GlitterSniffer Cosmetics and the FDA Enforcement Report Followup

I posted about the March 23, 2011 FDA Enforcement Report regarding the GlitterSniffer Cosmetics recall on April 12, 2011. The post outlined concerns with the information provided by GS to FDA, including the lack of receipt of recall letters by GS customers, the number of units distributed, and unapproved mascara not included in the recall.

Today one of the page Admins, ALC, pointed out an item I'd missed during that post. Here is the distribution list provided by GlitterSniffer Cosmetics to FDA in regards to the reach of the recalled products.

According to the information provided by the company to FDA the recalled items affected customers nationwide (US), and in Canada, UK, Taiwan, Australia, Denmark, Spain and Brazil.

On August 4, 2010 blogger Eplefe posted about her experience buying from GlitterSniffer Cosmetics. On March 21, 2010 Eplefe purchased The Super 80's Collection. The Super 80's Collection was recalled by GS in December of 2010 as either containing soap dyes and/or not being FDA approved for use around the eyes. Also interesting to note is that Eplefe's Etsy listing contains absolutely no disclaimer about the collection not being FDA approved, despite GS' continued insistence that it was disclosed in all listings. Eplefe lives in Norway.

On June 9, 2010 blogger Aijuswhanakno posted about her experience with GlitterSniffer Cosmetics. She too purchased the unlabeled Super 80's Collection and initially gave GS a positive review, even amending her review to include the FDA disclaimer from her listing.  After researching she discovered that the Super 80's Collection was not only unapproved for eye use, but was made with soap dyes, which are not approved for cosmetic use at all. She contacted GS and Lela Warren's response was to refund her and state that she had used the colors with no problems at all. At the time of purchase Aijuswhanakno resided in Japan.

Norway and Japan appear nowhere on the distribution list provided to FDA by GlitterSniffer Cosmetics as being affected by the recall. A quick Google search for GlitterSniffer Cosmetics shows that Aijuswhanakno's post regarding the Super 80's Collection appears 4th on the search list. Even given the benefit of the doubt that both of these bloggers Paypal receipts somehow went missing from GS records the information for at least one of them was readily and publicly available and very easy to find. These two instances, coupled with the other discrepancies with the information provided to FDA, beg the question what, if any, information provided to FDA by GlitterSniffer Cosmetics was correct.

It is speculation at this point as to whether these oversights in the information provided FDA were intentional. It could be that the company did not know how many recalled products were sold, or to whom, or where, or that they forgot they ever sold mascara, or that the Dearborn Heights Post Office was having another one of its GS related issues and lost every single recall letter the company sent out in early February. After all, in GlitterSniffer Cosmetics own Recall FAQ posted in January 2011 they stated unequivocally that they would comply with any request made by a federal agency.