PDP Exclusives by Rebecca

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Hi Fi Cosmetics Review

 I am not quite sure how to start this review as it has
been in the making for well over two months now.
I am extremely dissatisfied with the turnaround time and the
communication from this company.

Below explains why ,if you want to skip this and
go straight to the product review please feel free =0)

I contacted Veronica, the owner of Hi-Fi Cosmetics on 5/12
through Etsy and inquired about the purchase of a blogger/review package.
She responded over a week later and told me she could put together a $10 sample
package. I had heard such great things about Hi-Fi so this sounded
awesome. She invoiced me through Paypal on 5/20 and I paid on 5/23.
On 6/5 Paypal sent me a shipping notice. I expected the package within a week.
On 6/12 I realized the package had not arrived so I checked the tracking and it had
not updated at all and only showed that the label had been printed.
I emailed Veronica that day asking if she had any info on where my package was.
On 6/15 she responded asking for my invoice number. I responded the same day with
my invoice number. I never received a response from her after that.
I finally received my package on 6/18. I checked the tracking and noticed my package
was accepted at the post office on 6/15, the same day I emailed asking
about it. I feel like my order was forgotten about until I asked about and then shipped
the same day which is fine because I know things happen but the lack of
communication is not fine AT ALL.
From the day I ordered (paid) to the day I got my package was 29 days.
Here is my order.
Everything was packaged nicely.
I received 7 pigment samples
and 1 Spotlight Lipglaze.


The packaging on the lip glaze was nice.
The color I received was Sweet Escape.
My first thought upon opening it was that it smelled gross.
It has an overwhelming odor of Castor Oil to me.
I checked and it is an ingredient.
 I did try it on and the formula was nice. Not sticky and the color
was very pretty. It just needs to be scented or something.
Lipglazes are $6.99 and can be purchased here.
The sample baggies were very full and easy to pot.
The ingredients were not listed on the samples but are available
on the pigment listing in the Etsy shop though it does appear
to be a generic list that is used for each color.

Pigments are $4.99 and come in a 5 gram jar.
I was not able to find any single sample baggies for sale.

 Disco is a GORGEOUS white!!!
Swatches in sunlight.

For this look I used Pale Jewel and Wild Thing
 I liked these colors however I feel like I have quite a few that are very
similar in my collection. I know every company has a close
version of the same color so it is understandable.

For this look I used Disco, So What, Another Day Another Drama
and Midnight Hour.
 These pigments also applied well. I did have a bit of trouble
with the purples. I found if I blended too much they became
gray and muddy.

Overall thoughts?
I feel like this company makes nice pigments and
the pricing for pigments is a bit below average which is nice
but because of the extremely long turnaround time and
lack of communication I have to say that I dislike this
company. I know many others have had great experiences
with Hi-Fi Cosmetics so and I hope that they will
understand that this is MY opinion and not an attack
on the company.

So tell me, Have you tried Hi Fi Cosmetics?
If so how was your experience?

Thanks so much for reading,

14 comments:

  1. Your experience was not unique. Every single time I have ordered (at least 3 times), I had the exact same situation. Every time I would wait for shipping to update. When it wouldn't, I would contact Veronica. Each time, the package would show as scanned into the USPS AFTER I had sent my inquiry-usually taking about a month to get my order all together. I know some places have lots of orders and long turnaround. I don't mind that as long as I know that's what I am getting into. These orders, I felt like I was having to track it down to get it. I should not have to contact a seller every time I order to get my package sent out. The first time I was concerned that it was lost in the mail, which is why I contacted her. I felt like after 3 times, there is something dishonest about the way packages are handled and even though I liked the shadows, I have chosen not to order from Hi-Fi again. BTW, my lipgloss had that smell too. I didn't know what it was. I'm glad you said it is castor oil because I was worried it was "off"...now I can use them.

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  2. Yeah, no big news here. I'm glad you brought it up, though. Always appreciate honesty, even if it's negative.

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  3. Thank you for your honesty. This review was good. Their products seem pretty. I may try contacting her to.

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  4. Preety colors, but i don't know of dealing with all that drama is worth it. Customer service is really big thing for me with small companies. And a month of waiting sheeeeeh. That's way to much and sounds like if you didn't e-mail her you might not have ever gotten your order

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  5. What a shame! I'm suddenly hearing all these bad things about their turnaround. I ordered from them twice and it was always fine but that was a year ago. I love their products but just forgetting about orders and not getting back to you is really off!

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  6. I'm not a beauty blogger, but I've been a long time Hi Fi customer. I was frustrated too but gave it another chance after she moved and when she reopened on Artfire. The first couple of orders were no problem, but I had a similar experience with my last order. I emailed her, even messaged her on FB and got no answer. Got a shipping notice the day before I was going to file a paypal dispute.So my last order was my final order. Too bad, because her shadows are lovely.

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  7. I've ordered from Hi-Fi twice, and had two very different experiences. The very first time I ordered, it went pretty much exactly like your situation did. To me (and I'm not saying this was the intention, just my opinion), it seemed like if I hadn't checked up on my order, it wouldn't have been shipped. A customer should NOT have to check up on orders just to make sure they're actually shipped out. I placed the order, and waited 10 days before emailing, as the status had not changed to say it was shipped. I didn't hear back, so then I left a message on their Facebook page asking for someone to get back to me. That received a quick response, assumingly because other people could see it. I was told that she never received any email from me, and asked me to send it again. Which I did. And then she just responded by updating my order status to "shipped" with a tracking number. I continued to track it every day after that, and for an entire week, it didn't change from "shipping info received." So I emailed again, asking if there was something wrong with my tracking number or something. Didn't receive a response. The next day, the tracking number magically showed that the package was received by USPS. So she marked it as shipped a week prior to when she actually mailed it - I'm not sure why though...did they think I wouldn't notice? Anyway, after all of that hassle, I figured I wouldn't order again. However, a Heartsy deal came through last week for their shop, and since I have a VIP membership, I got a really great deal. So I took my chances and ordered again. I ordered last week Tuesday, and without me emailing or following up at all, my package was shipped on Thursday, and I received it this past Saturday. A very drastic difference from just a little over a month ago. Maybe they took feedback to heart and made some positive changes - I'd like to hope so. But regardless, I'm not sure I'll order again.

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  8. I've had fine experiences from Hi-Fi so far, but have not ordered very recently.
    I absolutely agree on the Lip Glazes. I love the sample colors I have and the formula is great but they smell bad =( I wish they would be scented!!

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  9. Interesting reveiw. I have never ordered from them, but I did purchase a Lip Glaze from a blog sale and found that it smelled and applied in a very oily manner and I did not like it. The eye shadows look awesome, though!

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  10. The last time I ordered from them I got a really slow turnaround time as well, which is a first for me. However, at the time there were multiple hurricanes and power outages where she lived, and the post office weren't even open half the time. She did include extra items to make up for it though. I ordered around the same time as you, so that could have been the case with your order as well.

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  11. I love her products, but I have noticed the turn around time becoming longer and longer. This was becoming an issue prior to the Heartsy sale. I understand she is dealing with an increasing number of orders, but this is due in part to all the sales she has been having. Her company is growing, and it may be to the point she should consider hiring an employee or two in order to keep up with the sales volume.

    Single samples were taken down from the site because she was losing money due to large sample orders with one-time customers who never returned for full sizes. I tend to order her full sizes, because I always like the colors, but this would definitely put me off as a new customer.

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  12. I've also experienced issues with Veronica's version of customer service, and am currently in the middle of another (the LAST) ordeal. I'd ordered from her twice a while back and also had to wait at least a month for my packages while she ignored any attempt at contact until I requested my order be canceled. When the Heartsy deal came up, I thought I'd give her another chance -- I mean, she had been running the business for almost two years now and should have learned how to manage it, right?

    Due to the discount from the Heartsy voucher, Paypal wouldn't let me check out (the only charge was for shipping, and their system didn't like the product total of $0). I checked her Facebook page and saw that she was aware of the issue and was sending out invoices, so I waited. A week passed. I sent her a message regarding my order. Nothing. I posted on her FB page; she deleted it. Sent her another email after two weeks had passed. Still no response. And this is just for the invoice! So I can PAY her!

    Yet, she still keeps updating her FB page while apparently not having the time to respond to customer inquiries. She's also having a sale, despite apparently being too busy to ship out other people's orders in keeping with her own advertised TAT. I guess she's doing well enough not to need new customers, and I'll be more than glad to buy from companies that want business from outside their fanclub.

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  13. Yuck, I am sorry so many of you have had similar experiences. I am glad you shared though, hopefully people will read this review and decide to order from another company!!

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  14. Same poster here as the Anonymous right above -just wanted to say that it's been almost two months since I ordered, and she isn't responding to me. Judging by her Facebook page, I'm not the only would-be customer in this predicament. One poor girl posted that she ordered on July 8th and still hasn't heard anything! Her Etsy and Artfire shops are both closed (Etsy shop seems to be gone entirely), which makes me wonder exactly what's happened.

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