Q. Why don’t you do travel sizes or travel kits?
Here’s the rub (no body cream pun intended). Travel sized products cost almost as much as their full size counterparts to produce, but contain 2-5X less actual product than regular sizes, while using almost the same amount of packaging. So if we make travel sizes, you don’t save money, you get far less product for the price, and we create a whole lot more landfill (although obviously we are doing our best to implement recyclables across our entire packaging chain.)
Also, because we act as a buyers club, we can often negotiate better prices for you by ordering larger quantities. For a lab, a 20 ml size of a cleanser is a totally different SKU, line set up, packaging order, P.O., etc, than a 100ml size of the same. Which means having travel versions cuts our order quantities for each in half, increases our held inventory costs, and means we all wouldn’t benefit as much from our ‘club’ volumes. Many helpful members have suggested getting travel containers from retailers such as The Container Store, or Muji and filling and refilling them as necessary, for those who spend a lot of time living out of their suitcase.
Q. There’s so much choice, I don’t know what to try?
Ah yes, that’s a common (but lucky) problem! The good news? BEAUTY PIE skincare (and our upcoming haircare and bodycare) has been expertly curated (by guru of skincare gurus, Marcia Kilgore) so... you can mix and match it, and test different formulations, until you find a combination that best supports your hair or skin for every season (it’s likely you’ll want more exfoliation in the Spring and Autumn, more moisture in the winter, more deep cleansing and pre-during-after sun stuff in the summer).
The truth? Rarely do two complexions act alike. So while we can suggest a great basic starter routine to balance your oil/water levels, which is what it’s all about, it’s up to you - and actually very easy - to experiment. Of course we’ve got every product coded by skin type, by concern or problem, or by family, so you can search yourself. We are also always on stand-by via Customer Service if you need great help or a personalised suggestion.
Q. Now that I can afford all this great skincare, what’s the best way to layer it?
General rule of thumb for layering your skincare is that you put the least viscous (or runniest, thinnest, fastest-absorbing) product on your face first and layer in order of the next runniest, then the next, so that thickest ends up on the top. So after cleansing and toning/prep/mist, apply any active drops first, then any serums, then moisturisers. (Think of any Superactive Capsules like a serum, in this instance).
Use everything on your face and all the way down your neck. And do NOT forget your eye cream, which yes, has been formulated differently, to make up for the reduced concentration of oil glands in the skin around your eyes. Sunscreen always goes on top, and the only thing that you layer over sunscreen would be powder, concealer or foundation...
Now most skincare formulations can be easily layered over-top of each other, with no ill effects, but there is one common mistake: over-exfoliating. Because your skin’s barrier layer needs to be healthy and intact, and well balanced with enough natural oils and hydration to keep your skin from overreacting and being sensitive, unless you have an extremely oily complexion, or are suffering from stubborn acne, regular intense exfoliation is unnecessary and can unnecessarily sensitise your skin. And remember, some studies are now showing inflammation may be one of the biggest causes of ageing.
Stick with a gentle daily exfoliating (like Micropeeling Super Drops, which are smoothing and antimicrobial, but at the same time hydrating, efficacy boosting, and amazing for all skin types) and keep your stronger acid exfoliators (like the FRUITIZYME Five Minute Facial or the Super Pore-Detox Black Clay Mask or our soon-to-arrive DR GLYCOLIC tonic and peeling pads for once or twice a week.
Lastly - you might be loving layering. Or you might be someone who prefers a one-shot power cream like SUPER HEALTHY SKIN Ultimate Anti-Ageing Cream – under sunscreen of course. There are hundreds of permutations and combinations that can deliver really great results, and sometimes the fun is testing/trialling and finding them! If you have sensitive skin, you’ll want to stick to our products flagged as “for sensitive skin” or “for all skin types”. Still have questions? Email us...
And then...
Q. Will you do top ups more often?
To be honest, we’re finding them a bit difficult! Because we’re a members club, and we need to ensure that each member has a good selection of product to choose from, we have to plan quite far in advance, to ensure our supply is in line with our demand. And top-ups throw off the whole system, as they don’t allow us to plan in that linear way. So we’re looking at other ways to offer more flexible shopping, first to our annual members, and then we’ll see what else we can manage after that.
Q. Why do we have to pay for shipping?
We’ve done a whole blog about why shipping is never really free. As you pay what we pay for the products you buy, we’d have to add to your membership cost to absorb the cost of shipping, or build extra cost into the products (anti-PIE, really, not what we’re into). So we know you can do the math, and we think you deserve the freedom to ship when you want to. A standard monthly member could save up to 8x more in a month than he or she might pay for shipping anyway, so we hope you’re focusing on the forest!
Q. Why don’t you ship to Ireland/Canada/Australia/Europe/Denmark yet?
We know this is frustrating for non UK/USA residents and we appreciate your patience and enthusiasm. We have two hurdles. The first (for Europe) is Brexit, which could throw a wrench into our ability to easily internationally ship. And the second is that really, to do this well, we need to deliver within 2-3 days, and splitting our warehouses and inventory into many small pieces is complicated. We’re going to have to walk before we run with new territories.
Q. Are your products tested on animals?
No, our products are not tested on animals. We don’t have our labs test on animals on our behalf, nor do we sell in territories that require us to test on animals.
Q. When will you make a brown/waterproof/tubing mascara?
To be honest, none of these are on our short list, because not enough people ask for them. If we happen to be presented with something from a reputable lab that we absolutely love and we think beats every other mascara out there, and will save you £15 each month because you can buy it at member prices, we’ll launch it. But the fact is, you can find decent waterproof mascaras in the drugstore, and tubing mascara is super niche, and while brown mascara is beautiful, not that many people actually buy it. We believe we can probably add more value to your beauty cabinet elsewhere!
Q. When are the foundation blending sponges/perfumes/Japanfusion Cleanser back in? I’m waiting to place my order.
When we know it, we put the expected return date for any out of stock item on the item’s detail page. You can also sign up to be notified when that item comes back in. We would encourage you, while we’re still growing, not to hold off ordering everything else because you’re waiting for a makeup sponge, however. There is so much amazing PIE to try and as a buyers’ club, while we will attempt to keep our bestselling items in stock, we can’t guarantee every item will always be available or even return for a second round (if our members don’t love it, we may not reorder it).
Q. Why can’t I downgrade as easily as I can upgrade?
Sadly we have the same challenge with downgrading at the moment as we have with shipping to new countries. So for now, downgrades have to be done manually, by our customer service team, who really are happy to help! We are working on the self-downgrade interface, but it’s on a list of tech updates, so in between, if you need an allocation adjustment, please do just call us!
Q. Stronger retinol?
There’s an intensive serum in the works that will be about 1.8X stronger (yes, there’s a system for calculating this) than our current serum, for all of the die-hard retinol addicts out there.
Q. Is your packaging eco-friendly?
We are not perfect yet, but we are always improving. Our cartons, shipping boxes and packaging materials are all fully recyclable. And we avoid glosses, metallised packs (you don’t see a lot of gold and silver at the PIE for this reason), heavy, ornate, and highly decorative overshells, and glitter (all of which are environmentally unfriendly). Our new compacts are now made from PCR, and we are mindful when choosing primary components that we minimise use of non-recyclables while delivering that luxury experience you all love!
Q. Why don’t you do live swatching and more videos?
We will. We just have a LOT to do every day and are trying to find an easy, consistently-lit, professional-looking way to swatch.
Q. When is the next PIEDAY?
We do PIEDAYS for all members when we have enough stock.
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