Fantastic Faces Follow UP Of The Neons

I present to you

on Fantastic Faces and the neons.

After giving a lot of thought to this I have decided that I need to continue publishing on this subject. I am not sure how many posts I will make in the future on Fantastic Faces and the whole neon issue. There are some issues that I have not addressed as of yet and feel I owe it to you to do so.

I want to say that I know that this has to be a very stressful situation for the owner of Fantastic Faces. My hope is that she will take the many resources that have been provided to her and use it to better her company. As stressful as it all may be for Ms. Steph I do not think it warrants the behavior she has shown toward myself and several potential customers, or people trying to help her. I personally have received 2 messages from the owner of Fantastic Faces since I made my post disclosing the ebay supplier. 

While I can understand feeling stressed and upset I am not sure this is the best way to handle the situation. Of course everyone handles their emotions differently. I am just left to think these were sent as some type of intimidation tactic. Which if that's the case I've never been one to back down because of intimidation. Here are a few more examples of the bullying/intimidation that has happened on the fan page of Fantastic Faces.

Here are some examples of replies to messages potential customers have received from the owner of Fantastic Faces.

Here is a concerned person putting the FDA information right at the owners fingertips and her way of handling it.

Notice that someone is pointing out the difference in cosmetic safe and eye safe to her in the comments.
(This happens to be the owner of another cosmetics company)

I would like to add that the owner of Fantastic Faces has since removed most if not all of these posts and comments from her fan page.
Since we are talking about cosmetic safe/eye safe I thought it would be a great time to post pics from 3 different companies labels just in case anyone was wondering about it.

Notice the labels specifically state what each mica is safe for.
Even the labels on bases tell you what it is safe for

Here is an example of a mica label that has a note of not being lip safe.

I would say if a supplier or a cosmetic company refuses to provide you with a list of ingredients it isn't worth buying. Because as you see here reputable suppliers have listed ingredients and where it is safe to use right on the package.

I was hoping that this post would be to let you know that Fantastic Faces had stopped selling the neons and had decided to recall the neons they have already distributed. Sadly that is not the case. As of right now they are still offering these neon soap dyes to their customers.

 Sadly that is not the case.

After posting this on her fan page Friday

and this on her fan page yesterday

Not only is she still selling them to customers, but she is also still offering them as a prize in a contest being held with Skittlezz Stylezz which you can see for yourself by clicking here.

Being that Skittlezz has been witness to all the happenings surrounding the neons not being safe in my opinion makes her just as culpable as Fantastic Faces.

I am happy to tell you that the Ebay seller has taken all neon listings out of their store,

you can click here to find their store. Unfortunately the seller has listed 2 different fluorescent soap micas as eye safe. You can find them by clicking here and also here. Very important also is that TKB has changed their listings for the neon soap dyes to make it so a buyer has to click a box acknowledging that they know it is not cosmetic grade and not to be used in cosmetics. To see these listings click here and search the word neon.

Here are the links for the previous posts I have made concerning this situation

http://cupcakesquirkycorner.blogspot.com/2011/06/case-of-neons.html

and also
http://cupcakesquirkycorner.blogspot.com/2011/06/neons-round-2.html

You may also find these links of interest as well

http://snarky-princess.com/?p=1031
and also
http://toxid-lotus.net/2011/06/10/eye-safe-neons-fantastic-faces-cosmetics/




All opinions here are my own.
*You may notice at times some of the links on this post as well as my previous posts concerning this company do not work correctly. This only happens when the Fantastic Faces fan page is temporarily disabled by the owner.*
 

Peace, Love and Cupcakes

Neons Round 2/Fantastic Faces

DING DING DING

I was trying to be fair and give this company a chance to correct their mistakes of selling neon eye shadows, not listing ingredients and flat out refusing to tell customers what was in the stuff she is selling. Which BTW in the US there are NO approved neon eye shadows in case there is a question about that. Now that this company has decided to cancel my order, ignore a message I sent them, refuse help I offered in talking in IM, ban me from their fan page, and then continues to offer the neon shadows. She is calling people out on her fan page that have only asked questions about the safety of using the neons, offered her help, and even those who have only clicked like on a comment. I am beyond trying to be helpful and feeling sorry for her. Yes I felt sorry for her because I saw comments being posted that could have been sent to her privately first. I know if it were me and I had a bunch of people coming at me all at once in not such a calm manner I would get defensive. It is human nature that when you feel attacked that you put up a defense. I am not saying hers was the best defense strategy by any means, each of us handle things differently that's for sure. Just put yourself in her shoes for a minute and think how you would feel in the situation. Don't kill me yet, I am just trying to get why I was sympathetic across. Like I stated above I have since seen things that have made me change my decision to not name the company.
Since the company asks that their pictures not be used without their permission I will honor that. I will instead try to link you to where you can see these pictures for yourselves. Since I am banned from her page it may prove to be difficult. So here we go...

This is a company that by the owners own statement launched in March 2011

She has a fan base of a little over 400 on her page which you can find here. It seems her fans strive for the boldest brightest colors you can get your hands on. Which in itself is not a bad thing. I have heard a lot of complaints made from people about the lingo or text talk the owner and fans use, to me it just represents the targeted fan base the owner has. I know the bad grammar and the lingo can turn some off from purchasing. While it is not my thing, honestly if a product is good does it really matter what lingo a seller uses? I mean if a seller is happy with a certain type of fan base and doesn't care if that fan base is expanded or not more power to them.

The next thing I want to touch on is the lack of customer service. The owner refuses to disclose the product ingredients to customers, which BTW is against the law. When asked her response was it is just mica.

Now knowing what I know about makeup I know without a base mica has very little staying power. I also know that on an ingredients list from a supplier it doesn't just say mica. 

I don't claim to know everything about formulating cosmetics, I don't have to because I only buy it not make it. Given the last 6 months of my life I would like to think I know enough to call bullshit when I read it. 

Numerous times this owner has stated her neons are 100% safe for eye use. Well I am here to tell you they aren't and at least 1 of those neons she is claiming is eye safe is not. I have dug and dug to find the supplier that Fantastic Faces uses for her neons. I with 99% certainty have found that supplier. I sadly will tell you that the supplier is indeed selling most of their neons as eye safe. Others just state they are cosmetic safe, which as a responsible seller this should be researched to make certain what it is and isn't safe for. 

This is an Ebay seller that is located in New York right here in the US. So this supplier should know the FDA guidelines since they are selling here in the US to companies who are in turn selling these products either as is or in some way to their customers right? Now I can also tell you that on a few of those neons that are now listed as for cosmetic use their descriptions have been changed at some point. So is it possible that the owner of Fantastic Faces unknowingly bought unsafe products? YES it is possible at first she may have, but as she has bought since revisions were made to the listing of at least 1 of those neons she is just as liable as the supplier. 

This shows that the seller revised the description of the neon red in the listing on May 10,2011. I also know that a friend messaged this seller in regards to this pigment being eye safe and was told no it was not.

I have also messaged this seller and have not received a response back yet.

Now I know people are going to ask how is it I think I know the supplier so let me give you what I have found thus far.

These are the colors listed as neons from the Ebay seller which you can find their store by clicking here. If you click here you can see just how similar Fantastic Faces neons are to those listed on the Ebay link. if you click here you can see the neons in action. (Once again she has asked on her fan page and on her shop site that the pictures there not be used so I am honoring that.) Not to mention that the owner of Fantastic Faces Stephanie is an Ebay user and has purchased from this same Ebay store.

Notice that the seller leaving her feedback is the same Ebay seller I have been mentioning. Now let me show you where she has made purchases for the neons.

I'm not going to link you to every single transaction made between these 2 people it would take too long, but I will link you to where to look for yourselves just click here. I also encourage you to look at the actual listing for their neons for yourselves to see that there are some listed as eye safe, you can do that by clicking here.

I am not proud of some of my actions surrounding this whole situation, and I have apologized to the owner of Fantastic Faces in an email. I placed an order with this company so that I could see the labeling on the products, in doing that I was not completely honest with her.

After this email I placed an order for the set of 6 (3gr) neons for $30 and a pot of lipgloss for $8. With shipping it came to $41.50. Ouch that price is steep and normally I wouldn't even think to pay that much for something I would use let along something I knew I would not put on my eyes. Luckily there were a few awesome women who donated to help pay for the order in hopes we would now know ingredients if there were labels on the jars, which there should be. After watching people talk about the owner and me finding the supplier issues I decided that I needed to come clean with her as to who I was and offer her help and show her what I had discovered. Yes there had already been people sincerely try to offer help by messaging her or posting links to FDA regulations on her wall, and I am very proud to call those ladies friends. But like I stated before when you have numerous people coming at you from all sides and some of them in not such a helpful manner you feel attacked and ganged up on. The owner put her wall up and defense mode appeared.

 The message that was copied and pasted was the one I posted above where a friend had messaged the Ebay seller.

Shortly after sending that message to the owner I received a friend request on Facebook and I accepted thinking that she was wanting to talk about the email and accept my help. Sadly that was not the case. In a conversation on chat she let me know that I would be refunded, that my email was drama, she wouldn't tell me her supplier, that she thought I was petty. I continued to apologize and tell her I was not trying to do anything but help her, and was told to drop it.

So I get up today to being deleted and banned from her fan page, along with her posting on her fan page the names of people she has banned from her fan page. I understand being upset, angry and many other emotions over everything happening, but to post the names of people she is banning, name call, and encourage her fans to do likewise is completely unprofessional.

I could sit all night and post screen shots of all the unprofessional things that have happened in the last few days on that fan page but do I really need to? I have shown the lack of research, lack of following FDA guidelines, lack of professionalism by the owner of Fantastic Faces. I have shown that the Ebay seller is selling products that are unsafe and not following FDA guidelines by doing as much, also their lack of response to my message to them about the neons. Before I end this post though I am going to give you one last link to look at, I will not post any of the pictures from this link due to privacy issues. If you would like to look for yourself you may do so by clicking here.

I am going to close this post now with a few thoughts. Just because a seller is selling things you know are not safe doesn't mean they are doing it intentionally. It is very possible that they are not being given the truth by a supplier. There are some very established companies who have encountered this very issue and still are going strong. As easy as it is to jump to conclusions try to give someone the benefit of doubt before jumping on the mob bandwagon. Lastly kindness goes a long way, it should always be your first reaction.

Please be respectful while leaving comments

Peace, Love and Cupcakes

All opinions posted here are my own.

The case of the neons

I am going to try to shed some light on a topic of discussion lately regarding neon pigments. I hope that if you clicked the link to read this that you will hear me out to the end. I am sure there will be some who will disagree with me on some points and I can respect that. Without further ado I bring to you...

THE CASE OF THE NEONS

Neon eye shadows are they safe or not? The short answer is NO in the United States there are no FDA eye approved neon eye shadows. You can read the FDA list by clicking here it clearly states what is and isn't safe for use around the eyes.

With that out of the way let me move on to a cosmetic companies responsibility to their customers.

First a seller has the responsibility to do the research required to put out cosmetics that are safe for the use they are marketed for. They need to research ingredients that are safe for different parts of the body. There are some that are not safe for lips, some not safe for eyes, some not safe for either. There are ingredients that have to have a batch certification #, some that are known to be at a higher rate for irritation to happen. There are ingredients that are not vegan and for a company to be vegan they need to be aware of those ingredients. A seller could have a customer who is allergic to a certain ingredient and if they have not done their research they could be putting customers at risk. 

Secondly a seller is responsible for knowing the FDA labeling guidelines for the products they produce. You can find the FDA labeling manual by clicking here. It is required that full sized cosmetic products must be labeled with ingredients, their use, and place of origin on each individual jar. A seller should know that by law they do have to disclose the ingredients to their customers as well. That is not just for a customers safety but also for the seller. Not disclosing ingredients opens a seller up for possible lawsuits if for some reason customers have some type of reaction to a product. 

This also applies to the supplier that a company buys from, they have to provide ingredients as well as MSDS information.
Thirdly a seller is responsible for maintaining good customer service. Here are a few examples of customer service issues. 

Communication I think is THE most important in customer service. As a seller you need to take the time to listen to your customers whether it be praise, requests, questions, concerns and even complaints. Customers can be your best friends or your worst enemies and a lot of that depends on how you respond to them. If a customer asks a question don't be short or rude with them, answer them without making them feel like they are bothering you or that their question is stupid. If there is an issue with an order email them. let them know what's going on. In most cases a customer will be very understanding because you took the time to communicate with them and didn't just blow them off.

TAT (turn around time) have a decent TAT and stick to it. Don't tell customers 2-4 days and then it take you 10. It is always better to give a longer TAT than to make it shorter. I see more unhappy customers because a company has passed their TAT. 

Which leads to shipping, ship in a timely manner, package the items so that they wont spill, leak or get broken in transit. Take the time to add extra little touches to a package, it doesn't have to be expensive or super fancy. You would be surprised at how many ladies comment on how cute packaging is and how they will buy again because of that.
The last responsibility I'm going to talk about, a seller should also be committed to their business. I personally think a seller who truly loves and is committed to what they do makes for a better business owner. You will see it in every aspect from their packaging, labels, communication, and quality of the products they produce.

Now I know you are wondering where the neon issue is going to rear its ugly head well here we go.
There has been controversy surrounding a few companies who have sold neon eye shadows, the most recent I know of is a newer company I found on Facebook. I have struggled with deciding if I should name that company here or not and have decided that I am not going to. I feel like to be as fair as possible if I call out one I should call out all of them. So for now I will keep the name to myself in hopes that the owner will take the time to read this and maybe question their supplier. Now let me say we as customers have the right to know what is going on our faces, and by law a seller has to provide those ingredients to us. We don't have to have the actual recipe you use, we just want to know what is in it for our safety. For some they are makeup artists and use their products on numerous people so the possibility of coming across someone with an allergy or sensitivity is much higher. For a MUA to use products on a client without knowing ingredients is just as irresponsible as a seller not providing them. The seller I am still choosing to keep unnamed at this point has told their customers and potential customers numerous times that the neon shadows they sell are 100% eye safe. They have said that the supplier they get them from sells them as eye safe. Now we as customers have to have at least a little faith and confidence in the companies we buy from and the same goes for the company buying from their supplier.

Due to recent events I have decided to post this as is and do a follow up on this company. Please be patient with me while I get that post together for you. I will tell you I have tried to be nice, I have offered this company help, I even provided them with proof that they are selling unsafe products.