Ten Three Labs opened last October (on 10/3 - get it?) and since then has gathered a large fan gathering over at /r/indiemakeupandmore. In particular, the four month old company has become a hit for their Salve Sticks, the Ten Three Labs version of Lip Balm, and recently won the Portrait of Mai Reader's Choice Award for Best Indie Lip Balm. Of course I had to see what all this hype was about and finally got around to placing my first order.
Packaging:
The lip products came shrink-wrapped with this nifty plastic that also removes just the portion for the cap so if you want, you can keep the label shrink-wrapped but still be able to use the product.
I ordered a sample set of eyeshadows and these came in plastic baggies. The plastic baggies were different across the line, some were made of a thicker plastic than others and I hope that Ten Three Labs is trying to move away from these thinner plastic bags because they were literally the worst eyeshadow baggies I've ever seen. They were hard to get eyeshadow out of and flopped around. I was pretty happy that not all of the samples were in the thin baggie.
I ordered a sample set of eyeshadows and these came in plastic baggies. The plastic baggies were different across the line, some were made of a thicker plastic than others and I hope that Ten Three Labs is trying to move away from these thinner plastic bags because they were literally the worst eyeshadow baggies I've ever seen. They were hard to get eyeshadow out of and flopped around. I was pretty happy that not all of the samples were in the thin baggie.
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| Salve stick |
Selection:
Being a baby to the indie world, the product offering at Ten Three Labs is still on the smaller side though they do sell eyeshadows, lip balms (Salve Sticks), tinted lip balms (Smudge Sticks), AND perfumes. It's a combination that I haven't seen too often, with most companies preferring to stick to either cosmetics or perfumes. So far, collections have included a varied assortment of product types.
Listed in order of collection release:
The Bad Bitch Collection: Originally 11 eyeshadows but now reduced to 6 eyeshadows
The Grand-Reopening Collection: 12 eyeshadows, 2 tinted lip balms, and 3 perfumes
The 742 Collection: 3 eyeshadows and 2 tinted lip balms. The description on this listing says that it was only available for purchase through last December but there is still a live sale listing for the complete set.
and the latest offering, Project Leda: 3 tinted lip balms and 6 perfumes.
In a facebook post, Ten Three Labs mentions no longer being focused as heavily on eyeshadows going forward with most new collections being perfume and lip tint based.
The Phantasmagoria Projection Box is Ten Three Labs version of a subscription box - though I don't believe that there's currently an option to subscribe, it's just released periodically and you purchase it when it's released. Pricing and contents vary but Ten Three Labs releases the contents list before purchasing which I think is a nice touch.
Ten Three Labs also offers a quarterly Mystery Machine Pack which is a pretty neat concept. It's three different lip balms and you have to guess what the scent is without any packaging hints. If you submit a correct guess (you only have to guess one correctly) you are entered into a drawing for a 50% off an order code. At the end of the year, voted favorites will be added to the permanent line.
Listed in order of collection release:
The Bad Bitch Collection: Originally 11 eyeshadows but now reduced to 6 eyeshadows
The Grand-Reopening Collection: 12 eyeshadows, 2 tinted lip balms, and 3 perfumes
The 742 Collection: 3 eyeshadows and 2 tinted lip balms. The description on this listing says that it was only available for purchase through last December but there is still a live sale listing for the complete set.
and the latest offering, Project Leda: 3 tinted lip balms and 6 perfumes.
In a facebook post, Ten Three Labs mentions no longer being focused as heavily on eyeshadows going forward with most new collections being perfume and lip tint based.
The Phantasmagoria Projection Box is Ten Three Labs version of a subscription box - though I don't believe that there's currently an option to subscribe, it's just released periodically and you purchase it when it's released. Pricing and contents vary but Ten Three Labs releases the contents list before purchasing which I think is a nice touch.
Ten Three Labs also offers a quarterly Mystery Machine Pack which is a pretty neat concept. It's three different lip balms and you have to guess what the scent is without any packaging hints. If you submit a correct guess (you only have to guess one correctly) you are entered into a drawing for a 50% off an order code. At the end of the year, voted favorites will be added to the permanent line.
Samples:
Samples are available for eyeshadows and perfumes. Eyeshadow samples are $1.50 and perfume samples are $3.50. The eyeshadow samples come in baggies (refer to above complaint regarding baggies) with 1/4 tsp of eyeshadow. Perfume samples are 1 mL but not in standard sample vials, they're actually in cute squat little bottles.
Lip products are not available individually in sample form but if you purchase a complete set (under the complete set listing), the collection's smudge sticks come in clamshell form.
Lip products are not available individually in sample form but if you purchase a complete set (under the complete set listing), the collection's smudge sticks come in clamshell form.
Quality:
The shimmer eyeshadows are nice but the eyeshadows with a matte base are a little finicky to work with and seem more inconsistent by color. As mentioned above, Ten Three Labs is no longer going to be introducing many new eyeshadows but I do hope the owner has time to tweak the formula a bit.The salve stick formula is raved about and I've been really enjoying the one that I have. I picked up one from the holiday collection in Cocoa Puffs and the scent is spot on. It's nicely moisturizing.
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| Discontinued so this smudge stick won't get it's own post :( |
Perfumes aren't really my thing so I'll have to leave it to my co-bloggers to take a look at them.
Cost:
Pretty standard for indies.
- Salve Sticks/Lip Balms: $4
- Smudge Sticks/Tinted Lip Balms: $5
- Perfume Samples: $3.50
- Perfume: $14
- Eyeshadow Samples: $1.50
- Eyeshadow: $6
Customer Service:
I ordered a blogger pack but forgot to put the blog name into the comments field so the owner politely emailed me to ask for it. I haven't had any other customer interactions with the owner but they are active on the indie subreddit and seem to respond quickly to questions on their facebook.
TAT:
The TAT is listed in a black bar at the very top of the website. It is currently listed as 12-16 business days. I placed my order on December 23rd, received a shipping notice on January 11th, and it was in my hands on January 17th. Considering the holiday season, this was within the stated TAT.
Shipping:
Starts at a very reasonable $3.Personal Thoughts:
The one thing that really stands out to me about Ten Three Labs is the awesome job that they've done with branding. Despite being a very young indie, they have a crisp and clear website with a distinct logo. The brand still seems to be developing its vision but they are openly - and positively- responsive to customer comments and critiques. A characteristic that even some of the oldest indies lack.I'm a little sad that the company is moving away from my territory of the indie world (not a perfume person) but I'm pretty happy to see the owner making responsible business decisions to not become overwhelmed.
What do you guys think? Have any of you tried Ten Three Labs?
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