Is Bellame legit? That’s a question I hope I will answer for you in this article. We’re going to take a look at the products that Bellame offers, the costs of those products, their compensation plan and any positive or negative reviews.
Then you can decide for yourself if it’s worth it to become a boss babe with Bellame.
While you may be told by others that you should get in now while it’s still a new company and there’s less competition, make sure you read through everything first before making that decision.
Let’s dive into it!
What is Bellame?
Bellame is a multi-level marketing (MLM) company in the beauty industry. It was started in 2017 by Melissa Thompson and partner Scott Thompson. Bellame products include:
- Moisturizing lipstick
- Sleeping mask
- Hydrating cleanser
- Moisturizing lip gloss
They also have collections and gift sets available.
Let’s take a look at prices for a few of the products:
- Moisturizing Lipstick = $28 (a comparable Tarte lipstick is $18)
- Hydrating Cleanser = $43.20 for 5oz (a comparable hydrating cleanser in a non-fancy bottle by CeraVe is $14 for 12oz)
- Hydrating Moisturizer = $70.20 for 1.7oz (a comparable hydrating moisturizer from Tarte is $39 for 1.7 oz)
You can see that Bellame’s products are suspiciously high. Is it worth it to pay more? Personally, I’m not convinced.
How Much Does it Cost to Join Bellame?
When you join Bellame, you’ll need to purchase an Influencer Kit, which is $99.
This includes:
- 12 months of website hosting
- 1 Bellame Box
- Binder and training materials
- 10 brochures
- 10 sets of product samples
- 10 opportunity trifolds
From there you can add on to your Influencer Kit by adding a pack onto it. Packs range from $35 – $300. It looks like it’s optional to add a pack, however, the basic kit doesn’t come with any products.
Here’s YouTuber Stephanie Day unboxing her Bellame products for the first time. She mentioned that she got the $299 kit, but since this more than a year old, the kits look like they changed a bit. This will still give you an idea of what you get when you order with Bellame.
Bellame Compensation Plan
There are a few key components to the Bellame compensation plan. (You can see the full plan here.)
1. Retail Sales
- Earn 25% base commissions from retail sales
- Earn 20% base commissions on Beauty Passport sales
(These commission amounts can go up to 40% for retail sales and 35% for Beauty Passport sales through earning bonuses.)
2. Grow a Team
There are several different ranks in Bellame that offer different opportunities to earn.
Partner: Purchased a Starter Kit and needs to remain active by placing at least $300 in retail value orders in every rolling three month period. You can earn a 4% Business Building Bonus from people you bring into the business. You must have $100 Personal Sales for the month. Earn 5% – 10% additional bonus when you hit certain sales amounts for the month.
Senior Partner: Have at least $500 PSV (personal sales volume) and at least 1 active Partner on your team. You can earn a 4% Business Building Bonus from people you bring into the business. You must have $100 Personal Sales for the month. Earn 5% – 10% additional bonus when you hit certain sales amounts for the month.
Executive Partner: Have at least $1,000 PSV and at least 3 active Partners on your team. You can earn a 4% Business Building Bonus from people you bring into the business. You must have $100 Personal Sales for the month. Earn 15% Sales Mentor Bonus on all Personal Sales.
Director: Have at least $500 PSV and Personal Generation Team Sales of $3,000 for a month and have at least 4 active Partners on your team. You can earn a 4% Business Building Bonus. You must have $100 Personal Sales for the month. Earn 15% Sales Mentor Bonus on all Personal Sales. Earn a 5% Personal Generation Bonus.
Senior Director: Have at least $500 PSV and Personal Generation Team Sales of $3,000 for a month and have at least 4 active Partners on your team and at least 1 1st Generation Director. You can earn a 4% Business Building Bonus. You must have $100 Personal Sales for the month. Earn 15% Sales Mentor Bonus on all Personal Sales. Earn a 5% Personal Generation Bonus. Earn a 6% Team Bonus on your 1st Generation.
Executive Director: Have at least $500 PSV and Personal Generation Team Sales of $3,000 for a month and have at least 4 active Partners on your team and at least 2 1st Generation Directors. You can earn a 4% Business Building Bonus. You must have $100 Personal Sales for the month. Earn 15% Sales Mentor Bonus on all Personal Sales. Earn a 5% Personal Generation Bonus. Earn a 6% Team Bonus on your 1st Generation.
Diamond Director: Have at least $500 PSV and Personal Generation Team Sales of $3,000 for a month and have at least 4 active Partners on your team and at least 4 1st Generation Directors. You can earn a 4% Business Building Bonus. You must have $100 Personal Sales for the month. Earn 15% Sales Mentor Bonus on all Personal Sales. Earn a 5% Personal Generation Bonus. Earn a 6% Team Bonus on your 1st Generation. Earn a 3% Team Bonus on your 2nd Generation. Earn a 2% Team Bonus on your 3rd Generation.
Platinum Executive Director: Have at least $500 PSV and Personal Generation Team Sales of $3,000 for a month and have at least 4 active Partners on your team and at least 6 1st Generation Directors and $125k or more in total downline sales for the month. You can earn a 4% Business Building Bonus. You must have $100 Personal Sales for the month. Earn 15% Sales Mentor Bonus on all Personal Sales. Earn a 5% Personal Generation Bonus. Earn a 6% Team Bonus on your 1st Generation. Earn a 3% Team Bonus on your 2nd Generation. Earn a 2% Team Bonus on your 3rd Generation. Earn a .25% Infinity Bonus on your total downline commissionable sales volume up to the next Platinum Executive Director on your team.
These are just the basics, and there is definitely more to know in the full compensation plan, but that should give you an idea. If it doesn’t, that’s because it’s confusing as hell and it’s not your fault if you don’t get it. MLM compensation plans are seriously so mind boggling sometimes.
Bellame Income Disclosure
Since Bellame is a fairly new company, at the time of this writing, they do not have an income disclosure available. From what I’ve seen in other MLM income disclosures like with Life Leadership, Plexus and Monat, almost no one makes money being in an MLM.
In fact, because Bellame is pretty new, I’m sure you’ll hear pitches from people who say to get in “on the ground floor”. Do you know why people say that?
Because they know that there’s a great chance you’ll lose money if you’re not one of the few new people to get in. You’ll be on the bottom on the pyramid, giving up your money to those on the top.
Positive Reviews and Complaints
There aren’t a lot of positive or negative reviews on Bellame yet because it is so new. There are a few YouTube videos of people reviewing the products. Here’s one YouTuber who likes everything:
The problem is that just about everyone who is reviewing the products are also selling them. That’s fine because of course you want to love what you’re selling, but it would be nice to get reviews from regular customers.
I did find one complaint on the BBB website:
I have also read that their products contain malachite, which has copper, which can be harmful in excess. My guess is that the content of the malachite in Bellame’s products is very small and it’s more of a marketing ploy than anything else. They can say their skincare is made of fancy stuff so they can charge an arm and a leg for it.
Is Bellame a Pyramid Scheme, or Legit?
Bellame isn’t a pyramid scheme technically since they have a product they can sell retail to customers. I would consider it a legit company.
But:
I would not recommend people join as all MLMs have the same issues. Bellame’s products might be great. Their owners are probably fabulous people. The people who joined Bellame so far are probably also great people.
That doesn’t change the issues of the MLM structure, which we’ll go over below in the Cons.
Pros
- Relatively low start-up cost
- Still early so you could potentially make money
Cons
- Almost all MLMs are borderline pyramid schemes because you make more money from recruiting versus making retail sales
- Getting in on the “ground floor” is appealing because everyone knows that you lose money when you’re at the bottom on the pyramid
- Over 99% of people lose money in an MLM. Source.
- MLM products are almost always overpriced, which makes them hard to sell to the average consumer
- There are some questions about Bellame’s use of the ingredient malachite
- They say you can be a “boss babe” and “run your own business”, but being an independent distributor is not running your own business
- You have to work VERY hard to get anywhere in an MLM. This is not passive income.
The more I research MLMs, the more I see what a mind game they are, especially for women. They say they’re going to empower you, allow you to be your own boss and run your own business so you can be available for your family.
But I feel MLMs target women and drag them down by adding on to their burdens and debt. Even if you’re one of the lucky ones that succeed, you’ll be succeeding on the backs of the women below you who are struggling.
That can’t feel good.
An Alternative to Bellame
Listen, I love the idea of working from home, having flexible work time and working for myself. That’s why I actually joined an MLM myself!
But after realizing it was dragging me down into further debt and seeing that I wasn’t any sort of boss babe, I knew it wasn’t the right way to go.
The one good thing it did was led me back to affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing is promoting other people’s products for a commission. But it’s so much different from an MLM because there’s no:
- Recruiting
- Uplines or downlines
- Hard sales
- Contacting your friends and family
- Buying a starter kit
- Buying more products so you can “be the brand” (you don’t need to buy any products)
- Inventory
- Monthy sales goals
- Teams
- Boss babes
Do you love skincare and makeup? Great! You can set up a website and / or YouTube channel and you can promote skincare and makeup brands that you love and make a commission that way.
You attract people to you instead of chasing people and begging them to buy your stuff.
For instance, you could sign up with Amazon’s affiliate program and you can promote any of the products on their website for a commission. You could join Sephora’s affiliate program and promote what they have on their site. Or Pur Cosmetics. Or countless others.
It does take a little knowledge to know how to set up an affiliate website, but it’s not hard at all. Let me tell you more about it here.
Conclusion
While it may seem tempting to join Bellame while it’s in its beginning stages, you still don’t have a good chance at making money. In fact, there’s still a great chance you’ll lose money because the products are so expensive and you’ll be pressured into buying more and more! (That’s how your upline makes money.)
Of course, you’re free to do what you like. But if you want another way to make money from home, why not try out affiliate marketing instead? You can still promote beauty products if you like, and you won’t be pressured to buy any products or bother your friends and family to join you. And if you don’t really like beauty products that much, you can promote anything you like! The sky’s the limit.
Let me tell you more about it here so you can see what a great option it really is.