r/BeautyGuruChatter

Why are these two brands seemingly selling the same eye shadow? I don't fully understand white labelling, private labelling, and dropshipping, but does this have smth to do with one of those?

Jones Road, owned by Bobbi Brown, recently sponsored a video on Kjersti Flaa's channel @flaawsometalk. She also currently holds a Jones Road affiliate code

Who is Kjersti Flaa?

Kjersti is a former journalist who has turned to YouTube and recently found viral fame profiting from misogynistic smear campaigns

Four years ago during the height of the hate train against Amber Heard she repromoted a years old interview with Johnny Depp, praising him as polite and sweet paired with #JusticeForJohnnyDepp.

She then has since made several videos in support of him and has even been in contact with him personally

This was not a one off, she has made a pattern of digging up old interviews to pile on women and profit

During Anne Hathaway’s recent career resurgence Kjersti reposted an interview from back during the Les Miserables promotional tour, calling her out for refusing to sing on command and calling it “bad behaviour”. The video attracted enough negative attention that Anne Hathaway had to call and apologise for what was imo an absolutely normal response to a weird interview question over ten years ago.

What sent Kjersti viral was reposting another decade old interview with Blake Lively, which she claimed made her “want to quit her job”. The “congrats on your little bump” interview that was latched on to as proof that Blake Lively was a mean girl and therefore her sexual harassment by Justin Baldoni didn't matter.

Since that video two years ago, she has nearly exclusively turned her channel to anti Blake Lively (and anyone she associates with) /Pro Justin Baldoni content. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of videos all peddling the worst kind of misogynistic stereotypes and disinformation. She even sells merch with "congrats on your little bump" and various pro Justin Baldoni slogans through her Etsy shop.

Why does this matter?

Jones Road, owned by Bobbi Brown, launched their “I Am Me” campaign 3 years ago celebrating Women's History Month and last year invited Gloria Steinem, among other prominent women, to take part in their “I Am Me” YouTube series discussing feminism, equality, and empowerment.

This is how the brand wants us to see it: feminist and empowering.

Yet it sponsors a channel dedicated to tearing women down and making money by doing it.

Gloria Steinem herself was a signatory on an Open Letter in Support of Amber Heard, along with hundreds of Anti Domestic Violence charities, experts, and noted feminists.

But somehow it's ok for Jones Road to pay creators that support abusive men🫠

Even worse, the specific video the sponsored content appeared in was aimed at discrediting two anti-VAWG advocate creators for their support of Blake Lively: Expatriarch, an anti misogyny educator and MoreWithMJ, a feminist lawyer and legal educator. Two people who are actively doing the work and promoting the values Jones Road claims to espouse.

But this is who Bobbi and Jones Road chose to support with their money: a creator whose content is in company with the likes of Andy Signore and Candace Owens. It honestly beggars belief.

TW: body dysmorphic disorder

TL;DR: Tarte's PR package for their new contour pen includes the individual content creator's stolen IG selfie, with contour lines superimposed on it. Now if they use the product as shown, they won't "need" the enclosed recommendations for cosmetic surgery.

I'm watching the latest episode of the Beautiful and Bothered podcast with hosts Johnny Ross and Kevin Banzhaf on YouTube. The thumbnail shows that Tarte did something gross again, shocker.

Their new contour product is a creamy pen on one side, brush on the other. Except for the fact that I haven't bought from Tarte in about 8-10 years, it sounds like something I would buy.

But the marketing is insulting, depressing, and I just hope to God the PR package wasn't sent out to anyone with Body Dysmorphic Disorder.

Johnny and Kevin show a video from a fragrance review TikTok creator. She showed the package, covered in print featuring surgical instruments and syringes. Inside was a selfie that was stolen from her own IG account. She said it was a picture she took of herself because she felt really pretty that day. Superimposed over it were brown lines, what she initially assumed were suggestions on where to place the product based on her unique face shape. On a selfie she took because she felt pretty that day, that they stole.

Then she pulls out another insert. It's actual cosmetic procedures recommended for her.

But good news, now she doesn't "need" those procedures because of the product Tarte sent her.

In her video, she talks about impossible beauty standards for women, and how she prefers to have the same attitude as European women (particularly French) about our faces showing signs of growing older. Like, "I have crows feet because I've smiled a lot." Or, "my freckles remind me of good times I've had out in the sunshine." I personally tell myself to feel fortunate, because so many women never reach my age. She said Tarte has assumed that every woman wants cosmetic procedures. Not all of us do. And she and I think that's great.

I'm a middle aged woman who still feels 35. Do I want cosmetic procedures? Sure, but only if they're minimally invasive, and the change isn't glaringly obvious. I don't think there's anything wrong with procedures that improve skin texture and elasticity, and procedures that enhance one's natural features.

But most of my friends my age have no desire. The most they do is dye their hair, if that. And that's cool as shit.

This marketing strategy is dangerous. I have a younger friend who is gorgeous, but is healing from BDD. She's in a very good place, but receiving this package would necessitate hospitalization for her safety, and I am not exaggerating.

Skip to 18:24 for the segment.

https://youtu.be/UEd6f2-Y-iw?is=t1evyFfiosGQX8GS

This has been covered in the Mikayla Nogueira sub, but it’s pretty blatant when the “reviews” use the exact same line for all nine lipglosses.

Is there any chance that Sephora will delete these bot reviews or leave them up? I don’t live in the US, so don’t use their website and am unfamiliar with their practices.

Is this business as usual or should people be pissed off about this? I use reviews (not the incentivised ones) to help pick products to try out.

Interested to hear everyone’s thoughts on this.

Maybe it’s just me, but I watched Stephanie Lange’s latest video where she’s basically talking about influencers “getting ugly” and… girl, what are we doing here 😭
Like, who made you the official judge of what counts as attractive? People’s faces and bodies are not public property just because they’re influencers. You can dislike someone’s makeup, styling, procedures, whatever, but turning it into a whole discussion about how someone is “ugly” feels so unnecessarily mean-spirited.
And honestly, the whole “I’m not like these other influencers, I’m going to call out how ugly everyone is” vibe just gives me massive pick-me energy. There’s a difference between critiquing beauty standards and simply putting other women down to position yourself above them.
You can absolutely discuss trends like overfilled lips, excessive cosmetic procedures, filters, etc. without literally ranking people’s attractiveness. Critique the beauty culture, not individual women’s faces.
Maybe I’m overreacting, but the whole thing just left such a bad taste in my mouth. 😭
Curious what everyone else thought of the video because I genuinely want to know if I’m alone in finding the whole premise weird

I know there are already a lot of people who have stopped watching her due to her nomad lifestyle years ago, but I hung around because I actually really liked her as a person and enjoyed her vlogs. As I’ve gotten older I stopped caring about makeup as much so it felt organic to stick around for that shift in her life. I’m also nosy and like to know what she’s up to.

Recently I’ve found myself not wanting to watch even her vlogs anymore. She just doesn’t come across as engaging as she used to. She spent a good portion of one of her last vlogs reviewing a mop. Like girl it’s not that deep. Now she’s been on this “antiquing” kick and it’s driving me crazy. The amount of crap she is buying just to stick around her house and look “cute” is wild to me. Real people out here can barely afford groceries and she’s buying glassware and miniature picture frames to stick on a shelf. It’s so out of touch.