I'm always intrigued when beauty insiders leave the fold to go off and start their own venture. That's what happened recently with some former P&G staffers--actually twice! (Note to class of '08 grads: want to ultimately start your own company but need to get your feet wet first? P&G might be your employer of choice...). If you hadn't already known, totalbeauty.com was founded by a former P&G guy: Emrah Kovacoglu.

Now, there's a new UK site that's launched, similar to totalbeauty, that offers product samples and the ability for members to leave reviews about what they've tried. This one's called latestinbeauty.com--and it, too, is the brainchild of former P&G'ers--Nort Janssen and Xander Friedlander. Here's an excerpt from the CosmeticsDesign-Europe.com 4/25/08 release:

"The inspiration came from the founders' previous experience in the cosmetics industry, which lead to them identifying a missing element in the online cosmetics market," said Janssen.

"They saw how online retail was growing fast, but felt that the lack of the 'touch and feel' element online was a major problem for cosmetics shopping online, as it is often key in shopping decisions," she added.

The creators say that in the face of the 'imminent death of mass advertising', this method, dubbed 'tryvertising' should enable consumers to try products in a way that opens their minds to them more subtly, instead of having the idea forced upon them through conventional campaigns.

Key word: "tryvertising". Translation: what you're seeing on the site has been paid for, and what's pushed on the site as sample offerings will, therefore, be paid for.

Another excerpt:

Cosmetics companies pay for a tailored sampling campaign on the site, which the creators say provides visibility for the brand as well as targeted and detailed analysis of how the campaign is progressing.

The creators are working with some of the world's leading cosmetic players and already has both L'Oreal and Procter & Gamble on board. Currently the sampling is only being provided for UK residents, but there is expected to be a worldwide roll out in the near future.

A few more key words: "Cosmetics companies pay...". Enough said.

On the surface, I think latestinbeauty is a great idea. Customers, or rather, Members, can try out product without having to buy anything upfront--and only pay some shipping cost. It's a huge help to be able to try out shades that otherwise would be a crapshoot given how hard it is to manage color accuracy on screen. Members can only sample 3 products at a time, as latestinbeauty states:

You can order a maximum of 3 products – one per category – every month. When you have selected three products in total you are directed to the checkout page. You can only order each product once per mobile phone number.

Again, I'm all for any new way to get samples into customers' hands--it's the surest way to get wallets to open for full-size purchase. But when it comes to what products are being pushed and subsequently what products will have reviews, buyer beware. I for one would rather get a wider range of samples from a wider range of brands elsewhere--and note, most companies will send you samples if you request them, with at most a charge for shipping or a sign-up for an email newsletter that you can later unsubscribe from, if that.

Oh, and you know where I prefer to get my product reviews from. What's that site where they don't accept paid placements? Oh yeah--you're on it--RealSelf.com!