FIRST POST: All An Illusion?: Popping the Bubble on Temu and Its Butt-lifting Pants Part 1 (AND How This Blog Was Born)
By The Treasure-Sharer
**This post is about my (totally deceiving!) experience with buying butt-lifting pants on Temu, with a bit of commentary on the actual pants I bought. If you're just here for my specific reviews of each of the pants/pant sets I tried, without the backstory, then you can check out Part 2 to read just my reviews of the butt-lifting leggings I ordered. If you want to try out shopping with Temu, and want promotional savings and to help support our site, please use my referral link https://temu.to/m/ubwjywyuh4x and code acs874614 when signing up (see more details at the end of the article).**
How FOMO Won
I felt compelled to sign up for Temu and buy a particular set of butt-lifting pants sold there, when I saw it stated that the set I wanted was "almost sold out."
Back then, I didn't know a thing about Temu or butt-lifting pants, but my man had sent me some links to some clothes from there to show me examples of stuff that he thought might look good on me. To be honest, the prices still didn't look amazing to me, since I was used to finding crazy deals at thrift stores and discount stores for brand-name, sometimes even new-with-tags-still-on clothes, so I was intrigued by them conceptually, but didn't act on them immediately. I did get a Temu account and put the pants set in my cart, along with a bracelet I wanted, and just monitored the items, as I explored the site.
The butt-lifters my man had sent me were a set of three pairs, in black, white, and grey, which felt very practical for daily wear. The pants had a specific design that was shown in the advertisement pictures to lift the butt, complete with arrows showing the butt-liftage (see the photos at the start of the article).
When I saw the pants set go down by around $7, I became more interested, but still didn't bite the bullet. It was only when the bracelet I really wanted sold out that I became consumed by a massive fear of missing out, and decided to get the pants, along with a few other intriguing pieces, and some of the other clothes my man had sent me links to.
I waited until I was with him to show him my picks, to get his take on whether they were worth getting, and, while I was in the middle of showing him, he suddenly found that all the links he clicked to the stuff I wanted to buy suddenly showed up as "sold out."
Now, even though the sold-out notifications he received didn't look the same as when the bracelet I'd wanted got sold out, I was still scared that I had (heaven forbid!) missed out on the butt-lifter set.
So when I checked the phone I was using -- where I was in the process of trying to figure out how to input a promo code but couldn't make it work -- and saw that my items were still showing as available, and my man suggested that maybe they were still there because I had them in my cart (he had been looking via my computer), I bought the pants even before figuring out how to input the code (thereby missing out on the added discount!), scared that I would lose the items I wanted to order (and the pants!) otherwise.
How Temu TRICKED Me
Why did I tell this long story, and what does it have to do with any actually-important information related to buying the butt-lifting pants from Temu?
Because, after I made my purchase (without the massive discount I would have gotten if I had figured out how to input the code I had downloaded the app to be able to input), I later discovered that NONE of my items had actually been sold out, and that the website saying so had been a LIE. I couldn't tell if it was just a glitch that wasn't the website's fault (as this had happened during a Mercury retrograde), and so didn't pin the blame on deceptiveness, although I did feel the situation to be unfair.
I later found out that I couldn't apply the codes I had wanted to use after-the-fact, and felt like the app had pressured me into buying before I was actually ready, with its illusion of "all-sold-out" items.
Through the experiences I've now had with Temu, I'm actually more leaning towards it having happened on purpose (as I've seen numerous sketchy "glitches" happen over the course of using the app, such as having points I earned during a game reverted to a much lower amount -- at a time when I would have been so close to winning the game, had it not been done so -- and more.
And this is related to the pants because, like the illusion of the pants I wanted being sold out, and even *almost* sold out (it being an illusion because, after months later of monitoring the pants, I saw that they never actually sold out!), the razzle-dazzle of the pants and their butt-lifting effects were ALSO an illusion.
How My Bubble-Butt Dreams Were POPPED
When I finally 
received the butt-lifters I had ordered, they did NOT give me a bubble butt. The black pants came the closest to doing so, but my man didn't think that any of the pants had a good-enough effect to justify keeping any of the pants. He specifically commented that they were just an illusion, where it sort of looked like they did something on the back, but had the effect totally disappear when I turned to the side. He did, however, note that they sucked my tummy in well. (See the photo to the side for a preview of the black pair of butt-lifting pants from the set.)
A set of three pairs of butt-lifting capris I bought in the same order I had gotten the pants in fared even WORSE than the butt-lifting leggings. They had NO butt-lifting effect at all, and my butt looked even flatter wearing them than it did when wearing other pants I already owned, that didn't even advertise having butt-lifting effects! (See below for a preview of how ineffective the capri butt-lifters were.)
How I Decided to Start a Review Blog
Anyways, beca use I sort of saw a tiny effect from the black pair of pants, I had the crazy idea of buying all the other versions of black butt-lifting pants I could find on Temu, and starting a blog to review them. Maybe (probably) it was to try to fix my disappointment over the lameness of the pants I had already bought, and to justify the buying and trying of pants that hopefully wouldn't disappoint as much. I figured I could at least help others benefit from my experimentation, by being able to use my blog to tell my readers which pants worked, and which didn't.
And anyway, I figured that if anyone should review butt-lifting pants, it was me, since I actually have a FLAT butt (as opposed to all the other people I've seen who have reviewed them, who all seemed to already have decent-sized butts, who would comment on how they helped make them look bigger). I'd already seen how useless the first six pairs I'd tried on were on a flat butt, but I wanted to see if I could find any that would ACTUALLY work.
"SURELY, there had to be at least ONE that would work!" was what I thought.
How MORE Bubble Butt Dreams Were Popped
So when the new pants arrived, and they all ALSO barely did anything for my sad butt, I became even more disappointed in the concept of butt-lifting pants, and in Temu in general, for allowing the false advertising that they would lift my butt, when they didn't.
The ONLY pair that my man KIND OF liked were some cargo-style ones with pockets, which he had suggested because he thought that the pockets would add more volume to the butt area, and make it look bigger by default.
He mostly liked them because he thought they were innovative, since they had a look and style that weren't popularized yet in the butt-lifting pants area.
I liked the pockets, since, who doesn't like having pockets? But I didn't think that the pants minus the pockets did anything to lift my butt, despite how the description and images advertised them (see below for me wearing the cargo butt-lifting pants I ordered, from left and right side angles, and the ad for them in the middle).
And so, I was disappointed yet again, but decided to work really hard to grow my butt a bit, and see if that made a difference.
So I worked extra-hard on my squat sets, had a super-sore butt for a few days, and tried all the pants on again, and saw a difference in my mirror that made me excited to show my man.
But when I tried them on for him again, he only saw a tiny difference, and when he photographed and videotaped me wearing them to use in the blog, I got to see just how little a difference each of them had made, making me believe that none of the pants were worth wearing or keeping.
In fact, I noticed that one pair even felt super-itchy to wear, turning me off even more to wearing them.
I didn't know what to do, because I STILL wanted the pants to work, even though they didn't, because I really wanted my butt to look good.
I kept hoping that, if I just grew my butt a bit more, that the pants would take care of the rest.
Sadly, instead of getting bigger, my butt actually SHRUNK, and ever-afterward continued to vacillate between slightly bigger, and slightly flatter.
And, with such a sad butt to work with, the pants didn't work!
So they continued to disappoint, but I continued to keep them, hoping that they would work eventually (when I eventually ended up growing out my butt).
I returned the two sets I had bought initially, since I had given up on them, and since the pants set didn't feel worth buying if only the black ones sort of worked -- and I later noticed that even those were wonky, in that they highlighted my cellulite.
How It All Ended Up Working Out, Anyway
As time was going by, news was also coming out about Temu clothes containing toxic chemicals like lead .
That was the final straw that made me not want to keep any of the pants, even if any did end up working. I didn't think pants that potentially contained poisons were worth even the relatively cheap prices. So I resigned myself to returning ALL of the remaining pants I had bought.
And I'm really glad I did, because, after trying all the butt-lifting leggings on again, and paying more attention to how I felt wearing them (instead of just focusing on their butt-lifting effects), I noticed that they ALL felt itchy after a few minutes of wearing them, signaling to me that the plastic material DID have a noticeably negative effect. They also all had a funny smell to them.
So I actually felt okay about returning all of them, and not wanting to keep them, and not actually getting to wear any of them.
And I felt kind of glad that none of them had worked out, because I had already kind of been tempted to keep the cargo-style pants, since my man had liked the style of them.
If some of the butt-lifters had actually worked, I would have felt pulled between wanting to keep them for their butt-lifting properties, and wanting to get rid of them for the potentially-toxic properties -- but because they didn't work AND felt noticeably itchy and bad for me, I felt glad that I had no reason to want to keep them.
An article by Good Maker Tales worth reading, that goes in depth into whether polyester is bad for you, explains my itchy experiences: "Polyester is neither hypoallergenic nor breathable, meaning it can contribute to a whole host of skin problems. So while fabric breathability properties may not necessarily impact whether polyester is toxic, it does present a health issue.
Wearing polyester clothing has been linked to increased flare-ups of dermatitis and acne, as well as itching and redness of the skin. As it isn't hypoallergenic, it also poses an ever greater risk of rashes and irritation for those who suffer from sensitive skin and other skin conditions."
This, and other problems that the site sums up, including the fact that polyester can contain such cancer-causing substances as formaldehyde, PFOAs, and PFCs; can shed microplastics into you and the environment; and can cause other issues; make me even happier that my body wouldn't allow me to keep any of the pants -- all of which contained polyester in some form or other.
How It's Still Possible That The Pants Might Still Be Gems To **You**
Now, I realize 
that a lot of women don't have skin as sensitive as mine, that probably wouldn't react like mine did, and I also realize that a lot of women don't have a butt as flat as mine.
Because I realize that there are certain factors that are specific to me that affect what I care about, look for, take into account, and value, that don't necessarily apply to you, I have decided to include a " Gems For Who? " section in each of my reviews, to account for the different people who experience different items as "gems," based on their individual preferences and situations.
This is so you don't completely write off items that could potentially benefit or work for you, just because they didn't fit my particular criteria and needs.
As unhappy as I was with my experience with the pants, and with my initial experiences with Temu, I'm not under the illusion that everyone is like me, or that every experience on Temu is a bad one (in fact, I've had a lot of good experiences along with the bad, after doing more shopping with them), so I will do my best to see the products I review from multiple perspectives, and try to make my assessments and recommendations accordingly.
How to Find Out More About Each of the Specific Pants I Bought
To read my reviews on each of the specific pants, and find out who might like them, and who might find them to be gems, despite my poor experiences with them, read Part 2 (which we will be releasing next week), to get the full review.
Or, if butt-lifting pants aren't something you're interested in (because you're a guy, have a massive butt already, etc.), then check back soon for other articles and categories of articles, which will be coming soon.
We have a three-part series on my experience with the butt-lifters planned for our first three weeks (including Part 1 [this article]; Part 2 , with our specific reviews of the butt-lifting pants; and Part 3, giving my tips and tricks on how to choose butt-lifting pants), after which you can expect to be surprised by the gems (or junk) we bring to your attention -- from health, nutrition, and hygiene hacks, to wifi-reducing and -removing solutions, and more.
To be notified each time we release a new post, and more, contact us to be added to our mailing list, at gemtribe@gemorjunk.com.
If you're intrigued enough to check out Temu yourself, then you can use my referral link https://temu.to/m/ubwjyyuh4x for a coupon bundle worth a potential $100 in savings, to use to save on future purchases, and my code acs874614 for 30% off your first purchase.
I've actually bought a lot from Temu since buying and returning my pants, and have found quite a few gems you'll be hearing about in some of my reviews to come. I can vouch for the value of the coupon bundle, as I've already gone through two bundles' worth of these coupons, used them all, and saved a ton. I can also vouch for them honoring their generous 90-day return policy, which I have already tested out, returning the pants and other items that I wasn't satisfied with.
While I don't endorse buying from Temu, as they have some questionable ethical practices and policies -- not to mention the fact that the company's computer system and customer service have burned me in different ways a number of times (which I may one day compile into an article revealing Temu trickery and thumbs-down times I have experienced, if I find a demand for it) -- I understand that Chinese products and the funky practices that come with them are almost impossible to avoid, even on other shopping platforms and physical stores, and that Temu's particularly heavily-discounted prices can really help with still allowing you to shop for both needs and wants in today's heavily-inflated economy. If you're going to buy from them anyway, then we'd appreciate the support for our reviews -- and are glad to be able to help add even more savings to you -- through the use of our referral link and/or code when signing up and purchasing.
Hope to save you a ton in the future -- with my gem shares, junk warnings, and any other promotional savings I can score you.
See you in my next post! :)
