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- Sep 21, 2012
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This is a review of a new nail polish from a new indie company, as well as a review on the company owner's behavior involving my purchase. Others may have a different experience, but I wanted to get the word out about mine. This post is kind of long because it is a dual review.
Last week in the enablers-shopping thread, a new indie nail polish company was posted, called Chloe and Bella, based out of Florida.
They were having a 50% flash sale for their opening online. (A valued regular member posted about the new company/sale deal, so I do know the promotion posted in that thread wasn't company sponsored)
I decided to order one nail polish to try them out for quality of service and product. It was shipped fast, and received in good condition. However, I was not happy with what I received, compared to what they advertised.
The color I picked was called "Black Opal", and was listed as a medium coverage in 1-coat, full coverage in 3-coats... with flashes of blue, black, copper, red, purple (like an opal, duh, lol). The original swatch photos provided online had no indication it was shown over a dark colored base. (While all the other polishes they sell were labeled as such when they were layered)
In all the stock photos there is very heavy color flashing, from all angles, on both nail swatches and bottle photos (even the straight on viewing angle). So I expected to get a slightly sheer blackened base nail polish, that builds up fully opaque as shown in approx 3-coats, with full color flashing that changes with movement in the light.
What I received was an almost clear, very sheer purple polish with a slight blackened base to it. It had very minimal color flashing only along the edges of the bottle (and only after multiple movements under the light...it made me work for it), and mostly stayed a static deep shimmer purple color.
I then swatched different layers of the polish on a white background. Both over a black base and by itself. The polish I received was super sheer, like you get with french manicure type pale colors (only a dirty purple sparkle sheer)... and had absolutely no color flashing on any swatch, other than purple. I did a 1-coat swatch and a 3-coat swatch over black bases. Also, a 1-coat, 3-coat, and 5-coat swatch of the polish alone. At no point even after 5 layers it is showing a full coverage opaque finish. It is still only a sheer over coat finish, and again, only flashes purple.
I posted my review in two different posts in the enablers thread with my pictures showing it, and stating I sent an email message to the company and would post any updates they provide (or not) here on makeup talk because other ladies were waiting to hear how the company is etc.
This is where the creep factor comes in.
I woke up today to a private message from the owner of the company, Barbara, who was registered as an individual regular member-under her company name. She only registered a couple days ago, and her profile only showed 2 posts made--but I couldn't see them.
She was not rude per say, but it was creepy how she found me online here at makeup talk to private message me, instead of emailing my email she had on file for my order.
She must have been stalking any mention of her company on here, and matched up order information to key words/names on makeup talk.. I don't see how she could have picked me out on makeup talk to message me about customer service, and known that she didn't end up receiving my email I mentioned and known my order information if this wasn't the case. Seeing as she doesn't have my personal info available on makeup talk.
I private messaged Zadidoll here on makeup talk because I felt she crossed the line, and remembered something about business can't come here posting like that etc.
I was informed she was in the wrong, had been warned before already for her public posts on makeup talk (as chloeandbella), and those postings were removed. I was recommended to report her private message so they could take care of business.
(I did not respond to her private message)
This is when I noticed in my emails that my email to their company email address was kicked back for being too large, although the CC'd copy I sent to myself went to my inbox just fine. I tried sending it again, same thing. So I sent the email without the pictures, and the pictures along in a second email. She received the regular email, but the pictures were kick backed again. I then emailed her again, alerting her that her mail system will not accept picture files to be received. At this point she knows I am aware of her private message to me on makeup talk, and that I am aware she's been reading my posts I originally posted in the enablers thread--so I know she's seen my pictures already.
Here is where it gets worse...
The owner private messaged me at 8-ish am this morning, was reported etc by mid day and ultimately banned for multiple offenses.
Then all of a sudden, my second quick post about them in the enablers thread, a member made a comment about my post. It has since been removed, but basically it stated that they see no difference in my pictures to what they show online at the company (false), that it is user error why I don't have color flash showing (false), that she has a bottle of the same polish and hers is fully opaque in 3 coats... then goes on to talk about I should look at it under an LED light, because I'm probably using a florescent light source.. Then she posts the website link and announces it looks like they're updating the photos to show it was painted over a dark base color, so they must be doing right... The entire post is pro company, user is wrong... even when my pictures clearly show what I talk about.
I looked up the member profile, and it was conveniently only created this morning, a couple hours after the owner got banned here. They only made one post online, in response to my post about the company...
Again I feel it is fishy, and alert our beloved Zadidoll, she looks it up, and responds that it is from a google proxy and the IP is being hidden, and again says to report the post.
It was a pretty blatant offense of the owner posing as another fake member once she got in trouble. Who else is going to sign up all a sudden, make one comment like that, and nothing else, lol, especially with a hidden IP address.
I asked Zadidoll how I can go about sharing my experience without breaking the rules, and so now I'm doing that. I was going to give until Monday to hear a response back from the owner of Chloe and Bella before saying anything against them like this. But as luck would have it, she responded just a bit ago.
And now I am 100% positive the owner was the fake poster here earlier, based on her email back to me.
She sent me a rather long email back, spending the entire time making excuses for her company being in the right, and again it must be me!
*She claims these bottles of Black Opal all came from the first and only batch so far, the same as her bottle shown online.
*She goes on a diatribe about how I should look at it under LED light! That florescent lighting does not show color flash well.
(I took my photos under an LED desk lamp. I've also viewed it under natural light, florescent, and incandescent. It is the SAME under all lights.
*She claims she upgraded my shipping on my original order, for being a new customer, from priority shipping to first class. I still paid for shipping myself, I didn't ask for an upgraded shipping speed, nor was it advertised.. so I find this a moot point. She's trying to get brownie points for something that was not the issue.
*She then mentions the update on labeling the swatch photo online today. (and she changed the description of the polish online to have a section about view it under LED lights, anything but florescent etc etc)
Every single thing she responded with was the exact same info and points etc from the mystery fake poster earlier today! (except the added shipping thing) Now how convenient is that!?! *rolls eyes*
I feel it is bad judgement and untrustworthy of a business owner to get multiple warnings about her actions here, and then continue to do so, getting banned. Then not stopping there, but creating other fake aliases, clearly listed as against the rules here, and harassing me as a customer sharing their experience so far.
I do not appreciate her tone in her email she responded with either. She talks down to me like I do not understand how polish works, how light reflects, how to see color flashing, etc etc.. I also made her aware originally that the trinket box she sent the polish in arrived with a horrid smell, like cigarettes and had sharp dangerous flaws on the clasp...but that I was not blaming her or her company for that fault--it is clearly just cheap mass factory junk crap..but customers don't want to receive items that smell that toxic/strongly or potentially dangerous, and gave a nice/cheaper pretty option to try in the future if interested. She talks down to me in her response that she doesn't smoke, blah blah, and smoking around polish is quite dangerous.. Uuuhhh, duh! I said it smelled like cigarettes, not that she smoked around them. There are other toxic smells that can smell like cigarettes, lol. ((anyways, I wasn't seeking anything about this issue, I told her I only wanted to make her aware of it))
She doesn't want to send me a new bottle of polish, claiming they are same batch so it'll be the same. Which doesn't say much for her company, since her bottle is a thousand times better looking and matches the description, unlike my bottle. How can they all be the same if that is the case!? She did offer a refund or different color though, so I will be asking for a refund. I don't want any more business with her.
I don't know how the experience will be for others, but she completely creeped me out today, and turned me off to her company. If I cannot trust a business owner to follow rules, especially when warned, to provide accurate products that match their descriptions, and only receive a bunch of nice-but snotty remarks and excuses back for customer service.. it is not a company I would recommend doing business with. There is no telling how far she'd go to post private information and order info anywhere online. At least (for now) she only takes payment via Paypal, so she doesn't have my payment info. You might have better luck with her company, but I'd strongly caution doing business with her. The way she responds for customer service and how she sneaks around here on makeup talk reminds me too much of how Richard did from Bondi nail polish (if you're familiar with that)...a bunch of snotty excuses, but she'll be cool and fix things, but never really take the blame or accept the fact what she provided isn't what she advertised...fake profiles, harassment, not listening to rules or warnings... not a good start. Anybody reading this doesn't have to agree with me... I just felt it important to share my experience because I don't want others to deal with the same things (or worse) in the future. People deserve a right to know about these icky shenanigans.
Here are my swatch pictures
Last week in the enablers-shopping thread, a new indie nail polish company was posted, called Chloe and Bella, based out of Florida.
They were having a 50% flash sale for their opening online. (A valued regular member posted about the new company/sale deal, so I do know the promotion posted in that thread wasn't company sponsored)
I decided to order one nail polish to try them out for quality of service and product. It was shipped fast, and received in good condition. However, I was not happy with what I received, compared to what they advertised.
The color I picked was called "Black Opal", and was listed as a medium coverage in 1-coat, full coverage in 3-coats... with flashes of blue, black, copper, red, purple (like an opal, duh, lol). The original swatch photos provided online had no indication it was shown over a dark colored base. (While all the other polishes they sell were labeled as such when they were layered)
In all the stock photos there is very heavy color flashing, from all angles, on both nail swatches and bottle photos (even the straight on viewing angle). So I expected to get a slightly sheer blackened base nail polish, that builds up fully opaque as shown in approx 3-coats, with full color flashing that changes with movement in the light.
What I received was an almost clear, very sheer purple polish with a slight blackened base to it. It had very minimal color flashing only along the edges of the bottle (and only after multiple movements under the light...it made me work for it), and mostly stayed a static deep shimmer purple color.
I then swatched different layers of the polish on a white background. Both over a black base and by itself. The polish I received was super sheer, like you get with french manicure type pale colors (only a dirty purple sparkle sheer)... and had absolutely no color flashing on any swatch, other than purple. I did a 1-coat swatch and a 3-coat swatch over black bases. Also, a 1-coat, 3-coat, and 5-coat swatch of the polish alone. At no point even after 5 layers it is showing a full coverage opaque finish. It is still only a sheer over coat finish, and again, only flashes purple.
I posted my review in two different posts in the enablers thread with my pictures showing it, and stating I sent an email message to the company and would post any updates they provide (or not) here on makeup talk because other ladies were waiting to hear how the company is etc.
This is where the creep factor comes in.
I woke up today to a private message from the owner of the company, Barbara, who was registered as an individual regular member-under her company name. She only registered a couple days ago, and her profile only showed 2 posts made--but I couldn't see them.
She was not rude per say, but it was creepy how she found me online here at makeup talk to private message me, instead of emailing my email she had on file for my order.
She must have been stalking any mention of her company on here, and matched up order information to key words/names on makeup talk.. I don't see how she could have picked me out on makeup talk to message me about customer service, and known that she didn't end up receiving my email I mentioned and known my order information if this wasn't the case. Seeing as she doesn't have my personal info available on makeup talk.
I private messaged Zadidoll here on makeup talk because I felt she crossed the line, and remembered something about business can't come here posting like that etc.
I was informed she was in the wrong, had been warned before already for her public posts on makeup talk (as chloeandbella), and those postings were removed. I was recommended to report her private message so they could take care of business.
(I did not respond to her private message)
This is when I noticed in my emails that my email to their company email address was kicked back for being too large, although the CC'd copy I sent to myself went to my inbox just fine. I tried sending it again, same thing. So I sent the email without the pictures, and the pictures along in a second email. She received the regular email, but the pictures were kick backed again. I then emailed her again, alerting her that her mail system will not accept picture files to be received. At this point she knows I am aware of her private message to me on makeup talk, and that I am aware she's been reading my posts I originally posted in the enablers thread--so I know she's seen my pictures already.
Here is where it gets worse...
The owner private messaged me at 8-ish am this morning, was reported etc by mid day and ultimately banned for multiple offenses.
Then all of a sudden, my second quick post about them in the enablers thread, a member made a comment about my post. It has since been removed, but basically it stated that they see no difference in my pictures to what they show online at the company (false), that it is user error why I don't have color flash showing (false), that she has a bottle of the same polish and hers is fully opaque in 3 coats... then goes on to talk about I should look at it under an LED light, because I'm probably using a florescent light source.. Then she posts the website link and announces it looks like they're updating the photos to show it was painted over a dark base color, so they must be doing right... The entire post is pro company, user is wrong... even when my pictures clearly show what I talk about.
I looked up the member profile, and it was conveniently only created this morning, a couple hours after the owner got banned here. They only made one post online, in response to my post about the company...
Again I feel it is fishy, and alert our beloved Zadidoll, she looks it up, and responds that it is from a google proxy and the IP is being hidden, and again says to report the post.
It was a pretty blatant offense of the owner posing as another fake member once she got in trouble. Who else is going to sign up all a sudden, make one comment like that, and nothing else, lol, especially with a hidden IP address.
I asked Zadidoll how I can go about sharing my experience without breaking the rules, and so now I'm doing that. I was going to give until Monday to hear a response back from the owner of Chloe and Bella before saying anything against them like this. But as luck would have it, she responded just a bit ago.
And now I am 100% positive the owner was the fake poster here earlier, based on her email back to me.
She sent me a rather long email back, spending the entire time making excuses for her company being in the right, and again it must be me!
*She claims these bottles of Black Opal all came from the first and only batch so far, the same as her bottle shown online.
*She goes on a diatribe about how I should look at it under LED light! That florescent lighting does not show color flash well.
(I took my photos under an LED desk lamp. I've also viewed it under natural light, florescent, and incandescent. It is the SAME under all lights.
*She claims she upgraded my shipping on my original order, for being a new customer, from priority shipping to first class. I still paid for shipping myself, I didn't ask for an upgraded shipping speed, nor was it advertised.. so I find this a moot point. She's trying to get brownie points for something that was not the issue.
*She then mentions the update on labeling the swatch photo online today. (and she changed the description of the polish online to have a section about view it under LED lights, anything but florescent etc etc)
Every single thing she responded with was the exact same info and points etc from the mystery fake poster earlier today! (except the added shipping thing) Now how convenient is that!?! *rolls eyes*
I feel it is bad judgement and untrustworthy of a business owner to get multiple warnings about her actions here, and then continue to do so, getting banned. Then not stopping there, but creating other fake aliases, clearly listed as against the rules here, and harassing me as a customer sharing their experience so far.
I do not appreciate her tone in her email she responded with either. She talks down to me like I do not understand how polish works, how light reflects, how to see color flashing, etc etc.. I also made her aware originally that the trinket box she sent the polish in arrived with a horrid smell, like cigarettes and had sharp dangerous flaws on the clasp...but that I was not blaming her or her company for that fault--it is clearly just cheap mass factory junk crap..but customers don't want to receive items that smell that toxic/strongly or potentially dangerous, and gave a nice/cheaper pretty option to try in the future if interested. She talks down to me in her response that she doesn't smoke, blah blah, and smoking around polish is quite dangerous.. Uuuhhh, duh! I said it smelled like cigarettes, not that she smoked around them. There are other toxic smells that can smell like cigarettes, lol. ((anyways, I wasn't seeking anything about this issue, I told her I only wanted to make her aware of it))
She doesn't want to send me a new bottle of polish, claiming they are same batch so it'll be the same. Which doesn't say much for her company, since her bottle is a thousand times better looking and matches the description, unlike my bottle. How can they all be the same if that is the case!? She did offer a refund or different color though, so I will be asking for a refund. I don't want any more business with her.
I don't know how the experience will be for others, but she completely creeped me out today, and turned me off to her company. If I cannot trust a business owner to follow rules, especially when warned, to provide accurate products that match their descriptions, and only receive a bunch of nice-but snotty remarks and excuses back for customer service.. it is not a company I would recommend doing business with. There is no telling how far she'd go to post private information and order info anywhere online. At least (for now) she only takes payment via Paypal, so she doesn't have my payment info. You might have better luck with her company, but I'd strongly caution doing business with her. The way she responds for customer service and how she sneaks around here on makeup talk reminds me too much of how Richard did from Bondi nail polish (if you're familiar with that)...a bunch of snotty excuses, but she'll be cool and fix things, but never really take the blame or accept the fact what she provided isn't what she advertised...fake profiles, harassment, not listening to rules or warnings... not a good start. Anybody reading this doesn't have to agree with me... I just felt it important to share my experience because I don't want others to deal with the same things (or worse) in the future. People deserve a right to know about these icky shenanigans.
Here are my swatch pictures
/emoticons/
