Company Overview: CocoaPink

By Unknown

Nothing to Disclose

I first found indie shop CocoaPink when I was hunting for dupes of Serge Lutens Chergui, which in turn was triggered by my obsession with BPAL's limited edition scent Ninon, one of my all-time favorites, and a near-dupe of Chergui. Ninon is impossible to find, Chergui is obtainable but fearsomely expensive, so I was looking for other possible alternatives. I came across CocoaPink's "Chergui type" scent, described as "honey, musk, incense, tobacco leaf, hay sugar, amber, iris rose and sandalwood." I filed it away in my mind, but didn't order anything until I was tempted into it by a sale.

CocoaPink offers not just oil or alcohol-based perfumes from a massive list (currently 340 scents, by my count), but custom-scented, handmade, cruelty-free bath and body products: shampoo, conditioner, lotion, etc. When I ran out of shampoo and noticed CocoaPink was simultaneously having a sale, I decided it was a sign from the universe that I should place an order for a couple of shampoos and conditioners and test it out.

Packaging: 

My package came in a flat-rate Priority Mail box--the bottles were wrapped with colorful tissue paper with some festive shredded tissue streamers thrown in as well, and there was a hand-written thank-you note on my receipt. All the lids were taped down with Scotch tape--while I appreciate the attention to keeping them from opening in transit, it gave the otherwise professional package a very cheap feel. It wasn't even necessary for some of the bottles, since some of them were already sealed with a foam circle under the cap.


The main label does not include the scent on it; the scent name is on a small round sticker applied separately.


To be honest, I'm not personally a huge fan of CocoaPink's general graphic design aesthetic or the half-Lush half-Comic Sans font they use, but it all looks professional enough and the design is cohesive across their product lines. (Very girly girl: lots of pink cupcakes and flowers. I feel like the CocoaPink Girl is someone who would drink caramel appletinis, have a tape dispenser shaped like a high-heeled zebra-print shoe, and attend wine-and-painting parties.)

The packaging feels nice, but I did see some complaints on reddit that the packaging of their bath and body products is not waterproof and does not hold up well if kept in the shower, like most bath and body products would be.

Selection: 

As I mentioned above, the scent menu is huge and rather overwhelming, with 340 scents to choose from at the moment--ranging from original compositions to dupes of various famous perfumes. The perfumes range from Bath and Body Works and Herbal Essences dupes to high-end/niche dupes like the aforementioned Serge Lutens Chergui, Jo Malone Lime Blossom, Guerlain Spiritueuse Double Vanille, or Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb (search for "type" in the scent list to find the dupes). The scent selection leans heavily towards gourmand vanilla/cake/marshmallow scents.

The product selection is smaller, but still extensive: under the Body section, you can find 5 types of lotions, oil or alcohol-based perfumes, two types of sugar scrub, and a "Personal Care" catchall section containing a couple of oil sprays, linen spray, an "intimate cleanser," "shower butter," and even a gel deodorant.

The Face section contains a sulfate-free facial scrub cleanser, a oil cleansing mixture (this appears to just be a mixture of oils, not an emulsifying all-in-one cleansing oil), and a serum called "I'm 29."

The Hair section contains six different types of conditioner, two different shampoos, and six different styling products ranging from serums to hairspray. There are sulfate-free, protein-free, and silicone-free options.

Samples: 

My order came with a couple of free samples: a vial of Henri Bendel Vanilla Bean type perfume, which I immediately misplaced, and a little tub of Voluptuous Body Butter in Marshmallow Candy Cane Noel. Dram-sized perfume vials are available for purchase for $3.50 each or 6 for $18. Sample sizes of the other products do not seem to be available for purchase.

Quality: 

I was very happy with the Argan Creme Conditioner I got with the Chergui scent added--the perfume is a pretty good dupe, and lingered in my hair all day. You can see more thoughts in my product review here (in which I accidentally spelled the shop name as "Cocoa Pink" throughout--oops, sorry!) The shampoo also seemed quite nice, although I wasn't as big a fan of the scent. Honestly, I am not very discerning when it comes to hair products. I didn't encounter any major problems. My hair felt clean and shiny after I used the shampoo and conditioner, and that's about all I'm looking for.

I lost the perfume sample before I could test it (I'm sure it will turn up one of these days) and managed to get a couple of uses out of the body butter before losing that too. The body butter felt moisturizing and was nice, if exceedingly sweet-smelling, and maybe not as heavy as what I prefer in lotions.

Cost:

I mentioned this in my conditioner review. I spent $8.50 on a 6 oz. bottle of conditioner, $7.50 for a 6 oz. bottle of shampoo. These prices are probably not bad compared to salon products, but as a longtime cheap drugstore shampoo/conditioner user, I wince a little every time I use the shampoo and conditioner; at $1.41 an ounce for the conditioner, I feel like I'm squirting liquefied money out into my hand as I dispense it, and ask myself "Do I really need to use this much product? Could I get away with less?" Which is kind of ridiculous, since I do buy and use fancy soaps without hesitation, and I do feel like it's worth spending money on products you will use to the last drop... In any case, your own personal tolerance for these prices will vary, depending on how much you are used to spending on hair products.

Customer Service:

I did not contact CocoaPink for any customer service issues. They have an email address, contact page, and the usual social media outlets (Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter) along with their own forum.

TAT: 

The TAT is long, but the site is open about that, and during high-traffic periods, updates with order numbers are listed on the sidebar of the site. It currently states a 14-21 day turnaround. I placed my order on November 5 and it was shipped on December 10.

Shipping: 

CocoaPink will ship internationally, although I don't know how much their rates are compared to domestic.

Shipping seems rather expensive up front--the items are heavy, after all. I was charged $9 up front for shipping 4 bottles of shampoo and conditioner. However, I was actually refunded $3.20 in excess shipping costs, which I thought was nice!

Personal Thoughts:

I feel that it is important to tell you all that I think Princess Poo might beat out even Revlon Moisture Stains for the distinction of Worst Beauty Product Name Ever. Now that that's out of the way:

I love the idea of being able to custom scent bath and body and hair products, and CocoaPink's catalog of scents is insanely huge and full of very tempting-sounding concoctions. I don't love the cost of the products, because for some reason I'm a cheapskate when it comes to my hair, but even an expensive conditioner or lotion is way cheaper than a bottle of Serge Lutens Chergui! I wish that they offered a wider range of scents--more woodsy, dry scents, more florals, or more green, fresh scents--since I feel like about 95% of the catalog is the scent of some kind of baked good. I could barely find any non-sweet, non-dupe scents in the catalog--at the moment, they seem to include:

• Black Forest, "The haunting fragrance of Scotch pine boughs, burning firewood and dried fall leaves married with CP's warm sensual amber note."
• Fear of Cemeteries, "Cool damp graveyard dirt with a single white carnation placed cautiously against an old granite headstone, covered by dying crimson and yellow autumn leaves with a soft whisper of wood smoke carried in a crisp breeze."
• Frozen Ground, "Long dead autumn leaves frozen to the ground encapsulated in a thin layer of ice with dark soil poking through surrounding a single pale magnolia flower frozen in time that seems awkwardly out of place."
• Nature's Paintbrush, "Beautiful Sugar Maple and Red Maple leaves lit up by the golden afternoon sun are set ablaze in vibrant colors paired with the quiet yet complex notes of chilled cabernet sauvignon and sweet pipe smoke swirling through the crisp air."

Gourmand lovers will have a ball picking out scents to try. Anyone who doesn't enjoy smelling like sugar, donuts, fruit, or vanilla will have a harder time finding something that suits them.

Anyway, all in all, I had a great first experience with CocoaPink, and I've enjoyed the shampoo and conditioner I've tried so far. Next time, if I do decide to get another round of nice-smelling hair goodies, I might also try venturing into their customized lotions, or seeing how the fake Chergui perfume wears on the skin.

Have you tried CocoaPink? Any favorite scents to recommend? Should I try Concoction customizable shampoo next and have to blend it up myself? Should I just dump some perfume oil into an unscented bottle of shampoo? Or stick to hair oils for my good-smelling hair needs?

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