So disappointed (Taylor Made)

[shatteredshards]

I had seen Taylor Made recommended by someone in another thread recently, so I thought I'd give them a shot.

I spent almost 2 weeks anxiously waiting for my little package to travel from Texas to Minnesota. The fact that it took over a week to even be shipped didn't help, but I digress.

The mail arrived, I cut the envelope open, pulled the baggies out...

...wait a minute...

I pulled out my stash to compare.

They sent me exact dupes of colors I already had from another company.

I've bought a few Pure Hues from Aromaleigh when they were on sale (50 cents!), knowing full well they were TKB micas because Miss K is upfront about the fact that Pure Hues are straight, unaltered micas.

So I was disappointed that I wasted the time picking them out (ironically, I couldn't tell they were dupes from photos) and wasted money purchasing them (also ironically, I hadn't found any comment of Taylor Made repacking in all my reading up on the topic). I hauled my butt back over to Phyrra's blog entry on original MMU companies and repackers (MMUs that make their own shadows) and commented about what had happened, since I didn't see Taylor Made on her list.

Then other people contacted her with the same claims.

And Taylor Made lied through their teeth and denied it!
Quote:

Thank you for contacting us. We formulate all of our own pigments using base ingredients but we do matches based on customer request. This would be why there are several that exactly match those of some competitors. We try to offer the largest range of unique shades and in our effort to do this, we found that matching existing shades was inevitable. Customers can send in samples of shades that they would like matched and when we are able to get an accurate duplicate we provide in on the site and supply the requesting customer with a sample for approval. There are also times when we inadvertently create a color that a competitor already sells and vice versa. The beginning ingredients used in formulation of the pigments are fairly limited so duplicate shades happen all on their own.

If they would have admitted to repacking, okay. But the lying just burns my britches.

Just a tip: never, never underestimate your customer base.


These are dry swatches, made with cotton swabs. The rocks! colors were swatched because the Taylor Made colors seemed very similar; I'm betting they are the base colors for the rocks! shades. Natural light is first, with moderate flash/indoors following.








Spreadsheet with confirmed and suspected Taylor Made/TKB dupes

 

[meemsoes]

I was thinking about ordering from them but now not so sure - I would order from TKB but only want a small order

The samples from Taylor - were they quite generous? or would it be better to try another place?

 

[shatteredshards]

According to TMM, their samples are approximately 1/4 tsp, at $1/each in bags (or $1.50 in little jars). The thing is, when I put those bags next to my Aromaleigh ones, which are only 1/16 tsp, it certainly doesn't look like 4x the product!

TKB's minimum order is $20. If you're thinking less than that, I recommend Aromaleigh - the customer service is way better, they ship faster, shipping is free on sample-only orders, you get bonus samples with each order, and because she's discontinuing the Pure Hues line, samples are $0.50 apiece.

 

[shatteredshards]

Quote:

We formulate all of our own pigments using base ingredients but we do matches based on customer request. This would be why there are several that exactly match those of some competitors.

This is a near-exact dupe, not even kidding. And seeing as how Taylor Made is about as honest as a United States politician, I'll bet a kidney that it was a deliberate copycat job.

Come on, Aromaleigh has over 400 unique colors, and in Taylor's mere fraction of that, they resort to copycatting and repacking? What a joke.

 

[Flowitu]

Trust me I know your pain. Though I've never ordered from taylor or pure luxe, I was aware that they repack. (a new collection comes out, and I cringe) I was really in a hopeful mood when I ordered a bunch from Etsy (after all, it's hand made stuff, eh) I was extremely disappointed when I saw teh actual items that 80% of mineral etsy sellers are repacking theri stuff. I've received exact items from two or three sellers. Uhh, that's why I never wanted to order from repackaged sellers ever again. I'd rather order from TKB and some jars too, so I'd rather go through the trouble of putting large samples in jars.

At least mix your stuff, sellers! It's not too hard, geesh. One sign to tell is that some colors (or descriptions) look errily similar to TKB ones. BTW, aromaleigh ROCKS! are formulated by aromaleigh (that's why the colors are not dead on), so I think going through TKB you would be able to find an alike item next to taylor's.

 

[shatteredshards]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flowitu BTW, aromaleigh ROCKS! are formulated by aromaleigh (that's why the colors are not dead on), so I think going through TKB you would be able to find an alike item next to taylor's.

Yep yep, I know some people don't like Aromaleigh because of the price, but I've shopped with them for years and continue to do so because I know that the colors are all handmade and unique, and they still have consistently good customer service.

 

[shatteredshards]

I finally placed my first order with TKB, and managed to pin down almost all of my Taylor Made order. There's more pics on my flickr, including the actual swatches; click the photo to see them.

 

[SAMAKOSEM]

before buying I will ask if the brand that I'm intersting is a repacker or not.

 

[shatteredshards]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SAMAKOSEM before buying I will ask if the brand that I'm intersting is a repacker or not.

Sometimes that works. But in this case, Taylor Made claimed not to be, not only to Phyrra last year, but to myself when I contacted her earlier this month.

Quote:

While many MMU companies do choose to purchase pre-made cosmetics, there are a myriad of companies that formulate their own. We happen to be one of them! Though we would definitely love to have you as a customer (and hope we do!), we encourage you to check out as many companies as you can find. There are a ton of products out there that we, unfortunately, do not currently offer. For the sake of variety (and a good make-up arsenal) we will gladly offer some suggestions on how to tell the "Repackagers" from the "Pioneers" in addition to telling you about ourselves.

Of course, the email went on to list tip after tip, some of which were completely bogus and not at all useful in spotting repackers, and others, ironically, were things I had used when I suspected Taylor Made to be one.

 

[shatteredshards]

I've photographed another group of swatches. Wouldn't it be awesome if the owner would just, ya know, admit to repacking?

 

[bubbleheart]

Im glad I saw this post. I've been tempted to order from them a number of times - they do have good swatch pictures of their items on their site but yeah - the shipping wait times put me off before and now I'll know not to even bother.