This Way, That Way... Which Way? What's going on with Orglamix?

As some of you beauty bloggers have noticed, in the past couple of days there has been an absolute explosion and exposure of information regarding Orglamix Cosmetics. I am neither attacking nor defending this company at this time- simply putting facts, questions, and answers here. Please keep in mind that I am not personally biased in writing this. Many of you know I do prefer to use this makeup in many of my looks, and I am not being compensated in any way, shape or form for composing this article.

The first and foremost damming issue at hand is the fact that Cheri sold re-packaged, unsafe makeup. Colorlicious stickers were printed out and slapped the on her jars with Cheri's company name, logo, and reputation now stuck onto the jars for all the world to see.

Until, that is, a sticker is peeled off.

And upon closer inspection... What do we find....

I've copied and put screenshots below so you can see how responses are answered or dodged, depending on your views at this point. Don't get me wrong- I'm just as upset as the rest of the 'Glamix Girls in this discovery, but I feel it necessary to go for the core information and facts first before totally damming Cheri as a liar and someone who intentionally wants to hurt her customers. If you've been on Orglamix's Facebook Page, you can see these posts. I've blocked out names for privacy reasons in comments Cheri has responded to, and only left first names for a comment I also decided to post.

The products caught up in this hot debate are the Colorlicious Candy Glam colors sold  as a promo in October 2010. (Or somewhere around that time frame... If I'm wrong, please someone comment and let me know below)

This is a copy of one customer's invoice of the text from her Etsy receipt of sale, copied and pasted to FB:

While I'm glad and grateful this information has been revealed as to the safety and dangers of the product sold, I personally feel it should have come from Orglamix and Cheri herself. I think if she had disclosed this information herself before one of us had discovered it, a lot of disappointed and once loyal customers would have a much better feeling about this entire ordeal in general, instead of leaving us with a bitter taste in our mouths. This is her initial response to this blog post from (Not) Making It Up:

Note: While it's been stated the unsafe pigments were only in some of her her Candy Glam Line of cosmetics, how is it we can completely trust that the Orglamix line also isn't compromised? Read on. Again, if you want to see these in chronological order, simply stop on by the Orglamix Facebook Page to read the comments, questions, and responses from customers and responses from Cheri herself:

Unfortunately, to the comment above, it completely contradicts the invoice shown further up this post. Cheri did not indicate in any way, shape or form that the colors were in fact pre-packaged and sold from another company. Now, depending on where you look, you'll find she didn't know certain colors weren't approved for eye use. Or it came to light that she had, and sold it anyways. Or that she didn't check. Or a multitude of other excuses.

Where there is cause for some real concern is that it revealed some contents of certain pigments were not safe for eye and/or lip use- what the hell was she doing selling them in October 2010?? That's my question that still stands outright- and still bothers me. If this was left over stock from a prior line, which was sold as handmade (way before Orglamix came into being) and in fact wasn't, it did indeed violate Etsy's TOS. Eventually, someone would have figured it out. So... Cheri stopped Candy Glam. And so born was Orglamix. Still the question to me rings- why sell makeup that's been sitting around from 2007-2008? Or 2008-2009, which was in a comment above. Which year were they purchased??
(personally, even if I had a ton of this crappy stock left over, I'd have made it into nail polish... Or just simply chucked it, chalking it up to lack of experience in the industry and in the best interest of my customers to keeping it away from them)

The other dishonest part is that the product was manufactured and sold from a different company, Lady Burd. She simply attached her stickers to the bottom of the jars, and sold them in a Colorlicious promo.

But- have you looked at the different listings for eye colors, blushes, foundations and bronzers? The point I'm trying to make here is that each listing is pretty much a template. The first few paragraphs gives a short description of a color, or product, and the rest is a standard template. It may have been that Cheri simply didn't change this template to reflect that the Candy Glam cosmetics she was selling were not handmade by her. Did she purposely do this? And if so, why? Or does it make more sense that it was simply overlooked?

Yes, Cheri made a huge mistake in not disclosing the fact that she did not make these colors, and they were manufactured by a different company and re-sold as hers. Keep reading:

On a more positive note... Do you see something here that is unusual?
Unsure?
Look at what has happened. This has turned into a discussion, very publicly, quite bluntly, on her company's Facebook Page. Cheri has apologized- and continued to do so- throughout that evening. She has admitted she's done  something very wrong, and gone as far as offering refunds for those who purchased the Candy Glam Colorlicious products. She didn't have to do this. She didn't have to do anything. Cheri simply could have deleted the post, and ignored this issue, and really suffered a huge hit as an indie company. It says a lot more than the recently scandalized Glittersniffers- who were recently unveiled as being completely unsanitary, unsafe, and causing actual eye damage to her customers from the use of soap dyes, and minerals which weren't approved for eye use. What has that woman done? Ignored her customers. Disregarded complaints. Not responded to anyone, or done so with a flippant "I-could-care-less" attitude. It's seems as if she believes that ignoring the problem will make it go away- but instead, it gets worse.

Cheri hasn't. She's there, taking the heat, knowing she's done something very, very wrong. Look how many times she has apologized- even to someone who didn't even purchase the Candy Glam products and was quite fervently grilling her for answers! Cheri has responded professionally, and without trying to cover up the fact that she screwed up. According to the first comment above, she's even made the initiative to contact  by email any of those customers who made the Candy Glam purchase. The yellow star- good for her trying to keep some of us... Um... Zealous, anxious, and worried girls from becoming outright rude and mean to each other. Keep it civil.

How quickly it seems we forget the little, or lots, of extras which have been included in orders. Personally myself, I've always received a hand written letter thanking me for my purchase. Scented petals in my package. Extra eye shadows included... Just because. Cheri goes above and beyond what many other businesses practice.

Wise words from my Father:
1) Admit you made the mistake (Cheri has)
2) Fix it (Cheri's actively working on it)
3) Get on with it. (Does she really deserve to be crucified over this?)

Now comes another issue. I've noticed it. I've separated the stickers off others on the bottom of my jars... Yes, that's right. Multiple stickies on my jars. Other girls mentioned the same thing. What's the problem?

Well... Why are there multiple stickers?

In my collection of roughly 150 colors, this is my list of double stickered" colors:

**Fantasmagoria was known as Truffle
**Mistletoe was known as Cypress
Red Currant was Vanilla (which, duh, is a totally different color!)
Ambre has a sticker which says Amber SP088 Pure Mineral Eye
Green Tea is Green Tea 78 Shimmer Powder
Fog is Fog SPSP149 Pure Mineral Eye
Lilly Pilly is Lilly Pilly SP026 Pure Mineral Eye
Neroli is Neroli LSP-129 Shimmer Powder
Brimstone is Brimstone SP157 Pure Mineral Eye
Sesame is Sesame SP043 Pure Mineral Eye
Champagne Toast is SP003 The Bride Pure Mineral Color
Marshmallow is Marshmallow SP101 Pure Mineral Eye
Watermelon is Watermelon LSP-141
Pineapple is Pineapple SP125 Pure Mineral Eye
Citron is Citron 36 Shimmer Powder
Saffron is Saffron 133 Shimmer Powder
(I'll post pictures of mine shortly)

Cheri's most explanatory answer as to the "re-stickering" is here:

Well, it's mostly an answer. I didn't find any spelling mistakes on my jars. It does concern me that the description and colors of bases here at Smile Jars is strikingly similar, when searching by the color number and the product which turns up... None are the same. *whew* I don't think a company would print a different ID code with a color it doesn't associate with. That just does not make sense.

A google search also turned up little by the way of matching those "ID Numbers" to any certain company, so this leads me to believe that this is not just simply a case of re-packaging materials. I would like to know why those stickers are on the bottom of some of the jars though, and not others. Be reassured though, in my recent shipment of makeup- all of my jars have one sticker identifying the colors. And they all are Orglamix stickers. As a side note- these "underneath stickers" have a short list of ingredients:

Mica. May Contain: Carmine, Titanium Dioxide.

On all these labels as such, it says "may contain". This doesn't mean a color in fact does have carmine in it, but it might. The listings on Orglamix for colors which contain carmine do in fact state whether or not it does- and personally that's what I look for. It does not bother me if it contains carmine in a pigment, but that's my personal preference.

For the ** marked colors, you'll note in Cheri's explanation that she had intended to make both "Truffle" and "Cypress" core colors in the Orglamix line... But instead decided to sell them as "Limited Edition" colors- hence the double sticker as "Fantasmagoria" and "Mistletoe" respectively. That statement satisfies my curiosity as to why they were re-named.

And finally, to finish this post, I'll share my personal feelings about Cheri, Orglamix, and the future.

This is an email I sent to Cheri Monday, Feb 28 when this whole thing emerged. I'm very straightforward, blunt and asked the questions I did for a reason.

And this is her response:

As you can see... Not all my questions were answered, but I think I've managed to collect enough information now to make decisions as to whether or not I'll continue to recommend or purchase Orglamix Cosmetics. My initial email states quite bluntly my opinion about how some fellow girls and bloggers have reacted, and I want to make it clear that I do not disrespect any of them or their concerns. They're completely valid. Jumping so quickly on the bandwagon though, and perhaps not having all the facts, may or may not have happened. I wanted to blanket statement address the issue.

I discovered this company in October of 2009. Since then, I've made quite a few purchases, as received some colors as gifts, and received a lot of colors from a huge contest I won.

We're human. I believe Cheri made a huge mistake.

I believe she'll have to work hard to win back many of us who are, or were, fans of her cosmetics line. The best way I can see for recovering from this mess would be to continue what she's doing- don't hide or shy away from questions. Don't gloss them over. Explain to the most minute detail possible questions which are asked. I'd also suggest somewhere there be a complete list of ingredients contained in each product. Be it a resource online, or a paper tucked into an order, I think this would help greatly ease the conscience of us who are now wary of purchasing the products. While it's great she includes what's not in her minerals, I'd also like to know what is in them.

As for me... I'll still continue to purchase from Cheri, though I will think twice before doing so. If I see improvements going forward, it will encourage me all the more to still collect her products. I don't think Cheri is the kind of person who would intentionally hurt us, her customers, just to make a buck. We're the one that supports her- without us, she wouldn't have a successful business.

x0x0x0 ~*Snarky P