Company Overview! Kae Q

By Unknown

Purchased

Kae Q is relatively new, but it is already quickly becoming popular for their beso balms!

I have a strange relationship with lip gloss. It started out pretty tumultuously in my early childhood where I tried to eat a Dr. Pepper scented Lip Smackers, then I accidentally mistook a gluestick for grape chapstick. Then there were the sticky roll-on lip glosses that leaked into my backpack...

Eventually I went cold turkey and quit lip products altogether, only using petroleum jelly for years throughout high school. As I fall deeper into the indie rabbit hole, I'm finding indie glosses, balms, and chapsticks difficult to resist and easy to love.

Kae Q (a take on "que cute" in spanglish) is a relatively new shop on Etsy with an assortment of lip balms and a fancypants indie lip liner. With a focus on quality ingredients and some fun colors combined with a pretty active presence on Reddit's indie makeup community, the latest release was pretty hyped. And now with a collaboration with Baroque Cosmetics coming up, I'm even more curious! So what's Kae Q all about?

Kae Q

Kae Q's shop description hits upon all sorts of things I love about buying indie. Sourcing from local organic farms with handprocessed oils, not only does Kae Q operate in a way that's mindful of the environment, but I really enjoy being able to support a small local business. "Cosmetics made directly from local ingredients" sums it up perfectly.

Selection

Kae Q is still a pretty new shop, so the real focus is on the "beso" balms (as in"beso" for "kiss" in Spanish). They're made of a blend of oils and fruit.

Made with local Miami beeswax, and our own cold pressed oils made with organic seasonal fruit from Bee Heaven Farm (oil content may vary depending on time of year, but may contain oils of ± coconut, avocado, sunflower, guava, papaya, passionfruit, mango). pigments: ± mica, titanium dioxide, iron oxide.

I also really like how the shop describes the many uses for the balms (emphasis my own):

Beso in Spanish means 'kiss'. these balms can be strategically used on the lips, cheeks, or eyes to make your face look more kissable, or deter creeps from getting green lipstick on their face.

There is also a mielo balm (as in "miel" for "honey" in Spanish... you are starting to see the trend here, yes?) This is a bare-bones balm that only consists of beeswax and coconut oil. It's definitely on my "to try" list for next time!

In addition to balms, Kay Q is starting to branch out into "farm goodies" such as goats milk soaps from Flair's Fayre and even offers organic luffa sponges. If coconut oil wasn't so comedogenic for my skin, I'd grab one!

Samples

Besito samples in Snapdragon and Mamey

All the beso balms come in "besitos" sample pods. You can also buy a set of six to sample together (which is currently sold out). Each sample pod contains a teaspoon of product. I like how the samples come in pod containers instead of on a q-tip end like the Silk Naturals lip samples I've received.

I really love how Kae Q packed up some doe foot applicators for me to use for testing! I thought that was extremely thoughtful. I'm also VERY excited to try the clay mask sample... it has turmeric in it!! I'm actually maybe more excited for that than anything else in my order (which is a little pitiful). 

Packaging

Not too much to write home about this. The besito balm samples come in little clamshell pods. Full sizes of all balms are in 0.15oz tubes made from 85% post-consumer recycled plastic (yay!) The beso lip liner comes in a pencil form. I did not receive my lip liner, so at the moment I can't do a very detailed review.

Quality

I absolutely love the ingredients list for the besito samples I received. No-nonsense, rich oils that my lips love. The lipsticks from ROYAL by Nature had such a nice formula, and I'd say the Kae Q balms fall under that same "top list of lip products that feel awesome to wear" category. They're creamy and soft, and I really love it!

Swatches of Snapdragon and Mamey

I wasn't really sure what to expect in regards to pigmentation for the besito balms. The description for Snapdragon reads,

Snapdragon is a muted pink to add a bit of color to your lips. It photographs a bit lighter than it actually is. 

And Mamey is,

 Mamey is a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful bright salmon color, perfect to wear throughout the day or to complement a heavier eye look.

On one hand, they're a bit less pigmented than the Silk Naturals Slick Sticks, one of my mainstays for a quick swipe of sheer color throughout the day. This isn't a bad thing because I do like keeping products handy for just a bit of color to help prevent me from looking washed out. However, the images used on the product listings all seem so pigmented (especially Mulberry, which I regret not sampling). The longevity is not much - a cup of tea or two and they're completely gone. But again, these aren't really meant (I feel) to be lipstick replacements.

Bare lips, Snapdragon and Mamey from Kae Q

I'm still pretty undecided. Ultimately I don't buy balms for color, I buy them to keep my lips moisturized and happy throughout the day. But there's this tiny part of me that does feel a little mislead by the super vibrant pigmented photographs on the website. And then... there's another part of me that looks at those and wonder, "Well, maybe they are really pigmented, but you're just lousy at applying lip product with a brush from a sample pod." I'm not really sure where the truth lies, but I think it's a little bit in both camps.

Cost

Kae Q's products are a smidge more money in full sizes than your typical indie balms. While I'm used to paying roughly $3-6 for a balm, full sized beso balms are $10 and sample clamshells are $2 apiece. The mielo balms are much cheaper at $4 and the beso liner is $7 per pencil. However, given the ingredients used, I don't mind paying a little bit more.

Customer Service

Nicole from Kae Q is positively on the ball. When I first received my package, I noticed that the beso liner I ordered was not included, but on the receipt it was marked off with a small circle. I sent her a note and she responded within six minutes.

She said that there was a new assistant helping out who must have missed adding the liner to my order and they'd send one out right away. I haven't received it yet as of this post (one week after receiving my order), but earlier today I was notified that the liner has been shipped and is in the mail! I'm really pleased with how prompt and professional the response was and am looking forward to trying out the liner.

TAT & Shipping

Turnaround time is long. I mean really long. I'm not as seasoned an indie veteran as some people, but by now I've ordered from a lot of places and haven't experienced a turnaround time as long as Kae Q's. On one hand I can definitely understand given the nature of the products, but on the other, that's a really long time to wait! Then when you factor in the lip liner I'm still waiting for in the mail it's even longer.

I placed my order on March 26th, and it was not shipped until May 8th. That's 31 business days, 10 days past the "14-21 business days" turnaround time listed on the shop. To be honest, when I received an alert that my order shipped, I was confused and didn't even remember ordering anything on Etsy. It had been so long, I completely forgot that I ordered from Kae Q in the first place.

For more information regarding TAT and shipping, check out their policies page on the Etsy storefront.

Personal Thoughts

I really am pleased with my Kae Q order, even if it sounds like I might not be. I love the ingredients, I love how the besito samples feel on my lips. If for some reason I did revert to my childhood self and decided to eat my besito samples, I'd probably be totally okay.

There's also a lot of potential that has me excited - I haven't tried the face mask yet, but just seeing turmeric, an ingredient my skin loves, makes me eager to try it. I'm still waiting for my beso lip liner, so that has me excited too.

I know I'll probably order from them again, and I can't wait to see what other big changes and new releases are in store. While I'm not raving and shouting from rooftops about some new holy grail product, between the prompt professionalism in my dealings with Nicole, the tidy packaging, and wholesome ingredients, I think once Kae Q stretches its limbs and shakes off some growing pains it has the potential to be a great indie shop. I'm looking forward to the ride!

Kristin adds: Kaq Q is currently having a 20% off sale with code CLEANYOURROOM. I'm not sure when this sale ends but they will be having another 20% off sale from June 1-3 with code SUNSHINE.

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