HELLO FRIENDS!!! seen anything weird on tiktok live recently?? should we all buy matching hot marge simpson wigs?? don't be surprised if you see me streaming with a vibrating table pretty soon 🔮 xoxo, saf
it honestly depends on what type of marketing tactic they're tryna pull. some of this were hella overwhelming but i found some live shops that's real chill. i joined a live art supply and stationary shop a few times. it was so helpful to me, and not hectic or overwhelming at all. they review things on what u want and recommend other alternative products if the price was over your budget. if you ask for paint or watercolour, they do live colour swatch which is great. they do the same thing for other products. basically the same treatment you'd get at a physical store but online.
I’m also thinking, maybe the Crystal scoop shop could’ve recognised her and put in all the items as intended and not be shady although they have a history of that
I liked the two girls hosting Windsor. They were trying on dresses that people asked about. That is so smart of them. People get worried with what stuff looks like online on a model that could get edited vs. how it really looks. Them trying those dresses on help people decided that is does look good and to order it. They were also very nice.
Plus, as happened with Saf, it can show off things you didn't even expect like the slit. Plus you can *hopefully* see someone somewhat similar to you trying something on live.
@@romywhite290 It is good for wig shopping as long as you're ordering from someone trustworthy. Unfortunately the girl Saf ordered from was a phony. That's probably why Saf mentioned to search up a seller's history/reviews before committing lol.
They (not theses girls specifically) could still try on the good stuff on camera and then send you the cheaper low quality thing. This is definitely not “what you see is what you get” type of situation
Those two representatives of Windsor genuinely seem like great hosts. They have such bright and genuine personalities and taking the time to try on their dresses and showing all the angles while interacting with the chat is really nice.
I love how your “I bought” videos are fun but also create awareness. Knowledge and a critical eye are what’s going to keep us safe in this quickly changing online world.
Hey Saf! Long time watcher, one of my first times commenting- fair warning with the crystals and the lives- I bought from them once and then realized a few months later that $10-20 was being taken from my account every week or so and it could all be traced back to the initial purchase I made with the crystal live. Keep an eye on your bank account and any weird charges you didn’t authorize!
One way to help if that happens is buy it on a credit card you regularly check. With a debit card thats your money and the bank wont care as much, a credut card is a loan and they want thier money. Theyll fight to get unauthorized charges taken off since you are unlikely to want to pay them. If you have a subscription thats nearly impossible to cancel if you threaten them with filing a complaint with your credit card company thier likely to start being very compliant with your request
There are much more reputable crystal shops! I’m not familiar with the highland one so hopefully it’s fine but always check it their pages before buying so nothing bad can happen!!!
Those are skills required for long-term streaming, and could be good experience to hone those skills if the hosts want to pursue more independent careers that use the same skillset. That said, I hope the compensation for these gigs is worth the hard work they certainly are.
I’m so thankful it’s not available in Europe because this is purely insane to me 😭 tiktok shop should not exist and every time I see someone making a video on it, it gets worse and worse
I’m glad you point out how there’s an issue with buying on live streams because you can’t see/know what other items are available! Also appreciate pointing out some of the controversy/issues with a few of the stores especially the Crystal scoop one!
I’m sorry but this is the best ad AGAINST impulse buying. The things might be nice but they are like candy floss - sweet but forgettable except now you have the stuff and the credit card hit. Watch the shows by all means but just treat it as entertainment. If you really think you might want the stuff, post to Pinterest or such like and wait a week, then wait for the NEXT livestream because there’s one thing you can be sure of - nothing on sale is one of a kind! It will appear again.
Absolutelyy. Honestly when I feel crazy pressure and anxiety to buy something right this second, I free myself by putting it aside and going to bed instead. Just on principle. Makes it easy!
Yeah, what happened to putting the item in your cart and waiting a while to see if you really want it? This practice (not Safiya, just the QVC-style format) is super wasteful.
@@louielouie1427 Seriously I am crying how much of this stuff is going to end up as eventual clutter in someone's house as the planet drowns under a mountain of unused crap.
don't be sorry - that's kind of the point of the video & the conclusions we came to at the end of the video! take your time & don't get bamboozled by a flash sale!!
as a crocheter, I hate to say that colorful sheep is 100% a drop shipping crochet company. Crochet has to be handmade as machines can't replicate the stitches accurately / in different shapes. They've sold over 25.1K on their TikTok, and sell their products for very cheap (~$22) which is not enough to cover supplies + hourly labor for a small business owner (even your Mario+Luigi you got was in the $20-30 range, which is way too cheap for a product like that if you handmade it). If you look at their TikToks, they NEVER actually show them crocheting a product - HUGE RED FLAG!!! So yes, it is handmade, but not by them and instead by cheap labor elsewhere. Drop shipping crochet vendors are everywhere and unfortunately, you'll see them at local craft fairs which take away from small businesses. You can tell by: 1. if you google their product, you will see a ton of replicas on sites like alibaba and temu 2. sparse social media / very little branding - small businesses will always put their brand out there! 3. never showing them actually crocheting 4. smaller stitches - this takes a lot longer than bigger stitches, and hence, should take way more time + cost to sell Please do not support them as: 1. you can buy it from the websites above for much cheaper if you really want it 2. they're pretending to be small businesses and taking away real money to those who do put in the hard work and effort 3. they are taking advantage of low, underpaid crocheters
love the video as always! and totally understand that tiktok shops are full of illegitimate businesses. This video is to show the fun and pros/cons of tiktok live shops! just wanted to highlight that it seemed like safiya thought colorful sheep was a legitimate small business that handmakes their crochet creations, when it only pretends to do so to get $$
Yep! Seeing that many crochet items for so cheap I knew it had to be bought from China! 😔 That style of crochet with that many stitches take more time than patterns with less stitches.
As a crocheter, I agree with the other comments. Those figures were not made by the seller. Amigurumi like that take hours upon hours of work and a lot of material. That they have so many on hand all the time and so many sales is a BIG red flag. With how much they are selling them for, after deducting material costs, they’d be paying themselves so low per hour it wouldn’t be sustainable. Crochet in that style CANNOT be done by any machine. It has to be by hand, meaning someone is getting exploited and paid PENNIES to make those. I say all this as someone who has done crochet commission work. I know what pricing these looks like.
I like Safiya's video's, but I wish she'd be more critical in these videos. With her huge platform, she has a real chance to educate her probably young audience. She's way too nice (and naive) about what's basically scammy behavior. Like dropshippers pretending their cheap mass-produced stuff is handmade, and those super manipulative dopamine rush gambling shopping tactics. These platforms aren't giving you 'amazing deals', they're still marking up low quality products made in questionable working conditions overseas.
@@jUQMtDmfshe actually pointed out other scams that she was aware of. A lot of people don’t know that 98% of crochet cannot be mass produced or sold for cheap prices. That’s not her fault. There are multiple comments educating her and that’s entirely fair, but I think it’s unfair to criticize her for the one mistake she made when she clearly made an effort to point out that scamming is a problem on TikTok and “buyer beware”. I do agree that the entirety of live shopping is to increase buyer anxiety though, that’s for sure a problem.
@@_luckicharms being smart doesn’t mean being an all-knowing god. I have a law degree but I have no idea about crochet pricing/production. Go touch some grass
To clarify the reason I say all this with some math. 80 divided by three items is ~$26.66 per item. Divide that by federal minimum wage of $7.25 and you get ~3.67. That would mean that in order to make minimum wage (not even the higher price that skilled labor usually is expected to command) at those prices you would have to whip out one of those in just under 3 hours and 45 minutes. It is TECHNICALLU possible but unlikely given the detail work in these figures. And that number is not accounting for material costs at all. While it may be possible to make something at that speed and sell it for that price, it is not something sustainable at the scale that their shop indicates without someone being severely underpaid for their work. A crafter is free to price at whatever they like, sure. However, these prices would be considered very low by most artisans. That’s the discount price you charge your best friend, ya know?
19:44 There is mitigation to be aware of: Since you didn't use a burner account, ANY of these stores may very well have catch you being a content creator and sending their premium quality stuff or making sure they didn't swap the show stuff for cheap, busted ones. Anyway, glad you received some things you liked in the end, the bag looks awesome :)
I am like 99% sure this happened with some of them. It definitely means that it's not really that representative of the quality of any of these things.
I'm iffy on the crochet shop being an actual small business, just based on the price point compared to the amount of time (that's several hours work minimum, with all the details).
They are most likely drop shipped from Ali Express/Temu, I've seen them for sale before. They might still technically count as hand made, but unlikely to be made by the seller.
I also thought they had a really large stock for a supposedly small business. From what I know about handmade goods, it seems like they’d have to have A LOT of people working to consistently have that amount of available items.
As someone who crochets, I was like that is an insane stock for a real small business. I have a really hard time believing it’s truly a small business that made those and not underpaid labor from like China.
@@madisonemily4083 Not only consistently, but just making that amount alone takes a very long time already. They would have to be working around the clock to make all of that, period! Now you're telling me they're doing that over and over again? FAT chance. That stuff is definitely drop shipped!
Yup lmao. There’s this one crochet artist that had to mention she was retiring after 3 years of making crochet flowers by hand so she wouldn’t get carpal tunnel, and her stock never reached those amounts. Big dropshipping vibes
I’ve ordered a lot from them and I loved everything I ordered. I have a bunch of pants, sport dresses, leggings, overalls. I actually think the quality is good 🤷🏼♀️
Notice that the crochet shop wont show works in progress or videos of them crocheting. They purchase the pieces wholesale for cheap from factories where the crochet artists are underpaid and overworked. As an artist myself its disgusting to see these shops dupe people into thinking theyre supporting ethically produced handmade goods. A word of advice, almost all crochet artists who are making and selling pieces they create themselves ethically will show the process on their social media. Edit: theres a comment saying the artist has videos on their social media. That is false. I checked all their social media before commenting and there are zero timelapses or anything as evidence that they make their own pieces.
@@TallTeenTurtlei agree with you both but just wanted to add that it’s not dropshipping if they order the products and ship them from their own location. I don’t want to be annoying about the differentiation but it’s more akin to what a lot of local businesses do but in a more twisted way where they claim being the artist being the product. Dropshipping involves the shop never even seeing or touching the product as they ship it from the source. (Which is how these tiktok shops are getting away with it) There’s something even more nefarious with the false sense of legitimacy these fake tiktok shops give by showing you your package before you receive it, making it feel more legitimate when it’s not. Hopefully my message is coming across as I intend it, not wanting to be an “hum actually🤓” comment!
Agreed, each of those figures would take hours to make, there’s no way someone would have time to make those as well as run Facebook lives and sell as much as they do
I really think you underestimate how nice that dress looks on you! I saw it and audibly went “wow”, and then listened to you talk about how it didn’t fit in the right places, etc. it looked beautiful on you, truly.
The purple dress was a good choice, in my opinion, as it's a less "flashy, prom-looking dress" and more of a general formal occasion dress... And the slits!! 🔥🔥
Oh, I'm so glad you did a video about this. The QVC of it all is truly wild. I remember having a friend who was blind and loved QVC-HSN because they described everything in such detail. (This was before the ubiquity of haul videos.)
Windsor has been around for long time, I remember shopping their website in the early 2000s. I've def seen their stores in malls too. The crochet you bought is probably not made by the account runner sadly, as a lot of crochet items are being mass produced and sold on aliexpress. A good rule of thumb is if the account runner doesn't show video or progress of them making the items, and doesn't cite where their patterns are from / sell their own patterns, they're probably not the maker. There are many many great crochet makers online, so do your due diligence if you want to support a maker, and expect that handmade items cost handmade prices.
Saffiya, I’m a little obsessed with crochet and am involved in the community. I have learned over time to avoid these types of crochet products. It is often made by cheap labor in Turkey or China. I’m not judging you for buying but just wanted to spread awareness! When you buy crochet, try to buy it directly from the maker.
@@vaderladylword this better: not made by unpaid sweatshop workers from china. There are plenty of talented crocheters from there that isn’t doing cheep labour
Was here to say this! You can’t make crochet by machine so it’s all handmade and usually very exploited labor, but most people don’t know! Especially since they are so many good crochet artists out there
As someone who was formerly associated with that same tiktok account, I can confirm that they're dropshipped and they don't make them and lie about who actually makes the figures. They don't pay their own hosts much either and are very skimpy on the pay. VERY bad experience with colorfulsheep and definitely don't recommend anyone purchasing from them!
i don't think the wigs she was trying are the wigs being sold. the on saf got was much darker. my guess is she has high quality wigs to try on, but the ones being sold are cheap knockoffs
Edit: Even if that one particular shop isn't a scam, the statement still stands for other possible scam shops. 19:00 With the Highland Crystals I think it should be mentioned that it is very possible they saw your account was verified and knew that you were most likely doing this for a video/content. So of course your chances of getting scammed would be a lot lower.
@@elizabethm8373 I'm glad that's the case for both of you. It is still telling though that using a verified tiktok will cause potentially other scammers to make things legit just for them.
@@kittiekat1720liar, they are huge scammers, my order never came in, and because of that, they kept charging me!!! They said my order was coming, but never gave a tracking number, they took $10 $20 every week until I contacted my bank and got it sorted, never received my order
We are sooo getting back to previous media use patterns. With streaming platforms getting back to using ads inbetweeen episodes, a weekly release schedule and QVC type shopping, we are essentially doing all that the things we used to do via TV and phone, just on smaller devices.
I recently told my friend that! QVC is still super popular among boomers and tik tok shop is QVC for younger generation. The bundle deals on streamers are just cable.
"Take your time before buying" - absolutely! It was fascinating to see how classic selling tricks were used on tiktok in this video. The strong sense of urgency, the brief flash sale, the limited or one of a kind items, the amount of "sold out" items making you consider to buy a pant color you didn't actually want. If you get caught up in the urgency of these things, take a breath, close the window/app and think about what you actually need and like. It's really easy to be influenced!
Also feeling obligated to buy because you're directly interacting with the host. I noticed that the Windsor host said 'let me try this on for you' or similar. But when Saf was buying she felt like she had to because 'I asked her to try it on'...which you didn't. It's a lot harder to say no to a real human than a faceless website.
@@annegasko7719 Very good observation! People not wanting to let a seller down by not buying after they have spend time on you, is another mental trick used in physical stores. It's not something that has been possible with online shopping...until now!
It's especially true for shops like Halara, where there seemed to be a flash sale for the same product (but different shades) strewn right after the first Safiya saw. At this moment you KNOW they manufacture FOMO
@@ashleyb3527one of the girls commented on this video! you should see it as one of the top comments, maybe you can find out the username(s) from there :)
@@ashleyb3527 One of the girls commented like an hour after you posted this one lol. It's a few comments up @/cassidymccartney & the shop is Windsor ^-^ (I hope either of those answered your question)
as someone who grew up in the house of an extreme hoarder with a qvc addiction this shit Terrifies me. like same shit different day. at least safiya is transparent about how much it's psychological warfare because like (aside from the windsor girls being fun, nothing against them personally) it literally is
Just a note on the crochet stuff!! A lot of sellers will buy in bulk from places like aliexpress and then sell that for dirt cheap while prending to have made it. You'll see keychains and crochet flowers a lot from those sellers. Nothing crochet should be under $10!! It's impossible to do with a machine so if you see mass produced crochet someone was either heavily exploited to make it or it's knit in a way that just kinda looks like crochet. Crochet takes so much time, even just little things. Please make sure the crochet prices you're buying are ethical!! The mass produced stuff really hurts fiber artists because is devalues that craft and often steals pattern from small independent creators. I recommend looking for if a creator sellers or offers patterns and looking for videos of them crocheting. Most real crochet creators will post the process of crocheting or sell patterns! Support fiber artists!! It is so worth it to save for a quality handmade peice!
@@cleargreen123456789 That's true! People mention crochet more because it can only be done by hand, which is very very strenuous. Obviously, all clothing items are also done by hand (a sewing machine only makes straight stitches, all the labor is done by the person operating it, and industrial sewing is no joke.), but as someone who does both - crochet will mess up your wrists, hands, fingers. Every stitch you see on those plushies was done by hand. That's a lot of stitches!
@@cleargreen123456789 yes ofc, crochet is your average piece of clothing's exploitation x100 though. It's a lot easier to not buy fast fashion/mass produced crochet than it is to not buy anything mass produced
As someone who was formerly associated with that same tiktok account, I can confirm that they're dropshipped and they don't make them and lie about who actually makes the figures. They don't pay their own hosts much either and are very skimpy on the pay. VERY bad experience with colorfulsheep and definitely don't recommend anyone purchasing from them.
I think she meant that she was expecting to wear it without or with minimal shapewear, and that the amount of shapewear she needed to make it look that good was hedging on uncomfortable for her (may be wrong, she may just not like the end product even with shaping :') )
Hey, just to let everyone know, the hamster rave live streams that Saf mentioned are actually really cruel to the hamsters. SodaPets did a video on them if you want more details just please don't watch or support these lives.
If you’d like to see cute animals ethically, check out Mother of Frogs Rescue- they rescue neglected and disabled frogs and stream the frog tanks and have raves on live💛 they’re all very loved and taken care of!
Yeah as a hamster dad seeing multiple hamsters in the same cage already made me cringe. We should really stop the normalisation of animal abuse on rodents
This is why I love Saf and her channel. This is exactly what UA-camrs should be doing. Killing the curiosity of these shopping experiences for the average person and demonstrating the realities of it without us wasting our own money.
This made me somewhat anxious, there´s so much STUFF that is being bought without a second thought and the world is drowning in said stuff and it just keeps on accelerating and no one seems to care enough. I´ve made a concious desicion recently to only shop second hand (online & live) so maybe that is why this is feeling icky, tho it´s great if small businesses can advertise themselves this way and get customers.
yes, it sits really bad with me as well. I am making my part in not partaking in over consumption but it is really like you are not making a difference when you see so many people doing the contrary of what you preach.
I’m a tightwad and try to buy as little as I can. Watching all of this and going into major stores makes me so anxious. I’m not perfect but I can at least say I don’t buy into every new trend and I keep using something until it break
I feel the same way. Consumerism at its finest. I’m shopping more sustainably now and now throwing my money around like I used to, so I’m definitely not in TikTok Shop’s target audience.
I don't know. I think the best thing about online shopping is NOT having a sales person shoving it in your face and telling you to spend more, more, MOAR!!! Also, I like to throw everything in a shop that I like into my cart, be horrified by the cost, then slowly cull it down to what I ACTUALLY want over the course of a day or two. This isn't for me.
I feel like Safiya could've talked more about how predatory those live sellings are. Like it feels like peer pressure almost. Just like she said once you were talking to the hosts you kinda felt like you HAD to buy the item. And that's especially devious considering kids use this app, are exposed to it and can easily fall prey to these tactics.
Yes!! And kids will be watching this video. Even framed as an experiment, it's about showing not telling and what's being primarily shown is the overconsumption. Plus, I can't imagine how these tactics could really get to kids that feel they don't fit in, especially for the way their bodies look. This feels like Brandy Melville evolved into a monster 10× scarier. It's training people to continually chase their money into the pockets of wage thieves in order to get that sweet, sweet hit of dopamine.
@@Lvless404 Yes, I have noticed that on previous videos, like the one where she bought the corset dress. She skirts around taking a stand and then backs away to not make people angry. With her platform she could reach a lot of people!
As someone who was formerly associated with that same tiktok account, I can confirm that they're dropshipped and they don't make them and lie about who actually makes the figures. They don't pay their own hosts much either and are very skimpy on the pay. VERY bad experience with colorfulsheep and definitely don't recommend anyone purchasing from them.
One thing I've learned about synthetic wigs is that none are truly ready to wear fresh out of the bag if they're under $200. Usually you'll want to pluck the part and add some concealer. You also want to wash the wig with some warm water and fabric softener. That usually helps with the shine and occasional "stiffness". If the shine still isn't reduced you can brush some baby powder through it. After doing all that, your new synthetic wig will look dramatically better. For a synthetic wig fresh out of the bag, it looked pretty good 🤷♀️
i love this video cuz it brings awareness to how easy it is to enable a shopping or hoarding addiction. It's so easy to buy little nick-knacks and be swept up by the shiny things that are just low quality and waste at the end of the day.
Watching this video having a shopping addiction (it's pretty much under control now, thank gods), and hearing you describe your emotions surrounding this experience has me just repeating to the screen: "Welcome to what having a shopping addiction is like." 😂 A shopping addiction is basically MASSIVE dopamine hits at the excitement of going to the store/mall and getting new stuff followed by regret and shame. I guess if anyone is curious about what emotionally based addictions feel like, give these tiktok livestreams a go. Just be careful about getting hooked yourself.
I’m surprised that Safiya, shopping mall queen of UA-cam, had never heard of Windsor. I feel like they are front and center of everything shopping mall I’ve ever visited (cute dresses too!!!) 👗
0:57 The hamsters get really hurt during those lives btw. Those specific wheels aren’t good for them, especially when there are a lot of hamsters because they can get trampled by the other hamsters - which you can see in the clip; the top left wheel has a little hamster getting trampled by the other hamster that is still running. Also, they run so fast on the wheels that they can fling off of the wheel, hitting the wall of the enclosure - which can really hurt them because of how small their bodies are. Hamsters are notoriously very fragile creatures with very fragile bodies. Poor little guys aren’t really having any fun in there, even though the music in those lives may suggest otherwise.
Also, the other thing is hamsters are notoriously territorial, so it’s not good to have multiple hamsters in one cage. Even if their siblings. Unless they’re babies below a certain age, you should not have any hamsters together. If you want really friendly rodents that are playfully and you can have multiple up get pet rats. Rats are the best, but you need a really big cage and at least two rats. But they’re super fun and if you get them from rescuer or breeder, you can get some pretty friendly ones. they bite less than hamsters, I’ve been bitten by way more hamsters than Rats.
@@LPSRosyYT Female guinea pigs will also get along in mid-sized groups [I wouldn't push it past 5 in one space], at least from my experiences when I was a child. I guess they're just not as marketable, though. I had two, they were sisters. Very neat animals.
Yeah but that's how hamsters are usually if you have more than one in a cage they'll try to kill each other or chew off each other's feet and they're just kind of rough little critters sometimes on themselves as well.
Its so cute how excited the Windsor salesladies got when they saw you haha! They were so nice and genuinely really good sales people, going so far as to model the dress for you????
Don't be expecting good crystals from those scoops honey. Very low quality, things they were not able to sale!!! And they were banned for a while from doing scoops!! And that is actually a polisher they're in❤
The lives suck you in if you watch them. Something about a seller directly talking to you, answering your questions about the products, and trying them on in real time if they are clothing is actually really helpful!!
18:30 i was surprised to hear that you didn't find the purple dress flattering, since i think you look absolutely stunning in it. The color suits you sooo well and the shape is really pretty on you
This was a super interesting interesting video! One aspect I didn’t hear you touch on though is the abundance of MLM live sellers. While they are sometimes genuinely just selling their product it is under a predatory business structure and if they are recruiting on live it could be very icky situation. Just another layer I wanted to touch on!
the Windsor ladies not just being girls' girls but also looking absolutely stunning in the dresses they tried on 😭 😭 no wonder one of them's miss washington usa 2020
Even most brick and mortar crystal shops often end up selling fake and overpriced crystals, its easy to trick even well intentioned dealers and the entire industry is dubious
@@LC-le9ew crystals are made up of atoms, most crystals are silicon and oxygen atoms forming lattices of silicon dioxide. Minerals are composed of crystals, and rocks are composed of several different minerals. The majority of crystals sold are variations of quartz, with clear quartz being pure silicon dioxide and only that molecule. Quartz like Amythest have impurities that give them their colour. Agates are also Quartz and are only catagorized differently based on how and where they form (volcanic and metamorpic rock). Note: glass is not a cystal, its not uniform. Obsidian is therefor not a crystal. Rocks are many different minerals combined, and are not cystals, and crystals are not rocks. A lot of cheap fakes are actually usually just glass because its hard to tell the difference visually.
@@asteri8299 ok perhaps I should have specified that which is generally considered a naturally formed crystal arrangement in a 3 dimensionally naturally formed structure as composed by its individual minerals. anyway, you know what I was getting at.
Okay... the trick is to go to ROCK SHOPS for people who collect rocks instead of "crystal" shops. Not only are they cheaper (collecting rocks is... significantly less "trendy"), they're less likely to be fake (rock collectors typically know what they're doing and can tell real from fake)
These live sales are like higher tech infomercials that have evolved to psychology make us actually seek out watching 😬 It’s so weird. It taps into that feeling of wanting to catch an influencer’s live to “hang out with them” except these are also pressuring us to buy tons of stuff 😬
I mean, those are 2 different cases imo. if someone is searching out shopping lives they're probably looking to spend some money, advertisements in the middle of trying to relax can annoy some ppl. @@bestnarryever
Okay this is why i love you! You are so positive, fun and sweet while also bringing us such interesting/creative content in a way that is easy to understand! You try to better understand these parts of the internet and share your experiences with us! It is informative and entertaining! I appreciate you
@23:31 unless she's got some INTENSE anti-highlights filters on, that is NOT the same wig. (ETA: Unless she's done a lot to style her "samples" and make them look good.) Either a scam or extremely misleading sales process. There are synthetic wigs that look like what she's wearing in the live, but the fibers you received appear much cheaper.
lmaoooo i actually worked for the factory behind the wig shop that you bought! its so funny that you are trying to track down where the wigs are from lol! all of their wigs are from our factory, and the factory also has tiktok shop as well. the reason why the store is so mysterious is because the streamer and the shop owners are all based in china, where there are regulations. so there is always problems with the account or the shop or whatever, so they have to buy shops from other people, thats why the shop you see it a totally different thing
Actually not true lol. I was the wig streamer and we were just a studio set up in the southern USA lol which isn’t as interesting as all that I suppose. But that’s cool you got to see that from a different perspective!
Hey Safiya! I already loved the quality of your previous videos, but the little detail of the rotating platforms for the products shots is so amazing! You put so much effort, research and share so much great knowledge in all of your videos, I love it! ❤
As a cosplayer who does wig commissions dealing pretty exclusively with synthetic wigs, here's an overly long advice comment on your wig! I wouldn’t personally say that wig is really worth that price since there are better ones for cheaper, but!! It is savable if you ever wanted to use it beyond this video try-on! The too-small cap is a little difficult to fix for a casual wearer without some cutting up and sewing in extra elastic, maybe even moving some wefts around, but the shine can be taken down easily with dry shampoo or baby powder (powder would probably be a little too visible on this dark wig). For the bumps, I couldn’t guarantee it would 100% fix it, but styling wigs with steam is a really great option for applying heat without having to worry so much about melting the synthetic hair - a handheld steamer works best, and you can just pop the wig on your mannequin head, gently apply the steam across the affected areas and smooth it down by hand/with a comb, and repeat until you're satisfied! Unfortunately, if it's just how the wig wefts are built, there might be only so much you can do. (Alternatively, as a wig-teasing enthusiast that likes more volume on my wigs, you can take some hairspray and the comb to the hair around the part and tease some volume into it to hide the lumps! Spray, tease, brush the teasing back out, and repeat! Then you can hit it with steam and brush again a bit when you're done to smooth it back out a little again! This could take some time and patience though 😅) You could also try retraining the wig part with the steam to see if another section might be less bumpy, though I'm not positive how deep the lacefront goes and how natural a different part would look 😂
Honestly I am fully into TikTok shop livestreams, I love interacting with the hosts. I feel so special 😂 and I’ve been super happy with everything I bought!
i was really impressed with the hosts of the lives you bought from! bringing and maintaining high/positive energy while juggling questions and trying stuff on can't be easy, they all have a real talent for it
currently using this video for a research paper (mock IRR specifically). it’s the video that made me think of my groups research question when we couldn’t decide so thank you safiya. and anyone wondering, group question is “to what extent does tiktok effect peoples personal decisions?” and my individual question is about financial decisions
its a bummer that crochet artists who make amigurimi and try to sell it for their livelihoods are often outsold by dropshippers, so it's cool to see independent artists doing lives and seeing success from it
Especially because you can't use a machine to crochet, like you can knitting. So it either won't actually be crochet or someone in the country of origin is being severely exploited.
HELLO FRIENDS!!! seen anything weird on tiktok live recently?? should we all buy matching hot marge simpson wigs?? don't be surprised if you see me streaming with a vibrating table pretty soon 🔮 xoxo, saf
HEY SAF
Miss seeing ur vids. Update on life?
I would love to see the streaming channel come back (even if that’s not what you’re talking about here)!! 🫶
❤❤
Hiii!!!!!
the fiverr intro song is still a banger 🎵
HEY TYLER
Honestly the best $45 ever spent on fiverr
I was literally thinking it is amazing Saf still uses the fiverr intro
Hey Tyler! And in so much agreement! Love that song 🤩
as always!!
Those two girls hosting the Windsor live were so sweet, even before they realized who you were.
Ikr their energy was top notch
And said her name right first time 😊
For reals, great energy!
@@1a141036 omg is it actually pronounced that way ???
Its finally completed: ua-cam.com/video/-FHSz5hYIDI/v-deo.html
Something about Saf getting excited over a streamer acknowledging her, despite being an enormous online personality, is very sweet.
Don't look at my nickname
I pointed that out to my sister while we were watching! it was so cuuuute
Yes, Saf's just like us! :)
omg totally lol
Exactly ❤ she feels the same way like we do! it's so awesome.
Ngl i dont understand how anyone can enjoy being in these lives. I felt overwhelmed by watching you be in them.
the crystal one always involves so much screaming from the host and like 2-3 people in the background
especially the “the sale is ending!!” shouting constantly lol
exactly i feel like fakes and robots only parcipate in it
it honestly depends on what type of marketing tactic they're tryna pull. some of this were hella overwhelming but i found some live shops that's real chill. i joined a live art supply and stationary shop a few times. it was so helpful to me, and not hectic or overwhelming at all. they review things on what u want and recommend other alternative products if the price was over your budget. if you ask for paint or watercolour, they do live colour swatch which is great. they do the same thing for other products. basically the same treatment you'd get at a physical store but online.
not using a burner account was a WILD choice lol if i were on tiktok lives and saw you comment i'd think it was an impersonator
I’m also thinking, maybe the Crystal scoop shop could’ve recognised her and put in all the items as intended and not be shady although they have a history of that
@@knusprigeschuhsohle7939 I mean one of them was fake. Feel like they would not have done that if they had recognized her.
If I saw Safiyas name anywhere I think, here’s the next video idea.
Don't look at my nickname
FDA, stop doing evil things!
OMG hiiii im one of the Windsor live hosts💖 thank you for sharing/supporting!!! You are so sweet
+
cassidy, you have great vibes. i'm not even into that dress style, but i enjoyed your lives, they're sweet
@@lorenabpvlorena, thank you! I appreciate the love❤
the way i was looking to see if you saw this one!! 🤭 y’all have the best energy, totally girls girls fsss🙌
Y'all were so sweet! Congrats on getting noticed by Safiya
I liked the two girls hosting Windsor. They were trying on dresses that people asked about. That is so smart of them. People get worried with what stuff looks like online on a model that could get edited vs. how it really looks. Them trying those dresses on help people decided that is does look good and to order it. They were also very nice.
Plus, as happened with Saf, it can show off things you didn't even expect like the slit. Plus you can *hopefully* see someone somewhat similar to you trying something on live.
I get the concept and quite like it. Its a good idea for wig shopping too. Also these girls were cute. The purple dress Saf ordered is very 90s prom.
@@romywhite290 It is good for wig shopping as long as you're ordering from someone trustworthy. Unfortunately the girl Saf ordered from was a phony. That's probably why Saf mentioned to search up a seller's history/reviews before committing lol.
They (not theses girls specifically) could still try on the good stuff on camera and then send you the cheaper low quality thing. This is definitely not “what you see is what you get” type of situation
@@alyonaskold1273 for sure! a lot of places do that.... even with models from mainstream shops
Those two representatives of Windsor genuinely seem like great hosts. They have such bright and genuine personalities and taking the time to try on their dresses and showing all the angles while interacting with the chat is really nice.
I love how your “I bought” videos are fun but also create awareness. Knowledge and a critical eye are what’s going to keep us safe in this quickly changing online world.
That's the best part of Saf's videos. They're entertaining with great energy but also have a lot of research into things to really educate as well.
This!!
Yes as she was talking at the end I was like this is what is missing from so many “what I purchased on TikTok” videos you see around.
Hey Saf! Long time watcher, one of my first times commenting- fair warning with the crystals and the lives- I bought from them once and then realized a few months later that $10-20 was being taken from my account every week or so and it could all be traced back to the initial purchase I made with the crystal live. Keep an eye on your bank account and any weird charges you didn’t authorize!
@@katelozhkin9873 AGH that’s terrible! Commenting to boost and I'm so sorry that happened to you! Were you able to resolve it?
Dang-
One way to help if that happens is buy it on a credit card you regularly check. With a debit card thats your money and the bank wont care as much, a credut card is a loan and they want thier money. Theyll fight to get unauthorized charges taken off since you are unlikely to want to pay them. If you have a subscription thats nearly impossible to cancel if you threaten them with filing a complaint with your credit card company thier likely to start being very compliant with your request
Oh that's shady as hell wtf
There are much more reputable crystal shops! I’m not familiar with the highland one so hopefully it’s fine but always check it their pages before buying so nothing bad can happen!!!
being a host for one of these seems absolutely exhausting
the constant high energy, interacting with everyone and chat for probably hours on end
I was thinking the same thing! It must be extremely hard to keep your energy up
Those are skills required for long-term streaming, and could be good experience to hone those skills if the hosts want to pursue more independent careers that use the same skillset. That said, I hope the compensation for these gigs is worth the hard work they certainly are.
The mark up is so high that it’s probably worth it. Ali express items at Macy’s prices.
Basically working retail
I’m so thankful it’s not available in Europe because this is purely insane to me 😭 tiktok shop should not exist and every time I see someone making a video on it, it gets worse and worse
I’m glad you point out how there’s an issue with buying on live streams because you can’t see/know what other items are available!
Also appreciate pointing out some of the controversy/issues with a few of the stores especially the Crystal scoop one!
Safiya my jaw DROPPED when you said the crushed velvet purple dress wasn’t flattering on you… you look amazing!
Right?! She looked stunning!
Yes my thought as well! She looks incredible
She did say she put shapewear on to make it cling better
I ran to the comments when she said that bc it looked AMAZING on her, like what?!?!?
This!
I’m sorry but this is the best ad AGAINST impulse buying. The things might be nice but they are like candy floss - sweet but forgettable except now you have the stuff and the credit card hit. Watch the shows by all means but just treat it as entertainment. If you really think you might want the stuff, post to Pinterest or such like and wait a week, then wait for the NEXT livestream because there’s one thing you can be sure of - nothing on sale is one of a kind! It will appear again.
Absolutelyy. Honestly when I feel crazy pressure and anxiety to buy something right this second, I free myself by putting it aside and going to bed instead. Just on principle. Makes it easy!
Yeah, what happened to putting the item in your cart and waiting a while to see if you really want it? This practice (not Safiya, just the QVC-style format) is super wasteful.
Totally agree. Waste starts at consumption.
@@louielouie1427 Seriously I am crying how much of this stuff is going to end up as eventual clutter in someone's house as the planet drowns under a mountain of unused crap.
don't be sorry - that's kind of the point of the video & the conclusions we came to at the end of the video! take your time & don't get bamboozled by a flash sale!!
You should try 5 different thrift store sites
1- Thred up
2- Swap
3- curv exchange online
4- Etsy thrift box
5- thriftbooks
Yes! I want to see this!
I would love to watch that!
yess i want to see thred up so badddd
Yes please!
Love this idea!
I scroll away so fast whenever i see a live stream.
as a crocheter, I hate to say that colorful sheep is 100% a drop shipping crochet company. Crochet has to be handmade as machines can't replicate the stitches accurately / in different shapes. They've sold over 25.1K on their TikTok, and sell their products for very cheap (~$22) which is not enough to cover supplies + hourly labor for a small business owner (even your Mario+Luigi you got was in the $20-30 range, which is way too cheap for a product like that if you handmade it). If you look at their TikToks, they NEVER actually show them crocheting a product - HUGE RED FLAG!!! So yes, it is handmade, but not by them and instead by cheap labor elsewhere.
Drop shipping crochet vendors are everywhere and unfortunately, you'll see them at local craft fairs which take away from small businesses. You can tell by:
1. if you google their product, you will see a ton of replicas on sites like alibaba and temu
2. sparse social media / very little branding - small businesses will always put their brand out there!
3. never showing them actually crocheting
4. smaller stitches - this takes a lot longer than bigger stitches, and hence, should take way more time + cost to sell
Please do not support them as:
1. you can buy it from the websites above for much cheaper if you really want it
2. they're pretending to be small businesses and taking away real money to those who do put in the hard work and effort
3. they are taking advantage of low, underpaid crocheters
love the video as always! and totally understand that tiktok shops are full of illegitimate businesses. This video is to show the fun and pros/cons of tiktok live shops!
just wanted to highlight that it seemed like safiya thought colorful sheep was a legitimate small business that handmakes their crochet creations, when it only pretends to do so to get $$
Oh no, that's a big bummer if that's true, I bought into the idea that they were a small business :(
Yep! Seeing that many crochet items for so cheap I knew it had to be bought from China! 😔 That style of crochet with that many stitches take more time than patterns with less stitches.
I was going to say!!!! My older sibling had a crocheting business and I was like no way a daisy THAT DETAILED and TAHT SIZE would only be 35$!!!
@@SAmaryllis You can tell if someone actually crocheted the items from their social media account! Those are the people you want to support! 😁
18:17 “although I do like aspects of it, I don’t think it’s the most flattering”
*looks absolutely gorgeous on safiya*
No kidding! Absolutely stunning!
That's what I came here to say! Goddess bod.
I thought the same thing
Eh. Not my favorite
Exactly, the color and the fit... she looked amazing!
As a crocheter, I agree with the other comments. Those figures were not made by the seller.
Amigurumi like that take hours upon hours of work and a lot of material. That they have so many on hand all the time and so many sales is a BIG red flag. With how much they are selling them for, after deducting material costs, they’d be paying themselves so low per hour it wouldn’t be sustainable.
Crochet in that style CANNOT be done by any machine. It has to be by hand, meaning someone is getting exploited and paid PENNIES to make those.
I say all this as someone who has done crochet commission work. I know what pricing these looks like.
I like Safiya's video's, but I wish she'd be more critical in these videos. With her huge platform, she has a real chance to educate her probably young audience. She's way too nice (and naive) about what's basically scammy behavior. Like dropshippers pretending their cheap mass-produced stuff is handmade, and those super manipulative dopamine rush gambling shopping tactics. These platforms aren't giving you 'amazing deals', they're still marking up low quality products made in questionable working conditions overseas.
@@jUQMtDmfshe actually pointed out other scams that she was aware of. A lot of people don’t know that 98% of crochet cannot be mass produced or sold for cheap prices. That’s not her fault. There are multiple comments educating her and that’s entirely fair, but I think it’s unfair to criticize her for the one mistake she made when she clearly made an effort to point out that scamming is a problem on TikTok and “buyer beware”.
I do agree that the entirety of live shopping is to increase buyer anxiety though, that’s for sure a problem.
@@_luckicharms being smart doesn’t mean being an all-knowing god. I have a law degree but I have no idea about crochet pricing/production. Go touch some grass
she warns us at 27:31
To clarify the reason I say all this with some math.
80 divided by three items is ~$26.66 per item. Divide that by federal minimum wage of $7.25 and you get ~3.67. That would mean that in order to make minimum wage (not even the higher price that skilled labor usually is expected to command) at those prices you would have to whip out one of those in just under 3 hours and 45 minutes. It is TECHNICALLU possible but unlikely given the detail work in these figures. And that number is not accounting for material costs at all.
While it may be possible to make something at that speed and sell it for that price, it is not something sustainable at the scale that their shop indicates without someone being severely underpaid for their work. A crafter is free to price at whatever they like, sure. However, these prices would be considered very low by most artisans. That’s the discount price you charge your best friend, ya know?
Okay but the lady trying on wigs looked good in every wig she tried on! She wasn’t even gluing them down! She’s so pretty ❤
19:44 There is mitigation to be aware of: Since you didn't use a burner account, ANY of these stores may very well have catch you being a content creator and sending their premium quality stuff or making sure they didn't swap the show stuff for cheap, busted ones.
Anyway, glad you received some things you liked in the end, the bag looks awesome :)
I am like 99% sure this happened with some of them. It definitely means that it's not really that representative of the quality of any of these things.
I'm dissapointed she didn't switch to a burner after realizing it could compromise the mission
@@aliedawnwood "compromise the mission" its a youtube video. not investigative journalism.
I'm iffy on the crochet shop being an actual small business, just based on the price point compared to the amount of time (that's several hours work minimum, with all the details).
They are most likely drop shipped from Ali Express/Temu, I've seen them for sale before. They might still technically count as hand made, but unlikely to be made by the seller.
I also thought they had a really large stock for a supposedly small business. From what I know about handmade goods, it seems like they’d have to have A LOT of people working to consistently have that amount of available items.
As someone who crochets, I was like that is an insane stock for a real small business. I have a really hard time believing it’s truly a small business that made those and not underpaid labor from like China.
@@madisonemily4083 Not only consistently, but just making that amount alone takes a very long time already. They would have to be working around the clock to make all of that, period! Now you're telling me they're doing that over and over again? FAT chance. That stuff is definitely drop shipped!
Yup lmao. There’s this one crochet artist that had to mention she was retiring after 3 years of making crochet flowers by hand so she wouldn’t get carpal tunnel, and her stock never reached those amounts. Big dropshipping vibes
what is halara and why won't it leave me alone 🧐
😂😂😂
It’s actually the first 6 letters of my government name. I’m still waiting for my cut.
Their clothing looks really fast fashion cheap.
I'm sorry but those pants were awful too 😅
I’ve ordered a lot from them and I loved everything I ordered. I have a bunch of pants, sport dresses, leggings, overalls. I actually think the quality is good 🤷🏼♀️
18:32 idk what your opinion about that dress is but you looked absolutely gorgeous in it, maybe you didn't find it as flattering but you look GORGEOUS
Notice that the crochet shop wont show works in progress or videos of them crocheting. They purchase the pieces wholesale for cheap from factories where the crochet artists are underpaid and overworked. As an artist myself its disgusting to see these shops dupe people into thinking theyre supporting ethically produced handmade goods. A word of advice, almost all crochet artists who are making and selling pieces they create themselves ethically will show the process on their social media.
Edit: theres a comment saying the artist has videos on their social media. That is false. I checked all their social media before commenting and there are zero timelapses or anything as evidence that they make their own pieces.
yeah I was disapointed to see her buy from them. I really hope Safiya sees these comments about them being a dropshipper/lying to customers
@ i hope she sees the comments too! She has a huge platform and if she spoke about this issue it would be really helpful
@@TallTeenTurtlei agree with you both but just wanted to add that it’s not dropshipping if they order the products and ship them from their own location. I don’t want to be annoying about the differentiation but it’s more akin to what a lot of local businesses do but in a more twisted way where they claim being the artist being the product. Dropshipping involves the shop never even seeing or touching the product as they ship it from the source. (Which is how these tiktok shops are getting away with it)
There’s something even more nefarious with the false sense of legitimacy these fake tiktok shops give by showing you your package before you receive it, making it feel more legitimate when it’s not.
Hopefully my message is coming across as I intend it, not wanting to be an “hum actually🤓” comment!
Agreed, each of those figures would take hours to make, there’s no way someone would have time to make those as well as run Facebook lives and sell as much as they do
@@thisiskitta no you make a valuable clarification! Its good to differentiate this stuff so thanks!
I really think you underestimate how nice that dress looks on you! I saw it and audibly went “wow”, and then listened to you talk about how it didn’t fit in the right places, etc. it looked beautiful on you, truly.
I agree! Came to the comments to see if anyone else felt the same, it was also such a beautiful colour on her!
Agree!
Yessssss so glad I found this comment, I, too, gasped in awe 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍
it honestly kinda made me want to get it too 😭
The purple dress was a good choice, in my opinion, as it's a less "flashy, prom-looking dress" and more of a general formal occasion dress... And the slits!! 🔥🔥
I have one like it that I wore to my friends wedding. I'm a former emo, I still wear a lot of darker colours.
@coffeegirl18 A shade I tend to gravitate towards as well, dark and jewel tones are definitely my preferred pallette
Oh, I'm so glad you did a video about this. The QVC of it all is truly wild. I remember having a friend who was blind and loved QVC-HSN because they described everything in such detail. (This was before the ubiquity of haul videos.)
Windsor has been around for long time, I remember shopping their website in the early 2000s. I've def seen their stores in malls too. The crochet you bought is probably not made by the account runner sadly, as a lot of crochet items are being mass produced and sold on aliexpress. A good rule of thumb is if the account runner doesn't show video or progress of them making the items, and doesn't cite where their patterns are from / sell their own patterns, they're probably not the maker. There are many many great crochet makers online, so do your due diligence if you want to support a maker, and expect that handmade items cost handmade prices.
Yes! Lol I remember going and getting dressed for a dance at my local Windsor with my BFF about 16 years ago
Same. Girls have been going there for homecoming dresses at my local mall for the last 25 years.
Saffiya, I’m a little obsessed with crochet and am involved in the community. I have learned over time to avoid these types of crochet products. It is often made by cheap labor in Turkey or China. I’m not judging you for buying but just wanted to spread awareness! When you buy crochet, try to buy it directly from the maker.
yes there is a lot of great real handmade crochet that is not made in China from a lot of platforms online.
@@vaderladylword this better: not made by unpaid sweatshop workers from china. There are plenty of talented crocheters from there that isn’t doing cheep labour
Was here to say this! You can’t make crochet by machine so it’s all handmade and usually very exploited labor, but most people don’t know! Especially since they are so many good crochet artists out there
As someone who was formerly associated with that same tiktok account, I can confirm that they're dropshipped and they don't make them and lie about who actually makes the figures. They don't pay their own hosts much either and are very skimpy on the pay. VERY bad experience with colorfulsheep and definitely don't recommend anyone purchasing from them!
Yes! Came to say this.
Omg the crystal scoop lady! “i’m always faking it, in front of my boyfriend’s face I’m faking it” what a thing to announce on TikTok live 😂😂😂
lol!! I was alway joking around on the live🤣🤣 and I never expected that someday I’ll get recorded and posted lmao
I know, right? My jaw dropped! 😆
The giant crystal getting called “boyfriend sized” took me out. 💀
I've spent a lot of time watching Highland lives. They always make s*xual innuendos like that.
The crochet thing is giving me major dropshipping vibes, especially at 21:40 that kind of capybara design is SUPER popular on taobao
Ok but can we take a minute to appreciate how the girl who hosted the wig stream SLAYED every single wig?!?!
AHHH THANKS PUMPKIN❤
She did but also whyyyy did Safiya not get her wig? That's just too suspicious for me. She slayed but I ain't gonna support a liar.
@@nomoretwitterhandles another comment said she's a scammer
i don't think the wigs she was trying are the wigs being sold. the on saf got was much darker. my guess is she has high quality wigs to try on, but the ones being sold are cheap knockoffs
@@nomoretwitterhandles even Safina said she was suspicious in the video because she couldn't verify where the wigs were coming from
Edit: Even if that one particular shop isn't a scam, the statement still stands for other possible scam shops.
19:00 With the Highland Crystals I think it should be mentioned that it is very possible they saw your account was verified and knew that you were most likely doing this for a video/content. So of course your chances of getting scammed would be a lot lower.
Highland is not a scam channel, but that being said, there are a lot of scam channels with a similar format
I’ve ordered from highland and they are legit!!! They gave me so much stuff for a good price and I got to see it being packed live so that was fun
@@elizabethm8373 I'm glad that's the case for both of you. It is still telling though that using a verified tiktok will cause potentially other scammers to make things legit just for them.
Yes they are such a scam. They will pull the good items for fake orders.
@@kittiekat1720liar, they are huge scammers, my order never came in, and because of that, they kept charging me!!! They said my order was coming, but never gave a tracking number, they took $10 $20 every week until I contacted my bank and got it sorted, never received my order
We are sooo getting back to previous media use patterns. With streaming platforms getting back to using ads inbetweeen episodes, a weekly release schedule and QVC type shopping, we are essentially doing all that the things we used to do via TV and phone, just on smaller devices.
YES!! i was thinking the same exact thing
I recently told my friend that! QVC is still super popular among boomers and tik tok shop is QVC for younger generation. The bundle deals on streamers are just cable.
Yes that's right!
Also giving LuLaRoe on Facebook Live back in the day
Those two girls hosting the Windsor live were so sweet, even before they realized who you were. Love their vibe!!!!! And this video was so fun!!🤭🤭
"Take your time before buying" - absolutely! It was fascinating to see how classic selling tricks were used on tiktok in this video. The strong sense of urgency, the brief flash sale, the limited or one of a kind items, the amount of "sold out" items making you consider to buy a pant color you didn't actually want. If you get caught up in the urgency of these things, take a breath, close the window/app and think about what you actually need and like. It's really easy to be influenced!
Also feeling obligated to buy because you're directly interacting with the host. I noticed that the Windsor host said 'let me try this on for you' or similar. But when Saf was buying she felt like she had to because 'I asked her to try it on'...which you didn't. It's a lot harder to say no to a real human than a faceless website.
@@annegasko7719 Very good observation! People not wanting to let a seller down by not buying after they have spend time on you, is another mental trick used in physical stores. It's not something that has been possible with online shopping...until now!
@@annegasko7719YES I hate that feeling with in-person boutiques too honestly
It's especially true for shops like Halara, where there seemed to be a flash sale for the same product (but different shades) strewn right after the first Safiya saw. At this moment you KNOW they manufacture FOMO
I noticed that too. It certainly showed just how people are pressured to buy using these methods.
The two girls selling the dresses were so cute aww definitely born sellers 😂
Do you know what their name was ? I didn't see it in the description and wanted to give them a follow !
@ashleyb3527 In her video, it says Windsorsore, but one of them commented, and it's @cassidymccartney.
@@ashleyb3527one of the girls commented on this video! you should see it as one of the top comments, maybe you can find out the username(s) from there :)
@@ashleyb3527 One of the girls commented like an hour after you posted this one lol. It's a few comments up @/cassidymccartney & the shop is Windsor ^-^ (I hope either of those answered your question)
@windsorstore @@ashleyb3527
as someone who grew up in the house of an extreme hoarder with a qvc addiction this shit Terrifies me. like same shit different day. at least safiya is transparent about how much it's psychological warfare because like (aside from the windsor girls being fun, nothing against them personally) it literally is
Welp this just solidified my reasoning for not participating in Live Stream shopping or any TikTok/social media shopping.
Just a note on the crochet stuff!! A lot of sellers will buy in bulk from places like aliexpress and then sell that for dirt cheap while prending to have made it. You'll see keychains and crochet flowers a lot from those sellers. Nothing crochet should be under $10!! It's impossible to do with a machine so if you see mass produced crochet someone was either heavily exploited to make it or it's knit in a way that just kinda looks like crochet. Crochet takes so much time, even just little things. Please make sure the crochet prices you're buying are ethical!! The mass produced stuff really hurts fiber artists because is devalues that craft and often steals pattern from small independent creators. I recommend looking for if a creator sellers or offers patterns and looking for videos of them crocheting. Most real crochet creators will post the process of crocheting or sell patterns! Support fiber artists!! It is so worth it to save for a quality handmade peice!
Most of the clothes are also made through exploitation and are bad for the environment
@@cleargreen123456789 That's true! People mention crochet more because it can only be done by hand, which is very very strenuous. Obviously, all clothing items are also done by hand (a sewing machine only makes straight stitches, all the labor is done by the person operating it, and industrial sewing is no joke.), but as someone who does both - crochet will mess up your wrists, hands, fingers. Every stitch you see on those plushies was done by hand. That's a lot of stitches!
@@cleargreen123456789 yes ofc, crochet is your average piece of clothing's exploitation x100 though. It's a lot easier to not buy fast fashion/mass produced crochet than it is to not buy anything mass produced
As someone who was formerly associated with that same tiktok account, I can confirm that they're dropshipped and they don't make them and lie about who actually makes the figures. They don't pay their own hosts much either and are very skimpy on the pay. VERY bad experience with colorfulsheep and definitely don't recommend anyone purchasing from them.
18:19 “i dont think its the most flattering “ while she looks like a literal goddess
I was actually so shocked because I thought she looked so good. It looks amazing on her!
@@ohdearohno802 I also thought she looked really good in that dress.
Ikr!!! I see what she means by the dress not having much shaping but it still looks amazing on her
I think she meant that she was expecting to wear it without or with minimal shapewear, and that the amount of shapewear she needed to make it look that good was hedging on uncomfortable for her (may be wrong, she may just not like the end product even with shaping :') )
Hey, just to let everyone know, the hamster rave live streams that Saf mentioned are actually really cruel to the hamsters. SodaPets did a video on them if you want more details just please don't watch or support these lives.
Yeah even that short glimpse made me sad.
Thank you for mentioning that
If you’d like to see cute animals ethically, check out Mother of Frogs Rescue- they rescue neglected and disabled frogs and stream the frog tanks and have raves on live💛 they’re all very loved and taken care of!
Yeah as a hamster dad seeing multiple hamsters in the same cage already made me cringe. We should really stop the normalisation of animal abuse on rodents
Omg that’s so sad :( I used to watch their streams. Thank you for sharing!
safiya looks STUNNING in that dress!!
This is why I love Saf and her channel. This is exactly what UA-camrs should be doing. Killing the curiosity of these shopping experiences for the average person and demonstrating the realities of it without us wasting our own money.
This made me somewhat anxious, there´s so much STUFF that is being bought without a second thought and the world is drowning in said stuff and it just keeps on accelerating and no one seems to care enough. I´ve made a concious desicion recently to only shop second hand (online & live) so maybe that is why this is feeling icky, tho it´s great if small businesses can advertise themselves this way and get customers.
yes, it sits really bad with me as well. I am making my part in not partaking in over consumption but it is really like you are not making a difference when you see so many people doing the contrary of what you preach.
I’m a tightwad and try to buy as little as I can. Watching all of this and going into major stores makes me so anxious. I’m not perfect but I can at least say I don’t buy into every new trend and I keep using something until it break
@@starlightlilly7203 I’m not perfect either but at least I’m not out there bying rocks from livestreams 😆
I feel the same way. Consumerism at its finest. I’m shopping more sustainably now and now throwing my money around like I used to, so I’m definitely not in TikTok Shop’s target audience.
I don't know. I think the best thing about online shopping is NOT having a sales person shoving it in your face and telling you to spend more, more, MOAR!!! Also, I like to throw everything in a shop that I like into my cart, be horrified by the cost, then slowly cull it down to what I ACTUALLY want over the course of a day or two. This isn't for me.
I totally agree with you. This kind of live stream shopping is the worst parts of in-person shopping, made digital.
It'll just be even more waste
Well, good think lives are just optional. You dont have to watch the live to shop at tiktok
@@0927kiraNot really with how hard they are pushed now. I swear every other video is either one of these or a sponsored video
omg SAME
Just wanted to say that purple dress honestly looked amazing on you!!
The Windsor interaction was so cute! ❤️
I feel like Safiya could've talked more about how predatory those live sellings are.
Like it feels like peer pressure almost. Just like she said once you were talking to the hosts you kinda felt like you HAD to buy the item. And that's especially devious considering kids use this app, are exposed to it and can easily fall prey to these tactics.
Those crystal ones are soooooo scummy selling fake crystals that are actually just glass
Yes!! And kids will be watching this video. Even framed as an experiment, it's about showing not telling and what's being primarily shown is the overconsumption. Plus, I can't imagine how these tactics could really get to kids that feel they don't fit in, especially for the way their bodies look. This feels like Brandy Melville evolved into a monster 10× scarier. It's training people to continually chase their money into the pockets of wage thieves in order to get that sweet, sweet hit of dopamine.
@@blaah9999 yeah the crystal one made me so mad
Yeah I thought that too.
I guess she doesn't want to take a stance in fear of losing viewers ?
@@Lvless404 Yes, I have noticed that on previous videos, like the one where she bought the corset dress. She skirts around taking a stand and then backs away to not make people angry. With her platform she could reach a lot of people!
It makes me sad that the crocheters were drop shippers. And I’m sure safiya isn’t aware. But I hope she reads these comments and educates herself
Frr
As someone who was formerly associated with that same tiktok account, I can confirm that they're dropshipped and they don't make them and lie about who actually makes the figures. They don't pay their own hosts much either and are very skimpy on the pay. VERY bad experience with colorfulsheep and definitely don't recommend anyone purchasing from them.
Who were the crocheters again? The Mario and Luigi business?
@@Rosa-kd2cl yup
😆😆 in the Windsor livestream lol “they’re talking to me!” Lol so adorable! I’d honestly be the same
One thing I've learned about synthetic wigs is that none are truly ready to wear fresh out of the bag if they're under $200.
Usually you'll want to pluck the part and add some concealer. You also want to wash the wig with some warm water and fabric softener. That usually helps with the shine and occasional "stiffness". If the shine still isn't reduced you can brush some baby powder through it. After doing all that, your new synthetic wig will look dramatically better.
For a synthetic wig fresh out of the bag, it looked pretty good 🤷♀️
The “new intro song” will never get old! Definitely one of your best video purchases😁
i love this video cuz it brings awareness to how easy it is to enable a shopping or hoarding addiction. It's so easy to buy little nick-knacks and be swept up by the shiny things that are just low quality and waste at the end of the day.
Watching this video having a shopping addiction (it's pretty much under control now, thank gods), and hearing you describe your emotions surrounding this experience has me just repeating to the screen: "Welcome to what having a shopping addiction is like." 😂
A shopping addiction is basically MASSIVE dopamine hits at the excitement of going to the store/mall and getting new stuff followed by regret and shame. I guess if anyone is curious about what emotionally based addictions feel like, give these tiktok livestreams a go. Just be careful about getting hooked yourself.
I’m surprised that Safiya, shopping mall queen of UA-cam, had never heard of Windsor. I feel like they are front and center of everything shopping mall I’ve ever visited (cute dresses too!!!) 👗
0:57 The hamsters get really hurt during those lives btw. Those specific wheels aren’t good for them, especially when there are a lot of hamsters because they can get trampled by the other hamsters - which you can see in the clip; the top left wheel has a little hamster getting trampled by the other hamster that is still running. Also, they run so fast on the wheels that they can fling off of the wheel, hitting the wall of the enclosure - which can really hurt them because of how small their bodies are. Hamsters are notoriously very fragile creatures with very fragile bodies. Poor little guys aren’t really having any fun in there, even though the music in those lives may suggest otherwise.
Also, the other thing is hamsters are notoriously territorial, so it’s not good to have multiple hamsters in one cage. Even if their siblings. Unless they’re babies below a certain age, you should not have any hamsters together.
If you want really friendly rodents that are playfully and you can have multiple up get pet rats. Rats are the best, but you need a really big cage and at least two rats. But they’re super fun and if you get them from rescuer or breeder, you can get some pretty friendly ones. they bite less than hamsters, I’ve been bitten by way more hamsters than Rats.
@@LPSRosyYT Female guinea pigs will also get along in mid-sized groups [I wouldn't push it past 5 in one space], at least from my experiences when I was a child. I guess they're just not as marketable, though.
I had two, they were sisters. Very neat animals.
Yeah but that's how hamsters are usually if you have more than one in a cage they'll try to kill each other or chew off each other's feet and they're just kind of rough little critters sometimes on themselves as well.
@@hawktalon7890 yeah I also know guinea pigs will get along in groups. you have to have multiple. I’m just a Rat mother and a Rat fanatic.
@@LPSRosyYT Understandable.
Its so cute how excited the Windsor salesladies got when they saw you haha! They were so nice and genuinely really good sales people, going so far as to model the dress for you????
Don't be expecting good crystals from those scoops honey. Very low quality, things they were not able to sale!!! And they were banned for a while from doing scoops!! And that is actually a polisher they're in❤
The lives suck you in if you watch them. Something about a seller directly talking to you, answering your questions about the products, and trying them on in real time if they are clothing is actually really helpful!!
100% for real. They get me every time 😮 now I do LOVE my ice maker and my straightening brush sooooo 😂
Windsor is a legit store that they had in my local mall. I actually think the purple dress you got from them looked really good on you!
6:22 as an anxious person, it's so healing to see that even Safiya is getting excited/stressed out by popping in a chat :')
same, I hate groupchats because of that, I'm always too shy to participate, even when it's people I know lol
18:30 i was surprised to hear that you didn't find the purple dress flattering, since i think you look absolutely stunning in it. The color suits you sooo well and the shape is really pretty on you
okay but safiya really pulled that wig off... blue is definitely her colour if she ever decides to dye it ❤
I was looking for this comment
It must be in her color season! It just brightened her face up. I hope she dyes her hair
The fact I've been watching you since I was 12 (I'm 19 now) and you're still my fav UA-camr is how you know she never misses 🖤
oh boy it's almost been ten years with Saph!
@@shinypaintf588I remember when she was on buzzfeed
Honestly Safiya, I love your videos. I appreciate your thorough research and your efficient editing. I will always watch your videos. Thank you!
i’m glad i’m not the only one that quotes “when will you wear wigs” on a regular basis
Same! Ive quoted it 3 times in the past 2 weeks hahaha
This was a super interesting interesting video! One aspect I didn’t hear you touch on though is the abundance of MLM live sellers. While they are sometimes genuinely just selling their product it is under a predatory business structure and if they are recruiting on live it could be very icky situation. Just another layer I wanted to touch on!
This
The unfortunate part of TikTok shop is a majority of the sellers are dropshippers.
The big crochet Peach is at 28:27 !! Ready to tower over your mario and luigi
the Windsor ladies not just being girls' girls but also looking absolutely stunning in the dresses they tried on 😭 😭 no wonder one of them's miss washington usa 2020
Even most brick and mortar crystal shops often end up selling fake and overpriced crystals, its easy to trick even well intentioned dealers and the entire industry is dubious
Yes, it is so bloody hard to be able to identify all the fakes!
and where do they get off calling them crystals anyway? these are all just cut and polished rocks.
@@LC-le9ew crystals are made up of atoms, most crystals are silicon and oxygen atoms forming lattices of silicon dioxide. Minerals are composed of crystals, and rocks are composed of several different minerals.
The majority of crystals sold are variations of quartz, with clear quartz being pure silicon dioxide and only that molecule. Quartz like Amythest have impurities that give them their colour. Agates are also Quartz and are only catagorized differently based on how and where they form (volcanic and metamorpic rock).
Note: glass is not a cystal, its not uniform. Obsidian is therefor not a crystal.
Rocks are many different minerals combined, and are not cystals, and crystals are not rocks.
A lot of cheap fakes are actually usually just glass because its hard to tell the difference visually.
@@asteri8299 ok perhaps I should have specified that which is generally considered a naturally formed crystal arrangement in a 3 dimensionally naturally formed structure as composed by its individual minerals. anyway, you know what I was getting at.
Okay... the trick is to go to ROCK SHOPS for people who collect rocks instead of "crystal" shops. Not only are they cheaper (collecting rocks is... significantly less "trendy"), they're less likely to be fake (rock collectors typically know what they're doing and can tell real from fake)
I just wanna watch a 5 hour video of safiya joining lives that’s was so fun!!
the flashsales are there to make you feel you have no time to think and buy something to not miss out on the deal, you showed it works perfectly ;)
The eye purse coming back for the end made me wheeze! It's so cute.
These live sales are like higher tech infomercials that have evolved to psychology make us actually seek out watching 😬 It’s so weird. It taps into that feeling of wanting to catch an influencer’s live to “hang out with them” except these are also pressuring us to buy tons of stuff 😬
oh my god, yes! no wonder why so many people complain about sponsored videos, but don’t mind watching lives 😅
Those crystal ones are literally scams.
I mean, those are 2 different cases imo. if someone is searching out shopping lives they're probably looking to spend some money, advertisements in the middle of trying to relax can annoy some ppl. @@bestnarryever
Yes. This feels icky.
the prom dress looks like bella swans comforter and i love it sm
22:06 "WHEN WILL YOU WEAR WIGS?"-- Dominic Monaghan, 2004.
Have you ever worn wigs? I love this interview 😂😂😂
IM SO GLAD YALL GOT THE REFERENCE I WENT STRAIGHT TO THE COMMENT SECTION 😭😭😭😭
the girls in the windsor live were so sweet omg
Okay this is why i love you! You are so positive, fun and sweet while also bringing us such interesting/creative content in a way that is easy to understand! You try to better understand these parts of the internet and share your experiences with us! It is informative and entertaining! I appreciate you
@23:31 unless she's got some INTENSE anti-highlights filters on, that is NOT the same wig. (ETA: Unless she's done a lot to style her "samples" and make them look good.)
Either a scam or extremely misleading sales process. There are synthetic wigs that look like what she's wearing in the live, but the fibers you received appear much cheaper.
Very likely they used a CPL filter to fight the highlights or used a powder of some kind to dull the shine, that's common practice with cheaper wigs
I agree its not the same wig its a different color and the length is different.
Windsor is really good! They have so many cute things in their store of all different types of styles
Yeah, always walk in when I see it at the mall 😊
I love their dresses!
@@dali9848 same! Its my daughters favorite dress store for her highschool dances
I was so surprised she'd never heard of them! I remember going in there for dresses over 10 years ago when I was in high school!
the crystal shop's strategy is excellent: bewilder the audience and omg shiny !!
They’re all so scammy 🤨
I bought from them 2 years ago and never again lol the crystals aren't bad but they just take up space and buyers remorse is real
Ok but I highly doubt those are real crystals. They're being sold for suspiciously cheap tbh
I will never buy from them but the girl was entertaining honestly 😂
i LOVE how the dress looked on safiyaaa !!!
Ok but why does dark blue look so good on you??? You should seriously consider it cause it looks amazing!
The Windsor ladies were putting in the work! What a fun stream! All the other ones just gave me anxiety haha
lmaoooo i actually worked for the factory behind the wig shop that you bought! its so funny that you are trying to track down where the wigs are from lol! all of their wigs are from our factory, and the factory also has tiktok shop as well. the reason why the store is so mysterious is because the streamer and the shop owners are all based in china, where there are regulations. so there is always problems with the account or the shop or whatever, so they have to buy shops from other people, thats why the shop you see it a totally different thing
Then everyone clapped
unprovoked.
Actually not true lol. I was the wig streamer and we were just a studio set up in the southern USA lol which isn’t as interesting as all that I suppose. But that’s cool you got to see that from a different perspective!
And yet no name was provided in order to do more research
So source: trust me bro
He’s squidward 👉
he’s squidward 👈
are there any other squidwards I should know about 😂
You should consider getting a proper wig in that indigo colour, it looks so amazing on you!!
Hey Safiya! I already loved the quality of your previous videos, but the little detail of the rotating platforms for the products shots is so amazing! You put so much effort, research and share so much great knowledge in all of your videos, I love it! ❤
As a cosplayer who does wig commissions dealing pretty exclusively with synthetic wigs, here's an overly long advice comment on your wig! I wouldn’t personally say that wig is really worth that price since there are better ones for cheaper, but!! It is savable if you ever wanted to use it beyond this video try-on!
The too-small cap is a little difficult to fix for a casual wearer without some cutting up and sewing in extra elastic, maybe even moving some wefts around, but the shine can be taken down easily with dry shampoo or baby powder (powder would probably be a little too visible on this dark wig).
For the bumps, I couldn’t guarantee it would 100% fix it, but styling wigs with steam is a really great option for applying heat without having to worry so much about melting the synthetic hair - a handheld steamer works best, and you can just pop the wig on your mannequin head, gently apply the steam across the affected areas and smooth it down by hand/with a comb, and repeat until you're satisfied! Unfortunately, if it's just how the wig wefts are built, there might be only so much you can do.
(Alternatively, as a wig-teasing enthusiast that likes more volume on my wigs, you can take some hairspray and the comb to the hair around the part and tease some volume into it to hide the lumps! Spray, tease, brush the teasing back out, and repeat! Then you can hit it with steam and brush again a bit when you're done to smooth it back out a little again! This could take some time and patience though 😅)
You could also try retraining the wig part with the steam to see if another section might be less bumpy, though I'm not positive how deep the lacefront goes and how natural a different part would look 😂
Do you have any recommendations where someone could get a fun wig like Safiyas for a similar price?
@@Kayizcray +
11:53 LMAOOO NOT THE SASUKE-FARQUAD SHADE!! It's what he deserves honestly someone's gotta keep him humble
I cackled so much when I saw that bit🤣
Granted, that's the JANKIEST Sasuke, I only recognized him thanks to your comment :')
Honestly I am fully into TikTok shop livestreams, I love interacting with the hosts. I feel so special 😂 and I’ve been super happy with everything I bought!
She’s back! 🎉
Yessss❤❤❤ and I already can’t wait to rewatch!
🎉🎉🎉
Yayyy
The wig reference to Elijah Wood’s interview with Dominic Monaghan is pure gold that I think most people missed. Love it! 😂
Dominic Monaghan? Don't you mean Hans Jensen? 😜
@@englishatheart Oh dear, pardon my misspeaking! You're correct, it was Hans Jensen. I don't know how I could have made such a grievous error. 😜🤣
I completely remember that one I LAUGHED
YES! I was hoping some other people caught that, it made me so happy hahaha
i was really impressed with the hosts of the lives you bought from! bringing and maintaining high/positive energy while juggling questions and trying stuff on can't be easy, they all have a real talent for it
currently using this video for a research paper (mock IRR specifically). it’s the video that made me think of my groups research question when we couldn’t decide so thank you safiya. and anyone wondering, group question is “to what extent does tiktok effect peoples personal decisions?” and my individual question is about financial decisions
0:12 - I'm excited to see this! thank you for once again providing entertaining videos while I work on college assignments ❤
this sounds like a spam comment but your icon is normal
@@elliot_ratI'm a real person - i have videos up - i was just tired and at school 😅
@@elliot_ratcomment history kinda checks out
its a bummer that crochet artists who make amigurimi and try to sell it for their livelihoods are often outsold by dropshippers, so it's cool to see independent artists doing lives and seeing success from it
Especially because you can't use a machine to crochet, like you can knitting. So it either won't actually be crochet or someone in the country of origin is being severely exploited.
but, the one Saf bought from may have actually been a dropshipper :(
she was duped by a dropshipper unfortunately
That shop way unfortunately one of those drop shippers
@kathyjohnson2043 confirmed drop shipper unfortunately