You may have heard of Arbonne, the Swiss-born skin care company whose mission and products are based on botanical principles. And if you follow them closely, you may have heard of the Arbonne weight loss product line, too.

Still interested?

You should be. A lot of women speak very highly of their products and how effective they seem to be.

Here’s another thing.

I would tell you to visit their website if it were not for the fact that you can’t buy anything directly from it without the proper login—which means the site is more of a branding tool than an ecommerce hub.

Arbonne is much like other well-known direct sales vendors—Avon, Mary Kay, and Amway—that started pre-Internet. And just like those companies, Arbonne relies on a worldwide network of representatives to sell its products.

The hole in their sales process may bother you. Because even though they’ve moved onto the Internet, technically, you still have to purchase their products using one of their local sales representatives.

So in order to purchase online, you’d have to contact a salesperson, and then he or she would have to give you the access code—and hopefully some advice on the products are the consistent top sellers.

It’s a little annoying but the product is really why you’re there in the first place so let’s discuss that.

The Arbonne weight loss system goes under the name, Figure 8, and the main thrust of the program is the Go Easy Protein Shake, which replaces one to two meals a day much like a Slim-Fast shake.

But there are also other products in the Figure 8 line as well - a fiber booster, a dietary supplement, a daily detox tea, and chocolate-flavored snacks called "chews." The bonus that most women go nuts for, though, is a "Vanish" line of cellulite creams that are included in the package.

Arbonne also offers a menu schedule featuring its product line, a color foods guide to healthy eating, success stories from people who have lost weight with Figure 8, and an online community of Arbonne dieters to help you stay on target.

One marketing gimmick of the Arbonne weight loss system is the 8-Week Weight Loss Challenge. You can sign up online, and you’re given menus, product recommendations, calorie calculator and a food diary. It’s a big deal in the Arbonne community, and it taken very seriously, gimmick or not.

Their products do exist, and there have been success stories. Even people who are not into the Challenge love the chews. But, unfortunately, there is no scientific proof that suggests that the Arbonne weight loss program is as effective as they claim.

I think the real story here is the fact that once you become a customer, you are also encouraged—early and often—to become a sales representative. And once you become one, you are actively encouraged to grow your business by getting other people to sell "under" you.

Hey, it’s legal.

It’s not a scam.

But it is a multi level marketing organization, where the early adopters are the big moneymakers and everyone else seems to spend most of their time recruiting others.

If you like MLM action, Arbonne might be the company you’ve been looking for, as it seems to have a pretty large and well-organized support system in place. But if you’re honestly just looking for a weight loss program, Arbonne will probably just end up annoying you - whether it’s your rep looking to sell you more products, or the company looking to recruit you.