Showing posts with label The Conservatorie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Conservatorie. Show all posts
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Buyer Beware: The Conservatorie and the Personal Use Policy
This post is a followup to the two previous posts regarding The Consevatorie. These two posts were focused on the ingredient mislabeling issue, but did not address the "for personal use only" policy that was in question.
The Conservatorie sent an email on 5/4/11 and posted to their Facebook Info tab regarding the "for personal use only" policy. In regards to the "for personal use only" policy the email had this to say:
The email states that the "for personal use policy" was never on The Conservatorie site itself. This is true, as far as can be determined through searches of Google cache and The WayBack Machine.
Here is the current information, taken from The Conservatorie Facebook Info tab as it appears right now:
If indeed this had never been a policy of TC then why did the Facebook Info tab show this information as late as 5/4/11?
The "for personal use only" policy that TC states they never had is clearly shown listed as a policy of the company. In a nutshell should TC state that the products they sell are "for personal use only" they can then release themselves from any liability should the ingredients be used in formulating products for resale and an issue arise with the use of those ingredients.
With the new policy/disclaimer the company states that there has never been a "for personal use only" policy, which can be shown to be incorrect. Couple this development with the mislabeling issue which the company was less than forthcoming about and one is left to wonder what, exactly, consumers can expect when purchasing from The Conservatorie.
Note: There is one thing I'd like to clear up from my previous post regarding the notification of the mislabeling issue. I published that the mislabeling was addressed on 5/4/11 via email and The Conservatorie Facebook page. I was remiss in posting this information. The mislabeling issue was not addressed or announced on the Facebook page. It is not currently on The Conservatorie site either. The only announcement of the mislabeling issue was via email. I regret the error and have updated the post to reflect this information.
The Conservatorie sent an email on 5/4/11 and posted to their Facebook Info tab regarding the "for personal use only" policy. In regards to the "for personal use only" policy the email had this to say:
The email states that the "for personal use policy" was never on The Conservatorie site itself. This is true, as far as can be determined through searches of Google cache and The WayBack Machine.
Here is the current information, taken from The Conservatorie Facebook Info tab as it appears right now:
Disclaimer:
The most common question we’ve been getting lately is about our "personal use" policy. There has never been any such policy; we do however, sell without warranties.
 | |||
| Cropped for the relevant "for personal use only" statement |
If indeed this had never been a policy of TC then why did the Facebook Info tab show this information as late as 5/4/11?
The "for personal use only" policy that TC states they never had is clearly shown listed as a policy of the company. In a nutshell should TC state that the products they sell are "for personal use only" they can then release themselves from any liability should the ingredients be used in formulating products for resale and an issue arise with the use of those ingredients.
With the new policy/disclaimer the company states that there has never been a "for personal use only" policy, which can be shown to be incorrect. Couple this development with the mislabeling issue which the company was less than forthcoming about and one is left to wonder what, exactly, consumers can expect when purchasing from The Conservatorie.
Note: There is one thing I'd like to clear up from my previous post regarding the notification of the mislabeling issue. I published that the mislabeling was addressed on 5/4/11 via email and The Conservatorie Facebook page. I was remiss in posting this information. The mislabeling issue was not addressed or announced on the Facebook page. It is not currently on The Conservatorie site either. The only announcement of the mislabeling issue was via email. I regret the error and have updated the post to reflect this information.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Buyer Beware: The Conservatorie Followup
The Conservatorie sent out a mass email today and updated their Facebook page addressing concern about their warranty statement and the mislabeling issue. I was forwarded the email by several people and am publishing it in full, edited only to remove personally identifying information of the recipient and the direct link to The Conservatorie site.
While it is admirable that The Conservatorie is now being forthcoming regarding the mislabeling issue, as someone who was personally affected by both of these recalls as a consumer I can tell you that the information they are now releasing is not altogether correct.
The RockABetty Beauty recall occurred on or around January 19, 2011. That was the date I personally contacted RABB regarding some of my shades with glitter after seeing the recall notice. At that point TC had already been in contact with RABB and indicated that these glitters were not eye approved, despite being sold as such, which resulted in the RABB recall. In the case of the glitter TC knew the product was mislabeled three months ago but did not make anyone aware about the glitters safe use. As the company was demonstrably aware there was an issue with the use of the glitters to the point that the site was updated with that information there should have been no delay in notification. The company knew and their customers should have been informed in a much more timely manner.
The Morgana Cryptoria lipstick recall occurred on 3/17/2011. The issues with mislabeling that impacted MC were that the ingredients that were sold were either not safe for lip use in the United States, or were not vegan. As these products were sold as vegan lipsticks the labeling change had a detrimental effect on the business, causing the recall of nine shades of lipstick. When these ingredients were originally purchased carmine, chromium oxide green, and ferric ferrocyanide were not listed by The Conservatorie. It was only due to the diligence of MC in researching prior to reordering that the formulator discovered the change. These changes were on the TC site at least a month and a half ago but again, no effort was made to announce the change on their site (except to update the product excel sheet) or via contact with their customers until today.
Additionally, there is this:
I cannot speak as to the personal use issue. As stated in my previous post there was no official word as to why The Conservatorie did not make these changes more readily accessible to the public.
In sum, while it appears The Conservatorie is making strides in correcting the mislabeling issue, at least in terms of publicity, it can be shown that they were well aware of the issue at least three months ago and that whatever delay in announcing it today was not due to obtaining the correct information, as they had updated their site with that information during that period. The company knew, made the changes, but did nothing to notify their customers so they could make an informed decision until it was announced publicly by a third party. Even then it took The Conservatorie sixteen days to formulate this announcement, an announcement that is still not listed on their site, and, as in the case of Morgana Cryptoria, the information regarding refunds and replacement is not correct.
5/5/11 ETA: I published in this post that the mislabeling issue was addressed on 5/4/11 via email and The Conservatorie Facebook page. I was remiss in posting this information. The mislabeling issue was not addressed or announced on the Facebook page. It is still not currently on The Conservatorie site either. The only announcement of the mislabeling issue was via email.
Date: Wed, 4 May 2011 03:07:40 -0500Please note that as of the publication of this post this announcement is nowhere to be found on The Conservatorie site.
To: redacted
Subject: Product Warranties and Mislabeling
From: info@theconservatorie.com
Date: May 4, 2011
From: Katie Voquy (Owner- The Conservatorie, Inc)
To: The Conservatorie community
There have been some questions lately about a policy specifying that our products are sold for personal use only. We have never stated that it is for “personal use only” anywhere on www.theconservatorie.com. We have and have always stated that “The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only. Although the information at this website is presented in good faith and believed to be correct, The Conservatorie makes no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Use of this site and the information therein is at the user's sole risk”.
We make no warranties on products not produced directly by The Conservatorie for this reason:
Any product ordered direct from a manufacturer is always accompanied with a Certificate of Analysis, as required by the FDA. Once we open that batch to break down into smaller, more manageable sizes for our customers, that certificate is no longer valid, and can only be warrantied if it is recertified by an independent lab – a cost prohibitive option for those who are purchasing a few ounces of an item. Because we are selling you a product without a valid Certificate of Analysis, we cannot warranty the ingredient; should you use for resale, we will not be held liable should there ever be an issue with a product you’ve created. For those who do want a Certificate of Analysis and backed with our warranty, these can be provided for an extra charge to cover the re-certification with a minimum purchase of 500 grams.
We will be happy to provide the MSDS for any product we sell upon request. If you’re unsure if a particular ingredient is the same as another from another company, please feel free to ask - we will be happy to provide you with the name of the supplier and any corresponding trademarked name to prevent you from accidentally ordering duplicates.
Any product produced by The Conservatorie (including private label) in our lab is certified and is 100% warrantied with no fee for the certification on purchases of 500 grams or more. Products directly manufactured by us will be marked as a “TC Exclusive” product. You may buy any “TC Exclusive” material with the assurance that they are covered by guarantees and warranties without having to pay for a recertification fee.
Lastly, we apologize for the delay in making the public aware of the changes we made in the information provided on our labels and on our website. This delay is partly due to the time-consuming process in obtaining the correct information before sharing them to our customers and the public. With assistance of information obtained from the FDA, we will address the rules and regulations in the latter portion of this response. To set the records straight, all product information prior to Oct 2010 and after March 20, 2011 are, in fact, correct. Since Oct 2010, we have switched suppliers and have been updating our website to reflect that. Along the way, we have failed to keep our product information and labeling updated. We understand that this has had negative effects to our customers’ businesses, and we sincerely apologize. We have taken corrective measures to share this burden with our customers, and for those that have contacted us, we have either refunded or replaced the items in question. For those who have purchased any mislabeled product(s) from The Conservatorie between October 2010 and March 2011, we will be glad to work with you. Please contact our customer service department during working hours (8 am – 5 pm, PST) Monday to Friday at 1-877- 998-2462 for assistance.
Best Regards,
Katie Voquy
Owner & CEO
The Conservatorie, Inc
10955 Arrow Route Suite 103
Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730
(909) 989-1888
http://theconservatorie.com/
http://www.facebook.com/theconservatorie
http://twitter.com/ConservatorieCo
To be unsubscribe click here :redacted
Thank you
While it is admirable that The Conservatorie is now being forthcoming regarding the mislabeling issue, as someone who was personally affected by both of these recalls as a consumer I can tell you that the information they are now releasing is not altogether correct.
The RockABetty Beauty recall occurred on or around January 19, 2011. That was the date I personally contacted RABB regarding some of my shades with glitter after seeing the recall notice. At that point TC had already been in contact with RABB and indicated that these glitters were not eye approved, despite being sold as such, which resulted in the RABB recall. In the case of the glitter TC knew the product was mislabeled three months ago but did not make anyone aware about the glitters safe use. As the company was demonstrably aware there was an issue with the use of the glitters to the point that the site was updated with that information there should have been no delay in notification. The company knew and their customers should have been informed in a much more timely manner.
The Morgana Cryptoria lipstick recall occurred on 3/17/2011. The issues with mislabeling that impacted MC were that the ingredients that were sold were either not safe for lip use in the United States, or were not vegan. As these products were sold as vegan lipsticks the labeling change had a detrimental effect on the business, causing the recall of nine shades of lipstick. When these ingredients were originally purchased carmine, chromium oxide green, and ferric ferrocyanide were not listed by The Conservatorie. It was only due to the diligence of MC in researching prior to reordering that the formulator discovered the change. These changes were on the TC site at least a month and a half ago but again, no effort was made to announce the change on their site (except to update the product excel sheet) or via contact with their customers until today.
Additionally, there is this:
We have taken corrective measures to share this burden with our customers, and for those that have contacted us, we have either refunded or replaced the items in question.Though The Conservatorie initially worked with Morgana Cryptoria a refund request as it relates to the mislabeling issue made a few weeks ago was denied, citing the "at your own risk" policies shown in the email sent today.This refund denial runs counter to TC assertion today that they have either refunded or replaced the items.
I cannot speak as to the personal use issue. As stated in my previous post there was no official word as to why The Conservatorie did not make these changes more readily accessible to the public.
In sum, while it appears The Conservatorie is making strides in correcting the mislabeling issue, at least in terms of publicity, it can be shown that they were well aware of the issue at least three months ago and that whatever delay in announcing it today was not due to obtaining the correct information, as they had updated their site with that information during that period. The company knew, made the changes, but did nothing to notify their customers so they could make an informed decision until it was announced publicly by a third party. Even then it took The Conservatorie sixteen days to formulate this announcement, an announcement that is still not listed on their site, and, as in the case of Morgana Cryptoria, the information regarding refunds and replacement is not correct.
5/5/11 ETA: I published in this post that the mislabeling issue was addressed on 5/4/11 via email and The Conservatorie Facebook page. I was remiss in posting this information. The mislabeling issue was not addressed or announced on the Facebook page. It is still not currently on The Conservatorie site either. The only announcement of the mislabeling issue was via email.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Buyer Beware: The Conservatorie
**I would like to make it unequivocally clear that I have no knowledge that GlitterSniffer Cosmetics ever purchased from The Conservatorie. This post is about an ingredient supplier and it's effect on several MMU companies and is being posted for informational purposes as The Conservatorie has not made the information public. If you are a formulator or a person who purchased from The Conservatorie for personal use please take a moment to check your ingredients. Though the company is not publicly releasing this information there is a chance that what you have been sold may not be used for what you intended.**
Over the last few months safety of Indie MMU has been in the spotlight. I am very cognizant of the fact that there are people who are now shying away from Indie makeup due in part to this blog. This is very unfortunate, as most Indie MMU sellers are safe and put out amazing, unique products, and, for the most part, this blog is here to illustrate the business practices of one company. GlitterSniffer Cosmetics is not representative of Indie MMU as a whole. Most Indie MMU companies take safety seriously and the health of their customers is their first concern.
Recently two of these companies were faced with the unfortunate task of recalling products. RockABetty Beauty and Morgana Cryptoria initiated recalls after discovering that their ingredient supplier The Conservatorie (first link on the google search) had changed their ingredient information and what they had previously purchased as either eye or lip safe or vegan was, in actuality, not.
In the case of RABB the company responded to customer concerns about glitter fallout by checking the ingredients on The Conservatorie site, only to find that the listings had changed and none of the glitter they had purchased was eye safe. The company immediately pulled all of their shades containing glitter and posted about the recall. They offered several options to their customers, including reformulated shades, trades for other shades, refund, or store credit. They then followed through on all their commitments.
Morgana Cryptoria discovered the ingredient changes in their own research. As a matter of course they research ingredients even if they have previously purchased them. As soon as the company realized the ingredients had been changed they issued a recall on some of their lipsticks, offering store credit, refund, or exchange. In all nine shades were recalled, some as containing carmine (the lipsticks were sold as vegan) and some not approved for lip use in the US as they contained Chromium Oxide Green or Ferric Ferrocyanide. Morgana Cryptoria has also followed through on their commitments.
A third company, whose line has yet to be launched, has had to reformulate at least 4 shades as they contain carmine, an ingredient change that affects this particular company as they will sell strictly vegan product. Due to issues with the INCI listing on The Conservatorie site they may have to reformulate several more.
There has been no effort on the part of The Conservatorie to notify customers that they changed their ingredients. Had it not been for the diligence of the above mentioned formulators the issue would still be unknown.
There was another change to The Conservatorie site as well. If you click the first link in the google search linked here, scroll to the bottom, and click on the Policies link you can read the suppliers' revised policy. This policy is what prevents me from linking directly to the site. Another change is that it, in effect, releases the company from any liability whatsoever. It states that they do not guarantee that any of their information is correct and that everything on the site is used 'at your own risk'.The company has made an all out effort to protect themselves, but no effort to communicate the ingredients changes to their customers.
At this time there is no official word as to why The Conservatorie has not made public these changes which have already resulted in 2 recalls. All three of the formulators I've written about in this post have been in contact with the company and they are aware that the changes have resulted in recalls and reformulation.
So what changes were made? Some of their products are now listed as containing carmine, Ferric Ferrocyanide, Chromium Green Oxide, and Chromium Hydroxy Green. Some glitters, previously listed as eye safe, are no longer listed as eye safe. You can review their updated ingredients list by accessing any of their micas and clicking on the Info Chart, which opens a PDF. Below I will post screenshots of Google cached versions of some of their affected previous ingredients for comparison.
A note about Chromium Green Oxide and Chromium Hydroxy Green as The Conservatorie now has them listed. It seems that The Conservatorie is referring to Chromium Oxide Green and Chromium Hydroxide Green, neither of which are lip safe. Even with the updated list the ingredients are not correctly listed. These names are not INCI compliant. Anyone going off this list to label would still be labeling incorrectly as the INCI is incorrect. As per the FDA ingredients on cosmetics must be listed in descending order of predominance by INCI. The correct INCI for these are Chromium Oxide Green (CI 77288) and Chromium Hydroxide Green (CI 77289).
Here are the screenshots for the previous ingredients for some of the affected ingredients, as of 3/7/11 per Google cache.
And from The Conservatorie Twitter, dated 2/3, an answer about the safe use of their glitters:
I present this information for a couple of reasons. As consumers we have a right to know that what we are purchasing, be it from a commercial cosmetics company, an Indie company, or a supplier is what it claims to be. The Conservatorie is not being forthcoming and the extent of the reach of these ingredients is unknown. These recalls do not lie at the feet of the Indie MMU companies who purchased these ingredients and people should know that. I also wanted to show that not all recalls have to be handled in the manner that GS' is.
I would like to thank RockABetty Beauty and Morgana Cryptoria not only for their permission to publish, but for the manner in which their recalls were handled. They could have easily pulled their products and reformulated, but they did not. They researched and did what was best for their customers. Both companies were transparent and apologetic. Though unfortunate, the recalls for these companies only serve to illustrate that diligence in research, concern for the customer, and simply doing what is right goes much farther than the fact that a product had to be recalled ever could. That both companies stepped up to the plate, not only in terms of their recalls, but in answering my inquiries and wanting first and foremost for others to be informed by this publication speaks volumes. It is a horrible situation to be in, but both handled it with grace and a business acumen geared toward the customer.
Again, if you purchased from The Conservatorie please check your ingredients. Be Safe. Be informed. Be well.
Over the last few months safety of Indie MMU has been in the spotlight. I am very cognizant of the fact that there are people who are now shying away from Indie makeup due in part to this blog. This is very unfortunate, as most Indie MMU sellers are safe and put out amazing, unique products, and, for the most part, this blog is here to illustrate the business practices of one company. GlitterSniffer Cosmetics is not representative of Indie MMU as a whole. Most Indie MMU companies take safety seriously and the health of their customers is their first concern.
Recently two of these companies were faced with the unfortunate task of recalling products. RockABetty Beauty and Morgana Cryptoria initiated recalls after discovering that their ingredient supplier The Conservatorie (first link on the google search) had changed their ingredient information and what they had previously purchased as either eye or lip safe or vegan was, in actuality, not.
In the case of RABB the company responded to customer concerns about glitter fallout by checking the ingredients on The Conservatorie site, only to find that the listings had changed and none of the glitter they had purchased was eye safe. The company immediately pulled all of their shades containing glitter and posted about the recall. They offered several options to their customers, including reformulated shades, trades for other shades, refund, or store credit. They then followed through on all their commitments.
Morgana Cryptoria discovered the ingredient changes in their own research. As a matter of course they research ingredients even if they have previously purchased them. As soon as the company realized the ingredients had been changed they issued a recall on some of their lipsticks, offering store credit, refund, or exchange. In all nine shades were recalled, some as containing carmine (the lipsticks were sold as vegan) and some not approved for lip use in the US as they contained Chromium Oxide Green or Ferric Ferrocyanide. Morgana Cryptoria has also followed through on their commitments.
A third company, whose line has yet to be launched, has had to reformulate at least 4 shades as they contain carmine, an ingredient change that affects this particular company as they will sell strictly vegan product. Due to issues with the INCI listing on The Conservatorie site they may have to reformulate several more.
There has been no effort on the part of The Conservatorie to notify customers that they changed their ingredients. Had it not been for the diligence of the above mentioned formulators the issue would still be unknown.
There was another change to The Conservatorie site as well. If you click the first link in the google search linked here, scroll to the bottom, and click on the Policies link you can read the suppliers' revised policy. This policy is what prevents me from linking directly to the site. Another change is that it, in effect, releases the company from any liability whatsoever. It states that they do not guarantee that any of their information is correct and that everything on the site is used 'at your own risk'.The company has made an all out effort to protect themselves, but no effort to communicate the ingredients changes to their customers.
At this time there is no official word as to why The Conservatorie has not made public these changes which have already resulted in 2 recalls. All three of the formulators I've written about in this post have been in contact with the company and they are aware that the changes have resulted in recalls and reformulation.
So what changes were made? Some of their products are now listed as containing carmine, Ferric Ferrocyanide, Chromium Green Oxide, and Chromium Hydroxy Green. Some glitters, previously listed as eye safe, are no longer listed as eye safe. You can review their updated ingredients list by accessing any of their micas and clicking on the Info Chart, which opens a PDF. Below I will post screenshots of Google cached versions of some of their affected previous ingredients for comparison.
A note about Chromium Green Oxide and Chromium Hydroxy Green as The Conservatorie now has them listed. It seems that The Conservatorie is referring to Chromium Oxide Green and Chromium Hydroxide Green, neither of which are lip safe. Even with the updated list the ingredients are not correctly listed. These names are not INCI compliant. Anyone going off this list to label would still be labeling incorrectly as the INCI is incorrect. As per the FDA ingredients on cosmetics must be listed in descending order of predominance by INCI. The correct INCI for these are Chromium Oxide Green (CI 77288) and Chromium Hydroxide Green (CI 77289).
Here are the screenshots for the previous ingredients for some of the affected ingredients, as of 3/7/11 per Google cache.
And from The Conservatorie Twitter, dated 2/3, an answer about the safe use of their glitters:
I present this information for a couple of reasons. As consumers we have a right to know that what we are purchasing, be it from a commercial cosmetics company, an Indie company, or a supplier is what it claims to be. The Conservatorie is not being forthcoming and the extent of the reach of these ingredients is unknown. These recalls do not lie at the feet of the Indie MMU companies who purchased these ingredients and people should know that. I also wanted to show that not all recalls have to be handled in the manner that GS' is.
I would like to thank RockABetty Beauty and Morgana Cryptoria not only for their permission to publish, but for the manner in which their recalls were handled. They could have easily pulled their products and reformulated, but they did not. They researched and did what was best for their customers. Both companies were transparent and apologetic. Though unfortunate, the recalls for these companies only serve to illustrate that diligence in research, concern for the customer, and simply doing what is right goes much farther than the fact that a product had to be recalled ever could. That both companies stepped up to the plate, not only in terms of their recalls, but in answering my inquiries and wanting first and foremost for others to be informed by this publication speaks volumes. It is a horrible situation to be in, but both handled it with grace and a business acumen geared toward the customer.
Again, if you purchased from The Conservatorie please check your ingredients. Be Safe. Be informed. Be well.
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