Consumer Reports: The MUT Indie Edition

We've got to watch out for ourselves!  Good, bad, or WTF JUST GIVE ME MY STUFF THAT WAS ORDERED FIVE MONTHS AGO:  It all belongs here.  You never know when "the colors are *amazing*, but she's a little bit slow on TAT" will turn into "WTF JUST GIVE ME MY STUFF THAT WAS ORDERED *FIVE MONTHS AGO*", so here's a good place to keep an eye on everything. 

Out of the over 30 companies I've ordered from, the only two I would never order again from in any shape or form is Victorian Disco and Debaucherous Bath. I don't know if I really want to re-hash everything here, but basically both had a stated turnaround time that was not followed in the least, and I had to basically nag to get my orders. When they arrived, both had missing items. Not fun.

First, allow me to present Fairly Charmed, an Etsy vendor. I sent no fewer than five convos, a couple of Facebook posts, and two emails that I can recall, regarding a time-sensitive order. Previously it had taken no more than 7 business days to receive product, but four then five weeks came with no response to requests regarding the status. I finally disputed with Etsy; shortly thereafter I got tracking and a refund, along with a message implying that her husband was to have taken care of communications and I had to allow for her real-world job.

I'm all for turn-around time. I get that there are regular jobs, weather conditions etc. that can cause delays. If a vendor states outright a given TAT I expect it to be honored and I expect communication when an issue arises, more so if the paying customer is initiating that communication. Between the poor follow-through and the snippy tone and the blame game, I'll never order from her again.

For similar reasons, I am on the fence about further business with Star Crushed. The products are great, but it is harder than hell to find information on TAT, and for some reason she will respond to any email except those asking about order status and TAT. Based on my experience, expect a month. I wish she would be more direct with practical information concerning shipping.

On the positive, I want to send massive rave to Solstice Scents.

I placed and order on Saturday for her winter release. Someone then alerted me that you get an extra free sample if it's your first order. I did not know this, so at the suggestion of said friend, I emailed her asking if I could get another sample (my order total was $9 so I was not expecting a yes).

Not only did I get a yes, when I told her she could pick my sample out for me, she sent me a list of things she thought I would like based on what I ordered, and a description of them so I could pick something I would like!

I also got shipping notice the next day. I am super impressed with her so far!!

Most of my experiences, however, have been very positive, and many stand out. Spectrum Cosmetics, when I reported having received a bottle of perfume that had leaked all over its bag (turned out it had a crack right where the rollerball snaps into the bottle itself) sent a full replacement immediately, free of charge. Theme Fragrance, after sending me the wrong lip color, told me to keep the accidental one and sent something new.

bsquared said:

On the positive, I want to send massive rave to Solstice Scents.

I placed and order on Saturday for her winter release. Someone then alerted me that you get an extra free sample if it's your first order. I did not know this, so at the suggestion of said friend, I emailed her asking if I could get another sample (my order total was $9 so I was not expecting a yes).

Not only did I get a yes, when I told her she could pick my sample out for me, she sent me a list of things she thought I would like based on what I ordered, and a description of them so I could pick something I would like!

I also got shipping notice the next day. I am super impressed with her so far!!

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Omg yes, my first order with Solstice Scents was also great. I knew about the extra free sample for first time customers, put that in the notes, and they included another one, Kitchen, which I assumed was because of my other scents I picked out, and my email which references food!

So, Debaucherous is the only store I've had any real issue with. The whips aren't BAD at all, but for example, Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland just smells like... pumpkin marshmallow. And they're SO tiny for the price!

I do want to sing the praises of one store, though: savor soaps. It was a store discovered on my own (unlike everything else, haha!) and I loved it so much I asked if she'd participate in the indie SS and she was more than happy to. When you write her, you get a response in less the 10 minutes, no matter what time it is, she ships super fast and is so friendly, and the prices are SO good. For less than I paid for Debaucherous whipped soaps, I got twice the size, and she has a huge collection of scents. I think her pumpkin marshmallow whipped soap is my favorite out of all of them, and I really just can't sing that store's praises enough. I'm looking forward to trying more then the five I ordered!

A few more insights:

Shiro: Though they have a slower TAT, I recommend so much. There's never any trouble, and when I have asked about products that are LE/OOS, she has gone out of her way to try to get them to me. SO kind, so responsive, great quality.

Hello Waffles: Same as above. Christine is very responsive and will work with you to make sure you can get a product you really love, she even held something for me once because I couldn't afford it at the time and didn't want it to sell out. I wouldn't do that more than once or twice, but it was nice to have.

Haus of Gloi: Though they can be very slow to respond to email, once they respond, you will be VERY happy IMO. They sent me two whipped soaps, 1 hair oil and 1 perfume in Ghost Puffs, which was OOS. They didn't have to do that for me. Loyal customer for life. 

Aromaleigh: My favorite color selection and one of the fastest TATs I've ever had, I got my products four days after I ordered! 

Fyrinnae: Very slow TAT but worth it; I think their shadows are the most pigmented and there has never been a problem with my orders.

Glamour Doll Eyes: Probably, overall, one (if not the) best experiences all around.

Darling Girl Eyes: Some of my favorite colors, but the TAT is sooo slow and it takes a long time to get a response to emails.

Also, I wish Dawn Eyes Cosmetics were more popular. She is SO friendly, fast to respond to messages, and the colors are so beautiful. Everyone should make an order, like, yesterday.

Companies I have ordered from multiple times and never had to contact about an error with my order, which I actually seem to have more of a problem with than other people:

Glamour Doll Eyes

Aromaleigh

Darling Clandestine

Darling Girl

Sixteen92

Solstice Scents

My indie experience thus far is small (Shiro, GDE, Notoriously Morbid, Fyrinnae and Aromaleigh) so here is my little rundown:

1. Shiro-ships within TAT.  Only time I experienced high TAT was Halloween.  I had contacted her about getting gifts for Secret Santa and was worried about TAT and she let my SeSa present piggy back with my other order (which was at the front of the queue).  I had also contacted her about stuff that was no longer on the site, which she had and wrote up an invoice.

2.  GDE-lightening fast TAT.

3. Notoriously Morbid-super nice.  I had to contact them about a missing shadow in my VC.  Were also nice when my October VC went MIA.  TAT is usually as stated, sometimes sooner

4. Fyrinnae-TAT scared me but I ordered 11/16 and had shipping info by 11/19 and items in hand.  Item was missing from order, I contacted them, they shipped item and a new sample!  Samples are jars not baggies which was different for me.

5. Aromaleigh-fast TAT, generous samples, never had issues with orders or needed to contact them

My hall-of-famers:

A Wing and a Prayer Perfumes: from California to Buffalo, three days, if that. While a little pricier than a lot of indie perfumers, the quality is outstanding, and she has some of the best specials I have ever seen.

Sugar Skull Minerals: very fast to respond to inquiries, and on the rare occasions that there is a problem with her otherwise very fast TAT she will keep customers updated on the progress.

GDE: I don't think I can say anything that hadn't been said!

Spectrum Cosmetics: quick to own up to mistakes or problems and make good on them.

Alkemia Perfumes: super-quick TAT, good follow-through with communication.

For some reason, I've wound up having to contact Notoriously Morbid for nearly every order (usually my fault). Carrie is so nice and super-responsive. Once I had the stickers on two shadows mixed up and she made me up a care package with corrected labels to stick on my shadows, samples, a Coffin Kisser, and some candy. Dealing with her has gotten me past my fear of "bothering" brand owners and I always walk away from the interaction really happy. Carrie's a great example of how to do indie right.

Victorian disco: never again.

Blackbird cosmetics, hello waffle, innocent + alchemy, NM, meow cosmetics, beauty bar baby-all great experience!!

Fastest shipper: beauty bar baby. Ordered on a Friday, received by Tuesday.

Just ordered for 1st time: black Phoenix alchemy lab, life's entropy.

A++++

Glamour Doll Eyes (obviously) for the TAT, best selection and beautiful custom things.

QueenBee Apothecary for her quick responsiveness and custom things.

Beauty bar baby for suuuper fast TAT and beautiful things.

HitPolish (I mention her here because she does carry some bath and body stuff now) for her TAT and awesome samples.

HoG for the amazing products and beautiful packaging.  Everything smells soooo "special!"

Aromaleigh for the best sparkles in town (seriously they are so sparkly).

XplosiveCosmetiX for awesome products, great samples.

CocoaPink for really amazing, really effective hair products.

F-------

Victorian Disco because of the lies.

Debaucherous because of her completely inaccurate, ever-changing TAT, refusal to respond to anyone and pretty much because she tries to bully people into leaving FALSE positive feedback.

I've been lucky enough to have good experiences from all my indie orders so far, but I want to give an extra awesome mention to Sugar and Spite for their packaging and lollipops, and to Scaredy Cat Cosmetics for having giant sizes and adorable sample vials.

Just for the record, since it came up elsewhere: I don't see any reason that nail indies can't go here. An indie is an indie as far as I'm concerned!

Edited because I used a *very* wrong preposition!

I've been lucky to have good experience across the board

My 1st indie order with Shiro, it had a missing sample, I contacted her about it, she said she would either mail it out that day, or give me store credit for the sample is shipping. I was going to make another order so I chose the latter. She ended up giving me $5 SC which was so generous since the sample was a $1 and the shipping was $2. Something.

Limmit Lipsticks seems to have quick shipping. I ordered in a whiskey haze on Nov 28 and got shipping on Dec 1! 

Savor - Zomg not enough good things can be said about Lisa! She responds to all my messages immediately, has delicious smelling products, and ships so fast (even on custom orders!!) 

[SIZE=14.4444446563721px]I want to give a shout out to TenThreeLabs too! My ordered shipped absurdly quick given her stated tat, her lip products are A+, and she threw in some awesome samples to try. [/SIZE]

Ok I need to raise the hype level for Darling Clandestine since not much has been said about them yet - Evonne is awesome, very quick to respond to messages, and her products and packaging are pretty neat.  Her TAT is average for indies but I've never had a problem with having to bug her about an order. She's made custom listings for samples, held multiple orders so I could combine them, and sent me replacement labels for perfume vials.  I basically just blind buy full sizes from her now.  And once, USPS lost my order and she shipped out a new set of items without charging me - I try to throw my money at her to offset the crap that USPS pulled.  

She has awesome sales and really great prices - 1 dram vials for $5 or a set of 3 for $13?? This is really cheap!!  The full size solids are about $9, the same price as Pacifica solid perfumes but slightly larger and will last forever.  I seriously don't know if I could even use up a mini solid.

I almost didn't want to post this since I love DC and want to keep them all for myself but the love must be shared  :wub:

Ok here goes:

Shiro: Never an issue. TAT is always within her perimeters and I contacted her asking if she had an item I wanted that had been sold out and she did everything possible to make me happy even though she could not give me the item I wanted. Very good customer service.

Geek Chic Cosmetics: TAT was extended but with a thoughtful email to explain the reasons still received the items within a month. No issues with GCC. All issues for me are personal preference based (don't give samples, packaging is not thoughtful etc.)

My Pretty Zombie: Super Fast TAT. Zero issues. I have loved everything I have ordered. I wish they did more sales or new collections though because I always forget about them!

Aromaleigh: Another Lightning Fast TAT. Always stellar service and great products. Nothing bad to say at all.

Glamour Doll Eyes: Again, Lightning Fast TAT. Zero Issues. Lots of extras and sales often, Love GDE.

Notoriously Morbid: TAT can fluxuate but generally it isn't too bad (within 1 month). The items are always worth it for me and Carrie is super responsive when there are issues. I have had one order missing an item and she sent me a replacement AND a coffin kisser as an apology! Her response was within HOURS. Great company and worth a month wait if it happens. For some reason USPS always gets weird with their orders for me though, it will hang for 4 days then show up at my post office. No clue why, but nothing has ever been lost!

Haus of Gloi: If you like lightning sales and sell out situations they are super fun! Their products are stellar and historically their TAT has been very speedy. This winter it appears they have increased their TAT a bit but I fully think the items are worth the wait. Still my favorite bath and body shop.

Beauty Bar Baby: Fast TAT, Zero issues. Super cute packaging!

***Debaucherous Bath: *In my personal experience* No issues. TAT was accurate to promise and items received were nice. HOWEVER: Many many woman I know have ordered around the same I did and the have had to file claims as she never sent items or responded to emails. Not cool. I will not shop from her again despite enjoying the products I received. There are too many other options out there.

Kiss my Sass: Great TAT, Items came packaged well and with fun extras! Will order from again for sure.

Chase Street Soap: Fast TAT, Great soap products!!! No issues, will order from again. (Packaging is BADASS)

Bubble Girl Soap Co.: Fast TAT, Loved everything I ordered and will order from again.

Femme Fatale: Long TAT (international company) but great products. Worth the wait and the price if you need to pay shipping.

Meow Cosmetics: Fast TAT, No issues. super cute products, lots of extra samples and cute packaging. Will order from again.

Rainbow Honey: I have only ever ordered mystery subs and I have enjoyed them all. Fast TAT, cute packaging and I like trying their products (even if I don't always love them all)

***Victorian Disco: STAY AWAY!!! I FINALLY received my order 3 MONTHS after paying after being lied too multiple times about my item shipping and "being lost in the mail" I had to hound her to actually send my items and she comes up with new excuses each week to not send items or respond to people. Toxic company.

***Portland Black Lipstick Company: (I have never ordered from them online!!) Many people claim that ordering online takes forever and is bad but I live in Oregon and can pick the products up locally. The products I have tried are fantastic and really good lipsticks. Reading others reviews, I would not consider buying online unless I was prepared to wait a long time and/or send emails to the store owner regularly until my items arrived.

Innocent + Twisted Alchemy: TAT within timelines, not lightning fast but not a month wait either. Great products, zero issues.

I *think* that's it....