While watching Pixiwoo on youtube a couple of days ago, she did a neat look with glitter. (Does anyone else adore the way Sam says ‘mascara’? I could listen to her say that over and over…) I think she was using MAC which is kinda in the ‘won’t buy’ price range right now. 20 bucks for one items it a little spendy for me. Also, the nearest MAC counter I know of… I always get dirty looks from them when I go to look at the pretties. Don’t particularly want to deal with trying to buy from them. (There was this really awesome dude who worked there who wore the coolest makeup and always had a sort of goth-biker thing going but I think he’s gotten a better job somewhere.)
So I went to Etsy and typed in Mineral Makeup Glitter. What the hell, I’ll give it a shot, right? One of the first results was a big gorgeous eye that was done up in black and glitter. The price seemed to be pretty reasonable, and it was usable on the eye (which I know some cosmetic glitter isn’t).
So I Googled “[Etsy store name] reviews”. Hoo boy am I glad I did. Customer service issues, people asking questions that aren’t answered, evidence of reselling (which is a legitimate enough business model I guess but not what you should be doing on Etsy, Etsy is built to help people sell handmade things). I decided to take a pass, and am still idly futzing around with the idea. I can barely bring myself to use a solid purple on my lid, I’m not sure I can handle using glitter.
The same thing happened to me earlier today. I was looking for sulfate free shampoo on Etsy. I found one that looked likely, looked at the Etsy shop, thought I might buy it- and Googled the shop. Found some really bad reviews on the customer service. Not buying from them.
What’s the lesson? GOOGLE IS YOUR FRIEND. Always always ALWAYS research the company and product you’re buying. Read their website, and go and find out what people are saying about it. Even if someone you know and like recommends it, look it up. Don’t just read the first review and think ‘well okay that’s all right then’. Read several. You’re spending your money on this, there’s no sense in throwing it away on a bad product or a horrible customer service.
Don’t think this just applies to Indie companies off Etsy. Remember the big dog and cat food fiasco a few years ago? Lots of pets got sick and died? (Oh god that freaked me out so bad, I have three cats and a dog and felt so lucky none of their food was affected.) Or the problem with some children’s toys? Big companies screw up too.
You can’t prevent every wasted dollar, and you’re going to try a product you don’t like- it may even make you sick! But that’s going to happen whether you buy from Walgreens, Dillards, or the internet.
However, you can prevent getting suckered into buying products with known issues, with lousy customer service, or from just straight up dishonest owners.
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