The QVC Reselling Used Makeup Story has Gone Viral

Complaints about QVC reselling used cosmetics have risen from the depths of the QVC message boards and catapulted all the way up to celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton.

The once humble message board thread, which as of this posting you can still view here, has gone viral through the beauty and gossip blogs. Here are just a few of the blogs covering the story: StyleList, From Mascara to Meatloaf, Shine from Yahoo, Styleite, Coco Perez, and Racked.

It's one thing when Queen Bea posts about the dirty underbelly of home shopping, but it's quite another when everyone else does it. Queen Bea pokes fun out of love.

If QVC knows what's best for them, they'll try to get in front of this story before it makes the inevitable leap from Perez to the mainstream media. And, no, that doesn't mean poofing the post! That will only add fuel to the fire.

~qb

Sensa, the Magical Powder

"[H]ow could anyone compete with a magical powder with remarkable powers to alter brain chemistry and hormones?"

Due to all the speculation and rumors flying around about why Andrew Lessman decided to pull all his weight management products from HSN after the debut of Sensa, he's started his own little blog. I think Andrew's just trying to be cool like Queen Bea. :-)

First and foremost, Andrew wants it to be very, very clear that he has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with Sensa. Nothing, people! I still don't know why he's worried about the association. No one is confused. It's ok, Andrew. Calm down.

He isn't leaving HSN even though they aren't particularly happy about him pulling some of his product.

He didn't pull his products because they are unsafe. He says that there are no safety or recall issues with his products.

He also didn't pull the weightloss products because they weren't selling or had a high return rate. On the contrary, he said that his last Today's Special of Secure Meal Replacements had record-breaking sales.

Andrew doesn't think that Sensa is unsafe, which was one of the rumors going around that actually worried me a bit. However, he does have three major problems with the product: 1) misleading claims (i.e. you can eat whatever you want and still lose tons of weight!); 2) even though Sensa claims to be clinically proven, his "research department has been unable to find a single published, peer-reviewed clinical study showing weightloss resulting from Sensa or any of its ingredients"; 3) the low cost of the bulk of the ingredients verses the relative high cost of the product.

Andrew has also been introduced to the infamous "poof" police (welcome to the club!):

"For now, I will remain restrained in sharing my thoughts about Sensa, but it is unfortunate that many of you who have eloquently shared critical thoughts about Sensa on the HSN Forums have been “poofed” and your postings have disappeared, which makes for some very unbalanced commentary and which has only underscored the need for me to respond."

Don't fret, Andrew. You aren't alone. The "poof" police are notorious on both the HSN and the QVC forums for making posts disappear indiscriminately. Anything and everything seems to fall under the old "community standards" rules except obvious violations and nasty trolls, which stick around and fester forever.

"Exiting the weightloss category at HSN is a huge economic loss to my company; however, my conscience can now rest easy as a result."

If you have any concerns, I recomend that you read Andrew Lessman's blog on his Procaps website for yourself.

O/T: Are Message Boards Fun or Just Plain Dumb?

Dumb opinions, stupid questions, and blatant rumors ... Here's a new question for y'all to mull over this Thanksgiving week: the message boards-- Love 'em? Hate 'em? What do you think about them?

Do you like to lurk or throw in your two-cents worth? Is it a good place to find the latest news or get a question answered? Do you like reading the product reviews and opinions?

Have you made any friends? Does it go beyond chatting about the latest eye liner or is it just a casual online group of acquaintances?

Have you found yourself on the outside of a clique? Do you have to suck up to the clique's powers-that-be to get noticed (a la Mean Girls)?

Have you found yourself in the middle of a heated argument? Or maybe just spreading some nasty rumors?

What do you think about Big Brother Webbie monitoring and poofing "inappropriate" threads? Speaking of inappropriate thread, my favorite thread of all time was titled something like, "Do you shave your cat?" It was laugh-out-loud spit-your-coffee-onto-the-monitor funny! Some of the ladies were discussing shaving their beloved kitty-cat, while others were talking about shaving their pussy-cat, which is a very different animal!

Email me your thoughts at homeshoppingqueen@gmail.com. I can't wait to hear from you!

Steve Bryant ... Straight From the Horse's Mouth

Former QVC host, Steve Bryant, chimed in over at the QVC boards to explain why he "came and went" over the years. I love it when hosts and vendors post as themselves on message boards. It's sooo exciting! Maybe one day Queen Bea will even post as herself ... you never know where I might be lurking, chickadees. ;-P

Here is the link to the message board thread where I found this. I NEVER post anything from the boards without stating it first. So no revolts this time, ok?

And in case you didn't know, Steve is a man of many, many talents ... check out his very funny Home Shopping-ism song here (I promise that it's worth a listen!)

Hello!

Thought I would chime in so you could get this straight from the “horse’s mouth.”

I did leave full time employment at QVC back in 1989 to do a morning drive radio show. While I did say goodbye then from my evening show, I stayed on QVC part time for weekends, Friday evening through Sunday. After almost a year of working 7 days a week on radio and TV, I returned to QVC full time in 1990.

I did take a leave of absence in 1998 at the end of my contract. I spent a few months taking care of some business and personal issues. I returned and stayed for the duration of my new 2 year contract. I left of my own accord in May of 2001 to do some musical things I always wanted to do. I played at blues and folk festivals all over America for a year, traveling with my dog Mandy. We covered 30 states and Canada in that year. It was the experience of a lifetime and Mandy was great company. I still miss her everyday. Now I know how Mr. Bojangles must have felt in the song.

After that, I did some talk radio outside Philadelphia, a few infomercials and finally went to Nashville to be Vice President of On-Air Sales at Shop At Home, which had just been purchased by Scripps Networks (HGTV, The Food Network, DIY and Fine Living).

When Scripps sold them two years later, I opted not to stay. The new owners were excited that they would be able to sell a package of 20 swords for under $100. When I replied, “20 Swords?! Is there a dragon epidemic I don’t know anything about?” They realized I didn’t share their vision and released me from my contract.

My wife and I are still in Nashville and I’m having a blast doing song parodies, comedy bits and some serious music for radio shows around the country. (There are links to them on my website.)

I had a great career at QVC and I’m having fun now. Just worked with Bobby Rydel, Bill Dana and the Smothers Brothers this past week on a very exciting TV project.

As Paul Harvey would say, “And now, you know the rest of the story.” Thanks for all the kind comments over the years!

Purity Made (Not So) Simple

Philosophy's Purity Made Simple is one of the products that made the Philosophy brand what it is today. It's up there with Hope in a Jar, which was so famously made famous by being one of Oprah's Favorite Things.

Over the last few months, many customers have noticed that the product seemed different: thicker, runnier, smelly, and drying. Do the noticeable changes have anything to do with that fact that founder and on-air spokesperson, Cristina Carlino, sold the company to the Carlyle Group last year? Isn't that what usually happens when beauty companies get bought out? (I'm looking right at you, Tova!)

A very helpful poster on the QVC message boards emailed Philosophy about the problem and got a very long and rather confusing response from customer service detailing multiple mismatched ingredient labels, viscosity, and (new and improved) surfactants--all while trying to be very reassuring that nothing has actually changed. Read it for yourself here--just be sure to strap yourself in first because your head is gonna spin!

Heed the warning of Tova, corporate suits at the Carlyle Group--do NOT screw around with the formulas! It's called Purity Made Simple, not Purity Made as Clear as Mud!

On a side note, although I haven't seen it on the Q (could have been there and sold out quickly though), the new Hope in a Jar with SPF 20 sunscreen is available on Amazon.

The Boards are Back in Town!

HSN message boards--which were condemned and loyal posters kicked out on their rears not so long ago--are finally back up and running. Wonder if they will degrade into a nasty mud wrestling fight again? Queen Bea is popping some popcorn (with extra butter, thank you very much) and sitting down to watch it all unfold.