topic Re: Is anyone else not buying as much from Mally and Laura Geller since the companies have been boug in Beauty

Is anyone else not buying as much from Mally and Laura Geller since the companies have been bought?

beach-mom — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 20:30:20 GMT

I guess I'm wondering since these two lines are the ones I've been using since I found out about QVC! I've always loved almost everything I've bought from them too. But lately I notice a difference in the formulas.

I know Mally and Laura are still the FACES of their companies, but I wonder how much they're involved in the actual selection and production of the products. Does anyone know?

I've said here before I was a Stila girl from way back. But when Jeannie Lobell sold her company, it seemed like the products, which were still nice, were developed more for what was trendy at the time instead of the quality and vision she had. I sense the same thing happening here.

Re: Is anyone else not buying as much from Mally and Laura Geller since the companies have been boug

Perkup — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 20:45:50 GMT

Not a Mally fan since she began her childish line of chatter. But I do like Laura Geller, and I like her products.

However, I'm not buying any cosmetic kits and very few individual things - too many kits have too much "stuff" I don't use. I do seem to be buying an occassional item from IT cosmetics more recently. But since Jamie is still touting her Celebration Foundation instead of the Bye Bye Foundation she is selling on her infomercial, I can't trust what she is saying on QVC any longer. If one is better than the other, she should be hawking that one on QVC. Just sayin' And yes, I know I could buy it from the infomercial, but I don't choose to do so.

Re: Is anyone else not buying as much from Mally and Laura Geller since the companies have been boug

suzyQ3 — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 20:48:18 GMT

You can buy it on her site, as I and others have told you before.

As for touting one item on one venue and another item in another venue, welcome to Business 101.

Re: Is anyone else not buying as much from Mally and Laura Geller since the companies have been boug

RespectLife — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 20:48:35 GMT

I am buying just as much if not more from Laura Geller. I haven't seen any change in her basics and found her new items to be fantastic!

I love her Baked Elements Foundation and the Foundation in her most recent TSV (the one with full coverage in the compact).

I love her new cheek highlighters and still love her original French Vanilla. Since the last 3 TSV came w/ mascaras, I tried them and liked them alot.

I received the new baked eye shadow kit at Christmas as well as the newer eyeshadows in the previous TSV. LOVE them.

I wish they wouldn't have her TSV so close together though!

I have NOT given up on Mally but haven't bought anything in ages (from the Q anyways)

I have SEVERAL can't live w/o Mally products but have found them VERY hard to find!

Her eye makeup remover and Pore Defender have been hard to find, although not impossible on other sites. Her IMPACT mascara (NOT the white tube) is my favorite and it too is increasingly troublesome to find. Everytime she has a discount, even her OWN site is out of them. The remover isn't even listed anymore!

I love Mally and hope this all works itself out for her and for those of us who like her products.

Re: Is anyone else not buying as much from Mally and Laura Geller since the companies have been boug

beach-mom — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 22:15:44 GMT

@RespectLife wrote:
I am buying just as much if not more from Laura Geller. I haven't seen any change in her basics and found her new items to be fantastic!
I love her Baked Elements Foundation and the Foundation in her most recent TSV (the one with full coverage in the compact).

I love her new cheek highlighters and still love her original French Vanilla. Since the last 3 TSV came w/ mascaras, I tried them and liked them alot.
I received the new baked eye shadow kit at Christmas as well as the newer eyeshadows in the previous TSV. LOVE them.
I wish they wouldn't have her TSV so close together though!

I have NOT given up on Mally but haven't bought anything in ages (from the Q anyways)
I have SEVERAL can't live w/o Mally products but have found them VERY hard to find!
Her eye makeup remover and Pore Defender have been hard to find, although not impossible on other sites. Her IMPACT mascara (NOT the white tube) is my favorite and it too is increasingly troublesome to find. Everytime she has a discount, even her OWN site is out of them. The remover isn't even listed anymore!

I love Mally and hope this all works itself out for her and for those of us who like her products.

Respectlife - thanks for your input! I got the large Laura Geller baked eyeshadow holiday set and I've been using it a lot. I also have her Baked Elements, but that's been out a while. I haven't tried her new foundation, because I prefer a lighter coverage. Maybe there's not that much difference. I did notice a big difference in her newer cream stick foundation. I have the original Real Deal cream stick foundation, and that one goes on a lot smoother for me.

As for Mally, I've noticed her new mascara seems - on me - to go on a lot "clumpier" than the previous versions I have. My favorite one of hers is the one that comes in the green tube - primer on one side, mascara on the other.

Maybe it's just an updating in formulas that would have happened even if they still had complete control of their companies. Just curious!

Re: Is anyone else not buying as much from Mally and Laura Geller since the companies have been boug

HappyDaze — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 23:04:33 GMT

I like both Mally and Laura Geller but I am not buying any more or less since they sold their companies- I am buying less because I have found their products haven't worked very well for me in general. I tried to really like the lines, I turly did, lol, but in each line I've been disappointed in way more products than I like. And now I hear the one item of Mally's I really liked- one of her liquid lipsticks- has actually changed and is now shimmery where as before it was more of a sheer color. It was a perfect color for my lips. But I do LOVE Laura's Baked elements foundation and I really like her sandbar eyeshadow palette and her eye rimz. I am still on the fence about her ballerina baked gelato illuminator. Not sure I understand the (supposed) hype around the product.

It really sounds like they both don't have alot of influence and input in their respective companies these days, especially Mally since she was forced to sell the company. I think even LG was asked to stop using a twitter or facebook name and had to change it since it technically belonged to the new owners. I definitely think they are more of a figurehead for the company than a true partner and directly involved in the company and the day to day decisions the company makes. This just based on various articles I've read and interviews with them.

Re: Is anyone else not buying as much from Mally and Laura Geller since the companies have been boug

beach-mom — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 23:33:14 GMT

@HappyDaze wrote:
I like both Mally and Laura Geller but I am not buying any more or less since they sold their companies- I am buying less because I have found their products haven't worked very well for me in general. I tried to really like the lines, I turly did, lol, but in each line I've been disappointed in way more products than I like. And now I hear the one item of Mally's I really liked- one of her liquid lipsticks- has actually changed and is now shimmery where as before it was more of a sheer color. It was a perfect color for my lips. But I do LOVE Laura's Baked elements foundation and I really like her sandbar eyeshadow palette and her eye rimz. I am still on the fence about her ballerina baked gelato illuminator. Not sure I understand the (supposed) hype around the product.

It really sounds like they both don't have alot of influence and input in their respective companies these days, especially Mally since she was forced to sell the company. I think even LG was asked to stop using a twitter or facebook name and had to change it since it technically belonged to the new owners. I definitely think they are more of a figurehead for the company than a true partner and directly involved in the company and the day to day decisions the company makes. This just based on various articles I've read and interviews with them.

HappyDaze - Which liquid lipstick? Was it one of the High Shines? I love those, and I still wear them a lot, especially in the winter. I have Laura's Sandbar too, and I have a lot of the Rimz - I love those and when I take the time to put them on wet as liner, they really do look beautiful. I can see why you're on the fence about Ballerina. I have a couple of those, too, and this one came in a kit I wanted. I've used it, but I also have a duo of French Vanilla/Golden Rose. I use the French Vanilla all of the time; the others - when I think about it. I'm trying to hold back from getting the latest and greatest in each line - something I used to do all of the time - because I just can't get as excited as I used to.

One of my favorite products from Laura is her Tropics lipstick. I really hope they keep making this - with her ORIGINAL formula! And one of my favorite TSV's, actually probably the favorite, is when she did her tropical AD collection years back. I still use all of those products, which means I have enough B&B to last a LONG while!

Re: Is anyone else not buying as much from Mally and Laura Geller since the companies have been boug

HappyDaze — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 23:44:29 GMT

@beach-mom yes it was one of her High Shine liquid lipsticks (really a gloss, lol)! It is beautiful- I think it is called Nude Light? I need to find it and so I can be sure that was the name. There are several with similar names so I always get confused. I have read alot of comments about the Tropics ADs being really great. From what I gather, it was probably her best selling TSV kits. I hardly read anything negative about them and they all looked really pretty. The packaging was nice too. It is too bad things have to change.

Re: Is anyone else not buying as much from Mally and Laura Geller since the companies have been boug

IMissSuperPoke — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 00:27:30 GMT

I'm giving Mally one last shot. I didn't know Laura Geller sold her company. Does anyone know who bought it? I knew she sold her NY store.

Re: Is anyone else not buying as much from Mally and Laura Geller since the companies have been boug

HappyDaze — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 00:43:22 GMT

@Nunyabisinis wrote:
I'm giving Mally one last shot. I didn't know Laura Geller sold her company. Does anyone know who bought it? I knew she sold her NY store.

@IMissSuperPoke She sold the majority stake of her company to Tengram capital partners. Here is an article. This was about 3 years ago. Tengram also owns NEST fragrances and DevaCurl.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242707

Re: Is anyone else not buying as much from Mally and Laura Geller since the companies have been boug

Tantallum — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 05:07:54 GMT

@Nunyabisinis wrote:
I'm giving Mally one last shot. I didn't know Laura Geller sold her company. Does anyone know who bought it? I knew she sold her NY store.

I wonder why they sell their companies? Is it straight up just to make money (nothing at all wrong with that, they created a successful company and deserve it)? or is it that they are sick of running it?

Just curious, I always figured if I had a successful company I would love to stay in charge and continue doing it as I want to. Because it seems like so many beauty companies that start out small and have great products, get so successful because their products are great, then they go and sell and the brand goes downhill....

Of course, I do not own my own business, nor am I very familiar with hte beauty industry so my opinion doesn't mean anything

Re: Is anyone else not buying as much from Mally and Laura Geller since the companies have been boug

Trix — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 06:57:08 GMT

@tantallum wrote:
@Nunyabisinis wrote:
I'm giving Mally one last shot. I didn't know Laura Geller sold her company. Does anyone know who bought it? I knew she sold her NY store.

I wonder why they sell their companies? Is it straight up just to make money (nothing at all wrong with that, they created a successful company and deserve it)? or is it that they are sick of running it?

Just curious, I always figured if I had a successful company I would love to stay in charge and continue doing it as I want to. Because it seems like so many beauty companies that start out small and have great products, get so successful because their products are great, then they go and sell and the brand goes downhill....
Of course, I do not own my own business, nor am I very familiar with hte beauty industry so my opinion doesn't mean anything

Most successful cosmetic brand which begin independently end up being sold to a corporate conglomerate. Among the leading reasons is because the founder's buyout package is millions they might never earn trying to operate the company on their own dime. The second is all about the business of doing business in the competitive world of cosmetics. The independent simply can't compete in the areas of growth which include: product development allowing the brand to introduce more new products to the line; advertising/marketing; adding retail partners (brick and mortar and internet retail).

Those retail partners are expensive as the brands pay for privilege of being sold at such and such. In the case of brick and mortar-- the deeper the pockets the better position in the store they can pay for. It's not a coincidence that a big shooter ($$$) such as Lancome always has a prime counter location in department stores, Sephora and Ulta. As the power house corporations gobble up more smaller brands-- operating like gangsters-- they expect their brick and mortar partners to make space in their stores for their brands even if they have to kick a little guy out. The stores play along because they are being paid even if the squeezed out brand had decent sales and they keep their powerful partner happy. Sometimes I feel the only reason the new independents are allowed to get a foothold and develop a customer base is so that the big corporations don't have to do any creative brand development... they just buy one which is already established.

Re: Is anyone else not buying as much from Mally and Laura Geller since the companies have been boug

beach-mom — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 06:58:46 GMT

@tantallum wrote:

I wonder why they sell their companies? Is it straight up just to make money (nothing at all wrong with that, they created a successful company and deserve it)? or is it that they are sick of running it?

Just curious, I always figured if I had a successful company I would love to stay in charge and continue doing it as I want to. Because it seems like so many beauty companies that start out small and have great products, get so successful because their products are great, then they go and sell and the brand goes downhill....
Of course, I do not own my own business, nor am I very familiar with hte beauty industry so my opinion doesn't mean anything

I'm going WAY out on a limb here and speculate about some things. In the case of Stila, founder Jeannie Lobell had married a popular actor, Anthony Edwards, and had become the mother of 4 young children. She sold the company to Estee Lauder, then stayed on for a few years under the sales contract. (EL sold it shortly after). I remember at the time reading that she wanted to go in a new direction and try new things. She still does work as a makeup artist but has no interest in developing another makeup line. Laura closed her downtown store, Daniel is getting older, and she probably was happy to be able to spend more time with him. I think things were a little different for Mally. Because of her company's financial situation she was forced to sell. She is not on QVC as much as she used to be.

Stila products changed drastically after Jeannie left. EL was trying to attract a younger clientele and discontinued a lot of the line's staples. Some of these have been brought back.

I just have visions of Laura and Mally being front and center for products other people are creating. Laura's products do look the same, and I'm still buying them, but just not as much. We don't see Johnny on air any longer either. I know he's still there behind the scenes, but I miss seeing him fill in for Laura. He seemed to stop doing this when the changes took place. Same with Mally, although some of my favorites from her are now gone too.

But again, I'm just wondering. I may be totally off base!

Re: Is anyone else not buying as much from Mally and Laura Geller since the companies have been boug

mimi5775 — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 11:41:09 GMT

For me, too small a company [both] and not to be trusted as far as and stopping many times far too often, Mally and Laura. But love a few things in Laura's line as with all lines there's alays a few things! and with Mally as much as I love her shows and maybe a few things of hers I rarely use them...also I'm not happy knowing I will like something they may go bust! (Mally's liner - that black one) is great.

Re: Is anyone else not buying as much from Mally and Laura Geller since the companies have been boug

SahmIam — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 15:52:38 GMT

Laura Geller never worked for me though I love so much of what she offers; products that address specific issues. SHame.

Mally is a different story. Her eye products are/were fantastic. I've given them as gifts and have raved everywhere about them. Sadly, something has changed. Mascara, eye and lip products HAVE been reformulated (as per CS and Mally herself) and they have been awful. At this rate, I doubt I will be using Mally products once I use up what I have. I loved her lipglosses but now.... awful. : (

Re: Is anyone else not buying as much from Mally and Laura Geller since the companies have been boug

HappyDaze — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 16:24:40 GMT

@SahmIam wrote:
Laura Geller never worked for me though I love so much of what she offers; products that address specific issues. SHame.

Mally is a different story. Her eye products are/were fantastic. I've given them as gifts and have raved everywhere about them. Sadly, something has changed. Mascara, eye and lip products HAVE been reformulated (as per CS and Mally herself) and they have been awful. At this rate, I doubt I will be using Mally products once I use up what I have. I loved her lipglosses but now.... awful. : (

@SahmIam I know Mally mentioned the shadow sticks being reformulated but I did not hear about the eye, mascara or lip products. I don't remember her ever saying that. Had you emailed her CS and asked? If so, do you know about when you did and when they said they were reformulated? TIA!

Re: Is anyone else not buying as much from Mally and Laura Geller since the companies have been boug

SahmIam — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 17:24:25 GMT

@HappyDaze: Her head office is about 20 minutes from where I live (shipping headquarters too). I called there due to not being able to find specific products. Her eyesticks have been discontinued and were brought out as a new product available on QVC (I started a thread about that). They also confirmed that she was slowly phasing out many of the lipglosses for the new serum gloss and that discontinued shades were coming back this way; true , they did.

It was a few months ago I spoke with CS. I can still find her old products here and there and have been stocking up on the few still available.

Re: Is anyone else not buying as much from Mally and Laura Geller since the companies have been boug

HappyDaze — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 17:34:48 GMT

@SahmIam thank you for the great information. Very diappointing to hear.

Re: Is anyone else not buying as much from Mally and Laura Geller since the companies have been boug

ctinaw — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 17:45:21 GMT

I didn't realize they had sold. Guess I haven't been paying attention much. I haven't purchased much from either of them for awhile anyway. I am also beginning to move away from kits. It seems to be better for me to just purchase individual items as I need them - as things tend to last me forever!

Re: Is anyone else not buying as much from Mally and Laura Geller since the companies have been boug

ctinaw — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 17:47:34 GMT

I feel that LG is an experienced enough professional to have not taken the decision to sell lightly. She knows her products and knows what she's doing as a businesswoman. I wouldn't really worry about her line. Sounds like Mally may be a different story though. Too bad, she had a few products I did like.