Friday Freakout

Today I have a couple of freak outs to share with you. One is good, the other... not so much. It is actually an update on my order with Evil Shades Cosmetics. 


I am so excited to tell you that I was chosen by 2 indie polish companies to review their polishes. I am so nervous about my pics and, well everything. I just hope that I do a good job for these companies. One is a new to me company, the other is one of my top 3 favorite indie companies. I have already received a package from one of them and will be posting very soon. I think you will fall in love with this company as I have. The other company will be sending a package within the next day or so. Be on the lookout for these upcoming posts. I will also be making a post featuring a polish from Ruby White Tips. I was so excited to open this polish up this afternoon and see the color in person. That post will be coming up real soon too.

I am not so excited to give you this update on my order with Evil Shades Cosmetics. Unfortunately I still have had no response to my message asking for a tracking# or refund if one could not be provided. Within 24 hours of my first post (which you can find here) the Evil Shades site was suspended. This is the explanation that was given via the Evil Shades fan page. "The website is shut down temporarily so I can get all of the orders remaining out and reorganize. I am no longer full time running ES, I am looking for outside work since the move so I need to reduce things to a more manageable size until I can come back to full time at ES." After speaking to a few people I have been told by all I spoke with that you can not suspend your own account with the platform Evil Shades uses. If an account is suspended it is due to either non payment by the company to keep their site going or due to complaints backed up with proof of bad business practices. Now I have to say that I am unsure which reason that the account has been suspended, but the fact remains it is indeed suspended. I have not received my order, no refund, no anything from Evil Shades. I spoke with Paypal concerning my purchase and according to the rep I spoke with, there is nothing they can do to correct the situation. I already knew I wouldn't get a refund because of the 45 day limit they have, but reporting the problems I am having was important I was told by the rep. I was also told to let people know that if they are still able to, they need to file for a refund with them. There is also this post that I think you should read about this situation.

Now how about a cute picture to brighten the mood? This is our Sophie girl checking out my orange mani a few months back. She is such a nosy girl, but we love her!

Peace, Love and Cupcakes!

Buyers Warning- Evil Shades Cosmetics

This is a very hard post for me to write. I have struggled with the decision to do this for several days now, but it is something I feel has to be done. The reason I feel I need to make this post is that I have recommended this company to many people and I can not in good faith do this anymore. This is not a personal attack against the owner, this is a warning and my personal experience with the company. The reason it is so hard, well there are a few reasons. Mainly it is because the owner and I have been very close friends for a few years now, and I don't want to scare people away from indie/handmade products and companies. 

Back in November of 2012 I placed a small order with Evil Shades Cosmetics, up to this day I have not received my order or a refund. I do take part of the blame for the length of time though. I never mentioned it to Andrea due to the fact that we were friends and I knew she would get to it as soon as she could. Well, I started seeing posts on the fan page of others who were not getting their orders, not having messages replied to and my senses started telling me something was not right here. Some of the reasons given were postal thefts, lost packages, email provider issues, cart problems on the sight, and sicknesses. As soon as customers started making waves on the business page the page was set to where nobody could post to the page, only comment on existing posts. Even then there have been numerous unhappy customers comments deleted from posts. 

I can not and will not speak for others, but I do personally know of several others who have placed orders with Evil Shades or have bought products unrelated to the company that have not gotten their orders, other items or refunds. I personally finally messaged Evil Shades on May 17th when it was said that everyone's orders had been taken care of or refunded. I was a tad bit upset that after all this time I hadn't even been acknowledged. The response I got to my message said basically, why didn't you say something sooner it was marked as sent, that it would go out by Monday or Tuesday. Eight days later when I had still received nothing I messaged again. I was past a bit upset, I was being lied to and to top it off the company sent out an email for a Memorial Day sale. Not a cool move in my opinion when so many orders have not been filled or refunds given. So on the 26th the answers I was given were this... the email went out by mistake and the sale was cancelled, refunds not given because a payment had been taken out of the paypal account. I was also told that she was finishing up orders as she got the info or refilling them, that she was closing the cart down that  week while she tried to find all of the in-wait orders and get them out. Though I was told that some of those saying they haven't gotten theirs have already been refunded months ago and a couple have been sent replacements. There was no mention of my order sadly. I checked the site several times and it remained open to orders. I messaged Evil Shades again on the 3rd asking for a tracking number for my order and told them that if one could not be provided that I wanted a refund. The company or one of their page admins read the message within 30 minutes and I have still not gotten a response from them. The cart is still presently open for taking orders.

I urge anyone who has pending orders with Evil Shades to file for a refund if you are within the 45 day time frame. If you are past that time frame you can file a claim with paypal letting them know of the bad business practices. I am obviously past my 45 days to file for a refund with paypal, but tomorrow morning I will be filing a claim with them against Evil Shades Cosmetics. I also encourage you to let others know what is going on with this company so that they don't spend money and get left sitting with nothing to show for it. This kind of business practice is not right and it is not fair to the customers or those who have recommended them to others. I can not and will not support any business who thinks so little of their customers!!! If you or anyone you know want to share your experience of missing orders/no refunds, please feel free to leave a comment below.

I do want to say a few other things concerning indie/handmade companies. I will continue to love and support indie/handmade companies even after this incident. There are still great indies out there for you to try, support and love. I do strongly suggest that you research companies before purchasing from them. Google is your friend, makeup groups are your friend, and watching fan pages is always a good idea. If something seems off to you...ask around. If you place an order with a company and feel you are getting the runaround, file for a refund or cancel your order, don't let that 45 day time limit with paypal pass you by. I myself know this and yes I still let it happen to me. I have a soft heart and try to give friends the benefit of the doubt. I have to now tell myself that once I place an order with a company and have paid that I am a customer. As a customer I deserve the same treatment concerning my order as any other customer. As with any other company, if I am not satisfied with the products or service, I have every right to a refund/replacement and to let others know about my experience. I know that is hard to do for myself and probably many others too though. My sincere hope is that everyone who has pending orders or wanting refunds will have this all made right soon.

Peace, Love and Cupcakes!

Seahorses, Skin Food and Eyes...OH MY!

As promised yesterday I have a post using one of the polishes from one of my awesome Nail Pen Pals. Of course there are a few other things to share with it, I'll be bringing you more posts about some of the other products/companies I used for this mani, so stay tuned for those.
I used Skin Food's Nail Vita BL505 Green Apple as my main color. This polish goes on like a dream!

Skin Food Nail Vita BL505 3 coats no top coat

 I used 3 coats in the picture. I have to tell you that it is a sheer polish, but can be built up with more coats. I am not a fan of sheer polishes or having a visible nail line normally, but I didn't mind at all with this polish. I have read some reviews that call it a jelly polish, but it isn't as thick as most jelly polishes that I have used. I would consider it a sheer creme, but it definitely could be used like a jelly. I have to admit I was mesmerized by how shiny it was even with no top coat. I definitely recommend grabbing a bottle if you can, I love it that much!

Here are my nails topped with Hit Polish Seahorse and a nail decal from RLR Creations. I Will be raving more about those two companies in several posts in the future. I just love the glitter combo paired with the polish, then add an awesome pair of eyeballs, cuteness overload!

There is no topcoat on over the glitter either, you don't need it with this polish. Everything lays flat and 98% smooth!

I intentionally put the decal upside down because I think it looks cute with crows feet LOL.

Sorry for the cuticles and dry skin, I can't seem to find anything that will help. It also doesn't help that I have picked up a habit of picking at the skin around my nails when I'm anxious. I do have something I plan on trying very soon, which is a cuticle creme made by Evil Shades Cosmetics. It comes in several different scents and 3 different sizes, so look for a review on that soon too!

Thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings . I am going to give you links below to all of the companies fan pages and shops that I mentioned above, check them out, you may find something that you can't live without!

Skin Food fan page

Skin Food website

You can also find Skin Food products on Ebay

Hit Polish fan page

Hit Polish Etsy Shop

They are closed while they gear up for a huge 4 day Black Friday sale!

RLR Creations fan page

RLR Creations Etsy Shop

RLR Creations Ebay Store

Evil Shades Cosmetics fan page

Evil Shades website

If you look around you will find some limited edition polishes and a lippie (Robot Love) that is great for layering or use it alone, plus it is cupcake scented!!!!!!! I love all of Evil Shades products and recommend them to anyone, heck even my kids use her products. I trust her products that much!

Peace, Love and Cupcakes!