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Monday, April 11, 2011

Buyer Beware: Ruthless/Bitchslap Cosmetics

I hate typing blogs like this. I will be honest, I don't like ragging on other companies when I personally haven't used them, but after some recent information surfaced about the company, I feel the need to inform my readers why they should avoid this company as it is advertised as a cosmetic company. Please know that any of the following are my observation and opinions, mixed with some first hand accounts and photos provided to me by customers of these companies. I always suggest doing your own research before taking my word on everything because sometimes, not all experiences are the same.

Also, all photos can be expanded by clicking on them so you can read what is written on the pages.


Ruthless Cosmetics
 
A lot of controversy has revolved around Ruthless Cosmetics Recently. They sell everything after buying whole sale. Here's the issues. This is a screenshot from their site:
 These paintwheels are listed as able to be used for cosmetic purposes and used around the eyes. There are NO disclaimers that they can't. Most consumers would take this as they are eye approved. Too bad that is incorrect. The place they purchase these is from Lady Burd's site. The following two screen caps are from Lady Burds listing:

The first picture is to show that this was taken from Lady Burd's site directly. The second shows all the paintwheels marked as NOT approved for eye use. That's right ladies, all but ONE paintwheel is not approved  for use around the eye. When the information is so readily available, why was it not listed on Ruthless's site? They don't state on their site where they get the paintwheels either, I knew from a friend otherwise I would have never known myself. Other blogs have brought this same thing to light. The first blog that I saw talk about this was How NOT to run a Business which has 3 or 4 posts on the ordeal with Ruthless.

On top of selling unsafe products. The owners of Ruthless seem to have a rude streak in them from what I have seen. The following are screen shots from various comments left on Facebook and Youtube.

These were comments left on a video describing the rude comment, and Non-eye safe paint wheels Ruthless sells, as well as their poor customer service.

Further comments from the same youtube channel

Same you tube comments, bigger version

More comments from the safe aforementioned video.

I removed the FB photo and last name of Leslie to protect her privacy. She gave me permission to keep it all, but I chose to remove it to protect her. Also, she had copy and pasted these into a post on facebook since she didn't know how to sceen cap.

On another person's YouTube channel after she said she was screen capping all of the comments.

Ruthless's response to the "How NOT to run a business" blog post.

As you can see there is a lack of "professionalism" in their comments towards people that speak against their company. In my opinion, when something like this surfaces, you would be kind, address the concerns, and answer questions from concerned fans or users of the products you sell instead of publicly trying to insult the blogger/youtube-er. 

Bitch Slap Cosmetics

This company has the same issue of selling something intended as body paints, or for actual art paint as a cosmetic solution. They do state on the paintwheels in a general post on the paintwheels section they are not approved for eye use:
The problem is that they are NOT also displayed as unsafe for eyes on the individual listings. So if you look for "Bitch slap paintwheels" on Google, the results pull up the individual listings as well, so if someone were to click on them they wouldn't see that disclaimer and would think that they are safe.

Some people on a Facebook page posted pictures like this:

This was a small amount of  "One Beat Bitch" mixed with water. It turned to paint instantly with a little mixing according to the user.

Done by the same woman from the photo above. She then use it as finger paint to make this sign.

Another customer mixed a small amount of the pink from this palette with water and put it on paper. She said her hands were stained for some time after as well.

The person who had done the photos above also created the following video:

The users hands were stained pink from the paint wheel itself. I think that alone should worry you because makeup isn't intended to be permenant. (With the exception of lip stains)

After investigating some on my part, and going through Bitch Slap's site, I found some things that are mildly disturbing:


Both of these have "Ultramarines: Pigment Blue 29" listed as an ingredient. I had heard that they were not safe for lip use so I decided to check it out.
I was right. Above is the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet, in case you didn't know) for Ultramarine Blue. It labels it as an irritant and hazardous if ingested. Since it didn't clearly say "Not safe for such and such a use" I went to the FDA website and looked up what is okay and not okay. Ultramarines are listed as NOT lip safe, but there is not a clear label about that on the Bitch slap website. This is a great concern for those that are not crazy like me and research everything they are thinking of buying.

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I intended to buy from both of these companies to do reviews, and try what they offered, but I don't think that in necessary considering the information above. The products I want to try are the ones that are not safe for eyes. So sadly, I will not be buying from that. It is your choice if you decide to purchase from these companies yourself, but I personally will not. If I have a bad experience with a company, I want to be able to voice it without being insulted, and I want to be able to do an honest review without being harassed as well. Please research before you buy ladies and gents, it if for your own safety that I posted this in case anyone had considered buying from these companies. After reading and seeing all of the stuff above, I will not be buying anything.

22 comments:

  1. For anyone reading this, here is another informative video on these companies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZEIVOsIJ1E&feature=feedlik

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  2. wow you did a great job wording this all out!! Thanks for posting this!!! <3 <3 There are soo many videos, too, it is crazy! And they are now trying to say "they contacted their lawyers and cops" ?? okay??? good job? they cant do anything..we are expressing our concern and anger for being lied to.

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  3. Thanks Amanda. I try to keep informed on things like this because I have gotten hurt by cosmetic companies in the past, and I would hate to see anyone else get hurt by ANY company.

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  4. Thank you so much Markie for posting this and doing a lil more investigating then I did. and thank you for spreading the word about my video. I think everyone should be warned that they could possibly hurt themselves

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  5. Great post.. thanks. I was gonna buy from BSC but just for the lack of professionalism alone makes me turn away.. My heart goes out to the gals who had to deal with this crap.. and to my knowledge there is nothing wrong with speaking your mind.. the 1st amendment " freedom of speech" and as long as nobody is defer-mating the character of the owner,and in any blogs/youtube ect.. any persons basically says this is a result of there own research and a other personal decisions should result on the post alone, then technically the owner can throw that lawyer word around all she wants she (the owner) has no legal grounds for a lawyer.. at least this is what I know of law.. who knows she might have a loophole.. or just be an ignorant ... I am not a lawyer but studied it a bit yrs ago.. so dont quote me lol <3<3<#

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  6. This lady just posted on the BSC GROUP page about her bad experience with the product. i went and clicked on her page and she had a photo of her eye!! its all infected and terrible from using BSC! I emailed her and asked her to help me to see if she'd let me add her story to my files for the FDA.

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  7. Wow... just wow. I'm so glad detective Markie is on the case because I know I wouldn't have been able to find all that info. And it's things like this why I do my best to search for info before buying. This was well put together. And that picture of the girl holding blue "paint" in her hand really scared me.

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  8. thanks for letting us know about this

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  9. I just saw the picture that poor girl posted :( I hope she sues that company. which she honestly could considering the lack of information/misinformation they are clearly giving about their products

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  10. Tamara just informed me that if you go to google images and search "herpes of the eye" that photo the girl is claiming is from the BSC pigments is on there..so that case is fake..I hate when people lie because BSC are REALLY hurting peoples eyes...they think its funny to fake a case?

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  11. its fake? I honestly felt bad for that girl. ugh, people annoy me. I suppose though it doesent really change the situation at hand of the mislabeling and all that.

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  12. I would like to confirm that some of the photos ARE stolen from Shiro's products. (Bitch Slap)

    When contacted by the owner of Shiro, they had the audacity to say that SHE had stolen the photos from THEM. Even though she has the original photos.

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  13. Wow, I can't understand why people would still support a company where the owner takes to teenage name calling when their products come into question. Why not approach someone in a sensible manner? At least that way people might actually take you seriously.

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  14. I read this, but somehow missed the comments from my profile. It's really shocking how vulgar the women from this company are! Good thing I have a great sense of humor and was only amused by their comments. Sad that they attack so many people for telling the truth, and being amused by how horribly they are defending themselves. I can't wait to see them completely out of business, people with attitudes like that definitely should not ever be allowed to run a business.

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  15. Thank you for the informative, well written post. This is a good overview of what's wrong with these two companies and why not to buy from them. I'll be using the below buttons to share this post and warn others.

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  16. Ruthless cosmetics are horrid in the way they interact with people. OMG - so rude 'i threw up a little in my mouth looking at you pics' what kind of fucking thing is that to say to someone.

    This isnt a normal 'hater' post its well researched and informative. Thank you sooo much for this. I have purched BSC Alabaster correcter and a foundation but i have always been nervous on the paint wheels and no one would give me a straght answer. I do like the colour pay off and also the looks that it acheives (from what i have seen) but i dont think that i would buy it and if i did, i would NOT use it on others. Too risky, why would you risk it?

    Thank you so much for posting this, it confirms all the questions i had, and also goes to show how horrible people can be..

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  17. Thank you all for the kind comments. I just wanted to help get the word out about this because really, it's not fair to a customer to have to question if something is safe. You should be able to look at it and it's listing, see the ingredients, and know that it is safe to use, or that it is not safe to use. I wish more companies would release full details about situations like this, and do recalls when needed because they sold something as eye safe when it actually wasn't.

    Please spread the word. Both of the companies are still in operation to my knowledge but I believe one did correct the mislabeled paintwheels to say they are not eye safe. I am checking into it and will be posting later about that

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  18. I first wanna say that you did do good research, but secondly want to ask, why is it such a big deal that some companies keep it a secret from consumers that they dont manufacture their own cosmetics? It's not really anyone's business. That's what private label cosmetic companies are for! Not just anyone has the money to build & start their own lab, not to mention the fact that it can take years for the FDA to approve product. I think that if a company wants to go through a private label, then that's fine, & I don't think they are obligated to tell the world how they do it. If people wanna do research & they feel some of it may be unsafe, then don't buy it. Simple as that. But I think it's a little ridiculous to go blog about how they go through a private label, as if you're snitching on em. Once again, that's the exact purpose of a private label cosmetic company. To market it as your own.

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  21. I promoted for a brand, last year & found myself struggling which isnt me. When i love a brand, and their quailty & know the work they put into their products..id do anything for them. This brand, a few items i liked but terrible images. I ordered a few things that i know ill use and would make for great pics. The next day , products arrive. Colors are total opposites of what i ordered. Pink was pale purple etc. Upset, but i let it go. Go to bed, wake up & the same exact products up for purchase for months, overnight ... turned vegan, crueltyfree & plant based 😑

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