The beauty community was recently rocked by a fight that has nothing to do with makeup and everything to do with racist tweets, backstabbing, and apologies.
I get it: The online squabbling of professional pretty people might seem like inconsequential, self-perpetuating insider drama. But if you peel back its perfectly primed, bronzed, and highlighted skin, it reveals the inner workings of a highly lucrative and powerful industry, how a devoted community helps enable that industry, and how internet celebrity functions today.
The year-old now has his own highly lucrative makeup line and more than 10 million subscribers on YouTube. His videos — which range from reviews of new products to stunts like him applying a full face of luxury makeup on a speeding raft to him showing off his various luxury automobiles — regularly grab millions of views, making him one of the most important influencers in the cosmetics and beauty community.
Gurus sell themselves as faces and voices who purport to speak for their fans and who keep the industry on its toes, whether by praising great products or speaking up when brands fail customers. Community is also a way to think about how beauty gurus interact with one another. And when it comes to certain beauty gurus — Star being one of them — there are also very public-facing friendships and inevitable breakups within that community.
This last aspect in particular can sometimes make following beauty gurus feel like following a soap opera or reality television show — one where Star is a recurring character.
Previously, Star was known for his deep friendship and ugly feud with reality television star, tattoo artist, and makeup maven Kat Von D. During their falling-out, Kat Von D made similar accusations that Star was racist. In , Star posted a minute video addressing those accusations and apologizing for his past. Dawson has also had to apologize for past racism after appearing in blackface in a selection of his early YouTube videos, a shared past he a Star discuss briefly in the documentary.
This since-deleted Lee tweet, among others, had resurfaced before the Zamora photo, but the combination of the fallout from the Star documentary and the photo sent Lee, Zamora, and Gutierrez scrambling to film similar tear-filled apology videos.
But despite the efforts at damage control, Lee, Dragun, and Gutierrez have seen their subscribers — and their potential income — drop. Lee, a burgeoning star in the community known for such hits as doing her makeup with products from Ross , Marshalls , and the Dollar Tree , has had it the worst.
And makeup brands and stores like Ulta, Boxycharm, Morphe, and ColourPop have reportedly stopped selling her makeup. For those outside the beauty community, it may be hard to reconcile how this talk of racism, ex-friends, and bitches doing better somehow equates to tens of thousands of dollars in lost business opportunities. But if you step back and look at how the beauty industry operates nowadays, it begins to come into focus.
But after the financial collapse took its effect on consumers as well as advertisers, the growth in democratized platforms like YouTube, Snapchat, and Instagram began to rapidly disrupt the beauty industry. Conversely, no one needed to be printed in a magazine to be considered an authority on the newest foundations, blushes, and bronzers. Gurus reveal their darkest secrets and talk about miscarriages , or their plastic surgery. They ask their subscribers to pick their makeup looks.
In , Jackie led a protest against Morphe , alongside other beauty influencers, calling on the brand to stop carrying Jeffree Star Cosmetics products. As a result, Morphe announced they cut ties with Jeffree and his brand. Jeffree Star had a nearly year friendship with Kat Von D, who supposedly helped him promote his cosmetics line by putting in a few calls for him.
Their friendship went completely down the drain in when Kat confronted Jeffree about not paying graphic designer B. Betts for some work he did for Jeffree. This set Jeffree off. He claimed Kat never supported him or his line. He even went at her in a min long YouTube video.
The feud ended up sort of fizzling out. But in , Jeffree took to Twitter to shade Kat again by teasing her about her line being on sale at Marshall's. When news about Jeffree's alleged racist Myspace comments resurfaced online, Kim took to social media to defend Jeffree, saying he shouldn't be judged for comments he made in his past.
But eventually she backtracked and apologized for defending him, explaining it wasn't her intent to offend anyone. Jeffree made a cameo in the music video for their song "The River. The video compares the darker and more glamorous sides of L.
A, featuring cameos from Jeffree and actress, Megan Fox, in the background. In , he opened up about his gender to Out Magazine , saying " So I don't really call myself anything. Type keyword s to search. Today's Top Stories. How to Watch 'After We Fell'. Related Story. This content is imported from Instagram. But that is not the only way Jeffree makes his money. According to the social media celeb, he is involved in multiple businesses, including cannabis and real estate. So I have about 10 businesses that I'm currently running besides my brand which is the giant cosmetics company.
With a major makeup company, Jeffree has been very candid about the difficulties around his business. In , Jeffree was the victim of a major theft before the launch of his Magic Star concealer, which was being targeted by black market dealers.
We are in contact with FBI, who are fully being amazing," Jeffree said at the time. It's unreal. In happier news, Jeffree has been dating his boyfriend, Nathan Schwandt, for four years and counting. Nathan, who was "straight" until he met Jeffree on Instagram. Distractify is a registered trademark.
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