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
It’s nothing new for celebrities to create product lines, and they’re probably complete trash about half the time. For every Fenty Beauty, there’s a scam like the Kardashian Kard. When a celebrity is putting their name on a product, it’s tough to know what’s really worth your money. Luckily, in certain cases, the federal government gets involved to tell us what not to buy. This week, the FDA has officially recalled Jojo Siwa’s makeup kit, and the reason is both hilarious and terrifying.
Quick update for those of you who choose not to pay attention to child stars: JoJo Siwa is a 16-year-old Nickelodeon star who got her start on Dance Moms. She’s known for her ridiculous outfits, high ponytail, and huge hair bows. She’s basically a full-grown adult (she’s 5’9), but her personality is stuck at about nine years old. She’s hung out with North West and feuded with Justin Bieber, and is generally just like…a lot.
While JoJo Siwa makes money from releasing music and touring, the biggest part of her business is a massive merchandise range that’s sold internationally at stores like Walmart, Target, and Claire’s. In fact, schools in the UK even had to ban JoJo Siwa hair bows from being worn because not all students could afford them. JoJo’s merch makes her an estimated $8 million a year, but that number might suffer after this latest news.
JoJo Siwa has had a major deal with Claire’s for years now, and there was a time when many of her products were exclusively available at Claire’s. I love that, because it means you can get an infection from a piercing gun and an overpriced hair bow all in the same place! Convenience is key. Recently, JoJo Siwa got into the makeup game with Claire’s, selling a heart-shaped makeup set that you can tell is cheap just from the photo. I might not have expected much in terms of quality, but now the FDA has officially recalled the makeup set “due to the presence of asbestos.”
ASBESTOS?
I mean, yikes. Like, is this the same asbestos that’s in the walls of old buildings? The same one that causes mesothelioma and that lawyers always have commercials about on daytime TV? Because that seems not great.
Today, the FDA is releasing new results from its continued testing of cosmetic products for asbestos & is warning consumers to not use 2 additional products that have tested positive for asbestos & have been recalled https://t.co/p4AACHd9y8 pic.twitter.com/DYtSelENEj
— U.S. FDA (@US_FDA) June 6, 2019
While the “dangerous levels of asbestos” in the JoJo Siwa makeup set are definitely concerning, this isn’t actually a surprise. Claire’s has been majorly struggling recently, first declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In the aftermath of this, many of their cosmetics products have been recalled for asbestos, and they’re all probably made in the same factory as the JoJo Siwa set. I’m pretty sure none of you reading this have shopped at Claire’s since the fifth grade, but if you missed the memo, don’t f*cking shop at Claire’s.
It’s been a few days since the recall was announced, but JoJo Siwa has yet to mention it on any of her social media accounts. Instead, she’s been busy performing at Nickelodeon’s SlimeFest and announcing new tour dates. I’m not her publicist, but I feel like it would maybe be a good idea for her to use her platform to tell her young fans to not use the makeup set, because it literally might give them cancer. Just like, a tweet or something!
In other, equally upsetting news, I learned while stalking JoJo Siwa on Instagram that she calls her fans “Siwanatorz.” Sorry, but I saw it, so you had to see it too. If you have a friend or a loved one who might be using a JoJo Siwa makeup set, please tell them to throw it in the garbage, and then have a chat with them about reevaluating what they spend their money on.
Images: Shutterstock; itsjojosiwa (2) / Instagram; US_FDA / Twitter
Guys, I have a very pressing matter to discuss, and no, it’s not how I’ll watch Noah Centineo’s new Netflix movie today while at work. I’m going to stream it on my phone, duh. I’m talking about the budding friendship that’s happening between JoJo Siwa and North West because, y’all, I’m alarmed.
For those of you who don’t spend their time IG stalking the famous friendships of celebrity spawn and therefore have no idea what I’m talking about, congratulations. You’re not better than me. For those of you who do know what I’m talking about, then you know that North West, coming off the high of her first magazine cover, recently did a collab with YouTube personality, and the human embodiment of a Limited Too explosion, JoJo Siwa. Well, it was less of a collaboration and more of just JoJo showing North her room, which includes a bedazzled slide and a giant furry sign that reads “JoJo’s Juice,” and me weighing the pros and cons of calling child protective services. I guess the two of them really hit it off though, because North AND her cousin Penelope both attended JoJo’s sweet 16 on Tuesday, and honestly we have a lot of questions.
Before we start speculating as to why a sixteen-year-old would invite a horde of kindergarteners to her birthday party, I think we need to analyze this photo from said party:
First of all, Penelope is looking at the camera like she thinks she’s better than this, and she is right. North, take note. Second of all, why do the girls who don’t even have their grown-up teeth yet look more mature than the one who is turning 16? Hmm? ANSWER ME THAT. Overall, I find this picture very unsettling, and not just because JoJo is dressed like an extra on the set of The Wiggles. On your 16th birthday you should be sneaking cigarettes in a Wawa parking lot, not entertaining six-year-olds! It’s just not right! Like, does anyone else feel like something a little dark is happening behind the scenes here? There were far too many children at that party for an almost-adult to invite, and I was getting some distinct Leaving Neverland vibes from this whole thing.
This became increasingly apparent when I saw a photo of JoJo Siwa with her former cast-mates of Dance Moms. Fun fact: back when JoJo was an actual child, she was one of Abby Lee Miller’s elite dancers on Dance Moms. Post-show, most of those girls have tried to shed their child-star images by testing Instagram’s nudity policy one thirst trap at a time, and I know this because I follow each and every one of them (and am an active member in Chloe’s virtual book club). This is not so for JoJo Siwa! While her friends, who, I remind you, are the same age as her, are literally dressed like Merriam Webster’s definition of “jailbait,” JoJo is posing next to them like their clown-obsessed acquaintance they were forced to hang out with because their moms still think they’re friends.
Holly, you are proving my point for me.
I just sincerely hope that this entire persona was crafted by her mother as a marketing ploy for her to stay relevant. That is the only excuse I’m willing to accept for why she would behave this way, and I’m not just saying that because I’ve been binge watching The Act, and now want to call the police on every overbearing mother I see. I, mean, are we truly to believe that JoJo’s aesthetic is a Lisa Frank wet dream? That instead of trying to guilt her mother into letting her get her belly button pierced like normal girls her age, she’d rather guilt her mother into letting her invite one more five-year-old to her party so they can turn up together on the dance floor? Nah. I’m not buying it.
Also, North, let’s take a page out of P’s book and start evaluating who your true friends are here before I write a VERY strongly worded DM to your mother. You might think it’s cool now to say you have older friends, but when those friends are 16 and still playing with slime, I think it’s time to have a stern conversation with your publicist to see if there are any cooler friends she can dig up for you. And that’s your one piece of free advice from me, kid! The next time, I’m charging.
However alarmed I am by the party itself, I gotta hand it to Little Miss ‘I Wish I Was 13,’ because JoJo Siwa turned that freak show into a lucrative business deal. Footage from the party will air as a Nickelodeon special called JoJo’s Dream Birthday on May 18th. Stay tuned for more updates on my rage blackouts thoughts and feelings, as I will certainly be having more of those as more disturbing footage from this party drops.
Images: @dancemomholly /Instagram (1); @aliyah_minisiwanator /Instagram (1)
