Powder -Unlisted Brand - Valana Minerals
Lovemenappy 5/5/2012 1:21:00 PM
I too have had bad experiences with Valana Minerals customer service wise. Basically the owner is a liar and is extremely deceitful. She's lying to her customers about her products. They ARENT handmade. She's reselling another businesses product and is just adding colorant and reselling it at triple the price. Valana Minerals uses premade bulk bases and resells them as her own. Her products are not all "hand made" as she states. She buys her products premade from Essential Wholesale, and adds her own colorant. This woman is a liar and their is a huge topic on a curly site where people are talking about it as well as other businesses who are trying to pull this sham. Just to be clear, bases are premade bulk products that large companies like Essential Wholesale sale at cheap prices to small businesses as well as the general public. The small business will then turn around and resell that premade product for a really expensive price to the public. Nothings wrong with this, HOWEVER, a lot of businesses will LIE to their customers about this and will claim that their products are "hand made" when they really arent. After all, would you REALLY be so inclined to buy a $36 bottle of one ounce foundation from Valana Minerals if you found out you could get the SAME product from her supplier (Essential Wholesale) for .40 to $15?! Yea that's probably why she lied to me. I contacted Valana Minerals about a week ago about their new cream foundation. Never bought from this line before, but I just wanted to make sure the products were TRULY all handmade before I spent my money. I explained to Valerie that I was leery about online businesses because I had had experiences where indie lines would be reselling bases and passing them off as their own...then I asked her straight out are your products TRULY ALL HAND MADE OR DO YOU USE BASES? I SPECIFICALLY told her I was trying to avoid lines that used bases.I received a really odd response from Valerie about how she couldn't disclose her "trade secrets" and how she formulates her products (never asked this btw) but that I can rest assured that she manufactures her own products. I did my research and lo and behold..... Essential Wholesale's Essential Certified Creme Ingredients: Aloe barbadensis (Organic Aloe) Juice, Cocos nucifera (Organic Coconut) Oil, Camellia sinesis (Organic Green Tea) Extract, Cetearyl Olivate, Sorbitan Olivate, Cetyl Palmitate, Sorbitan Palmitate, Punica granatum (Organic Pomegranate) Tincture, Olea europaea (Organic Olive) Oil, Palm Stearic Acid, Xanthan Gum (Polysaccharide Gum) Valana Minerals Premium Performance Foundation Ingredients: Aloe barbadensis (Organic Aloe) Juice, Cocos nucifera (Organic Coconut) Oil, Camellia sinesis (Organic Green Tea) Extract , Cetearyl Olivate - Cetyl Palmitate - Sorbitan Palmitate, Punica granatum (Organic Pomegranate) Tincture, Palm Stearic Acid, Xanthan Gum (Polysaccharide Gum), Mica 7019 (12001-26-2); Titanium Dioxide 77891 (13463-67-7); Zinc Oxide 77947 (1314-13-2); Iron Oxide Red 77491 (1332-37-2); Iron Oxide Yellow 77492 (51274-00-1); Mica 7019 (12001-26-2); Titanium Dioxide 77891 (13463-67-7); Zinc Oxide 77947 (1314-13-2); Iron Oxide Red 77491 (1332-37-2); Iron Oxide Yellow 77492 (51274-00-1); Iron Oxide Black 77499 (12227-89-3) All the extra ingredients after "mica" is where shes just mixing her premade powder into Essential Wholesale's base creme. Like I said a sample of Essential Wholesale's Certified Creme is 40 CENTS...you can make a cheaper alternative (and the EXACT same product) by just buying from Essential Wholesale and mixing your own powder into the creme like Valerie is doing. All Valana Minerals lipsticks are Essential Wholesale repackaged as well. I suppose shes adding a pre-blended base of pigment to that too. I don't really care. My frustration is the fact that I SPECIFICALLY asked if she used bases and I was given the run around and was flat out lied to. I suspect her eyeshadows are also repackaged Essential Wholesale...I remember something similar to this happening with bitchslapcosmetics I believe and a couple of other businesses. Like I said it's a big deal and there is a huge list of businesses doing this. Again, the issue is the lying and deceit of a business who will tell a customer FLAT OUT that I can "rest assured" that she manufactures her own products and doesnt use bases....when she knew damn well she did. Like she completely lied to me. This bothers me because she's charging $36 for a freakin one ounce bottle for her Premium Performance Creme foundation. Essential Wholesale's 16 oz bottle of the SAME product is half the price. Save yourself and arm and a leg and just buy the bases she's using from Essential Wholesale and mix your own powder in it. This woman is absolutely shady, and I too have noticed the suspect reviews from the username "sparkling".Hmmm...anyone else notice that URSPARKLED is the phone number for Valana Minerals? The "reviews" from that username are seriously everywhere, and Ive also seen the ones that pop up as "a friend of Valerie". Glad I did my research before I gave this woman my hard earned money.
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Bath Treatments -LUSH - Big Blue Bath Bomb
Lovemenappy 5/5/2012 12:43:00 PM
This was my first LUSH bathbmb and I wasmt impressed. The smell is nice and clean I suppose, not overly masculine or feminine. The color that the water turned was pretty, however the seaweed spikes/sticks in this completely through off the experience. As someone else said, it's AMAZING how many of these things are in one bath bomb. Like seriously? They serve no real purpose. They could have added seaweed extract...not these sticks. They hurt when they stick you and they are literally everywhere, and clean up was a severe pain in the ass. I will try other bath bombs from LUSH, but I would definitely pass on this one.
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No