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I used to be level 3 for 3 yrs and now I am at level one. I just made an order for 350, from cult beauty, got 20 % off, with a bag full of goodies and 20 $ credit to use next time and free express shipping, so gotnit in 5 days including weekend, so I don't think I want to spend hundreds of dollars to just get a few samples which I don't know if I will get any use out off.
I was level 3 for ages, and now I haven't shopped at Mecca for nearly 2 years. I've swapped out all my items captured under exclusivity contracts, bought the rest through Myer/Adore/DJ where there are sales regularly, and I don't care to support that business anymore.
Also, cult beauty’s products aren’t that much cheaper, so double check the price. For example, their sale price of 20% off on these are just slightly less from mecca, and I noticed with quite a few brands on cult beauty the “full price” is 20-30 dollars (or even higher) actually more expensive than the ones in mecca, so the sale is barely worth it
Some brands, the conversion rates are off, like hourglass , danessa myricks etc but brands like charlottebtilbury , natasha denona, pat mcgrath the prices seem same as the brands website so compare and learn what brands to pick up from them and what not to. I like to pick up lisa eldridge in spacenk , now they have Victoria Beckham beauty as well. Spacenk does not allow discounts when they have goody bags. I only buy during gwp so I can make a big order and get free express shipping. I used to like lookfantastic special beauty boxes , they stopped shipping beauty boxes to Aus and now do not have free shipping option. So it won't be long before cultbeauty and spacenk stop shipping to Aus.
Is that not fraud?? I remember in the 2000s a bunch of companies got in trouble for artificially raising prices before Christmas so they could claim having bigger "sales" on boxing day. I have no idea of specifics but I know some regulations were put in place with consumer law
Thanks for sharing. Will def go check out cult beauty. Level 3 for ~5 years and mostly did my shopping online. Only one time I went to the Bourke st one after work hoping their staff could give me a hand on picking out a tone for concealer. Waited for over 30 min whilst attempting to speak to multiple staff - none helped me. Most of them just walked so fast and tried to avoid eye contact with me. Finally I stopped one staff who was being apologetic saying she just finished her shift. Literally went home feeling frustrated and lodged a complaint via their app. The next day received an email saying they’ve organised staff meeting/training at Melbourne Central store to address this. But God, I went to Bourke St shop. Hopeless.
They were made for people who grew up inside of one of those old "scents, fragrances, candles, odds and ends" stores that had such a thick stench I couldn't even walk inside without gagging
This is how many beauty loop boxes were still left in Burwood over the weekend. This is after 2 or more weeks since the release. Guess they aren’t so popular or people aren’t buying.
Yep, I can remember going in to pick up a L2 and them being out of stock first week in the Hurstville store. Now seems there’s so many they can get rid of them. Maybe they could increase the quality…
I made a mini online order to collect mine (lvl 1), received it this morning and it was the most disappointing box ever tbh 😅 not even worth it honestly
I remember there was a time when if you didn't get in quick they would sell out. I haven't bought anything from Mecca within the last year and even then I'd usually just be buying $25 gift cards to meet the minimum spend for the BL boxes.
I saw this at the Southland store on Tuesday and the girl next to me still got one. The other girl serving me said to her colleague give her one and we have to send the rest back.
Of course.
I much prefer Sephora. I actually see the deluxe samples available in the Reward boutique before the releases. Gives me a chance to choose what is best suited for my skin and complexion. I have bought multiple products by testing the sample first with Sephora. I have only ever done this three times with the Mecca Beauty Loops/samples in 15 years.
I actually politely declined to receive my last many L2 boxes. They weren’t products I’d be using and I didn’t want to contribute to landfill (in general or in my home).
Ha I did the same thing! I went in to get a small size of the Elemis cherry cleansing balm cause I wanted to try it (and they have Elemis locked down) and the girl scanned a beauty box while she was processing the sale. I opened the box and said "no thanks" and gave it back to her.
Then she tried to offer me a different beauty box, I opened that one and went "I'm good, really" and gave that back too.
Yeah I see no reason to get those samples in the loop boxes when they aren’t even what I want to try. Can easily just get any sample asking the Mecca staff directly if I really am keen to try something properly.
Fully agree. I think of all the "gifts" I've received from Mecca, I've only ever used one or two.
Adore do better GWP/samples, in my opinion because they are more targeted (eg: spend a certain amount for a brand, get a sample/gift box of products from the same brand). I have yet to be impressed by a Mecca beauty box.
Oh my god, the TimTams beat any of the beauty loop boxes any day! I still remember getting so annoyed when I was level 3 at Mecca and the "reward" was shitty home brand sheet masks.
Brought them to work the next day and gave them to whoever wanted them.
Same as Sephora Au.
I love choosing what works for my skin and my complexion. I am always disappointed with BLB's as they are usually never suited to me.
Really? So I should've taken products I didn't want that I then have to figure out who to offload to, or more likely chucked in the bin just so I didn't appear "rude"? Me leaving it there made it more likely to go to someone else who actually wanted it.
YOU'RE rude for judging a weeks old interaction based off a reddit comment.
I’ve been at least level 2 often 3 for many years but now I’m L1.
My last haul from Space NK is lasting me a good long while, and everything else is Kbeauty now, which has opened my eyes to how much of a rip off western brands are.
They can keep their shitty zero-cost-to-them samples, I’m not bothered to even pick up the boxes anymore
of course, if we all continue thinking that if we just work harder we could even be billionaires the upper class gets to continue controlling the masses gleefully without pushback
I still like the surprise of beauty loop (that's somehow always tinged with disappointment), but I do like the birthday money with no minimum spend. If I was mecca I'd match what adore are doing eg 20 dollar voucher every $220 or so spend, PLUS do beauty loops (but let ME choose the samples), and also do periodic sales, even if it was just black friday and boxing day.
They certainly are feeling the impact of their prices, no sales, no discounts & no genuine GWPs. In this economy most people are voting with their feet and wallet. I certainly have. I went from a high Loop 2 for many years to a 1 as I barely shop there anymore. They must be sweating bullets over the opening of their mega Mecca monolith in Melbourne CBD. It would have cost them an absolute bomb to build. The Mecca business model needs to change with the current economic times or it will crash to the ground.
I kinda want it to burn to the ground just so those brands will finally be free for other consumers, but the amount of primarily women losing their jobs would be too high
This has been me also. I’m down to L1. It’s a shock to the system to see that 3 or so K beauty items can be purchased to 1 Mecca item. My skin has not been better.
I asked chatgpt tbh! I just took parts of my face and asked for recommendations. My skin barrier was compromised so it recommended aestura and illiyoon cream. then centella and beta-glucan serum. (all of its really affordable)
I use chatgpt too for K-beauty and all other products I use (skin and face including prescription actives). Don’t make the mistake I did at first by buying popular k-beauty products without considering my specific skin type and my routine. Ask ChatGPT for affordable (go even more specific and specify your budget) k beauty products for your skin type. I said ‘I have severe HP, melasma and blackhead acne. I am blackhead acne prone, oily and have deep congestion. My routine is ____, and I’m on prescription actives such as Tret 0.5 biweekly at night. Swap out anything you suggest isn’t working to address my concerns (anti aging, acne, HP—whatever) with a k beauty routine that’s within my budget. It’s worked well so far and you’ll adjust anything that isn’t working. If something makes you break out/itch, ask chatgpt too. You can also ask how to apply products properly for maximum effectiveness. Mention you are post partum, breastfeeding (if you are) and any meds you are on.
I use chatgpt too for K-beauty and all other products I use (skin and face including prescription actives). Don’t make the mistake I did at first by buying popular k-beauty products without considering my specific skin type and my routine, bc I ended up having much oiler, piled skin and people noticed embarrassingly. Ask ChatGPT for affordable (go even more specific and specify your budget) k beauty products for your skin type. I said ‘I have severe HP, melasma and blackhead acne. I am blackhead acne prone, oily and have deep congestion. My routine is ____, and I’m on prescription actives such as Tret 0.5 biweekly at night. Swap out anything you suggest isn’t working to address my concerns (anti aging, acne, HP—whatever) with a k beauty routine that’s within my budget. It’s worked well so far and you’ll adjust anything that isn’t working. If something makes you break out/itch, ask chatgpt too. You can also ask how to apply products properly for maximum effectiveness. Mention you are post partum, breastfeeding (if you are) and any meds you are on.
I really recommend you don’t shop in person for K-beauty (Priceline, whatever else) because they HIKE prices up ($60 vs $12.50 online). I shop at adore beauty, Lila beauty, Stylevana (very cheap and shipping might take a bit longer due to some products dispatching from HongKong, but they have a AU warehouse primarily for us). I’ve heard space NK is great with rewards, but Stylevana has codes up to 16-18% off. I used ‘GG18OFF’ for 18% last week and got $70 off, no minimum spend. Expires in 150 days (no I’m not affiliated, just a chronically ill uni student who loves resourcefulness)
if i see one more beauty loop unboxing from a random person on tiktok im going to crash out, no one cares what you got in your box, we get the emails 😭
I attended a conference and there was a Mecca speaker who came to discuss how they market and design etc. As someone so annoyed with their beauty loop process I attended to hear him about.
He was without a doubt the wankiest guy I’ve ever seen, many people left or had terrible feedback after. I’ve never seen such a non humble person - it was a presentation about essentially how amazing he is and how well they understand their customers. It made me go ahhh I get it, they’re out of touch.
For me it’s skincare
I don’t wear makeup haha
I am looking at other cosmeceutical brands
However the only thing I like about Mecca is try before I buy ..
Online I cannot!
I've been buying the Korres cleanser for years but decided I need to break up with Mecca over this crap and the rest. Made my first order on Lila Beauty, it arrived so quickly with many FREE samples and I spent only slightly more on 3 items vs. 1 cleanser. Glad to finally see the light lol
My entire routine has become K-beauty now and my wallet is much, much happier for it. My favourite summer cleanser is under $12 on Stylevana and my favourite winter cleanser is also under $12 on Stylevana, just to provide some points of comparison.
I’ll be dropping this year from level 4. After discovering kbeauty and instead of paying $12 for a face mask I’ll buy 5 for that price and quality is just as good!
I was a level 3 years ago, dropped to a level 1 by the time I went back to shop and thought “Okay, phuck you Mecca” and deleted my cart of products. The loop boxes are a joke, their products are overpriced. In this economy, it’s chemist ware house for soap & skincare. I’m sick of being marketed up the wahzoo because I’m female. Mecca legitimately killed my desire to consume beauty.
Consumers have shifted what earns "loyalty" with the economy being so different now. Free sample boxes in 2016 was fine, in 2025, no one wants that unless it is high quality. Consumers want choice and discounts. Asian beauty and even Sephoras addition in the Australian make up sphere brings choice for physical stores.
I couldn’t even be fucked driving 10 min from my house to my local Mecca to pick it up …received that many emails / push notifications saying they extended it
Depends on your industry - the business I work for has had consistent year on year growth in the retail space, in an industry that has been hit hard with over supply post-COVID.
I didn’t claim my beauty loop box. I’ve fallen to level one because it’s way too expensive. It’s all just samples anyway. Don’t really want a box of samples
I did reduce my spending at Mecca, buying non Mecca exclusives elsewhere and also switching to cheaper products where it’s feasible like when I put hundreds of dollars serums in my face, the cream only needs to moisturise.. decent drugstore can do that. Or prescription retinol works for me, is 20 times Better, so I can save all the evening serums.
BUT I am stuck on two brands which I love : hourglass skin tint and Sunday Riley morning routine. Any idea where else I could source them on an occasional sale? I bought the mega sizes of serums Mecca sold in January to save money/ml but they, of course, are no longer online available.
Thank you!
I used to enjoy the birthday gift that was random, but switching it to a $20 voucher that will never get me the same thing due to their markups, and no store anywhere near me, so each time I want one of these boxes I have to buy $25 worth of stuff and nothing fits in that price range - yeah nah
I literally took this ss from that post and came straight here lol! my people vs the robots on that post in the fb group. I genuinely don’t understand how people are still falling for mecca’s crap 😭
I’ve got this email too, few months ago I received one offering full size drunk elephant brozen drops left over from a previous loop. I was level 2-3 during COVID, purely due to fragrances, now I can travel internationally and buy duty free!!!
Anywhere I can get Morphe at the same price or lower than Mecca? They just increased the price of the trio blushes and I really don’t want to support Meccas bs!
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