Here follows a sad tale of love, obsession, and poor treatment. No, I'm not talking about the 50 Shades of Grey film. I'm here today to talk about the sad end of a relationship. Memebox and I have broken up.
Here's the deal. Back in December 2013, when things in my life were all sorts of wrong, I heard about this cool Korean beauty box. The more I heard about it, the cooler I thought it sounded. I threw caution to the wind and bought my first box, and then the affair started.
Here's the deal. Back in December 2013, when things in my life were all sorts of wrong, I heard about this cool Korean beauty box. The more I heard about it, the cooler I thought it sounded. I threw caution to the wind and bought my first box, and then the affair started.
My first box was full off the COOLEST THINGS. A tea bag which you dissolve to make a tonic for your face? The perfect skin blurring primer? Amazing smelling herbal shampoo and conditioner? I was smitten.
The boxes that followed were a mixed bag, and I found some products which I'd go on to use to death (like this eyeliner) and others which I gave some severe side eye (like this eyeshadow and liner combo).
Finally, after my obsession got a little carried away and the amount spent on Memeboxes in my tracker spreadsheet reached an alarming amount, I hit the pause button. The boxes had been slowly declining in quality and frankly, the novelty had worn off. I had a giant stash of serums and cleansers and BB creams and I only have one face.
Then Memebox started sending me boxes for review, which was very nice of them. I still gave them just as honest reviews as I had before, but with the boxes came strings. I was enrolled in an affiliate programme, which was fine as I didn't really do anything with it. They sent me some discount codes to give to my readers, which was also nice. They would give me a heads up as to what I was going to receive and when, so I could track the parcel and plan my posts.
But then things started to go downhill. They ran some poorly organised competitions, which were a nightmare to try and set up, follow and comply with. Boxes began turning up out of the blue. They started setting rules (sorry, guidelines) around timings and content of reviews - and if there's one thing that's guaranteed to raise my hackles, it's telling me what to do. I'm a hobby blogger, for goodness sake. They then changed the affiliate programme to a third party type situation, which I didn't bother signing up for because I never used the first one. It felt like the rules kept changing, and I struggled to keep up.
By this point, I wasn't buying any new Memeboxes myself. With my slow-blogging approach to updating, it felt like every second post was a Memebox post as it was and I didn't want this space to become a Memeblog. I was beginning to feel beholden to produce the content and I didn't like that one bit.
None of these things were the worst thing in the world - you want to send me some free pretty things? Things which I love and had been raving about for months? Certainly nothing to get upset about. But a month ago, they announced they were ceasing all international shipping. What?
Now, there are many conspiracy theories going around the forums but I haven't really been reading enough to comment. Here's why I'm confused.
The K-beauty trend is just beginning to explode across the globe. Lisa Eldridge is leading the charge and by the looks of it, it's going to be huge. So why abandon such a large market just as it's taking off? Why would you expend so much time and money reaching out to foreign bloggers, shipping them free products from Korea (I think I got maybe 6 free boxes? At a guess) and running a seemingly complicated affiliate system. All to just throw in the towel?
I feel bad for the customers who had stockpiles of rewards to spend on boxes and had to use them in under 3 weeks (during which time there was hardly anything left to buy), and I also feel bad for those international customers who wanted to cash out their rewards but due to Paypal transfer fees and shoddy exchange rates to their local currency were left with a fraction of what they'd saved.
It's a shame it had to end on such a bad note, really, and has left quite a sour taste in the mouth for many people. That's not a great way to build a brand, and it could have been handled so much better.
So from now on, there will be no new Memeboxes around here. I have a feeling some of you may be quite pleased about that, actually! Instead, I'll be slowly working my way through my stash and hopefully finding plenty of new products to love.
Ultimately, I'm not mad because what it has left me with is a love for Korean beauty products and that is the silver lining I'm taking from this baffling situation.
-Rachel
But then things started to go downhill. They ran some poorly organised competitions, which were a nightmare to try and set up, follow and comply with. Boxes began turning up out of the blue. They started setting rules (sorry, guidelines) around timings and content of reviews - and if there's one thing that's guaranteed to raise my hackles, it's telling me what to do. I'm a hobby blogger, for goodness sake. They then changed the affiliate programme to a third party type situation, which I didn't bother signing up for because I never used the first one. It felt like the rules kept changing, and I struggled to keep up.
By this point, I wasn't buying any new Memeboxes myself. With my slow-blogging approach to updating, it felt like every second post was a Memebox post as it was and I didn't want this space to become a Memeblog. I was beginning to feel beholden to produce the content and I didn't like that one bit.
None of these things were the worst thing in the world - you want to send me some free pretty things? Things which I love and had been raving about for months? Certainly nothing to get upset about. But a month ago, they announced they were ceasing all international shipping. What?
Now, there are many conspiracy theories going around the forums but I haven't really been reading enough to comment. Here's why I'm confused.
The K-beauty trend is just beginning to explode across the globe. Lisa Eldridge is leading the charge and by the looks of it, it's going to be huge. So why abandon such a large market just as it's taking off? Why would you expend so much time and money reaching out to foreign bloggers, shipping them free products from Korea (I think I got maybe 6 free boxes? At a guess) and running a seemingly complicated affiliate system. All to just throw in the towel?
I feel bad for the customers who had stockpiles of rewards to spend on boxes and had to use them in under 3 weeks (during which time there was hardly anything left to buy), and I also feel bad for those international customers who wanted to cash out their rewards but due to Paypal transfer fees and shoddy exchange rates to their local currency were left with a fraction of what they'd saved.
It's a shame it had to end on such a bad note, really, and has left quite a sour taste in the mouth for many people. That's not a great way to build a brand, and it could have been handled so much better.
So from now on, there will be no new Memeboxes around here. I have a feeling some of you may be quite pleased about that, actually! Instead, I'll be slowly working my way through my stash and hopefully finding plenty of new products to love.
Ultimately, I'm not mad because what it has left me with is a love for Korean beauty products and that is the silver lining I'm taking from this baffling situation.
-Rachel
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