Has someone introduced you to the Color Street opportunity? Are you wondering if Color Street is a pyramid scheme?
Most people would love to be able to find a legit opportunity to work from home but have no idea how to do it.
Color Street promises to be an opportunity to do just that.
This honest Color Street review, with videos, will expose the truth about the company and explain why Color Street is not a pyramid scheme… but has signs of being one…
Color Street Review
The overview and rankings
Name: Color Street
Founder: Fa Park in 1984
Type: Nail polish strips MLM
Products (Including Pricing): 30 out of 100
Success Stories: 1 out of 100
Price To Join MLM: $129 + 50-100 PV = ~$50+ per month (30 out of 100)
What To Look For In An MLM:
Summary: Color Street is a nail polish strips MLM with some pretty memorable products. People seem to like them but they are very overpriced and do not last as long as they claim they do.
Most people lose money inside the MLM as I will show you later. The few people that do make good money have to recruit many people into their "downline". This makes Color Street very similar to a pyramid scheme in disguise.
Make Time Online Rating: 20 out of 100
Recommended: No
What is Color Street?
Color Street is a beauty Multi-Level-Marketing company.
The main focus is on selling different types of nail polish strips and nail care items.
It offers an opportunity to regular people to make money by selling their products and recruiting more people into the MLM company.
Here is the founder, Fa Park, explaining more about the Color Street company…
You can see Mr Park has worked extremely hard to bring his vision to life.
But this still doesn’t answer the question…
Is Color Street a pyramid scheme?
Technically no, Color Street is not a pyramid scheme.
You can earn money by selling their products and without recruiting anyone into the MLM company.
However, if you’re interested in quitting your full-time job, here’s the honest truth…
You will have to recruit quite a lot of people into the MLM company to be able to earn over $2,000 a month.
Yes, it’s possible to earn over $2k a month from selling the products, but you’d need to sell over 568 items a month to make this happen.
What is a pyramid scheme?
A company that recruits members by promising them payment for recruiting more members.
If the company doesn’t offer any products or services then it is a pyramid scheme and these are illegal in almost every country.
This is because it’s impossible for everyone to make money from the company. Just check out the Wikipedia diagram below…
If you needed to recruit 6 members each to make money then after 13 levels the world has run out of people.
Color Street does offer a product that anyone can buy without needing to become a “distributor”.
Therefore, it technically is not a pyramid scheme.
However, it certainly still has signs of being a "pyramid scheme in disguise" because the only way you can make good money is by recruiting people.
This is explained in the short video below…
Success is rare with Color Street
In fact, success if hard to find inside any MLM.
Did you know that between 73% and 99.9% of all MLM representatives lose money?
You can even see that the average annual income for Stylists was $178.06 in 2018 in the Color Street income disclosure.
Stylists need to sell at least $50 of products a month or more likely have to buy that much themselves. This means that minimum expenses a stylist has in their first year will be at least $729.
That means that average Stylist LOSES over $550.94 a year!
I'll show you the proof of this later, but for now let's figure out...
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Hey, I'm Mike.
I created a passive income online within a year. I had no marketing skills or online experience when I started.
How does Color Street Work?
Color Street produces nail polish strips and sells them to customers.
They can reduce their advertising & marketing costs for one simple reason…
It is an MLM company.
This means they offer everyday people the chance to become a distributor to earn money.
- Color Street saves marketing expenses
- Everyday people can make money from the company
Aka… a win-win!
We’ll get into the details about this soon. But first, what are the…
Color Street products
Color Street offers a range of nail care products.
It's important to recognise there are hundreds of beauty MLMs that exist such as:
They have all kinds of designs and glitter patterns for your fingernails and toenails.
Without a doubt, their main product is their nail polish strips. You can see how these work in the 1-minute video below…
These strips cost around $11 for a pack of 16. They supposedly last for up to 14 days and takes no time to apply.
We’ll look into how this compares to other products out there a bit later.
But you have to agree they look pretty easy to use and cool right?
How to make money with Color Street
Ah, the section you have been waiting for!
How to make money from Color Street.
Like most MLM companies there are really only 2 ways you can make money as a distributor:
- Earn a commission for any direct sales you make of their products
- Recruit more people into the company and earn bonuses from the sales they make.
Note- you do NOT earn money for recruiting people into the company. You earn money from the sales these people make. This small difference is the reason the company doesn't get shut down for being a pyramid scheme!
Check out the 90 second video below to learn more about the MLM opportunity…
How much does it cost to join Color Street?
It costs $129 to start as a distributor and get the starter kit with Color Street.
Here’s what included in your starter pack:
Click here to see the up to date starter kit pack (it can change over time).
But this is not the only cost to “remain active” as a distributor...
Color Street monthly cost
You need to make $50 in retail sales per month.
This ultimately means that most distributors will need to buy $50 of products every month just to make sure they “remain active”.
If you sell 50PV then you wouldn't need to buy the products. But you are likely going to want to buy them if you are considering joining the company!
Note the amount increases as you move up the ranks, but realistically you will be selling more if you “rank up”.
The total expenses to allow for 1 year are:
- $129
- $50 x 12
Total costs for 1 year = $729
And this is before you even consider additional training, marketing or postage and packaging costs.
Color Street compensation plan
MLM compensation plans are always silly hard to understand.
Just remember you only make money from 2 ways:
- Sell products
- Recruit more people (to sell products)
Here are the retail commissions you can earn…
Retail commissions
- generate up to $599 in monthly retail sales and get a 25% commission rate
- generate $600 to $1199 in monthly retail sales and get a 28% retail commission rate
- make $1200 to $1799 in monthly retail sales and get a 30% retail commission rate
- generate $1800 to $2399 in monthly retail sales and get a 32% retail commission rate
- generate $2400 or more in monthly retail sales and get a 35% retail commission rate
But there are actually 12 “ways” that you can earn money from Color Street:
- Jumpstart incentives (bonus for hitting some goals when you join)
- Base retail commission (25%)
- Enhanced retail commission (added per cent over $600 sales a month)
- Preferred client (bonus from people that order again)
- Enroller matching jump start bonus (leadership phase)
- Enroller bonuses
- Leadership level bonuses
- Leadership depth bonuses
- Team bonus
- Generational bonuses
- Car/ lifestyle bonuses
- National leadership bonus
Do you notice that they really they all fall under one of the 2 methods already described? And 9 out of the 12 methods requires you to recruit people.
You can find the full compensation plan here, or watch the 10-minute video for a walk through…
Is Color Street a scam?
Technically no, Color Street is not a scam.
You can earn money from Color Street and they provide legit products that many people want.
Some people think all MLM programs are pyramid schemes or scams.
Whilst there is some truth in the fact that you can only make good money from recruiting more people into most MLM companies, there are certainly better MLM opportunities than others.
The rest of this Color Street review will expose the hidden truths so you can make an informed decision if it’s right for you or not.
Just to be fully transparent with you, I am not a distributor myself and I do not endorse Color Street in any way.
I have researched the website, testimonials and information on the Internet to get to the bottom of what this program genuinely does. This is because I have been burnt from programs just like this in the past and I want to prevent others from making the same mistakes.
Tired of MLMs? Check out how I make money online here!
What I like about Color Street
Here are some of the things I like about Color Street…
Key Terms:
- Pyramid Scheme – recruits members via a promise for payment from referring others to the service rather than providing a product
- Affiliate Marketing- Connecting a customer to a product they are looking for and receiving a commission for doing so
- Red Flag - A warning sign
#1 It still has momentum
This is a biggy!
I, personally, wouldn’t even consider joining a more “established” MLM program as this basically means the great money has already been made.
There’s an element of risk in joining a new company, but if you can get in early it’s where the serious money can be made.
Color Street was launched in 2017 and you can see it is still increasing in the number of people searching for it on Google.
This is a great sign that an MLM company is doing well.
As you can see, MONAT global has been through its momentum phase and another beauty MLM, Farmasi, is even newer than Color Street. You can check out my Farmasi review here.
#2 Memorable products
Once you know about these nail polish strips you won’t forget.
Many MLM companies don’t have a unique selling point, but Color Street certainly does!
And people do seem to enjoy the products.
This is great because it means it’s possible to get repeat customers.
Like anything, there are negative reviews (as you’re about to learn) but it’s a good sign that there are a lot of positive reviews online.
#3 Replica website provided
If you want to make any money from an MLM company, you will have to use the internet to help you sell 24/7/365.
The great thing is that Color Street provides you with a website that you can send people from social media to (see the example below...)
The bad thing about this generic website is that there will be lots of identical ones that exist.
This means getting your website ranking on Google and getting passive income from people searching for certain keywords every month won’t be possible.
It’s also something that MLM companies simply don’t teach unless you get a great mentor!
What I don't like about Color Street
Here are some of the bad parts of Color Street that you should be aware of before diving in…
#1 Expensive products
This is always my first check when I review an MLM program.
If the products are much cheaper elsewhere it is a big red flag for me.
Typically, it means the company will focus on recruiting more distributors than selling their own products.
Why?
Because nobody in their right mind would buy products that are much more expensive and are very similar.
Apart from…
#2 Hidden monthly expenses
Do you remember that distributors need to sell $50 a month to remain active?
If they can’t sell that amount, they need to purchase the products themselves.
In reality, that means the distributors become the companies biggest customers!
When you combine these 2 hidden truths it is the main reason that…
#3 Color Street is like a pyramid scheme in disguise?
If you want to avoid losing money every month, then you will actually be encouraged to recruit people into the MLM.
Any system that requires you to recruit people to make money eventually ends up looking like this...
Remember, Color Street is technically not a pyramid scheme because you can make money selling their products.
But to make decent money you will HAVE to recruit people. This is why...
#4 Only 1 in 294 makes over $28k a year
Even if you can sell and recruit more distributors into the MLM here’s another hidden truth about Color Street…
Your profit margins are pretty low!
You’re getting 25% commission from an $11 product.
That is less than $3 per sale.
You can make over $3.50 per sale if you sell enough in the month.
But, if you need $2,000 a month to quit your job (most people want more than that!) then you need to sell 568 packs every month!
You can see in the Color Street income disclosure above that only 0.34% of all "Color Street Stylists" made over $2,314.73 per month.
In English that means that only 1 out of 294 members made more than $28k in 2018. Is that enough for you and your family to live off each year?
#5 Negative Color Street reviews online
Yes, there are positive reviews but there are similar negative reviews in between them.
Also, the BBB is a platform that people have to go out of their way to complain or leave a review.
People tend to only do that if they had a very bad experience, and out of 16 complaints on the website, 11 were about the products…
It seems to be a similar complaint too! The nail strips don’t last anywhere near 14 days.
So you may as well just buy the cheap ones on Amazon anyway!
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I've made a special video for you to explain exactly how I did this.
My opinion - Color Street
Color Street has some pretty memorable gimmicky products. However, they are so badly overpriced and don't seem to work!
But what do I think are your chances of making good money inside this MLM?...
If you love your nails and love these nail strips then you may be thinking this is a great opportunity for you.
That helps but…
You also need to learn how to market this business online.
Without it, you really don’t have a business because you certainly won’t be able to sell 568 packs each month to your friends and family on Facebook to earn $2,000 a month!
How I make passive income online
MLMs are not all scams or illegal. However, I'm not a fan of them because of the restrictions to the expensive products you have to promote.
Once I learnt about affiliate marketing, I realised it's a far superior business model because:
- You can promote anything you want and truly own the business
- You never need to sell to friends and family
- It's completely free to start
In 2018 I had no idea what affiliate marketing was.
But I went from a full time PE teacher to making a passive income online within one year...
If you want to discover how I did it then check out this special video I created which explains exactly how. You can also get your free 7-day bootcamp to get started.
Pyramid schemes really make me angry. I know many people who have been caught up in the schemes and lost thousands of dollars. My wife the other day was talking about going to a meeting where they were doing a house party for makeup products. Guess which company this was? Mary Kay.
With a little more research I was able to help her make a decision if this was worth pursuing or not. These days so many people are focused on women products, such as Color Street being focused on nails but then they turn them into a pyramid scheme which drives away buyers. Thanks for the review, it helps people become aware of who and what to avoid.
Hey Eric, yeah there are so many types of MLM programs like this now.
Personally I think it’s a good way to learn about business and develop business skills needed. But the way it is sold is often totally unrealistic.
If people just did it as a side hustle to try and make a few hundred dollars a month, then it’s good.
But people are being told they can quit their full-time job in a year with this stuff. The only way to do that is to sell to every person you meet and try to recruit them to join the company. If you’re not sold on the products, don’t even start!
While I find most of this post to be up to date and informative, there is actually no monthly requirement. The only thing stylists have to pay each month is their website fee ($10) and to remain active they have to have $300 in sales in one month in a 6 month session.
I thank you for being ultimately considerate instead of rude like other people I’ve come into contact with.
Thanks for clarifying that Emily! By the way, have you checked out Russel Brunson’s free book “Network Marketing Secrets“? If I were to go down this route this is 100% the approach I’d take
Yes, Emily is correct that there is no monthly requirement to stay active. We do pay $9.95undefinedmo for a website that we don't have to maintain, is up-to-date, and includes any credit card processing fees. A Stylist (distributor is an incorrect term) can essentially do nothing for 5 months and then needs to sell $300 in one calendar month every 6 months to stay active. This is a minimal amount and do easy to do. Most customers will purchase a Buy 3 Get 1 Free deal, so on average you only need 10 or 11 people purchasing nail strips to stay active – once every 6 months! We haven't discussed the quality of the product, which keeps customers coming back over and over again. Thus, a Stylist's customer base grows and grows. There are no guarantees for income, but the possibilities of making a large income are very real. I have watched many Stylists go from joining the company to earning a 5 figure a month income in 6 months. Of course, it all has to do with how hard one works. The possibilities are there. For those who just want to do this as a hobby, pay for a child's sports team, music lessons, or simple home improvements, this is very realistic. Lastly, the community and family-like environment Mr. Park has created is unlike any other MLM out there. I have been involved in six other MLMs over the last 37 years. Color Street, hands down, is far and away more rewarding emotionally and financially. It's a fun, rewarding business. One does not go into debt over Color Street, which is what you would think of in a pyramid scheme.
Thanks for that Wendy.
The main point is that people must be aware of this (like you say)…
You MUST be willing to work very hard to make any kind of income from a MLM. As long as you are aware of that upfront and know that the MLM could disappear or change the compensation plan overnight, then it may be the right path for you.
Your 6 MLMs and 37 years experience shows how much effort and trial and error it will take to find one that works for you.
Glad you’re enjoying this one and all the best!
Have you read this book?
FYI, I saw this and thought I’d share about Colorstreet’s parent company that sells a side brand at Ulta for less, and also a 3rd brand, still the same nails just limited designs at Walmart for $4.95!!
Thanks for sharing Sue