Friday 12 April 2013

WARNING - Laura Mercier Candles 'Fresh Fig'

 (IMAGE - TAKEN FROM GOOGLE, NO COPYRIGHT INTENDED.)
A while back in the January Sales I visited the Laura Mercier counter and picked up a Creme Brulee Body Set, Fresh Fig Candle, cosmetics and a perfume. Until recently I hadn't wanted to use the candle as originally they're £29 and I really didn't want to re-purchase another for full price so I was savouring it.
 Last Sunday however my bedroom was absolutely freezing so I decided to light my Laura Mercier candle to warm up my bedroom a bit and relax before work. I never normally fall asleep with candles on (I know the dangers and I'm paranoid about such things) but on this occasion I nodded off for around an hour.
I awoke with a tight feeling chest and upon opening my eyes I thought my room looked foggy, or perhaps my eyes were a bit blurry but I soon realized my room was filled with black smoke. After scanning my room, looking for evidence of a fire I realized my candle was to blame. As soon as the candle was blown out, my windows were open and I was trying to figure out what had caused the candle to release so much smoke. I then realized that around my finger nails were dark and chalky and then that my nostrils were completely blackened inside. Of course, this worried me and when I started coughing up black mucas and feeling out of breath my mum demanded I go to A&E but being stubborn I refused and instead she rang our local medical centre. They assured me that as long as I didn't start coughing up blood and didn't pass out I should be ok but that I was lucky I hadn't put the candle on before I'd gone to bed and fallen asleep otherwise I could of had carbon monoxide poisoning. Obviously the smoke had entered my lungs which isn't good for you under any circumstances.

I've since attempted to contact Laura Mercier several times, all to no avail. I've rang my local counter twice, only to be made to feel like a nuisance and assured that 'HO' would be getting in touch with me - they didn't and it's now five days on. After tweeting about the incident I did receive a reply from Laura Mercier, but once I replied to them saying I wasn't complaining for the money they ignored me. I then tweeted again asking if there was someone I could speak to about the incident, only to be ignored again. Since then I've emailed the company, only to receive a generic e-mail reply - totally uninterested in what I had to say.
Having exhausted all options, I feel that since the company are doing nothing to help, or assure me their candles are safe I need to pass a warning on to as many people as I can for my own piece of mind at least.
I've brought a fair share of candles in my time from budget unnamed brands to Neom and Yankee Candles but NONE have ever caused me such concern. I honestly believe Laura Mercier must have a bad batch of candles, so if you've brought a Fresh Fig scented candle in the Christmas Sales or recently please be careful and burn in well ventilated areas - keep an eye on it.
On this particular visit to Laura Mercier I'd spent over £200 on cosmetics, perfumes and gift sets. I have nothing against the brand and enjoy some of their products, this is just my personal experience with an item of theirs. I was never interested in getting my money back, however an interest and even a 'we'll look in to the issue' would of sufficed.

26 beauty obsessed ladies have an opinion...:

  1. So glad you're ok! Can't believe they treat their customers like that, proper disgusting. Especially as they're a high end brand, this definitely puts me off trying anything from them xx

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  2. That's terrifying! Already there is a lot of buzz around the toxins released when candles burn, but this is unlike anything I have heard. Apparently if you buy candles with 100% cotton wicks they do not burn off toxins into the air and are much safer to be breathing in (especially if you light them all the time).

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  3. Oh my gosh that is so bad! Seriously the fact that your healthy was at risk! I would stalk them until you get a better response. Not on! Xxx

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  4. Oh gosh, you poor thing. They're acting very irresponsibly - trading standards? x

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  5. At least you're all right! That is downright terrifying. Laura Mercier's rep shouldn't have brushed you off! x

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  6. This is terrible to hear :( glad you're okay but wow how scary and terrible customer service from the LM team!! Xx.

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  7. That's terrifying! So glad you're okay. Gotta hand it to them for their brilliant customer service..

    Kirsty, xo
    - Clothes, Shoes & Boys with Tattoos

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  8. Omg thats so scary :( glad your okay!!

    xxxx

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  9. That's terrifying! So glad you're okay now. You should report it to trading standards because they're clearly dangerous and they're not making any effort to contact you or even respond to you for the full story - the next person may not be so fortunate! xx

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  10. Wow, glad your ok though! But awful customer service from LM x

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  11. Can't believe that happened to you! Hope you're okay now. It wouldn't have been has bad if they had sorted it out with better customer service x

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  12. Oh my gosh that's so terrible! I can't believe a bad candle would cause that many problems! Ugh, so glad you're okay though!!

    xo, aly

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  13. Oh my god, I'm so glad you're okay! That is such horrific customer service from LM. xx

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  14. WOW! I'm shocked by their customer service... that could have been so dangerous!! Hope everything is OK xxxxx

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  15. this is beyond terrible! and their customer service is so bad - hope you are ok now! x ♥

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  16. They really look like they didn't care in any way. Terrible. xxx

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  17. So sorry this happened to you and glad you are ok. How scary this must have been for you. It makes me so upset that they do not have the decency to even contact you in the correct manner by having a representative from the Laura Mercier company call you. Thanks so much for sharing this with all of us.

    xx, Gina

    http://www.lipglossonmylatte.com/

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  18. Thats awful! And they haven't exactly responded in the way you would hope! Glad you are ok though <3
    Carissa xx
    Vanilla Crush Blog

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  19. God that's awful! I can't believe they haven't replied to you, it could have been a lot worse and then were would they be. Glad your okay!

    xx

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  20. God that's awful, I hope you're okay now! That's really rubbish and pretty scary too! xxx

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  21. wow thank you for this post, I would actually tell trading standards:/ I'm so glad you're okay. That's so bad and you've actually probably just saved someones life!

    xxx Em

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  22. Thanks to everyone that's commented, tweeted or contacted me about this issue! I've received another tweet from Laura Mercier since this blog post but once again it was just generic replies about how they 'appreciated my feedback' ?! Is it really that hard to offer some genuine care? Anyway, I've had a few others say that they've had LM candles that have expressed a lot of black smoke also so I'm not going to give up on trying to contact the company just yet!

    Thanks again girls! xxx

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  23. I'm actually in shock! I had never thought about such a thing happening. I'm so glad you're ok! That's really terrible about Laura Mercier not getting back to you - I mean, that's really, really bad.

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  24. Totally shocking that they didn't reply!! This is a scary prospect. Glad you are ok but definitely worth telling people about thank u x

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  25. I just had a very similar experience with Their travel candle set.

    The candles were great and I have been burning them and was on the last candle and was burning it in the case that the set came with as I had the others. Unfortunately, the candle and case caught flame and started a fire in my bathroom. Luckily, my husband and I were home and my girls were on another floor so no major damage was done. I called laura mercier corporate office to report what had happened and was told I should not have been burning it in the case. There was no indication in the box that I should not burn it in the case and I had burned all the other candles in the case without issue. To me this was a pretty inadequate response and I plan on trying to escalate the issue so this does not happen to anyone else.


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