell unsafe items, it's not her fault!

Everyone makes mistakes. But mistake after mistake after mistake? And withholding information about products that could cause people harm is not a trivial matter in the slightest. At best it was an incredible piece of stupidity and at worst it was a deliberate effort to fool people into buying products they would not have if they had known they weren't safe.

Lela's fans are loyal to a frightening degree, to me it's rather upsetting seeing these women who, while probably having all the best intentions, will defend Glittersniffer to the death. 'I've only received 2 out of my 5 orders, and those were full of substitutions, but Glittersniffer is the best makeup brand ever! I don't care about all the money i've lost. Lela knows what she's doing, of COURSE she'd wear gloves at all times. There are photos saying otherwise? Well then Lela MUST have washed her hands, that's as good as wearing sterilised gloves anyway! The products aren't safe for eyes? Well I've used them with no problems, you people who say you've developed pinkeye are talking nonsense, it couldn't have been the makeups fault even though it's not safe? Selling products that aren't meant for cosmetic use at all without a warning? Well Lela admitted it and that took guts so she's a saint!'. It's just weird.

I've also heard that Lela attacked Dominique from but haven't seen it anywhere, I assume comments were deleted. If anyone has any details I'd love to know.

Anyway if anyone has any of the listed unsafe Glittersniffer pigments then I urge you to contact Lela  straight away for a refund, though you might be a while getting one. Apparently when they relaunch all their products will be reformulated to be completely vegan and safe but frankly I would really worry about anyone who could trust them after all that.

Depressingly I have another drama post coming straight up. Boo urns :(

12 comments:

  1. Ugh, that charity thing... what a douchebag. I'm not sure how, in such a tight-knit community, people manage to get away with shoddy practices for so long.

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  2. I applaud you for posts like this as I have no clue about these things until you post about them.

    How dodgy! I find that a lot of people are willing to jump on the indie makeup bandwagon..get a lot of hype from the bloggers and then rip people off left right and centre and it mucks it up for those who are actually serious about providing quality products.

    Saying your products are vegan when they're not is terrible. People make a choice to be vegan and they're being tricked..

    And as for using charity money to pay for your own expenses..disgusting. If you need money, be honest about it. Don't tell people you need it for charity and then spend it on yourself.

    Another thing that I don't get is how some people are so quik to defend her...I'd be pissed as hell if some shoddy company took my money and didn't give me everything I ordered..unless they're only being all sucky sucky because they think they will get their products actually delivered to them.

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  3. Thanks for the link back :) I think I was hurt and therefore a little more post heavy then most because I did buy product and had a hard time and I also sold the product on my blog sale.

    I also would love to see the posts where she has attacked employees to see the proof. Another horrible thing she is doing is she is deleting comments. Not just the horrible abusive ones but also the ones with real comments and concerns. It's just feeding the flames. She also closed down one shop but continued selling while trying to sort things out. She claims a 6 figure salary but also claims not to have money for gas. So many strange things.

    Ohhh I am keeping my eye out for the next drama!

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  4. I'm shocked at the amount of "indie" companies that pull nonsense like this! It sounds eerily similar to the Xenia scam, too...

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  5. Wow. Looks like Xenis has a long lost twin out there! Charity scam? Check. Claiming things are vegan when they're not? Check. Repackaging? Checkity-check!

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  6. Thanks for the linkback to Nikhedonia, and yes, it's some seriously f-ed up sh*t right here.

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  7. she makes us indie cosmetic sellers look horrible... but the difference is i only sell FDA approved for the eye micas... i research everything before using

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  8. Ugh. Her lack of ethics is AWFUL. Not only is she guilty of all of the above charges, but the way she treats the other end of her business deals is ridiculous as well. For instance, she has had people advertise for her or sell her goods and she abuses those people's trust just like she does her customers. She told one girl that, after making 200+ toppers for her pigments, that they were not good enough, even after seeing a sample of the completed work (which was identical; I've seen both), and to this day I don't believe she ever paid or reimbursed her for the work that she did. She also never told anyone in her advertising or "street teams" that the pigments were dangerous, and their videos can be found all over YouTube, giving tutorials with the dangerous pink pigments on their eyes and faces. It's just awful the way she does business, from a client and a salesman perspective, and even up to her closest circle of friends and fans. And yet I still see people on her facebook talking about buying these goods for their children. Do NOT buy this brand, if you care at all about morals, ethics, or being able to see out of your own two eyes.

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  9. Wait, she never paid Nikki? And she USED the toppers? That's f*cking horrid. Noone does that! :|

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  10. Robyn:
    It just seems like a load of people who were her fans completely turned a blind eye to the bad customer service and because they loved her they were just a bit too enamoured to imagine she'd do anything bad. But the charity thing is just disgusting.

    Rhamnousia:
    Aww thank you, though there are lots of people who write much better, more in-depth posts about these things, I just like to do a quick round-up so as many people as possible get the information :)

    Yes it's very depressing. There are so many amazing indie companies out there, but also so many people out to make a quick buck by cheating people. It gives all indie companies a bad name by association and that's not fair.

    I think that most of her products were vegan, and some that weren't were labelled as being non-vegan. However the entire shop was advertised as being 100% vegan, so someone could easily miss the disclaimer and assume a product was vegan because it's supposed to be a vegan company. Also the owner has admitted that she doesn't know or write down all her recipes so who knows what's what? I'm not vegan but I am vegetarian and the idea of being tricked into going against my principles is just horrible.

    The charity thing is tricky. According to the owner she took in the money and was going to give it to charity, but then the whole mess came out and she had to start paying refunds from the charity money. (though who knows, she's lied about pretty much everything)
    It's still disgusting, she should not be allowing that to happen and should do anything possible to donate the money that's now been lost. Also she says she's going to re-raise the money. I pray she means that she will re-raise it from her own profit or other means, and not make ask for more donations.

    As for her fans, I think they are mostly just completely blinded with adoration. I don't understand it at all myself. Lot's even applaud her for having the guts to tell the truth, but she shouldn't have to tell the truth because none of that crap should have happened!

    Kira:
    Thank you for the great post! And there's no need to excuse your posts because you were hurt, you have every right to be hurt. If I'd bought anything I would be absolutely livid.

    I've been watching the facebook page since this went out and it's hilarious how any remotely negative posts have been deleted. I've seen a few with swearing or abuse but the vast majority have just been asking for help or saying (in very polite words) that they are disappointed. It's understandable to not want to have abusive posts but deleting anything remotely bad is not going to make people trust her again.

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  11. M.Z.:
    I know, it's very depressing. But there are tonnes of amazing indie brands out there who aren't just out to scam.

    Tea:
    It's not often you'll find me defending Xenia but at least Lime Crime never sold things that permanantly damahed peoples eyes :/

    Eplefe:
    You're welcome, thanks for writing about it!

    Anonymous:
    It's just depressing how many companies you see on etsy and places that sell the tkb pops over and over :(

    I really really hope that sellers like this don't put people off buying from indie companies. Some of the best makeup I've ever used has been from indie companies and the vast majority would never consider doing things like this.

    It's just weird, I've not really looked into ingredients or anything, just bought a bit from TKB and yet (if her claims of being ignorant to the dangers is true) I seem to know more than her about what's safe and what isn't!

    Anonymous:
    Oh my God I've not heard that before, that is terrible! I had heard that she never paid her model and fired her vice president and owes her tonnes of money. She's just a

    Eplefe:
    Ugh awful awful!

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  12. >get caught tabbing through your blog again, forgoing sleep
    >read post
    >"boo urns"
    >....
    >choke on food
    >adore you
    >adopt you to family as you would fit right in

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