Le Metier De Beaute Beauty Vault VIP - Spoilers

[LoveSkinCare]

Yes, they are pushing the renewal. I think I have gotten 4 emails so far. I like how it said its filling up fast. I don't think so, or why push so hard. This was my first year and I was disappointed, especially after seeing all the great things from the previous 2 years.

 

[tazdvil]

The email today was funny..... What in the world? A water bottle?

 

[LisaLeah]

The email today was funny..... What in the world? A water bottle?

I know! I thought that was beyond hilarious. However it just confirmed to me how out of touch they are.

 

[LoveSkinCare]

Has anyone received their May box yet? Seems like someone should have by now. I always get mine around the 17th or 18th.

 

[Havasuchp]

I haven't received my May box, or my shipping email. I was wondering if anyone had tried the shade 0 in the peau vierge. I cannot find any swatches online. I didn't like shade 1 because it was too peach, and shade 2 is too dark.

 

[Shauna999]

I don't think they've sent out may shipment yet-- hopefully soon.

 

[LoveSkinCare]

Seems late this month. Someone usually receives it by now. I wonder why it's late. I am hoping for something really good.

 

[Dawn Garcia]

Here is a letter I sent to LMDB Customer Service explaining why I will not be resubscribing for a 4th year. I am sure they will not respond and could care less, but I felt compelled to let them know why they were losing a previously loyal consumer...

I am sure that this will mean nothing to you as you have thousands of customers, and one lone voice probably won't make much of an impact. Still, as a long time supporter of your line, I felt compelled to write to you and let you know why I will not be subscribing to your service next year, despite having been a subscriber since the very first year of inception (and a huge consumer prior to that, collecting virtually every kaleidoscope I could find). 

 
The first year, your service was amazing, groundbreaking really in terms of the types of subscription services offered. Even though the $350 upfront cost was hard to swallow, I trusted that because of the quality of products and services I had received in the past, it would be worth it. And, for that first year, it was. 
 
Year two proved to be somewhat more disappointing in terms of the lack of more coveted items like kaleidoscopes and skin care items. I believe you also launched a separate kaleidoscope subscription service that seemed to be more of your focus. 
 
Still, with the promise of even better and more exclusive products, I signed up for the third time last year, and, to be honest, this year has been one disappoint after the other. From the never-ending inclusion of unwearable lip products that are not packaged well to the lack of higher end items like palettes, it seems like instead of getting cutting edge innovations, we are getting bottom of the barrel rejects that wouldn't pass muster in a retailer like Neiman's or Saks. 
 
It is with a heavy heart that I discontinue my subscription service as I really do love the element of surprise that each month brings, but this past year, I have not really enjoyed much of anything that has been included and it is just not worth such a high up front investment for a year's worth of disappointing products. 

 

[Geek2]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts @! Welcome to MUT! I agree with so much of what you said in the letter and I was only a customer of theirs this past year. The price was a lot for me to spend and I won't be doing it again because of the low quality of some of the products we received. Some of the products that we received really didn't fit with the brand so I'm surprised that a high-end brand like this would even think about sending these products out to their customers. Had we not received some of the better items I would have felt completely defrauded.  If their objective is to gain a loyal following of customer who will purchase their products beyond the items received in their boxes, then this is not the way to do it. I used to think highly of this brand until I took part in this and received some of the items we did. I didn't know I had signed up to be a tester of some sort for their products with no ability to give feedback and nobody even cared to ask how us the customers felt about the program this last year. It's a bizarre way to run a business, especially a higher end business like this.

 

[sam4425]

I've received 3 emails in the past 4 days from LMdB reminding me to "hurry up" and rejoin VIP.  I just want to keep writing them back saying, "Seriously?"  This was my first and last year.  It has not inspired me to become a future LMdB customer in any way, as their product offerings have left me feeling my business has been taken for granted.  Some of the products were lovely and I might have continued buying those if they hadn't included the other lower end products that I found unwearable.

 

[paperclipcat]

If I don't receive ONE kaleidoscope from this subscription I think I'm going to cry.  Their kaleidoscope palettes are such a unique product and something that really makes this brand stand out, and one of the main reasons I decided to try it.

I should have just bought one and skipped the $350 price tag for an eyeshadow brush - the only item I use from the entire subscription. /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

And the spammy emails? What a joke.

 

[LoveSkinCare]

I just got tracking for the May

 

[tazdvil]

Me too, it is 10oz.

 

[Dawn Garcia]

For those interested, here is LMDB response to my email. I feel like they are just so out of touch with their consumer base. I also feel like some of the things s/he said are completely inaccurate or overstated. Also, for him to imply that this is not a profit-making venture for them is insulting. Of course they are making money off of these subscriptions. Finally, have any of you been asked for feedback or commentary in sculpting this program? I sure as heck haven't or I could have helped them better cater these products for what people wanted and not the unusable stuff that we received. 

We welcome all forms of feedback and all forms of correspondence.  As a rapidly growing business and brand, the voice of the clients we work with is the most important voice.  We build products for clients like you and your opinion matters to us.  It is important that we have a dialogue and discuss what works and does not work for you.  The VIP Program was developed for this purpose.  We have found that our retail business, through retail partners, has too many barriers to true client/brand partnership.  This is why we are planning a roll out of our own retail stores in the near future.  It will allow us to share many more products we have developed with our fan base. 
 
In regards to your comments, we take in a lot of commentary from VIP clients and have worked to sculpt the program around what they are looking for in a partner program.  We do not see the VIP Program as a subscription service.  There are services out there with monthly subscription business models and that is not the purpose of this program.  The VIP Program is a product purchase, hence the 1-time purchase, that allows us to be generous, to customize and to challenge clients.  Most of all, we look for a dialogue with our clients. 
 
Your comments that “we are getting bottom of the barrel rejects that wouldn’t pass muster in a retailer like Neiman’s or Saks” is truly not accurate.  We direct manufacture our products.  This may not seem important, but it is the single most important thing about our business.  99% of the World’s cosmetics are produced by 3 cosmetic manufacturers - and they are all brokering these products to the brands you love.  So when you purchase a department store product from an expensive brand, a speciality store product from a buzzed about brand or a quick convenient product from a drug store or mass retailer, you are buying a product that is extremely similar.  In some cases, exactly the same. 
 
With Le Metier de Beaute products you are receiving custom formulations, made (in most cases) with hundreds of millions of dollars of patented R&D and refined, or tested, over and over and over.  We tested out numerous formulations and ideas in the last year in the VIP program based upon runway, celebrity photoshoot and influencer work we have been doing with some of the most notable designers and celebs in the world.  Those products you received were NOT sold in retail because we wanted VIP clients to get them exclusively - at a large cost to our brand.  We might launch them one day inside our retail stores and some we already have plans surrounding.
 
Any packaging complaint you might have is valid.  That is the idea of the program.  We are not filing, or producing, custom retail packaging for limited run VIP products.  It does not make sense.  For us to do that the cost of the program would increase 2-3X.  We do not want to make things more expensive.  We want more people to have access to our work. 
 
The VIP Program is not a profit making program for us.  It is a program for us to share the things that we are working on with clients who invested in us.  We are sorry that you have been disappointed.  A Program like this is not for everyone and we understand that a certain percentage of clients will want to move along.  
 
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. 

 

[Geek2]

Thanks for sharing @! Interesting to hear their side of the story

 

[tazdvil]

Well, this client will "move along." That sounds like a similar one they sent before. I would believe that they are using this as a sound board, if they asked for opinions. They haven't asked for a single one. We weren't sent the new items they are currently releasing and the whirlwind eye shadow they sent was NOT custom made, it's being sold by little cheap companies all over the internet. This is a sad response and honestly is insulting to my intelligence. Good luck to them.

 

[OiiO]

This line made me chuckle:
 

With Le Metier de Beaute products you are receiving custom formulations, made (in most cases) with hundreds of millions of dollars of patented R&D and refined, or tested, over and over and over.

Does anybody remember those cream eyeshadows from year one? I would love to know how and by whom they were tested  :rotfl:   :rotfl:   :rotfl:  I mean, those things were unwearable!

 

[naturalactions]

This line made me chuckle:

Does anybody remember those cream eyeshadows from year one? I would love to know how and by whom they were tested :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: I mean, those things were unwearable!

Ugh! Yes! I finally threw both of them out last month. I kept holding on to them thinking there must be some use for these, but there was never a single time when I wanted to reach for them...not even Halloween!
Another product I hated was the face kalidescope they sent in one of the first years. I was so excited at first but there was no color pay off and the product was not finely milled at all. Poor quality in my opinion and it will probably be the next item from them I toss.

After 3 years, I also will not be resubscribing.

 

[boxesandboxes]

Well, this client will "move along." That sounds like a similar one they sent before. I would believe that they are using this as a sound board, if they asked for opinions. They haven't asked for a single one. We weren't sent the new items they are currently releasing and the whirlwind eye shadow they sent was NOT custom made, it's being sold by little cheap companies all over the internet. This is a sad response and honestly is insulting to my intelligence. Good luck to them.

Completely agree!  And a few other items too. I also noticed some "gift with purchase" from older stock lined up with some of our items (can't recall which - but something like saks (or another retailer) had a gift with purchase 6 months earlier - that I discovered). This past year was a disaster. No feedback mechanism.  It seemed like they were just trying to fulfill a commitment for each month. My lipsticks were "broken" inside (rattled).

 

[LoveSkinCare]

Is anyone's May box moving yet? Mine has been on label created since Tuesday. I wish they would just give it to to UPS already. I am curious to see what we are getting this month