UPDATE: It’s been a while since we last checked in on Jaclyn Hill and her fuzzy lipsticks (typing that just sent a chill down my spine), and there are some updates! First off, it’s probably safe to take the lipstick out of the fridge now, and hopefully it won’t break in half. It’s the little things :).
More importantly, Jaclyn announced that she will be issuing full refunds for every single lipstick purchased, including tax and shipping costs. At this point, it was really the only option, because she’s just doing damage control to save her reputation for the future. Her cosmetics brand posted this statement to their Instagram page, explaining that the “production did not meet our brand standards.” Duh.
In addition to the official statement, Jaclyn also addressed the situation on her Instagram story over the weekend, speaking about it for the first time since that video apology. She admitted that her original video makes her cringe, and that she felt “so much pressure and panic” to speak out and defend her brand. Valid, but sometimes when your lipsticks have hair all over them, you just gotta sit down and take the L.
Jaclyn Hill also said that her products have now been sent out to five different labs for testing, to ensure that they actually are safe to use. That’s great news for all 10 of the people who haven’t already thrown this sh*t in the trash. She said that she will never again work with the lab that made the lipstick, and that “there’s been many people fired over this.” Personally, my favorite part of any apology is when someone brags about how many people have been fired. Like, okay Donald Trump, we get that you’re the one in charge here.
Jaclyn Hill and her company are definitely doing the right thing here by refunding everyone who bought the lipsticks, but I’m curious to see where she goes from here. Does she just relaunch in a month or two and hope that everything is better this time? Every time a YouTuber has a scandal, they pretty much go back to pretending like nothing happened three weeks later. I have a feeling that’s where Jaclyn Hill is headed.
Hey guys, and welcome back to my channel! Today, I’m going to be talking about my new favorite topic that a lot of you have been asking about: YouTube beauty drama. If you’ve never heard of Jaclyn Hill, prepare yourself! If you like this post and want to see more ~content~ like this, don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe!
Oh my god, I swear I don’t know what just came over me. At this point, I feel like YouTubers are just creating scandals so we’ll talk about them. Whether that’s the case or not, I just can’t look away from these train wrecks. After James vs. Tati died down, it was only a matter of time before the next big drama, and now two YouTubers have had major issues with their beauty products in one week.
First, it was Jojo Siwa, whose Claire’s collaboration was recalled by the FDA due to dangerous levels of asbestos. I’m still not over that one, but things move pretty fast around here. Today’s story revolves around beauty guru Jaclyn Hill, and some very questionable lipstick. JoJo’s makeup may have had more life-threatening issues, but the drama surrounding this story is just as good.
If you’re blissfully unaware, Jaclyn Hill is one of the biggest names in the beauty YouTube community, and she’s been around for years. She’s even done Kim Kardashian’s makeup, so you know she’s legit. Most beauty gurus put out their own makeup products basically as soon as they have five people that will buy them, but Jaclyn Hill had a long road to her own line. After years of setbacks and delays, she finally announced Jaclyn Hill Cosmetics in May.
The cosmetics line went live at the end of May with 20 shades of lipstick, and according to Jaclyn, it was an instant success. Her millions of subscribers and followers were obviously excited to finally get their hands on products from Jaclyn, but things didn’t go exactly according to plan.
When people started to receive their lipsticks in the mail, some people were surprised by what they saw. While some of the products looked perfect, other people noticed troubling imperfections with the product. For some, there were strange black-looking holes in the lipstick. Other people saw that their lipstick had a bubbly texture on the surface, or had the stick break off completely. And worst of all, some people opened their packages to find fuzzy, white fibers on the lipstick.
Who wore this hair style better?
Cynthia doll, or this Jaclyn Hill Cosmetics lipstick? pic.twitter.com/1dlDHB0WVq— ? Lee ? (@LeeJayXOX) June 9, 2019
EW.
Obviously, something wasn’t right, and people were not excited to put this sh*t on their literal mouths. Mostly, people wanted to know why the product looked like this. One of the main theories was that the lipstick was actually from a few years ago, from when Jaclyn Hill was first supposed to launch her makeup brand. Was it expired lipstick that had gotten moldy? Here’s what one of the lipsticks looked like under a microscope:
You guys, I’m physically unwell. As you could probably guess, it didn’t take long before news of the f*cked up lipstick got back to Jaclyn Hill, and she first responded with this tweet:
I plan on breaking my silence and addressing the issues regarding my lipsticks very soon. I have been working hard to gather all of the facts and details so I can give you accurate answers. I appreciate you allowing me time to wrap my head around all of this & investigate.
— Jaclyn Hill (@Jaclynhill) June 11, 2019
There is nothing in this world that I love more than a YouTuber tweeting “I plan on breaking my silence.” I mean…the silence is broken because you’re literally tweeting about it. These people are truly in their own world. Then, this week, Jaclyn Hill finally came out with a video addressing all of the issues her customers were experiencing.
The video is really worth a watch, but I’ll give you a rundown. Mainly, Jaclyn seems genuinely apologetic for the issues, but she’s adamant that none of the lipstick is expired or moldy. She says that all of the products were manufactured just last month, and gives other explanations for the issues.
She says the holes are caused by the cooling process used on the lipstick, and that they’re just air pockets. The melting is explained by the lipstick being transported in hot trucks, and she tells people they need to wait for the lipstick to cool off before using it. Lol, are you supposed to put your lipstick in the fridge? I feel like this would be happening with every brand if the only issue was that the UPS truck was a little too hot.
The biggest issue is definitely the white fuzzies on the lipstick, and Jaclyn’s explanation seems legit, I guess. She says that because the packaging for the lipstick is metal-like, the workers in the factory were using white cotton gloves to they didn’t smudge it. Obviously, this created an issue when fibers from the gloves were being left on the actual makeup. Jaclyn is horrified about this, and says that they’ll be using a different manufacturer from now on.
In the video, she also says that all customers affected will both receive full refunds and new products. She reassures her followers with this sentence, which is a beautiful piece of word salad: “Going forward, we will no longer be experiencing these experiences we are having.”
So basically, Jaclyn Hill is sorry that this happened, and she gets if you don’t want to buy her lipstick anymore, but she’s not recalling the products, or shutting down her line, or anything like that. I’m not an expert on evaluating health safety risks in cosmetics, but it definitely seems like there could be some actual risk of contamination with those white fibers. It’s nothing personal about Jaclyn Hill, but I definitely wouldn’t be buying those lipsticks any time soon. @FDA, can you confirm??
Images: jaclynhill, hereforthetea2 / Instagram; leejayxox, jaclynhill, kittyctea_ / Twitter; Jaclyn Hill / YouTube
