Thursday, December 10, 2015

By Unknown

Hello! I hope you're all enjoying your December so far. Today I'm going to talk about a company I ordered from almost a year ago and completely forgot to write up--Sugar and Spite Bathery and Nonsense Emporium, a bath, body, and perfume indie with a Victorian ghost story vibe, based in central California.

Packaging: 

The packaging is what drew me to order from Sugar and Spite in the first place--I needed some new soap and saw this glowing review showing the most beautifully wrapped package that swayed me into ordering. My package wasn't quite as gorgeous--you can see it in the photo at the top of this post, everything was nicely wrapped and designed with a bit of Gothic flair, but without quite as much of the "ooh!" factor. The soap I ordered came shrinkwrapped, with ingredients clearly labeled on the back, and the perfume samples came in squat little amber glass screwtop vials. It looks like they no longer sell perfume samples individually in tiny bottles like this.

Selection: 

Sugar and Spite sells a variety of bath and body products--hot process soaps, perfume oils, lotions, bath truffles, and sugar scrubs. Their scent listing is a trim 26 scents, plus a few more under the Gods and Monsters perfume section of their website, and, as of this writing, limited edition Yule scents such as their "Another Horrible Sweater" bath truffle.

Samples: 

Perfume samples are available in a pack of 5 for $12.50, in larger vials than the ones shown in my photos above. I ordered a bar of soap and one perfume sample, and received a second perfume sample for free with my order.

Quality: 

To be honest, I was a little disappointed with the quality of the products I got from Sugar and Spite. The soap did the job, and there wasn't anything wrong with it, but I just didn't particularly enjoy its scent and was quite happy when I finally ran out of it. I found the perfumes unexciting, but might yet review them... however, part of why it took me nearly a year to post my Company Overview about them was that I just couldn't get excited about the products, so the order quickly sank to to the back of my mind, until I found myself running out of new companies to review for this feature and remembered I hadn't talked about Sugar and Spite yet. These are my own preferences, and scent is intensely personal, so of course someone else might love these scents!

Cost:

I think Sugar and Spite is very affordable!

Perfume samples are $12.50 for 5 large vials, and it's only $11 for a full-sized 8 mL bottle of perfume oil.

Sugar scrubs are $11.50 for 8 oz., soap is $6 per 5.5 ounce slice, lotions are $12 for 8 oz.

Customer Service: 

I haven't had to contact Sugar and Spite, and nothing went wrong with my order, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the owner of this company has actually had a history of unreliability; her former venture, The Morbid the Merrier, imploded at some point, which you can see by browsing the posts on that blog, and so she started a new business as a kind of pyramid scheme to try and get cash to pay back the other people she owed due to their missing orders--according to her:
So here's what happened – when I closed, I was overwhelmed with so many orders, it pushed my TAT to 2 weeks – then 4 weeks – then 6 weeks. Although I tried to be straight with people and let them know about the delay, people panicked and filed claims with paypal, essentially cleaning out my bank account to the point I didn't even have money for supplies to fill the orders, or even postage to send them off. Word spread, and more people panicked. Soon there were a million claims, no money in my paypal, and I was locked out of paypal, giving me no access to any of the madness going on. I also lost access to my shopping cart because I didn't have the money to pay the bill. Everyone deserted me. People were being hateful, spreading rumors, calling me a thief, threatening me. I didn't know what to do and no one was listening to me so I panicked. I freaked. I had what I'm pretty sure was a nervous breakdown. Finally I pulled myself together and decided to start Lucybelle to try and earn some money to pay everyone back – all the while working a job at a sandwich shop. I didn't say it was me – not out of sneakiness but because I didn't want to complete insanity. I wanted to work my little job, earn a bit of money for supplies, and start to pay people back. But then the rumor mill started. Lucybelle was ruined. The threats started again. The name calling, the accusations. Again I was unable to make money to begin making things right. And curiously, MANY of the people saying these things HAD BEEN PAID BACK when they filed their claim with paypal and were saying they hadn't been.
Working with Monolids has more details about this posted as well in her review.

I didn't have any problems when I ordered back in February, but at that point she was running an Etsy shop, and I ordered through Etsy/Paypal for the consumer protection factor. The Etsy shop has been shut down, so now you can only order through her main storefront. The Facebook page does list a good average response time (typically replies within an hour). I feel comfortable ordering from them, based on my experience, but would only recommend doing so via Paypal in case there's a similar meltdown with this company.

TAT: 

The turnaround time on my order was reasonable, if not exceptional--I ordered on February 1, and received my order February 10.

Shipping: 

Shipping seems to start from $2.50 First Class domestic for a pack of perfume samples, and goes on up from there. International shipping is selectable (with a huge list of countries listed on the dropdown, with international shipping starting from $10). Domestic customers can upgrade to a flat rate medium Priority Mail box by adding a separate item to their cart and then using a coupon code to erase the existing shipping charge, a system that seems clunky and error-prone.

Personal Thoughts:

Since I didn't really care much for the products I ordered from Sugar and Spite the first time, and the packaging didn't really wow me, I haven't ordered anything else, but many of their scent combinations look just wonderful and often tempt me into wanting to try them again, particularly because their site is well designed and looks very appealing. For instance:
  • Barnum, "Curiously sweet and dark. Tobacco leaf, a trio of rich musks, new mown hay, and a drizzle of creamy vanilla bourbon"
  • Sister Witch, "a steamy cup of earl grey tea, wee lavender buds, and sweet milk"
  • or the limited edition Paranormal Nativity, which is so resinous, it isn't even my type of scent, but it sounds rich and dark and fabulous: "Smoky oud, amber, benzoin resin, black patchouli, coconut, sandalwood, clove, copal"
Have you tried Sugar and Spite? What are your thoughts? Do you have any scent recommendations? Should I give them another shot?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Make sure to like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, follow us on Pinterest, and/or follow us on BlogLovin to get all of our updates!

6 comments:

  1. I have nothing but GLOWING reviews for Sugar & Spite.
    Her perfumes are gorgeous and unique (one of her GC scents - The Whispering Woods - is one of my top 3 scents of ALL TIME).
    Her soaps are fantastic, her customer service is absolutely superior, and her packaging is surpassed by none.
    I find it silly, if not irrelevant, to dredge up details of past issues -- especially 5 year old ones. Sugar & Spite has been run smoothly and successfully in spite of many major hiccups (move to another state, for one), and should be judged by current events alone. Life happens, and sometimes some of us get a REALLY hard blow that makes it difficult, if not impossible to recuperate from. Lysa has proven that she most certainly has, and has more than made up for her past hardship -- monetarily, and otherwise.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for your comments and the suggestion of The Whispering Woods! Maybe it would suit me better than the scents I chose in my order. I'm glad to hear you love Sugar and Spite. I do personally think it's appropriate and relevant to bring up their history as an FYI so potential customers understand if there is a history of past problems. I don't think shop owners who have suffered problems should be demonized or boycotted if they've proved that they've resolved their issues and can handle their businesses now, but I do think it's reasonable, given the general history of spectacular failures in the indie beauty community, to give people a background about bad things that have happened in the past. I was careful to say that I had no problems myself with my order and that I would be comfortable ordering from them again.

      Delete
  2. I wasn't going to comment on this. I feel that I have to, however. I do have to say it *most certainly* won't happen again. I only had one mother. When she died, yes, I failed at life. Spectacularly. Yes, all those terrible things happened. As I tried (maybe miserably) to explain, I was more devastated than I ever have been. I neglected everything. I've done everything I can to make up for past mistakes, including owning them. I hide nothing. I ship orders as quickly as possible, have clear communication with my customers, and do the best I can to run a reputable business. I'm sorry you didn't like your order. I'm sorry you were glad when you ran out of product. I never like to see a negative review of something I pour my heart and soul into. I'm just happy that I have so many wonderful supporters and so many people who love what I do. I adore my customers and I love my job, even when it comes with negativity. So yeah, the past is the past. Onward and upward. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm sorry for your loss and the difficult time you went through, Lysa, and I'm also sorry I wasn't able to honestly say that I liked the particular scents I picked out. As I mentioned above, "These are my own preferences, and scent is intensely personal, so of course someone else might love these scents!" Unfortunately, when it comes to something as personal as fragrances, it's not possible for everyone to love everything that's out there, and I happened to strike out with what I chose; please don't take that personally. Thank you for commenting with your explanation and assurances to your customers that a similar situation wouldn't happen again--we appreciate the open communication.

      Delete
  3. I've had two not-so-nice issues with seller. I really love her stuff so nothing wrong with the actual product but...When she first closed her shop, I had to send several reminders just to know about the turnaround time for my package to be shipped. I live in France and watch my packages tracking very closely as perfumes and nice things can vanish on their way, from the US to France.
    I contacted her at the end of 2015 to know is she still had "El Corazon" in stock, as I did not find it in her new listings - when I found out she had re-opened a new shop.She first told me "nope, outta stock!". Okay, dear, thanks. Then a coupe of days later, she told me that she found three bottles - her last- of my favorite scent. I was glad to pay nearly 100$ for the bottles and shipping to France! Then when it got there, it smelled nothing like El Corazon It sure smelled nice, of dark chocolate and oraanges but it was not El Corazon. She willingly fooled me to get money from me, and it makes me very bitter. I contacted her about it, just to make sure it was not a mixup buut then..No reply so far.
    Tl;Dr verion : great stuff, dishonest seller.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for sharing your experiences! I'm sorry to hear about the problem you had with El Corazon. Perhaps she will be in touch soon about it.

      Delete