Brands I Haven't Tried and Why (Hard-hitting Investigative Journalism), pt 1

Hello! Hope you all are well. I wanted to write up a quick post today, inspired by some recent bloggers I've seen who have made these types of videos.

I have already talked about brands I won't support. This includes Jeffree Star, Lime Crime, and Kat Von D.

Today I want to delve more into brands that don't appear to have such flagrant issues, but something still prevents me from making a purchase.

Hope you enjoy!

The first up is Certifye, a UK-based brand.

You've seen these palettes. They have white cardboard packaging and the eyeshadows are housed in portrait mode rather than landscape. I am sure there is a better way to say that. Anyway, they have a number of very vibrant color schemes, and their palettes have been lauded by many a "micro-influencer."

The problem? Even though this is an indie brand, I can't shake off the feeling of whole sale and price inflation. Their ingredients from their website:

Talc, Mica, Mineral Oil, Kaolin, Titanium Dioxide, Magnesium Stearate, Isopropyl Palmitate, Methylparaben,
Propylparaben, May contain Manganese,
Violet, Hydrated Chrome Oxide

I am seeing these ingredients come up for much less expensive products, some hits from ali express.

Though all these ingredients are eye-safe, they are not the best, and I know I could make a safer purchase for a higher quality product for around the same price.

Not only that, when it comes to colorful eyeshadow, I don't have a particular desire for ALL THE COLORS. So much of the palette would go unused.

Maybe they'll go the Morphe route? But that brings me to my next part:

2.) Morphe

So what is Morphe's Secret Status? Is it still private labeling from Crown  Brushes? Their newest palette, the 35M Boss Mood Palette is speaking to me. It looks a little like my CP Good Sport Palette, as well as that one lime green/chartreuse neon from the BH Cosmetics Back to Brazil palette. This is the palette that nearly swayed me:

Ingredients are:
Mica, Talc, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Dimethicone, Calcium Aluminum Borosilicate, Phenyl Trimethicone, Magnesium Stearate, Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate, Polymethylsilsesquioxane, Silica, Calcium Sodium Borosilicate, Tridecyl Trimellitate, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Tin Oxide, Ethylhexylglycerin, Phenoxyethanol, Capryl

Let's also, just for fun, look at the ingredients of the Jaclyn Hill palette (not the vault):
Talc, Mica, Kaolin, Dimethicone, Tridecyl Trimellitate, Phenyl Trimethicone, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate, Capryl Glycol, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin. May contain: Isononyl Isononanoate, Isostearyl Isostearate, Nylon-12, Polymethylsilsesquioxane, Magnesium Stearate, Silica, Titanium Dioxide (CI77891), Iron Oxide Black (CI77499), Iron Oxide Yellow (CI77492), Iron Oxide Red (CI77491), Hydrated Chromium Oxide Green (CI77289), Ultramarine Blue (CI77007), Ferric Ferrocyanide (CI77510), Chromium Oxide Greens (CI77288), Manganese Violet (CI77742), FD&C Red 40 AI Lake (CI16035), FD&C Yellow 5 AI Lake (CI19140), FD&C Blue 1 AI Lake (CI42090).

So, in 2018, its ingredients seem to be different than the stereotypical Morphe palettes from before their re-branding of sorts.

In 2015, Morphe's ingredients were: Talc, Mica, Mineral Oil, Kaolin, Titanium Dioxide, magnesium Stearate, Isopropyl Palmitate, Lanolin, Methylparaben. May contain:Mica and titanium Dioxide, Iton Oxides, Magnese Violet, Ultramarine Blue, Chrome Oxide Green, Hydrated Chrome Oxide Green, FD&C Red No.40 Al Lake, FD&C Yellow No.5 Al Lake, FD&C Blue No.1 Al Lake..

So this is when they were buying from whole salers, but they go back as far as 2009 for doing that.  You want to see the types of palettes Morphe was selling in like 2010? Feast your eyes upon this:

So while I do think Morphe is one the right track, I think it needs to keep going and maybe find an alternative to aggressively using influencers. That being said, its past and practices haven't really deterred sales. So maybe I am just being a fuddy duddy.

3.) Ace Beaute

Speaking of random "amazing" palettes from unknown brands, I am pretty cautious of this one, though I do think its release was quite impressive.

However, again, what do the ingredients say?

Huh. And Pinky Rose and Bad Habit are more affordable.

Look, I don't want to appear as though I am roasting these brands for trying. Not at all. But recently I feel as though some brands seem to be appealing for appearing to be unique or indie or what have you, but you are not getting the quality. I know they are sending their stuff to smaller influencers, or smaller influencers are using them as a springboard to review products and generate content. Bad Habit is one of them who has been pretty blatant about that. But I know personally I am going to be cautious and not buy from these brands right now. 

I just think, as a consumer, I want to be able to buy from small indie brands without buying whole-sale or private label products. That's all. 

I know I have more to discuss, but I wanted to get these out of the way first, so stay tuned for a part 2.

Any brands similar to these that you've stayed away from?

Or, if you have tried these brands, what do you think of the quality? Curious to know!