Entries for Friday April 08
Review: Sassy Minerals
- Company name: Sassy Minerals
- Presence: online storefront only
- Products: eyeshadows, blush, face powders, foundation, brushes, lip colors
- High points: site is very easy to use; good product labelling; good value; responsive customer service
- Low points: a few perennially-empty product categories, which looks odd; stated discounts that don't always get applied
- Would I buy from them again: as of April 2011, yes
The Store / The Site
Clean layout, basic navigation categories, clear photos, consistent styling and sizing, breadcrumbs on every product page, a site search utility...usability-wise, this site is spot on. I like that the main body of the page is on a white background, because I find it easier to read and I feel like I can get a better sense of the colors. Product categories are subdivided according to finish, letting folks easily avoid mattes or sparklies if that's something they emphatically don't want. Individual product pages show a good product photo, have easy-to-read size and cost information, list ingredients, and have clearly labeled options to add to your cart, add to your wishlist, share the product link (currently confined to emailing someone else, not a FB or Twitter share link), or move to the previous or next product in the category. I like the running-tally cart (left column) and the list of most recently viewed items (right column) that display to anyone, whether you're logged in or not. It's another nice way to let site visitors see their activity at-a-glance. And they have one of the more entertaining Terms and Conditions that I've read on any web site.
Under the "things I wish were a little better" heading (because there's always a list of items one would improve): I do wish that the "empty" categories weren't shown on the site until they were due to be populated, though. Navigating to Tools, Accessories, or even the subcategory Lipsticks has shown "Coming Soon" for at nearly a year, and that's always a bit awkward. The site body is fixed-width and floats in the center of the page, so possibly the inclusion of the additional categories - even if they're largely empty - was done for design purposes as much as preplanning. Still...it's awkward, and not great usability practice. I also wish that the individual product pages had information on quantities for the samples and for fullsize items.
