Welcome to our Younique Review!
I’m guessing someone has just introduced you to Younique, claiming that you can some some amazing makeup products, and have an opportunity for you to make some life-changing income too?
But, you’ll a little nervous about this opportunity and want to understand if Younique is a scam, or even a Pyramid Scheme? That’s what we’ll help you with in this review, giving you all the details you need to know…
First off, it’s great to see that you’re doing your research before buying into any “seemingly good” product.
That is how you avoid scams and find only legitimate ways to make money online!
To be completely transparent with you, we’re not associated with Younique in any form. We’re not here to pitch or sell you anything.
With 99% of people who join MLM’s losing money, you definitely need to read this review before deciding on whether this is the right business opportunity for you… Here you’ll find all the information you need to know, including company overview, pros/cons, etc. so you can make an informed decision.
Younique Review Summary
Product Name: Younique
Founder: Derek Maxfield and Melanie Huscroft, in September in 2012
Product Type: Beauty and Cosmetic MLM Company
Price: $99 to start + $125 every three months
Best For: Those able to market beauty and cosmetic products
Summary: Younique is a beauty and cosmetics MLM company, that sells a wide range of makeup products. The problem lies with the fact that the majority of people do not make any money with this MLM opportunity because the products are expensive and you need to sell $125 worth of products every three months. If you aren’t able to do this, you’ll end up having to buy the products yourself.
Then there is the emphasis on recruitment, which makes Younique very similar to a pyramid scheme in disguise…
Rating: 25/100
Recommended? No
Table of Contents
What is Younique?
The ironic thing about Younique, is that they’re not really that unique… They are a typical beauty and cosmetics MLM or Multi-Level Marketing company. They sell a range of cosmetic products, such as eyelashes, mascara, skincare creams, etc.
They have a very similar range to other competitors out there, such as Avon or Mary Kay.
It was founded in 2012 and has become a well-known brand in the industry.
They have a strong focus on empowering women within the business, as you can see with the 30-second video below…
So, on the surface, Younique appears to be a legit opportunity to work from home, and they want to give women a change to grow both personally and financially through selling Younique products.
You just need to keep in mind, that the video above is a sales video and is designed to show the good stuff, and gloss over the real truths, but we’ll get into those later…
But let’s clear up some of the concerns you might be having first, let’s start with whether or not Younique could be a pyramid scheme…
Is Younique A Pyramid Scheme?
There is a common misconception out there, that all MLM’s are really pyramid schemes… there are similarities, but not all MLM’s are pyramid schemes.
So, technically speaking Younique is not a pyramid scheme
It’s possible for distributors for Younique to make money just by selling Younique products, and not needing to recruit at all…
A better questions to ask for any MLM, would be “Is Younique a pyramid scheme in disguise?”
What is A Pyramid Scheme?
A true pyramid scheme is a company that promises payment to it’s members for recruiting people, without any products or services to sell. The only way for you to make money is by recruiting others, and as soon as people stop recruiting, the scheme closes down.
These are illegal in the majority of countries, because it’s impossible for everyone to earn money inside a structure like this.
If you check out the Wikipedia diagram below, you can see why it becomes sustainable…
Most MLM’s including Younique, do offer legit products and there is technically no need to actually recruit people to make money with their compensation plan.
However, some MLM’s sell very expensive products and require their members to sell a certain amount each month. This means the only way for them to avoid losing money or make good money ($1,000+ a month) is by recruiting more people into the business.
The 5-minute video below explains this a little better…
In this Younique review, we’ll be checking out this company in more detail. But for now, you should be aware that…
Success Is Rare With Younique
The truth is that success is hard to find with any MLM company, not just with Younique…
Were you aware that between 73% and 99% of all MLM representatives end up losing money?
Younique doesn’t release any sort of income disclosure statement, like a lot of MLM companies do. This makes it really hard to understand where Younique actually sits against these statistics.
However, it’s important for you to note that all MLM companies have a very big divide between what the select few who have a big team under them, and the amount of income that the vast majority of people earn when they’re at the bottom of the pyramid shape.
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Younique Product Line
The basis of their product range is to do with makeup. That makes it understandable that almost all of their members and distributors are female.
Younique offers a huge variety of personal care and beauty products.
They have products in the following product categories:
- Fragrance – Perfumes
- Eyes – Mascara, fiber lashers, eyeliner, lash serum, eye primer
- Lips – Lip exfoliator, lip plumper, lipstick, lip balm
- Face – Face primer, setting spray, setting powder, pressed blusher
- Skin – Moisturiser, cleanser, day/night cream, mask, cleaning clothes
- Tools – Palette, face brush set, eye brush set, lip brush
- Collections and Sets
These are just some of the examples within their product line, if you want to understand more, you should check out their full lineup on their website.
It’s noteworthy that these products are very similar to hundreds of other MLM companies that are out there, including…
The way you can really understand more about what makes them stand out is by understanding what their flagship product is…
In regards to Younique, their flagship product is their mascara…
Younique Flagship Product – Mascara
Younique’s flagship product is their 3D/4D mascara:
It comes with a price tag of $29m which is pretty high when compared to other mascaras on the market, which we’ll look into later in more detail later in the review…
Anyway, the main thing we need to understand is what people think about the products… If people love the products, it makes the MLM opportunity a little easier, if people hate the product, then that answers the question too.
Based on the consumer affairs website, they really get a mixed review of their products, have a look at this:
Overall, it has a very mixed review… We’ll get into details later…
For now, you can watch this 30-second clip below to see what makes it so special…
P.S. This program enabled us to Create a 4-Figure Monthly Passive Income Stream. It’s Free to get started and costs only $49/month to go full-time!
How to Make Money with Younique
Just like any other MLM company, Younique has two ways for you to make money:
- Sell their products and earn retail commissions
- Recruit people and build downline teams to earn various bonuses
It’s important to know that most MLM companies do not pay you outright for recruiting people. As that would make them an outright pyramid scheme.
The way they get around this is by offering you bonuses for sales that are made by people you bring into your downline team.
Before we get into the details of how you actually get paid, we need to first looking into how you get started…
Getting Started with Younique
To get started with Younique, you first need to pay a one-time payment for $99. This gives you their Presenter Kit, which is their version of a Starter Kit.
This starter kit gives you a range of products to try yourself or to sell on…
The Starter Kit includes:
- Basic Products – Mascara, eyeliner, mask samples, lipstick, etc.
- Product catalog and other marketing materials
- Youniversity Training Academy – training for beginners
- Virtual Marketing Tools, Virtual Party System
- Your personal website for people to purchase Younique products directly
One of the good things about Younique’s starter kit is that it includes some products. There are loads of MLM that make you pay for a starter kit, and then make you pay for some products.
Although, whilst you only really need to buy the starter kit to get started with your Younique business, you need to know there are some ongoing costs that you’ll need to consider…
Younique Monthly Costs
If you go through the small print of their compensation plan (something I always recommend you do), you will find that there is actually a “requirement” to stay active as a Younique presenter (distributor)…
Basically, you need to see 125 “PRS”, which works out to $125 worth of products every three months.
If you don’t actually make any sales as you get started, which is a reality for many, and you aren’t able to reach this requirement. You’ll be expected to buy products to make up for it.
This is often something that isn’t clearly explained, and many people aren’t expecting this expenditure.
Bottom line is this, if you aren’t able to make sales in your first year, you will need to budget for $599…
$99 + ($125 x 4) = $599
Younique Compensation Plan Explained...
If you did take a look at their compensation plan, and thought it looked really complicated, don’t worry. All MLM’s do the same thing. I’m sure they have a competition to see who has the most complicated one…
Younique has a complicated compensation plan, and we’ll do our best to keep it simple… It has various ranks and statues that you need to climb.
Basically, there are five ways you can get paid from Younique:
- Retail Commissions (20% – 30%)
- Circle Royalties (3%-6% of total downline sales)
- First level bonuses (5% – 10% of wholesale sales in your downline)
- Car bonus (get $250 each month if you can sell 2,500 PWS or $3,334 each month)
- First, second, third generation royalties (3% – 5% bonus on your immediate downline, when you achieve a certain rank)
You can see how you can get promoted to different ranks and earn these bonuses in the charts below…
The higher the rank, the more bonuses and commissions you can earn.
As you can see in the next screenshot, the retail commission percentage starts at 20%, and it increases as your status advance.
The highest commission percentage you can earn on retail sales is 30%
How do you advance your status, you may ask?
Well, it’s very simple…
You need to sell more products and recruit more people…
Your status is dependent on your sales volume and your downlines sales volume.
The most important thing you need to know is that 4 out of the 5 ways to make money require you to recruit people…
Anyway, if you want to learn more about their compensation plan, then you can check out this 12-minute video…
P.S. This program enabled us to Create a 4-Figure Monthly Passive Income Stream. It’s Free to get started and costs only $49/month to go full-time!
Is Younique A Scam?
No, I don’t think that Younique is a scam.
They sell a range of legit products and they pay their distributors or presenters like they say they do.
But that doesn’t mean that it’s the right opportunity for you.
The remainder of our review will help you make an informed decision as to whether this business opportunity is the right direction to you…
Just to be completely transparent with you, I’m not a distributor of Atomy, nor do I endorse Atomy in any way. I have researched the website, testimonials, and information available on the internet to get the details about what this program genuinely does. I do this, as I have been caught out by a scam in the past, and am trying to help others avoid a similar fate…
Tired of MLM? Check Out Our #1 Recommendation Here!
What We Liked About Younique
Here is what we liked about Younique:
#1 Proven History
When you factor in that over 50% of MLM companies go out of business after five years, so to see that Younique is still going strong after eight years, it’s clear sing that it’s not a scam.
This makes it almost certain that this company will not just disappear tomorrow, leaving you with no business and a loss of money…
#2 Positive Product Reviews
The best way to understand if there are any legs in a business opportunity is by checking out what consumers think about the products.
Like I said earlier, if people hate the product or it’s of a really low quality, then there is little chance you will be successful.
But, whilst the reviews are a little mixed. There are still positive reviews for the products online. See an example below:
Even though, these two reviews talk about an issue that had to be resolved, this are both examples of where the company has got involved and sorted an issue out. and they like the products. Both are good signs…
What We Didn't Like About Younique
Here’s what we didn’t like about Younique:
#1 Expensive Products
One of the issues with many of these MLM companies is that their products are so much more expensive that other products. People are looking for quality products, as well as getting value for their money.
Now, I don’t really know a lot about mascara, or any makeup really, but I do know that people are going to question why they would want to pay three times the price for a mascara, when there are often cheaper, and better alternatives online.
I also found a lot of similar reviews to the one below…
The problem with the Younique products isn’t necessarily that people don’t like the products, but it’s that they are just too expensive, and they can finder cheaper alternatives…
This would make it even harder for you to succeed, if you are going to struggle to find customers…
#2 Hidden Monthly Costs
This is a common issue with MLM’s, and it’s the fact that the companies biggest customer ends up being their distributors, or presenters in the view of Younique.
It goes back to the fact that you have to sell $125 worth of products every three months.
So, what happens when those busy moms who join the company thinking it’s a way of earning extra money, but have all their usual stuff to get done, like looking after the kids, then what?
Yeah, they end up not selling anything for three months… then they realise, that they need to find the $125 to buy products, so they have a chance to make money the next month.
This happens too often, and is probably one of the reasons why the company doesn’t want to reveal their income disclosure statement.
This is why many people end up chasing the recruitment side of MLM, as they think the team can do the work for them, but unless you recruit the right people, you will stuck with having to buy products to keep yourself eligible for commissions.
#3 Is Younique A Pyramid Scheme in Disguise?
When you consider the last two points, you get a company that could resemble a pyramid scheme in disguise.
Either you keep on buying these expensive products for yourself, or you recruit people.
Here’s what you need to know…
This review pretty much describes the struggles that their presenters will have to deal with.
Then you have to take into consideration that 4 out of the 5 ways you can earn money is directly linked to recruitment, and nothing to do with selling their products.
There are too many signs that Younique could be a pyramid scheme in disguise…
That makes it pretty impossible for everyone to earn good money from this business opportunity.
#4 Low Income Potential & No Income Disclosure Statement
It is really disturbing and a huge red flag that Younique doesn’t publish an income disclosure statement. This means they are doing so, for one of two things (or even both):
- They want to hide how little their presenters are actually earning
- Their presenters don’t earn enough to warrant sharing it…
Just think about that for a moment…
The majority of MLM companies share their income disclosure, and then they try and cover up the fact that the majority of their distributors are losing money. So, if your presenters were making good money, then why wouldn’t Younique?
Think of it this way…
Imagine you wanted to earn $1,000 a month as one of their presenters. And for arguments sake, we’re going to ignore the recruitment side for a minute.
To make that amount of money, you would need to sell 100 mascaras every month and get 30% commissions.
You would need to do that every month…
After one month, you are back to where you first were. So, the only way to earn that residual income they keep talking about is by recruiting people…
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My Younique Review - Final Conclusion
Younique might sell some decent makeup products. But we’re here to understand if the business opportunity is really worth it.
Unless you already had an established beauty blog, or are an experience network marketer, I think that this opportunity is not a great option…
The fact there is such an emphasis on recruitment is something that we don’t like. There are also a lot of ex-members that have shared their experiences of losing customers, because the quality of the products is questionable at times…
How We Make Money Online
I’m not a fan of MLM, not because it’s illegal or not profitable, but because of all the restrictions and the expensive costs involved.
Instead, Affiliate Marketing is our top recommended business model for anyone looking to make money online.
The reasons are simple…
- You can promote anything you want and aren’t restricted to only promote products from one MLM company
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In fact, with affiliate marketing we’ve been able to Create a 4-Figure Monthly Passive Income Stream. If you want to learn more, click here.
Thanks for checking out our Younique Review! If you have any questions or comments to add, then please write them in the comments section below. 😉
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Younique
$99 to start + $125 every 3 months Pros
- Proven History
- Positive Product Reviews
Cons
- Expensive Products
- Hidden Monthly Costs
- Pyramid Scheme in Disguise
- Low Income Potential
- No Income Disclosure Statement
