Let me preface this with a tiny note. I haven't posted a blog in nearly two months because a) I had a baby the 6th of September and b) I'm dealing with my 3rd death since August. Subsequently, this 3rd one is why I'm trying to take my mind off things. I won't be mentioning the violating company by name but if they wanna send me a cease and desist, feel free. Word of warning, this is MY blog and I'm prone to...colorful language. ;)
I am now convinced a certain MMU company is run by wack-a-do's, fruitcakes and fruit loops. Their "legal department" is filled with them as well.
If you've been paying attention to the MMU world in the slightest, you know that a huge scandal has erupted. It's come to light that many companies that claim to be mixing their own product, aren't. What they're doing is buying mica and pigments from companies such as TKB trading and Coastal Scents and in their "get rich quick" and "ride the coat tails of the true innovators" schemes are simply rebranding them. What that means is they're putting what they buy into jars, slapping a sticker on it and jumping around like excited puppies and saying "Look at me, this is what I did, I mixed my own loose mineral eyeshadows!"
No, you didn't. You bought pigment, put it in a jar and the extent of your creativity is to make a photoshop label. You didn't even put the ingredients in there that help it stay on! Do you have ANY idea how lame you are? But you can't stop there, oh no. You then show us you're even lamer by ripping off not only collection names, but collection descriptions from the site of one of the TRUE pioneers in MMU. If you had a half a brain cell you'd of known there was too much of a following; that you'd of eventually been found out.
It seems though, your lameness knows NO bounds. You then have your attorney (whom I'd bet got their license to practice law from a cracker jack box) to start sending cease and desist letters. What for, you ask? To one blogger because they refuse to give your product a glowing review. So you play the defamation card because she was brave enough to name your operation. An operation that, in her opinion and mine from the evidence I've seen, is simply repackaging pigments from other companies. You can not sue someone, not even me, for having an opinion and posting comparisons for others to make up their own minds. And had the attorney bothered to crack open a law book, he'd know it's only defamation when someone states flat out that things are different from what they are. Phyrra did NOT state it flat out as fact and it'd be for you to prove she was wrong in order to win a defamation suit. I don't know if you've looked at our countries constitution lately, but there's this lovely amendment in there, the 1st one. Since our illustrious attorney seems to not of ever read it, I post it here for their perusal.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Blogging is utilizing 2 of those rights; freedom of speech and freedom of press.
But, dear readers, it gets better. Another C&D letter went out. This time to, are you ready for this? The company she ripped off! That has pages and pages of PROOF. Hmm, now let us think about that. Actual, irrefutable proof that her intellectual property had been pilfered and SHE gets a C&D. Does anyone else see anything wrong with this picture? Yep, me too. Let us not forget, a customer of the innovator company has been threatened with a lawsuit based on something she said in a personal email. Is that the music from the Twilight Zone I'm hearing?
In this bloggers not so humble opinion repackagers are running scared. You see, a new movement is under way, The Mineral Makeup Mutiny. The MMM was started by one concerned Makeup-ista to educate the masses. To let all of us know which companies are being HONEST in their practices. Nothing is wrong with repackaging when the companies that do so tell us they do. Many who create their own colors also do have pure pigment we can buy as well, though many of those companies are now discontinuing them due to these shady businesses. They wish to stand out as the true artisans they are. Who can blame them? Not me, that's for sure!
Want to educate yourself? There are a couple of places you can do so. One being Fresco Phyrra's blog, the other being Mineral Makeup Mutiny At MMM you can also find other bloggers who are working to find the companies that give us original creations.
And since I refuse to be accused of being deceptive, this name is my artist name. If you'd rather send my Cease and Desist to my other name, that'd be Mahym from the blog of the company you ripped off. ;)
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Oh and let me state I'm speaking FOR MYSELF here. I am in no way affiliated with any company or individual, real or imagined, in the MMU world.
ReplyDeleteBeauty bloggers, if you wish to link to this post feel free. Heck I even give you permission to repost with credit to me.
Very well put! I love your attitude.;)
ReplyDelete-Laura
You are on fire! And... ITA with you. (fist bump)
ReplyDeleteThis whole C&D letter thing is just sad.
You wrote this perfectly! Also, if you want to make a second post, or just for your own info., after I found out which 'company' this was I did some research. "Orglamix"
ReplyDeleteEtsy.com is where she sells; I saw orglamix.com, but it opens to a blank page. In there she has 'tutorials' and 'newbie kits'. The descriptions are complete WORD FOR WORD rip-offs from the biggest MMU company in the world... so I don't see anywhere where it says it's an official product of THAT company. No... it says 'copyright xxxxxx' That didn't work for me. I emailed ALL of them to that large MMU company who has infomercials on the TV. They said they forwarded all the information to their legal department.
As if that is not enough, more scanning of the shop... I see pictures from the Twilight movie! At no point do I see that the item offered is 'officially licensed'. So I *assume*, based on the pattern of behaviour, that it is not (again, that's an opinion). I emailed those links (3 'kits' bearing the Twilight name and images) to Summit Entertainment. Not sure what will come of all that, but at least I did my part.
All of that was just said woman's MMU business on Etsy.com. There is a whole other disgrace with her 'traditional' makeup site; this one appears to be nothing more than private label. On there, she claims to have MADE ALL THE PRODUCTS HERSELF, when they are the same things you can find from yournamepro.com (companies that sell the gel linrs, creme shadows, lip liners, etc. might buy from this co.). Just do an online search.
OK, so that's bad. What's WORSE... she received a PETA trailblazer award in 2007?! That was due to offering vegan products and being innovative. What? She did not appear to create anything. Upon further search of URBANAPOTHECARY.COM, you will see makeup brushes made with 'capra' (goat). Everything else she DOES NOT LIST INGREDIENTS. Go online and find a shop that sells the products and they will tell you. Several ingredients are animal derived. In addition, there is a statement on UA that 'doesn't use petrolatum, alcohol...'. That doesn't appear true either based on looking up the ingredients of the items.
I emailed PETA and told them I had concerns about this company being a winner of their award when they ARE offering animal derived items and not appearing truthful about ingredients in their products. So, again, I feel I've done all I can do.
Based on all of this, I would stay miles away from Orglamix and Urbanapothecary.com