Coastal Scents Haul

Purchased Affiliate / Referral Link

During Thanksgiving week, I decided to get a haul going at Coastal Scents because of its 50% off deal. I wanted some oils to make oil cleansers and I've been eying the 252 Ultimate Palette to try out.

What is it?

Coastal Scents is an online store of ready-made cosmetics and raw materials for certain DIY cosmetics like bath bombs.

Cost

My haul plus the signup discount amounts to $50.38 USD.

Shipping

I received free shipping because my order was over $50 USD. I bought the products on Nov. 26th. It shipped Nov. 28th and I received this package on Dec. 3rd.

Packaging

As you can see, that is all the packaging material for my products! Even with the extensive packaging, my African Wild Honey bottle cap broke, but I was able to tape it back together, though it is no longer usable as a flip cap top.

Contents

Moringa Oil
$19.95 USD for 120mL or 4.1 fl oz

Sweet Almond Oil
$9.95 USD for 473mL or 16 fl oz

Jojoba Oil
$29.95 USD for 473mL or 16 fl oz

I bought these oils because of the low comedogenicity ratings, low oleic acid content, and long shelf life.



My opened bottle of Moringa Oil. Notice the gunk at the neck of the bottle.
When I opened my moringa oil bottle, there's some weird stuff crusted over the moringa oil bottle neck. Is that the oil that has solidified? Because when I put the moringa oil into the fridge, it never solidifies... And is moringa oil suppose to have a waxy crayon or olive oil like smell? Because that's what it smells like.



Citric Acid 3 lbs
$10.96 USD
I want to make bath bombs or use citric acid as a pH adjuster for my future aqueous DIY cosmetics projects, so here is a pack of citric acid.

African Wild Honey
$12.95 USD for 473mL or 16 fl oz
As you can see, even Coastal Scents's packaging did not stop the flip cap from breaking. I "fixed" it by taping the flip cap shut, so now I cannot use the flip cap nor extrude the honey from the small hole. I will have to unscrew the cap to be able to use the honey. By the way, the honey is not blue. It is a dark brown color which appears to be blue due to the lighting effect that the translucent bottle makes on the honey. It smells so good!



252 Ultimate Palette
$24.95 USD
Yes! I can't wait to play with this palette! I even got some stickers and a sample for the Coastal Scents Revealed Palette, which is a supposed Urban Decay Naked palettes dupe.

Customer Service

Because my moringa oil has a scent and I wasn't sure if it was suppose to smell or not, I inquired customer service about whether or not moringa oil should smell:

"Does moringa oil have a scent to it?

Thanks!"

The response I received was the following:

"Thank you for contacting Coastal Scents. This oil is 100% natural with no fragance [sic] added to it."

Because I was not asking about whether or not there was added fragrance in the moringa oil, I inquired again:

"I understand that there is no added fragrance, but I wanted to know if the moringa oil is suppose to smell, not if there are any added scents to it.

Thank you."

Their response:

"Thank you for contacting Coastal Scents. It has no scent to it, is 100% natural."

So it is not suppose to smell? But my moringa oil smells... Did my product go rancid?

"Hi Lorena,

If that's so, then the moringa oil I bought has a waxy olive oil like scent to it. Did the moringa oil I purchase go rancid?

Thanks!"

And the next and last correspondence I had with Coastal Scents Customer Service regarding this matter is:

"Coastal Scents wants you to be completely satisfied with your purchase. If you are not satisfied with your products, you may return them within 30 days of purchase for a full refund of the purchase price. The original shipping fee is not refundable. Coastal Scents cannot be held responsible for packages lost in transit, and shipping costs will be your responsibility. Please note the products must be returned with a copy of the invoice, in the appropriate packaging and without further damage. You may ship any items you wish to return to the address below:

Coastal Scents
4627 Arnold Avenue
Naples, FL 34104

We encourage you to use a shipping method that will allow for you to insure and track your package. All returns are processed within 24-48 business hours of being received in the warehouse. The Help Desk at Coastal Scents will send you a confirmation email once the items have been received and the return has been credited.

Coastal Scents Combo Sets, Kits and Collections are sold as is and offered at a reduced price. We do not offer refunds for partial sets returned. If we receive a partial return, the item will be discarded and a refund will not be issued.

Coastal Scents will not issue a refund for an item returned after 30 days from the purchase date. If the item has been received after the 30 days, the item will be discarded.

When purchasing skin care products, we do advise you to read all the information on usage, how to get the proper results from your products and ingredients. All of this information is available on our website prior to purchasing.

Refunds:

If Reward Points were utilized during Checkout, your refund will be issued in the form of Reward Points. Once the total number of Reward Points used to place the order has been applied, any remaining refund balance will be issued in US Dollars to the original method of payment.

Credit Card and PayPal refunds may only be issued to the original card and/or account used. These refunds may take up to three billing cycles to post and may differ per bank and/or Credit Card Company. PayPal credits may take up to 30 days in accordance with PayPal crediting policies.

Orders paid via Money Orders or Bank Cashiers Checks will receive a store credit as we do not offer cash and/or check refunds.

Additional information for International Returns: You will be responsible for any shipping charges, duties, taxes and tariffs due to the return. Please note there may be additional delays in the return due to Customs Clearance.

Coastal Scents reserves the sole right to determine whether items qualify for a return, credit, or refund. Only products purchased directly from Coastal Scents are eligible for consideration. Products that are not eligible for return will not be returned to sender and will not be eligible for credit and will be discarded. We trust that this information has been informative and if you have any further questions, please advise."

In short, when inquiring about whether or not moringa oil is suppose to smell, Coastal Scents Customer Service said no. So when I told them my moringa oil does have a scent and asked if the scent indicates that the product has gone bad, they responded with that if I am dissatisfied about a product, I can return the item for a refund.

So... If the moringa oil has a scent, has a gone bad? They still haven't answered that. And if it has gone off, why should I have to ship back a defective product back to get a refund? Because at that point, it is not about product dissatisfaction, but about a possibly defective product. The exchange I had with the same person was so roundabout and frustrating that I never received a clearcut answer. And if my product has gone bad, I should get a refund without shipping the item back.

I thought if I filed a dispute with Paypal, I would receive an actual answer. Paypal said that I should escalate this to a claim instead because at that point, the whole conversation I put above happened. I recently received the message that I can return the products for a refund... Wow. Through all this and I still have yet to get the answer I wanted. And I have to ship everything back in order to get a refund. I don't even know if I will get reimbursed for shipping, either.

I do not like how Coastal Scents Customer Service handled this situation; it seems like they skimmed over my inquiries and or didn't understand what I was asking at all, and to get me to shut up they just copy and pasted their return policy to cease the conversation.

After this ordeal, I didn't even think to ask about why my bottle of moringa oil has gunk on the neck of the bottle. I don't think I will bother anymore and I'll just eat the cost if the oil has truly gone bad. Or, I can ask the BBB to help me with this exchange.

Conclusion

Besides my dissatisfaction on how Coastal Scents Customer Service handled the situation, I am looking forward to the products from my haul! I will have to think about repurchasing from Coastal Scents, until they improve their customer service. Because what if one of my items arrives tampered with or damaged? What the oils leaked everywhere and ruined all my products? I'll just try out Lotioncrafter for cosmetics ingredients or BH Cosmetics for makeup that Coastal Scents has instead.