Sometimes you wonder why companies do stuff.. for .e.g look at Revlon's latest HD lipsticks. The packaging sucks. And this is from a company that has been around for ever. You'd think that they'd have nailed down what not to do in a lipstick packaging, by now. But apparently that is not the case.
This absurd behavior of companies you'd expect to have some marketing sense is what struck me as I was reviewing this gift set from Walmart.
Walmart Canada finally has the Flower Beauty range by Drew Barrymore and I for one, am super happy about it. Flower beauty is an affordable high quality cruelty free makeup range and we really need more of these awesome makeup brands here in Canada.
Back to the review.
The shades included in the box are: Mauve Over [ nothing Mauve about it actually], Red-dy To Bloom and Berry more [Berry for FB means pinkish nude :) ]. Each mini lippies are 0.03 oz.
I'm listing the various weirdness factors of this gift set one by one below. If you want to skip directly to the product review, scroll a bit more downwards.
WEIRDNESS FACTOR 1 -
Holiday sets are supposed to be value or even bargain for money with the monetary value of mix of the products in the set either = or greater than the price of the set.
The lip suede velvet lip chubbies - yes thats the entire product name, a mouthful aint it?- are available in individual pieces at $7 CAD for 0.09oz i.e. $ 77. 8 per oz. So each minis are worth 2.35 for 0.03 oz.
Which means that the 3 pieces are worth approx $7 = price of 1 full size product.
So when Walmart says this gift set is worth approx $15, I assume they've been either smokin' something hot or is including the price of the packaging which apparently is = to the price of the product inside it, which is Bull Shit cos this packaging is not thatttt smart.
Even the price of this set, i.e. $9 is higher than the actual product value of the set.
I hope Walmart or Flower Beauty is not expecting me to believe that they spent more on the packaging than on the product.
If they actually spent more on packaging -well, that is reallllly stupid cos they didnt make this one either uniquely artistic or useful to be kept aside. Why would anyone keep this bulky useless plastic-y packaging around?????
All I have to say at this juncture is - Are you freaking kidding me Walmart /Flower Beauty? ? ?
[I am putting both brands equally to blame here]
So now you must be wondering why anyone would buy this, in spite of the apparent lack of value.
My reason is -
1. You get to try 3 nice colors instead of 1 and you dont have to spend $21 to try all these shades
2. The glitzy rose gold packaging, which makes it look more valuable that it is
3. Its hard to calculate all this in store
WEIRDNESS FACTOR 2
Ever been tricked by a huge glitzy package with nothing much inside? I remember watching this trick in some cartoon once where the hero unwraps so many layers of gift boxes to find a pair of ordinary socks inside.
This packaging is almost like that.
For putting 3 small lip crayons, you probably need a package 1/3rd or even 1/4th the size of this one.
In these times of ecological conservation and people doing their bit for environment, its 'nice' to see a packaging where most of the set is just the packaging to be thrown out - cos this is not that good a packaging to keep aside!
In fact if you're planning to gift this to someone, be prepared for a ludicrous look on their face as they realize the huge packaging means nothing much in terms of value they're getting!
Product Review:
Back to the actual lippies. I love them. They are essentially creamy lipsticks in a chubby format. All the 3 shades are wearable and doesnt dry out at all. The finish is almost matte, but it doesnt have a dried up look.
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| From Left to Right - Mauve Over, Reddy to Bloom, Berry More in full size, Berry More |
One peculiarity I noted was that Berry more in the mini size was a deeper pinkish shade than the Berry more full size version. Since I dont have the other shades in full size, I cannot comment on if this is just for this shade or not. Nothing drastically different, still an interesting point to note.
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| From Left to Right - Mauve Over, Reddy to Bloom, Berry More full size, Berry more mini |
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| Mauve Over - a peachy pinkish nude color on my lips |
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| Reddy to Bloom - a cherry red shade with hints of orange |
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| Berry More - a Pinkish Mauvish shade with hints of brown |
Overall: My suggestion would be to buy the actual full size items, wrap it in a gift paper and gift it - that would be a more value set than this one. However, there is no doubt that this one provides a good range of shades under $10. The lip product is excellent, so this deal is not too bad, I should say! But this does make me a sceptic w.r.t Walmart's "value pricing"!!!
