How not to run a business: Pure Luxe
Years ago, when I was first getting into makeup, I placed numerous orders with Pure Luxe, a mmu company. The eyeshadows on their site looked so pretty and colorful, but usually went on fairly sheer. Being new to makeup, I thought I was doing something wrong – maybe I needed different brushes, or special products to make it stick to my eyelid better. Maybe there was some trick I didn’t know about. Maybe I needed to foil it, but what was foiling?
Recently, Grey of Gothique asked for suggestions of companies to review, and Pure Luxe was one that came up as being a possible repacker.
Last week, she posted her review.
To sum it up, out of the 26 different products she ordered, more than half are suspected of being repack, and one product has actually been declared as unsafe for use around the eyes by the US FDA. Pure Luxe, unfortunately, sells this product as an eyeshadow, with absolutely no warning of the FDA regulations or safety concerns.
Tonight I was playing with some eyeshadow samples, adding various micas to tweak the colors, when I thought I’d dig out what was left of my Pure Luxe shadows. That is, to say, what I haven’t given to my sister due to finding no use for it.
Cue me realizing that I have a Pure Hue (those micas Aromaleigh sold plain on customer request) that might be close match to one I pulled out.
Err, I forgot which is which.
The general opinion is that repackaging isn’t so bad if the company/seller is honest about the product being repackaged.
I will never make promises, only honest opinions and advice for looking your best, whatever your style. I HONESTLY believe in this product line. I have invested a huge amount of my time and money to make Pure Luxe the best it can be, and I believe I have succeeded.
*I love my formulas!
*I love my colors!
Some time ago, when the repacking debate was just starting, I had a sneaking suspicion that Bubblegum Ballz were actually TKB’s Pops! collection.
I wasn’t the only one.
The Mutiny happened to use her Bubblegum Ballz picture in a post about the Pops! collection being resold by so many companies. There was no link back to Pure Luxe, no mention of their name – you would have to already know it was her image to know where it came from. And instead of Christina Kocher, the owner of Pure Luxe, contacting the Mutiny directly to request the image be removed, she left a very public comment.
Miss Kocher seems to be taking a lesson from the Lime Crime School of Bull**** Legal Threats.
Edit: As of March 5th, 2010, Pure Luxe has been added to my Companies I Avoid list. Please see the list for details.
Edit: As of February 2011, I am still working on Project PL, a comprehensive list of all regular stock pigments Pure Luxe sells, and their TKB mica matches.
A Girl and Her Shadows 
I have ordered a lot from PL years agoa… before I knew about other companies. I found many colors sheer and when I got other MMU eye shadows, I sold everything I had from PL (I might have a few left and I have o take a closer look at those).
That message to Mutiny was something :/
At least I’m not the only one who found them sheer; I seriously thought it was me, not the product, for a long time, so much so that I stopped bothering even trying to play with makeup for awhile.
Another former customer who bought from Pure Luxe and found them to be DISGUSTINGLY sheer here. I’m glad that the ugly side of the company is becoming public. I purchased from them when I was 16, with my first job. I saw random swatches online of their minerals and I thought they looked beautiful. Unbeknown to me, the swatches were foiled, which is why they looked so vivid. Heck, ANYTHING will look bright applied wet. Even 99 cent bon bons from Walmart!
Because the shipping at the time was so high, I figured I’d just make a large order. From the swatches, they can’t be that bad right? I spend $50-$60 of my hard earned teenage minimum wage money for the full sized pigments and I was so crushed to find out that none of the shadows stick onto the skin even with a good primer. They were a sheer muddy shimmery mess! I wouldn’t use the shadows even if they were free! I couldn’t return them either and I wish I knew then what I know now about Paypal disputes! :(
I have the shadows tucked away in a shoe box in a corner of my closet so I don’t have to look at them. It hurts my heart to do so but I also don’t have the heart to throw them away because I spent so much money on them!
Oh, and what is up with their website design? It’s been years and the website still looks the same. They couldn’t hire a good web designer to design the site? It’s a freaking tax deduction too (assuming they pay taxes) so why be stingy? It looks like something a high school student made during an elective “intro to HTML” class lol.
The sad thing is, I was making better-looking websites just out of high school based on HTML4 for Dummies and self-taught Photoshop skills. I cannot believe that the site has never been improved in all these years.
I wasn’t much older than you were when I found them, and used money from my first job as well. Luckily my sister has never complained when I’ve given her makeup.
hey, thanks for the info. At least now I know the ugly side of mineral make up business. I like their powder foundation, but it is easily replaced with other MMU. I never had the chance to sample their eye shadows. the only thing that I found great is their eraser. but there must be something else out there to replace it. :p no big deal.
It’s a shame, in a way – there shouldn’t be an ugly side the of the mmu business. There’s no need for it.
The gold pure hue looks like a gold repackaged shade I have from Heavenly Naturals >_>
Yeah, I’m not sure if Heavenly Naturals really does any of their own makeup.