GlitterSniffer Cosmetics-Duly Noted

GlitterSniffer Cosmetics proprietor Lela Warren has posted several Facebook notes in the past 24 hours addressing what exactly is going on with her company.

The first can be seen here.

She loves me, she loves me not...

by Lela Glittersniffer Warren on Wednesday, July 6, 2011 at 11:14am

The last 6 months of my life have been a hellish whirl wind of a roller coaster. I have done wrong & been wronged. I have pushed on & been pushed. I have had it all & lost it all. It is now time to move on with what I have left & do things the way they should be done. For those of you who are still here & never left my side, you're a piece of me forever. For my enemies, there is nothing I can say or do but thank you for tearing me down so I can build myself back up, the right way. What's done is done & there is no way to go back & do things differently, no matter how badly I wish with all my heart, that I could. With that being said, I have a new chapter of life to begin & I pray that you'll be a part of it. Love, Lela aka glittersniffer

In the comments on this post another note is mentioned, asking for feedback. The following is the text and the screenshots of that note.

Thank you for joining me in this conversation! I hope to gain some wisdom by listening to others and getting some input to help me get my company up and running again. I will ask general questions along the way and would love to hear what you think. Thanks again!

First of all, many of you now about the falling of my company, 'Glittersniffer Cosmetics'. If you don't, please feel free to Google it and read away. You will find a lot of dirt, some of it is true, most of it is false, and some of it is so far fetched, my friends and I read it just to laugh. I will not sweep things under the rug or pretend I am a great business woman, because I am not. Now that we agree that I suck at some things, let's move on.

I have been thinking a lot about ways that GS went wrong and examining why exactly. I won't list every single reason but I will touch base on the more important ones.

Again, please give me your input, ask ideas, correct me where I am wrong, etc...This is not a debate. This is not a Q & A. This is not a chance for you to tell me I suck. If you're not interested in making GS better, mind your own bidness.

There are many kinks and details to work out, and I will update this note when I have new developments or proposals. As of now, the VERY "general" idea is to make GS a "club" of sorts. GS will offer different sets/kits/collections, etc that will be pre-made before they are offered for sale. There will be no substitutions to this UNLESS I truly feel that I have the time to dedicate myself to custom orders. One of my biggest problems I feel I had, was that I offered way too many different products for being such a small company. I couldn't keep track of it all, I couldn't keep it all stocked, I had too many deals/discounts going on at once, etc...All in all, I was in way over my head. Having so many different items wouldn't have been such an issue if I didn't have SO many orders come in on a daily basis, with my fellow helpers not knowing what was going on, what we had, where to start, etc...So, I am not saying this is a permanent thing or that I will never offer sales or discounts, I am just saying that for now, it's the best way to offer many people several different items at once, that are pre-stocked and ready to go before they're offered. Input on above said topic?

We will have a new payment processor. You will have 2 options. To use our online credit card terminal to enter your card info OR you may call it in to the new GS phone number which will be released when we open back up. Accepting payments this way will allow me to control the flow of orders coming in and this will help tremendously.

A huge issue I had was keeping up with emails. I would get TONS a day ranging from order info, promotional offers, YouTubers/bloggers, general questions, and te list goes on. I will be putting together a huge Q & A, if you send me/us an email asking about information that can be found in the Q & A section, you will most likely receive an automated response with a link to the proper answer UNLESS I have a few extra moments to personally answer it. Another option is to have someone who's only job would be emails. Input? Volunteers? J/K :D

Not really an issue but a topic I am going to touch base on is being a vegan company. I will most likely not remain a completely vegan company as I cannot offer many color shades as I would like to, and I am very limited to the number of products I can make. I will most likely make note on every item that is/is not vegan so it makes shopping easy. Input?

I have a few options on where to sell. I can re-open the Artfire shop, sell off of the fan page, or via email/phone/personal contact. The final answer will depend on which one will work best with our new payment platform, it is very important to me that shopping and paying are easy, quick, and give me the information I need to correctly process orders. What appeals to you the most?

The fan page. The fan page can be my best friend and at times, my biggest headache. I will most likely find people who would like to help me run the fan page so that I do not have to devote so much time to it (volunteers? :D ) . There will be posted rules for the fan page and those who do not comply, will not be welcome to post. Most posts will have to be approved before they will show up.

Shipping. As always, we will use USPS. I would like to strictly use Priority Mail shipping however not everyone likes this of the cost, especially if shipping costs more than the actual item purchased so I am considering offering First Class or Priority, depending on the order total. All orders will come with a tracking number. I will not be able to determine shipping days or frequency of shipping until I get closer to opening up again. Would you prefer Priority shipping or First Class?

Company mission/rules. I have written these before and I used to put them in action for awhile, and they would slowly slip away. While writing up company statements, I will be asking for your input and ideas. Tell me, what morals/missions/ideals do you like best about your favorite company?

Although I feel like I have covered a lot of important topics, I am sure I'm missing something so please feel free to remind me.

I don't have an expected date of when I will be selling again as I have a long To-Do list and I am not sure as to how much help I will have in completing it.

I will update this note as new information comes in and ideas are finalized. If you feel you have something to offer to myself or GS as a company, please email me or send me a message, my door is wide open :)

Alright ladies! Let's hear it!

I was going to cover this point by point but there is not much more that can be said that hasn't been said before. GlitterSniffer Cosmetics was always good in the past with the mea culpa, at least in terms of having them, if not in terms of actually following through on the promises made during them. The vegan question is moot because GS was NEVER 100% vegan. It's like GlitterSniffer Cosmetics version of Groundhog Day.

Lela Warren asks for ways to make GS better. Quite honestly, I don't know if that can be done. It will take an absolute sea change in the business practices and a complete revamp of the company as a whole. The fact that the charities and the recall refunds were not addressed at all aside from a flippant "what's done is done" is very concerning. While you cannot undo the past you can certainly make it right. Given the fact that within the past 2 weeks at least one refund request was denied by GS it appears this "shaking the dirt off" includes "shaking off" their previous customers. Not the most comforting of bellwethers for change.

We shall see over the coming weeks and months how this plays out. It is, as always, my sincere hope that GlitterSniffer Cosmetics does what is right and what they promised going as far back as October of 2010, and treat their customers, both past and present, as they themselves would like to be treated; that they will move forward with a commitment and proper plans in place to follow every rule, regulation, guideline, law, and TOS that they agreed to the minute they opened their doors as a business. Mostly I continue to hope that one day very soon I can post that all monies owed to both charities and customers has been remitted.

Buyer Beware- Coastal Scents Followup

I posted on June 22, 2011 regarding Coastal Scents and the issue of the safe usage of Cellini Red. Since that post there have been several new developments. 

Coastal Scents (CS) has now posted the MSDS for Cellini Red (CR) and all the Cellini colors. This information was not previously available at the time of the initial post.

At least one of the formulators who had to recall shades that contacted Coastal Scents was issued a refund. The company admits that at one point in time it was listed as safe for eye use, but again gives no timeline for when the usage change occurred. The message also states the issue was corrected immediately, though as shown in the original post CS states they changed it on February 23, 2011, but were still shipping jars out marked eye safe as late as May 2011. The formulator was refunded for two full size jars and a sample.

 

To date there has been no indication the CS has contacted customers that purchased the Cellini Red to advise them of the change. There has been no announcement posted on their website nor communication sent via their newsletter.  The last newsletter I received from Coastal Scents was on June 24, 2011, two days after the post (and one day after the MSDS sheets for the Cellinis were finally posted) and it contained info about their sales, nothing more. 

At this point a sixth indie MMU company has issued a recall and another has had to push back their launch date to reformulate shades made with Cellini Red. Coastal Scents has ceased contact with the original formulator and refuses to answer her email.

Mistakes happen. When it comes down to it it is the handling of those mistakes that makes the difference. As I previously noted the formulators affected by the Cellini Red usage change have handled this beautifully, being forthcoming and correcting the issue, despite the inherent pitfalls of having to issue a recall. They all responded quickly, pulling the affected shades, notifying customers, and making the situation right.

I wish I could say that the Cellini Red issue was an isolated one. Though CS has issued at least one refund for this issue this is not the first time an issue like this has happened with Coastal Scents.

Late last year these micas were offered for sale on the Coastal Scents site, advertised as for use on eyes, lips, nails, and face.

Here are the individual listings for Perfect Mint and Mermaid Tail shown in the home screen above, advertised as safe for eye use.

Both of these micas contain Pigment Green 7 which is not approved for eye use. Upon being contacted about the issue by an alert formulator CS immediately pulled them from sale, but again, there was no communication to customers that may have purchased the micas that they were not safe to be used as they were advertised and sold.

This now makes two instances where CS has mismarked ingredients sold on their site. Though in each case corrections were made going forward (though as we saw with CR not in as timely a manner as CS would have us believe) the past issues were apparently not corrected. It is unknown at this point how many people were affected by these mismarked micas, or if there are any other issues with any other ingredients listed now or previously on the CS site.

The plain fact of the matter is that it is incumbent upon anyone who sells ingredients that they are aware will be used for formulating products to be as transparent as possible regarding any changes or issues that may occur. As illustrated by the fact that CS can send out a newsletter advertising their sales it is well within their means to make these changes abundantly clear to their customers. That they have yet to do so, and have seemingly not done so in the past, is a business practice that perhaps Coastal Scents should take a good hard look at.

**I would like to make it unequivocally clear that I have no knowledge that GlitterSniffer Cosmetics ever purchased Cellini Red from Coastal Scents. This post is about an ingredient supplier and it's effect on several MMU companies and is being posted for informational purposes as Coastal Scents has not made the information public. If you are a formulator or a person who purchased Cellini Red for personal use please take a moment to check the approved uses. Though the company is not publicly acknowledging a usage change there is a chance that what you have been sold may not be used for what you intended.**

Is GlitterSniffer Cosmetics Looking for a Clean Slate?

There were recent rumblings that the GlitterSniffer Cosmetics FaceBook Fan Page might be brought back. While that has not yet come to pass it does seem proprietor Lela Warren is attempting to get as clean a slate as possible to start fresh.

Although there was talk of bringing the FB page back it appears the GS Cosmetics MySpace is still active, though private. 

 

Lela herself has gone to great lengths to distance herself from the GlitterSniffer Cosmetics brand, popping up online with a new persona 'pigmentchick'.

This photostream on Flickr was posted to the Complaints Facebook page on Friday, June 24, 2011. Once filled with all manner of handcrafted soaps  the captions asked that if anyone wanted to try a slice to message 'pigmentchick'. The photos have since either been removed or made private. Though the profile does not give any identifying information the soaps matched the products posted to Lela Warren's personal Facebook profile (which you can view here) and the Flickr profile photo is the same as that used during GlitterSniffer Cosmetics Etsy days (of the cosmetic dipped q-tips, the pink and green of which are not eye approved).

 

In the event there is still any doubt that this is Lela Warren and her new online identity there is also this, a profile on Swap Style clearly showing that 'pigmentchick' and Lela Warren are one and the same.

This listing was recently posted on the Detroit area Craigslist, asking to sell or trade handmade mineral cosmetics, soaps, and wedding/party favors for craft items, with a focus on soap making.

No mention is made in any of these advertisements of the past issues with GlitterSniffer Cosmetics: Not the hundreds waiting for refunds, the ongoing FDA investigation, the charities waiting for money raised in their name, nor the TWO payment processors that refuse to do business with GS. In fact, every effort has been made not to identify these items with GS and Lela has made it a practice not to publicly announce her previous sale on June 18, 2011, or where her current products are being consigned. This does not bode well for the transparency all new customers need to make an informed decision and once again illustrates that despite the seeming move over to a concentration on soap, the slate that Lela Warren so desperately wants to make clean is not going to be washed away any time soon.

Buyer Beware- Coastal Scents Cellini Red

**I would like to make it unequivocally clear that I have no knowledge that GlitterSniffer Cosmetics ever purchased Cellini Red from Coastal Scents. This post is about an ingredient supplier and it's effect on several MMU companies and is being posted for informational purposes as Coastal Scents has not made the information public. If you are a formulator or a person who purchased Cellini Red for personal use please take a moment to check the approved uses. Though the company is not publicly acknowledging a usage change there is a chance that what you have been sold may not be used for what you intended.**

Coastal Scents Cellini Red listing has changed on their site. Once listed as safe for eye use, it is now only listed as approved for lips, face, and nails.There has been no effort on the part of CS to notify customers of this change and the issue was only brought to light by the diligence of a formulator. In the last five days five indie companies have had to issue recalls due to the use of Cellini Red in eye products. These companies were not contacted by CS themselves, but instead discovered the issue themselves, were notifed by me, or shared the information with each other. As of this post the only usage change that was found was with Cellini Red.

I emailed Coastal Scents last week to find out if Cellini Red had been reformulated and when the safe usage had changed. Here was their response:

Dear Frances

Thank you for your inquiry.  As stated on our website the Cellini Red Mica (MP-024) is only approved for use on lips, face, and nails.  We have not reformulated this product and it is not safe for use on the eyes due to Pigment Red 57.  We trust this information was helpful and any further questions please advise.

Best regards
Coastal Scents
www.coastalscents.com

As you can see while the question of reformulation was answered, the timeframe for when the safe usage changes occurred was not.

The formulator who originally contacted CS about Cellini Red did so back in February 2011. She was concerned as she had placed an order for a full jar of Cellini Red and the ingredients on the jar did not match the sample she had previously been sent. The jar listed Red 7 Lake, which is not approved for eye use. The label on the jar clearly states that the Cellini Red she was sent not only contains Red 7 Lake, but is approved for eye use:

Prior to contacting CS she looked for a Material Data Safety Sheet but there was not one available. As of this post there is still no MSDS sheet on the Coastal Scents site for Cellini Red (or any of the Cellini's for that matter).

The formulator then contacted Coastal Scents for the information. Their correspondence is as follows (edited only to remove personally identifying information:

 

According to this correspondence and the MSDS sheet that Coastal Scents sent (which can be viewed here) Cellini Red did not contain Red 7 Lake and it was a labeling issue that was corrected as of February 23, 2011. Cellini Red actually contains Pigment Red 57, a derivative of Red 7.  Pigment Red 57 is also not approved for eye use. What appeared to be a swift response and a correction from Coastal Scents was not all that is was cracked up to be.

The formulator ordered another jar of Cellini Red on February 25, 2011 to check the revised labeling.

The labels had been updated to change the ingredient list to include Pigment Red 57 instead of Red 7 Lake, but still indicated that it was approved for eyes, lips, face, and nails.  Here is a photo of both jars together.

Even after the issue was brought to CS attention in February the labels were still incorrect, listing CR as safe for eyes when it wasn't. The site, however, still listed it as safe for eye use. The formulator at that point shelved Cellini Red until she could determine what exactly the safe uses were.  

The formulator contacted CS again last week after reviewing her recipes and was assured on July 20, 2011 that the labeling and usage issue had been corrected as of February 23, 2011. Cellini Red was not approved for eye use. The information at that point had also been updated on the CS site.

Here is a jar purchased by another formulator in early May 2011.

The label clearly states it contains Pigment Red 57 but also states it is approved for eye use.

Unfortunately I was unable to locate the previous listings for Cellini Red using Google cache, but in checking out CS reviews for CR I found that initially it was not sold as eye safe, a fact that changed around March 5, 2010.

It is unknown at this point when, exactly, the approved uses were actually updated on the CS site. We know that Pigment Red 57 was changed from Red 7 Lake on the label as of late February (as evidenced by the photos), but the label still lists it as approved for eyes. This continued until at least May 2011, as per the photo from the other formulator. The issue of the safe usage of Cellini Red was brought to CS attention almost 4 months ago, but no customers who actually purchased CR were alerted as to any changes in those uses by the company, and when questioned about it this week by myself the company simply stated it wasn't eye approved, glossing over the fact that it was (and continued to be as of May 2011) sold as such. If the change was made on the CS site as of February 23, 2011, why do the labels still say approved for eye use? Why didn't CS alert any of their customers who purchased Cellini Red that the usage had changed? Why is there no MSDS sheet for CR on the Coastal Scents site even now?

It is extremely important to note that this issue stems from Coastal Scents handling of the approved usage changes, and not any formulator or Indie MMU company. Had it not been for the original formulators diligence in checking and double checking uses and ingredients the issue would never have been brought to light. In an attempt to give Coastal Scents the chance to inform customers themselves (though they've already had 4 months to do so)  I held off on this post. I did reach out to as many formulators as I knew to let them know of the change. Each and every one of them immediately pulled their affected shades, contacted customers, and issued a recall. With the climate being what it is today in Indie MMU I feel it is imperative that people know not only about the Cellini Red issue, but about the professional, swift, and safe way these formulators handled the situation.

At this point it is unknown how, or even if, Coastal Scents will address the Cellini Red issue. When I contacted them they did not offer to make any sort of correction for the CR previously being sold as eye safe, though I told them it had been used to formulate eye products. The original formulator was not offered any sort of corrective measures either. A third formulator is still awaiting a response. Their Return Policy only covers products purchased within 30 days, and even then the product must be returned to CS for refund, an impossibility when it has already been distributed. Here is the disclaimer Coastal Scents currently has posted on the MSDS page. Whether or not this disclaimer will hold true for Cellini Red, which is not listed in the MSDS page, remains to be seen.

GlitterSniffer Cosmetics: Back in Business?

There have been new developments in the past few hours with GlitterSniffer Cosmetics proprietor Lela Warren.

Though the GlitterSniffer Cosmetics and GlitterSniffer Bath Artfires are still empty it seems that proprietor Lela Warren is back to distributing her wares.

It appears however, that though sales via Artfire have stopped, distribution has not. From Lela Warren's personal Facebook Page, now reopened to comments:

A thank you for support for sales made yesterday, a plea for more oils to possibly produce more product, and, once again, in probable violation of Facebook TOS (on a profile that apparently violates Facebook TOS by simply existing), sales for soap.

One could take this as a matter of the company attempting to move forward with only personal care items and not cosmetics. Except there is this.

Listia is an online marketplace where people can list things for free and buy things with credits earned for signing up and 'selling' their own listings. Apart from shipping, it appears that no money will be changing hands for this transaction. There is no word yet on how the shipping will be paid as last reported GS and Lela Warren had no payment processor.

When the listing was found there were people who voiced their concerns. I am including the screeenshots of these comments, though you will not be able to see most of them. They have been hidden from view, and those that posted have been blocked from bidding. There are some comments that are now hidden that were able to be screenshotted prior to their being hidden.

The practice of hiding comments that don't agree with the listing is akin to the deletions that ran rampant on the GS Fan Page. And Lela Warren's response to the FDA question?

I will be following up as new information develops. I still have my interview with FDA to coordinate, as well as a followup with TWLOHA on July 9, 2011 to see if the six month timeline for remittance of the charity funds has been met, and a spot check on July 29, 2011 to see if anyone has begun receiving refunds yet. That date is the day after the Paypal funds are supposed to be released.

Thank you to everyone who provided screenshots and information, and a huge debt of thanks to KimmieKarma for the Listia link.

7:29 PM CST ETA:

Listia has removed the listing.

 

6/20/11 ETA: Correct spelling of Lela Warren's last name in first paragraph. 

GlitterSniffer Cosmetics Artfire: Back to Basics

I posted last week about GlitterSniffer Bath and its status being changed from Pro to Basic on Artfire.

 

Per Artfire FAQ the billing for Pro accounts is handled via direct debit:

How am I billed for my Pro membership?

Pro members on ArtFire pay a low monthly subscription via credit card. When you sign up for a Pro account or upgrade a Basic account to Pro you’ll begin a monthly subscription that bills on the same day of the month that you signed up. So, if you signed up on the 4th of the month, your account will be debited on the 4th of every month. If your card expires or is declined, we will contact you to assist you in setting up another card or updating your credit card information. You can request to cancel your Pro membership at any time; requests are processed on a members next scheduled billing date.

As of today GlitterSniffer Cosmetics no longer maintains a Pro Artfire account.

There has been no formal closure announcement from GlitterSniffer Cosmetics, and Lela Warren's Facebook profile still lists her as Owner and President of GlitterSniffer Cosmetics.

This despite the current lack of a payment processor, the ongoing FDA investigation, the closure of both the GlitterSniffer Cosmetics Facebook Fan Page and Private Group, the failure to renew the GlitterSnifferCosmetics.com domain, and the Artfire shop being all but abandoned for at least two months.

I think at this point it is safe to say that GlitterSniffer Cosmetics is at the very least on an indefinite hiatus, and quite possibly closed forever. What this means for the customers still awaiting refunds or the ongoing FDA investigation remains to be seen.

I have a few more posts to publish in the next couple of days before moving to a posting schedule of FDA investigation information and random followup only. At that point posts will be sporadic and only should the need arise. The blog and the Facebook page will continue to remain so as to serve as a chronicle of the past business practices of GlitterSniffer Cosmetics and to ensure that people have all available information to make a safe, informed decision.