Quality

Unlike many skincare companies, Sibu Beauty does not simply resell skin and beauty products manufactured by third parties. Instead, Sibu Beauty conceptualizes, researches, develops, sources and manufactures its own skincare products. This results in a small but incredibly focused and potent product line that's completely exclusive to Sibu Beauty. As a bonus, Sibu Beauty is able to monitor each step of the design and manufacturing process, ensuring high levels of both quality and consistency.

Sibu Beauty uses proprietary harvesting and manufacturing processes. The sea buckthorn berries are sourced from naturally-sustainable wild groves in the Tibetan Himalayas, using harvesting processes designed to minimize the impact on the environment and protect the integrity of the ingredient's source. As a result, the berries are heartier and more potent than average examples of sea buckthorn. Sibu Beauty takes the same level of care in protecting its Tibetan farmers, ensuring fair trade practices that guarantee fair wages and safe, healthy working conditions for those who collect the berries each harvesting season. Sibu Beauty demonstrates its responsibility to these farmers by increasing their salaries every year, ensuring a satisfactory standard of living even outside of the harvest season.

Much of Sibu Beauty's quality can be found in its website. The site is clearly organized, with each individual skin and beauty product receiving its own product page complete with usage instructions, an ingredients list and benefits overview. The sea buckthron berry is given several pages of explanation and analysis, covering everything from traditional medicinal uses to modern scientific research. The About Us and Environment sections are similarly comprehensive, with a thorough company profile, a lengthy description of Sibu Beauty's commitment to the environment, and a regularly-updated company blog with health, beauty and skincare news.

Ingredients

As mentioned, the primary ingredient used in Sibu Beauty's skin and beauty products is sea buckthorn, an exotic berry that the company sources naturally from fair trade harvesters in Tibet. Sibu Beauty products contain absolutely no yeast, sodium, gluten, wheat, dairy or other additives. They're also completely free of parabens, which are preservatives commonly used in skin creams, body lotions and other similar products despite being known to cause cancer. In fact, 100% of the ingredients used in Sibu Beauty's skincare products are all-natural, containing premium ingredients such as aloe, shea butter and meadowfarm seed oil in addition to sea buckthorn.

Discerning skin and beauty product consumers want to know exactly what's inside of a given product, which is why Sibu Beauty earns points for offering full ingredients lists on all of their product pages. Although the ingredients lists do not always comprise actual label photos, they are complete and posted directly within the main product description. This is preferable to the ways in which some skin and beauty companies list their ingredients, often burying complete ingredient information deep within the site to hide the presence of additives and chemicals.

Clinical Studies and Research

Sibu Beauty states that over 130 modern clinical studies have been performed on sea buckthorn, the primary ingredient used in all of their skin and beauty products. While the company does not offer links or direct references to any of these studies, they do summarize the results. According to Sibu Beauty, sea buckthorn has over 190 nutrients, including 42 lipids, 20 minerals, Omega 3, 6, 7 and 9, vitamins P, K, D, C, B1, B2 and A, and a host of amino acids, carotenoids, essential fatty acids, polyphenols and phytosterols (antioxidants). As a result, Sibu Beauty claims that sea buckthorn can provide the following benefits:

• Reduces acne and improves skin complexion
• Boosts energy
• Reduces inflammation
• Rejuvenates cells
• Improves cardiovascular and nervous system health
• Improves brain functionality

Sibu Beauty has also performed plenty of independent research on sea buckthorn with the help of Marcus Elliot, MD, who serves as the company's medical advisor. Elliot, a graduate of Harvard Medical School, has served as a physiologist, trainer and injury prevention specialist to the U.S. Olympic Training Center and the New England Patriots. Today, he's in charge of advising Sibu Beauty of the latest applications of sea buckthorn.

Effectiveness/Testimonials

The effectiveness of the skin and beauty products sold by Sibu Beauty can be assessed by viewing the company's Testimonials page, located under the About Us link on the Sibu Beauty homepage. Here, you'll find several customer testimonials attesting to the quality of Sibu Beauty's products in general. The testimonials state that the products serve their intended purposes, delivering results beyond expectations on a consistent basis. Many of the reviews also emphasize that Sibu Beauty's skincare products have an excellent fragrance, and are exceptionally gentle even on sensitive skin.

The individual product pages on the Sibu Beauty website include testimonials of their own. Each review includes a brief text summary in addition to a star rating, with most products consistently receiving five-star reviews. Unfortunately, some of the products are more heavily reviewed than others. This makes it more difficult for first-time customers to decide which Sibu Beauty products will best fit their needs.

Customer Support

Sibu Beauty offers comprehensive customer support via toll-free phone and an email web form. You can contact the company directly with product questions, testimonials and other inquiries by dialing 1-800-710-SIBU. Sibu Beauty has a reputation for answering all questions promptly and thoroughly. The company also offers an extensive FAQ section, which answers common questions regarding order status, accounts, shipping, returns, billing and site navigation, under the Help link in the site's top navigation menu.

You'll need to create a user account before purchasing anything from Sibu. Although this could be considered a minor inconvenience, it's a perfect way of tracking your pending orders and reviewing your order history, and it makes it easier for Sibu Beauty to provide you with expedited customer service.

Although Sibu Beauty conducts a large portion of their sales online, they also distribute their product line to retailers, such as GNC, across the nation. Click the Store Locator link on the Sibu Beauty homepage and enter your zip code to see a map of the Sibu retailers nearest you.

Product Return Policy

Sibu Beauty offers a 90-day money back guarantee, allowing you to try any of their skincare products for nearly 3 months before determining whether to keep them. This return policy applies to an unlimited number of sealed containers and up to two opened containers of the same product type. To initiate a return, you'll need to contact Sibu Beauty's customer support department in order to request a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA). The company recommends shipping the return order via certified mail with shipping insurance and a tracking number, as they are not responsible for lost return shipments. You can ship the skin and beauty products back to Sibu Beauty at your expense, at which point you'll receive a refund minus a 15% restocking fee and your initial shipping and handling fee.

Sibu Beauty does not accept returns for refund until 30 days after the time when you received your order. This is fair given that many of the company's skincare products take several consecutive days of application before noticeable results can be achieved. Essentially, Sibu Beauty prefers that you give each product a fair and appropriate trial before deciding whether to return it.

Cost

Sibu Beauty's skin and beauty products are moderately priced, and fall directly in line with the company's competition. As a small company with an appropriately small product line, Sibu Beauty doesn't have the resources necessary to offer massive sales and rotating promotions - the products are already priced as low as they can go. However, Sibu Beauty does allow customers to save money by taking advantage of the company's Special Package Deals. You can purchase several of Sibu Beauty's products together as a system, sometimes with a 2- or 3-month supply, in order to save 20% to 30% off of what you would've paid for the products separately.

Sibu Beauty calculates shipping prices dynamically based on your location, as well as the size and weight of your order. Although shipping prices are somewhat steep (up to $10 for standard ground shipping with an order containing two items), many of the products sold by Sibu Beauty qualify for free shipping. Those who need their orders more quickly can choose UPS 3-Day Select for an additional fee.