Beauty brands I’m boycotting

I try not to be overly judgmental when it comes to make-up. I know many of you are very conscious and only buy white-list products, vegan products, those that are not tested on animals an so forth. When I’m choosing between two almost identical products, I’ll take such factors into consideration as well, but sometimes when I really want something I’ll buy it regardless. I do however have a whole list of brands that I’ll never, never buy anthying from (again) for a bunch of different reasons, most of them being that they are completely in conflict with my values.

Pri lepotnih izdelkih glede sestavin nisem preveč natančna, verjetno bi lahko celo rekla, da sem premalo natančna. Vem, da veliko potrošnic preveri, da je izdelek na beli list, veganski, ni testiran na živalih in podobno. Kadar se odločam med dvema praktično enakima izdelkoma, tudi sama preverim te stvari, vendar pa priznam – če si izdelek res želim, ga bom kupila ne glede na to, kakšne so na primer njegove sestavine. Po drugi strani pa obstaja cela vrsta znamk, od katerih nikoli (več) ne bom kupila ničesar, večinoma zato, ker so njihova dejanja popolnoma v nasprotju z mojimi vrednotami.

On the very top of the list you’ll find JEFFREE STAR COSMETICS. I have so many problems with this brand that I don’t even know where to start, but let’s try to name a few. I won’t buy their products because of the YouTube Guru and brand owner, Jeffree. I refuse to buy products from a racist who finds it appropriate to use the N word and threatens to spill acid over people. I won’t give a single cent of my money to a person who will overflow the market with gimmicky products (black highlighter?) just to get more money from his fans. I won’t buy anything from a person who reacts to criticism by sending his army of loyal fans to attack the critic. And don’t even get me started on all the stories about horrible customer service of the company. WILL NOT BUY. BYE.

Čisto na vrhu mojega seznama se nahaja znamka JEFFREE STAR COSMETICS. S to znamko imam toliko problemov, da sploh ne vem, kje naj začnem, zato jih bom naštela le nekaj. Njihovih izdelkov ne bom kupila zaradi vedenja lastnika, YouTube zvezdnika Jeffree-ja Stara. Ne bom kupovala izdelkov, za katerimi stoji rasist, ki se mu zdi primerna uporaba besede na N in ljudem grozi, da jih bo polil s kislino. Niti centa svojega denarja ne dam osebi, ki na trg pošilja neuporabne izdelke (črn osvetljevalec?!) le zato, da od svojih privržencev dobi še kakšen dolar. Ne bom podpirala osebe, ki se na kritike odzove tako, da nad kritika pošlje svojo vojsko oboževalcev, ki ga potem nadlegujejo in mu grozijo. Vseh slabih izkušenj strank s podjetjem pa tu sploh ne bom naštevala. NE BOM KUPILA. ČAO!

Next, let’s talk about KYLIE COSMETICS. I despise the Kardashian trend as it is, but what I despise even more is that one of them can put their name on a product they probably didn’t even have much to do with before it launched. Just by doing this the price tag increases incredibly and sells out in matter of minutes. Like, c’mon, really? And excluding a few extra ingredients in the Colourpop liquid lipsticks (6$), the formula of Kylie’s Liquid Lipsticks (17$) is identical – because both are produced by Spatz Labs. Customers have received lipsticks with destroyed applicators, lipsticks that were leaking and even empty boxes. And Kylie is laughing all the way to the bank. WILL NOT BUY. BYE.

Naslednja znamka na seznamu je KYLIE COSMETICS. Že v osnovi preziram Kardashian trend, kar pa mi je še bolj grozno je, da lahko njegovi člani svoje ime prilepijo na karkoli, pri čemer pa verjetno sploh kaj dosti ne sodelujejo pri nastajanju izdelkov. Samo s tem, da je na izdelku napisano njihovo ime, se cena izjemno poveča in se izdelek razproda v nekaj minutah. Resno? Če primerjamo Colourpop formulo tekoče šminke (6$) in Kylie Cosmetics tekoče šminke (17$), lahko ugotovimo, da je v Colourpop formuli nekaj sestavin več, sicer pa sta formuli praktično identični. Ne gre za naključje – obe namreč proizvaja Spatz Labs. Stranke so prejele šminke z uničenimi aplikatorji, šminke, ki so puščale in celo prazne škatle. Kylie pa se smeje cel čas na poti do banke. NE BOM KUPILA. ČAO!

LIMECRIME is not that popular in Slovenia but nevertheless I see young women lusting over their liquid lipsticks like they’re the best thing on Earth. Well, it just so happens that Limecrime has a very shady history. We can talk about how they repackaged wholesale products into their tubes and sold them forward. We can talk about when they had a breach of security in their internet payment protocol (which resulted in people’s credit cards being charged 1000’s of dollars) and thought Instagram was the best way to let their customers know about this. Or, we can discuss the time when their founder dressed up like Hitler for Halloween. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. WILL NOT BUY. BYE.

LIMECRIME znamka v Sloveniji sicer ni tako popularna, še vedno pa jo občasno zasledim na seznamu želja kakšne deklice, ki meni, da so njihovi izdelki nekaj najboljšega na svetu. Na žalost ima znamka zelo temno preteklost. Kakšno besedo lahko spregovorim o tem, kako so formule iz veleprodaje le prepakirali v svoje embalaže in jih prodali dalje. Lahko govorimo o tem, kako so po vdoru v plačilni sistem na njihovi spletni strani (ki je določene stranke stal tudi več tisočev dolarjev v zlorabi kartice) svoje stranke o tem obvestili le na Instagramu. Ali pa se lahko ozremo v čas, ko se je ustanoviteljici znamke zdelo primerno, da se za Halloween obleče v kostum Hitlerja. Vse to je le vrh ledene gore. NE BOM KUPILA. ČAO!

A brand that’s all the rage right now all over YouTube and in beauty community is MORPHE. I have nothing against brand advertising with both ATL and BTL methods as long as the advertiser is being open and honest about it. But you see so  many Youtubers rave about Morphe palettes and then never once mention them in their Favorites videos.  I had the chance to swatch them and I’d say that the palettes are nothing  special. But the thing that I really dislike is that the brand is really just doing private labeling – the use the same formulas being sold by other (cheaper!) brands, repackage them, change the names and sell them with profit. So basically anyone could do that. WILL NOT BUY. BYE.

Znamka, ki je v zadnjem letu preplavila YouTube in lepotno skupnost je MORPHE. Nič nimam z oglaševanjem na ATL in BTL kanalih, dokler je takšno oglaševanje transparentno in oseba, ki oglaševanje izvaja, to tudi prizna. Vendar pa sem naveličana tega, da od različnih YouTuberjev poslušam, kako neverjetna in čudovita je ta Morphe paleta in da jo enostavno moram imeti,  hkrati pa te iste palete nikoli več ne vidim niti na njihovem kanalu, niti ni omenjena v njihovih mesečnih najbolj priljubljenih izdelkih. Sama sem imela možnost eno od mnogih palet preizkusiti in rečem lahko, da res ni nič posebnega. Kar pa me pri znamki najbolj moti, je da v resnici tudi oni uporabljajo formulo, ki se proizvaja za več znamk, jo samo prepakirajo, dodajo svoje ime in jo prodajo z visokim dobičkom. Na ta način bi lahko imel znamko praktično kdorkoli. NE BOM KUPILA. ČAO!

Last but not least I want to say a few words about a brand that I actually own quite a few products from, MAKE-UP REVOLUTION. I’ve written quite a few blog posts about their products already but now I can say that I won’t be buying their products anymore because they are nothing short of thieves, even if they’re »just« stealing intellectual property. They see a new product by a high-end brand come out, take it, slightly change the name (like when they copied Kat Von D’s Shade&Light Eye Contour Palette and named it Ultra Eye Contour Shade&Light), copy everything else and sell it as »their« own product. If you’re curious about their practice, just Google it – they’ve ripped off Charlotte Tilbury, Laura Mercier, Smashbox, Stila, Tarte, Hourglass, Real Techniques, Soap and Glory, Ben Nye and many others. And to top it all off, they are proud and call themselves »kings of dupes«. Well, they can keep their dupes. WILL NOT BUY. BYE.

Nenazadnje še nekaj besed o znamki, o kateri sem na blogu že pisala, pred časom pa sem se odločila, da so presegli mejo dobrega okusa. Ta znamka je MAKE-UP REVOLUTION. V mojih očeh so postali lopovi, pa čeprav kradejo »samo« intelektualno lastnino. Ko na trg pride popularen izdelek dražje in popularne blagovne znamke, ga vzamejo, malo spremenijo ime (kopiji Kat Von D palete Shade&Light Eye Contour Palette so nadeli kar ime Ultra Eye Contour Shade&Light), skopirajo vse podobnosti in izdelek prodajo kot lasten izum. Če te zanima več o njihovih praksah, si lahko več poiščeš na internetu – kopirali so že izdelke mnogih blagovnih znamk, na primer Charlotte Tilbury, Laura Mercier, Smashbox, Stila, Tarte, Hourglass, Real Techniques, Soap and Glory, Ben Nye in drugih. Da pa je mera polna, so na to svojo dejavnost ponosni in se dejansko imenujejo »kralji ponaredkov«. No, svoje ponaredke lahko obdržijo. NE BOM (VEČ) KUPILA. ČAO!

These are just a couple of brands that I have a very negative opinion on and wanted to share it with you. Do you have any brand in mind that you’d never buy from? Let me know in the comments. Until next time, stay beautiful!

To je le nekaj znamk, o katerih imam negativno mnenje in sem ga želela deliti s tabo. Obstaja tudi kakšna znamka, ki je ti ne kupuješ iz principa? Zakaj? Povej mi v komentarjih, do naslednjič pa ostani čudovita!

*Photos in the post by: Thou Shalt Not Covet (Jeffree Star), Curvyliciousme (Morphe), Teen Vogue (Kylie Cosmetics), KVD (KVD-Make-up Revolution) and Peppermayo (Limecrime)*

 
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Disappointing make-up of 2015

The last installment in the recap of 2015 takes us over to the disappointing make-up products section. Luckily, there haven’t been many of them last year but two of them were quite expensive so the year could have gone better. Let me just say that although the product didn’t work for me that doesn’t necessarily mean they wouldn’t work for you. Also, I do like these brands and many other products from them, so the items mentioned below were just unlucky coincidences.


Let’s start with the biggest disappointment – the Anastasia Beverly Hills contour kit. It cost me 40$ as I bought it in the US, but in Slovenia you would pay a whopping 75 € for it! I wrote an entire rant about the palette which you can read here (swatches!) but to recap – I didn’t like the packaging, the pigmentation or the shades so I wouldn’t encourage you to buy it. Instead, consider a cheaper alternative, like the Makeup Revolution contour palettes or another high-end one (I love my Kat von D Shade&Light palette). View Post

Products I regret buying – 2014 recap

 

Let’s start with face products.

The L’Oreal Mat Magique foundation I already talked about here. It is supposed to be a really mattifying foundation but it only lasted a couple of hours on my face before it started melting away and my face got oily again. I’ve tried it since with several different primers and fixing fluids, to no success.

All-around concealer by Catrice seemed like a good, inexpensive option for the days when I actually take the time to color correct my face before I apply foundation. I chose this particular palette because I thought that it would be a good learning tool, but I find that the product is really difficult to blend (with fingers, beauty blender or with brush) and cakes on my face where I apply it.

Bahama Mama was a big, big disappointment because I’ve heard so many bloggers go on and on about how it’s a great contouring bronzer. I somehow managed to make it work when I had some tan from summer (read about thathere) but now I just look like I’ve been rolling in the mud every time I attempt to use it. I am afraid that it is not meant for us fair-skinned folk, unless you are going for the Kardashian look on an everyday basis.

As far as eye shadows go, I made two rather unsuccessful purchases this year, but the one that really left me down was the Maybelline Nudes palette.

You can find the entire review over here, but if you don’t feel like reading it, let me just say that half of the shadows in the palette are so bland and have such low pigmentation that they are useless and the other half are nothing special, really. You can find better palettes at Essence, Barry M or BH Cosmetics for half the price. View Post