You may have heard about Glambot, either through Youtube, social media, or just while browsing the web. Glambot is a relatively new website where you can buy and sell your used/unused makeup (and soon skincare). What’s appealing to buyers is that Glambot offers discounted makeup from high-quality brands like Too Faced, NARS, Mac, Benefit, Lancome, Tarte, Chanel and so many more. Glambot will also buy your used makeup and offer you an amount after you’ve sent your products in.
This post is all about my experience buying from Glambot, and includes my first couple purchases from their site. I’m also going to go into some things to be aware of when purchasing used makeup from Glambot.
Glambot Buying Review & First Purchases
Order #1:
For my first Glambot purchase, I went fairly small and purchased two products – each between 80% to 100% full (100% being pretty much new). Here’s the breakdown, along with the total for my order:
- Giorgio Face and Cheek Duo Palette – Condition: Good Fill: 100% Price:$25.94
- Tarte Complexion Brightening Lipstick Fair-To-Light – Condition: Good Fill: 80% Price: $10.66
- (Bonus item) Deluxe Sample of Bobbi Brown Blush – Condition: Good Fill: 80% Price: $0
Grand-total: $36.60
Overall, I was happy with pretty much every aspect of my first order, expect when it came to the shipping time. It ended up taking 2 and 1/2 weeks for my package to get delivered, and never received an email notifying me of a delay. In this day-and-age, seeing your package ship out 11 days after you’ve placed an order makes it feel like they forgot about you for a while there.
When I received my products in the mail, everything was packaged together in a super tight bundle of paper and bubble wrap, to the point where nothing could have possibly gotten damaged during transport. They didn’t include an invoice, which I thought was unusual. I was actually a bit confused as to why I received the Bobbi Brown blush, and I didn’t have anything to reference to see if it was a mistake. However, I later discovered that Glambot does typically send a little bonus with every order.
And now to the products. The Giorgio Armani Face and Cheek Duo Palette looked brand new (i.e. 100% full), as they stated on the website. The lipstick looked almost brand new, after Glambot ‘cleaned it up’ – I’d say it appeared about 85-90% used, also as described on their site. So plus one for accuracy!
Order #2:
My second order from Glambot actually went a little bit smoother. I received my package after only about a week’s time. Everything was securely packaged and exactly as described on the website, in terms of the ‘fill’ amount. Still no invoice though (it would be nice just to reference, and seems slightly unprofessional of them not to include it).
So here’s what my order and total came out to:
- MAC Eyeshadow Duo Dynamic Duo 3 – Condition: Good Fill: 80% Price: $24.30
- NARS Blush Exhibit A – Condition: Good Fill: 80% Price: $27.00
- Tarte Amazonian Clay Full Coverage Airbrush Foundation – Condition: Good Fill: 80% Price: $32.40
- (Bonus item) Mini Kat Von D Painted Love Lipstick – Condition: Good Fill: 100% Price: $0
Grand-total: $80.46 -$24.30 (BOGO sale, so the MAC eyeshadow duo was free)
Final Total: $56.16
Above, you can see the protective covers that they put over the products once they’ve been sanitized. It also helps the products from spilling all over the place as they go through the shipping process.
Overall, I was really happy with my second order, and couldn’t believe the small amount I paid for three full size products from MAC, NARS, and Tarte (my favorites!). Just for comparison, the Tarte powder foundation retails for $36 and the NARS blush retails for $30. Considering they both look to be about 90% full, I’d say their value is still close to their full price, maybe minus 10% to reflect the amount of product used. So that’s $59.40. The two MAC eyeshadows retail at around $10 each (if you go by the cost of a pan refill). So that’s another $20, plus the bonus lipstick (a $3-5 value?). If you add it all up, in the end I’d say I received $80 worth of products for only $56. Not bad!
My Thoughts on the Glambot Buying Experience
Prices vs Quantity
The prices right off the bat aren’t always convincing enough, considering you’re purchasing used. Most products are marked down depending on the fill amount. So if the product is about 80% full/20% empty, they take off 20%. That means the unit cost is the same as if you were to buy the full size product.
For example, here’s a Urban Decay eyeliner pencil. It’s estimated at being around 80% full, but you’re paying 80% of the full price. That means you aren’t really saving money on a cost-per-size ratio. In my opinion, you might as well buy a new full size version.
Now, this isn’t the case with all the products. The more popular products/brand tend to have this pricing model, but you can sometimes also find discounts of up to 50% for an 80% full product. Glambot also offers frequent coupon codes, so keep a look out for those as well.
Things to Watch Out For When Buying Used Makeup on Glambot
I was pretty happy with my new makeup – hey, I got to try out some amazing products for almost half their original prices! But in the back on my mind, I started to question things like sanitization, and expiration dates. Then I came across this article on refinery29, along with this even more horrifying article, and my suspicions were confirmed – you can never be 100% sure that your makeup arrives properly sanitized and free of bacteria and fungus. And while I can’t say I’m completely done shopping at Glambot, there are a few things I’ll make sure to watch out for whenever I shop there (or any other makeup swap/used makeup store for that matter):
- Expiration dates – We know that not all of our makeup products come labeled with dates, so we sort of go by the date we purchased it, right? Well, that reference point doesn’t really exist when you buy makeup from Glambot, unless you’re buying a recently released product. So here’s my tip…
- Tip: Go for the latest makeup releases. That way, you’ll have a better idea of exactly how old the product is. For example, my Tarte powder foundation released only 2-3 months back, so I know that it’s at max 3 months old. My NARS blush on the other hand has been around for years, so it’s really anyone’s guess when it was made/first purchased.
- Sanitization- When I first received the Tarte powder foundation (which came in a jar) a thought crossed my mind – how do they sanitize it exactly? Blushes, foundation, and shadows in a pan allow you to sanitize the entire surface area of the product, but products in containers/jars are a different story. There’s really no way to ensure the product is sanitized when the entire contents of the product are exposed, yet enclosed. Another thing I would stray away from are the lip glosses. There’s something about lip products in tubes – it’s touching areas around your mouth with the brush, and then putting it back into the product itself! Below is an example of a used lip gloss (at 80% full). Even though Glambot’s policies say that don’t accept used lip glosses, they obviously do still get them in, and then they sell them anyway!
Overall, if you’re looking to try out the latest makeup from top brands and don’t want to pay full price, I’d recommend trying out Glambot. But remember to use common sense when choosing your items – try to stick with items that are marked 100% (they’ll often times still be sealed), recently released products, and ones that are easier to sanitize (like products in pencil form that can be freshly sharpened).
What do you think about the idea of buying used makeup?
Have you purchased, sold, or swapped used makeup on Glambot, or a similar website?
