I've been here a few times before, but never bought anything. They're pretty high-pressure with the sales ("Oh my gosh, you NEED this!") and that just freaks me out. I want to take my time sniffing and trying out the samples before deciding what I want to buy, and I just never get a chance. The sales staff is hovering over me the entire time, "Oh wow, that thing you're holding is SO GOOD!" so I end up getting intimidated and leave.
Anyway, I decided that I really wanted to try a solid shampoo bar, because they seem so fun and unique. So I went into buy one, but ended up walking out with the shampoo bar (Trichomania), a conditioner bar (Jungle), soap (Sultana), and a skin balm (Ultrabalm). After using them, I decided that they're all terrible, and went back to the store to return it.
Quick reviews of the products:
(1) Trichomania - The shampoo bar's first ingredient is sodium laureth sulfate. This is a caustic ingredient, and it can be very drying. So this thing turned my hair into hay. It also strips my color. Just not great.
(2) Jungle - A conditioner bar. It sounds neat, but it just doesn't work. It's impossible to smooth and detangle with a bar. According to the salesperson, you're supposed to tear off a small chunk of the conditioner and knead it in your hands and then work it into your hair. It takes forever and it doesn't work. No.
(3) Sultana soap - First of all, it melts too fast. You spend like $12 on a bar of soap, and it will seriously last you about 2 weeks. And I have a special Japanese-made soap dish that is very good at draining soap between uses, so it's not like I'm exposing it to too much water. Another big flaw is that the soap has huge chunks of nuts and/or tree bark or something in it. Why? I don't know. But this stuff plugged up my tub drain, and that was a hassle to deal with.
I will say that all the stuff above smells very good. But they are very strong scents. And the three products mixed together in one bathroom seriously gave me a headache.
(4) Ultrabalm - This last product was stanky, it smelled like motor oil. And it was supposed to be a balm, but it was so runny. Every time I opened the tin, the stuff was just slopping around in there, constantly leaking out ... bleh.
Anyway, the receipt says that they want me to love this stuff, and if I don't, I should return it within 31 days with the receipt. I went back with a *copy* of the receipt (I scan my receipts, that's how I organize my finances) on November 3. I purchased the product on Oct 4, so 30 days had passed.
First of all, they told me that 34 days had passed. Whaaat? Oct 4-Nov 3 is 34 days? How many days are there in a month? So finally they acknowledge that I could return the items, but they won't accept a copy, only the original receipt. Wow, that's nuts. I've never had this problem before, and I don't understand it. There's a scan code on the receipt so they can access their records. Why do they need the original?
Anyway, I was in a hurry, so I asked for store credit, but they don't do that. Okay.
So I decide to exchange for other items, and browsed the store. In the meantime ... and this is tragically hilarious ... one of the clerks *weighs* the soap that I returned, and because it's been used, and therefore smaller, she *deducts* from the amount of credit that I get.
WTF?
Are they going to sell this soap that I returned to someone else? This soap that was once sitting in my shower? Gross. I don't understand this at all. I've never seen this done in any other shop anywhere.
Anyway, I complained about this, but the clerk explained that it was store policy. Well, this so-called policy was never explained to me. And if she was going to do this, she should have told me before I picked out my replacement items, so I would know that the total amount is going to be less than I expected.
Whatever. So I picked out some different types of body washes in plastic bottles. (You can never really go wrong with those, I've found.) Adding to the annoyance is that one of them was labeled $8.95, but they charged me $9.95. Ugh. I wouldn't haven't been so bothered by this normally, but I was already pretty annoyed by everything else, as you can see. They took the dollar off my total, but they acted like they were doing me a favor or something. Just not cool.
Conclusion: Well, they are very into the hard sell. You go in for some lip balm or something, be prepared to walk out with a whole new head-to-toe regimen. And if you try to return anything, be prepared for them to give you a hard time and come up with every reason to not give you your money back, including nickel-and-diming you for that sliver of soap that's missing. Also, they don't do store credit.
Their stuff does smell great. I really do like it. But I wish I could take my time shopping for myself, without being pressured. And they way they treated me when I tried to return stuff is just not okay. So, it's not worth it. read more