Honestly? I think Makeup Revolution may have lost the plot.
I placed a little order back on the 28th November. Not only has it taken almost a month to send, but the customer service I’ve received in the meantime has been shockingly bad.
Ive always been a big fan of the brand, for proving that quality doesn't have to go hand in hand with large price tags.
Although some of the products I've tried have been a bit hit and miss (I'm yet to try a foundation from them that is any good), there are definitely some gems in there, and the eyeshadow palettes are every bit as good as Mac and Nars.
So even when the occasional product isnt great, Im always willing to try stuff because its so affordable.
When two weeks had passed, and there was no sign of my order and no dispatch email, I wanted an explanation.
My email to the customer service address went unanswered (I'm actually still waiting for a reply...), so I reached out on Twitter.
That always tends to get more of a response, if only because its a public forum. I found lots of other tweets from unhappy customers where orders had gone AWOL without any explanation.
I found out that TAM, the company who owns Makeup Revolution and Freedom, were suffering a massive backlog due to Black Friday orders.
But why is that my problem as a customer? Answer, its not.
When you pay money, you expect goods. If you don't receive anything and there's no explanation, well that's technically robbery.
The customer service were quite dismissive. I told them that I wanted to cancel my order and get a refund. They told me to email customer service ...ummm, I already had.... and still waiting....
After about a month, my order turned up. There was a free lipgloss included as some kind of apology, but as it was orange and glittery, I doubt Ill ever use it. Bit of a fail....
I don't like when companies give bad service. The customers make you, and if you don’t treat them right, then you don't deserve to succeed.
The worst of it is, it isn't the first time I've had a really delayed order with things missing. They really need to sort out their customer service and realise that in a world with so much choice, customer experience is everything.
I notice there is now a statement up on their site, telling people that they wont receive their orders before Christmas. Happy Christmas, everyone...
Although the experience has been dreadful, the products I got have been quite good. Here’s a peek at what I tried this time...
Makeup Revolution Bronzer Medium Matte
You cant go wrong with a matte bronzer. Its a product I wear pretty much every day, to try and carve some cheekbones out of my tired, puffy morning face!
Very often though, matte bronzers can turn out quite orange, especially when they're from cheaper brands, so I was pleasantly surprised by this. The shade is perfect, and the powder is quite finely milled and easy to blend.
It comes in a little compact that swivels open rather than flips, so that's quite cute, and there's a mirror on the back, should you need it.
It comes with a flimsy foam powder applicator also, but unless you are literally planning on wearing bronzer as a face power (do people do that?), it will be fairly useless.
This was only a couple of pounds, and its a really nice product for the money.
Makeup Revolution Brow Pomade Taupe
I had high hopes for this product. Its widely touted across the
internet as being a bang-on dupe for the pricey Anastacia Brow Pomade, a product I love.
Could Makeup Revolution replicate it at under a third of the price? I think the answer is a resounding yes!
Its creamy, pigmented and long lasting and the formula is every bit as a smooth as the Anastacia version. Its a very impressive effort, especially considering the price is just 6.00.
It comes with a little double ended slanted brush that isn't to terrible and would be useful to keep in your bag.
The pot is a heavy glass that feels exactly like its more expensive namesake, so nothing about this feels like its cheaper. However, I think I ordered the wrong shade. Picking a colour is so hard online!
I have the Anastacia one in Dark Brown and I feel that's a bit too dark. SO I actually ordered this one in Taupe. I know that's fairly light but it looked online like brunettes could also get away with it, and I like my brows to be a shade lighter than my hair to stop them looking drawn on.
However, this is a bit too light. I can still make it work if I add a little bit of darker brown powder shadow on top, but I'm tempted to reorder in another shade – if I ever order from these guys again!
Makeup Revolution Luxe Shade Blocks Rose Gold
Rose Gold lipstick, Lip Amplification Gloss – Epic Love, Strobe Balm
This is a really impressive little set that would make a lovely stocking filler for your makeup mad young relative or a great Secret Santa gift.
For just 4.00 you get one of the lovely Rose Gold lipsticks, a Lip Amplification gloss and a Strobe Balm, all presented in a really pretty rose gold case that I'm planning to re-use to store my hair grips and things.
The Rose Gold lipsticks are one of my favourite things from Makeup Revolution. They are moisturising really pretty colours and I like the metallic packaging a lot. I have quite a few of them and they're fab.
This is a gorgeous dusty rose shade that I haven't seen before, so perhaps its exclusive to this little set. There's not a shade name on it, so I don't know if its sold separately or not but its absolutely gorgeous.
It actually reminds me of the lipstick I wore on my wedding day (which was Crystal Pink by Bobbi Brown).
The gloss is also lovely. I wasnt expecting a lot here. A while back I actually ordered a little gift set from MR, that came with one of their ‘Intense’ lip glosses and I was really disappointed as it was pretty colourless and just not nice.
They seem to have fixed that here. The shade is again extremely pretty and wearable as a nude pink and it actually has some colour on the lips.
The Strobe Balm is also lovely, really creamy and easy to apply. Its quite gold, but thanks to the formula its easy to sheer out or layer up depending on the effect you want. A good one for a night out when you want to get that A list glow!
Makeup Revolution Salvation Intense Lip Lacquer All That I Have Inside
This one was my ‘sorry’ gift, but unfortunately I'm guessing they chose to send this because no one is buying it! Its a sheer orange gloss with multi coloured glitter bits in, which is not my thing at all. I doubt Ill be using this but perhaps my little niece Annabel will like it to play with.
So TAM Beauty continue to scale the heights of bad customer service. I do really like some of the products though, so its a shame that they think rude service is an acceptable way to treaty loyal customers.
My suggestion to them is not to participate in things like Black Friday unless they have the appropriate infrastucture to handle it, and if there are unavoidable delays, to communicate more with customers and offer genuine apologies or the option to cancel – also to answer their customer service emails!
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