Elle Beau

New Feature: “Better Than MLM” Reviews

Followers will be pleased to know that my fibro has been nice to me these past few days.  I’ve nearly finished the final draft for Chapter 12, and will schedule it for publication early next week.  I’m on a roll!

I would like to introduce a new element to my blog, that I would like to give a try.  As you know, I am very much an anti-MLM blogger.  To provide some different content, I’ve also been asked to put my money where my mouth is, and provide occasional opinions on things that I feel are “better than MLM”.  

Every so often, I will review and/or compare a beauty product currently on the market, and let you know my thoughts.  I’ve still kept my notes from using my #Poonique products, so I think it would be a nice thing to provide recommendations on better value/quality alternatives.

First up will be this sweet Marine Collagen Eye Gel by Peachy Fox, which I am eagerly awaiting in the post.  Made in the UK and based in London, this cool new range is organic, ethically made and not tested on animals.  

I’m looking forward to giving it a go, and especially comparing it to my previous results with Younique’s Uplift Eye Serum.  Will it be better than MLM?  Probably. 😉

Peachy Fox Eye Gel

Don’t forget to share any of your cosmetic recommendations with me – its always good to share.  You can comment below, or contact me via Facebook or Twitter.

7 comments

  2. I feel like if you want to spend money on ovdrpriced cosmetics with less financial risk than an MLM beauty subscription boxes are just as effective. However this efficacy is naught for those wanting to make money.

    A little background: my husband bought an annual Birchbox subscription for me after seeing how much I enjoy my other beauty subscription box he bought for my birthday. I had been hemming and hahing for months leading up the birthday subscription. Like many other subscription services, these two tend to put subscribers backs against the wall urging them to recruit members in order to earn points for free items or store credit to buy extra items.

    Birchbox tends to me more egregious as their items are occasionally exclusive to their own shop and always overpriced, often costing more than if one were to buy the item directly from the brand’s website. Birchbox also uses sneaky tactics like changing the points system to expire within 6 months but having no way through their website to keep track of points expiration dates. One must keep track of their own shop points and expiration through his/her own means. I should note that the only way to acquire points now are to 1) register as a new member for a $5USD credit, review up to 5 items (per account LIFETIME), or recruit new members through a referral link. In addition to all of this, the items are often so expensive they any store credit accumulated would be nearly negligible when applied to a Birchbox store purchase.

    Birchbox samples are also usually incredibly tiny, moreso than other subscription boxes I’ve received in the past. The excuse for this is that we are paying $10 for high end items, but that seems like a moot point if the samples sent are frequently those that one would get free with purchase through a vendor or makeup counter.

    I know I focused on one brand here, but there are many companies that require referral links to accumulate points, I just focused on one of the more frustrating brands. From reading what you’ve posted on your blog so far (Chapter 12.5) I couldn’t help but sense a little crossover between Younique and Birchbox with the two key differences being purchasing stock to sell for profit and having benchmarks to hit (I guess that makes them fundamentally different and this entire diatribe was a waste). Enough that I wouldn’t mind canceling that subscription at the end of my year because I feel used.

    I was just wondering if your MLM experiences have influenced your opinion of other services that encourage social recruitment for advancement, be it beauty (or any) subscription boxes or Facebook games from yesteryear.

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    • I think because I’ve been on both sides of the fence with MLM, I am very heavily influenced in my opinion of them. I do not like MLM, and I would discourage anyone from getting involved with them. I’m not too familiar with Birchbox, perhaps this is something worth me taking a look at! 🙂

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      • I’ve never known anybody to make money off of an MLM, but the people I’ve known who got involved were ore flaky/less “driven,” if you will, to invest much money into their operations so overall they didn’t lose much in the process. Often they ended up using the ware they tried to sell for themselves, i.e. Cutco knives.

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  4. Hi Elle! Just catching up with your blog and I’m LOVING it so far, ‘babes!’ haha.

    Anyways, I want to recommend two things: Jeffree Star’s Velour Liquid Lipstick and (I’m sure you have already used this) Benefit Cosmetic’s They’re Real! Mascara. I just bought my first JS lipstick and let me tell you this stuff is MAGICAL. Its hyper-pigmented, so you don’t need to layer it on. It dries beautifully and is true to color. It’s kiss proof and drink proof too!!! It’s seriously the best lipstick I have ever tried in my entire life. It made my lips look plump, but it’s not advertised as a plumping solution (I do have fairly full lips, so maybe just the shade I was using helped add depth, idk). It didn’t dry my lips out like one certain lipstick based MLM we all know. This stuff will only come off with makeup remover (or super greasy food).

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