Appropriation and alleged theft of creative property took the crown this month. From bitter influencers to shady business, there was something for everyone this month. Welcome to Dramarama, where I break down the scuffles happening in the indie makeup world.
November 10:
Makeup Revolution expanded its product range, this time dipping into candles. The candle holders are gorgeous but fans quickly noticed that the brand, famous for dupes, completely ripped off beauty guru Jackie Aina’s candles. If you didn’t know, Jackie created Forvr Mood and released candles back in August. Candle lovers and diehard fans of Jackie loved the candles and the fragrances. Makeup Revolution faced a lot of backlash and people commenting on the Instagram post, with people labeling the brand “copycats” and “coming for the queen but failing miserably”. Forvr Mood’s candles retail for $35 while Makeup Revolution’s candles are $13.50.
My opinion: Makeup Revolution needs to stop and be more creative. If they wanted to do candles, great! But lying about production dates and such is so wrong. Just admit you that you duped the packaging and move on. Interesting price points too.
November 21:
UK-based indie brand Eunique Beauty teased their new collection inspired by Japan. The palettes are gorgeous, and the color stories make sense but… the comments on both the brand’s page and beauty blogger Trendmood’s page were not having it. Most of the detractors brought up the spelling errors of Japanese names and they felt the brand was committing cultural appropriation. One comment asked, “Did they not have someone Japanese on their creative team?”. The brand did not respond to any criticism and the collection was given early access as planned on November 27.
My opinion: I feel like people are reaching with this “drama”. I’ve seen other brands take inspiration from other countries and there may a comment or two about appropriation if no person from the inspired country works for the brand.
November 22:
Beauty influencer Dylandavii tweeted a picture from his Instagram in which he cosplayed as Danny Phantom. He then posted a similar picture from influencer Cohlsworld who also cosplayed as Danny. The “drama” stemmed from Dylan tweeting that “I’m so tired of black art being replicated, recreated, and STOLEN without any credit from our white counterparts.” He then tagged Cohl and began a twitter war, with both influencers and their fans jumping in with opinions. As of November 24, Dylan moved past it but continued to respond. Cohl went hard on people that commented or responded to his tweets all of the 22nd and 23rd, doubling down on his claim that the costume had already been created and he has cosplayed as Danny several times. Cohl has since deleted his tweets responding to Dylan.
My opinion: this drama was so unnecessary and drummed up because people were bored and looking for trouble. Dylan was wrong in claiming that Cohl copied when both were cosplaying a cartoon. Cohl has stolen makeup looks and concepts from influencers before without credit but this is different. Danny Phantom is a popular cosplay character so I feel that Dylan himself could be accused of copying. Cohl was wrong in his responses to fans and detractors, going so far as to tell a fan to “vomit”. Both guys were wrong, period.
November 25:
Kim Kardashian’s beauty brand KKW Beauty came under fire. The brand launched the Crystallized collection and fans noticed two things. The brand had advertised that Afterpay would be available but when fans went to select the option at checkout, Afterpay was missing. The other issue was the presentation of the blush sets. Some fans felt the blushes looked cheap and the pans looked disheveled or poorly packaged. Either way, the collection still sold plenty of units so…
My opinion: I do feel that if a brand has advertised certain payment methods, they need to offer said payments. A lot of people can’t purchase high-end brand products outright and they rely on Afterpay. KKW was wrong there. As far as the blushes, it’s a matter of aesthetics.
Non-drama of the month: On November 30, beauty guru RawBeautyKristi announced that her water had broke and she was in labor. Droves of her followers congratulated her on social media and sent well wishes to Kristi, her husband Zach, and their soon-to-be born son. Congratulations, Kristi!
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Photo Credits:
My Twitter screenshot of Dylan vs Cohl
KKW Beauty
Forvr Mood Instagram
Makeup Revolution Instagram
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