Pammy Blogs Beauty: MyGlam March 2012 Glam Bag: Bag Opening





Wednesday, March 14, 2012

MyGlam March 2012 Glam Bag: Bag Opening


As many of you know, I am a fan of monthly beauty sample subscriptions. I am kinda a beauty sample service junkie, lol! Or, at least, usually I am. I always eagerly await my Birchbox arrival each month! Because of the fun I was having with Birchbox, I thought I would give MyGlam a try.

After being waitlisted, I finally joined and got my first MyGlam Glam Bag last month: Feb 2012 MyGlam Glam Bag Opening. Even though last month's Glam Bag was just "okay" at best, I thought that I would give MyGlam another couple months to see if the bags improved. You might think, "why wait? just cancel!". Well, I know that the company is just getting started out. So, I am trying to see if their "growing pains" are going to shake out. Plus, just like all sample services, there is going to be some variation month-to-month. You really need to evaluate a sample service over time. Do the bags have value and items you will use? Plus, you need to consider things like customer service as well. Customer service is a biggie in my book.

So, with all that said, my hopes were not that high for this month's Glam Bag. My Birchbox this month was aweseome! So, the Glam Bag had some big competition there! Especially since the Birchbox and Glam Bag were arriving just a few days apart. 

Honestly ya'll, I was so disappointed with this month's Glam Bag that I almost didn't even write this post. Great products and services are what inspire me to write! But, since many of you are beauty sample service subsribers, I figured I should go ahead and share. So this post will be a bit of a departure from my usual rave reviews for products and services that I love. Still, I am going to try to look at this objectively. This is just my personal opinion based on my experience with this month's Glam Bag. 

Lets get to the bag...what was inside? What are my thoughts?

This month's theme: Repair and Restore:
MyGlam's postcard included a note that this month's products were intended to repair and restore post-winter skin and hair just in time for a bright and dewy spring. The Glam Bag arrived in its usual cute hot pink bubble mailer. 

Who else got a "stinky" bag?
Okay, here is the biggie for me: I opened the mailing envelope and immediately noticed a strong odor. I mean, really...this bag is stinky! I hate to even mention this; but, for me, product scent is a huge part of the experience. I am not sure how the items picked up this smell...but, the zipper cosmetics bag and the My Glam brush holder smell like a mixture of gasoline and moth balls. It is certainly a chemical-type smell. Not pleasant at all. This bad odor has a huge impact on how I feel about the bag as whole. As a side note, I have asthma. So, I am really sensitive to chemical fumes.

With that said, lets all hope this smell dissipates. Part of the fun of getting a Glam Bag (for me) is the experience of opening a package that is like a present. Lets face it, Birchbox *always* gets that right with Bircboxes smelling of lovely products. Getting hit with a bad scent right when you open a package is definitely not a good thing! I am very surprised that whatever quality-control inspection that they have at My Glam didn't pick this up? Could they have "aired out" the items before they were sent? How in the world did the items get this odor? So, crossing all fingers and toes that this smell goes away. Otherwise, the zipper bag and brush holder will be tossed. 


Okay, enough about that...Lets get to the contents of the bag:
  • Zippered Cosmetics Bag: Too bad mine is stinky (hoping smell will go away!) because it really is a cute little bag. It has a nice spring floral print and it is a nice size for your purse. I might try airing it out outside for a few days?  
  • Pink Flap MyGlam embossed Brush holder and MyGlam Brush: Getting a brush is nice! But, I must admit that I am a bit of a brush snob. No, brushes don't need to be expensive to be great. But, with all the great quality inexpensive brushes out there like ecotools, essence of beauty, and Real Techniques, I just expect my brushes to be of great quality. So, with all that said, this brush seems a bit flimsy. It is shaped somewhat like a crease brush with a very fluffy head. I suppose it is a decent brush considering it was a "freebie". I think it would be best used for blending or applying a light wash of neutral shadow. I do love that it is pink! It is cute that it is embossed with "myglam". The brush and case certainly do have potential!!! I like where My Glam is going with this idea...But, the smell of the case really impacts my satisfaction here. If it didn't have the odor, I would have been quite pleased with the inclusion of this. 
  • Murad Absolute Bronzing Boost with SPF 15: Now this is the sample that I am most excited about. It is deluxe sized (yay!!!) at .17 oz in a pump container. If there were more samples like this in the bag, I would have been much happier. Murad is a great brand and I can't wait to try this out. The color is a bit dark for me. But, I think it would be great mixed in with my moisturizer or foundation.  
  • Dermstore "giftcard": I say "giftcard" loosely as this is really a discount code. $25 off a $50 purchase is really an awesome discount...but, you do have to fork out at least $25 to make use of this Glam Bag item. Some My Glam subscribers can't or won't even use this. For me, I am happy with this! I really love Dermstore and shop there frequently. So, I really am glad this is in the bag. But, lets not call it a giftcard...it is a discount code.  If you haven't had a chance to check out Dermstore.com yet, I highly recommend the site! It is a great place to find clinical strength skincare products. I have shopped there many, many times over the years. 
  • White fabric drawstring bag containing 3 small foil samples: Keracolor Conditioning Treatment, Purl-lisse SPF 30, and Mural Eye Lift Perfector. While it is nice to try a variety of new products via foil samples, foil samples are so small...that it is hard to really do a true test of the product. Also, foil samples, in my opinion, do not add any value to the bag since they hand these types of samples out at the mall for free. 
Besides the odor of the bag, my other big critique is that this bag is quite a bit "light" on the samples. So, looking at the above list, the Glam Bag really just contained 2 deluxe sized "samples": the mini brush and the Murad bronzer. Those 2 things do not value to $10 in my opinion. The foil samples are really just "extras" and do not have much value. The brush case and Glam Bag zipper bag are really cute...but, there is that odor problem. The Dermstore discount is nice...but, you have to be willing to spend an extra $25 to even use it. To me, this bag is just simply not worth the $10 subscription price.

Am I going to cancel?
Honestly, I am still deciding. As I mentioned, I like to evaluate sample service subscriptions over time. This is only my 2nd Glam Bag. I think I need to get at least one more to decide upon the service over the span of 3+ months. Also, I need to evaluate their customer service. How are they going to handle their dissatisfied customers? Will they replace the stinky bags?

I really do want My Glam to be successful! I know they are a start-up company. I certainly am not trying to bash them here with this post. I just want to share my experience with the bag this month. I know that you readers follow my sample subscription posts closely and want to know about my experience. I am , for now, continuing to subscribe and hoping that My Glam can pull together a better bag next month. I am sending them an email this morning to let them know about the odor. I will edit this post to add their reply when I get it. So, yes, I will continue to subscribe for now. But, I want to see more value for my money. I am afraid if they don't improve their bags soon, that this company might not be around much longer...

Fellow "Glammies": How was your bag? Are you going to continue to subscribe?

*UPDATE* I emailed MyGlam about the odor of the bag/brush/brush holder. I worded the email as nicely as I could and told them that I would like to continue to subscribe. But, I wanted them to resolve this first. After they realized that I had already "aired it out" (per their first response), they emailed again offering to send me a bag/brush/brush holder that do not smell *and* offer me a refund for this month's bag. I am very pleased with their quick response and their solution. I will continue to subscribe. But, if the bags do not continue to improve going forward...I will re-evaluate my subscription. For now, I am pleased with how they handled my email and responded.





8 comments:

MyFitBeauty said...

I had been a loyal customer of theirs since the end of december (my first bag was the January one).

it's upsetting to me that they didn't send me a gift bag or a shipping confirmation e-mail that I was getting one. Yet I did nothing at all/changed any settings on my account. So when I asked what happened to my bag, they said either my card was expired or not working. Which was not true, because my card doesn't expire til 2014 and it does work as I have other monthly subscriptions on there (julep) and I use that one so I know it works.

they just brushed me off kind of like, "oh well" they said sorry you're not getting a bag, but next month you will!

needless to say, I cancelled right at that point.

going to try other boxes.. or see what's out there.

Unknown said...

@MyFitBeauty-That is so dissapointing! What a terrible experience. Thanks for sharing what happened to you. Bad customer service is certainly my pet peeve...and it seems that will be what might mark the end of MyGlam for me. They certainly do not seem to be handling their issues. Sorry about your bad experience. Canceling was the right thing to do. Let me know if you find another good sample service!

MarciaF said...

I'm so disappointed in this bag. I'm going to blog about it. I can't believe the smell of the makeup bag. It's horrible.
Inside isn't much better. There's absolutely nothing I have any use for in it.
Last month at least I liked the bag itself. This month it's all bad.

Unknown said...

@Marcia-True, the contents are dissappointing and so is the bag itself.

I am really trying to decide cancel now...or after seeing next months. I might either just stick with Birchbox as my only sample subscription (which I am super happy with)...or add Beauty Army or maybe even Julep...

Miranda said...

I have to say I wasn't to pleased with this months bag either. I really hope they step it up or I will be cancelling. I got a stinky bag too and it still smells :( compared to birchbox and beauty army this one is lacking big time!

Unknown said...

@Miranda-I agree...and am seriously considering subscribing to Beauty Army! Their samples look fab!

The Rainbow Zebra said...

My bag and stuff didn't smell bad at all (and yeah any bad smell gives me an instant migraine). I'm glad they worked with you! Good customer service is a HUGE thing for me.

I just cancelled Beauty Army BUT....while the cost is more (because it's quarterly) I just joined Beautyfix--it is WAY WAY WAY better looking than Beauty Army! Take a look and see what you think! And some items, you can pick from a few choices (like eyeshadow, or the cosmetic bag they come with). It's like MyGlam meets Beauty Army meets New Beauty Test Tube lol.

I also just joined Blissmo and Food with Love (I'm such a sub nut lol).

Unknown said...

@Crafty Angel-Thanks so much for mentioning Beautyfix!!! I must go check it out now! And, lol, that sounds great (MyGlam meeting BeautyArmy meets Beauty Test Tube...anything that is the best of all of those sounds great!). Curious to check out other monthly subs too (besides beauty). :)



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