[[ A few items from my Evil Shades order ]]
Ordered: 10th January
Shipped: 24th January (turnaround time stated 10 business days)
Received: 9th February
Replacement Items Received: 1st March
[[ Um. Really? ]]
As soon as I shook out my products from the bag and started to inspect them, I knew something was wrong. One of the 'Hardcore Lips' glosses ('Not your Barbie') had pale chunks of unblended ingredients sitting around the bottom of the tube. I figured it was just one of those odd things that can go wrong sometimes and put it to the side. I opened the other 'Hardcore Lips' gloss ('Roué'), swatched, stared and was surprised to see grains running through it. It felt gritty and looked bumpy - more unblended ingredients. Upon opening 'Deadly' Wicked Gloss, I was disheartened to see yet more grains of unblended ingredients, as I swatched the grains were crushed and left bright red streaks through the gloss. Not happy. I also received 'Karta' gloss, which to quote a lady who emailed me, was described as being highly pigmented but 'was like putting on vegetable oil on your lips with a few sparkles in it with no color whatsoever.' I have to agree.
[[ 'Deadly' Wicked Gloss swatch. Check out the bright red streaks, black streaks and lumps. ]]
A little baffled by this (how could such a well loved company send me those?!) I emailed Evil Shades' Andrea to inform her of the problems with my order. A few hours later (got to remember time zone differences, folk) I received a very apologetic email, explaining that the equipment might have been off and that she would test it straight away. She also said that she would send replacements that following week. I then realised when I looked at my invoice that one of the items I had bought was missing, I emailed Evil Shades again and was told the missing item would be sent with the replacements.
[[ First 'Deadly' and replacement 'Deadly'. Exactly the same problem - red and black streak galore ]]
March 1st I received my replacements and missing item, everything was well wrapped once again and I made an inspection for lumps and bumps. 'Not your Barbie' simply had a lot fewer, smaller pale grains in it, 'Roué' seems to be entirely grain free but 'Deadly'...Well that's exactly the same as the first pot I received - awful.
Would I order again? Are you joking?! I had to contact Evil Shades twice about problems which would most likely not have arisen had the products and invoice had been checked before they were sent. I was very kindly sent replacements, but sadly those were not exactly up to par either. For me, buying make-up is a real treat that I can very rarely afford, so to receive items like this is such a disappointment. At this point, I could not confidently recommend Evil Shades, though my experience does fortunately seem to be a one off.
What have your experiences with Evil Shades been?
(P.S) Since posting this I have had a surprising amount of people email me with not so fabulous Evil Shades stories - thank you! A few are nail bloggers, worried about the drama posting a review could cause since Andrea is also a nail blogger. A few are make-up bloggers who were also concerned by the indie make-up minions. Just so you know, you aren't alone.
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