Visage

[Brighthunter]

I have the Visage show on and they are raving about the serums. I once asked what the percentage used was for both vitamin c and retinol, but they never said. I also thought that vitamin c serum is supposed to be clear and once its orange, its considered oxidized, but they rave out their orange vitamin c serum. It does have good reviews, but I'm a bit on the fence with them

 

[Ballerina]

I think the orange is just colouring. That is a nuisance because it will be hard to tell visually if it has gone off but you may be able to smell in that case. The percentage of the active ingredient is very important. You can not make an accurate comparison (although they do) to other brands selling these serums.

Like you, I have messaged the studio, in vain on several occasions to ask the proportions of active ingredients but they never reply. I have sent messages questioning their decision to manufacture in China, tumbleweed, no response. If you aren't singing the praises of Kati and Visage in general, they ignore you.

They manufacture Visage products in China. You are not required to test on animals f you manufacture in China, only if you sell in mainland China. I am always banging on about this but I feel strongly that a company who say they care about their impact on the planet, this is a complete contradiction in terms. It can't be justified ecoloigically, only economically. Cheap to produce, who knows what the factory making them is like, how are workers paid / treated? So, I refuse to support the brand.

 

[Brighthunter]

Perhaps its that colour so you can't tell when its oxidized! I have bought the make up and thought it was ok, but also unhappy it was produced in China. I liked the foundation, but was having to mix two together to get the right colour. Then I tried The Ordinary foundation which is just as good, the right colour and not too expensive - not from China either

Watching the new coffee eyeshadow palette being introduced. Some of the colours included are yellow, glittery pink and bright orange. Not sure they belong in a coffee coloured collection

 

[donna255]

Caught the brushes being sold last night. Lyn Jenks and the dark haired woman, no idea of her name, but she does the Visage range.

So there she was showing the eyebrow brush and clear as day you could see very dark eyebrow hairs needed plucked. I thought okay you are selling these brushes but appear on live TV with both eyebrows had massive black long hairs requiring just a quick pluck to look tidy.

 

[Brighthunter]

She has often said someone once called her Groucho Marx because of her overgrown eyebrows - she's proud of them. You just can't have someone like that applying make up to show you how to make your eyebrows fuller. I sent a message once and said I would like to see what the eyebrow kit looked like on someone with 90s brows that never grew back - like me! They replied saying this would be perfect (of course it would!) I actually bought the brow thing and couldn't get on with it at all. I looked like I had painted some new eyebrows on lol!

 

[Ballerina]

Her name is Kai Elliott and I agree, she should sort her own brows out before tellng us how to groom ours!

I was concerned about animal testing on Visage products, so I messaged the studio and they vere a bit sketchy in reply. They didn't reply to me directly but Kati very quickly uttered mid sentence "we are cruelty free". I wasn't convinced, so I rang customer services, who had absolutely no idea about Visage products. They need training as it is a deal breaker for a lot of people. The problem with the statement "we are cruelty free" is it can be used as a loophole. Basically, anyone can say we are cruelty free, even put logo's of cute bunnies on the bottles. However, unless it is a recognised bunny, like the leaping one on Liz Earle products (there are other bunny logo's), it can't always be trusted. A brand can state that they don't test on animals but not mention the fact that they get a third party to do their dirty work, or that the raw ingredients have been tested, or use the statement that "we only test on animals when required by law". Those statements cover a multitude of sins and skirt around the whole animal testing jargon. I wrote to Kati and asked her if any testing either on the raw ingredients, or the finished product had been conducted on animals but got no response. I watch the Visage shows but it is so rare for them to promote their cruelty free practices. I am unconvinced, people who are truly cruelty free shout it from the roof tops and have it proudly emblazened on their products and packaging. Silence speaks volumes.

I have to confess that I care about animals and don't like animal testing. BUT I can be hypocritical because I choose to use some products myself which I know are tested, or have had the ingredients tested by third parties on behalf of the company. I love L'Occitane and they used to be cruelty free, no longer as they are selling products in mainland China, where testing is mandatory. It is transparency that matters to me, I want to make an informed decision and I abhore deception / smoke and mirrors. I use L'Occitane Divine cream, ever since LE faffed with the skin repair. I was sent a sample and it worked a treat (expensive mind) and I made the choice to purchase the full aize cream. However, I do prefer my make-up not to be tested and not manufactured in China. I use Lily Lolo and Beauty Without Cruelty mostly and they are made in the UK, so more eco as well as animal friendly. Also, they are reasonably priced. I also use Body Shop, made primarily in France, so not too far to haul. I do use BareMinerals sometimes, bought from QVC in TSV deals, I think a lot oftheir stuff is made in the USA or Canada but the gift make-upbags are made in China. At least they are transparent about this. I also eat meat and love leather handbags, so hardly an animal crusader but I do care! xx

 

[Deasmum]

Yes, knowing whether something is truly cruelty free in terms of the whole production chain is essential for me too, but I am unsure if we will ever get completely transparent, straightforward answers from them.

 

[Bunnytown]

I have one Visage product that I bought some time ago, it is the multi-coloured powders that are supposed to even out your skin tone. Ellis was saying to multibuy because it was such a fantastic deal but I wasn't quite that gullible. The box is one of those cheap swivel things that is hard to close properly. As for the powder, I don't know how you're supposed to dispense it evenly without it going everywhere. I've given up trying to use it as I don't think it adds anything to my complexion and it also makes me sneeze - god only knows what is in it!

 

[Brighthunter]

I bought some of that. I found if you tap a bit out of two of the colours onto one side of the rim, swivel it round and tap a bit out of the other two colours and then use a big brush, that's the only way of dispensing it without covering yourself in it. I also bought the pressed version, but there is so little product in there, it doesn't last very long at all. I wouldn't get it again. I hate it when they tell you to multibuy!

 

[Ballerina]

I would imagine that it contains silicone? That is one ingredient I have trouble with and my skin is usu.ally well behaved. Silicone is comedogenic, it blocks pores in plain english. I have seen Kati Elliott demo it on tv but it looks a bit fiddly. I think Donna pointed out that it is a direct rip-off of the Givenchy product that does the same thing. Certainly the packing is identical but I would hazzard a guess that the Givenchy is a better formula. The pressed version does look stingy in terms of gram weight, most of the cost is in the packaging, wasteful and expensive in the long run.

 

[Brighthunter]

I think its mostly mica and silica. Definitely a direct copy of Givenchy though, they haven't even gone for different looking packaging.

 

[Ballerina]

Mica, that awful ingredient you get in practically everything. It is produced mainly in Eastern India, an incredibly poor region of the world. It is mined by children, some of whom are very young, who are exploited and abused. Sometimes the banner "blood mica" is used by campaigners. Too poor to send kids to school, their parents let them earn money mining mica so that the family can eat. They want to be able to educate the children but there is just no money and the mines are the only option. I try not to buy cosmetics with mica but is is really difficult to find them but Hout Cosmetics are a good option. I write to my favourite companies like Lily Lolo and Beauty Without Cruelty. They care about animals which is fantastic, so shouldn't they care about children too?

 

[Brighthunter]

They are really giving the foundation the hard sell again today - 2 for 1 as it 'has to go up in price'. The cynic in me wonders if the expiration date is soon and they need to shift it! Its odd that they are shouting from the rooftops that all the prices are going up, but haven't really mentioned on the shows that the delivery price has already gone up. I saw an email, but not noticed the presenters telling us.

 

[Snowstorm]

I think its mostly mica and silica. Definitely a direct copy of Givenchy though, they haven't even gone for different looking packaging.

In fairness is this correct? That it is mica and silica?

 

[Brighthunter]

I just had a look at the pressed version - top ingredients - Synthetic fluorphlogopite, magnesium myristate, mica, methicone, silica, phenyl silicone resin and a whole bunch of other scary sounding stuff, so there is silicone in there too, Ballerina was correct.

 

[donna255]

Quite a few of the higher end brands have moved away from using talc as well in their loose powder. Cosmetics companies now give a warning that any of their products contain mica.

Yes, Givenchy for years has sold that four colours loose powder, never bought it myself. But they did different colour choices for different skin tones, Light the one only sold on Gems, then middle for olive skin tones and a deeper one for WOC.

Light the balls Meteorites sold by Guerlain since year dot. Suppose to bright the skin, they are not meant as a setting powder. They also do different shades in them. Many years back in the 90s, I was given a smaller pot and the damn things were a pain. You tried to twist the brush in the pot and the balls jumped out, and the cat used to play around the bathroom floor with them. I had to search and pick them up in case the cat ate them.

 

[Snowstorm]

I just had a look at the pressed version - top ingredients - Synthetic fluorphlogopite, magnesium myristate, mica, methicone, silica, phenyl silicone resin and a whole bunch of other scary sounding stuff, so there is silicone in there too, Ballerina was correct.

Thank you

 

[Brighthunter]

The loose powder has less ingredients, but the main ingredient is mica. I do confess I like the loose powder though and it lasts ages

 

[Snowstorm]

I quite like the pressed powder. I use it a lot, hence my question earlier on. It works well on my combi skin and open pores. What a dilemma.

 

[Brighthunter]

They are giving Beam the hard sell again today and Ellis has said she would pay £100 for it as it makes you look 10 years younger. I've bought Beam and its ok, until you see your skin glittering in the sun. It's so hard to find a highlighter that doesn't have sparkly particles in it.