And then there is a whole line-up of brands I have termed on this blog previously as "filler brands."
I called them this because, as a makeup junkie and *cough* scholar, these brands had no identity to me, nor did I particularly like the products from them that I tried. These brands include:
- Tini Beauty
- Dirty Little Secret (DLS) Cosmetics
- Bang Beauty
- Luna by Luna Cosmetics
- Steve Laurent
- Trestique
- Manna Kadar
- Doucce
- Hikari
To me, all of these are similar because Beauty Boxes, not just Ipsy, seemed flooded with such brands. Brands that don't have much of an online presence. Brands that are both common, yet unknown.
What is interesting to me is that when a person signs up for Ipsy, or wants to change the kinds of products they are getting in their bag, they take a profile quiz. One section of the quiz asks you to check off which brands you want to try or are familiar with:
Note. NONE of the brands I listed up there are included in the quiz.
To be fair, this does not necessarily mean Ipsy is being underhanded. Perhaps the logic is- well, if you like/love/are familiar with brand x, you will enjoy brand y.
Still, I think it speaks to the fact that there is a contrast between promise/specter of established and respected companies versus the prevalence of what feels like pre-fab brands.
I have NEVER, by the way, received anything by Tom Ford. I have been an ipsy subscriber for 4 years now, and it was never even a possibility.
Moving on, the reason my focus on the issue of brands has intensified is due to a recent discovery I made regarding two brands: Bang Beauty and Steve Laurent (hmm..a bit of plagiarism). On separate months, Ipsy was sending out blushes by both companies, that was housed in the same compact.
For the record, I own an eyeshadow by Kiko Milano called Champagne that is also in a compact like this. I think it is common, but, the fact that Blushed and ST had the same compact initiated an investigation/solicitation for help, chronicled on the r/BeautyBoxes subreddit. The link is here.
I found that the two companies had identical websites, as well as the same ingredients, though slightly different pricing.
Basically, I learned that it is not just Bang Beauty and ST that are related. There are actually four sister companies, all owned by a Jersey entrepreneur, Emanuela DeFalco: Bang Beauty, Steve Laurent (also not a real person), Dirty Little Secret ( I believe was the starter company), and Luna by Luna Cosmetics (a tad redundant, no?). These are all the same.
I reached out to ipsy for more info, including the cruelty-free status. They did not answer this part, but stated that both are "independently owned companies." Yes, with the same owner.
Technically, each is an indie brand, but they don't feel indie to me. None of these products have strong brand identity. Aside from DLS, the products are way too expensive for their ingredients and their packaging. And these brands came from nowhere.
If DeFalco is getting profit for each of her (separate?) companies based on their partnership with Ipsy, I am sure she is making $$$.
So, let's bring it back to the issue at hand. The whole point of ipsy is to sample brands and products. But are we really getting variety? And how can ipsy claim a value of a bag, if the products offered by these particular brands are clearly inflated? And yes, as a consumer, it does have a lot to do with the name and styling. And how many more "sister brands" of other companies are there?
In terms of these random internet brands, I don't see them as permanent. Again, they feel pre-fab. Or, to use another analogy, fast fashion. No brick and mortar distributors, no influencers, nothing. I couldn't imagine buying something from them off their website, what would motivate me to do so? The only reviews you can find of them are paid advertisements and the ipsy ratings.
I hate to say this, because it has been a long and interesting road, but the time has come. This sounds obvious now, but Ipsy is no longer fun, especially as I see it now as an ouroboros of marketing and profit. If I want makeup, I want it from brands that are as transparent as they can be, that I like and recognize, and that I find to be reasonable with their prices.
One trick is determining whether or not a brand is sold anywhere else besides ipsy and their own website. If they have an Amazon page, is sold by Amazon, Sephora, or other stores, then I have trust in the company.
It is possible that it is early days for this quadruplicate brand. I mentioned this on reddit. Think about Morphe's journey- they went from private labelled, generic products and packaging, to having enough capital to carve out a stronger identity. But again, having these separate companies is strange. Morphe is one. It is possible all four are not going to make it. And not only that, the nature of Morphe's pricing is a lot more appealing to me, though I have never bought from them before.
I feel like I am rambling now.
Long story short- let the buyer beware when it comes to ipsy. But I do think it's important to be aware of what you need to beware of, in the first place.
Buh-bye!!!!
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