Aromaleigh is gone. :(

I'm a loyal person. If I like you and you treat me well, I hold on to you and defend you with everything I have. If I like a business, I keep shopping there. If they treat me well if there's a problem, I spread the word and love them even more.

That kind of thinking kept me in the thrall of Everyday Minerals for far too long, buying more of a substandard product than I could humanly use and ignoring all the warning signs that they were starting to fail their customers. That loyalty prevented me from really reaching out and trying other companies for far too long - until December, when I started this blog and sampling from lots of places in order to find my new favorites.

Aromaleigh has been consistently among the top four (along with Silk Naturals, Fyrinnae, and adorned with Grace Minerals), and I have ordered from them many times and thoroughly enjoyed each order. When I had my one and only customer service problem with them, they more than made it up to me (I still really enjoy the extra goodies!).

To see a company hacked to pieces by vicious bitches on the Internet who stoop to personal attacks against a company's owner for no particularly good reason makes me doubt the good in people. Maybe if I weren't hoping to start my own company someday, I wouldn't be taking this news with such a heavy heart - I can't imagine putting myself out there, as Kristen did, only to be torn to shreds later by some of the most vindictive people I've seen on the Internet.

I am very sad today, trying to figure how the best combination of stuff to buy from her on my soon-to-be-stopping paycheck so that I don't end up without some things I'd wanted forever.

Hopefully Miss K can take some time to regroup and grace us with her sparkle again in the future.

Foundation Review! Wet 'n Wild Mineral Foundation

How does cheap drugstore "mineral makeup" stack up to the stuff you buy online? I recently bought some Wet 'n Wild Naturals mineral foundation in Fair to try out.

A. Color matching.
3. Sort of matches. Even the fair color is too dark. My face looked darker than I'm used to. Maybe this would be useful as a contour powder...

B. Coverage.
2. Barely covers blemishes. For how opaquely dark my face looked, zits and stuff were pretty visible, still.

C. Adhesion/durability.
2. Lasts most of the day, but becomes patchy or rubs off easily. Streaks on my forehead! Ew!

D. Combination skin friendliness factor.
2. Does not control oil. I got shiny. I think this is due to the fact that this product is mostly mica, filler, and colorants. There's no zinc oxide, and titanium dioxide is listed as a "may contain." Also, there are parabens and other ickies. I'm not sure why a dry powder needs a preservative, much less two.

E. Irritancy.
3. No problems at all.

F. Presentation
3. Beautiful presentation. So this is where I got suckered into buying this. There's a jar that screws onto a compartment that holds a mini buki brush. I instantly hated the brush and gave it away, but my EDM baby buki fits in the spot well. This makes it very travel-friendly.

G. Value
2. Costs about what you'd expect. It was about five bucks. It's also only a 10g jar, as opposed to the more standard 25 or 30 you get with online companies. So the unit price is comparable.

H. Company is nice to work with, good customer service - not applicable. No point.

Total: 17 out of 30. If you buy this, know that you are getting a pretty jar full of ugly powder you'll want to throw away.

Reviews of other companies with pics coming soon.