Doctors Weary Of Online Retailer Selling Previously Owned Makeup

DENVER, Colo (CBS4) - Cosmetics are a billion dollar business and can put a real pinch in your pocketbook. Now there is a website that buys and sells previously owned makeup at discount prices. It's called glambot.com.

"We just try our best to provide a way for people to sell their makeup and also to buy discounted makeup," said CEO and founder of Glambot, Karen Horiuchi.

The website specializes in higher end brands and offers 80 percent fill, 50 percent fill, and 30 percent fill based on how used the products are, prices are discounted accordingly.

LINK: glambot.com

"They sent me some products for promotional purposes, and then after that I just started using it as a customer," said Kendall Rae, a Denver-based vlogger with a lifestyle channel on YouTube.

Rae talks about all kinds of topics on her vlog, including makeup. She is a fan of Glambot, and has bought a wide variety of products, all of which she says look like new.

"It's a lot longer," Rae explained while holding up a Glambot lipstick next to one she'd bought new. "You can tell this product has been used, but when it came it was completely cut, cleaned and you can still see the sticker where it was sealed."

Dermatologists say that open makeup is a host for bacteria, and other contaminants.

"A person applying it will use a brush or their finger and go between the skin and the makeup and transfer the bacteria from the skin to the makeup," said Dr. Susan Schroeder, a dermatologist with the University of Colorado Hospital.

The company touts a 5-step authentication and sanitization process which it says makes the products safe for new users.

"We do use different alcohol solutions and oil emollients that clean the outer container and we also remove the top layer of the product so it's a virgin product, Horiuchi explained.

"So I'm concerned that if they're sterilizing things that you're not really getting everything," Schroeder said.

Rae and millions of Glambot users are not worried.

"I give my makeup to my friends all the time if I don't use a color, and I kind of see it as the same thing," Rae said.

Libby Smith is a Special Projects Producer at CBS4. If you have a story you'd like to tell CBS4 about, call 303-863-TIPS (8477) or visit the News Tips section.