No BS Bulletin 76

Seventy-six

Author

Sarah
September 18, 2025

Welcome to Issue 76 of the No BS Beauty Bulletin!

Table of Contents

I’m sure most of you are too young to get this meme

Made Me Laugh

Juicy Beauty News

👀 What did I buy this week?👀

Don’t tell Cameraman!

About the Dogs & Kitchen Update

The kitchen is coming along nicely, although Lincoln is not quite happy about all the noise going on around him. We finally have lights and all of the cabinets have been set. The next tasks will involve putting down the countertops and picking hardware for the cabinets (which is much harder than I thought it would be). Ike is hanging out through it all and has even trained one of the workers to feed him to get him to move out of the way. Dogs are so smart and good at training us humans! I’ll let you know more next week and maybe I’ll even have some good progress photos.

Winner of the Week - Stratia

Yesterday I received an email from Stratia’s founder Alli Reed.  They have announced that they are having to increase product prices due to tariffs.  While they manufacture all of their products in the United States, the majority of their packaging still comes from China.  I appreciate their transparency.  I also appreciated their notes in this email:

“Hi Sarah,

Stratia is raising its prices – but not for you.

As a loyal subscriber, your existing subscriptions are locked in at their current price. Thank you for your support over the months or years that you’ve been using Stratia.

If you want to make any additional purchases or subscriptions, though, you should know that Stratia products will be going up by $1-2 starting October 1. ... 

A less quick explanation: Stratia has been hit hard by tariffs. The vast majority of our packaging comes from China, because that’s where the most innovative, sustainable, and accessible packaging for small businesses is made. So far, we’ve eaten the cost of those direct tariffs without raising prices.

But in the last month or two, all our raw ingredient prices have jumped 10-30%. We’ve always manufactured our products in-house here in downtown Los Angeles, so we buy the ingredients directly from our US-based and European suppliers. Tariffs have finally trickled through the global supply chain to affect even domestic suppliers.

Plus, overall cost of living has gone up: Stratia has always paid our  employees above a living wage as well as fully covered healthcare, paid parental leave, and 401k matching, including to our manufacturing and fulfillment employees. All those have gone up in recent months, and we’re committed to maintaining those benefits for every employee.

This was not an easy decision, and I hope this doesn’t put Stratia out of reach for you or your wallet. We’re here to answer any questions and remain dedicated to radical transparency, even when it isn’t fun.

Yours always,

Alli”

I have to give this brand credit where credit is due.  Stratia has always paid our employees above a living wage as well as fully covered healthcare, paid parental leave, and 401k matching, including to our manufacturing and fulfillment employees. All those have gone up in recent months, and we’re committed to maintaining those benefits for every employee.

Let’s continue to support Stratia as well as other brands that take good care of their employees.  So many brands do not, or cannot, offer healthcare or retirement benefits.  I love a brand that does the right thing even when it isn’t easy.  I suspect a lot of companies will have to raise their prices to keep up with the increasing costs of doing business. Nothing is getting cheaper, that’s for sure.

Loser of the Week - Sephora

It’s frustrating to keep hearing from people who have been scammed out of their Sephora gift cards. This issue has been going on for years, yet Sephora has taken little to no meaningful action to resolve it.

Almost a year ago, a Reddit post highlighted the problem, and just this past week, another person reported that their gift card was drained before they could even use it. A quick search online reveals dozens - if not hundreds - of similar stories.

What is gift card draining?

Gift card draining is a scam where thieves steal the balance from a gift card before the rightful owner has a chance to use it. This often happens when scammers copy the gift card number and PIN directly from the packaging in stores. Once they have that information, they wait for the card to be activated, then immediately use it online -sometimes within minutes - leaving the cardholder with nothing.

Thieves often target physical gift cards on store shelves, peeling back the security layer or scratching off the PIN to copy the information. They then reseal the packaging so it looks untouched. Once the legitimate buyer activates the card, the scammers quickly drain it.

This is a well-known issue, yet Sephora continues to sell these vulnerable cards. Why wouldn’t they? Either way, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennesy is still making money. This lack of accountability is disappointing - especially from a company of Sephora’s size and reputation.

If you’re considering giving a gift, I would not recommend Sephora gift cards. In fact, I’d urge caution with gift cards in general, as scams like this are widespread.

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