Good, Bad and Fake

• The news of a major skincare player falsifying reviews has come to a shock to many. Those in the industry know otherwise. This is commonly practiced. However, the lengths of which those employees were asked to go is what make it fraudulent.

  The accusation that has come up is the requirement to place stellar reviews of products. All of them.  To go another step further, they were asked to create fake profiles to stack great reviews. Big problem.   

  While commonly practiced there is a certain level of morals that come with it. Sure, all brands want their products to be the top seller, and have the best reviews. But lying just won’t do. Typical directive for such are ‘write as if you were a consumer, not expert of product’, and ‘be honest. Only review what you actually use’. I’ve been known to review products for the brands my close colleagues work for. Did I lie in my reviews? Absolutely not. Saying great things about products even when they are subpar are what “influencers” are for.

  How to spot fake reviews. If a product has been online for less than 24 hrs and has a few dozen reviews, it’s 99% their team. Especially when they are all top ratings. When it starts to sound like you’re being trained, and it’s a rebuttal for previous comments.  Chances of that being an employee are high.  “Cut and paste” reviews. Many that sounds the same.  Reviewer only reviews products from 1 or 2 certain brands. On many shopping sites you can click on the reviewers profile and see what all they have reviewed. Great feature if you have similar taste, and concerns as reviewer. Helpful if you thing you found a fake.

  What’s sad about this particular scenario is that it’s a really good line. I’ve use a few of the products and really enjoyed them. There was no need for fake reviews. I get trying to get reviews organically can take a long time. Not all that purchase review. Just how people are. Faking them will never be the answer. This will be interesting on how the ruling affects the way reviews are utilized in the future.
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https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/10/22/us/sunday-riley-fake-reviews-trnd/index.html https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/10/22/us/sunday-riley-fake-reviews-trnd/index.html

Contamination Nation

Every year, dozens of people file a lawsuit against a major retailer claiming they got an infectious disease after using the testers. How can this possibly happen? Well, humans are gross. Most will blame the store or even the person applying their makeup.  What they seem to forget is that other consumers don’t necessarily care about cleanliness or hygienic practices.
Oh, the things I’ve seen. I spent 13 years in retail cosmetics, and it gets really gross. Grown ass women, 40 years of age and older, picking up testers and applying it directly. I’ve found teens are the easiest to get to use disposables properly. Germs seem to scare them. The worst testers will always be mascara, lipstick, lip gloss. If there is a tester it will be smeared on as if they’re immune to germs. Throw caution to the wind, and treat the store as their personal makeup bag. Eww. You know better. No one has made it that far in life without learning about communicable diseases. Get it together, humans.

How do stores deal with such? A few ways. There is not one team member that wasn’t taught how to sanitize and use testers in a hygienic fashion. If you’re not seeing your consultant use alcohol, hand sanitizer, or disposables of any kind, walk away.  The chance of getting something is mild, but why risk it? 
Teams are also trained to dispose of any product used directly on customers. Most will have no problem asking customers to use disposables, and even show them how to clean what they are using. Do they listen? Not always. There are some that have a difficult time understanding disposables. You still can’t double dip! You’ve just defeated the purpose of the disposable. That’s like licking your spoon then using it in a communal dip. WHY?!?  One use. That’s it.
Yes, I’ve snapped off a mascara wand in front of the client that after several requests, would not use a disposable. She seemed offended… yes, I’ve sprayed many shelves of boxed products after a man openly sneezed all over them. Sir, your hands were free. Tissues were right next to you. Act like the adult you appear to be… Yes, I’ve thrown away NEW freshly made testers after seeing a client apply directly, only to see her lip BLEEDING. Ok, those for double bagged and off to trash… but seriously, how gross, and unsafe.
This brings me to the 'personal makeup bag' , and I use this term loosely, customer. I’m not even sure how, or why this became a thing, but people coming in 4-5 days a week to apply their makeup for the day. Rarely, if ever need help or purchase. I compare it to going to a clothing store and trying on several outfits only to leave a pile in dressing room… daily… these are the people, that don’t want to buy, can’t afford to buy, don’t want to spend money on ‘trend’ makeup.  Many companies have policies in place that looks at continual sampling of the same products as theft. Eventually, and soon, that tester runs out and you’ve used all of it. And that’s for the employees. So, why customers see this as ok, I’ll never understand. But more importantly than that is the lack of standards in which the products have been used by the MOTD customers.
Recently, I got to witness the post MOTD disaster. Blew my mind. A brush ruined ( team Still infused on where it came from). 2 powder compacts ruined. Masacras, and lip products ruined. Roughly $250 in product straight to the trash. Hearing, that it was a ‘regular MOTD' client is absurd. Easily $3500 a month lost to this.  This is when teams make more testers of certain products than they sell. Keep the germs at bay.
Here’s the destruction. Mind you the color of that powder is what’s in the center. So much contamination from that brush. Unreal. How does that happen? Why did this client think this was ok?

Continue to shop. Try things. Just know teams do what they can to prevent contamination but they need your help too.