$20 Freeman Beauty Mystery Bag - October 2013 - pics, my review (a small rant with updated resolution!)

Hello, Beautiful!

So I have a small rant in this post, which I don't even like to do because I like to stay positive but this just really bothered me so I had to make a blog post about it - especially since I had recommended to others (on my Facebook page) to get this as well. Please know that I love the Freeman brand and their products and I'm still happy to have gotten a value from this promotion, but....

On October 1st Freeman Beauty sent out an email that they have a Spooky Mystery Bag for just $20 and it was supposed to be filled with products from all their brands and have a value at over $90 (plus you're entered to win a c.Booth Honey Almond Set when you purchase the mystery bag). I was so excited about it, so I went on and purchased it without hesitation within minutes of receiving the email. I also posted about it on my Facebook page to let all of you know about it because I thought it was a great deal. Plus, they have free shipping on orders over $25 for those in the USA, so I just ordered a two more products to get to the $25 mark so I could get free shipping.

If you are still interested, the $20 Freeman Beauty Spooky Mystery Bag is still available for sale at the time I write this post. Click here if you're interested.

UPDATE: Their customer service has gotten back to me and confirmed there were indeed missing items and they'll be sending out the missing items. They have great, quick customer service!

To read about my original small rant, continue reading but the issue has been resolved for me :)


Sounds like an amazing deal right? So why is this a rant? Well even though I did get more than $20 worth of products, I did not get an "over $90 value". Instead, the items were worth $62.06 exactly. That's pretty far off (by about $30, at least) to being the "over $90 value". While I appreciate still getting a good deal - it's a little over 65% off all the products retail price - I don't appreciate expecting to get over $90 worth of products and only get around $60.

For some reason their website doesn't list the "over $90 value", even though the email did. Hmmmm, maybe they made a mistake in the email? Maybe the 9 was supposed to be a 6? Or maybe whoever packaged my order added in my items that I ordered as part of it or plain forgot some items - since they didn't ship this "mystery bag" in an actual bag, as if it was already pre-packaged for this promotion. All the products were just thrown in the box with the other items I had ordered.




Below is a screenshot of my email:

In addition to the value, I didn't get products from every Freeman brand. I didn't receive anything from the Bare Foot Repair line (received two from the regular Bare Foot line) and I didn't receive anything from the Papaya line. 

Here is a list of exactly every product I received and how much they cost if purchased on their own:

$3.99 - Feeling Beautiful Facial Revealing Peel-Off Mask Pomegranate (no longer on their website)
$3.99 - Feeling Beautiful Body Anti-Stress Foaming Bath Dead Sea Minerals
$1.99 - Feeling Beautiful Facial Clay Mask Avocado & Oatmeal packet
$1.99 - Feeling Beautiful Facial Purifying Paper Mask Star Fruit packet
$1.99 - Feeling Beautiful Facial Hydration Mask Goji Berry packet
$3.79 - Bare Foot Foot Soak
$3.79 - Bare Foot Heel & Callus Balm
$12.99 - Eclos Anti-Aging Instant Radiance Facial Scrub (no longer on their website)
$7.99 - Ellin Lavar Textures InstantShine Shine Enhancing & Frizz-Fighting Mist
$2.99 - Psssst On-The-Go Instant Dry Shampoo
$14.99 - Vita-K Professional for Dark Circles
$1.57 value - C. Booth Honey Almond Body Butter (small size, 1.8 oz) The full size is 8 oz and $6.99 - so that's what I based it on for the value.

$62.06 total. 

On a side note, the Eclos Anti-Aging Instant Radiance Facial Scrub feels practically empty! It says it's supposed to be 5 oz but compared to the masks (which are also about the same size) you can clearly see it's no where near that much in the tube. That's why I took a side photo too because I couldn't believe how flat it was. However, I do know that packaging can be deceiving, but this just seems very flat for a brand new product. Check out what I mean...

 

I also was disappointed that the only c. Booth's product I received is a small travel size -- not even a full size. Why?! I was looking forward to c. Booth's products probably the most and I get a small jar of body butter?! It smells good - that's a plus, right?

I will say I love the Feeling Beautiful line of facial masks and scrubs, so I was happy to receive the most products from that line. Received a peel-off mask and three mask packets, plus a bath soak. I don't take baths often at all (maybe a few times a year - if that -- I'm a shower girl), so it's something I plan to giveaway but I have the mask version of the same scent and I like it.

I haven't tried anything from the Bare Foot line, so excited for both products - they will get used.

The Ellin Lavar Textures hair product is something I never heard of, but I will never turn down a shine spray.

The Psssst! On-The-Go Instant Dry Shampoo is actually one of my favorites, but again, why the travel size and not a full size? Certainly including full sizes of everything would have bumped up the value!

The Vita-K Professional for Dark Circles is something I may or may not use. For now I put it in my eye skincare drawer and will see if I reach for it anytime soon.

Would have loved to try something from the Papaya line but I did not receive anything.

Overall, I still got a value for what I paid but I certainly did not get what I expected. I plan to email Freeman Beauty about this - I'll also link them to this post so they can see everything - and see if maybe there was just a misunderstanding/packaging mistake. 

I had considered ordering more than one of these Spooky Mystery Bags to use as gifts and giveaways, but I wanted to wait and see what I received. Now I don't think I would order any more - which is ashame because I had planned to get at least 3 to 4 more! I'll update this post to let you know what response I get.

Now let me know what you think...

What do you think of this Spooky Mystery Bag? Did you order one? If so, what was your value? Discuss in the comments below.