More repackaging and other maladies (About Face/TheSheSpace)

[shatteredshards]

Can you tell these apart?



Yeah, neither can I. Let me help you.



Now, don't get me wrong. I know About Face/TheSheSpace is probably mixing most of their own colors, and I got some awesome ones in my order. But the fact remains that I got some repack in the mail today, from a company that I placed an order with because they were given the Mineral Makeup Mutiny badge.

I feel especially bad about that last part, because I know Miss K is putting a lot of effort into the Mutiny and trying to have a positive influence on the mineral makeup industry. I'm sure she drills them pretty hard, but I'm also sure that someone could easily have some repack scattered in their product line and could easily forget about it, or worse, keep quiet about it.

So there's my disappointment, but I'm angry, too. Oh, I'm pissed.

About Face's product photos are so misrepresentitive of color that again, I am stuck with a first and last order from a mmu I thought deserved a chance.

We all know the drill, monitor colors differ, take it with a grain of salt. But to be fair, I shop Aromaleigh pretty requently, and her photos are always very close to what the color actually looks like when I receive it. I can pick colors from her site with confidence.

But, say, take Innate Optimist, for example. The color is described as "highly iridescent blackened navy shimmer. "The photo on the site looks purplish to me, and friggin gorgeous. See?

It's midnight blue. Crayola midnight blue, which, if anyone recalls, leans towards teal. And I can't find the iridescence to save my life.

In fact, I can't tell it apart from Blueberry Crush Haze to save my life. *Starts singing, "All we want to do is eat your brains...."*

For reference, here's the product photo for Blueberry Crash Haze.

I keep trying to branch out and try other sites, and even with recommendations I'm getting burned. Are that many people really ignorant to the repackaging debate?

 

[FLYSKYHiGH]

Hah, nice find! It's true though, a lot of these smaller mineral companies are basically reseller sites. A GREAT wholesaler site is tkbtrading. Their pigments are AMAZING and C-H-E-A-P.

 

[Flowitu]

OMG!!! One of my fav sites is the she space. I am crushed.... Well, I'm sure most of their colors are made by them. oh, and the only thing I know that aren't their own is down at the custom pigment bar - look at the additives. (but that's a given since it's not a color, but a additive)

I have to say I'm a little disappointed... I know some minerla comapny defenders have said that the swatches aren't look alike. But in your picture, it's dead on alike - or the SAME! That won't stop me from ordering from TSS for more their colors. However, they left a scar on me...

 

[shatteredshards]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flowitu Well, I'm sure most of their colors are made by them. oh, and the only thing I know that aren't their own is down at the custom pigment bar - look at the additives. (but that's a given since it's not a color, but a additive)

Yep, that's why I stayed away from the custom pigmwnt bar. However, the two I swatched are two "handmade" shades from two different collections - Innate Optimist is from the Libra collection, and Blueberry Crush Haze was from the Limited Edition September Collection. And I swear the two are the same - I honestly considered that they were somehow mislabeled samples and I got the wrong thing somehow!

Even if they were, and even if it got "fixed," I still wouldn't be ordering again because of the product photo issue. While I got some pretty colors, the majority of my order was not what I expected it to be, was not as bright or pretty or whatever, and overall I was disappointed.

 

[euphrosyne_rose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shatteredshards Yep, that's why I stayed away from the custom pigmwnt bar. However, the two I swatched are two "handmade" shades from two different collections - Innate Optimist is from the Libra collection, and Blueberry Crush Haze was from the Limited Edition September Collection. And I swear the two are the same - I honestly considered that they were somehow mislabeled samples and I got the wrong thing somehow! Even if they were, and even if it got "fixed," I still wouldn't be ordering again because of the product photo issue. While I got some pretty colors, the majority of my order was not what I expected it to be, was not as bright or pretty or whatever, and overall I was disappointed.

Have you tried emailing Heather? She's usually pretty good about responding to issues such as these and I think she'd want to know. I had an issue when the Pisces collection came out b/c all of the ones I got were very chalky and no matter WHAT base I used, I couldn't get them to stick. I emailed her and she wrote back almost immediately, apologized for my dissatisfaction and replaced every pigment from the collection I had bought. The 2nd batch went on much better.

I've found that her color swatches are off too on the site and I try to take into account the monitor discrepancies but I've gotten a few colors that were SO NOT what I thought they were. There were a few I wanted that were described as "rose bronze" and when I got them, were more orangey bronze without a hint of pink to be seen so of course I was disappointed. I also think I have some of the same colors with different names b/c there are quite too many that look too similar. I haven't bought anything from her in a few months but generally I'm pretty happy with TSS/AF.

I would email her and just mention to her about the similarities and see what she says.

 

[Vixxan]

I also like The She Space a lot. I really don't know what to make of this. I own so many pigments from so many different companies. I wonder how many of them are repackaged TKB pigments. I'm really disappointed.

 

[shatteredshards]

Quote:

Originally Posted by euphrosyne_rose Have you tried emailing Heather? She's usually pretty good about responding to issues such as these and I think she'd want to know.... I've found that her color swatches are off too on the site and I try to take into account the monitor discrepancies but I've gotten a few colors that were SO NOT what I thought they were. There were a few I wanted that were described as "rose bronze" and when I got them, were more orangey bronze without a hint of pink to be seen so of course I was disappointed....

No, I honestly haven't. I will email her within the next 24 hours, when I am able to take a picture of the two side-by-side so she can see it.

And hopefully these were some mislabeled bags or something, because technically these colors are not even supposed to have the same finish, much less color tone. I Googled the Blueberry, and other people made swatches that were friggin bright blue, like I expected to receive. Now the Blueberry is technically discontinued, too - the page was removed (unlinked, but the page itself is still there if you have the URL) somewhere between the time I ordered to the time I received my order.

Quote:

Blueberry Crush Haze: Vivid shimmering sapphire with twinkling sapphire and crystal glitz INNATE OPTIMIST: HIghly iridescent blackened navy shimmer

 

[Flaminbird]

I like TSS too and Heather is always nice and pretty quick to reply to emails if I have a problem which has only been once. It was just recently that I ordered a color and recieved it only half full. She apologized and said she'd send a new one out. I do agree that her colors on her site are pretty off sometimes from what you actually get. The problem there I believe is due to her camera not being set on the correct white balance. I'm a photographer and not having it set on the correct WB will throw colors way off. Like is she's taking the pics under sun vs florescent or natural north light/shade.....it all makes a big difference in how color turns out in the final image. I've been happpy with the quality of her pigments and the prices cant be beat. I happen to have innate optimist too and it defintely looks purple on the site but when I received it in the mail it was just as described....blackened navy

 

[Flaminbird]

This is Blueberry Crush Haze that I found for you....just like you said....Bright Blue but I believe that was from her site at one time and this person used it on their blog

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nvSEJUI12-...ycrushhaze.gif

I found several swatches of the Blueberry on her forum like this one

http://heather21.websitetoolbox.com/...lueberry+crush

It looks closer to what you have pictured then the swatch from the site.

 

[shatteredshards]

I heard back from Heather, and she apologized profusely, saying that there must have been a mistake when they were filled. She refunded the money for the dupes, which is a satisfying solution to the issue and I am happy with.

However, in my email I had mentioned that they also seemed to be dupes of those other pigments in the picture, emphasizing that while that concerned me, the fact that they were dupes of each other was a bigger problem in my eyes. I included the picture above, with the pigments labeled (along with the other photos I took), and the response to that amounted to those other companies must have copycatted.

I rolled my eyes right out of my sockets when Xenia of Lime Crime claimed that TKB was the one copying her, but this time I'm just going to shake my head and walk away. I got an answer to the two pigments being identical and that's something.

 

[Flowitu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shatteredshards However, in my email I had mentioned that they also seemed to be dupes of those other pigments in the picture, emphasizing that while that concerned me, the fact that they were dupes of each other was a bigger problem in my eyes. I included the picture above, with the pigments labeled (along with the other photos I took), and the response to that amounted to those other companies must have copycatted. I rolled my eyes right out of my sockets when Xenia of Lime Crime claimed that TKB was the one copying her, but this time I'm just going to shake my head and walk away. I got an answer to the two pigments being identical and that's something.

So, Heather said that? about other comapnies copying her?? unbelievable... And that Xenia, she said THAT? How does she even sleep at night? But then again, she's as thick as she can get. Not too long ago, she posted on her site a video showing how she made her eyeshadows - which TKB made one more than 2 years ago. That's how I make mine reserved for personal uses; Xenia did not use gloves or masks at that and she relies on her naked eyes to know whether the eye pigment samples are the same or not. Just go see hers and she also made a video regarding people's 'malicious attack/rumor' on her and asks her fans if they ever see that, just post a positive comment. Well, she knows more than 100 percent the truth but consumers aren't all airheaded!!

 

[shatteredshards]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flowitu So, Heather said that? about other comapnies copying her?? unbelievable...

I can't repost the email because I don't have her OK to do so, but yep, she said that other companies order from her and dupe the colors so that must be it.

The thing that really gets me about that excuse is I showed her a picture in which a TKB pigment matched her own, so now she's accused TKB of copying her, too.

 

[shatteredshards]

YouTube - Re: TheSheSpace - part 1

YouTube - re: TheSheSpace - part 2

 

[euphrosyne_rose]

I think all of your swatches look dead on, both in the video and the first picture at the top of the thread. I can totally see that they ALL look exactly alike and I bet that if I had them all in front of me like you do, it'd be glaringly obvious. It really disappoints me b/c I love TSS and have ordered countless samples and full sizes over the past year or so and I have noticed so many times that alot of colors look similar. I was just telling a friend the other day that it'd be interesting to take the descriptions of her current collections and compare them with descriptions of previous collections over this year and see how many are similar. I know that a person can only do so many colors and do them so many different ways but with the evidence right there, it's disappointing. I'm going to go through what I have shortly and compare anything that looks the same.

I do have to say that Heather's CS is amazing, or at least has been so far as I'm concerned. When I ordered her Aquarius collection, I got the entire collection and after I got it, I had issues with almost every color applying well. They were chalky and it didn't matter what base I used, I couldn't get them to stick to my lid and I emailed her to tell her I loved the colors but was wondering if she used something different in them b/c of the problem I was having. She immediately apologized and sent me a brand new set free of charge and those seemed to work much better. However, my friend Michelle has had that issue with a couple of her piggies as well that weren't part of Pisces and weren't the "velvets".

I agree about Aromaleigh that her swatches are pretty true to life and though she costs more, I find she doesn't have quite as many if any that look alike. She has some pretty great colors and a very nice quality to her products.

 

[shatteredshards]

Quote:

Originally Posted by euphrosyne_rose I think all of your swatches look dead on, both in the video and the first picture at the top of the thread. I can totally see that they ALL look exactly alike and I bet that if I had them all in front of me like you do, it'd be glaringly obvious.

Thank you!

If someone thinks my swatches could be better, I would much rather have them tell me directly so that I can make better swatches!

It unfortunately was a slap to the face to find that they were commenting to others, but not me.

 

[euphrosyne_rose]

No problem!! Sorry to hear someone was making comments but I guess that happens on forums like these. I was going to go through my stash of pigments from TSS as well and see what I had that might be similar but didn't get a chance to today. I will definitely give them a look over tomorrow.

 

[Flowitu]

I see, but your know I also encountered similar things with that. I've talked to someone on a blog, and she encountered that your swatches are poorly done. (however, she doesn't say why and yes I posted this link to her) but to my eyes, they're really alike, almost the same.

Thanks also to gothique's post, I realized that some shades I've got has Kaolin clay in them, which is not stated on Heather's ingredients. (kaolin clay adds adhesion, but also waters down colors) TSS doesn't always answer their emails. Yes, I'm still fascinated by TSS though - wish I'd be more strong-willed. I just really wish she'd come clean about her ingredients or if anything that she probably didn't make the effort to make.

They're the first company I bought from and from their variety of colors, I guess my guard wasn't wasn't that keen . I dislike it when someone sees posts like yours and interpret it as a sabotaging scheme, whatever. I just think your post is helpful and informative. keep up the good work.

 

[downloadstone]

:/ Oh wow. This is really, really unfortunate. I know it's been a while since you made this post, but I had no idea Heather's colours were so close to other existing shades. I've had my issues with TSS, but I never thought they'd be a repacker.

 

[shatteredshards]

Quote:

Originally Posted by downloadstone I've had my issues with TSS, but I never thought they'd be a repacker.

If I remember correctly, the Pigment Bar shades were all micas just cut with lots of kaolin clay to make them more like pastel. She'll swear up and down she doesn't repack, but half kaolin half one mica doesn't make an eyeshadow.

 

[downloadstone]

D: Yikes. I'd never ordered from the Pigment Bar before TSS closed down. Didn't Heather say she doesn't use clay at all in her pigments though? I seem to remember her saying explicitly that she doesn't, though I can't seem to find that statement on the site anymore.