Beautyandthebullshit.blogspot.com (the writer does like to call a spade a spade) is written by ex-beauty insider Rowena, who was a manager for a global make-up brand.
She dishes the dirt on why your favourite product gets discontinued, why mascaras never work the way they claim to and how the beauty industry manipulates you to make you buy more. This is all stuff my logical brain knows, but my 'la la la, not listening...' impulse tries to make me ignore.
Seriously, this is something I have been thinking about for a while. BatB recommends blogs as a good source of impartial reviews, but the brands have definitely cottoned on to blogs as potential influencers, and I'm a little uncomfortable with the way that the beauty blogging world is going in this regard currently. On the one hand, PR samples enable bloggers to write about more products, but on the other, if there isn't full disclosure it gives a false view of what the actual (consumer) purchase of products is, and leads the reader to believe that it's normal to buy every single product from every launch. (See? There's that manipulating you to buy more).
I do accept PR samples for this blog if it is something I'd have bought for myself, and I do always disclose PR samples. I am quite consciously buying less colour cosmetic products myself, and so it is likely that I will be posting less often going forward. I also believe that the smaller brands I like do tend to deal more ethically with the consumer.
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Grace thank you for raising this issue and linking to Beauty and the Bullshit, which has been raising its profile over the last few months. Sometimes I wonder whether there isn't a bit of overstatement on both sides of every controversy Rowena raises, or at least some. Perhaps I'll do a post on my site at some point with some thoughts. You do raise some excellent points about some trends in blogging; though perhaps I'm a gullible type I believe the major US sites have been pretty good about disclosing-- am I off the mark in your view?
ReplyDeleteHi Amy - I think the US blogs generally do all disclose, because the FTC requires it. I do remember there being some surprise on the beauty discussion board I was a member of when these came in at just how much was PR samples on some blogs.
ReplyDeleteIn the UK though, at least a couple of bloggers have recently written posts stating that they don't intend to specifically disclose PR samples because they know that their reviews are honest, and/or that they think that mentioning every PR sample can come across as bragging. I take the other viewpoint - although I don't take up every PR item offered, I wouldn't want the people who read my blog to have the mistaken belief that I buy every single product I post about.
I can definitely see there is some dramatic license used in some posts on BatB! I think, as consumers, it is helpful to have a counterpoint to the general 'buy this' messages out there.
Oh, I absolutely agree-- BatB is a very helpful counter-message; it's entirely possible to get saturated with "must have" message, and the limited edition cycle can get out of control. I recall being one of those in the US to being honestly surprised that companies were giving out product to bloggers--until the disclosure rules came in, I had no idea. The latest trend seems to be installing a company rep as a blogger/twitter-er; some do it better than others, but ultimately its about controlling the message. I agree-visibility to consumers is key.
ReplyDeleteI would say I don't buy the 'all your cosmetics are the same, so buy cheaper ones' message. I *know* the texture and colours I find at Boots are not the same as those Tom Ford lipsticks or Rouge Bunny Rouge eyeshadows I love. Two brands being manufactured at the same factory doesn't make them the same formulation.
ReplyDeleteI love her blog..the only thing I don't like is she doesn't quite get the 'thrill' factor of new make up etc...I think she's beautied-out! And definitely think bloggers should disclose - the pr/blogger thing is now unstoppable and bloggers are being specifically targeted as a good source of publicity for brands. I think the initial nervousness of forthrightness has gone, which on the one hand is good but on the other leaves an open door for bloggers to end up saying yes to everything with no internal check-list. I campaigned at the beginning for bloggers to be sent beauty products to try - I still think they should be, but disclosure is essential for credibility. Each to their own though - if one wants to be the blogger than never discloses it's not a difficult calculation to make if you're seeing the same products 'disclosed' on other blogs - readers will soon catch on and make their choice one way or another. It may bother some or bother nobody.
ReplyDeleteHi BBB - I guess it's like working at a chocolate factory - it just puts you off chocolate in the end! I totally agree, it is up to each blogger to decide what's right for them and what to say yes and to say 'no thank you' to.
ReplyDeleteThanks for recommending this blog, I'd never heard of it until now. TBH I don't know how much it'll influence my future purchases. I like what I like - and I'd imagine most of us are the same. It's interesting to get such a no holds barred viewpoint from somebody with so much experience in the industry though.
ReplyDeleteRe: Sample dislosure. Meh. Sometimes I disclose, sometimes I don't. If you're a regular reader of my blog, I'd imagine you can tell from my style of writing when I'm reviewing an item sent to me or from my personal collection. I'm sure I've unintentionally peeved off a few PRs when I've emailed them a link to my not so favourable review of their clients product, but I'm not gonna love EVERY item I try, I'm only human.
Besides, I like to think my readers do have the common sense to realise just because I don't get along with a certain product that they won't necessarily have the same experience.
Hi Vex - I remember us discussing disclosure before, and the fact that you do give very frank reviews of stuff you've been sent! Would you say you've become more aware of marketing tactics (like the LE thing) since you've been blogging? I think you've said yourself you don't buy so much MAC any more.
ReplyDeleteI like this post and I like the fact that you have responded to each person. I have no problem with other bloggers being sent stuff and disclosing it or not, I know the bloggers that I trust and believe and I am happy with that. Personally I wouldn't accept anything, that may sound a bit sniffy and to be honest I am such a titchy blog that I doubt anyone would want to send me anything! but I have incredibly picky skin and would rather make my own mistakes. Also to echo what BBB says it is the thrill of the chase for me, the tracking down of that 1product which will make the difference. For me blogging is a complete and utter hobby, it is a bit of fun where I get to pull stupid faces in front of my son who is chief photographer and we all p** ourselves laughing. Sorry am blathering on as per - why use 1word when 35 will do! Jan x
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, I remember that chat :-) If people are gonna spend their money on a product then they need to know the good, bad and ugly about it.
ReplyDeleteI have EXHAUSTED MAC's perm line! I own everything I need to own from it and the novelty of LE collections has worn off hugely for me - when you have a large MU collection, you can easily pass on so much more since you already own something similar, so what's the point of buying what is essentially the same shade under a different name!
I haven't bought anything from a MAC LE collection since last Summer and I'm also over trying to track down past MAC LE shades now too. Of course when my collection was smaller, I was like a kid in a candy shop and I lapped it all up but having spent so much over the past 2+ yrs, I've reached saturation point.
Blogging has really opened my eyes to tactics. When I buy the one glossy women's mag I still buy, I'm amused at the 'rave reviews' for products that I tried weeks previously and recognise the press release blurbs! 18 mths ago, I was the very person they were targeting who was being brainwashed by the ads and 'Editors Choice', planning my next trip to Selfridges or Boots!
Blogging has made me more cynical, but has helped ME to make better decisions about the beauty products I spend my money on now.
Hi Jan - I think that doing what feels best and right for you is the key thing. I am really careful about skincare - most of the time I stick to the same products I know work for me, it's just not worth mucking up my skin.
ReplyDeleteP.S. You don't write too much - I am always very wordy myself!
Hi Vex - I think the MAC LE thing is starting to turn people off the brand, it's exhausting trying to keep up. Shame, they have some very good products in the regular line.
ReplyDeleteIt makes me grin a bit too when I recognise a PR release word for word. I remember the days when I used to think that magazines actually tested all the skincare they write about. :D
Yeah, I think the LE thing only snares you in for so long. But for every person who's had enough of LE collections, there are 10 more who are new to it and find it all exciting and will bu into almost every collection. I certainly did!
ReplyDeleteYeah, when I read Glamour now, I actually read it even more intensely than I used to cos I'm memorised by the ad campaigns and how they promote the latest products. I understand they have a job to do and it's quite interesting seeing how it all comes together and how I, the consumer, am supposed to embrace it.
Well thankyou, I never think of you as wordy at all - only just realised LE means limited edition, I did know that really, I just sort of forgot it for a moment *sidesteps out of the comment box whistling* Jan x
ReplyDeleteoff to check her blog out x
ReplyDeleteSomething that's really really been bugging me is the way that - in America anyway - companies are now releasing to the bloggers before the professionals.
ReplyDeleteIn the past, the salon was where women went to get the latest scoop on what's new and hot. Now, we're not even getting samples for ourselves anymore.
This month, my salon got packettes of a Matrix Biolage Shampoo that's been out for over a year. We got them this month because Biolage is our special but (a) we should have gotten them in advance of the special deal so people could experience before coming back in to purchase and (b) most of my clients already have this in their shower, negating the need for sampling.
Even OPI pulled this crap, releasing Black Shatter information to bloggers almost a whole month before the promo materials hit the distributors (and 2 months before the product itself hit shelves).
Part of me almost blames the industry. If professionals took pride in their career and subscribed to the trade publications, checked out what their distributors had on a regular basis, and fostered relationships with the PR people, WE would still be the first line.
But most stylists - and even less nail techs - discuss retail with their clients whatsoever. I have clients who have been coming to my salon for years (I'm new there) that still use a drugstore shampoo/conditioner notorious for causing dulling buildup that can end up damaging the hair. Have their previous stylists never properly educated them on caring for their hair? How do I live in a VERY hard water area and less people know we offer clarifying treatments then when I lived in a soft water area?
It's a whole new world and I'm honestly not sure that I'm ready to work in it.
That site is very too the point :) not sure I agree with it all, but interesting nevertheless.
ReplyDeleteWith the eye pencil thing only being made in those factories I thought brands like cosmeticsalacarte made all their own stuff, perhaps I have been gullible?
I prefer to know when something has been provided free of charge really and do always do this on my own blog. I do think there are a lot of blogs out there which are mainly press releases and PR sampled posts and I do feel like they are more like magazines rather than impartial reviews x
Thanks for the link - I've just followed!
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything you said regarding PR samples... I don't like the way the beauty blogging world has gone over the last six months or so. There are a handful of blogs I still really love reading for their opinions and writing style (including yours of course!), but I feel like I need to go on a mass unfollow cull on all the blogs which are just constant press releases and pseudo reviews of non-disclosed samples.
Hello Glitzkrieg. I can appreciate how frustrating that must be for a beauty professional. Sadly, I think it's a reflection of how our beauty habits have changed - my mother and grandmother didn't buy so many products, but they regularly visited the beauty salon and hairdresser. I think now we spend much more on products than we do on services.
ReplyDeleteHi Kirsty B - it's an interesting read. Thank you for visiting my blog.x
ReplyDeleteHi Replica - I don't know if Cosmetics A La Carte have their own pencil maker! :D It might be that they make pretty much everything else apart from the pencils themselves. I should imagine you'd need quite specialist equipment to manufacture a pencil.
ReplyDeleteHello Beauty Scribbler - I hope you are enjoying New York! The amount of brand-driven content on blogs in the last six months has definitely gone up. As a reader, I prefer disclosure too.
ReplyDeleteThanks for pointing out this link. I'll be interested in what she has to say but I'll still take it all with a grain of salt. I'm sure we can all learn from Rowena but I know I'll still make my own decisions on what to buy.
ReplyDeleteIn the US it's necessary for us to disclose what we get from the companies and I appreciate knowing that.
Gee, you don't know if Cosmetics A La Carte have their own pencil maker, where are your makeup powers ;) I guess I'll let it go... I might seem a bit crazy if I email them! x
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link, have followed and will check it out in more detail later. I'm very much with you on not wanting to give the impression that I cant buy everything, I find the idea of nondisclosure off putting and blogs where every other post is a sample or pr release such a turn off.
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed reading this post and the follow up comments x
Hi Marcia - yes, I remember us all being a bit gobsmacked on EMMU when the requirement to disclose came in and we saw how many products on blogs were PR samples. I think being clear about the source of products is a very good thing. I think you are someone else who doesn't fall for hype, but it's still interesting to read the tricks and ploys behind some brands.
ReplyDeleteHey Replica - #make-uppowerfail :D I'm actually quite tempted to buy one to see where it's made!
Hi Sparklz and Shine - it's an interesting (and entertaining) read. The conversations in the comments here have been really lively too, I love that.