- - Remember Saffron Rouge? - -

I was going through my emails a couple of days ago when I came across a name I thought I'd never see again...Saffron Rouge.

Do you guys remember Saffron Rouge? At one point, this was the largest online retailer of natural and organic skincare products and cosmetics. It operated from 2002 until the company ultimately dropped off the map in 2015. The closure was unexpected - there was no goodbye email to their customers. The company simply shut down its website leaving people, who had been ordering with them for years, scrambling to figure out what was going on.

Fast forward to 2021 and it looks like Saffron Rouge's founder, Kirstin Wood, has started another business venture - MPENZY. Much in the spirit of Saffron Rouge, MPENZY (pronounced as "mmm-pen-zee")  is an ingredient-conscious brand that offers organic body products. MPENZY describes itself as a brand that "truly focuses on transparency," so I am hopeful that it has learned from the mistakes of Saffron Rouge. 

In the time that Saffron Rouge has been gone, I've actually found products that work well for me so I doubt I'll be trying anything from MPENZY. Having said that, MPENZY seems like a promising company. The packaging and product descriptions look good. The prices aren't too bad (some of the products are 50% off currently). I do wish the company a successful future.

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What are your thoughts about MPENZY?

Let me know in the comments below!

Thank you for reading! 💙

- - Where is Saffron Rouge? - -

I don't usually rant about anything, but there's something that's been bugging me a lot lately and it is that: a) Saffron Rouge has dropped off the map, and b) no one seems to be talking about it.

Seriously - I can't find any mention of the company from anyone that used to be so vocal about reviewing their Inner Circle subscription. Do people just move on and forget so easily? Or have people just not realized that the whole company is gone?

You can't access www.saffronrouge.com anymore - just try it (nothing comes up). Their Facebook and Twitter pages are non-existent and any other kind of social media outlet they used is down or hasn't been updated in who knows how long. The only sign of confusion seems to be from a few people on Trustpilot.

So my questions are these - What happened to Saffron Rouge? Are they officially out of business? When did this happen? Why did they not announce anything? How could they do this to their customers?

- - Subscription Box News | Inner Circle & Beauty Box 5 - -

Hey everyone,

Some sad news for two subscription boxes - one is being stopped altogether by a company and the other one is implementing a shipping cost for Canadians. Read more after the jump...

- - Saffron Rouge Inner Circle | July 2014 Review - -

THIS WAS THE LAST BOX FROM INNER CIRCLE.

Read more about the cancellation of this program here.

Hi everyone!

It feels like it has been forever since my last Inner Circle review. It's going to take some time, but I'm slowly going to catch up with all of my reviews. Thanks for bearing with me!

I received my July Inner Circle package two days ago (July 17) and I'm pretty happy with everything that was in it. This month there were more foil packets than there usually are, but I think some leeway is allowed for a sampling service that is consistently providing deluxe-sized and full-sized products.

Check out the full review after the jump...

- - Saffron Rouge Inner Circle | April 2014 Review - -

Hi friends!

As everyone is starting to receive their May Inner Circle boxes, I thought this would be a good time to look back at what the contents of the April package were like..

Let's look at those products right after the jump...

- - Saffron Rouge Inner Circle | March 2014 Review - -

Hi friends!

Yay - the latest Inner Circle package arrived last week! As I keep saying time and time again, this is my favourite subscription and I wait for its arrival at my doorstep anxiously every month. The shipping was stellar this month - I got the shipping notification on the 12th and I received my package the very next day.

Read further for a closer look at this month's Inner Circle package...

- - Saffron Rouge Inner Circle | February 2014 Review - -

Hi everyone! 

I am back today with another installment of my favourite subscription - Saffron Rouge's Inner Circle! Seriously, my friends, Inner Circle is hands down one of the best boxes I subscribe to. Not only does this sampling service allow you to try out various organic brands from around the world, these monthly boxes also continue to yield an incredible value of goods - with the February box being no exception. I actually find that I'm no longer worried about being disappointed when my Inner Circle packages come in because clearly Saffron Rouge knows what they are doing and they are clearly doing it well. To access my full review of the February Inner Circle package, please read further... 

- - Saffron Rouge Inner Circle | January 2014 Review - -

Hi everyone! Hope you're having a swell Wednesday!

This month Saffron Rouge's Inner Circle was the last subscription to arrive at my door. Nonetheless, arrive it did! As we've seen with ipsy and Beauty Box 5, the trend for the first month of 2014 was to focus on cleansing/moisturizing skincare products. In this regard, Saffron Rouge was no exception. For a full review of the products in this month's box, please click "Read more"...

- - Saffron Rouge Inner Circle | December 2013 Review - -

Happy Wednesday! How is everyone getting through the week? I'm in the middle of my first week back at school and already I've got an assignment due tomorrow. Putting that aside, I'm excited to talk about what has quickly become my favourite beauty box subscription - Saffron Rouge's Inner Circle. For a full review, please click "Read more"...

- - Frightful Weather & Sneak Peeks of Subscription Boxes - -

Happy Sunday!

Yesterday, Toronto, Mississauga, Etobicoke, and several other areas in the same vicinity experienced the first major snowfall for this winter. There wasn't enough snow this morning to cancel my 9am mid-tem exam, of course. Nonetheless! There were quite a few accidents in the areas mentioned above & it was just an overall slow day for cars and buses today. I like days like this because my favourite moment if when big snowflakes fall down slowly. On the other hand, I dislike snowfalls because they cause the road conditions to become dangerous. I hope all of you that were in snow-filled areas got home safely yesterday. On my way home after work I called the bus hotline and they said that wait times for buses could be as long as 60 min! Can you imagine traffic being slowed down that much?? Luckly, I didn't end up waiting that long, but I'm sure there were some people for whom the commute ended up being held up that long.

Speaking of snow, I recently received an avalanche of boxes that I'm subscribed to! They all surprised me within the same few days, so I haven't really had a chance to review them yet - I've got sneak peeks in this post of what's to come though!

Click...

- - Saffron Rouge Inner Circle | November 2013 Review - -

Hi everyone! I hope you are all having a lovely & relaxing weekend.
 
A few days ago I received my very first Saffron Rouge Inner Circle box.

("Saffron Rouge" - that name just rolls off the tongue beautifully!)

Ever since I became interested in subscription boxes I've been reading up about various ones to see if they ship to Canada or not. After reading several reviews of Saffron Rouge's Inner Circle, I finally decided to take a plunge and sign up. Honestly, I'm pretty happy that I decided to do so. Saffron Rouge is an online eco-friendly & organic retailer that - from what I can tell - has only recently started up a monthly subscription box.

 

I haven't found any other reviews about the November box yet, so I'm not sure if anyone else has experienced this...but I was totally blown away by the products for this month! Next to Luxe Box, this may just be my favourite subscription.

Read further for a more in-depth review...