Monday, November 29, 2010

Long overdue Elohi Cosmetics review

I'm going to be very straightforward and honest with this review, as I try to be with every review I do. So I want to start off right away saying that the eyeshadows I'll be sharing with you were sent to me free of charge- six samples and one full size. I will also say that this is the company I was referring to in a post I made a few months back (I got the package about 5 weeks after my initial conversation with Morgan). But I am willing to cut Morgan, the owner, some slack. The company, Elohi Cosmetics, has only been opened since May, so it's relatively new. When I opened the envelope, I thought the colors looked really nice and immediately opened up all the jars to look at them. Here I encountered problem #1. The jars don't come with sifters, so a lot of the shadow got right up under the lid during shipping, and flew out everywhere when I opened it. There is an option on the website to have sifters put in your jar, but you'll receive a little bit less pigment to make room for the sifters. I personally don't like sifters because they're a total pain in the ass for me to get off, so it would be nice if jars without sifters were secured a bit better. Here are swatches of the shadows I chose. They are done over Concrete Minerals eyeshadow primer. Top 3: Heather, Fawn, Shock Bottom 4: Gemini, Kristen, BAM, Tipsy Tiger And here is Libra, because I forgot to swatch it with the rest T_T I did ask Morgan when we first started corresponding if any of the colors were repackaged, and she said no. I believe her to be truthful; all the colors seem unique to me. Some of the pictures do look similar to TKB colors, but I have a feeling it's like when Shiro opened- similar colors, but not repackaged. I picked the shade Heather just because I thought having an eyeshadow with my name would be cool, but it is honestly one of the prettiest shadows I own. Depending on the lighting, it ranges from a taupe to a silver to a purple, all in one. Shock is also an insanely awesome chartreusey green, but sadly it's not on the website anymore, which brings me to my next point. Only 4 of the 7 colors I got are still listed on the website- Heather, Fawn, Gemini, and Libra. From browsing through the company's Facebook page, it seems that there are a lot of LE collections released but only available for an extremely short time- maybe a week or two, I can't say for sure. I think it would be great if they stayed around longer, or even became part of the permanent line. Some of the colors I've seen are so pretty, and I wish I still had the opportunity to order them. The new holiday collection looks really nice. If you go to the sales/specials section and look at the Buy More, Save More bundles, two of them state that if you order the bundles you can choose retired colors if you like. The facebook page has an album with the retired colors, but wouldn't it just be a lot easier to keep them around? I don't really understand why you can get them in a bundle order but not individually. I also don't get why the image for the 4 for $10 says it's 4 for $8, and the image for the 6 for $15 says it's 6 for $12. I think pricing is very fair. There are no samples, but a full size is only $4, which is a great price. The bundles also make the shadows even cheaper than that, so those are a great deal. Ingredients aren't listed on the website or on the products. Morgan says to email her for ingredient information, but I think that is something that should be listed on the site. Actually, I'm not sure if it is legal not to list ingredients anywhere. Shadows that contain carmine do say so in the description. Normally I'm pretty "whatever" about ingredients, but since the shadows were damn hard to wash off after I swatched them, I am curious about what makes them stay on. The red and pink shadows stained my hand. I THINK that's everything I wanted to say! If I forgot anything else, I'll edit the post to include it. My overall opinion on Elohi is so-so. I think the colors are really nice, and the prices are fabulous, but I feel like there is a LOT of improvement to be made before I'd place a new order. If you want to check out more about Elohi, Dominique has also done a review.

12 comments:

  1. Great review :) thanks for sharing the swatches.

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  2. Thanks for the review! I'd be a bit worried about them because of the staining. I also hate companies that go through collections so fast.

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  3. Thanks for the review. I probably won't be checking this company out, but its good to know there is another shadow company out there!

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  4. Thanks for your honest review. Blogs that are so happy happy joy joy ohmygawdawesomeness leave me wondering if the products really are as awesome as they say. It's hard giving a not so glowing review of a company but you did it really well and honestly. I hope this company takes your review wholeheartedly and learns from it.

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  5. If they don't have the ingredients list that staining is definitely not a good thing. If it's a dye then that's something that a lot of people have to be aware of. I personally don't have allergy or sensitivity problems but a lot of people obviously do, and it is a hassle anyway if they stay on your skin!

    And that spilling reminds me of my She Space order! I have a picture just like yours with all the muck everywhere!

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  6. I'm glad you finally got the order! >___< Shock looks really purrty.

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  7. That is my biggest pet peeve about make-up when unwrapping them. If the screw top isn't on right or it's loose, the sparklies get everywhere. Cleaning is the worst part and for me, I get even more annoyed when I realized "that's product I could've used instead of wiping it and washing it away!"

    Haha, I know it sounds mad cheap but seriously...Gemini and Kristen looks to be very pretty colors. :)

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  8. It took you this long to get your order?? My goodness!!!

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  9. @Dominique: Sorry, I should have been more clear! I actually got it about 5 weeks after my initial conversation with Morgan; so it had been sitting around a while before I did the review.

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  11. Dear Heather,
    I'd like to start by thanking you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to give me such amazing constructive criticism. It's thanks to things like this that have helped me improve upon my company and have helped me to grow to the point where I'm at now! <3

    There have been many changes since your products arrived to you. Many great changes. The biggest and best is packaging. I currently package in a different jar. I found through customers input and reviews like this that the black lids weren't as tight as I had originally thought they were. I now use clear lid jars and they fit much better and help to cut down drastically on the amount of pigment caught in the lid during shipping. I also now shrink wrap all jars before shipping them. I'm currently working on labeling each and every jar with ingredients and also listing ingredients on each individual colors listing.

    As for the staining effect by BAM that is caused by the large presence of Carmine in that color. Carmine stains and when it's used heavily it leaves that sort of stain when simply wipped away. Gemini also has Carmine in it. My base is called Magnesium Myristrate. It has TONS of qualities as a base. It gives the pigments a better slip and helps them to attach to the skin much better than other bases and/or additives. It also gives the pigments a silky soft feel and helps to bind glitter to the actual pigment it's self. This helps prevent any seperating of pigment and glitter that you may find with other colors that are glitter heavy.

    In closing I'd like to thank you again for helping me grow as a business owner and make the changes needed to please my customers! You are, after all, the ones who matter most! I'd like to give you the opportunity to re-review my products upon re-launch. I'm changing my packaging method as well to increase packaging time and inventory methods. (For info into this there is a post on my FB page for the company and I'll be making a blog post as well.) Thank you again for all the help that you have given me. <3

    Sincerely,
    Morgan - Owner of Elohi Cosmetics

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  12. i had the same problem with my shadows and I absolutely HATE the primer she sells. I however won't cut her some slack, she's extremely rude.

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