Great post Hun, I had a giggle at some of those idiots! :o) you are right though, it makes us all look bad :( x

Lol, thanks Hannah! I'd find it a lot funnier if it didn't reflect on all of us :(

I love the labels you've given this post! For real!
I'm always shocked when I see people doing this. Do they not realise that there is no way in hell a company will send you items if it's obvious you are pimping yourself out to every single cosmetics company with a facebook/twitter?!
I just couldn't do it, it's begging, like you say.

I like your rants, they're always well written and to the point. I look forward to more!
xx

Oh man, I can't agree more. I'd never have the balls to ask for anything for free, *especially* not like that! I've only been sent a couple of things for free - I tried out a new company and I've been given extras in some orders - and when it happens, it *is* awesome, but.... aaaaaaaaagh.

'I've never tried you but I'd love to show my admiration for you!' Wtf?! I BUY the brands I admire, if I admire them that much. I don't have the money for high end products at all (I do photoshoots on the weekends and most of what I use is Sleek, ha ha!) but no way would I beg for £1 products!

Great post :D x

Unfortunately, that's why lots of people even start blogging or vlogging...they just want free stuff.
It's bad, but I do have to applaud their boldness. It takes balls of steel to just walk up to companies and be like GIMME FREE SHIT.
Couldn't be me. LOL.

Add to this list of off-putting behaviours: bloggers who cannot spell or structure a sentence correctly. If English is your second language than I admire you for translating your blog to appeal to English speakers, and obviously any grammar oddities are pardonable. If, however, you were born in the US/UK/Australia/NZ then for God's sake, at least use spellcheck! What makes you think people want to read what you have to say when they can barely understand you? What makes you think any company would want to see free products to you if your review of them is going to be only partially legible?!

LoL Great post :)

Love this post!!

www.foreversweet89.blogspot.com
x

Some people have no shame.

Lena, I don't know your career plans but you would make a great crusading journalist. I love your rants.

"Harpies".... LOL

Awesome post and very, very true. It's sad to see how bad some folks are at grammar or just normal typing (no I am not a saint myself) and how dumb they are by asking a non US brand to give them stuff.

Lol, thanks Sammersaurus :P I do try.
I really hope that the companies DO ignore them, although the first comment /actually recieved a reply, asking for her email address/. Talk about rewarding ignorance. I'm putting it down to the company in question not having much of a Facebook presence as of yet. Half tempted to jump in myself and be like "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
The postage will probably cost more than the actual items.

@Robyn: Nor would I! So brazen. And I agree, if I admire a company I go and buy from them! And I don't think I'd ask for freebies from a company I've never tried or dealt with, just something a bit crude with that. I did get offered some MUA freebies, but I considered that alright-ish as I've been a seriously long time customer and have bought lots of their stuff. The whole thing was prompted by that #bbloggers discussion anyway, so people are likely to disagree with me.

Glad you enjoyed, Jenny! I always worry that my rants sound bitchy and not funny :P

I know, ChaosButterfly, and it's just...the lack of integrity is really off-putting. In most, if not all, great blogs, it's the passion that sets them apart from the rest - if you started blogging because you wanted to get a free MAC palette, where's the passion for the act of blogging itself? For the makeup, perhaps. But not for interacting with the blogging world.
And lol at the steel balls line. I wouldn't be able to do that :P

PREACH, Jade Carver. It is possibly THE most annoying thing in the world. If English is your first language and you're not dyslexic or anything, SORT YOUR LIFE OUT. Get a thesaurus and a dictionary. Buy the Idiot's Guide to English Grammar. /READ/.
I notice that many a YouTuber has a blog on the side which is just a load of incoherent thoughts, poor spelling and grammar, a complete lack of punctuation and SPARKLY PINK TEXT EVERYWHARRRR.

Thank you, Hair and Beautylicious :P

Thanks, ForeverSweet!

It's so true, Jaljen. How do people think this is OK? HOWWWWWWW.
And lol, thank you :P
I have Greek mythology on the brain ever since I reread my Percy Jackson books, hence the harpies line. Might work a chimera into the next one...what do you think? :P

Thanks, Deborah! It actually hurts me on some level. Yes, a level of informality is tolerated on the internet - but typing like a foetus moshing on a keyboard? So unnecessary.
People should think.

Thanks for all the feedback, everyone. Please keep it coming!

Wow. I never really thought about stuff like this, but it's kind of a shock to see such vulgar evidence of it, haha. The lack of, um, class exhibited by some people never ceases to amaze me, I guess. Thanks for the great post!

I know, Larie. Urgh...

Thank you :P

I hate these posts, real class acts!

I know, Toesthattwinkle!

It disgusts me to see posts like this. I don't have the courage to ask a brand for free products and I actually prefer not getting things for free. It really does make bloggers and beauty youtube channels look bad. People tend to be scared to trust blog and youtube reviews because of people like this.

I agree, Serena :(

I could not agree more with this entire post.

The companies will just ignore them. We all want free stuff, but most of us just hope that our good reviews and honestly will get us that without having to stoop this low.

Thanks L. I just honestly cannot comprehend why someone would want to degrade themselves like that and see nothing wrong with doing so.

Actually, Justine, the first company /replied/ to that vlogger with a request for her address! They were ready and willing to give her free swag, because it's a small, new company that hasn't really got a footing in social networking yet, not a lot of fans, and consequently is markedly less picky about who it associates itself with. So that Adrina woman is going to think that it's /alright/ to do that and she'll actually get stuff out of it, and people will read that and go "Why don't I do that as well? It worked for her." And it'll become more and more commonplace. SO pathetic.

This was AWESOME. I'm a beauty blogger and I also handle social media for several beauty brands--I can't even begin to tell you how much of these same things listed above happen here in the US too. It's ridiculous. So glad you posted this rant! You said a lot of what I've said under my breath for so long!
~Shannon

Wow! This post is so awesome! I can't tell you how cringeworthy those posts were to read! Yikes. You're right. those people give all bloggers a bad reputation. I bet there are a bunch of PR and Cosmetic social media types that read this and just nod in agreement the whole time. xoxox

AMEN. I can't imagine ever begging a company for free product, just reading those screenshots made me cringe >__<

@Shannon - Thank you! Hopefully, if more people are aware of how stupid this looks, it'll happen less. Fingers crossed, at least.

Thanks Elvira! When I read the first one I nearly wept for human kind. SO cringy.

Nor could I, SilhouetteScreams! Such a lack of self-respect. *shudder*

Begging for cosmetics (publicly!), what a poor view of life.

I know, Smaltoitaliano - pretty depressing.

Ok.. lets be clear..There is not a problem with wanting to go to an event to take a look at the sleek items that they have coming out now is there?? I can't speak for anyone else who you have posted but honestly.. lets be real.
Number 1, I have no problem with purchasing my own stuff, which I have been, or selling the stuff that I have purchased because unfortunately for you uk folks you can go to the store and swatch what it is that will work for you.. I do not have that opportunity to do so I have items that are not my shade or color that I am selling. Which I got a lot of hits from that thank you very much from the people in the US. Oh I see you didn't put that update on there either.. go ahead and update my info like you did adrina. I am happy for her because thats how people spread the word about other things. You can't possibly think that they are just gonna spend their time looking for people themselves to promote their products.. No. If you don't ask, its not given.

Number 2. Don't blog about things that you don't know what your talking about. If your in the Uk then worry about whats going on there and not in the US. I was corresponding with one of the sleek customer service managers about them possibly putting the makeup in the sephora stores here and was saying it could happen in the future depending on the demand for it in the US. So know your information before you post other peoples comments from facebook on here.

Number 3. Really your gonna harp on someone asking to go to the Events in the UK? Yes knowing that I will have to pay my airfare, hotel, transportation, etc and I'm cheap?? ya right.

Anyways I see there are a lot of people that like this and can't wait till they too see themselves up on here for some crazy remark that they have made. But its all good.

Hi Natasha,

Thanks for commenting.

"There is not a problem with wanting to go to an event to take a look at the sleek items that they have coming out now is there??"
But the bloggers that were invited to the event posted it all online - all of Sleek's upcoming releases and collections are on their blogs, in very high quality, photograph wise. There's no difference. The only reason that was apparant to myself was that they wanted the free stuff that was given to the bloggers who attended the event.

"Number 1, I have no problem with purchasing my own stuff, which I have been, or selling the stuff that I have purchased because unfortunately for you uk folks you can go to the store and swatch what it is that will work for you."
It's not /selling/ it that's the problem, is it? It's the fact that you advertised on the company's website, which is just bad practice. They're not a bloody charity. They're there to sell products. And you're not a distributer, as you've admitted, so basically you've just gone "Hey, Sleek, Imma just use your website to get free promotion from the sale of my products that you're not benefitting from in the correct way! BOOM."

"Which I got a lot of hits from that thank you very much from the people in the US. Oh I see you didn't put that update on there either.. go ahead and update my info like you did adrina."
OK, well, that's great. I have no idea how many hits you get or got - I don't check - so no, I would not have included that information in this post.

"I am happy for her because thats how people spread the word about other things. You can't possibly think that they are just gonna spend their time looking for people themselves to promote their products.. No. If you don't ask, its not given."
...if you want free product and can't be bothered to buy from a line in which /everything costs one british pound/, then go to email and ask for it, and for God's sake don't type like a foetus moshing on a keyboard. Which links quite nicely to your next point, which is:

"Number 2. Don't blog about things that you don't know what your talking about. If your in the Uk then worry about whats going on there and not in the US."
The www. in every webpage stands for "world wide web". We're all on a global frontier now - country boundaries aren't really relevant in this case. If we go by what you're saying, you wouldn't even be able to buy from Sleek at all - they're a UK based company, remember?
The way the commentors that I've highlighted have behaved reflects badly on /all/ beauty bloggers, which is why I decided to call it out here in the hope of dicouraging more people from doing the same thing.

"I was corresponding with one of the sleek customer service managers about them possibly putting the makeup in the sephora stores here and was saying it could happen in the future depending on the demand for it in the US. So know your information before you post other peoples comments from facebook on here."

Swear this has been common knowlege for a while now? Either way, there really isn't much context to be applied to your comments so I don't see it as being really relevant.

"Really your gonna harp on someone asking to go to the Events in the UK? Yes knowing that I will have to pay my airfare, hotel, transportation, etc and I'm cheap?? ya right."
You'd probably make it back in Sleek items that you'd get for free and then sell on? ;)

Although the admittance of begging wouldn't suffice much for you, and the apologies should only be to ourselves as well as the companies, I find it equally tasteless to add the pictures and names on a site that has nothing to do with Facebook.

I have no problem with my comments being berated in the Makeup community. This has been a learning experience, no doubt. However, the hate mail that I'm now receiving with links to your site because of my picture, most of my name, as well as the site I work for is taking the matter way too far for comfort. The fact that the comment is here is fine. Respectfully, though, will you please block out the picture, the complete name and company title completely?

Thank You,
One who's made a mistake

Thanks for responding quickly,
Now for the bloggers who made blogs about the event, that is nice that they did but honestly you, if you were invited to go, and I know it is not the same. Yes I got to see the pictures of the new collections that are coming out. Thats fine because thats not something that you would have to match yourself. I would have gone not only for the free things (thats just a perk) but just to experience a makeup event and perhaps find my right shade for a lot of the products there such as the new skin revives. Honestly do you think the bloggers that went there would have been happy to leave with no items to put on their blogs. No I'm not saying that all bloggers do it for free things but if they do not receive new and different items that they have not heard of then the blogs would be boring if they are talking about the same old thing.

The items, ok 1 british pound there but not all the people that are on the sleek facebook page are from the GB. Sleek is a Uk based but sells items on other countries as well so while it might be cheap for you it may not be for others. Check the currency if you need to and don't forget the shipping.

That comment about sleek possibly being sold in the US is quite relevant, responding to your comment:

A company that sells only in the UK and Ireland, and I mean only in the UK and Ireland, for example, is not going to be interested in sponsoring a US vlogger. That doesn't make any sense. If a customer from the US can't physically order, then why would you market to that consumer base via YouTubers?

That comment.. in the business world, if your trying to branch out into a new market your going to send out some promotional (free) things to differnt bloggers/vloggers in the US so you can start a buzz. Women are least likely to buy something if nobody else has tried it or even heard of it especially in the US. So like I said, that comment was geared to the one that you made.

Sure selling my items that sleek messed up on on their website.. not right but hey it got my items to sale at a very decent price. They didn't ship me my right order during the 50% and I was not taking the time to ship it back so I sold them on their very website. Hmm interesting guess nobody but you had an issue with that. I also have no problem on posting other people website that are selling their sleek items especially when it was a limited edition if someone is looking or will I be posted on here again as a ghettoass mess for sharing with everyone where they can get other palettes? I believe I sent you the links for the those other palettes as well.

That last bit.. lol you know me to well!! No i'm only kidding.. I would like to have a reason to come out there. even if they told me it would be 60usd or 100usd to got to the event I would still love to go and see what its about. Nobody goes to new launch events and doesn't expect to sample the very stuff that company is promoting. Anyone who says that they don't mind doing that is a fool and they are lying to themselves and everyone else.
But on a happy note.. look out for my blog coming soon... lol

Hi Anon,

I don't condone any hate mail at all and I'm sorry you had to experience that. At the moment, it's 1AM British time and I was literally just about to go to bed - I have to be up early in the morning - so do you mind if I do it then? I will definitely block out the names and pictures.

Hi Natasha,

I have actually known of blog events where the bloggers have left with no items or very minimal press items, but that's me digressing. The bloggers leave with free stuff to test, try out, and further promote the brand, is my understanding of the whole deal. The brand recieves double the promotion, if you like - once the buzz from the photos of the event and the videos dies down, they then have an influx of reviews of their products to buoy it all up again.

'New and different items' can be bought, too.

"That comment.. in the business world, if your trying to branch out into a new market your going to send out some promotional (free) things to differnt bloggers/vloggers in the US so you can start a buzz."

Not in this case. The company involved don't ship beyond the UK/Ireland, and they're trying to establish a safe footing in the UK at the moment so branching out to the US? Definitely NOT in their agenda. Brands such as Barry M, GOSH etc. have made it big without even stepping foot in the US or Canada - those two countries really aren't the be all and end all of cosmetics. Europe have a nice little line too!

I'm glad that your items sold well, and I too was screwed over with the 50%.

"Hmm interesting guess nobody but you had an issue with that."
No, it's just that I was the only one who was vocal about it.

"also have no problem on posting other people website that are selling their sleek items especially when it was a limited edition if someone is looking"
Isn't that just spam?

"I believe I sent you the links for the those other palettes as well."
I thanked you for those on the other post. However, I specifically /asked/.

"That last bit.. lol you know me to well!! No i'm only kidding.. I would like to have a reason to come out there. even if they told me it would be 60usd or 100usd to got to the event I would still love to go and see what its about. Nobody goes to new launch events and doesn't expect to sample the very stuff that company is promoting. Anyone who says that they don't mind doing that is a fool and they are lying to themselves and everyone else.
But on a happy note.. look out for my blog coming soon... lol"

I'm sure lots of people would like to attend the event, myself included. It's just that it's generally considered tacky to beg for an invite. Rather, channel that into becoming a great MUA or blogger/vlogger - whatever - so that the next time around, you're picked for consideration.

When your blog is up, feel free to email me the link and I'll take a look!

I'm off to bed now so any subsequent comments will most likely be answered tommorow (UK time) sorry!

Actually they have sent things to people to the US and have sent invites for those from the US. Person I have been following for a while in the US is Divalisa lesi cunningham (sorry if I misspelled it)But she was purchasing them then she was youtubing about it and they started sending them and now she not to long ago came back from the event.
With my blog I can send you the link once it's up. I wanted to do it because I don't see that many bloggers that are black/African american besides divalisa lesi cunningham and yours of course who have swatches of sleek items. (I'm a sleek fanatic if you can't tell). Actually there are a couple more but now I can't remember their blog site. So I was thinking about jumping on the blog wagon and to my understanding your basically reporting what your likes and dislikes are about the products or whatever you've experienced correct? I don't know.. I have blogs but they are just not ready to be posted yet because I am still trying to understand it. But anyways have a good nights rest.

OK, Anon, I've edited the photographs.

Natasha, the first screenshot is of a YouTuber asking the British brand MUA for products. They don't ship internationally, at all. I've seen Sleek give free product to US bloggers, but MUA have only been around for about a year or so and are definitely not expanding to the US - I think you got a bit confused.

I think the problem is, a lot of beauty bloggers that are black are American, and obviously Sleek is harder to get so there is less of it around. But yeah, good luck with your blog! If you're confused about what to write about, read blogs before you write them. What other people write on their blogs can give you some pointers - but never plagiarise, that'll piss people off.

Ohh I see... yes was a bit confused.. but you said they did end up giving it to her? Also yes that is true as well with most of them being American but I have been looking around. Also some of my pictures are still visible if you want to blurr that as well.

I don't know whether she ended up recieving product, but they asked for her email address so :/ Who knows?

Sorry, think I overlooked that one. I'll get on it.